Despite standing out so much from the common kymari, Spiky Head was a little difficult to locate the following day. And if we thought he was difficult to locate, he was even more difficult to follow around. He didn’t talk much with his patrol partner and he never lingered out in the open for too long while patrolling the park. I was able to get close enough only once to get a good feel for his mindecho, and it had only left me confused.

I had come to learn over the recent years that it wasn’t just the dragonets who had such an echo, but so did the kymari and I assumed other intelligent races as well. The mindechoes of kymari weren’t nearly as strong as a dragonet’s, however, and it required me to get pretty close just to get a grasp on what exactly was radiating from one's mind. 

I didn’t understand it in the slightest, and after bringing it up to Dan, neither did he. Apparently this was a skill only I possessed and I had a slight suspicion it had something to do with the echolocation I had adopted into my day to day life. I decided it was best to keep this ability of mine a secret along with my blindness.

“Alright, I think he’s coming back your way again.” Dan called through our mindlink as I waited in a thick bush alongside one of the kymari walking trails.

I sent back a wordless thanks for the heads up and tried to calm my nerves at the fact I was purposefully waiting for a couple of kymari to get close to me. Dan had told me it wasn’t necessary for me to get another read on him if I didn’t want to, but the mystery of this kymari had intrigued me enough to commit to it on the spot. Now that I was actually here, however, I was having second thoughts.

A twig snapped slightly ahead of me and to my right causing my ear tufts to swivel to pinpoint the direction the sound had come from. Realizing I had zoned out for a moment, I returned my focus to the task at hand. I threw out my senses into the void like a rock in a ravine and waited patiently for it to bounce back to me. I wasn’t sure what else to call the space in which all of our thoughts traveled. Sure we called the method in which we spoke to one another the mindlink, but that was merely a connection within this void, tethering each of us to one another while surrounded by this endless nothingness.

It was outside of the direct connection of the mindlink that my senses roamed and bounced back after hitting a compatible barrier. It was here where emotions ran free and didn’t tie directly into the mindlink unless one chose to connect it for the recipient to experience and feel for themselves.

My senses bounced back to me and I saw the two kymari’s mindechoes for the second time. The partner had a rather predictable echo. His revealed him to be distracted and bored. I got the sense that he really just wanted to return home quickly to get back to something. But my target kymari was completely different from any of the other kymari mindechoes I had experienced so far. All I could sense from him was calm and pure focus. He was taking in everything, all while not letting any single thing overwhelm him. It actually put me at ease just feeling how calm his mindecho was.

“It wasn’t a fluke.” I mindlinked Dan, “He’s the one we should go with. I’m sure of it.”

“What did you find out?” I didn’t need to feel his mindecho to know how curious he was.

“I don’t think we are going to find a more patient kymari than this one right here.” I replied while waiting for the kymari to leave my earshot before attempting to leave my hiding spot.

“I’m not far, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Dan’s mindvoice radiated joy and I couldn’t help but smile.

~~~

“Ok so I’ve been trying not to pry into what you two have been doing for the past week, but it’s already been four days and I’m dying to know,” Samantha began, cornering me in a conversation I couldn’t get out of, “You disappear all morning and only show up after most of the kymari have left the park. Something tells me you two have definitely been up to something.”

I shifted awkwardly where I lay with my wings spread out to catch the early afternoon sunlight. Her attitude and mindvoice tried to suggest that she knew exactly what was going on, but the buzzing excitement in her mindecho revealed that Sam really only thought I had some spicy gossip for her to share around with the other dragonets. And I suspected she had likely already started spreading such rumors.

“We were following around a kymari?” I said, though not very confidently. I wasn’t sure how she’d react to me telling her, especially since it wasn’t the spicy news she thought she was getting.

“Yeah right.” Sam huffed out a laugh, not believing my words. “I know you and I know you wouldn’t just randomly choose to follow around a kymari all morning for no reason. Besides, if that were true, then that would mean you might leave the park one day…”

Sam’s voice trailed off as the buzzing in her mindecho stilled. I recognized the new feeling as one I experienced nearly every day and the tight feeling in my chest increased in response. I tried to keep my breathing steady as the feelings got more intense. I could barely sort through my thoughts and the mindechos around me as fear squeezed at my quickly beating heart and I knew I had to get out of this conversation before the situation got worse. I couldn’t let it reach that point.

“H-hey don’t worry about it, Sam. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. It’s not like you couldn’t just track me down if you wanted to.” I reassured her, scooting closer to drape a wing over hers.

The tight feeling in Samantha’s mindecho softened and she let out a light hearted laugh, “You’re right, I’m worrying over nothing. I’d think you were off getting revenge on that storm hawk before believing you wanted to actually go live with a kymari. Though, at the rate the two of you are going, I’d believe a kymari might try snatching you both up out of concern for the lack of hatchlings from a “mated” pair.” 

“You’re one to talk!” I smacked her with my wing and she exploded into a fit of laughter.

The pressure in my chest had finally lifted and I was able to smile without forcing it. Chris and Dan’s mindechos shifted as they took notice of our laughter and were swirling with admiration.

~~~

“There he is! He’s back!” Dan called excitedly into our private mindlink while sharing an image of Spiky Head through the tree's canopy.

“Darn. I was really hoping for another day of sunbathing.” I yawn with a joking tone in my mindvoice.

“Two days of sunbathing wasn’t enough?” Dan replied in the same joking manner.

“Of course not. Are you even a dragonet? How could you ask that?” I was already stretching out my sun soaked limbs, getting ready to fly in the direction I heard Dan’s mindvoice. I said a quick goodbye to Sam before taking off, clicking with my mouth to avoid running into trees. She barely responded, much too asleep to fully register I had even left.

I knew I was close when I felt Dan’s mindecho reach my senses and I angled myself to land on the branch next to him. I nearly missed my landing, though Dan was able to grab onto me before I fell too far forward off the branch.

“He’s back on his usual route.” Dan relays to me, referring to Spiky Head’s patrol route through the park. 

Since we started following and watching him, we’ve noticed only slight changes in his route each day. I wasn’t sure why it was only slightly different and not just a new path entirely every day, but I was sure it wasn’t random. This kymari didn’t seem like one to do something without reason.

We followed from behind like we had the first four days and I couldn’t help but wonder for the umpteenth time how long this tactic would take before something changed and we got to be taken in as official bond companions. Deep down, there was a part of me that hoped it never happened so we could continue living in the park peacefully, but the rest of me knew that wouldn’t satisfy Dan. I was doing all of this for his sake, afterall.

I kept my thoughts to myself as the minutes dragged by. Dan’s mindecho was active with excitement, a stark contrast to the still waves of his mindecho during the two days Spiky Head had been absent. It was clear to me that he was obviously enjoying himself, though I couldn’t fully understand it. I would much rather be sunbathing than chasing down a kymari who might not even be interested in us.

We were about halfway through their route in the park when Spiky Head finally did something different. He crouched down near some stones and then stood back up to continue moving along the path.

“Did he stop to tie his shoe?” I click my mouth a few times, not understanding the vague shapes coming back to me.

“I think he put something on the rocks?” Dan leaned forward, causing the branch to sway slightly. We waited a few moments to make sure the kymari were out of sight before gliding down and inspecting the stones. Dan landed first but I was right behind him as I felt shock through the mindlink as well as his mindecho. 

“What is it?” I took a step closer.

“Sunburst berries!” I heard Dan pick them up and I could now smell them more clearly.

“Are those even safe to eat? Didn’t Tasha warn everyone not to take berries from them because they could be drugged?” I shifted from side to side, excited about free sunburst berries but also worried about the consequences it could have.

“The only reason the others are worried about getting drugged is because they don’t want to be captured by the kymari. But isn’t that our goal anyway?” Dan spoke logically, “So either there is nothing wrong with these berries and it's an easy treat, or they’re drugged and our plans are moved forward. The only thing we’d have to worry about is the other dragonets getting mad at us for falling for such a trick.”

His words made me feel slightly better until I recalled what Sam had felt. She wasn’t a fan of the kymari, probably less so than I was, and I knew she wouldn’t be happy to find out I had been drugged and captured. Though it would provide me with an excuse that could take the heat off of myself, I had a feeling she’d likely try to plan a breakout to get me out of there.

Dan passed over one of the two berries in front of me and I was broken from my thoughts as he patiently held it out waiting for me to take it from him. I clicked and carefully reached out to grab it with my hand paws. The scent of the berry was strong, likely perfectly ripe, but it also was covered in the scent of the kymari. 

I could hear Dan bite into his berry and the scent of the berries juice wafted over to me causing my mouth to water. I had bitten into it before I even registered bringing it to my mouth.

It was so delicate and sweet. The texture was somewhere between a grape and a tomato, but its flavor was on a whole other level. There wasn’t a whole lot I could compare it to other than the feelings of the morning song itself. 

My muscles relaxed and my shoulders dropped with my wings dipping to drag on the ground. As I went to take another bite, I was disappointed to find I had somehow already eaten the entire thing. I could still taste it on my tongue and the smell on my claws made me want more. I worked at licking my claws clean as I heard Dan doing the same.

“I don’t think I tasted anything off about the berry.” I hummed, wishing I hadn’t sped through the rare treat.

“I don’t feel any different either.” Dan added, “I think it’s safe to say those sunburst berries were not drugged.”

I let out a breath, slightly more relaxed now that I didn’t have to worry about being in a drugged state, “I think it's fair to say that Spiky Head definitely knows we've been following him.”

~~~

We sat at the treeline at the edge of the park and watched as Spiky Head and his partner walked towards the edge of the city. It had been another three days with the kymari leaving us sunburst berries at the same stone each day for us. Dan was becoming more restless, clearly not able to compete with the kymari’s discipline for patience.

“What exactly is the plan here?” I ask Dan, my tail swishing from side to side behind me with my nervousness.

“Didn’t we talk about it last night?” Dan asked back, his mindecho a swirl of excitement and nerves and confusion.

“I wouldn’t exactly call what we had a “talk,”” I chuckled, “It was more of a “you talking while I listened half asleep” kind of thing.”

“Ah, right. I guess being half asleep would make it hard to remember anything,” Dan admitted, “Well I was talking about following them into the city today.”

“Yeah I understood that part. I just don’t quite know why we’re following them into the city.” I turned my head to face him.

“To see how he reacts?” Dan ventured, “Or maybe we could just follow him home and see what happens.”

“Right. Show up at his doorstep like two lost little kittens and hope he finds us cute enough to let us inside.” I interpreted, “Foolproof.”

“We won’t know what will happen unless we try. If we do this, it’s gotta be now. He’s already almost out of view.” 

It was obvious what Dan wanted to do. He was fearless like that. And even though I didn’t understand how he could possibly be so brave, it was one of the traits about him that I loved. Without him to take the leaps, I would likely be dead.

My chest still felt tight and tingly, but I spread my wings regardless, “Alright, let’s go then. But only for a little bit. Sam is already coming to some wild conclusions about what we’ve been getting up to. I don’t need her interrogations to be any worse.”

~~~

The city was just as bad as I thought it would be. It wasn’t nearly as loud as I remembered human cities being, but that was also part of the problem. Whatever material the kymari built with had a sound absorbing quality to it, which while I was sure was good for sound pollution, it wasn’t very good for my echolocation.

I could still make out the general locations of the buildings around me, but shapes were out of the question. If it wasn’t for Dan sharing multiple images of their round buildings with me, I would never have imagined them looking like they do. I wished I had more time to ponder on the design of the strange buildings, but my attention had to stay focused on Dan, since he was the only object my echolocation could clearly make out, not including the occasional tree along the sides of the streets.

At the rate I was taking in information, I wasn’t even sure why I tagged along to begin with. Dan had gone into the votak city and the kymari city without me before. I shook my head at the thought. No, I did know. It was because I was part of this decision too. Dan wouldn’t do any of this if I didn’t agree to it.

Dan angled towards one of the small street trees and landed on one of the higher branches. With careful clicks, I still managed to miss the branch he was on and landed on a slightly lower branch. I was at least thankful I hadn’t missed the tree completely.

“Looks like they’re taking a short break.” Dan shared an image of the two kymari sitting on a bench.

“Good.” I took a moment to calm my heart rate, but my mind wasn’t able to rest. I could hear multiple other kymari walking around. Some were whispering to one another, clearly noticing that a couple of dragonets had wandered from the park.

“Have you talked to an Elder about this?” My ears picked up the voice of the patrol partner. I had only heard him speak a few times, but that was still more than what I’ve heard of Spiky Head.

“Not yet.” Spiky Head had a deep voice but it was oddly smooth and just as calming as his mindecho.

“Why not?” The patrol partner had a level tone but I wasn’t close enough to quite pick up his mindecho.

“There’s no reason to. The law is clear.” Spiky Head said plainly.

I could feel Dan’s mood drop slightly, put down by the fact that the plan wasn’t going quite to plan. He still had plenty of optimism bouncing around in his mindecho, however, which told me he was far from giving up.

“Let’s wait for them to get up again before going back. This was probably enough for today.” Dan jumped down to the branch I was on causing it to sway.

“At this rate, we might need something short of a miracle to make the plan work. What’s next? Sneak into his house and make ourselves at home?” I joked with him, trying to brighten his mood a bit more.

“The plan’s not dead yet!” Dan insisted with a light hearted tone, “Kymari are just too patient for their own good.”

“Right, right,” I laughed, “Let’s just get back before it gets much later. With any luck, Sam’s still sunbathing and we can act like we never left.”

~~~

The city didn’t get any better the next day we followed the kymari from the park. It was still just as terrifying and just as hard to use my echolocation in as last time. The fact that I hadn’t run into a building yet half surprised me.

We followed them up until they came to another bench for a break around the same time they had before. Dan and I rested in the tree nearby, listening to the drabble of conversations that came our way. There wasn’t much to see with the image Dan shared of the two sitting having their break, so I mainly just listened. Other than the passing conversations from other kymari coming by, my ears were trained on picking up the sounds of everything else as well. I could clearly hear the sound of each pair of footsteps, pant legs brushing against one another, the leaves in the tree being blown by the light breeze, and the subtle creek of the bench the two kymari sat on. The sounds were a nice distraction from the mindechos that continuously came in and out of my range.

My ears twitched as I heard a pair of footsteps come to a stop and not even a moment later, an image from Dan entered my mind. A kymari had stopped next to the bench and looked like he knew one of the sitting kymari guards.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you while on duty.” Spiky Head greeted the newcomer.

“I had some errands to run and knew you’d be on patrol today, so I decided to stop by and see how the prototype is handling.” The new kymari’s voice was slightly higher in pitch than Spiky Head’s.

“There haven’t been any problems that I’ve noticed while training, but there are some things that could be tweaked for better performance. I can come by later today or tomorrow and we can go over it. I’m sure Calina would like to come as well.”

“Tonight would work better. I have a few meetings tomorrow that I can’t reschedule.”

I started spacing out from their conversation as it morphed into even more mundane kymari topics that didn’t have anything to do with me. Shifting my weight on the branch, I lay down to rest my head on my hand paws and waited for the day’s stalking to be over. With how invested Dan seemed to be with the conversation, though, I figured it would take slightly longer before we headed back again.

~~~

I was starting to get used to “sneaking” into the city after following the kymari guards out of the park for nearly a week. I still didn't like how disoriented I always felt flying around the sound muffled buildings, but following Dan's echo was becoming easier despite the difficulties.

Everything was mostly being tuned out by my senses as I followed Dan. I couldn't help but feel bored and I could definitely tell Dan was itching for something new to develop in this half baked plan we were following.

“Aspen, where are you?” Sam's mindvoice broke through my thoughts.

“With Dan.” I hinted vaguely. “Why?”

“Chris and I are getting ready for the approaching storm with some other dragonets. We were wondering if the two of you wanted to join us or if you had your own preparations planned?” Sam's mindvoice dripped with curiosity though she remained focused on her question.

I hadn't even noticed the slight change in temperature until she mentioned an oncoming storm, “Let me talk to Dan. I don't think we have enough provisions stored.”

“Ok. Just get back to me soon so we know if we should wait.” Sam sent a silent goodbye as she broke from the mindlink, probably to finish planning with the other dragonets she was with.

Talking with Sam caused me to become lost in thought and had put me slightly off course of my flight following behind Dan. With a few clicks, I looked around and reoriented myself. I flapped my wings slightly harder in an attempt to catch up.

“Dan,” I called out, “Sam wants to know if we want to join them for preparations before the storm tonight.”

“Oh right. I didn't even notice th- watch out!” Dan's sudden cut off into a screech had me freeze in thought.

And then everything hit me all at once.

Time seemed to slow down as sounds and events all layered on top of one another in the fraction of a moment. The sound of something cutting through the air was the first thing I noticed. Then was the frantic flapping of Dan's wings. And behind all that were sounds of distant shock and panic from kymari around us on the ground.

Then I was hit by Dan's weight knocking the wind out of my lungs followed by pain. Something firm had hit us hard and Dan broke away from me as we free fell through the air.

The moment I hit the ground, time seemed to return to its normal speed. A strangled cry left my maw about the same time I heard Dan's screech. My back scraped painfully against the pavement for a few endless seconds. The momentum tossed me head over tail before finally coming to a stop.

Dan's mindecho was stronger than I had ever felt it as his own pain flooded into my mind. My mind wasn't clear enough to use the mindlink, but I hadn't recovered enough breath to even call out his name. I choked out a cough as I attempted anyway.

“Asp-” Dan's own voice was also strained and with how quiet it was, I could now make out all the other noises overwhelming the scene around us.

I heard some kymari shouting and felt heavy footsteps pounding the ground around us. I felt panic flood my veins as I struggled to get up and get to Dan. Pain was instantly evident in every muscle of my body, but was strongest from my back. It was too much to bare.

“Dan-” I managed to find my voice to call out to him.

Dan coughs a few times before he's able to speak, “It-its ok. I'm fine.”

I could still feel his agony through his mindecho even if he hid it from his mindvoice and knew he was lying. With everything going on, I couldn't even tell what pain was my own anymore. The pounding I thought was coming from my head had abruptly stopped and I realized the source was from the kymari I could now smell beside me.

A hiss erupted from my throat that faltered into a whine as I tried to move away from the large alien. This time the pounding I felt was definitely coming from my head and I felt vertigo shift the ground below me that I couldn't even see.

Dan's sudden yelp of pain had my head snap in his direction once more. A scent, that had previously been faint, was now much stronger and I recognized it as blood. I wasn't sure if it was my own or Dan's, but it didn't matter.

The panic and fear pumping through me wasn't enough to do anything. I could feel the pressure behind my eyes increase and knew I was slipping from consciousness. The last thing I could remember before being taken by sleep was the subtle mindecho of Dan's jumbled emotions.

(Quick important note for new readers! Along with all of my editing, this is a completely brand new chapter to help clean up later plot holes. So until the entire book has been revised, this chapter might contradict later chapters! This chapter also includes new plot elements that are not mentioned or included in the later unrevised chapters! Lastly, this chapter should cover any confusion that would have resulted when reading between chapters 5 and 6. After the entire book is edited, chapters will be renumbered for more clarity. Check for stars to read the edited chapters! You’ve been warned!)