Chapter 4

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~Seven years later~

Sunbathing with my mate, I watched as his purple scales glittered in the sunlight. I got up, stretched, and splashed stream water over his scales, causing him to squawk in surprise. I chortled at him, and he splashed me right back, earning a screech. We then began a splash fight that lasted for a while, then went back onto the rocks to sunbathe again to warm back up.

Once I was fully warm again and my feathers were dry, I started feeling a bit hungry. “Would you like to go fruit-gathering, Vince?” I asked. “Maybe we could go see if there are any sunburst berries on the planters nearby.”

He readily agreed, and we took flight and headed towards the road with the berries. At the edge of the forest, we sat in anticipation, waiting for the road to clear of aliens so we could fly out and grab a couple of the delightful berries. In a wonderful burst of karma, three months after the white aliens had wiped the planet of humans, these green aliens -Kymari, as the Blood Memories said they are called- came and did the same number to them. Now, seven years later, there were no traces of either species left on this planet. The Kymari have taken over and they are here to stay.

Vincent bursting from the foliage broke me from my thoughts. I realized that there were no Kymari around, and I stayed back, standing as the hidden lookout as he tried to grab the few ripe berries left on the plant. He managed to grab two ripe berries and two close to ripe ones before a Kymari guard entered the street. I gave a quiet warning whistle and he fled back to the trees. He shared the berries with me, dividing them evenly --one ripe and one close-to-ripe berry to each of us. Savoring my treat, I leaned closer to him and draped my wing across his back.

“You know you’re beautiful, right?” he said to me, looking at me with puppy eyes. I shared my feelings of happiness and love with him so he knew how I felt at those words and he smiled at me and nuzzled my shoulder with his nose. We cuddled for a bit and then I stood up and spread my wings again.

“We haven't gone fruit gathering yet and I'm hungry!” I said. I nudged his wing, trying to get him to move. “C'mon!”

He mockingly groaned. “Woman! I just laid down!”

I snorted. “No you didn't! Come on, let's go!!”

He grudgingly spread his wings and I took flight, not bothering to wait for him. Heading to the areas where there were more fruit trees, I deftly aced my way through the branches and trunks. My tail feathers helped stabilize my flight, and I was able to maneuver in the air a lot more agilely than most of the other dragonets.

Entering the fruit tree area, I saw that there were a couple other dragonets there, also gathering fruit. I whistled a greeting.

“Hey Kala! How are you this morning?”

The green dragonet looked up from her fruit. “Hello, Crystal. I'm doing good. Where's your mate?”

I rolled my eyes and grinned. “He's being a slowpoke. He'll catch up with me shortly.”

She nodded and continued eating her fruit. My mate flew into the tree beside me as she finished it, and she nodded at me and left without a word to him.

I followed her with my eyes as I sighed. “Even after all this time, they still avoid you, Vincent. I don't understand. You weren't the one who was doing the kidnapping --you became one of us yourself! I don't understand.”

He nuzzled my neck consolingly. “Don't worry about it, Crystal. I don't care about all of them. I just care about you. As long as you stay by my side, I'm the happiest dragonet alive.”

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