Imagine (Completed)

Six

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

*******

I look around and notice a Kymari with a video camera scanning the trees. I bet he is looking for me. That has happened quite a bit in the last week—it's time for a show.

I move back into the trees and come closer to the play area. Immediately, I notice heads turning in my direction. I fly higher than they can reach and circle over the play area. The man who has my attention has seen me and stops the child to point me out. They are the only ones in the climbing area and are about halfway up. I decide to land on the top, out of his reach.

"Well, hello there." He says to me. His voice sounds nice. "Do you wish to play too?" He asks. I know from my talks with Tasha that I must act like an animal, but at the same time, I can show intelligence by repeating whatever they are doing.

With that in mind, I climb down a few of the rocks, then climb back up, just as the child did before I interrupted.

"I guess you do." The child is in complete awe of the situation. I chirped at them and tilted my head cutely. I did the climbing thing a second time and then turned back, chirping again.

"Should we keep climbing, Uncle Leopold? He seems to want us too." the child asks. His name is Leopold. I like it.

"I'm not sure. They have never attacked us before, but we must stay safe. How about we both slowly step up and see what he does?" The child nods, and they both go up one rock. I chirp as if in happiness and climb down and up again.

"He wants to play with us!" The child is excited, but I can see that Leopold is suspicious of the situation, so I take to the air but come down just slightly out of arms reach and chirp a thank you to them before returning to the trees.

I cut back through and find where the women are still on the bench.

"Did you see that? That was the green fire lizard everyone has been talking about." The woman's friend said.

"Even he sees kindness in Leopold and wants to play with him. My mind is made up. I will put my father off until I can find a way for him to accept my choice of suiters." She says firmly.

"Asielle, you are still young enough that your father will not force you to choose yet. Take the time to make sure he is who you truly want."

"No need. I've made my choice." I like her. She knows what she wants, just as I do. Maybe we can both have him.

I watched from a distance as Leopold left the park with the child and took notice of what direction he went in. When Asielle left the park, she went the other way. I decided to mindlink Tasha.

"Tasha, have you ever heard of a Sicora hunter named Leopold?"

"Yes. He had hunted with us several times when we needed additional guards besides our usual two. He seems nice, but I don't know him well. How did you come across him?"

I took the time to tell her everything and sent her an image of him with the child.

"Being a bonded animal handler is a considerable promotion and may be what she needs to get her father to approve the match. But Clover, please remember this is your life. Don't choose him because of her. You are not even sure if she would approve of you. Having a bonded animal means the animal always comes first! Some women do not like knowing that they, and their children, will go second."

Tasha is right. Becoming his bonded animal could destroy his chances of mating with her, even if he is interested in her. He may not be. Then, another thought occurred to me.

"This may all be mute, anyway. I'm unsure how to approach him or if he will ever return to the park." I tell Tasha, sadness coming through my words.

"I may be able to help. A big ship is coming in tomorrow, and he will be with us. Let me think about this. I could act differently around him in a positive way and see if it does anything. The Kymari pick every little thing apart. I bet they will think something about him attracts fire lizards. But keep looking in case he isn't the one for you."

Tasha has a point. I will keep looking. But I did like him.

I spent the rest of the day flying around the paths of Kymari and staying in sight while out of reach. No one else stood out to me, but many stopped to talk to me. I made sure to tilt my head or move my wings to show interest but did not chirp at others. If they genuinely pay attention to detail, they will notice that.

The next day, I chose to do my Morning Song away from the others. It's not the same as being in the group, but if I'm going to be a loner, this is what I need to do. This time, my parents did notice my absence.

"Clover, where are you?" My mom asks with worry.

"By the pond. Is everything okay, Mom?" If I don't acknowledge that I wasn't there this morning, maybe she will let it go.

"Why were you not with us for the Morning Song?"

So much for that.

"I wanted to do it at the lake and watch the sun on the water. It was beautiful, Mom." I was doing my best not to lie. You can feel a lie over the link.

"Clover, I know you have not been happy for a while. I had hoped it was growing pains, but you are starting to worry me. Your friends have asked where you are, and no one seems to remember seeing you for the last week other than the Morning Song. Did you find someone that interests you as a possible mate?"

It felt nice that she noticed my absence, but it hurt too because I had been hanging with the Kymari for almost a month. It's like Tasha all over again. I decided to tell the truth.

"It hasn't been a week, Mom. It's been almost a month. I've been staying in plain sight of the Kymari and hanging out at their paths."

I could feel all the different emotions running through her even though she was stunned into silence—fear, confusion, worry.

"Why?!"

"I decided I wanted to hunt Sicora as Tasha does. I'm looking for someone who stands out to me to be my handler. Then I will show interest and eventually leave the park with him."

I could tell I shocked my mother with my admission. Now, I'm just waiting for the fallout.

"Clover, get back home now!!" She is not going to like this, but...

"Sorry, Mom. I love you. I got to go." I cut her mindlink and immediately established another.

"Tasha, I told Mom. You may want to block your mindlink." I can feel Tasha's amusement through the link.

"Don't worry about me. I can handle your mother. Are you okay? How did it go?"

"She finally noticed I wasn't around much when I didn't attend the Morning Song. I did it by the lake, by myself. I think she is just afraid. She and Dad never really got over their time in captivity. They were among the first to survive and were there the longest, but this isn't the same."

"It will all work out in the end, Clover. What is meant to be will be."

While I know Tasha is right, I'm upset now. Over the last month, I had built a new borrow of my own by Tasha's old borrow. I'm flying over there to think for a while.