Tessa's POV:
Opening up Soranto's belt pouch, I pretended to stick something inside before jumping onto his lap. He would probably be confused when he failed to find anything later on. He caressed my neck and back. It felt good and was almost as relaxing as a small massage.
Abby and Dirk were perched precariously on the back of the bench as they did something to the armor on the back of Tran's shoulder. Tran seemed perfectly content to let them do whatever they wanted, even though all of us knew he would likely end up taking off the shoulder section to get the joints working properly again.
Dirk was ferrying an awful lot of pebbles to Abby as she carefully wedged each one into the worst spot possible. I idly wondered if Tran would ever invest in armor like Soranto's, although I kind of doubted it. Soranto liked to tease back or foil our efforts, but Tran welcomed the pranks in quiet amusement.
"I heard your schedule is shifting to every second day, correct?" Taureen asked Soranto.
My ear tufts twitched as I resisted the urge to look up. Sometimes playing dumb was hard.
"Starting in five days, yes. From what I've heard, my side guards will be ready to join us around that time."
"Drae and Sipar?"
"Yes. They don't have any experience with bond animals or fire lizards, but they do have a lot of experience with crawlers and sicora. They just finished their additional training, so now we just need to get Tessa used to their presence."
"That shouldn't be too hard. I suspect you can try your first patrols without Aeria or me in a week or so. Just make sure that the tracker in her harness is linked with your wrist comm."
"It's already linked. I don't think I will have any trouble, but you never know."
They continued discussing what Soranto's first solo patrol was going to be like. From what I overheard, it was just going to be walking around the streets to see if I would remain with him and not go looking for the people I was more familiar with or take off for the main park.
While the general idea was boring, it was still exciting because it was the next step. An outing without Taureen, Aeria, Mom, Dad, or Dirk! I would finally get to meet Soranto's side guards as well. The names were strange, so I didn't think that I had met them yet.
It wasn't long before we left the park. Abby watched us go with longing eyes, but didn't leave the trees. We all knew it would be a long time before she actually tried. In the meantime, she would be pestering us for every detail of our days and nights as she tried to learn as much as she possibly could.
As had become custom, Adeline and Maria joined us for dinner and visited most of the evening as well. If nothing else, my slow bonding with Soranto was turning the two families into very close friends.
As they were getting ready to leave, Taureen asked Soranto, "Do you have everything you need at your place? I think today might be a good day to see if Tessa will go home with you."
Dirk and I glanced at Taureen in shock, although Mom and Dad didn't seem surprised. Mom looked irritated, but didn't even growl.
"You think so?" Soranto asked. "Everything is set up, and I have all of the supplies as well as several kinds of fruit on hand."
"Try taking her home and see how she does."
Excitement began to shine in Soranto's eyes. "Let's see how far I get. If she starts crying too much, I could be bringing her back."
"Just remember to record her singing in the morning."
Soranto nodded as he reached for my harness on the wall. "Tessa, want to come with me?"
Playing dumb and hiding my sudden nerves, I tilted my head before flying over. He put my harness on and lifted me to his shoulder. Maria was smiling widely as we exited the house. I looked back as the door closed, feeling kind of strange to be out here when I had never been outside without Taureen or Aeria nearby.
It made me feel slightly jittery, although the feeling reminded me of the first times I went with Abby or Glen in the main park without Mom or Dad nearby.
Soranto saw me glancing back uneasily and stroked my neck reassuringly. "Easy. You're okay. We'll see them tomorrow morning."
That was easy for him to say. He didn't have a big surprise just dropped on him. Well, he actually did since Taureen suggested it.
"Mom, did you know this was going to happen?"
"I knew it was going to happen this week, although not the exact day."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I tried to keep the pain and accusation out of my voice.
"I don't like surprises anymore than you do," she replied tiredly, sorrow leaking through her voice. "Soranto isn't aware that he can just explain things to you, so this was your first brush with him doing things you don't know about or understand."
I winced slightly; we had talked about this weeks ago. It was one thing to know about it in theory, but quite another to have it sprung onto you. I should have expected it.
I took a deep breath and tried to relax. The mindlink was still there, so I could talk to Mom, Dad, and Dirk like usual – I just couldn't see them. The three Kymari with me were among those I trusted the most, and we were going to a house that I was now very familiar with. The only difference was that I would be sleeping somewhere else.
After a few minutes, my initial unease faded and the walk began to remind me a lot of our usual practice walks. Soranto and Adeline were relaxed, although they were subtly keeping a close eye on me.
It was still a relief when their house finally came into sight. We went inside, and Soranto took off my harness – which felt kind of strange since it only ever came off in Taureen's home. He hung it on a small branch near the door.
"There you go. Go on."
I flew over to the heat lamp, hoping that the warmth would help ease my few lingering nerves. As I curled up underneath the warmest section, I watched the three Kymari settle into their usual chairs. Soranto pulled a laptop out of the new center table, while Adeline was sketching something on a pad of paper. Maria began reading the Kymari version of a book.
Other than Soranto's occasional glance over, none of them looked at me. Yet, I knew they were watching me in their peripheral vision. If I wanted to go where they couldn't see me, there were plenty of options. I knew where each hiding place was, but I appreciated their company. It was keeping the looming loneliness at bay.
The intense heat did wonders, turning my muscles into mush as it began to push me into a sunbathing trance. I had never rested under this section of the heat lamp before, nor had I ever encountered one that emitted so much warmth. It was beginning to get too hot.
After a big stretch to get my muscles working properly, I glided over to Adeline. I kind of wanted some comfort or reassurance, and she seemed like a good place to start since she was a mother who deeply loved her own child.
I curled up on her lap, and she began gently petting me with one hand as she examined some elaborate detailed sketch in the other. It kind of reminded me of the old human blueprints of buildings, although hers seemed more angled towards the layout of rooms and how the light would fall when entering the windows.
