“I propose an idea,” Jacky proclaimed proudly once they had made it to their room after dinner.

Tom merely gulped a little as he tried to work out what she might have come up with after having had a day to work out what to do with all her newfound money. At dinner they had learned that Saph and Fengi had come down with a case of charity. Tom certainly couldn’t blame them. They had both come from not-so-nice backgrounds. Fengi had come from the struggling orphanage and Saph from a crowded keep that had to kick her out since she was a mouth they couldn’t afford to feed.

“What you got in mind?”

“Don’t worry, it’s not about that bottle,” she reassured him with a wink that didn’t leave Tom even slightly comforted.

‘She’s so trying to get her hands on that isn’t she…’

“We need weekends,” she interrupted his line of thought, looking at him dead serious.

“I’m sorry, what?” Tom questioned, taken completely flat-footed by that response. He had perhaps more expected a rescue mission to Vulcha keep, Sapphire’s home, or something like that. Certainly sounded like it was a place where a bit of workforce could be scrounged up for next year.

“We need weekends. You know, like you had back before. We got rid of Joelina, but there is so much work to be done now. Normally we just do what needs to be done, hunt a bit then chill out. And I know you. You’ll just work till you get sick. These last few days have been really nice… I just want a few more like that every now and again, you know?” she carried on in a caring, sweet tone.

“... Right…” Tom needed a sec to think on that one, rubbing his chin. “I can’t say it’s a bad idea,” he replied as he tried to mull it over, eliciting a rather cold expression from Jacky. They had so fucking much to do though, but that probably just meant she was right after all. He could only imagine the grumbling in the workshop if days off took priority over the more interesting projects though.

“Of course it’s not. I just stole that stuff Saph came up with way back, remember? The day at the lake and all that. Okay maybe not ‘weekends,’ but at least a day off or something!” she bargained, getting a little agitated.

“Hey now. It’s a good idea. I just need to work out what to do about Edita and Tink and all that lot. I bet you they would spend the weekends doing wacky shit I should probably be around for.”

“Urgh,” Jacky protested, letting herself flop over backward onto the bed. “Can’t you just let them? What’s the worst that could happen? Edita sounds like she’ll ask you about everything anyway.”

“I mean maybe… She might know more than me on a lot of this actually,” Tom sighed reluctantly. A statement he felt might be a substantial understatement.

“And you want her to teach you, right?”

“Maybe,” Tom admitted. “I mean come on, I don’t think I have any of my own magic, at least not anything I wanna touch if it has to do with that mindreading stuff. And I’ve just not had the time to do much with it at all. I wanna fuck around with it a bit.”

“FINE!” Jacky grumbled, clearly not happy. “Two days off then. Every week. And in exchange for me getting more time off, you promise you don’t spend all of it down there,” she carried on, lifting her head to look at him, a smile growing on her face once more. “And when you do make cool shit, I’m going too.”

“Yes ma’am,” Tom snickered in reply, shaking his head a little. “What about Dakota? Pretty sure she might have something to say.”

“With the amount of money we made we deserve time off. We worked our asses off for this. It’s only fair.”

“Can’t argue with you there. When is the first day off then?”

“I don’t know, ask Dakota. Maybe she’ll ponder that one rather than if we should have them… Oh she is so going to make us train and stuff on those days, isn’t she?”

“That would sound like her, yeah. Also, tomorrow morning bright and early, we’re going running. You know the whole morning routine like we used to.”

Jacky rolled around in the bed to lay on her chest, looking at him, head resting on one hand. “You’re kidding, right?

“Why would I be joking? I’m putting the weights back on too. Can’t let a bit of mind fuckery get me out of shape too.”

“I suppose,” Jacky mused, tilting her head looking at him. “Remember to take the boots off near the door… actually put them outside.”

“Really?” Tom sighed, hoping he could get away with not putting the boots where some kid was likely to steal them.

“Oh shut up and come here. I’m cold.”

“Oh fuck you, I washed them you know that.”

“If you say so.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

After yet another long day of work, that evening's dinner had once again been a rather tumultuous affair. Drinks were had and plans were laid as more and more thought was put into what people could do with their money. Not many were thinking of saving it away for a rainy day, safe in the knowledge that next year would probably be even better.

From the keep’s side, new animals, equipment for seed making, and farm implements for Jarix were on the table too so they could expand their crop as much as possible. It was a real money maker and they needed to make the most of it while they had a monopoly on the stuff. And thanks to the Inquisition, their fears of the secret getting stolen were probably taken care of, at least for a while.

It would also seem Tom had at some point had a chat with the Bizmatis, as Dakota once more had an announcement to make. In the light of the rather different working conditions that would be awaiting them moving forward, there would now be a free day every week.

Paulin didn’t look pleased with the slowdown that would probably cause, but the rules were pretty clear on how she was supposed to behave at the moment. If Saph was being totally honest, she could live with a slight pay cut if she ended up with full days off like that. What would she even do with all that free time? She should definitely buy some more books or something. Dakota would definitely try to take them training since that had fallen by the wayside.

The news was received with enthusiasm, as was only right. In the old days time off came when there wasn’t much to do and the hunting parties were resting or grounded due to bad weather. But someone like Shiva used to be able to do all the work she needed done for a while in a matter of days and then spend her time keeping busy with whatever project she’d come up with to pass the time.

‘Maybe I should get back into sewing? I still don’t know what Jacky wanted that spare leather for, but it has to be for Tom somehow.’ As the food was cleared away it seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was thinking of clothes. Much to her delight, Ray, Essy, and Fengi started talking about what kind of stuff they could get and for how much. They had even managed to recruit Linkosta for a bit of insider knowledge on what was in fashion in the capital and what things cost there. The young mage hadn’t been much help with that since the best she could come up with was “Dresses, I think?” and “A couple of gold probably.” But she could draw and she had both paper and pencils, so they had gotten to work sketching out what they might want.

Saph had gotten curious and taken a seat next to Ray to watch along. She wouldn’t mind a dress either. She’d only ever worn one for that ball way back after she won the championship, and that had been a rental.

“Do we have anything to put on it so people can see where we are from?” Ray had questioned, looking around at them as Linkosta sketched away, Edita following along closely.

“Well the Bizmati’s have their family crest. Not something you would put on your clothes normally though,” Saph replied.

“Oh right… so we don’t have one at the keep here? We’re all like a big family here though, right?”

“We are indeed,” Essy said with a warm smile. “But no, we don’t have anything like that really.”

“There is the inquisitorial insignia,” Edita tried, clearly just trying to be helpful, though it earned her an odd look or two to say the least.

“Maaaybe not that one… We could just make one. With the factory and all that, wouldn’t we end up being a company or maybe even a guild?” Saph countered, a few of the others starting to ponder that on.

“Does that mean we get to design our own coat of arms or something?” Ray let out, sounding like she quite liked the idea really.

“Tom Industries,” Fengi chuckled, looking to Linkosta, who was clearly trying to work out just what was actually going to happen if they did make a company.

“I think you are right actually. Unless we want the factory to just be under my family. It is our keep, but well… Tom certainly had a part in it. So does the Inquisition now, like it or not.”

“I guess you need to adopt him then,” Fengi joked, Linkosta looking a little worried and Saph trying not to chuckle. “Oh Shiva would kill Nunuk if she did that.”

“Hey it’s better than having a go at marrying him, then Jacky will kill you,” Saph chuckled, having a quick look around to see if Jacky was anywhere to be seen. Thankfully her search came up empty.

Linkosta just cleared her throat a little, going to scratch the back of her head. “Yeah, that would be bad.”

“But hey, think of the names,” Fengi snickered, standing up on the bench and putting a foot on the table. “Hello everyone, welcome to Bizlong Bits and Bobs. If nobody else can make it, we can. Pleased to meet you,” Fengi parodied, reaching her hand out to Essy across the table.

Essy played along, taking it and giving it a shake. “Hello, yes I would like a warm bath, a dragon-killing thingy, and some candy please.”

“Now now don’t be ridiculous, we don’t do bathtubs here,” Fengi countered. “But we can get you some strange bubbling ale if you desire.”

“Hey that shit tasted quite good, you're not selling off the bubble beer,” Saph snickered, keeping an eye on Ray, who was just watching but with a happy smile on her face.

“Not even in exchange for cider, good ma’am?”

“I know a place we could get some good cider… If it’s still around,” Ray broke in, all heads turning to her. “It’s a little shop next to my brother's shop, always had great treats and drinks. It was a bit expensive, but well… What sweet things aren’t?” she chuckled a little nervously, looking around at all of them and getting a little smaller.

“Sounds great to me, I’ve only ever gotten cider from a bar before. What’s it called?” Saph questioned.

“Oh, well it is a bar too. But they sell bottles as well. The owner is from Perniot Keep. They have a lot of huge orchards apparently, they make all sorts of ciders and wines. The bar is also just called Perniot… It’s quite nice really.”

"Sounds like an expensive place,” Fengi let out with a bit of apprehension.

“Well we’re rich now, so why not? Ray, what would, say, a bottle cost?”

“Ehhh… it’s been a while,” Ray responded cautiously.

“Can’t be more than a few silver, I think. Maybe a gold at a stretch,” Essy added in. “My sister got me a pair last year for winter. I think they might have cost three silver each.”

“Sounds about right, it’s the liquor stuff that’s really expensive. Cider ain’t that bad. A mug of it is often around a silver from what I’ve had,” Saph added in with a nod. “Maybe a small keg would be better value though.”

“We could pitch in and get a big one,” Fengi suggested, Saph thinking on it for a second.

“Jacky and Shiva would just get all of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

“You could do little kegs. You know around this big,” Ray added, helpfully gesturing for a keg that looked maybe around 5 to 10 liters. “I know they had those, they sold them to bars and such. At least those that didn’t want the big casks.

“Makes sense. So what would that be? Around a gold?”

“Something like that, yeah. Maybe your trader friend can haggle a bit on it.”

“Maybe, well I’m having one that’s for sure,” Saph declared, treasuring the widening of the smile on Ray’s face.

“Me too, I would like one as well,” Fengi and Essy added in, Linkosta nodding her assent too.

“Sounds quite nice… we should probably let the others know as well.”

“I can ask them,” Ray offered cautiously, but still smiling wide. “I wouldn’t mind getting a bit from there too.”

“Then it’s settled. We’re gonna drink that place dry,” Saph chuckled warmly, looking to Edita. “What about you Edita? You want in?” The artificer had fallen back to just watching them as Linkosta had finished her sketching work, seemingly not actually paying that much attention as she snapped to after hearing her name.

“Oh… Uuuuhm. I don’t know. I’ve never actually bought anything before… Or really drunk much. I was given a bit of money though.”

“You’ve never been drunk before?” Fengi questioned rather skeptically, looking at the artificer.

“No no really… I had some ale before at a meeting with some important guy. It tasted odd.”

“Eeehhhh, one often needs to grow accustomed to the taste,” Saph granted, rocking side to side a bit. “It can be real nice though.”

“Especially if you get enough of it.” Fengi snickered, “And one thing is for sure. Tom loves the stuff.”

“He does?”

‘Oh dear.’

“Sure. He even outdrank Shiva way back when he first got here. Not to mention Jacky.”

“Oh… I’ll have to give it a go then,” the artificer responded with a proud-looking smile.

‘And there it is.’

__________________________________________________________________________________

Things had gotten off to a rather late start the following day as they received a visit from a small blue flyer in the shape of a rather insistent little songbird. It had been noticed by Herron up in the guard tower. Though there was widespread agreement that it was a bit more likely he had been woken up by the thing pecking him on the forehead since he hadn’t actually come down to wake up Unkai when he was supposed to that morning.

That lack of a wakeup call had led to a rather late breakfast, which meant everyone knew who had probably been snoozing… again. That wasn’t really Tom’s concern though. That was Rachuck’s department. That and he didn’t want anyone asking why he hadn’t woken up Unkai or maybe Wiperna and Raulf, who were on kitchen duty. The answer to that question was that he had been fucking around with Edita’s special glasses and the magic load thingy. He could only get a lens over one eye at a time, but it did seem to work well enough for him. The results were almost like watching an augmented reality overlay of the flow of energy. It was all very intricate and colorful, and he had no idea what it all meant, but it was very fascinating to play with. Lenses could be flicked up and down to change the colors or hide certain paths. One would light up the runes in bright white if it was down which really made reading the tiny script much easier. The magnification lenses did fuck up focus rather badly for him, so he refrained from using those.

He had actually asked permission to “examine” them and Edita hadn’t even hesitated in saying yes. That being said, these things looked VERY expensive, so he was being extremely careful. They were just soo cool though, and the craftsmanship. All polished hand fitted brass, every joint and fixture working so smoothly and perfectly. Probably magically fitted actually now he came to think of it. He had been so enamored that he had completely forgotten about the promise of a morning workout, but the steady rumble of Jacky’s snoring was a good enough excuse to maybe let that slide for today. Not like that would ever become a habit.

He was rather startled when there was a loud knock at the door. Wiperna loudly announced food was ready before going to the next door and doing the same thing. Tom blamed the earbuds that he had in at the time. He was trying to see if the glasses could see electricity, which sadly didn’t seem to be the case.

At the rather late breakfast, the plan for the day was discussed. Tom had been wondering if maybe he should be bringing out the quadbike for this, but it seemed not. Yldril would be made to pull her weight as thoroughly as could be managed. There had been some back-and-forth discussion on if Yldril was ready to fly out to said forest, but in the end that had also been decided against.

They might be able to push the dragon as hard as they wanted, at least in theory, though Fengi might have something to say about it. But even so, having something snap and send her plummeting from the sky didn’t seem worth it, even if she would probably survive if she stayed low. So Yldril had been sent lumbering out ahead as soon as they had her rigged up and loaded down with everything they wanted. A party would head out soon thereafter to go start cutting and trimming, getting the logs ready for departure. It would take the dragon the better part of the day to get there at walking speed, so there was a good chance they would be all done long before she got there.

‘The party’ had ended up quite considerable. All the huntresses were going as well as Kulinger obviously. Shiva, Anchor, and even Linkosta were coming since she wanted to see what Kalestine might have done to the trees they would be cutting down.

The dilemma Tom had been facing was how to get there. He wasn’t overly fond of the idea of going with Yldril together with Fengi and Saph since, well, the dragon was an arsehole and it was a very long walk. Even getting a ride on her probably wouldn’t be that comfy. And since Jarix wasn’t going, the second option was of course going with the keep dwellers. This meant hitching rides with the girls cause Jarix wasn’t leaving the keep until at least Glira came back. They were hoping for yesterday, but today wasn’t unexpected either, if she stopped for the night at either keep.

He didn’t mind the bit of the journey that would be with Jacky, but he wasn’t exactly thrilled about riding someone like Essy, even if she might not mind. At least Saph and Fengi wouldn’t be there. He was also just a touch worried about the trip home with all of them nicely tired out from cutting wood all day.

So when he and Jacky once more found themselves back in the bedroom with Jacky busy gearing up, Tom just sat on the bed still toying with the goggles before deciding to put them on as best he could and start flicking through the lenses while looking at her.

“Like what you are seeing?” Jacky questioned, clearly noticing but not turning to acknowledge him as she fiddled with her grieves, leaning over forwards.

“Always,” Tom retorted as he kept flicking lenses down. There was a slight… Shimmer he guessed was the best word for it, about her, but nothing concrete really. Might just be the goggles picking up on any sort of life force like he knew powered the spells.

“What do those do anyway?” Jacky then asked, straightening back up again and picking up her bracers from the little table she had.

“They show the flow of magic as best I can see. You’re not doing much right now though.”

“Want a flex or something?” she chuckled, turning to look at him, one hand resting on her hip, the other holding the bracer.

“If you would be so kind?” Tom chuckled as she struck a pose, flexing her biceps. The goggles did light her up, though it looked way different to the ordered organized lines and junctions of the magical load he had been looking at earlier. It looked more like a glowing nervous system arrayed out all over her body, or more accurately running inside her. The effect was a little wonky to look at if he was being totally honest, maybe it worked a bit better for dragonettes.

“Okay, that’s cool looking,” he let out giddily, closing one eye to better look through the set of lenses he could get over an eye.

“What’s it look like?”

“Like a million little bright white blood vessels running all through you. Well, like a nervous system I guess more accurately.”

“Don’t think I’ve seen that before somehow,” she chuckled sarcastically as the magic faded and she relaxed once more. “Remind me to try those on later, sounds like a great opportunity to gawk at some boys.”

“Oh shut it you,” Tom laughed, knowing damn well if she had ever wanted to gawk at boys she would not have needed an excuse before… Well unless she ended up turning it creepy, which he could certainly see happening.

“Awwwww, you getting jealous?” she quipped, slowly walking towards him, placing one foot in front of the other like she was going down a catwalk.

“No, you’re just sounding a little Sapphire-ish, you know?” Tom joked, Jacky coming to a stop a pace from him and also starting to chuckle a little.

“Now we can’t have that. Imagine the horror of having to be so perfect at everything.”

“Except math.”

“True that one… It is just sooo damn boring though,” she pleaded, turning around and sitting down on his lap rather forcefully. Tom let out a little squeak as she continued where she had left off on the bracer. “Just one big mess of numbers and a bunch of dumb rules on what they do.”

“Hey now, I find it strangely satisfying what you can do with a bit of good math. Sure beats language lessons. Gods I hated German back in the day.”

“If you didn’t wanna learn about it, I don’t even think I wanna know,” she snickered before whipping her head around to look at him. “Why aren’t you getting ready to go?”

Tom took a second to answer, mulling it over how to put it right now. If he was being totally honest, he would rather just go to the workshop and get on with things so they could get back to the interesting stuff as soon as possible. Namely some more actual enchantment work. He also wanted Edita to explain some of the designs they had gotten from down below. He still had that shitty copy of the old flier after all.

Speaking of which, they really should have gotten that third vault open by now, they were way behind schedule. They were trying to open this one without blowing it up though, so that had probably delayed efforts considerably.

“You’re daydreaming again” Jacky interrupted, sounding a little miffed at being left hanging. Understandably enough really.

“Right. Sorry. Well….”

“You don’t wanna go, do you?”

“I mean it sounds fun and all. But I’m kinda busy,” Tom tried hopefully. It was the truth, he would rather stay, he just wasn’t so sure she would take it kindly. She hadn’t actually left him willingly since the whole mind reading fiasco, and he wasn’t quite sure if she was even willing to.

“Okay then. I’ll have Rachuck watch over you instead.”

“You what now?”

“He’s the only one staying here who’s paranoid enough to be just perfect. One condition though.”

“... you don’t have to do the running part tomorrow morning?” Tom tried, not sure where this was going.

“No, no I’ll just piggy back when by feet hurt. This is much more important. I want the chainsaw.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Welp, there she was. Just her and Fengi riding atop dragon-back, slowly lumbering towards the forest. The view was rather bland. The rolling grassy hills had lost their green splendor ever so slowly, and with an overcast sky things really were looking rather gloomy. It was fairly windy too which really didn’t help matters either. Worst in Saph's mind had to be the darker-looking clouds on the horizon. If it rained this would turn into a truly shitty job. She just wrapped the furs she and Fengi had brought a little closer. Wolf fur was nice and warm, even if she only had part of one with her today. It was still more than enough to wrap up in. It would keep her dry too, at least for a while if it came to that.

Someone had to stay with Fengi, but there hadn’t exactly been an overabundance of volunteers. Saph was really cursing the fact that Unkai seemingly hadn’t even tried to get cleared to go along. Instead, he was the one tending to Nunuk today with so many other people out and about. ‘I mean come on, surely Apuma could have managed. Not like she needs to do much aside from just rest… gods fucking dammit.’

At least Yldril wasn’t making that bad time. They would certainly have to jog if they wanted to keep up on foot. The swaying walk of a dragon wasn’t the most comfortable to be sure, the constant side-to-side motion getting really rather repetitive after the first ten minutes. At least Yldril wasn’t jogging. Saph would have flown by herself at that point. It might actually even have made Tom sick if he had come along for this bit. Saph chuckled thinking back to the few times the human had been given a spin.

It all probably sucked worse for Yldril though. They still didn’t trust her wings, so they wouldn’t force her to fly. The dragon for her part had actually agreed when asked what she thought was best, not that they valued her opinion overly much. Such was her punishment though, and Saph couldn’t really feel bad for her. Yldril did make it real easy to not like her, that was for sure.

For now, though, the dragon was walking in silence, simply aiming for the nearest part of the forest. The bird was being kept with the rest of the crew back at the keep. Once they were ready they would fly out ahead of them and get started on the chopping down and prepping the trees for transport.

The two huntresses didn’t really feel like chatting either considering their company, so silence had reigned for quite a while. It was really getting rather sad and solemn. Fengi didn’t seem to be in too bad of a mood, but she certainly wasn’t happy or bubbly like yesterday either. Things had been improving over the last couple of days. The Fengi Saph knew and loved even showing a few times, usually when something else had her attention. Like clothes, or food and drinks.

“You could just fly off, you know… I cannot do anything,” Yldril grumbled as she kept walking.

“We could yeah… but then we would miss out on a free ride, now wouldn’t we?” Saph countered with false bravado, looking to Fengi and trying to work out what she wanted to do.

“Marvelous… You know you aren’t the only ones who wouldn’t mind a bit of privacy?” Yldril grumbled in response, sounding pissed as usual.

“Who are you gonna have a chat with, the wind?” Saph questioned intentionally, trying to sound a touch rude.

“I could scream at a rock for half an hour… I’m sure that would cheer me up.”

Fengi just let out a rather unhappy-sounding sigh, looking down at the dragon’s head, who was refusing to look back at them.

“Do you want us to leave? Or do you maybe want to actually say something now no one is here?”

“What do you want me to say? You can just make me, you know?” the dragon grumbled with dark sarcasm. “Yes, master, I love being a slave. It’s so amazing how you stand up for me when people are being mean?”

Fengi didn’t counter, instead just letting her ears drop, staring at the dragon.

“Right okay, here’s a question for you then to pass the time. What would it take, that we can actually give you, to make you happy?” Saph interrupted in a stern tone, not too happy about what Yldril constantly did to Fengi’s demeanor.

“Say, Yldril you are free to go,” the dragon replied with a chuff, seeming quite pleased with her reply.

“I said that we could actually do. Can't just let you go, you know that.”

“How about letting me lay down until I can work without everything hurting? That would be nice.”

“We have deadlines to make. At least it should be getting better, right? And after winter you should be good as new,” Fengi pleaded, sounding almost like Ray when she was afraid she was asking too much. Saph didn’t actually believe the dragon that everything hurt that bad. Besides, she could have just surrendered if she didn’t like getting fucked up.

“Gee, thanks. How gracious of you. How many trips like this will I have to do? In autumn and probably in the cold rain most of the time.”

“We don’t really know yet. We don’t know how many trees we’re getting, nor how much you can drag each time.

“Soo pull more and it is over sooner?” the dragon sighed in response, at least seeming to drop the dark sarcasm for now.

“Well that is the idea at least,” Fengi replied, still holding her cautious tone.

“Fantastic. And with no wings, it is a two-day round trip…”

“That about sums it up. No way we can cut the wood up faster than that anyway… actually Saph, what was the plan there? We don’t have a sawmill or anything like that.”

“Handsaws and guides by the sound of it, just like the old days. We do have Tom’s chainsaw at least. That should help,” Saph responded with a shrug. She’d not done much woodworking, aside from helping out with collecting firewood of course. They always needed that stuff. Every now and again she had come along when they went and cut down a tree and dragged it back with the team of oxen for Kulinger to work on. They did use wood at the keep after all, be it for repairs or Kullinger having a go at some new furniture or even just for tools.

“You’re kidding, right? Aren’t we talking like at least a dozen trees?”

“I don’t know, do you think so?”

“Well they were talking about multiple trips. Look what we are sitting on.”

“Oh, so I’m a what now… fascinating,” Yldril grumbled, sounding more annoyed than upset.

“A 30+ ton mound of bitching by the sounds of it.”

“Ouch… right in the heart,” Yldril let out disappointedly, like she really had expected something better.

Fengi just sighed before seemingly deciding not to comment on that. “A 30+ ton dragon who can easily haul a tree or two, now can’t she? Especially if they are trimming them first. The way I understood it we were only bringing the logs back, right?”

“Probably yeah…” Saph replied, a horrifying realization dawning on her.

“There is no way we are cutting up that many logs into planks by hand.”

“... Fengi?”

“Yeah?”

“Remind me to poke Tom about making that problem go away somehow. Even if I have to owe him enough favors to make Jacky jealous.”

“Hey if you are taking the fall, I’m all for it,” Fengi snickered, seeming rather overwhelmed by trying to work out just how much work they were talking.

“As long as they don’t put me in a wheel to power it I am happy,” Yldril grumbled, managing to sound remarkably depressed.

“I think you will be plenty tired when you make it back home tomorrow, don’t you worry,” Saph retorted, the dragon letting out an annoyed grunt.

“I better be allowed a proper night's sleep tonight. I promise I will flay anyone who wakes me up.”

“No you won't,” Saph just stated matter of factly, shifting around on the dragon's back a bit, trying to get more comfortable.

“I don’t think anyone will be staying the night aside from us really. Shouldn’t be a problem, right Saph?” Fengi added, looking at Saph rather pointedly as she found a nice spike to lean against that wouldn’t poke her. It fitted rather nicely between her wing shoulders really, even if she was lacking a headrest.

“Right… fair enough, yeah. If anything wakes her up in the night it probably should die, all things considered, as long as it’s not me or you. Don’t wanna be taken in the night by a wolf or something, am I right? You wouldn’t let that happen, now would you?” Saph asked rather sarcastically, leaning to the side a bit and trying to see Yldril’s head without success.

“Of course not. I would encourage it,” the dragon retorted dryly.

“Atta girl,” Saph just joked, knowing full well that Fengi would see to that.

“Saph, please?” Fengi pleaded, looking rather miserable. “Could we at least try to be nice to each other? Maybe just a little bit?”

“You’re saying that to me? She’s the one that just admitted she wants us dead,” Saph protested. She could understand Fengi wanted to make some progress, but come on. “Fine… It was an okay joke at least.”

“Oh I wasn’t joking,” Yldril added, to Fengi’s evident annoyance as she too turned her gaze towards where the dragon’s head would be if she wasn’t hanging it low like she was walking home in defeat.

“Yldril… You have to defend us against any threat encountered until we are back at the keep, understand?”

“Of course I do… I have to. Why am I surprised a pair of huntresses can’t even fend for themselves out here?” the dragon complained, clearly not impressed with the choice of tactics.

“You do know we are only down here cause you can’t fly yet. And we aren’t leaving you unsupervised either.”

“You don’t say.”

__________________________________________________________________________________