Tessa’s POV:

  I tugged at the mat again, but it didn’t move. It was even heavier than the cantaloupe. I tried getting help from the Blood Memories, but they only provided information about things. They couldn’t come up with ideas or plans. I was on my own.

  Dirk was still asleep and I still didn’t see Mom, Dad, Taureen, or Aeria. Taking to the air again, I glided around the room in search of soft things I could move. Everything I saw was too big or too hard. Maybe there was something useful elsewhere.

  I banked toward the hallway, this time going toward the other rooms. Some were closed, but two were open. My wings were getting tired, so I landed on the floor and continued my exploration on foot.

  I entered a dimly lit area, which the hidden memories identified as a bathroom. A basket on the floor had some sort of cloth inside. I trotted over to it, and with a big jump and a wingbeat, I landed on the neatly-folded material.

  It was soft enough! Then I realized just how big the basket was, and my ear tufts drooped. There was no way I could move it. With a sigh, I jumped back down to the floor, and the basket moved away from me.

  I spun around in shock, unable to comprehend how it had moved. Sniffing the bottom, I pushed against the basket with my shoulder, and it slid away easily. I wasn’t sure how it was moving, but that didn’t matter. I could use the basket to get the cantaloupe down!

  Scampering behind the basket, I began pushing it out of the room. I trotted to the side, intending to push it down the hallway, but it kept going!

  With a quiet thump, it bounced off the wall and came to a stop. There were two corners between here and the counter, so I would have to be careful when I got to those spots. Eagerly, I began pushing the basket down the hallway. I craned my long neck around the side. It was hard to see around something this big!

  It took me a bit of time, and two more wall bumps, before I had it pushed against the counter. Breathing hard, I lay down on the floor to rest for a moment. That had been a lot of work!

  Once I caught my breath, I flew up to the counter and—very carefully—landed on the treacherous grey surface. I began slowly rolling the cantaloupe across the counter, and my feet skidded as I brought the oversized snack to a stop. I stuck my head over the edge to make sure the basket hadn’t moved. Thankfully, it was still where I left it. I was also right above it.

  This was it. I gently pushed it over the edge and watched it drop. It landed in the basket with a soft thump, but it made the basket topple over with a thud.

  The cantaloupe slowly rolled away as the cloth in the basket toppled over behind it. I quickly glided to the floor and trotted over to the basket. A quick push didn’t budge it. I took a peek at the bottom and saw round things. Something like wheels, whatever those were, but different.

  But I didn’t need the basket anymore—I could roll the cantaloupe!

  I began pushing it toward the living room. It didn’t want to roll in a straight line, and I spent a lot of time making it go where I wanted it to. The basket had listened better.

  I was panting by the time I got it out of the kitchen. Pushing it on the carpet was even harder. The mats would be much harder, so I pushed the cantaloupe along the edge of the wall and in front of the chairs where the mats didn’t reach.

  Finally, I had it beside the end table, and I flopped down in exhaustion. I had never been so tired before.

  A soft snore from above reminded me that Dirk had probably never seen a whole cantaloupe before. I sat up, suddenly eager to see his reaction.

  “Dirk! Look what I found!”

  A wave of sleepy annoyance came back. “I was sleeping…” His thoughts were barely coherent.

  “The sun will be rising soon. You had to wake up soon anyway.”

  He grumbled under his breath before asking, “What did you find?”

  “I found cantaloupe!”

  He was silent for a moment before his sleep-hazed voice responded. “That’s in our dish every day. It’s the stuff you always eat first.”

  “But this is a big one! It’s bigger than me! I have it just below the table. Come look!”

  A heavy sigh came from above before I heard his nails clicking against the wood as he left the sand tray. His blue head appeared over the edge, and he blinked several times, trying to make sense of the round thing beside me.

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  The sound of the door opening made both of us turn our heads. Seconds later, Mom flew through the door and immediately backwinged mid-air as she stared at us in perplexity. Her wings moved in strange ways as she hung in the air without falling.

  My eyes went wide as I gazed at her, envious of her ability to remain in one spot—hovering. I would have to try that later. It looked cool.

  ***

  Tasha’s POV:

  “Thanks,” I told Taureen, “I needed to get out for a bit.”

  He nodded as he continued walking back from the small park not far from the house. Other than the Morning Song, I hadn’t even gone into the backyard for a week, and I had only left the house a handful of times over the last month while guarding the eggs. Being cooped up for so long, even if it was my own choice, was driving me crazy.

  I gazed toward our house in the distance; as much as I had needed the break, the desire to return to my family was a strong pull.

  “We’re on our way back,” I informed Keegan.

  “We’re in the backyard. Aeria just finished digging the hole to set up the small waterfall.”

  Taureen opened the front door, and I jumped off his shoulder pad to go check on the fledglings. I flew into the living room and stopped mid-air, staring as I hovered in place. Dirk was on the end table looking down at his scarlet sister, who had—somehow—managed to acquire a cantaloupe.

  Taureen’s footsteps sped up, coming to see if something was wrong. He paused behind me as he also took in the strange scene.

  “Uh, Keegan, when did you last check on the children?” I also let Aeria and Taureen listen in.

  “About fifteen minutes ago, when Aeria and I came outside. They were sleeping. Why?” I could tell he was already flying to the access door.

  “You might need to see this for yourself…”

  Sideslipping to the left, I quickly looped around to land on Taureen’s shoulder. My wings had barely folded when I heard the flap of our small access door as Keegan darted into the room like a silver bullet—he also pulled into a hover when he saw his daughter’s latest acquisition.

  Aeria wasn’t far behind him, although she took one glance at the tired fledgling and the cantaloupe before heading into the kitchen. Taureen remained where he was, simply watching and waiting.

  Tessa’s ear tufts perked up at us. “Look what I found!”

  “So I see,” I said. “What do you plan to do with it?”

  “Eat it! There’s even enough for me to share with Dirk! Can you ask Taureen to put it under the heat lamp for us?”

  I was actually somewhat impressed that she had managed to locate and move something so much bigger than herself over such a distance. Not bad for a seven-day-old fledgling. I decided to humor her and let everyone in the house hear my mindvoice.

  “Well, I don’t see why you can’t eat it, but why don’t we let Taureen or Aeria put it on a tray on the center table? The fruit won’t last long if we put it under the heat lamp.”

  Tessa started bounding around the cantaloupe with excitement, although Dirk still looked completely baffled.

  Aeria came out of the kitchen with an empty tray and walked to the center table. “She managed to get it out of the preservation unit and close the door behind her. She was smart enough to use a basket of clean towels from the bathroom to cushion the fruit when she pushed it off the counter.”

  Either rules were going to have to put into place, or fledgling-proof locks were going to have to be invented. After Aeria put the tray on the table, she picked up the cantaloupe and examined the tiny claw marks in the thick skin before placing it on the tray.

  Taureen quietly asked me, “Should I peel it for them?”

  “No, they have to learn sometime.” I glanced at the window, and let them all hear me again. “Why don’t we all go outside for the Morning Song? Tessa and Dirk can enjoy the cantaloupe after.”

  The children were big enough that they wouldn’t be able to get out of the fence that enclosed the backyard. After my time in the park this morning, it reminded me that they hadn’t even touched grass yet.

  It was time to start expanding their horizons, although I wasn’t quite ready to show them the door flap just yet. It would still do them good to romp around in the backyard.

  This was about the time the wild fledglings left their nests and followed their parents around. They wouldn’t be able to manage the Morning Song on wing, but it would be much easier for us to keep an eye on them.

  “Aeria, could you please take Dirk? Tessa, please fly up to Taureen’s shoulder.”

  If she had so much energy that she managed to roll a cantaloupe across the house, then she might as well put more effort in.

  The mention of the Morning Song had their immediate attention. Tessa promptly jumped into the air, and even Dirk was so excited that he flew over to Aeria, who held still as he attempted a somewhat clumsy landing on her shoulder. Tessa managed her landing with far more grace, having practiced with the wall perches a lot more than her brother.

  Taureen grabbed the video recorder from the table before he followed Aeria into the backyard. Tessa and Dirk had looked out the windows numerous times, but both of them gawked at the greenery now that they were outside.

  Tessa’s nostrils flared as a gentle breeze blew past us. Dirk looked a bit intimidated by the limitless sky and huge area with new sounds and smells. His sister was getting more and more excited, almost bouncing on Taureen’s shoulder with her wings halfway unfurled.

  I left Taureen’s shoulder and began gliding to the large piece of driftwood in the middle of the open area. I had barely taken three wingbeats before Tessa began following. Her smaller wings had to beat five or six times to try and keep up with my slow flight.

  Keegan and Dirk weren’t far behind, and we all landed on the driftwood. Tessa’s head never stopped moving as she eagerly looked at everything she could see. She moved toward the edge of the driftwood, almost as if she was going to jump down and go exploring.

  “Morning Song first, then you can go exploring.”

  She glanced at me before turning her attention to the horizon as her ear tufts perked up. I could feel the first stirrings of the song, so she should be able to as well. Satisfied that she was going to behave until the Morning Song was over, I turned my attention to the brightening sky and waited for the sun to rise once more.