Chapter 3

The comforts of home would've felt better if he didn't have the burden of having to break the news to the rest of his family weighing heavily on his mind. It felt wonderful to have a hot bath and to change into fresh, clean clothes, but Tristan wished that his troubles could wash away, just as the sweat and grime had. He could put on some fresh, clean clothes, but it didn't change how he felt inside.

After tending to the egg, he crawled onto his bed, delighted at its softness. Back at Canyon City he had to sleep on a bunk that was literally carved into a stone wall and even though there had been a mattress between him and the stone, it was too thin to be comfortable. A short nap would be perfect after a long day of traveling, but just before he drifted off to sleep, Celesta tapped on his bedroom door.

"Come in." He called out, groggily.

Celesta stepped in. "Mother and Father are working in the restaurant. When are you going to go down and greet them? They will be so surprised and happy to see you."

"Well, since the news I'm bringing isn't exactly good news, I wasn't sure if popping in at the restaurant among all the hustle would be the greatest idea." Tristan explained. He lay on his back, gazing up at the wooden ceiling rafters. Throughout the years he'd memorized the patterns and knots in the wood, making pictures out of them in his mind.

"I think you're just stalling." Celesta replied. "It's as good a time as ever. Besides, you must be very hungry after traveling for a few days." She knew the mention of food would motivate him.

"True. I am hungry." Tristan realized that was probably why he hadn't drifted off to sleep sooner; the bad combination of an empty stomach and a full mind.

"I'm going down to eat some supper. Why don't you come with me? It will go fine." Celesta said soothingly.

It did not go fine.

When Tristan followed his sister into the kitchen, his mother, Sarilla, was stirring a pot of curried soup while she rattled off a list of orders to the other workers who were darting in and out of the kitchen. The woman had almond shaped eyes, pale skin, and dark hair pinned up out of her way with a scarf tied over her head, and she wore a simple dress with an apron tied over it.

Tristan's eyes darted around the busy kitchen, realizing that his father was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

Sarilla lifted the ladle and tasted the soup while glancing up to see who was coming in the back entrance. When she recognized her son, she nearly choked and dropped the ladle into the pot.

The next thing Tristan knew, his mother had reached him, embracing him joyfully.

"My son! You're back! What a wonderful surprise!" She tried to kiss his forehead, but the bandanna he wore was in the way. "Now what's this all about?" She tapped the material. "You look like a young rogue ready for mischief, not a Skybax Rider ready to take on important flight missions."

Tristan shrugged his way out of the hug. "Hi, Mother." He tried to sound enthused, but the anxiety over what he would soon have to explain overpowered the joy at seeing his mother.

Sarilla stepped back and happily surveyed her son, but her excitement soon deflated into concern as she noticed his defeated demeanor. Her eyes darted over to Celesta, but the girl merely shrugged and dropped her gaze to the floor.

Sarilla turned to one of the kitchen workers. "You'll have to spare me for just a little while. My son dropped by for an unexpected visit."

Tristan glanced at the worker, but did not recognize the woman. She must've been hired sometime after he'd left for Canyon City.

"Of course. The supper rush seems to have slowed down by now anyway." The woman replied with an amiable smile.

Sarilla grasped Tristan's hand and led him into the storeroom, away from the chaos of the kitchen. "Cedric!" She called.

Cedric, Tristan's father, held a tablet in one hand, making marks on it with a sharpened charcoal stick while he counted supplies lined up on the shelves. His light blue eyes were filled with concentration. He sported a neatly trimmed, sandy hued beard and mustache, a look which Tristan thought he might like to try out himself when he was a couple of years older maybe. Tristan rubbed his own chin and upper lip, which now felt smooth since earlier he'd shaved away the dark shadow of stubble which had appeared after three days of traveling.

A navy blue cap, cocked slightly to one side adorned Cedric's sandy blonde head and he wore a lightweight shirt and an embroidered vest and loose fitting pants and a simple belt. The outfit was suitable for working around the restaurant doing maintenance and such, but Tristan still missed seeing his father in his tough looking convoy guard armor and helmet. But Cedric hadn't worked as a convoy guard for some years now. He had suddenly stopped working as a guard shortly after bringing home Sekani, the orphaned deinonychus. The man's brow creased slightly as he concentrated and mumbled to himself quietly while he scratched out his figures on the tablet.

Sarilla cleared her throat. "Cedric." She said again sharply, to get his attention. The man looked up, then his eyes widened in surprise as he recognized his son and he fumbled to keep from dropping the tablet and charcoal stick.

"What?" The man said. "What are you doing here? Did graduation happen already?" He grinned from ear to ear, stepping forward and hugged Tristan, thumping his back proudly.

"Well, yes." Tristan replied, unable to look his father in the eyes.

Celesta remained quiet up until now, but decided that she might try and help explain things. "Graduation didn't go as he planned." She said, grimly.

Both parents went silent then, looking back and forth between Tristan and Celesta.

"I didn't...um…" Tristan mumbled, lowering his eyes to the flagstone floor. Finishing that sentence suddenly felt impossible.

"You didn't graduate?" Sarilla said, looking confused.

"It…it was a disaster." Tristan explained. He glanced up again to see both parents gazing at him with shocked expressions. He plunged on, trying to get this over with as quickly as possible. "To make a long story short, my skybax partner got in a fight with some angry skybaxes and she…she…" He turned away, alarmed at how quickly tears welled up in his eyes. He clenched his teeth, determined to keep from crying in front of his parents.

Celesta quickly covered for him. "His skybax partner died." She said softly.

Cedric and Sarilla continued to stare in silence, momentarily numbed by the appalling news. Tristan felt as if he couldn't bear their silence, but he couldn't seem to come up with any fitting words to say at the moment either.

"Tristan, my dear." Sarilla finally said. "Come." She held her arms out to him, offering him a hug, but Tristan shook his head, afraid that he would burst into tears like a child if he accepted the hug. He crossed his arms stubbornly and bravely lifted his chin.

Cedric stepped forward and squeezed his son's shoulder. "I am sorry, son. You're going to have to explain. I've never heard of that happening before."

"There is some current strife going on among the canyon skybaxes." Tristan replied, cautiously. He did not want to indicate in any way that he might've been the one to stir things up in the first place.

"I take it you know what's going on with them then?"

"Kind of." Tristan kept his head up, but he couldn't look his father in the eyes at the moment. "You remember when I messaged you about Uncle Drake's accident?"

"Yes."

"That was a result from the troubles with some of the skybaxes."

"Hmm. Drake has visited since then and he didn't really have much to say about it. He claimed he couldn't remember what happened. All we know is that he had a bad fall which is not uncommon for a Rider, especially for my brother, who has always been a bit of a daredevil. And now you're telling me that there is more to it?"

Tristan nodded. "Pterosaurs in general are territorial and they don't always get along with one another which results in battles from time to time. Uncle Drake got caught in one. And later, Twilight was caught in the middle of one too. That's all I wish to say about it right now." Tristan said, determined to keep from having to explain too deeply about the matter.

"But you're not going to give up, right?" Cedric said, watching his son's reaction closely. "You'll go back and try again, won't you?"

Tristan shook his head.

"Now I know you better than that. You're not a quitter. You can still become a Rider." Cedric urged.

"Not without a skybax partner, I can't." Tristan replied, bitterly.

"But you can learn to bond with another." Cedric persisted.

"It's not that simple."

"I know things are tough for you right now and I hate hearing that you had to go through something so awful, but it doesn't mean you can't go back and try again."

"No. Not now. I can't." Tristan raised his voice slightly in his agitation.

"Cedric's tone softened. "I didn't say you had to right now. Give it some time, but I want to see you succeed at this. You pestered me for years to make it possible for you to get into Rider training. Right now you may say that you're not going back, but I know you better than that. I know you'll go back and try again at some point. I think that deep down, you know that too. You just haven't managed to crack through that shell yet."

Tristan cringed at his father's usage of the word, 'shell.' It was used figuratively, referencing to the shell of an egg, and that he had not yet broken through. In other words, he wasn't mature enough or ready to take on a habitat partnership.

Sarilla placed a hand on her husband's arm. "Don't push him." She urged. "He's been through a lot. It may be for the better that he doesn't want to go back. It can be dangerous work, after all." She had never wanted Tristan to train to become a Skybax Rider in the first place.

Cedric blew out his breath and rubbed his forehead. "It sounds like we've got a lot of catching up to do."

Celesta glanced at Tristan and even though she said nothing, he could feel her unspoken words weighing heavy on his mind. He knew she wondered if he would bring up the subject of the nocturnal skybax and the orphaned egg, but he just wasn't ready for that. Besides, it was too long of a story to repeat while they were all standing in the store room with the busy sounds of the restaurant kitchen in the background.

"Why don't we all go eat some supper?" Sarilla suggested. "We can do some more catching up then."

"But what about Tiana?" Tristan asked. "And Sekani?"

"Remember?" Celesta piped up. "I told you she was out at her dance lesson and Sekani went with her."

"Oh. Right. I forgot." Tristan said, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "It's been a long day."

"Come then." Sarilla said. "We won't wait up for them. If we did, we'd all end up too hungry and then we'd probably all just be cranky toward one another."

Cedric smiled slightly. "Very true. Besides, you'll need to gain some energy to see your sister." He teased. "She's going to be ecstatic to see you again."

Supper was delicious and Tristan thoroughly enjoyed it, but it was challenging to keep the conversation from entering difficult grounds. He did his best to ask questions about how all their lives had been while he was away, but his family was also immensely curious about what Rider training was like. He managed to fill them in on lots of interesting details and still dance around the subject of nocturnal skybaxes and an orphaned egg. However, he suspected that his father knew he was holding back a lot of information.

After supper, Tristan returned to his room and sat down on the window seat in his bedroom and pushed open the shutters. He practiced breathing deeply like he'd learned to do during his stay at the Tentpole of the Sky. The evening air smelled so different here in Sauropolis. It smelled of food, flowers, a hint of dinosaur dung, and if he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could even detect a slight smell of salt water drifting in from the bay. Back in the canyons the night air usually smelled of dust and junipers, and when the breeze was blowing just right, it brought in the sharp smells of tomato, okra, and pepper plants which grew in the villagers' garden patches.

Someone knocked on Tristan's bedroom door, breaking his concentration on deep breathing. Slowly, he turned around. There was hardly such a thing as alone time in Sauropolis. He'd gotten used to having plenty of solitary time to think away from others out in the canyons. He already missed all those hikes he'd experienced, exploring, and getting to know the environment of the skybaxes.

He could hear the intruders at his door before he even reached it. Claws clicked on the wooden floor, announcing the presence of a deinonychus impatiently shifting back and forth, and a series of girlish giggles no doubt came from Tiana, his sister who was a year and eight months younger than himself.

Tristan opened the door and his visitors fairly tumbled over one another into the room. He had to quickly step out of the way to avoid being run over by the rowdy pair.

Tiana practically danced around the room in her delight at seeing her brother. "I can't believe you're really home! It's so good to have you back, even if it means I can't have your room after all."

"Sekani followed the girl around the room too, a sloppy grin on his face while he grunted his agreement. Tristan was a little surprised at how much the young deinonychus had grown since he'd last seen him. When he'd left for skybax training, the creature seemed to be all legs and tail, not to mention the pair of feet that seemed too big for the rest of his body. Now Sekani was nearly taller than himself, muscles bulging, sickle shaped foot claws looking impressive—not to mention intimidating—and that long tail was big enough to knock someone over. In this case, it was something. Down went the basket off of the shelf where he kept all the ribbons he'd won at athletic events over the past years. The colorful strips of material spilled out over the floor.

"Hey now, calm yourselves." Tristan ordered, diving forward to rescue the ribbons before they got trampled.

After Sekani realized what he'd done, he immediately helped pick up the ribbons and return them to the basket. "Shorry." He said in a deep growly voice.

Tristan nearly dropped the basket all over again at hearing the deinonychus speak.

"What?!"

"Shorry."

Tiana giggled again. "He said sorry. Now close your mouth, Tristan, before you choke on a fly."

Tristan closed his mouth, but his eyes still reflected his surprise.

Tiana took the basket from him and returned it to the shelf. "Sekani practices every day with new words in our language even though it isn't as easy for him to speak them as it is for some dinosaurs." There was a tone of pride in her voice.

"Sekani flashed a toothy grin, a trait he'd picked up from his human family.

Tristan shook his head in amazement. "Well I'm impressed, Sekani." He held out a hand in the Dinotopian greeting. "It's good to see you again. Breathe Deep." Sekani touched Tristan's palm and growled something which Tiana informed him was his effort to say, "Seek Peace."

"We just got back from dance class." Tiana said while she squeezed her brother in an overjoyed hug. "Mother and Father said that you were home. I didn't believe them at first. But it's true."

Tristan peeled his sister's arms away from him. "Yeah, I've been home all evening. You couldn't have been away at dance class all that time." He smiled and tugged her sandy blonde ponytail. Tiana was the only one of the three siblings who had inherited her father's lighter hued hair.

Tiana jumped back, fussing with her hair. "Well, it's true…Sekani and I were—well—um…"

"Staying out of mischief, I hope?" Tristan said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, it depends what you consider mischief." Tiana dropped her gaze and twiddled with her birthstone ring which she wore on one of her fingers. It was purple amethyst, her favorite color. Sekani suddenly decided to stand by the window and watch the activities on the street below.

Tristan decided not to pry any further. He would save that for later in case she asked him more than he wanted to tell about his stay in the canyons.

"As if she'd read his thoughts, Tiana said "So are you an Apprentice Rider now? Did you fly here so we can see your skybax companion?"

Tristan winced at the question. He'd hoped that his parents would've told Tiana the news so he wouldn't have to go through it all over again.

"Come on, Tristan, tell me." Tiana begged. "It's nearly dark out now, but if we hurry we could still make it to the rookery before dark. I really want to see the skybax." She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him to the door.

Tristan dug in his heels and wrenched his hand out of his sister's eager grasp. "No."

Tiana's looked surprised. "No?"

Sekani turned around and watched Tristan closely.

Tristan rubbed his forehead, trying to find the right words.

Tiana didn't wait for him to think. "What do you mean by no? What's wrong?"

Tristan gritted his teeth. "Tiana, there isn't a skybax for you to see. If I'd flown here on one, I would've been here days ago. I had to travel the conventional way. Listen I'm not…not…um…I'm not an official Rider yet." He said the last few words in a rush.

Tiana stood still as if trying to let her brother's words sink in.

"Grrrrwhhhy?" It was Sekani who spoke this time, gruff, but distinct.

For some reason it seemed worse hearing the question come from a dinosaur. Tristan felt the sudden impulse to grab his backpack and leave again so he wouldn't have to keep explaining his dilemma. He sighed heavily and motioned to the bed. "Why don't you sit down for a minute. It's going to take me awhile to explain."

Tiana slipped off her sandals and sat down on the bed cross legged. "I'm listening." She said, her brow creased slightly with apprehension. She'd never imagined her brother's return would be anything like this.

Sekani's eyes reflected more questions though he didn't say anything more.

Tristan strode over to the window and moodily gazed outside.

Tiana cleared her throat impatiently. "We're waiting."

Tristan took a deep breath and told his story. He made sure to use the version he'd given to his parents, the one that said very little about nocturnal skybaxes and didn't mention the egg. So far, Celesta was the only one he'd entrusted more details to and he still wasn't sure that his family would take the rest of the information safely. He was ready to do anything to keep the skybax egg away from a Hatchery even if it meant not trusting the information to people within his own family.

When he finished, Tiana still remained speechless, which was unlike her. It made Tristan feel uneasy. "Listen," he said, "I'm sorry I've disappointed everyone. I myself am at a loss of what to do."

Sekani scratched at the wooden floor with one of his claws. Tristan struggled to keep from plugging his ears to block out the grating sound, small as it was.

Tiana slipped down from her seat on the bed and approached her brother who had been pacing the entire time he told the story. She hugged him silently.

Tristan wasn't used to her being so quiet. He looked down to see tears in the girl's eyes and then he finally understood. Tiana never knew what to say when people were dealing with really tough situations such as a loss of a loved one.

"It's okay." Tristan said. "You don't have to say anything."

Tiana nodded. "But you know I care, right?" She said through a sniffle.

"Yes. Everyone in my family cares, and that's why I want to see them. My family is…is everything to me."

Tiana gazed out the window, her eyes filled with unspoken thoughts. Tristan waited, knowing that she would get through the shock of the news soon and then her usual flood of speech would begin.

"Maybe it would help if you went to Treetown." Tiana said.

"Huh?" Tristan was prepared for her conversation, but that first comment caught him off guard.

"Treetown." Tiana repeated. "I've heard that it's a place that helps young people learn to communicate with dinosaurs better."

Tristan swallowed his indignation and tried to keep his tone level. "That's with dinosaurs, not skybaxes. Besides, I've communicated with plenty of dinosaurs."

Sekani snorted and looked as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't because of his limited vocabulary in the human tongue. Instead, he scratched a little too hard on the floor, leaving a small mark.

Tiana shrugged. "Well, it's just a thought. I've heard it's a lot of fun there. I've wanted to go myself, but Mother and Father would like me to be here for now to help in the restaurant. They're training me, you know. I think they plan on passing the restaurant on to me someday." She sounded uncertain as to whether she liked that prospect or not.

"Well, you certainly would be good at it." Tristan said, eager to get the conversation directed away from himself.

Tiana sighed. "Hmmm…" She fiddled with her ring again. "Well…maybe."

Tristan glanced toward the door. "Listen, have you had supper yet?"

"Yeah, but that was quite a while ago."

"Same here. Why don't we sneak down to the restaurant kitchen and snitch some coconut cookies or something of that sort?"

Tiana's eyes immediately lit up, but she seemed a little hesitant with the idea. "We might get caught. Cook Lavonia might still be down there finishing up last minute things for tomorrow's menu." Cook Lavonia who often worked the evening shifts was a snappish, no nonsense woman who happened to be an amazing cook, but everyone knew to keep out of her way. Her wooden spoon was notorious for leaving red welts on the knuckles of the greedy hands that tried to snitch her delicious creations.

"Come on, it's worth the risk, isn't it? We used to do this all the time." Tristan pulled his sister toward the door.

Tiana grinned. "Yeah, well, since you've left, she's gotten sharper. It's been getting harder and harder to get past her."

"Aha. Well then, I'll have to teach you some new sneaking skills from the master who's been away for so long."

Tiana giggled.

Tristan clapped a hand over her mouth. "Shhhh. If you can't keep quiet now, you'll never make it down there."

Tiana nodded.

Tristan released her and opened the door.

Sekani bounded forward, not about to be left out on the fun.

"Tristan," Tiana whispered. "I'm really glad you're home again. Sekani and I both missed you an awful lot."

Tristan smiled, but inside he felt confused. He'd missed his family as well, but he still felt like he'd left part of himself back in the canyons. And then there was the problem with the skybax egg. For now it was buried deep within his backpack, safe and warm, but he knew it couldn't stay there forever. It was only a matter of time before it would hatch.