Chapter 6
It was nerve wracking having Taddeo there that evening. Not only had the Skybax Rider managed to bring a few things out in the open that Tristan had been hiding from his family, but he feared that his presence would somehow bring out even more, such as the hidden skybax egg.
When Taddeo indicated that he was going to head on out for the evening, Sarilla reached out and shook the Skybax Rider's hand. "Taddeo, it was a pleasure to meet you. I know that as a Rider you must be very busy, but I hope that you will find the time to stick around for awhile longer. Do you need a place to stay tonight? We would love for you to stay here."
Tristan bit his lip. If Taddeo stayed, his mother would tell Tristan to give up his bed, although that wasn't his main concern. It was the egg. It would be difficult to tend to it without Taddeo finding out.
Taddeo smiled. "You are most gracious, madam. Thank you for the offer, but I wouldn't want to put you out in any way."
"Riders usually want to spend the night at the rookery, close to their skybax companion." Tristan quickly said to his mother.
Taddeo sent Tristan a puzzled look.
"Oh, but you don't know what you're turning down, Tadd." Tiana suddenly piped up.
Tristan had to consciously keep from frowning at his sister. She was unknowingly making the situation worse.
"Oh?" Taddeo raised an eyebrow.
"There is a restaurant downstairs and this family runs it. There will be all kinds of delicious options for breakfast." Tiana went on, putting on her most charming smile.
Taddeo instantly melted. "I was going to stay at the rookery with Aerial, my skybax partner, but I think she won't mind if I stay the night here this time."
"Good." Tiana said. "Why don't you come down to the restaurant tonight? I will give you a tour of the place and maybe something to snack on before you settle in for the night."
"Tristan." Sarilla said. "He can stay with you. We'll make up a pallet on the floor, but I imagine you'll be gracious and let your guest have the bed."
Tristan chewed on his lower lip. Here it was. Taddeo had been a good friend, but he wasn't sure he wanted to trust the information of the orphaned skybax egg to him, especially since the talkative guy had already blabbed information to his family that he wasn't ready to reveal just yet. How was he going to figure this out? He couldn't give the egg to Celesta, because she and Tiana shared a room. He could just get it over with and tell the whole family about it now. But no, someone might get firm and insist the egg must be taken to a Hatchery. Once again, it was just bad timing.
Tiana snapped her fingers in front of her brother's face. "Hey. What's wrong with you? You look scared." She teased. "Are you afraid your tall friend here will just decide to move in and take over your room?"
Tristan stepped back. "Yeah. Whatever. He'll be gone in the morning. Skybax Riders never stay in one place for very long." He looked at Taddeo and smirked slightly. "I don't know if I will give up my bed though. You can have the pallet on the floor."
Sarilla looked sharply at her son, trying to decide if he was teasing or not.
"Hey, I know you're sore at me for bringing up all that stuff and you really don't want me to stay." Taddeo replied. "I'll just go back to the Rookery for the night."
"You will do no such thing." Sarilla said. "Tristan may be upset about everything that was said this evening, but that doesn't mean I will let him get away with being a terrible host. You will have Tristan's bed for the night." She turned and sent her son a severe expression.
Tristan forced a small smile toward Taddeo. "Looks like you don't have a choice. My mother has spoken."
Sarilla cuffed her son over the head, much to the amusement of everyone else.
Taddeo laughed, then pointed a thumb toward the deinonychus. "Of course, I'll only stay if this guy lets me."
Sekani growled again, but it was not as menacing as the one before.
Tiana put her arms around the creature's neck. "Hey now. Be nice. I told you he was a friend."
Taddeo held out a hand in greeting toward the dinosaur. "Breath deep, Sekani."
After glancing toward Tiana as if making sure she approved, he raised a clawed hand and returned the greeting by touching the human's hand briefly.
"What do you think, Sekani?" Taddeo said, sending a grin in Tristan's direction. "Tristan and I could arm wrestle for that bed, right? And the winner gets it."
Sekani's eyes brightened. He always loved a competition whether he was involved or merely watching, although it was always hard for him to simply watch without getting involved. Sekani stepped up to Tristan and teasingly head butted his arm.
"Ok, ok." Tristan said. "I'll do it. You know this intruder here will lose though." He threw a competitive look at the Skybax Rider.
The family was eager for a change in subject after the difficult one they'd discussed only moments before, so after some urging from Cedric, Tristan and Taddeo were sent to the small dining table for the wrestling match where the rest of the family could watch and cheer. The small table was rarely used for meals since the family usually ate their meals down at the restaurant.
"I'm wrestling the winner." Cedric announced, his blue eyes twinkling. "That way the winner can be subdued just a bit."
"Oh, come on, father." Tristan said. "You are way too confident."
Cedric laughed. "It's not confidence. It's simply fact." He folded his arms over his chest.
Tristan turned to Taddeo. "You don't want to wrestle my father, so count it a good thing to lose to me."
Taddeo arched and eyebrow. "Now who's the one that's way too confident?"
"You know I've got my whole family rooting for me." Tristan replied. "You're going down."
Taddeo laughed. "I'm not worried, but you should be, because you're about to lose in front of all of them."
After a few more friendly verbal jabs at one another, Cedric counted, and the match began.
Tristan had trouble focusing since he was so worried about how he was going to handle the situation with the egg. As a result he lost the match, much to his frustration, although he did give Taddeo a good fight.
Taddeo was sweating and out of breath at the end. "You know, I'll hand it to you, Tristan, you're pretty tough. If I don't watch it, you'll beat me one of these days."
"Yes. I will beat you, and sooner than you think." Tristan growled.
Cedric took his turn and Taddeo lost, rather quickly, too. Tristan at least got some satisfaction out of this.
After the arm wrestling matches were over, Taddeo asked Tristan if he wanted to go with him to the rookery so that he could let his skybax partner know what his plans were for the night, but Tristan turned him down.
"I just thought you might enjoy being around the skybaxes." Taddeo said.
Tristan shook his head.
Sarilla frowned. "You can at least accompany him there." She said. "You know these streets like the back of your hand."
"I think Tadd can find his way back to the rookery just fine. He found his way over here, didn't he?"
"Well, Tristan, if you don't want to go, then I'd like to." Tiana piped up. "I would love to see the rookery."
"You've seen it before." Tristan said.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago during a school trip. It's not the same as when an actual Rider can take you there. A Rider can go further because the creatures trust him and he can show us more than they did for a group of young, rowdy school children."
"Well you can't just invite yourself." Tristan pointed out, shooting an apologetic look over at Taddeo.
Taddeo smiled amiably. "Actually, I really don't mind if she wants to come along."
Tiana grinned triumphantly.
Tristan rolled his eyes. "You don't know what you're getting into, Tadd. She'll talk your ear off the entire time. You'll get no peace."
"Not true." Tiana huffed. "I'll let him talk. He can tell me all the exciting stories about training that I haven't been able to squeeze out of you yet."
"Oh yeah, sure. And you're going to be able to refrain from pointing out all the sights to see in the city and tell him all about them." Tristan said sarcastically.
Tiana hesitated.
"Yup. I thought so. You just can't help it."
"Stop it." Tiana complained.
Sarilla shot her son a firm look. "Tristan, you should go along with them just to make sure Tiana doesn't rattle our guest's ear off." Tristan knew that expression from his mother all too well. It meant that she didn't want her daughter going on a walk through the city alone this late in the evening after dark with a young man they really didn't know all that well, even though he seemed to be a fine, trustworthy man so far.
"And Celesta should go too." The woman added.
Celesta ducked her head bashfully. "Oh, I'm alright with staying here. I need to work on my jewelry crafting."
"Jewelry?" Taddeo said. "Ah. So you are the wonderful mastermind behind Tristan's awesome carnivore tooth necklace. He said his sister made it for him. You sure do a fine job, young lady."
Celesta kept her eyes glued to the floor. "Thank you." She mumbled, her dark hair hanging on either side of her face, hiding most of her bashful expression from view.
"When you all return, don't forget to leave the door unlatched so that Sekani can easily come in and out as he pleases." Sarilla instructed as the young people grabbed hats and light cloaks or jackets, preparing to go out. "You know how he likes to roam around at night. Oh, and watch out for rogues. You never know when a Drifter will be lurking in the shadows, ready to cause trouble." She nodded at the boys, indicating that she trusted they would keep an eye out on the girls.
"Mother, we're just going to the rookery and back." Tristan said as put his hat on.
"Yes, I know. Just be careful anyway." She warned. "If you need me for anything I'll be down at the restaurant for awhile longer tonight to get some things in order for tomorrow."
"You'd think we were going through the Rainy Basin and back rather than the friendly streets of Sauropolis." Tristan growled once they were outside.
Taddeo laughed. "She's just being a mother."
"And she doesn't seem to realize that we've all grown up now." Tristan replied.
"What is it with these Drifters?" Taddeo said. "She acted as if they were a real problem."
"They can be." Tiana piped up. "They don't respect the Dinotopian Code. I've heard that they pop up here and there throughout all of Dinotopia, but it seems like there is more of them here at Sauropolis. Because of it, the security has gotten tighter. You'll see some street guards every now and then with their strong dinosaur companions. Their job is to keep an eye out for trouble and subdue any kinds of problems caused by the Drifters."
"Sounds like it's gotten a little worse since I left." Tristan mused.
Celesta nodded, her eyes solemn.
"It seems like no matter how hard we try to keep peace in Dinotopia, there is always someone trying to spoil it." Taddeo commented.
"I've heard rumors that some have targeted the saurians in an effort to cause them to turn against us humans. Supposedly it's a tactic to get the saurians to lose their trust in us."
"Why would they want to do that?" Taddeo said. "That's just crazy."
"They want to control the dinosaurs. Supposedly they complain that the dinosaurs really rule over us humans, making us operate only according to what they want." Tiana said.
"Which is stupid." Tristan added. "The dinosaurs, if they really wanted to, could probably obliterate us all."
"I don't know." Tiana replied. "Remember our history? Humans caused some really bad trouble when they were united in thinking evil. They did manage to control a lot of the dinosaurs and they even tried to wipe out the carnivores and actually managed to kill a lot of them. If enough people got the wrong ideas again, it could be really bad."
Tristan chewed on his lower lip, remembering all the things Bix, his protoceratops friend and advisor back in Canyon City, had warned him about Dinotopia's fragile thread of peace and how important it was not to upset any balances. What if the Drifters caught wind of the troubles among the pterosaurs of the canyons and found a way to work that toward their advantage? Tristan balked at the thought. It would be horrible to think that skybaxes would start attacking humans as a means of revenge. It would also mean that when he was only trying to accomplish what he thought was a good thing, could really be turning into a bad thing—a very bad thing. For the first time he wondered if what he and Dark Wing and Twilight were trying to change was not a good idea after all, considering what the Drifters' intentions were.
The walk went quickly with Tiana and Taddeo both chattering almost nonstop. Celesta remained quiet, listening to their chatter, and Tristan too remained fairly quiet, only interrupting every now and then to tease Tiana or Taddeo. Sekani tagged along until he got distracted with chomping at moths swarming near a street lantern.
Once they reached the rookery, Taddeo started to go to where the skybaxes were roosting, but surprisingly, Celesta tapped him on the arm.
Taddeo looked down at the girl, taking note of her large, pale gray eyes which looked up at him bashfully. "Would I be able to go with you?" She asked, softly. "I—I would like to see the skybax."
Taddeo glanced toward Tristan.
Tristan shrugged. "It's fine. Celesta is so gentle that I doubt any skybax would feel threatened by her." He wasn't about to get too close to the skybaxes himself. After what happened at graduation day, he was unsure if any of the skybaxes would recognize him and feel threatened by him.
Taddeo glanced at Tiana next. The girl smiled. "I'll wait here with Tristan and Sekani for now, but when you get back, maybe I could take a turn?"
"Sure." Taddeo said.
When they approached the sleepy skybaxes, Taddeo told Celesta to wait by the entryway while he carefully maneuvered his way over to Aerial. Celesta watched, fascinated with how skillfully Taddeo moved through the area, careful to give each skybax their space until he reached his own flight partner. It was beautiful watching them commune with each other. Taddeo spoke gently to Aerial and stroked her beak lovingly. He checked to make sure that all was well with the creature and assured her that he would return in the morning.
After making his way back over to Celesta he smiled warmly. "Would you like to see her up close?" He said, softly so as not to disturb the other two skybaxes roosting there for the night.
Celesta's eyes widened. "Will she trust me to come that close?"
"She will if I'm right there with you. Come." He held out a hand toward the girl.
Celesta hesitated. Even though this young man was apparently her brother's friend and he appeared to be nice, she still felt uncertain. She always took a long time to warm up to strangers.
Taddeo merely waited, keeping his hand outstretched. He felt the odd sensation that he was somehow trying to tame a skittish dinosaur rather than win the trust of a very shy girl.
Finally, Celesta reached out and took his outstretched hand and Taddeo led the girl carefully over to Aerial.
"Oh wow." Celesta breathed. "I have never been so close to a skybax before." She could not take her eyes off of the huge winged creature who stood there watching his human flight companion with curiosity as he approached with a timid girl in tow.
"She's amazing, isn't she?" Taddeo said. He whistled gently at the skybax and the creature responded with soft, high pitched whistle.
"Here." Taddeo said, turning to Celesta. "She may let you touch her." He lifted the girl's hand with his own and reached out toward the creature slowly.
Aerial looked at her human partner for a moment, then ducked her head, signaling that she would welcome a scratch on her neck.
"See? As long as I am with you, she will trust you."
"But why?" Celesta whispered. "She doesn't know me."
"Because she sees that I trust you."
Celesta's fingertips brushed against the creature's neck.
Aerial flinched slightly at her touch, but stood her ground.
Celesta drew in her breath sharply and pulled back, breaking Taddeo's hold on her hand.
"It's ok." Taddeo said, realizing that he needed to assure the girl more than the creature now. "She's just getting familiar with you."
Celesta nodded slowly. "Breathe deep." She whispered and waved her fingers shyly toward the creature.
Taddeo smiled in amusement. Tristan's youngest sister was probably the sweetest girl he'd ever met. She could probably charm any saurian on the island if she could only believe in her abilities.
As they made their way back to where Tristan and Tiana were waiting just outside the rookery archway, Taddeo turned to Celesta. "So you think you might want to become a Rider one day?"
Celesta ducked her head. "Oh no. Tat would be too much for me. But I am amazed with the beauty of the creatures."
"But that's where it starts." Taddeo said. "I can see it in your eyes. You have an interest and it will only grow from there."
Celesta shook her head. "No. Training is far more than I would ever want to mess with."
Taddeo smiled knowingly, but did not press the matter further.
After taking Tiana in to meet Aerial, Taddeo tried to get Tristan too come too, but he refused. "Tadd, I don't want to cause any trouble. What if one of them recognizes me? Especially Aerial. She definitely would."
"Some time has passed since then. Maybe they are calmed down now."
"I don't want to risk it." Tristan insisted. "Besides, you just said earlier that the canyon skybaxes were still showing signs of being upset."
Taddeo decided not to press him further.
When they returned back to the Starr's household, Tiana suggested that they enjoy a quick snack down at the restaurant before heading off to bed. While the young people enjoyed hot tea and sweet bread, Tristan grabbed a few quick bites and headed on upstairs while Taddeo was in the middle of telling a story to Tiana and Celesta who listened raptly to his tale. The girls were so wrapped up in the story, they didn't even notice him sneaking away. Taddeo noticed, but decided not to say anything. After all, he had a good enough audience without him.
Once in his room, Tristan checked on the egg. He dipped his fingers in a cup of water and sprinkled droplets over the egg to keep it moist, then tucked the cotton blanket securely around it. All the while, he talked softly to it.
"It's getting harder and harder to keep you a secret. Listen, we have company, so be sure and don't try to hatch tonight. Now would not be a good time. I need you to keep quiet. Sleep well now." He tossed some unwashed clothes over the backpack, hiding it from view. Now it blended in with the rest of his room.
When Taddeo came up to the room, Tristan had a pallet made up on the floor and was already stretched out on it. Taddeo tried once more to get Tristan to talk about what happened to Twilight, but Tristan refused.
The next morning, after a breakfast of fruit, warm muffins, and coffee at the restaurant, Taddeo told the family goodbye. He had more flight missions to carry out.
"So what are you going to tell them back at Canyon City?" Tristan asked.
Taddeo sighed. "That you are doing well, but not ready to come back."
Tristan nodded in approval.
"But please try to come back to Canyon City one day." Taddeo urged. Tristan shrugged. "If I do, it may be awhile."