Tom was still rather worried he had made a big mistake as he watched Jacky fly off towards the grey horizon, chainsaw dangling from her chest. He felt a little odd actually. He had come running out to say goodbye and to give Jacky her pair of ear defenders and some safety glasses that sorta fit, at least a little bit. He had also reminded them to pack some tarps. Just in case it rained since it might help keep the wood mostly dry. Honestly, he felt like a worried mother or housewife.

The image hadn’t really been helped when Ray had also come running up carrying some bundles of food someone had apparently forgotten. Maybe he should go do a load of laundry next and complete the image.

“Well… that’s them gone,” Tom shrugged as he lost sight of Jacky against the grey skies.

“Yup…” Ray answered, also staring up at the sky, watching them.

“You got anything you have to do or?”

“Oh eh, not that much… I really should wash the floors in the armory though, a lot of muddy feet,” Ray joked a little unsurely.

“Don’t bother, it’ll be just as dirty tomorrow anyway, and ten times so if we get rain.”

“Raulf thinks so… About the rain that is. So you’re probably right,” Ray agreed, turning to look at him instead. “Do you need help with anything?”

“We just have some stuff to do in the smithy. I don’t think so… Actually,” he replied, turning to her as well, tilting his head a little. “I heard Fengi mention that you were looking at getting dresses made. Is that right?”

“Oh, yes,” Ray responded with a quick nod. “You know. It would be nice to have, even if it wouldn’t be so good to wear every day. It is going to be hard with the silks though.”

“Everyone needs some finery,” Tom replied with a wink. Of course she should have some nice clothes, maybe she would even start wearing what they had gotten for her in the capital then. She looked quite nice, all things considered, when she tried. “You went for silk? I guess that’s a bit expensive,” he carried on, having no clue what silk they might be talking about. The only silk that he remembered them having was the changeling silk of his cloak… maybe he should revisit the idea of getting that turned into a proper uniform. He would need a bit more of the stuff though.

“Well that too, but I’ve never sewn silk before. It’s always so expensive. And it’s hard to make look just right.”

“I know Essy is pretty good at sewing. I’m sure Wiperna is too.”

“Oh of course,” Ray giggled, though still looking a little uncertain. “But not to be mean or anything, but a dress is quite different from some armor or a simple shirt.”

“Well, I certainly wouldn’t know. Only sewing I’ve done was to fix things… It usually didn’t end well,” Tom joked, hoping Ray wouldn’t be quite so skittish. They hadn’t talked that much, but everyone knew she was sweet as pie.

“I could teach you if you want? I was helping Jacky a little before all this stuff with the inquisitor happened.”

“Jacky was taking sewing classes?” Tom questioned, raising an eyebrow. That was honestly quite the surprise.

“It’s been a while. She’s been busy and all,” Ray replied a little meekly before changing the subject. “How have the two of you been doing? You have had a very hard time.”

“Right… Oh yeah, it’s been… well it sucked a lot. Jacky blames the inquisitor rather than me, even if I wasn’t that nice all the time, so I guess that is a plus.”

“It’s okay, everyone has bad days. You especially so,” Ray said in a very soothing voice, going to put a hand on his shoulder with the most tender and caring look on her face Tom could imagine. “Just try not to, okay?”

“You know Ray, this is why everyone here likes you so much,” Tom chuckled softly, giving her a pat on the shoulder in return. “You’re a good egg as we would say back home.”

“But humans don’t lay eggs,” Ray replied, turning her head to the side a little, looking adorably confused.

“No, but we still know what eggs are… Anyhow, Jacky thought you would want to buy some jewelry with the money? I guess that falls under clothes to some extent.”

“Oh… Yeah, I guess so. It is going to be so strange having to buy something not from my brother's shop.” She laughed hollowly. Tom hadn’t thought about that part. He didn’t even know if the shop was still around.

“We could also try making some? I know Shiva will be quite busy, but we certainly have plenty of materials to work with. Silver and gold too. I have a feeling that maybe she will want to do something other than entertaining us lot as winter goes by.”

“Do you think she would do that? It is a lot of work,” Ray questioned meekly, clearly worried time would be spent on her that shouldn’t. Tom couldn’t really blame her. They would probably be busy all winter, but surely Shiva could whip up some earrings or something.

“Well, she sure loves polishing everything. Do you know her magic?”

“Yeah, I more or less worked it out… My brother had the same talent. Let him make things without solder. He made these earrings out of very thin gold wire all fused together into little designs. They were beautiful,” Ray replied, turning sadder and sadder as she explained.

“Oh I believe it. Maybe Shiva can replicate one?” Tom tried cautiously, not sure if he should change the subject or if this was a good thing to talk about. ‘God dammit Tom, why are you such a numpty with all this stuff?’

“Perhaps?... It was very fine work. They easily broke too. He just called that a business opportunity since not many places could fix them. I often wore some of them when standing outside, at least during the day, you know? Advertising. He never even got mad every time I broke one,” Ray replied somberly, her expression going blank. “Times change, I guess.”

“They sure do. I had never worn jewelry before coming here. And then what do the girls do? They take every chance they get to dress me up with whatever they can find. Even cut my hair to leave a damn heart and a lightning bolt. Wore a cap for months after that. It’s still not quite gone,” Tom joked. It seemed to help as she looked at him with big eyes like she had just realized something embarrassing.

“I remember those… I thought they were religious or something like that.”

Tom suppressed a snicker at that, not wanting to laugh at her. Shortly thereafter Ray too let out a little giggle, confirming that she found it funny too.

‘Oh thank god for that.’

“And the time they tried to do my hair into horns, oh that was soo stupid.”

“They really tried that?” Ray questioned, suppressing another snicker.

“Yup, I think Saph just panicked. Dakota basically just told her ‘Make him presentable!’ and then left. She didn’t have a clue what to do,” Tom carried on, breaking out laughing properly at the stupid memory. That had been so damn dumb, but it was a good story at least. Ray joined in too, though she was more snickering and giggling at his misfortune than outright laughing.

“I’m sorry, but that is funny,” Ray apologized as she kept snickering at him.

“Oh don’t worry, it was damn funny. Afterwards at least,” Tom got out after catching his breath real quick. “Or the time when Kiran attacked my foot ‘cause of how bad it smelled. That really hurt. Bastard has sharp fangs.”

“He is a spirited one,” Ray remarked, the two of them continuing to snicker like idiots.

Then there was a bit of a cough from behind them. Tom turned to see Junior and Radexi standing there, Junior at attention for some reason.

“At ease gentlemen,” Tom joked, watching the young man switch to a more relaxed stance, almost mirroring Radexi who just shook his head the tiniest amount. “What is it?”

“Shiva and Edita want you in the forge, and Jarix would like a word as well.”

“Right. I guess the fun is over then. Run along you two, I’ll be right up.”

“Yes sir.”

Tom let out a sigh as he watched them run off ‘I guess he’s not quite over playing soldier… I guess it still beats him taking after his father. Oh well, to work.’

__________________________________________________________________________________

Saph’s day had been rather boring thus far. It had been such a long walk, and it was more or less around late afternoon by the time they had made it to just the treeline. It had taken some walking back and forth from there before Essy had come descending out of the skies towards them to lead them to the camp.

It had turned out to be another half-hour walk through the forest to get there, which had left everyone save Essy a little travel sore. One might laugh at the idea of sitting down for a whole day being tiring, but Saph had actually gotten off to jog alongside just to have something to do for a bit. That and she was sore and stiff from all the hours sitting on Yldril’s back.

At least the forest was beautiful though, much better than the rolling hills. They really did get boring after a while. Here, though, it was all full of color. Especially on the outskirts of the forest. The leaves were already a dark yellow and falling, coating the ground in a colorful blanket. A few piles could be seen here and there where the wind had swept them up. Saph poked one to check for any surprises with a long stick before taking a run up and just jumping in backward, letting her wings catch the leaves to give a soft bouncy landing.

Fengi had kindly asked the dragon to walk by the pile of leaves, causing Saph to vacate to the shout of “Clear below!” followed by Fengi letting herself fall off the dragon’s back and down into the pile of leaves, using much the same trick as Saph had, though the cushion of leaves caught under her wing and sent her bouncing off. Essy stuck her head over the side to better watch as Fengi sailed gracelessly through the air and landed with a thunk and an “Aooow…” on some rather less well-padded ground.

The two silvered huntresses both chuckled a bit as Fengi held up a hand showing the OK symbol. “Nailed it.”

“Well if there had been a nail there then absolutely. You didn’t hurt anything, right?” Saph snickered, walking up to look down at the younger woman.

“Nope, I’m fine,” Fengi replied, standing up and dusting herself off, still looking like that had hurt at least a bit.

“Well at least the kids aren’t around to learn about that maneuver,” Essy added with a shake of her head. “I could see someone breaking a wing doing that.”

“You can break a wing doing the dishes,” Fengi retorted, going to jog after the dragon who hadn’t stopped or even slowed down. “Yldril, I’m climbing up your tail, just so you know.”

“Wonderful. At least you don’t want me to pick you up when you fall off,” The dragon retorted sarcastically, not seeming to care overly much. It wasn’t like she could stop them anyway. Fengi hopped up onto her tail and started climbing. Saph was half expecting the tip to fall off again, but it did seem to have survived the reattachment pretty well. Even if it was just the tip that had come off, it was certainly more than could be said for Balethon.

Saph followed Fengi’s lead, taking a running start and using a few powerful flaps of her wings to send her up onto the dragon's back. “All aboard.”

“Chuu chuu,” Essy let out playfully, pumping her fist in the air twice, leading to both Fengi and Saph tilting their heads looking at her. “Oh, it’s a thing Tom said… Not sure what it means, probably Danish.”

“Ahr yeah, that makes sense,” Fengi and Saph both agreed as they made themselves comfortable once more.

Saph went to lay down alongside the spines on the dragon's back, looking down at the ground moving slowly by below them. The dragon’s steps had slowed a bit as the hours had gone by, and she just watched the ground glide past. She thought back fondly to old times long ago. Playing in the rustling leaves as a kid had always been good fun. They used to take the kids of the keep to the forest just to see how different it was on a normal year. It was good to have a trip to see something other than just the rolling hills around the keep after all. For the last while though the kids had more or less just been cooped up inside the keep. She didn’t see that changing this year either.

‘Maybe next year. With some money, surely we could take a trip to the capital or something. Been a few since last we did that after all I think.’

They didn’t so much see the camp as hear it. Specifically, the roar of Tom’s chainsaw cutting through the woods. At first it was faint in the distance, almost like a shriek of a wounded animal, but as one came closer the true anger of that strange tool could be heard in full song. Accompanied by a familiar if rather manic-sounding laughter…

“Wait… Did they give it to Jacky?” Saph broke out, sitting up and trying to look ahead.

“Well that can’t possibly go wrong,” Fengi said sarcastically, shaking her head a bit, standing up, and walking up to Yldril’s shoulders to get a better view.

“It gets worse I’m afraid,” Essy added, having taken a comfy seat on Yldril’s back as well.

Fengi and Saph both didn’t say anything, instead just turning to look at the oldest huntress.

“Tom isn’t here either… and he gave it to her for the day,” Essy carried on reluctantly, apprehension clear on her face.

“Dakota did come, right? You know, just in case something needs to be put back on,” Saph tried half-joking, half-serious. A healer sounded like something they could definitely use if they ended up in that situation.

“I am not sure Dakota could manage that if I’m being honest. I wouldn’t like to think what that thing could do to flesh and bone,” Fengi added, also not seeming overly thrilled with the news.

“Is anyone going to tell me what that noise is?” Yldril protested, shaking her head a little as Jacky let loose once more, the screaming saw chewing its way through a log somewhere in the forest. It was hard to even work out where it was coming from with the echo bouncing off the trees all around them.

“Just think of it as a magical item that cuts wood and to do it, it burns stuff rather than magic. And is incredibly loud,” Saph responded as she tried to tell what parts of the noise were the saw and what might be Jacky screaming with glee.

“Am I the only one who would be quite scared to hear this? Say in the dark of night all alone out here?” Fengi questioned, sounding like maybe there was a little fear in there already as she looked around, the sound overwhelming them from all directions.

“Please tell me I do not have to listen to that all day?” the dragon grumbled, seeming a lot less impressed by the noise.

“If it helps, we all do. If Jacky’s got the saw, then she ain’t putting it down till it doesn’t wanna go no more. Or when we are done, I hope,” Saph sighed, the sheer disappointment radiating off the dragon feeling almost thick in the air as she walked along.

“Who knows, maybe they will be done soon?” Fengi tried in a cheerful tone. “I mean cutting trees down with that thing and branching them can’t take that long, and they must have been going for a while by now.”

Rounding a large path of bushes, the source of the noise came into view. Jacky stood with her back to them complete with her red-furred ear-defenders as woodchips flew all around, before the tree she had been working on creaked and cracked, slowly starting to topple over. “TIIIMBEEEER!”

There was a brief panic as the tree fell the wrong way, and several keep dwellers ran for it before the tree slammed into the ground. Jacky stood there looking quite pleased with herself.

“GOT IT!” she shouted out as grumbling faces started returning to the site, some having fled quite far away. As order returned some of them noticed the massive dragon staring at them. “Sorry about the bad guess. I really thought it was going that way.”

‘Gods give me strength,’ Saph sighed, clutching her temples a bit.

“Now now Saph, I’m sure she tried to make it go the other way. The saw does look like a handful if you ask me,” Essy let out, clearly trying to mediate things before anyone got shouted at. “Looks like they have come a long way already too.”

“Indeed,” Yldril replied, looking around and not sounding overly thrilled as she started walking up to the latest trunk to hit the ground. Looking around, the victims were quite spread out, and Essy was right too, there were quite a lot of them.

Jacky apparently hadn’t noticed them until Yldril was but a few meters behind her. She turned a bit to the right, probably sensing something was behind her, and let out a yelp of surprise as she noticed the massive black dragon standing just behind her. In true Jacky fashion, her finger was seemingly still on the trigger as the chainsaw roared to life, revving wildly before she managed to get her finger off the trigger, stumbling back a step or two. Some people averted their gaze once more, fearing Dakota’s magics were about to be needed, though others simply shook their heads or giggled a bit.

Yldril just stood there staring at the huntress unflinchingly. “Would you please shut that thing up?”

“Oh… right. Fuck man, you can’t just sneak up on me like that,” the chainsaw-wielding huntress countered, shutting off the chainsaw with a flick of a switch.

“I was not. You are simply oblivious. How many trees are there?”

“Oh uuuhm…” Jacky paused, looking back at her path of destruction. "Well… You know, I think I stopped counting.”

“There are twelve in total,” Dakota responded, walking up to the dragon. “And I must say, things have been going far swifter than we imagined. So far we are talking two logs per tree, we will cut them in half again when back at the keep. So two trees cut into four logs a trip was our idea. You will have to put together your cargo though. Do you think you can handle that?”

“Just fine… what even is that, a couple tons? Might as well take eight just to get it done with. That would mean I only need to do three trips, right?”

“That would be correct, yes. It is an awful lot of wood though,” Dakota replied, not seeming quite convinced that was a good idea, looking to Fengi for confirmation.

The young huntress just shrugged, clearly not knowing either. “If she thinks 8 logs is fine, why not? Not like we know what she can pull.”

“I have hauled far worse. But first I want to lay down somewhere with a bit of peace and quiet,” the dragon rumbled unenthusiastically, looking to Jacky, who was already making her way to the tree she had downed, fiddling with the saw.

“You can rest for a little. Afterward, we would have you stack the lumber up over there. We’re laying down two logs to put it on so it doesn’t get wet. In the meantime, Saph, we have a little foraging to do. I hope you brought your knife.”

“Always,” Saph replied, sliding down Yldrils's side and landing in a crouch, steadying herself with an arm before standing up again. “What are we looking for?”

“Heaven oak bark and anything else of use. A tasty snack wouldn’t go amiss either. By the looks of it, we might be able to finish up here today. Actually, remember to grab a hatchet for the bark while you are at it.”

“I saw some berry bushes when looking for you three. Worth a look I think,” Essy added enthusiastically as she too slid down Yldril, as the dragon started walking off to go have a nap somewhere a little quieter.

“Could I come too? Once I’ve seen where Yldril went to sleep at?” Fengi questioned hopefully, looking to Dakota. “I’ll be back so we can have her ready stuff for tomorrow.”

“I don’t see why not, as long as we get the prep done properly. Apparently it is going to rain tomorrow.”

“Yeah we heard,” Fengi sulked, glancing to Saph.

“Not much we can do about it. We better get going then before she wanders too far off. Do try to keep Jacky from killing anyone,” Saph chuckled, feeling a little glad she didn’t have to be too close to the saw either. It made her ears ring, and since Jacky had it there was not much chance of her getting a go at it anyway, and where was the fun in that?

“No faith at all,” Jacky laughed loudly with a big smile on her face as she yanked the cord and the device sprang to life once more. There was no denying just how quick work it made of those branches though. Each was gone in a matter of seconds as she walked up the side of the trunk.

“Well, good luck. See you later!”

__________________________________________________________________________________

As Tom came up the stairs to the greeting hall, the sight that greeted him was a young and slender blue dragon laying on his belly, head turned to face the horizon while completely overrun by kids. Said gaggle of kids seemed to include nearly everyone, save Lothal. Last Tom had seen him he had been shadowing Rachuck, who was supposed to be with Paulin at the moment so he guessed the kid was getting his first proper lessons on inquisition wrangling. Someone had to keep an eye on her.

The investigator hadn’t actually been causing much trouble as of late. Whether that came down to the orders she had been given or to the fact that Tom had a suspicion that she and Rachuck actually saw eye to eye on many things was hard to say. They were certainly both rather paranoid and beset by an impeccable work ethic.

For now though, Tom guessed he had kids to worry about, as well as whatever Jarix wanted to do. As he made his way over he saw Zarko holding the basket with Jinora, looking less than thrilled about the whole situation. It was rather funny to see the strict and uptight military woman being forced to babysit. And in all due honesty, she should probably be sawing planks or something instead. But they wouldn’t have any more wood till sometime late tomorrow, so here she was. He guessed that she hadn’t gone logging because if it came to it Jarix needed his crew for a fight.

“Ahr Tom, listen bro, I need to ask a favor,” Jarix called out, seeming quite delighted once he spotted Tom and Ray.

“Name it big guy,” Tom called back, walking up and watching as the kids all turned to look, a few hopping down to come his way with Kiran leading the charge.

“I wanted to ask you. Remember back before Joelina came here, well mostly even longer back than that. You used to run around in the morning and lift things?”

“Yup,” Tom replied, bending down to pick up Kiran as he came running with arms raised. “Up we come.”

“Yeah that stuff. Does it actually work?” the dragon questioned as the rest of the kids running up went right by Tom and instead ran up to Ray, who had already bent down arms open to welcome them in.

“What do you mean?” Tom asked with a chuckle, watching Ray with a big smile.

“He’s just trying to get out of having to do the training, that’s all,” Zarko interjected annoyedly, also walking towards Ray, Jinora’s basket in hand.

“No, not me. Radexi. He’s just embarrassed to ask, that’s all,” the dragon clarified. “I don’t need more flying practice, I’m the best already. And look at this now,” he went, flexing a foreleg which was showing some rather nicely defined muscle underneath the scaly hide.

“All that fieldwork was good for something, aye? Maybe you should be helping out log hauling.” Tom chuckled, watching the dragon’s expression go from proud to rather annoyed.

“Yeah, right,” Jarix chuckled sarcastically. “Why not do the work of someone 4 times my size, might be 5 actually. I think I’m good.”

“You haven’t done anything for weeks you big baby. It’s time to get to work again,” Zarko corrected as she gingerly gave the basket to Ray like she was defusing a bomb. Ray took it right away and stuck a hand down for Jinora to play with to the sound of happy baby giggles.

“Oh come on, I was wounded.”

“And now you’re fixed. I think it’s an excellent idea. It will take Yldril more than one run I hope, otherwise it’s not gonna be anywhere near enough wood.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. Though flying practice should be a thing too, right?” Tom questioned, looking to the now much more comfortable-looking lieutenant.

“We really should be practicing with Dakota and her girls, yes. Rachuck and the guard too for that matter, in case we get locked up in here with you for winter.”

“Makes sense. I for one would love to see some aerial exercises.” Tom mused glancing to Jarix hoping the dragon would pick up on a possible way out of hauling duty.

“As long as you don’t plan on falling off, I think the big baby could use some weight. Much like yourself,” Zarko agreed, gesturing at Tom. Tom had indeed resumed the practice of walking around with the weights on. He was more or less mended after all. The last two days hadn’t even come with dreams of Joelina’s past. Even if that wasn’t really enough to have him discount that side effect as dealt with. “Perhaps a few of the guards would be willing to come along for target practice. They will be fine in the belly netting I am sure.

“Oh come one, I’m supposed to fight using speed. Don’t go weighing me down now.”

“Of course, and if you are faster with passengers, imagine how well you will do in a proper fight. Besides, I already talked with Dakota. She found the idea quite ideal,” Zarko retorted with a grim smile on her face, Jarix deflating noticeably.

“Don’t worry, Jarix! We coming too!” Kiran shouted out, raising a clenched fist.

“Oh no you don’t,” Tom chuckled, lowering the hand back down again. “It’s bad enough for them if I fall off.”

“But I fly already.”

“Yes, when you weren’t allowed to… and were high on sugar.”

“I still want more sweets. They taste good!”

“Yes, yes I know. I promise when you’re older,” Tom tried, Kiran’s expression turning exceedingly grumpy as he crossed his arms. “I am three. That’s a lot!”

“Hey, don’t feel bad, kid. My dad didn’t let me try flying till I was 10,” Jarix added in helpfully, Kiran turning to look at the dragon, mouth agape.

“Oh nooooo.”

“Oh don’t give me that,” Zarko let out, clearly not impressed “I know your mother. No way in hel-”

“Heherm!” Ray cleared her throat, looking rather scathingly at Zarko, who for her part just shut up.

Tom just watched in awe. He had never seen Ray do anything like that before. And Zarko was not exactly the most lenient of people. Even Kiran didn’t seem to have a funny quip.

Jarix just looked rather smug at the whole thing before slowly and with head held high turning to look at Tom and Kiran.

“Anyway, I just wanted to ask if you could help Radexi out. He’s a bit spindly.”

“And he can’t pull back the bolt on the 50 properly… I’ll see what I can do,” Tom promised, not quite sure how this would end. Hopefully better than his attempt to wingman for Unkai. Even if that had been more or less successful in the end.

“Thanks bro. Now I think if I have to go out and start hauling trees, I’m gonna need to look good. Who knows who might see us out there? We have to put on a good image after all,” Jarix chuckled, laying his head back down on the sun-heated stone and looking rather comfy really. Even if Tom still needed to make good on that promise of a bed.

“What’s next, do you want white enameled armor too? Maybe a huntress crown as well? I’m sure I could put in a good word with Dakota and get you at least a copper one,” Zarko retorted sarcastically, crossing her arms and looking unimpressed.

“Did you forget how much I was paid? I am a gilded, I would have you know.”

“Still only made half of a normal year’s commission, didn’t you?”

“No, I made half on top of a normal commission, remember?”

“Right,” Tom let out, blinking a few times. “Forgot just how expensive you lot are.”

“Why do you think most keeps out here don’t have dragons? At least not normally. They are putting a fortune into this place,” Jarix countered. “I know mum’s place back home cost thousands. Food is the big one though. In the big cities, it’s just crazy.”

“There is also the small matter of asking someone who can live for hundreds of years to risk their life for you. No keep dweller dragons making 500 a year out here.” Zarko added apathetically.

“Well duh, just like there aren’t any dragonettes making 50, or even like what? 10 gold.”

“Quite, most would be more like a couple on a good year… if you're a higher rank,” Ray interjected cautiously, clearly not quite comfortable with the huge numbers.

“Damn… actually, what would a dragon make out here?” Jarix proceeded to ask, looking to Zarko, who just shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe 100? Maybe only 50? Some might only be paid in food and shelter, you are expensive to feed after all. From what I heard many are usually hired rather than part of the keep too.”

“Welp, even more reason to join the army,” Jarix mused, seeming quite content with his lot in life. “So much more worth it.”

__________________________________________________________________________________