I finished the Morning Song and watched the sun shine down on the various houses below. Trees lined the street below, although I couldn't see an actual park. Taureen had left the window blind up after yesterday's events, and I had enjoyed the chance to once more sing to the rising sun. I was in a much better frame of mind since I had sung the Morning Song yesterday morning. Today's song also put me in a good mood.

I turned around and snorted in confusion as I looked at the cage. Taureen had closed the door to the cage while I had been singing the Morning Song. I remained on the window sill, and I shifted my weight uneasily, unsure of what he was doing. He had never closed the door when I was outside of the cage before.

He stood up, and I flattened my ears against my head, but he didn't look at me as he carried the cage into the third back room. He came out with a large tray of sand and put it where the cage had been before putting a heat lamp above it. He put the soft cloth from inside the cage beside it and arranged a second heat lamp so that it shone on the fabric.

A couple of trips later, a large tray of water sat on the middle of the center table and the litter tray sat under an end table. My food dishes were on the edge of the end table closest to where Taureen normally sat.

What brought this on? I was not following his logic. This had not been in any of the discussions on taming and training tricks that the group had covered. I watched him with suspicion as he sat in his usual spot before picking up the laptop and using it.

I knew he was watching my reaction. At the moment, it was suspicion and uncertainty. As much as I had disliked the cage, I had been able to hear the door open to alert me before he had a chance to get too close.

The big tray of water had my attention though; it was probably about belly deep for me, and I hadn't had a chance to wash up yet. Taureen was still pretending to ignore me, so I jumped down onto a footstool that he had moved below the window and then down to the floor. I walked over and jumped up on the center table. I tilted my head as I examined the tray of water with interest.

I wonder if he has any idea how wet his table is about to get? Probably not. I gently batted at the water with my hand, testing the temperature. It was actually warm. I couldn't remember the last time that I actually had a warm bath.

I snorted in surprise and anticipation before carefully climbing in. The bottom was rough, so I didn't have to worry about slipping. I walked around in the warm water before laying down in it to submerge my back and wings. I hope that cast is waterproof.

I shook myself hard in the water, allowing it to get under the edges of my scales. Much like a bird, I started dipping into the water before shaking it off while half flapping my good wing. I stood up and shook off well.

I eyed up the bowl of sand with a grin. He had moved it to the side, but hadn't rearranged the sand inside of it. I got out of the water tray and did my best to worm around in the sand before attempting a few rolls. The sand had scrubbed my wet scales and dried me off. I felt much better after my water and sand bath.

I glanced at Taureen; he was watching me, although if the amount of water spray had surprised or irritated him, he gave no sign of it. If a Kymari didn't want to show their emotions, they were very good at concealing them. He looked relaxed and calm.

I somehow doubted that he would have been overly angry even if I had managed to empty half of the tray onto his table and floor. He had put the tray there for me so the consequences were technically his.

I stood up and shook hard, scattering grains of sand across the table amidst the faint chiming sounds of my scales. I hopped out of the sand bowl and stretched before turning my attention to the corner with the heat lamps. The distance between the center table and the corner end table was too great to jump without wing assist.

I hopped down and walked over to the chair beside the end table before I jumped onto it as I made my way to the rearranged end table. It looks like I had two options if I wanted to enjoy a heat lamp. I could do so on sand or on that odd soft cloth material.

That choice was a no-brainer; I slowly approached the tray of sand and stepped into it. A few sniffs revealed nothing. It smelled like sun-baked sand. Good enough for me. I stretched out under the heat lamp with my good wing extended in a second-rate attempt at sunbathing.

I was half-asleep when the doorbell tone sounded. I immediately opened up my eyes while tucking in my wing and drawing my legs in closer to my body.

"Come in."

Taureen's two friends came in and paused at the sight of the disaster zone on the center table. They glanced at me before slowly moving to take seats on the couch beside my table. I pinned my ear tufts back and hissed as they approached. Thankfully, neither one chose the seat right beside the table.

The one was looking at me curiously as he asked, "What happened? The last time I saw her, she looked ill." He glanced at the center table. "And what did you do to your table?"

Taureen chuckled lightly from his normal seat right beside my end table. "She took a bath. I didn't wipe up the water yet since she was relaxed and dozing."

The first one said, "She seems much more spirited now. Why did you remove the cage?"

That is a very good question, why did he take away the cage? I also wanted to know the answer to that one.

Taureen leaned back and gently tossed the recorder to him. "Look at the second to last video; that is what seems to have started the change. I removed the cage so that she couldn't keep hiding in it. They don't normally curl up and hide in the wild, and removing the cage has already had an impact on her behavior despite only removing it this morning."

I blinked as I heard my fluting voice coming out of the recorder as the two watched the video. It wasn't the proper time for the Morning Song, so it didn't have any effect on me. I could now see why so many came to observe and listen to our Morning Song. Even just the sound of my voice weaving through the intricate pattern of the Song was fascinating.

I had never heard anything like it, outside of listening to others during the Morning Song, of course, but I was usually pretty distracted with my own singing and acrobatics at that point. It made me want to put it on repeat and listen to its soothing and joyous sounds all day. I wondered what our entire flock sounded like with so many voices layered upon one another.

The one Kymari pulled out some sort of electronic device and tapped it several times before holding it beside the recorder. He examined the recorder and the device simultaneously before saying, "Look, this is Alec's video of the wild ones from the last two mornings. All of the ones in the wild group and this one started singing within a ten-second time span, and they also ended in a similar fashion. He did note that they seem to use the sun's position to know when to start and stop."

Taureen replied, "I noticed that as well. That small time span is about the only time that she doesn't truly watch me either. She often pretends that she doesn't, but I know that she keeps tabs on what I am doing whenever I am in the room."

I restrained any visible reaction to his words. Darn. He is much more observant than I originally gave him credit for. Apparently, my attempts at deception hadn't fooled him any.

The second one examined my setup in the corner, and I growled at his unwanted attention. He asked, "You are planning on leaving her loose in here? She seems much more on edge than when she was in the cage. I am surprised that I haven't seen her hiss at you yet, considering how close you are to her."

Taureen looked thoughtful. "I was here when she came over. When she approaches on her own terms, she isn't nearly as bad as when someone tries to get close to her. She hasn't hissed or growled at me in five days, so she is getting used to me. I am hoping that being loose like this will help the taming process."

I must have been getting more accustomed to his presence than I originally thought. I hadn't even realized that it had been that long since I hissed or growled at him. I noticed that I had no such softening towards his friends though.

"Still hoping to tame her?"

Taureen nodded slowly. "For only being here two weeks, she has made remarkable progress considering that she had been sedated for five of those days. I am getting the close-up view that Alec still hasn't managed with the wild ones yet. By the time her wing is healed, she should be at ease in my presence. Even if we release her, she would likely allow me to approach any future chicks she may have, and I would have a chance at handling them while they are young. It would make a huge difference down the road."

The other one raised an eyebrow in amusement. "And when the male and others defend the nest?"

Taureen chuckled as he replied, "Then I will simply go as close as they will allow me and have plenty of sunburst berries on hand."

"I heard that Alec tried to use sunburst berries to get the wild ones to come in closer. He did succeed in catching their immediate attention, but they didn't approach him and moved off before too long. He has had some success in leaving the berries on rocks, and some of them go back for the berries once he is at a distance."

My eyes widened; some people were eating things that the Kymari were obviously leaving behind? What were they thinking?

The first one commented, "Well, we could always put a sedative in the berries if we ever needed to examine one or put trackers on them."

This was not good. I put my chin on my hands and mindlinked Drake. It was much easier without the painkilling drugs in my system. "Hey Drake, how are things going?"

He was happy to hear from me again. "Pretty good, we still have our stalkers though."

"Yeah, about that," I said. "I know that one of your stalkers has been leaving sunburst berries around to lure in the dragonets for a closer look. I am listening to one of them contemplating putting a sedative into the berries. They may put trackers on you guys so they can monitor you more easily."

I could feel his alarm clearly across the mindlink. "What?! I saw the one leave the berries a few times, but I wasn't aware that others were actually eating them. I will sound the alert. Thanks for the heads up. How are things going on your end?"

I opened up my eyes to send him the image in front of me. I was in the corner under a heat lamp with no cage while three Kymari sat nearby. I could feel his wordless shock before he finally said, "They haven't hurt you?"

I replied, "No, they are quite determined to try and win my trust in order to tame me. Thankfully, their future plans at this moment involve releasing me back into the park. Their only worry is that the flock will drive me away, as if we were a pack of wild dogs."

His words were stunned and slow. "I am so glad that I am not in your shoes..." I felt him pause before he continued, "I have to go, but keep in touch. Let me know if you hear of any new information and give me regular updates. I tried to mindlink you a few days ago, and I got worried when I didn't get a response."

"Sorry about that; I was kind of out of it. By the way, I don't exactly wear shoes anymore."

I felt his amusement before the link faded. Well, they were warned. The thought of being drugged or caught would terrify anyone who had been in the lab. The youngsters didn't quite understand our irrational fear of the Kymari and of getting captured, although our stories and memories had made them very cautious.

I wonder what Alec will think of the sudden change in their behavior. We were probably starting to give the Kymari a headache. My blood memories informed me that they would probably consider it a challenge, and they enjoyed attempting difficult things. Great. Just great.