Chapter 5

Tristan was ready to relax and spend some time alone, but the moment he stepped through the doorway of the apartment, his hopes for a quiet evening were quickly smashed. He had just closed the door behind him and removed his hat and hung it on the hat and jacket rack, when Tiana popped into the entryway, her eyes glowing with excitement. Sekani followed right behind her, snorting his own excited greeting.

"Tristan! There you are." Tiana rushed at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the hall. "Come to the sitting room. We have company."

Asking Tiana about her street performing would have to wait until later. Tristan raised his dark eyebrows. "Company?" Tiana always loved company. He, on the other hand, did not as much, especially now that he already felt worn to a frazzle from the Harper family. He really just wanted to go strait to his room, tend to the egg in quiet solitude, and try to make some headway on sorting out his confusing life.

"Yes. Company." Tiana smirked slightly. "It's someone you apparently know quite well."

Tristan stopped short and tugged his arm out of his sister's grasp. "Why are you looking at me that way?"

"What way?"

"Don't act so innocent. Something's up."

"Well yeah, something's up." Tiana replied, rolling her eyes. "We have company."

"No. There's something more. You've wearing that face like when you know I won't like something."

Tiana moved behind her brother so he couldn't see her face. She never had been very good about masking her expressions. "Oh. Stop stalling and just go in there." She pushed against his back and Sekani decided to help, head butting him into the next room.

There, sitting in one of the chairs was a tall, thin, young man with dark hair, twinkling brown eyes, and a charismatic smile which could warm an icy cave in the Forbidden Mountains. He was fully decked out in the red Apprentice Rider's suit, minus the helmet and goggles. Judging by the way his hands moved animatedly, he seemed to be right in the middle of telling a lively story to the rest of the family.

When Tristan, Tiana, and Sekani entered the room, the young man looked up, making eye contact with Tristan. He stopped his story, breaking into a broad smile as he stood and strode forward. "Tristan, my man. It's so good to see you!"

"Tadd?" Tristan said. "It's good to see you too, but…what…what are you doing here?" The young man's full name was Taddeo, but back at Rider training, the cadets had called him Tadd, for short.

Taddeo shook his friend's hand and thumped his back heartily. He stepped back and surveyed Tristan. "I don't believe I've ever seen you in such fancy clothes." He teased.

"Yeah, well, this is Sauropolis. You'll have to get used to it. Everyone dresses very fine here. But you're avoiding my question."

"I'm here on business. You know, flight missions." Taddeo answered, avoiding Tristan's eyes now.

"As in here at Sauropolis, or specifically my home?" Tristan asked, feeling uneasy.

"Both."

"Oh. So…what uh…assignment did you have that sent you here?"

Taddeo's cheerful expression shifted into a concerned look. He sent a fleeting glance toward Tristan's family who were all quietly watching the exchange between the two friends. "Well," Taddeo said, "My mission was to try and find you." His words dropped like a stone in the quiet room.

Tristan hooked his hands into his pockets and shifted his gaze down to the floor.

Cedric cleared his throat. "So, Mr. Giovanni, why were you sent to find my son?"

Tristan glanced up at his father, hoping that the man would not get too upset depending on what Taddeo's answer would be. Cedric flicked his eyes back and forth between the two, the questions evident in his eyes.

"Please sir, just call me Taddeo, or Tadd." Taddeo said, nodding toward the man briefly, then dropped his gaze down to his feet. "So in answer to your question. I uh…ahem…uh." Taddeo seemed to be struggling to get his words out which was unusual for him.

Cedric raised an eyebrow.

"I was sent to make sure that Tristan was alright…and uh…to try and convince him to return."

The room went so silent then that Tristan could hear the faint sounds of the city drifting in through the walls. Before anyone else could comment, he raised his head and looked at Taddeo and pasted on a fake smile. "Yeah. I'm doing just fine. Thanks for checking on me, Tadd."

Taddeo studied his young friend for a moment before speaking again. "I know that look. It's the same one you had that time before you collapsed on the trail up to Pteros. You were not alright."

"I'm assuming you read the note I left. I didn't want anyone to follow me." Tristan said, ignoring Taddeo's comment.

"Hey, man, you have to understand that we needed to make sure that you were alright." Taddeo explained. "The notes you left were not only brief, but the news was shocking. I wanted to go out and look for you right away, but our instructor advised against it. He said that you would need your space. But after not hearing anything from you for nearly two weeks now, we were getting concerned. I can see that you've arrived home safely, but couldn't you have at least sent word back to Canyon City that you were safe and sound so no one would be wondering about you?"

Tristan shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think about that."

"I realize that things were hard, but you should've stayed."

Tristan shook his head. "No. I had to get away. You don't understand."

"But so suddenly? Do you realize what that's categorized as?"

"Please, it wasn't that."

"Yes, I'm afraid it was."

"Wait a minute." Sarilla said, cutting into the conversation. "Tristan, did you run away from Canyon City?"

Tristan bit his lip, unable to answer right away.

She turned to Taddeo. "Did he?"

Taddeo shifted uncomfortably. "Well, madam, if taking off very suddenly during the night and only leaving a few brief notes behind that barely explains why counts as running away…then yes."

Sarilla passed a hand over her eyes. "Oh, Tristan…" She muttered, clearly devastated.

Cedric rubbed his forehead in agitation. "Son. You could've handled the situation better."

Tristan didn't want to be angry with Taddeo. The guy had always been there for him and put up with him and all his mistakes, but right now he felt as if he were being pushed into a corner, forced to talk about painful things he had shoved aside and it made him want to lash out at someone. He struggled to keep his emotions under control. He looked at his mother, his father, his sisters, and Sekani. They all looked back at him with mixed expressions of disappointment and concern.

Taddeo ran a hand through his hair and blew out his breath. "Hey man, I'm really sorry about all this. I wouldn't be a friend though if I knew you'd been through something so hard and didn't come and check on you."

Tristan nodded. "Yeah. You're right. Thanks. But I specifically asked in the letter that you would not come after me." His voice sounded tight.

"I didn't right away. I gave you some time. But you can't expect me to stay away forever…also, I was given a mission and it was my duty to carry it out."

Tristan's eyes narrowed. "Yeah. You mentioned that a bit ago. Apparently that mission was to track me down, interrogate me, and try to get me to come back."

Taddeo glanced at the family with an apologetic look on his face before focusing on Tristan again.

"I hate to say it point blank, but the way you left was considered as running away."

"You pretty much said that already. But why was it viewed like that? I was done there. Our instructor had already made it clear that I hadn't passed after graduation. It wasn't running away."

"You didn't make it into Apprentice Rider level, no, but you are still a Rider, a Beginner Rider who hasn't quite finished the last steps yet." Taddeo explained.

"I can't finish when I don't have a skybax to ride." Tristan said, bitterly.

"You should have stayed though." Taddeo urged. "You built up a lot of skill and if you learned to bond with another skybax we could use you—"

"No."

"Just hear me out."

"No." Tristan repeated firmly. "I can't. Not now. It's not that simple."

"I'm not implying that it's simple. It's just that no one wants to see you give up. You have had to go through something that's awful, something that all Riders know that they could have to face at some point, but—"

"No!" Tristan burst out.

Sekani, up until now had listened and watched quietly, but seeing how upset Tristan was with their visitor, he decided to intervene. He pranced up to Taddeo, swishing his tail back and forth like an irritated cat. He glared at the young man and growled menacingly, causing Taddeo to step backward until his back thumped against the wall.

Taddeo shot a concerned look toward the family.

Tiana snapped her fingers to get the deinonychus's attention. "It's alright, Sekani." She said. "I'm pretty sure this guy is a friend."

The dinosaur snorted, but stepped back.

"Tristan." Cedric said gently. "You have never told us what exactly happened to your skybax partner."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I know it's hard, but you should."

"No. Not right now. Please." Tristan unconsciously backed his way toward the doorway of the room.

Taddeo turned to Cedric. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to stir things up like this. I can go for now."

Cedric shook his head. "No, it's fine. There is a lot that we don't know and you're helping bring things out in the open."

Tristan shot a frustrated look toward his father, but Cedric ignored it.

"Go on." Cedric said. "Say what you need to say."

"Taddeo nodded and turned back to Tristan who was glaring at his friend. Taddeo's brows were drawn together in a look of concern. "Tristan. The canyon skybaxes are very disturbed right now. It seems that what happened on graduation day has caused tensions to crop up."

Tristan's frown deepened. "From what I remember, tensions were already there."

"It's worse now."

Tristan glanced at his family, wondering just how much Taddeo was going to manage to get him to say in front of them. They all seemed to be listening intently. "So why do you need me to come back?" He said, tentatively.

"Some people want to know more about the rogue skybaxes and you seem to know the most about them. They want your knowledge…and experience."

Tristan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Look. I know. It's complicated. But you had a connection with the rogue skybaxes. There is talk that if you manage to go about it in the right way, you might be able to work toward finding a way to set things strait again. You know, calm things down." Taddeo looked away for a moment. "But not everyone agrees. Some think that you had a hand in stirring up the trouble and should've never messed with the rogue skybaxes in the first place."

Tristan crossed his arms. "I figured as much. Look, if there are mixed feelings, then you know I can't go back."

"But what about Dark Wing? Even though some others don't think so, I believe you had something good going with him."

"Who is Dark Wing?" Tiana piped up.

Tristan squeezed his eyes shut in frustration.

Taddeo looked surprised. "They don't know about Dark Wing?"

Tristan shook his head.

Cedric shifted his attention to the Skybax Rider. "Apparently we don't know about a lot of things. When Tristan told us there were some troubles going on with the canyon skybaxes, he was vague about it. We had no idea he was so closely involved with it."

Sarilla looked worried. "Tristan. Please don't tell me that you had a hand in causing those pterosaur tensions."

Tristan bit his lip. He couldn't say that he didn't. He started pacing the room. "Look. To make a long story short, I met a skybax who I call Dark Wing. He saved my life one night and from that point on we continued to have a growing bond. The problem was that he was a rogue skybax, one belonging to a group that doesn't mix with the other skybaxes—carnivorous ones with an outlook similar to the t-rexes. They keep to themselves mostly. It turned out that the other skybax I was becoming friends with, Twilight, chose to be his mate. That's where the trouble started. It was with the skybaxes themselves, not me. I just happened to get tangled in the mix."

Tristan paused and turned to Taddeo. "You're the one who thinks I should try and make things work out, aren't you? Because I highly doubt it's our instructor. He made it clear to me that he didn't think I should have anything to do with Dark Wing."

Taddeo nodded. "Well, yes. I do. I think it's a dangerous business as it has proved to be already, but you know more about the rogue skybaxes and have a connection with them through Dark Wing. I think that if you pursued things right, you might find a way to find that peace you were always talking about."

"As I said before. No. Not right now. I need more time."

Taddeo sighed giving up the fight for the time being. "I want you to know that if you rethink this, then please send me a message."

Tristan nodded. Then he caught sight of Celesta watching him. He knew what was running through her mind. She wanted him to tell them all about the egg, now that they knew so much more. But no, it was just too much for right now. He shook his head slightly, letting her know that he wasn't ready.

"I think I agree with your instructor, Tristan." Sarilla said. "I don't think you should be involved with those rogue skybaxes. It sounds too dangerous."

Cedric stood and rubbed his mustache moodily. "Taddeo, I appreciate you coming and letting us know more about Tristan and his unfortunate experience. He hasn't wanted to talk much about the skybax companion he lost and we've been giving him some space. It sounds though, that things are more complicated than Tristan let on." He shot a frustrated look at his son.

Tristan looked away, but said nothing in his defense. Why was it so hard to open up about what all had happened back at the canyons? He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes tiredly. It was good to see his friend, Taddeo, but not like this. Not when the guy was bringing up subjects that he wasn't ready to discuss with his family yet.