Lost Change

Chapter 35

“Hello?”

I shifted drowsily on the sand and reached up to brush at whatever was bothering my ear.  It was too earl… okay, it was probably the middle of the day by now, but I was tired.  I hadn’t slept well, and I still wasn’t sure what to think of the Kymari’s decision.

“Hellooooooo?  Is anybody out there?”

The strange voice repeated itself and I warbled a tired ‘Go awaaaaaay’ before rolling over in the sand.  I was vaguely aware of the Kymari lifting her head up to look at me from the couch - she had been doing something on her tablet when she heard my noise, and she looked much more composed than she had been in the morning - before I dropped my head against the warm sand and closed my eyes.  It felt so nice, especially with how sore my wings and leg felt…

“...just a guideline, but so far this has worked well for the wild ones.  We might have to adjust some things since he already seems tame, but it should still be a good starting point.  I’ll be available any time if you have any questions.”

I yawned and grumbled again at the unwelcome noise.  It was still so hard to get real rest, at least unless I wanted to try and drink the water laced with the sedatives, and I didn’t appreciate being woken up by whatever was making the noise.  It sounded like a male voice, one speaking the Kymari language.

“Are you sure?  Some of these… I have to get rid of the cage?  What if he gets outside?”

Her voice that time.  I snorted.  Of course she would be involved in ruining my nap.

“He will need to get comfortable being around you.  The cage is an extra bit of separation between the two of you.  If it comes to that we can get a tracker on him, but you shouldn’t have to worry too much about him getting out.  They aren’t as fast on their feet as they are in flight, so if he does try to make a break for the door it really won’t be that hard to catch him.”

“...feed him by hand?  He’ll just bite me!”

Bluh.  Whoever she was talking to, they obviously weren’t going to go away any time soon.  I yawned again and slowly opened my eyes.

I closed my eyes again, rolled over, and shook myself off until the sand that had gotten in my eyes was gone.  And then I brought my hands up and rubbed at my head a bit more just for good measure.  Why was I sleeping upside down?  That was pretty stupid…

I opened my eyes again and glanced towards the sound of the voices… then stopped at what I saw above me.

“Well good morning there, sleepy head!”

I instantly recognized the lyrical chirps and whistles.  They were identical to my own.  And just like with the Kymari language, there was an understanding wrapped up inside the sounds, with the strange knowledge in my head automatically assigning meaning to each of the musical syllables.

I also recognized the shape sprawled out on top of my cage.  The same long wings, the same arching ears ending as feathery tufts, the same slender tail, the same yellow-amber eyes.  I would have thought I was just seeing a picture or reflection of myself… if the scales of the creature staring back at me hadn’t been a rich green in color.

I gawked at the only other living dragonet I had seen in eight very long years.

A million questions crowded through my sleepy brain.  Where had she come from?  How had she survived for so long?  Had she once been human, like I had, or was she some 'original' creature that the human scientists had tried to copy?  What was her name?  Did she even have a name?  Was green the color we normally came in?  Was silver a color we normally came in, or was something wrong with me for not being green like her?  Were there others like us?  Could she understand me, the way that I could understand her?  Did she know why I could understand her?  What was she doing here now, and how had she gotten past the Kymari that had captured me?