A terrible scream woke me. Instinct took over and I felt my wings spreading out around me in preparation to fly from whatever threat was nearby. I raised my head and tried to get an idea of what was going on.

The surface beneath me jerked upwards and threw me into the air. I squawked in indignation and beat my wings to stop my momentum, instead hovering in place above the bed. I looked around and tried to make sense of what was going on.

Minna had jumped out of bed at the noise. The screeching was still coming from somewhere in the distance, vaguely above us, and it was growing painfully louder. My ear tufts dropped in the growing discomfort. Minna lunged towards the nightstand by her bed and retrieved the large knife that she typically wore on her belt from it, then dashed out of the room.

"Nate, come here!"

I darted through the hastily-opened door and caught up with Minna, landing on her outstretched fist. She shifted me to her shoulder as she raced to the living room. I clung to her shirt carefully, still half asleep but aware of how easily my claws could pierce through her nightshirt.

Terron was already in the living room when we arrived. Minna came to a stop and glanced around warily. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure; it sounds like a ship-" Terron broke off as the screech ended in the resounding crash of an explosion.

The room shook around us.

One of Minna's hands came to my back to steady me while her other found the wall to help with her own balance. Terron stumbled but stayed on his feet. The shaking gradually stopped.

Both Kymari looked worried. I warbled nervously, feeling scared myself. What was going on? The closest thing I could think of was when an airplane had crashed in one of the cities I had lived in while growing up. Did Kymari shuttles have accidents like that?

Terron turned to the low table in the center of the room and tapped a sequence on the device there. The screen came on and an announcer's excited voice filled the room. "-details still coming in but appears a vessel has lost control during its landing approach and is descending at unsafe velocities. It is projected to land in... we are receiving new reports now... the vessel has missed the spaceport and has crashed into a residential area. Emergency teams are being dispatched to the site now. Residents are urged to remain indoors at this time until the situation is resolved. Again, for those just joining us, a freighter has fallen out of control during its landing approach and has crashed into a residential area; response teams are approaching the site of the crash now. All individuals not involved in the official response are encouraged to remain indoors at this time. More details will be provided as-."

Terron pushed a few more buttons on the controller and the volume cut out. "A ship crash? Here?"

Minna looked out the living room window and frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. There are all sorts of safety measures in place that would warn a pilot of problems; how could somebody mess up badly enough to-" Minna broke off as a loud beeping came from back down the hallway.

She followed the sound of the beeping back into her room. The tablet beeped again from her nightstand, making a loud noise that hurt my ears almost as badly as the terrible screeching had. I hissed in discomfort and lowered my head in a wince. Minna tapped the tablet and the beeping cut off.

I relaxed and let my ear tufts rise back to their resting position. That noise had been really annoying.

"This is Minna speaking, can I help you?"

"Bond Handler Minna? With the fire lizard?"

Minna glanced at me with a frown, then looked back at the tablet. "Yes?"

"We need your help. A ship has just crashed nearby; the traffic controller believes a sicora attacked the pilot while the ship was entering the atmosphere. We need you to make sure any sicora on board do not escape into the city."

Minna hesitated. "I'm not... can another handler take this one? Nate hasn't finished training; we aren't ready for something like this."

The voice was silent for a moment before coming back with a focused feeling to the words. Whoever was on the other end was giving Minna his full attention now. "It will take a shuttle at least two hours to bring one of the other handlers to us. You can be on the scene in six minutes. Do you need me to tell you how many victims a sicora could kill in two hours?"

An edge entered Minna's voice. "No. But I will need you to provide armor, guards, and a weapon, as well as put in the call for backup assistance from one of those other handlers because, as I mentioned, we have not completed training and are not prepared for this. I have no idea if Nate is even up to the task yet; I haven't even introduced him to their scent before now."

The voice on the other end took on a note of incredulity. "The note I have says you've been with your fire lizard - 'Nate' - for over a month now. What were you doing all this time if not preparing for this?"

"I was helping him recover from life threatening injuries and preparing him for release back into the wild. My status as his handler is a recent development, and I have been a bond handler for less than a week." Minna's voice grew stern. Confrontational. "If necessary I will come and provide assistance, but again, I will require a set of armor and a team to actually kill the sicora once located, as I will not risk Nate in such a way before his training is complete, and I can make no guarantees as to if he will be able to actually locate the creature. I would strongly recommend having another bond handler contacted as a backup in case he is not."

"Fine. A shuttle has been dispatched to your location to bring you to the crash site. We will have armor and a team of guards waiting for you when you arrive." There was a sudden bonk, and the background noise of the call cut out.

"Jerk." Minna moved me to the bed and disappeared into the closet, returning a moment later in the clothes she normally wore during the day. She started grabbing things from the bag of training supplies - I recognized my harness and the round vials she stored treats in, but she also grabbed a collapsed pole with a weird mesh on one end and a much shorter leash than I was used to. I grumbled a little as she looped the harness over me and clipped the leash on, but I didn't make too much of a fuss and allowed her to move me back up to her shoulder.

She headed back to the living room where Terron was still watching the news. "I'm needed. The ship pilot was attacked by a sicora during the landing. They need us to track it down before it gets anyone else."

Terron frowned and glanced at me. "Are you ready for that? I thought you wouldn't be starting patrols for a few weeks."

"I'm going to have to be." Minna's voice sounded confident... but I could feel the tension even through the thick padding of her shirt. She was nervous. "A shuttle is on its way."

"Do you want me to get you a firearm?" Terron glanced down one of the hallways. "It'll just take a second. I can dig out the one I loaned you when you first arriv..." Terron broke off in mid sentence and winced.

Minna looked away from me and slowly shook her head. "Thank you, but it wouldn't do me much good against a sicora anyways. I'll have a lot of guards between me and any danger. I'll be fine."

Terron seemed like he wanted to say more... but he just nodded. "Okay. Good luck."

"Thanks." Minna started out of the living room.

Terron spoke up again before we could leave. "Minna?"

"Yes?" She paused in the doorway and looked back.

Terron closed the distance and grabbed Minna in a hug. The sudden motion startled me, and I jumped off her shoulder to fly in an aimless circle while they embraced.

"Stay safe. Don't make me have to make that call to Mom."

I flinched in my flight. I knew exactly what call he meant.

I saw Minna close her eyes and nod as she hugged Terron back... then she smiled again. "Don't worry. I'll stay behind the guards, I promise; I'll be safe. Now let me go before Nate gets us both tied up in his leash; I'll be back in a few hours."

Terron grinned and let go of the hug. He stepped back and nodded. "I'll let Loreena know what's going on, then, and check up on Lyzel. See you soon."

Minna unwound the leash and held her fist up for me. I landed on it, then hopped back up on her shoulder. "See you soon."

We left the house. Minna stood by the front door and looked up into the night sky.

I was nervous. We were needed. I wasn't sure how many Kymari a sicora could kill in two hours, but Minna had seemed to think it was a significant enough number to worry about when the caller had mentioned it. If I wasn't able to hunt down the thing... people would die.

And Terron had clearly been worried about Minna's safety. This was going to be dangerous for her. For both of us - I knew from the blood memories that a sicora's venom was lethal.

"Ivy?" I sent the call to the green dragonet, hoping to ask for some advice, or some last minute instructions, or the secret to finding sicora... but my mindspeech came back with the strange empty echo I had grown to recognize. Ivy was asleep.

I was on my own.

A hum filled the air and a shuttle descended into the yard. The door slid open and Minna walked inside, resting one hand on my back as she sat down in the seat.

The shuttle shuddered as it lifted back into the air and carried us towards the crashed ship.