Ivy led me around at first. She showed me a few of the trees where fresh fruit could usually be found and we had a light breakfast. Another dragonet found us after that and sang out a greeting to Ivy. Ivy joined her friend in a quick dance, with each of them spiraling and looping around each other in a happy reunion.

I spent a moment just staring at the newcomer. Her scales were a brilliant red that stood out against the greens and browns of the foliage around us. She seemed to shine in the late morning light, standing out clearly upon the branch she sat on. Privately I thought I liked the softer green of Ivy's scales better, but... counting myself, this made the third dragonet I had ever seen. And she made for the third color I had seen.

Just how many different colors did we actually come in...?

"Nate? Do you mind using the mindspeech for a bit?" Ivy trilled out the question to me as she settled down on the branch beside me. "You're blocking Amanda, and she would like to say hello."

I grimaced at the realization the newcomer must have been trying to talk to me. I imagined being back outside the den in my mind and began hearing the whispers of conversation from the other dragonets. "Sorry."

"It's fine! Nate, this is my friend Amanda; Amanda, this is the dragonet I was telling you about."

I tried not to worry about what Ivy might have been saying about me. "Hello."

"Hello, Nate. It's nice to meet you." The red dragonet smiled at me, then looked back towards Ivy. "How is Trenil treating you? Has he done anything that I need to go bite him for?"

Ivy grinned and shook her head. "No, he's still being nice."

I zoned out as the conversation shifted. The distant whispering of different conversations distracted me, and I was dimly aware of Ivy asking how Amanda's fledglings were doing. My head started to hurt as I tried to keep track of all the different trains of thought running through my head.

I took a nervous look around me. I could tell Ivy wanted to talk with her friend and I didn't want to pull her away, but I was fast reaching the limit of how much talking I was comfortable with.

As soon as there was a break in the conversation I excused myself by saying I wanted to be alone for a little bit, and Ivy nodded sympathetically. I heard her telling Amanda that I had been through a few rough months as I flew off, and I shut off the myriad whispers and thoughts of the other dragonets with a profound sense of relief.

I glided from branch to branch for a bit after that. It was a very nice park - there were plenty of trees providing shade and branches to rest on, but also plenty of paths and open areas where one could lie in the sun. There were sandy areas that would feel good to burrow into, like the bowl of sand Minna had provided for me, and there were random streams that were deep enough to bathe in... though I didn't see fish in any of the streams I visited.

I wasn't sure why that bothered me. I didn't need to actually eat any fish, but... catching them had been a routine for me for so long. I had a feeling I might miss it.

There were other animals too - songbirds flew off when I landed too close to them on a branch, bees ambled from flower to flower, squirrels ran for a tree and chittered angrily at me when I flew overhead. I could spot Kymari, too; couples having picnics, individuals out for a stroll, children playing under the watchful eyes of adults. The park must have been miles across, and seemed to have room for everything.

But what I noticed most were the other dragonets.

They seemed to pop up anywhere I went. One chirped a hello at me from where it lazed in the sunlit path. Another watched me fly by from the partial cover of the leafy canopy. A pair of fledglings giggled and splashed in a stream while their parents watched from the shore. Yet another fought with a far-too-determined squirrel for possession of a juicy strawberry.

There were more colors than I had imagined possible. Some were the same silvery shade I was while others had green scales like Ivy. There were scarlet dragonets like Ivy's friend, and dragonets whose scales shone a regal purple in the morning sunlight. Flashes of brilliant gold darted through the trees, while tranquil blues draped over branches.

And every one of them sang out a greeting to me. I don't think any of them knew who I was - I hadn't introduced myself to any of them, and I doubted Ivy had told them enough about me for them to recognize me on sight, especially with how similar I seemed to look to the other silver dragonets - but that didn't stop them from saying hello. I was a dragonet, like them. It didn't matter which dragonet I was. They were just happy to see one of us.

It got overwhelming very quickly.

I spent a lot of time resting between bursts of flight, but eventually I found a spot that seemed empty of other dragonets. I glided down onto a rock by a quiet stream and stretched out my tired wings over the smooth surface. There were too many people here... I just needed a rest.

"Excuse me - are you Nate? The one all the adults are talking about?"

I jerked in surprise and lifted my head back up. A small purple dragonet had followed me down into the clearing. He seemed young, and I doubted he was more than a few months old. He was staring at me with wide, excited eyes, like a kid meeting a superhero.

"Um... my name is Nate, yes. I'm not sure what the adults are talking about." I hoped I wasn't the Nate everybody was talking about. That would mean that inevitably, I would become the Nate everyone wanted to talk to.

"Why are you blocking everyone? A few of us have tried talking to you; Ivy told us all you would be coming today." The other dragonet looked at me accusingly, like I had done something horrible.

"Sorry. I just needed some quiet." I hoped the other dragonet would get the hint and leave me alone.

He didn't, of course. "'Sokay." His tone clearly implied that it was not, and that I should feel bad for ignoring everyone. "So is it really true? Did you used to work with the mean people, and help them do things to us in that scary place?"

I winced. So that's what all the adults are talking about.

"It's not that simple. I didn't know what was happening or who I was helping; I just kept the lights on in the building. The 'mean people' did the same thing to me that they did to everyone else."

"That's not how I heard it." I heard the flapping of wings as two more dragonets - a green and a gold - glided down to join the purple one. Both looked around the same age as the first. "My dad says you helped them keep us there, and made sure all the machines they used on us kept working, so they could keep doing those mean things. He said you're a 'monster'." The gold dragonet said the word in an almost excited tone and clearly didn't fully understand what it meant.

"It wasn't like that..." I glanced towards the trees desperately. Where were these kids' parents at?

"Mom says you're going to do it again. That you're just going to help the Kymari kidnap all of us too, and put us in cages like Serena and Ivy have to live in, and make us eat nothing but nasty hard pellets for food. Is that true?" The purple dragonet's eyes were even wider, like he was hoping I would share some exciting secret with him.

"I heard they don't even let us fly. That the only time you get to is when you come here, and that you don't even get to fly for the Morning Song." The gold's eyes bulged with a scandalized expression.

Good grief, who have these kids been talking to?

"None of that's true. I've seen Ivy fly all over the place, and I can too."

The green looked at me with an unconvinced expression. "Then why are you so bad at it? We watched you; you can barely make it past a few trees before you have to rest."

"Never mind that, what about the food?" The purple hopped in place excitedly.

"The food's fine. Better than fine; there's this 'shia fruit' thing that's even better than sunburst berries."

The purple dragonet's jaw dropped. "Better than sunburst berries? No way!"

A red dragonet swooped down from the trees and landed in front of the fledglings. She kept her wings spread wide and stared at me with an angry expression. "Kids, go play somewhere else."

"Aw, but moooommm-" The purple dragonet ducked his head under her wing and peeked out at me.

"Now. Take your friends with you."

"Fiiiine..." The young dragonet pouted but pulled his head back, and a second later the three of them flew over us and off into the trees.

The scarlet dragonet watched me for another moment before folding her wings against her sides. "I'll thank you to stay away from my son. Drake may have asked us to make you welcome, but that doesn't mean we're going to let you spread lies and kidnap us again."

I just stared at the other dragonet. "They came up to me, I didn't-"

"Then you should have left. And you certainly shouldn't have filled their heads with stories of treats and adventure. It's bad enough Tasha and the others keep doing that, but having you try it is beyond acceptable. You might as well be in a dark van and handing out candy."

Well that was certainly a pleasant thought. "Lady, I don't know what you think I've done, but all-"

"Don't 'lady' me!" The red dragonet's eyes flared with sudden anger. "I know what you did, we all know what you did. You didn't even have the decency to be ashamed and try to hide it - you worked for them." Her claws began to extend, digging into the dirt beneath her.

"Not like that! I didn't know what they were doing; I just-"

"'You just' helped them victimize us! You were there every day making sure all their tools and machines had all the power they needed to keep us locked inside, and drugged whenever we acted out, and to run all their experiments on us. You were there, walking around the building and enjoying the freedom to go about your life, while we were stuffed in tiny cages barely large enough to spread our wings out in!" Her quiet chirps rose into louder squawks and warbles as she grew angrier.

My own anger rose to meet it. "They ran some of those same experiments on me. I woke up stuck in one of those cages, too!"

"Good! You're the only one here that actually deserves to still be in one! You were friends with the monsters who did this to us; how can you have the nerve to come here now? You took money from them, you ate with them! After they spent all day running tests on us, and drawing blood, and poking and prodding us, and making us jump through hoops for observations, they went and hung out with you. You're just as much responsible for everything that happened to us as they were! And now you're here, stinking like Kymari, and trying to help them kidnap us, too!" The red dragonet's voice became shriller, and she shifted back and forth on the ground, clawing at it.

This was getting bad; this lady was way too upset about something to listen to reason. I needed to get out of here before it got worse. I rose slowly to my feet and tried to keep my own voice calm. "Look, I don't know what happened to you, but-"

"I had a kid! That's what happened, you jerk! I had a one-year old baby when your friends came and stole me from my family! I never got to see my husband again, I never got to hear my baby speak, or laugh, or walk, because of what your friends did!

"And because of you, because you 'just kept the lights running', we were trapped in those cages like the lab rats your friends turned us into, right up until the Votak showed up and killed everyone! We could have escaped a hundred times over, I could have gotten out and seen my family again, even like this, except for what you did! You are 'what happened to me!'" She prowled forward and I saw murder swirling in her eyes. There was no reason, no sympathy. Just hate. Years and years of pain and hate that had finally found a target.

Finally found an excuse.

"And now you're back, trying to take my family away again. No! Not this time, not again!!" She let out a shriek of rage and lunged the last few steps to slash at me.

I took to the air and beat my wings as hard as I could, narrowly dodging her swipe. I darted away from her and glided over a branch... and only after I had begun flapping towards the next branch did I realize I was following the same path the kids had taken. Crap!

"Oh no you don't!" The red's shrill cry rose from the small clearing as she took to the air after me.

I wove and ducked through the branches as best as I could, but it was a losing battle. My wings were already burning from the effort, and each beat of my wings was harder and harder. She was gaining on me...

I cried out as sharp pain exploded along my side. The other dragonet slashed at me with her claws as she tackled me, stabbing through my hard scales and piercing my side. She drove me to the ground, but I managed to wiggle enough in her grip to shift to one side. We both hit the ground hard, neither landing on the other, and lay stunned for a second while we tried to catch our breath.

Crap, crap, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do... There was no doubt in my mind that this other dragonet would kill me if she could, and I was still too hurt to get away. I couldn't win this, I couldn't...

I mentally kicked myself. I wasn't alone.

"Ivy, help, I'm being attacked by a red drago-" The red dragonet hissed and lunged at me again, raking her claws at my eyes. I yelped in surprise and ducked away, but I felt a pain along my neck. Time to go, Nate!

I jumped back into the air and flapped my wings... and she chased after me, just like before. I ducked under branches and she flew over them; I twisted around a tree and she curved around the other side to slash at me when we met.

The other animals scattered around us - birds flew up over the canopy to find other places to spend the morning, squirrels darted off to find other trees, I even spotted a blue dragonet startled out of a nap as the red swept past him. None of them helped, but at least none of them got in the way.

I tried to think, but I was terrified. Where were the Kymari? They were the only ones who might intervene in this fight, they would be the only ones who could stop the crazy scarlet from slashing me to pieces. But I had no idea where I was - I knew I had traveled vaguely west to find the clearing, but how far, and where had I gone before that? I could fly up above the trees to try and get a better view, but then she would have a straight line towards me, and since her wings weren't hurting she would be on me in two wingbeats without having to dodge branches. I had to figure something out and fast, or-

An intense pain jolted through my left wing and I dropped from the air.

I landed on my feet and rolled around to face back towards the red dragonet while I tried to figure out what had happened. She had been too far back, but my wing wasn't working. Even trying to fold it against my side just sent a wave of pain through me. But there were no scratches or injuries I could see; the silver scales along it were unmarred, and glittered prettily in the soft light filtering through the trees.

I grimaced. I had pushed my muscles too far, and they had given out. I wasn't going to be able to run any longer.

I didn't want to fight her, but I was out of other choices.

I could see my blood on her claws as she swept down towards me. Her eyes gleamed with something between hate and satisfaction as she focused on closing the distance to me. I inhaled, tasting the acrid saliva as it filled my mouth...

I saw her eyes widen in understanding as I spat a stream of fire right at her face.

She twisted to the side at the last moment, and it was enough. I knew from experience that our scales and mouth stood up just fine against fire; the only hope I had of doing any damage to her would be to hit her eyes, or maybe some of the soft spots in her ears. She got her head out of the way and the fire splattered harmlessly over her wings and chest.

I felt a bit of relief at that. She was crazy, but I didn't want to actually hurt her. She had already been through enough of that.

She landed on the ground a few paces away from me and hissed in outrage. Her wings flapped a few times to beat away the embers clinging to her... then she charged at me.

I turned and ran. I hoped that on the ground I would have an advantage - I had spent the last month only able to walk, so my legs were probably stronger than hers. In a footrace I could probably win.

Or at least, I could have if my wing would work.

I made it two steps before my sagging wing bumped against something in the dirt and wrenched my wing in a way my muscles did not appreciate. I screeched in pain and stumbled... and then she was on me.

The red dragonet slashed at my back, and I felt bursts of pain as her sharp claws ripped at my scales. I twisted and swiped at her face, hoping to drive her away, but she drew closer and tackled me back into the ground. We rolled in a snarling, hissing ball of teeth and claws as we fought for my life - me to save it, and her to end it.

I heard a rapid beeping noise drawing close, then the scarlet dragonet was yanked away from me. I rolled back to my feet and hissed in her general direction, focusing with deadly intensity on her and ready to strike back if she attacked me again.

She was covered in scratches and bite marks. Angry red slashes cut through scales on her chest and sides, and I could make out teeth marks in her shoulders and legs. She was bleeding lightly from numerous nicks and scrapes... and her claws were dripping with enough blood to make me suspect I was in just as bad a shape as her.

I panted for breath and hissed, making certain there was no doubt in her mind that I would defend myself if she came at me again.

She glared at me, hissing up a storm herself... then she broke off and growled at me, a series of angry sounding chirps and snarls. "Of course. Your Kymari masters wouldn't be far behind you, would they?"

I stared at her for another second or two before I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself enough to figure out what she was talking about.

Minna stood between the two of us. She was facing the scarlet dragonet and had adopted a fighting pose. Something vaguely similar to the Kymari recording devices beeped steadily from one of her pockets.

The red dragonet leapt into the air and flew to a branch well out of Minna's reach. She called down to us in a series of mocking warbles and chirps. "Hate to break it to you, but I'm still fine! Your plan's failed; you'll have to try harder than that to hurt me enough so they can 'rescue' me away from my family!"

I leaned around Minna's leg and shouted back up at the deranged dragonet. "Crazy lady, YOU were the one that attacked ME!"

"Go run and hide in your master's cage! If you ever come near me or my kids again, I will end you!"

"Deranged lunatic!"

"Treasonous snake!"

Minna eyed the red dragonet for a bit longer, then seemed to decide my attacker was staying away. She turned towards me and gently scooped me up, making sure to be careful with my wing. "Okay, so it looks like the flock isn't going to be as accepting as we had hoped..."

"Insane whacko!" I ignored Minna completely and tilted my head up enough to glare back at the other dragonet.

She yelled back at me just as energetically. "Van driving child-snatcher! Nobody wants your candy!"

"You were supposed to wear the tinfoil hat, not eat it!"

"You come around me or my family ever again, and I'll make sure it's the last time you go anywhere!"

"Trust me lady, nobody wants to stay farther away from your brand of pyscho than me!"

"Good! Stay away!"

"I WILL!"

"...good grief, you two really don't like each other much, do you." Minna sighed at our incomprehensible shrieks and carried me away.

The crazed dragonet followed after us all the way to the edge of the park, exchanging insults with me the entire time. It was only when we reached the clearing before the buildings that she finally turned and flew away.

Ivy was waiting with Trenil in that clearing. I looked at her with a mixture of relief and frustration. "Ivy! Where were you; I was calling you for help!"

Ivy chirped back at me in wry amusement. "Nate, you're blocking me."

"...oh." I kicked myself, then imagined Ivy inside one of the rooms in my mental burrow. "Is that fixed?"

"Let's see... yep!"

Minna settled down on a bench and pulled a small box from one of her pockets. She retrieved a small cloth from it and began cleaning my cuts.

Whatever was on the cloth stung. I fidgeted in her grip.

Ivy shifted to the edge of Trenil's shoulder and watched Minna work. "I told Trenil you were in trouble, and he had Minna check your tracker. Your heart rate had spiked and it said you were bleeding, so she ran to help. I tried to tell you she was on the way, but you were shutting everything out."

"Sorry... thank you."

"What happened? The general mindlink is blowing up; a lot of people are arguing. Did you do anything?"

I flinched as Minna cleaned a cut along my back, then applied a bandage over it. "No." I thought more. "Maybe. I don't know." I sighed to myself and slowly explained what had happened.

"...oh." Ivy looked a little sad by the time I had finished. "I'm sorry. I knew some of us were upset, but I didn't think it would go that far. I had hoped... err... I had thought you would be safe here."

Minna finished treating my scratches, then began to feel gently along my wing.

"It's okay. Honestly... it was a bit overwhelming. There are just so many people here."

"I don't think his wing is any worse off. I think he just overexerted it."

Trenil sat down on the bench after Minna finished - I guess he was worried about spooking me. "That's fortunate. He won't need to spend any extra time recovering; his cuts should be all healed up by the time his muscles are stronger."

"Yeah. And he is getting stronger. It'll probably just be three or four days." Minna reached into another pocket and brought out the tangled up straps of the harness. She set them on her lap next to me and began untangling them.

I watched her work. She seemed... dull. Mechanical, like she was doing something she had to do, not something she actually wanted to do.

Trenil seemed to notice too. "That's still three or four more days than you had before."

"I guess." Minna finished untangling the straps and just let it sit there for a minute. "He didn't even look back."

"What do you mean?"

"Earlier. When he flew off. He just disappeared into the trees without even a glance back at us." She fastened parts of the straps together, then looped it around me and clicked it together. "The flock rejected him, but he rejected me. I'll take care of him for the next few days. But... he wasn't coming back."

"You don't know that for sure. Sometimes it takes time."

She shook her head. "No. I know."

She picked me up from her lap and put me on her shoulder. I sat there covered in Kymari bandages and tried to think what to do, but nothing came to mind. I wanted to cheer her up, but... I wasn't sure she was wrong. I hadn't thought about going back to her at all. The most I had thought about was finding somewhere even more isolated. "Could you call Arlia, please? I think I'd just like to go home now. He probably needs to rest, anyways. And he can't do that here."

Ivy's wings drooped and her tail curled up a little, but Trenil nodded. "Okay. We'll meet you back at the shuttle landing."

"Thanks." Minna turned and headed back towards the city.

We left the park.