FSE

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“The one that got away?” Viina repeated as she looked at the painting of the orange dragoness. “Was she an ex of the artist or something?” she asked, pulling her gaze away from the painting to look towards the black drake.

He looked at her with a polite smile before glancing over towards the rest of the group. With a small gesture of his wing, he suggested they come closer. “Well, that's just one of the details that makes this piece so curious,” he began, taking a step away from Viina so the rest of the group could gather around the painting.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable being so close to the strangers, Viina, too, took a step back to let the paying guests look at the painting. While Keekzee paused, she glanced over at him and saw him quickly glance down at a brochure he had partially hidden under a forepaw. He smirked as his eyes darted across the page. “It's a painting of his beloved mate, Seelena. However, the artist has given no indication of why it's presented in this half-finished state, nor why it's called what it is,” he explained. Viina looked back at the painting. Other than the unpainted paws and wings, she noticed that the rest of the dragon's body lacked the finer details that the face and neck had been given. “Those who are true fans of the artist’s work have been divided on its true meaning and who the ‘ness is. Some argue that the it cannot be his mate, as it was created after he met her and he is still with her. So, how could it be the one that got away? While others believe that it is his mate and suggest that she ‘got away’ from her ex.” Keekzee explained with a confidence in his voice that surprised Viina. Watching him work, Viina noticed that he relied heavily on the notes in the brochure, but was able to read quickly and regurgitate the information with authority.

“You would think he would have finished it,” remarked one of the guests in a distinctly female voice with a Bostonian accent that caused Viina to turn and look. A pair of western dragons, towards the front of the group, sat on their haunches and looked at the painting with mildly bored expressions. Both wore matching harnesses, and Viina noted the flag of her country proudly sewn into the shoulder straps. Other than their harnesses and their mature age, the pair were vastly different, with the drake sitting a foot taller than his mate and his scales colored a pale gray compared to her faded pink. “Ya know what I mean? Especially to have it in a gallery,” the dragoness added, earning a chuckle of approval from her mate.

Hearing her own language in a familiar accent made Viina’s heart swell, even though she didn't agree with their remarks. Before she could speak, though, another voice cut through the room like the twang of an out-of-tune guitar. “Yeah-nah, dat’s probably da point, ay't-it, hay?” remarked another guest, a drake with thick, armored, brown scales and two pale tan frills that ran in parallel down its long neck. The thin membranes didn't seem to lift or move on their own and instead hung limply on either side with a relaxed easiness.

“You’re on the money, Daazuh,” Keekzee chimed in with a smile. “Those who know Tuurt well, know that he doesn't like to share his unfinished work, and like many tortured artists, he holds himself to a very high standard. For him to display this as it is must have a meaning. What that is, though, we may never know,” Keekzee added. Viina saw the American couple huff in disapproval before moving out of the way to look at the other pieces hung around the gallery.

“Aye-brew, since when'da urn so much about art 'n' shit?” asked a large sea-green aquatic drake as he nudged the brown dragon called Daazuh with a heavy shove. Unlike the aquatic dragons that Viina was used to, this drake was large and stood a few inches taller than herself. Likewise, he lacked the streamlined profile common with their type and was thick, with an almost barrel-like build, and a much shorter tail and neck than she would have expected. Glancing over the unusual drake, Viina noticed that he wasn't fat and was instead very muscular, but not in a way that looked like he spent time at a gym. Instead, he looked like he had been shaped by a life of manual labor. Most peculiar, though, was the fact that almost every inch of the long frills that ran down his spine and around his cheeks was completely covered in black tattoos. The geometric shapes and repeating patterns gave him an incredibly fierce and unfriendly look, which contrasted with the broad, toothy smile he gave the other drake. “Somefink you ain't tellin' me, cuz?” he added in a higher-pitched voice that didn't seem to match his powerful body.

“Get yer cock outta the sheep for a moment and you might learn a thing or two,” Daazuh chuckled and gave the large aquatic a playful wink before trotting away from the painting. The burly aquatic drake didn't seem offended by the remark, but pouted dramatically for show before following his friend, grinning when his friend glanced back at him. Keeping out of the way, Viina watched as the guests took turns moving forward to get a better look at the painting. Other than the American couple, Daazuh, and his aquatic friend, the rest of the group looked to be couples composed of a dragon and human.

Viina sat with her tail curled around her and watched each couple take in the painting before moving on. Truly, she had nothing against humans and dragons being together; it just wasn’t for her. Growing up, she had attended a mixed school in the country, where it had been rare for classmates of different species to date one another. She knew that there was nothing wrong with their relationships, however it just wasn’t for her. Afterall, no human could match the warmth of a large wing wrapped around her, nor could a human intertwine their tail with hers or lock their maw with hers in a passionate kiss.

Listening to the people talking, she caught fragments of the various languages the pairs spoke and glanced towards Keekzee. It was clear that his group was from all parts of the world, and she began to wonder just how many languages he spoke in order to communicate with the group. Excluding Keekzee, she counted ten adult dragons of various sizes and Kaariyo. Of the ten dragons, there appeared to be only two exclusively dragon couples, the pair of Bostonian dragons, as well as Daazuh and his aquatic friend. The rest all stood with a human close beside them, and Viina counted six humans in total, making for eight distinct pairs in the tour group. Looking over the variety of dragons and humans, Viina understood Keekzee's anxiousness at being the tour lead; she could well imagine that managing and corralling such a group would be a true test of patience.

Glancing back at the painting, Viina gave the orange dragoness one last look and tightened her jaw. There was no way it could be Taalli, and the longer she looked at it, the more she noticed the subtle differences between the dragoness who saved her and the one in the painting. With a small shake of her head, she dismissed the painting and rose to all fours. Padding around the outskirts of the group, Viina looked at the various pieces of art. They were all very beautiful and mostly consisted of dragon portraits, painted with what she guessed were thick oil paints that created a texture to the art that would have otherwise been lost in a simple photo. They were all very striking, with expressive eyes and the occasional playful smirk that made them feel so very much alive. Moving around the gallery, she left the area dedicated to the famous artist and began to explore a small section of more traditional art. It looked as if the curators had needed to make room for the visiting pieces and had been forced to create a dense wall of their existing pieces. Unlike the other art, these older pieces were framed in thick wooden frames that had been gilded and showed the marks of their age. Many of the pieces looked dull, as their varnish had slowly yellowed and cracked over the centuries, but Viina didn't care as she looked at the paintings one by one.

Many were landscapes, captured with either watercolors or oil paints to depict locations she had no hope of recognizing. Pausing at a painting of an impossibly clear lake surrounded by tall trees, she wondered if the artists had taken any liberties while painting the landscapes, as many looked almost surreal with how lush the trees were and how cool the water appeared. The mix of greens, blues, and browns was stunning, even with the faded varnish tinting the colors. The lake looked incredibly inviting, with a scattering of lily pads along the banks and, towards the middle, a ripple in the water suggested that fish lived within its depths.

A small smile crept across Viina's snout as she extended her neck closer to the painting, spotting the shape of a dark lavender dragon tucked a few trees deep in the painted forest. The dragon sat on its haunches, a wooden palette clutched in one forepaw and a brush in the other. Without an easel in sight, Viina guessed the artist had made it a self-portrait of sorts. She glanced out of the frame to see the plaque beside the piece. Its title was in a language she didn't understand, but the artist's name stood out as a draconic name. What surprised her most, however, was the date—painted in the early fifteenth century. Viina struggled to comprehend just how old this piece truly was. The history of her country, as she'd been taught as a hatchling, seemed so incredibly recent compared to how ancient the painting was. The fact that it had been painted by a dragon wasn’t lost on her either, and she wondered what the artist's life had been like. In her country, dragons weren’t educated until the late nineteenth century, and even then, their works were often not taken seriously, whether manuscripts or pieces of art. Yet this dragon’s work had been framed and preserved for all this time.

Turning her head to look across the room for Keekzee, she watched and listened as one of the draconic guests asked a question in an aggressive-sounding language. Keekzee didn't seem to mind the accusational tone and nodded along before speaking back in the same tongue. Despite sounding so firm and commanding, the dragon simply nodded in understanding and then continued to study the painting they had asked about. The dark-furred drake scanned the room, looking over his group before his gaze settled on her. Viina caught a small smile form on his snout before he quickly glanced over his group again and then trotted toward her. His claws clicked against the polished concrete floor as he approached, his eyes flicking to the painting before her.

“It's quite pretty, isn't it?” he said, nodding towards the painting of the lake and forest. Viina noticed his eyes linger on the plaque for a few seconds before he turned his attention back to the painting. “Moonit was always great at capturing landscapes, wasn't he?” he said with a confidence that gave Viina pause, until she stared at him and his lips curled into a coy smirk.

“Don't you mean her? She was a ‘ness after all,” Viina asked in a hushed voice and chuckled when his eyes widened in surprise. She had no idea if the artist was a ‘ness or a drake, but now she knew without a doubt that the drake was no connoisseur of the arts and was indeed trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about. “I'm just pulling your tail,” she added softly and looked at the painting once more. “I've never seen art from a dragon this old before,” she mused softly, glancing towards the drake as he hummed in acknowledgment.

“That’s understandable,” Keekzee said with a solemn nod. Both of them knew that in America, it had only been less than a century since dragons had finally been legally recognized as people in all states and the dark reality of dragon ownership was outlawed. Viina looked towards the painting again as Keekzee leaned forward and studied the plaque once more. “I'm pretty sure this is an Italian piece, so…” his words drifted off as he tilted his head in thought before nodding. “Yeah! There’s a good chance they were free at this time.”

Viina's frill flicked up in surprise as she looked at the year the piece was supposedly created. “No…” she started but paused as Keekzee gave her a knowing nod. “Really? Fourteen eighty? They were free back then?” she asked, recoiling her neck when he hummed in confirmation. The concept that dragons were free in other parts of the world but owned as slaves in her own country during the following centuries made her feel sick to her stomach.

“Oh yeah, didn’t you know?” he asked, his yellow eyes widening in surprise. “Parts of what we now call Italy had free dragons in the fourteen hundreds, although back then it was a collection of different countries, duchies, and contested land…” he said before he curled his thick neck back and tilted his head towards the ceiling as he tried to think. “I forget what the region was called, but around this time, the north began to recognize dragons as citizens. By being friendly, it created a corridor between the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, allowing dragons to travel from England, through the Holy Roman Empire and its different states, and then fly down to the Mediterranean Sea without having to go near France.”

Viina frowned deeply as she looked back at the painting and the dark-colored dragon concealing himself behind the trees, before glancing back at Keekzee and studying his striking yellow eyes for any signs that he was just making this up. She felt so incredibly ignorant for not knowing that dragons were free and now had more questions. “So, wait, was it all of Europe that had free dragons?”

This question seemed to give Keekzee pause, and he hummed a soft growl from his throat before shaking his head. “Oh no, not back then. The kingdom of France didn’t recognize dragons until the seventeen hundreds, and even then, it took a pretty bloody revolution to free their dragons. My country, though? That wasn't until the start of nineteen fifty-two!” he explained confidently. “It was the Germans who had it right, well… the Saxons more specifically. They kind of always had free dragons, or as free as they could be back then. From there, it very slowly spread over Europe," he added, shuffling his wings against his sides. The dark feathers gave a soft rustling sound as the countless feathers slid over one another and pressed against the dense black fur of his body.

“But these countries, they are right next to one another? Why didn't they just fly across the border and live in a country that is better?” Viina asked, her voice tinged with more bite than she had intended. “I mean, why stay?”

“Many didn't. Heck, at the end of the second world war, many American dragons became ‘missing in action’ because it was better for them to stay here,” Keekzee replied, nodding toward the painting. “Even back then, it wasn't unheard of for dragons to flee to other countries. But you know, it wasn't always that easy to just leave…” He paused, his wings twitching against his sides in a small shrug. “I guess when you grow up not knowing the grass is greener, or if your government forbids that sort of talk... and, of course, you know… clippers…” He added, and Viina's jaw clenched as she understood.

The vile techniques humans had used to control dragons were hardly unknown to her. It was a grim reality that some had even made a living off the practice of physically disciplining unruly dragons. Talons, teeth, horns, wings, frills, and even tails were all ripe for the taking by blade if an escaped dragon was captured or if they disobeyed their human masters too often. The fear of these often very public mutilations had kept the rest of the dragons in check. Growing up, Viina hadn't truly understood how effective clipping had been, but having recently lost her ability to fly, she knew now that she would have done nearly anything to keep soaring the skies.

A cold chill ran down Viina's spine, and she adjusted her wing stumps under her elastic harness as she briefly remembered the crash and the moments leading up to it. “Germany, huh? They had free dragons first?” Viina asked, scanning the painting one last time before turning her gaze to Keekzee. “I never would have guessed. All I knew about them was what they did in the war, and how we stopped them,” she added, watching as Keekzee whipped his head around to look toward his group.

“Best not mention the war,” he said, relaxing when he saw that one couple in particular was well out of earshot. “But yes, the Germans have a rich history before the war and, in many ways, were pretty progressive in their opinions of dragons. That being said, they weren’t the first to have free dragons in Europe. The Persian Empire saw dragons as equals and at their peak, edged into parts of Europe, so technically they were the first. But in more modern times… and I mean like still over a thousand years ago, the Germanic people accepted dragons. Long before the angry moustache man and his dragon took charge, it was apparently a safe haven for dragons of all kinds.” He explained and Viina couldn't help but look at him in confusion. Her expression seemed to encourage the drake and with a quick nod, the drake continued enthusiastically. “Oh yeah, what we now call Germany, once was a major player in mediaeval times. They spread pretty far and wide in one way or another. Hell, even the English royal family traces their lineage back to them. They just don’t really advertise that fact, thanks to the war,” he added, turning back to face Viina. Her look of surprise didn’t go unnoticed by the dark drake, and he gave her a sheepish yet proud smile. “I may not know art, but history is kinda cool, and I do like to read.” He ruffled his wings proudly. “Give me a book and a warm fire, and you’ll need an entire army to move me.”

Her eyes briefly roamed over his larger size, and she smiled at the mental image of him lying by a crackling hearth, a thick tome in his paws, while knights in shining armor tried to move him. “It’s wild to think how old everything is here. It makes me feel a little—” Viina started, but she was cut off as the phone attached to Keekzee’s wrist chimed a gentle melody.

After a quick glance at the device, Keekzee flicked his wrist to dismiss the alarm, and the music stopped. His posture shifted slightly as he inhaled and flashed her a warm, yet overly professional smile. “Sorry, time’s almost up. We only had the gallery for two hours,” he explained, nodding toward the group. “I think this place will close for riposo, so we’ll be heading back to the hotel for lunch,” he added, and Viina couldn’t help but feel like he had more to say, though he didn’t add anything further.

A small pause grew between them before Viina caught herself wanting the drake to continue. A flash of guilt shot through her chest, and she quickly gave the gentle drake a sharp, curt nod. “Oh, well, I should probably get out of here then. Thank you for… this,” she said, unsure exactly what to call the unofficial visit to the gallery.

“Not at all. Thank you for finding Kaariyo!” Keekzee quickly countered, flashing her a guilty smile while his long, tapered ears flattened against his neck. “I can’t imagine the hell I’d be in for losing a hatchling, so please, this is the very least I could do.” He turned to face the tour group. “Did you have any plans for lunch? You could join us if you wanted,” he added, and Viina heard a slight vulnerability in his voice that made her heart flutter. She’d heard that same tone before—the same uncertainty that she often heard in Riimack’s voice when he struggled to articulate how he felt or what he truly wanted.

The brief moment of giddiness in Viina’s chest was gone as fast as it had come, and she caught herself. The muscles under her pale scales tensed in a mix of guilt and betrayal. “I um…” she started, about to lie. She had nothing planned for the rest of the day, and while the fried fish balls she had eaten as a late breakfast had helped stave off her hunger, she hadn’t been able to eat all of it and was now beginning to feel hungry. Looking up at the drake’s face and seeing his kind, yet powerful eyes look at her hopefully, she hesitated and became unsure of what he was actually offering. Keekzee had seen her at her most vulnerable and had been there to help her recover from her heat exhaustion, the whole time being nothing but a gentle drake. She didn’t want to give him the wrong impression; after all, she wasn’t looking for love, nor a friend, and she would feel horrible if the drake thought there was something more between them.

Her indecisiveness didn’t go unnoticed, and Keekzee quickly recoiled his head back as if stung. “Oh, no, I don’t mean… It’s just lunch!” he said quickly, his folded wings pulling tighter against his sides. “The whole group comes together for meals, and they always have an extra plate ‘cause, you know… there’s meant to be another guide,” he hastily explained. Viina noticed that Keekzee couldn’t hold her gaze and instead scanned the room. “But if you’ve got plans, I understand.”

Viina’s crimson neck frill swept back and lay against her scales as she followed his lead, looking around the room at the other guests. Now understanding what he was suggesting, she felt foolish for thinking his offer was anything more. The fact that she didn’t even know if the drake was single swept through her mind, bringing with it a wave of further guilt, over her self-centered entitlement that left a sour taste in her mouth. Turning her head to one side, she was about to shake it and dismiss the proposal. It would be so easy—just a simple white lie to excuse her. She could say she had to do something back at her hotel, or even had an existing reservation to attend. With a few words, their paths would diverge, and she would likely never meet the dark drake again. That simple fact that he would be gone from her life so easily gave her pause. He seemed so genuinely kind and unlike the countless doctors who had tried to engage with her, or the vendors who had tried to sell her something. Instead, Keekzee felt so genuine and so sweet and was like a breath of fresh air she hadn’t realised she had needed.

The idea of sharing a meal with a group of strangers didn’t fill her with enthusiasm; however, the drake had been so very generous, and it felt rude to just leave now. Her mind raced as it weighed the options, and ultimately, the idea of spending some time with people who understood her language was too tempting, especially if she could just listen and not have their gawking eyes on her. Ultimately, though, it was Keekzee's knowledge of history that began to win her over. She had visited Germany twice now and was only realizing that she had seen the sights but failed to take in its history. Granted, her first visit had been after she had been transferred to a military hospital once she had been stabilized, but regardless, a heavy blanket of dark thoughts rolled through her mind. If she had been there with Riimack, he probably would have wanted to know the ins and outs of their culture and history. He had been curious like that, but now she felt as if she had been checking off a list rather than truly exploring for both of them.

Ultimately, it was guilt that drove her to glance up at Keekzee, and after swallowing, she flashed the drake a small smile. “I wouldn't want to impose–”

“Not at all!” Keekzee replied quickly, the corners of his lips curling into a genuinely happy smile. His eagerness now made it impossible for her to back out, and Viina's heart began to beat faster, her frill lifting slightly. “It's already been paid for! In fact, you’re probably doing the company a favor by joining us. Makes the group look bigger! And nothing is going to waste,” he added with enthusiasm.

---

Trapped, surrounded, unable to fly, unable to fight, Viina’s whole body was rigid as a typhoon of stress, regret, and anxiety kept her rooted in place. Her claws were extended, digging into the unyielding stone beneath her paws, leaving small marks where, thankfully, no one would see. The noise was deafening, a chaotic roar that set her teeth on edge, and she wanted nothing more than to hide as she sat in the corner of the long stone table reserved for the tour group. Behind her, the stone walls of the Tuscan villa loomed, and beyond the table, the rolling hills of the land stretched out. A lunge and two flaps—that would be all it would take to get her airborne. At this altitude and with the gentle breeze, she’d be past the distant road in mere seconds if she could.

Her mind knew it was futile—not only impossible without her wings, but also incredibly rude to just up and leave. After all, she had agreed to come, and a part of her wanted to stop her heart from pounding in her chest and simply enjoy the moment, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins kept her alert and overthinking everything.

The food was delicious—or so it smelled: a mixture of breads, cheeses, dips, and meats, all seasoned with locally sourced herbs and spices. Yet her appetite had vanished the moment the pair of American dragons heard her speak. Like moths to a flame—or perhaps birds of prey swooping in for the kill—Myyrah and her mate Liinal had quickly moved their places and now sat on either side of Viina, talking loudly through her. She’d hoped to remain on the outskirts of the group, maybe ask Keekzee more about the history of the land. Instead, she was subjected to a barrage of remarks about how the ancient city paled in comparison to the couple's trip to Georgia. Not the country, of course; she guessed they didn't even know it existed, but the state.

“Well, what do you expect? You’d think after a few hundred years they’d learn to put street signs on their roads, but nope. We were totally turned around, weren’t we, Liinal?” the faded pink-colored dragoness said to her mate. Her voice seemed twice as loud as anyone else’s, more so after the first bucket-sized glass of sparkling white wine had disappeared down her gullet. Liinal, the grey drake on Viina’s flank, hummed in acknowledgment while tearing into a large slab of pizza.

“And the ones that do have names! Skies above, cassa de this, cassa de that! They’re all the same!” Myyrah added in a nasal voice that made Viina flinch.

The bark of gunfire and the earth-shaking explosions of artillery were nothing compared to the volume of Myyrah as she continued talking, as if the world would end if she stopped. Glancing around the table for help, Viina's chest tightened as she realized Keekzee was nowhere to be seen. The inky black drake had abandoned her with a table full of strangers, and while they were in the middle of their second course, it would be far too noticeable for her to leave.

“Ah, I don’t think you can talk about street names, aye?” came a Spanish-accented voice from across the table. The drake was covered from snout to tail tip in rich golden-brown feathers, with the exception of his cream-colored underbelly, black-feathered wings folded at his sides, and a broad red stripe that started at the corners of his mouth and ran down the full length of his body. The corners of his lips curled into a knowing smile as he used one paw to tear off a chunk of bread from the larger loaf on his plate.

“I’ve been to Georgia—how many streets start with Peachtree?” he asked, and Viina was surprised when Myyrah paused in shock.

“Is it still seventy-one?” he asked with a chuckle before receiving a swat from the Latina woman sitting beside him. Waiving a short-feathered paw to dismiss any misgivings he may have caused, the drake turned his head to blow a kiss in the direction of what Viina now guessed was his mate.

“Well, that’s just because the peaches are delicious. You won’t find a better fruit anywhere in the world,” Myyrah retorted proudly, but Viina noticed how the dragoness now kept her wings tucked defensively closer to her body. Scanning the rest of the guests, Viina saw many hiding smirks, and she began to guess that the others had little love for Myyrah.

“Eh, the peaches were good, no lie there,” the brown-feathered drake said, bobbing his head slightly as he spoke. “It was where I found the sweetest and juiciest one of all, ain’t that right, Gabriela?” he added with a playful smirk and turned his neck to look at the woman beside him. Her mouth was full, making words impossible, but the glare she gave the drake spoke volumes. Although she was much smaller than him, the look she gave him made his grin falter before he dipped his head down to dot a small kiss on her forehead in apology. However, as the drake went to pull away, the woman reached up and curled her fingers through the longer feathers at the back of his jaw and held him still.

Viina had no idea what the woman whispered to the dragon as she used a napkin to firmly wipe his snout, but she could guess by her tone that she was giving him a stern talking-to. The others at the table seemed to also understand the exchange and quietly snickered into their meals. The feathered drake seemed to find the dressing-down quite amusing and nodded like a scolded child, despite the corners of his lips curling back in a smile that made small dimples under the fine feathers framing his mouth. He waited for his mate to finish, and when Gabriella glared at him as if making sure he understood, the drake pushed his head toward her and ran his long, tapered tongue up the side of her cheek in an affectionate yet cheeky gesture.

The woman was clearly used to the drake's antics and didn't recoil. Instead, she waited for him to finish chuckling and simply reached across to the dragon's plate. Before he could protest, she snatched a large, sweet, scroll-like pastry the drake must have been saving for last. The drake's look of mock mortification made Viina's breath halt. The wide eyes, parted maw, and flared nostrils matched those of Riimack and brought back the memory of when she had playfully eaten the last of his lucky charms. The hard-boiled candy hadn't been anything to write home about, yet the large drake coveted anything sweet and, despite the superstitions surrounding the candy, hoarded any that the squad discarded. Seeing Riimack's expression on another dragon and directed at someone else pulled at her heartstrings and cruelly reminded her that she was alone at the crowded table.

"So, Viina, was it?" The female voice from across the table snapped Viina out of her past. It came from a dragoness whose scales were a dark shade of navy blue, which contrasted with her folded membranous wings that appeared almost white if it weren't for the mottled sky-blue flecks. Only when Viina nodded did the dragoness continue. "Kaahina," she said simply while lifting a forepaw to her chest. "Keekzee mentioned when we left Siena that someone was meant to join us but couldn't make it. Was that you?" The dragoness asked politely with an asymmetrical smile. Her voice was thick with a German accent to the point that it took Viina a moment to process what she had asked.

“Oh, um… no, I’m not really a part of the group,” she said, catching a mixture of looks from the others as they listened in. She had dismissed the idea of a guided tour of Europe when she saw the prices in the travel agency's window, and now felt as if she had been caught stealing food that they had all paid good money for. “I, uh... I helped Keekzee with something, and he invited me to join for lunch,” she added quickly, but cryptically, unsure how much the guests had pieced together regarding Kaariyo’s running away.

“Aww, yeah?” came the twang of Daazuh’s voice, accompanied by a playful smirk. “He’s a good egg, that one, aye?” he added. Viina felt as though the drake was implying something. The drake's limp neck frills flapped against his neck as he turned to look up and down the table. “Where is the hairy cunt, anyway?” Despite the choice of words, the dragon didn’t seem to have any malice in his voice. When he scanned in the direction of Kaariyo and saw her father looking back up at him sternly, he cleared his throat and corrected himself. “Hairy fella, I mean. He was here a moment ago?”

Viina's eyes widened in understanding as she pieced together the brown drake's accent. Unlike the Australian actors and celebrities she had heard in movies, the drake's voice was far more nasal and unrefined. Viina wondered if different parts of Australia had different accents. She didn’t dwell on the thought long, though, as Kaahina answered the drake. “He was taking a plate to Emmanuel,” the dark blue dragoness said casually.

“Oh, he’s a good egg! Emmanuel is our bus driver, see? But Keekzee is good, ain’t he? Looking after the whole group, always making sure we’re all satisfied before himself,” Daazuh chimed in, nodding toward Viina with a knowing grin. Viina’s frill fell back in mild embarrassment as she recognized what the tan-brown drake was doing. It was forced, and completely unnecessary, but Daazuh was clearly trying to be a wingman of sorts for their tour guide, even while Keekzee was absent.

“I find it funny, though…” started Myyrah on Viina's right, her voice still obnoxiously loud. “Not that long ago, it would’ve been the man taking a plate of scraps to the dragon. Now it’s the other way around,” she added, looking around the table for a reaction. The group didn’t seem to find the remark as amusing as she did, and when the group simply looked at her, Myyrah reached forward and collected her glass. “Just saying, we’ve come far, haven’t we?”

"Puedes darle un vaso de vino a una cerda, pero eso no la hace civilizada," muttered the feathered drake across from them with an exasperated sigh, loud enough for them to hear but looking towards his mate as if only talking to her. Viina had skipped Spanish lessons at school, but even she could tell the drake had made an unflattering remark towards the pink dragoness.

“What was that, Qiian?” Myyrah snapped, glaring at the drake, clearly understanding what had happened. Viina felt the dragoness’ wings lift and brush against her sides, and when she looked back to see what had touched her, noticed that the dragoness' tail twitched in agitation. “We all agreed to speak English to one another on this trip—”

However, before the feathered drake Qiian could clarify, it was the woman beside him who diffused the situation with a gentle touch to her mate's paw and a polite smile to Myyrah. "He said that it is a shame some countries took longer than others to get here," Gabriela said, although none at the table really believed that was what the drake had said. "And we still have a long way to go. This tour is only one of a few that are designed for mixed and unmixed couples. Yes?" She nodded toward the group, who pursed their lips and nodded in agreement.

"Well, that's just a logistics and cultural issue really," came a familiar voice from behind Viina. The deep voice, laced with a hint of a Polish accent, sent a wave of relief over Viina that she hadn't expected. She quickly turned her head to see if it was Keekzee. Sure enough, the black-furred dragon emerged from the villa behind them and strolled around the table. "Trying to make an itinerary and activities that can be done by everyone is no small feat. Not every hotel or attraction is really accommodates dragons, nor is a sunset flight easily possible for humans or wingless folk. And even if you have a group where everyone has a flying partner, some dragons are pretty against being ridden, even when it’s by their mates," he added as he circled the table for a place to sit. The combination of his size, his accent, and the air of authority diffused the situation effortlessly. Viina couldn't shake the image of Keekzee being a teacher walking into an unruly class. "So, a bus like ours is best, even if it gets a bit cold," Keekzee said with some finality and moved to a gap next to where Kaariyo and her father sat.

The hatchling was perched on her father's lap, with her small paws busy driving pieces of bread across the plate rather than eating it, despite her father's attempts to get her to eat it instead. Her antics with her meal had created a bit of a mess and had also succeeded in keeping her father from eating, whose loaded plate sat untouched before him. At some point, the others in the group must have moved the platters of shared food away from the hatchling to stop her from taking more when she still had some left to eat. Undeterred, Keekzee sat down and reached across to one of the platters and began loading his plate up with various breads, dips, and meats. Viina caught a glimpse of his talons as he separated a portion of meat from the rest and noticed that the nails were curiously black. As far as Viina knew, all dragons hatched with talons in various shades of white or ivory, and while it wasn't uncommon for a dragon to paint their talons, it was usually in lighter shades of their natural color. Looking over the rest of his body, Viina wondered if his talons were actually black due to some sort of genetic defect or if he had painted them.

Viina was looking at Keekzee's horns when the black drake looked toward her and caught her staring. He then glanced toward her untouched food, and his amber-yellow eyes flicked to the two American dragons that flanked her. He seemed to understand that she hadn't felt comfortable enough to eat beside the obnoxious pair and briefly turned to the hatchling beside him before looking back at Viina. The group resumed talking amongst themselves, but Viina continued to watch as Keekzee lowered his head toward the hatchling's father and spoke softly in a low voice to the man. Whatever he said was brief and clearly well-received by the man, who nodded with a defeated yet thankful expression.

"Um, Viina, would you mind helping Kaariyo with her food, so her dad can eat something? You mentioned you got her to eat this morning?" Keekzee asked politely, yet Viina knew exactly what he was doing. It was a valid excuse for her to escape from Myyrah and Liinal's side and give her space to eat. Across the table, Viina caught a smirk growing on the Australian drakes snout, which in turn earned a chuckle from the large aquatic friend to his right. Thankfully though, neither of them said anything when Viina nodded and rose to all fours.

Reaching forward with one forepaw, Viina lifted her plate of bread and meats, passing it across the table to Kaahina, who then passed it down towards Keekzee, who quickly made space for her. The feeling of the group's eyes on her was inescapable, but Viina was still relieved to be away from the couple and moved with a quickness in her step as she took her place beside the black-furred drake. Stepping onto the padded cushion the dragons used as chairs, Viina paused as the black drake shuffled further across to create enough space between himself and Kaariyo’s father, pulling his wings tight against his body to give her the most room possible.

“Thank you,” Viina said, her voice sincere, a sentiment not missed by the drake, who simply dipped his head in response. Curling her tail around her paws to take up less space, Viina caught herself feeling strangely secure with the large black drake beside her. Whether it was because his size blocked her view of most of the group, or the sense of familiarity, she wasn't sure, but it was welcome. She breathed easier when she heard Myyrah and Liinal talking to one of the other couples in the group. Inhaling deeply and holding her breath for a moment before exhaling, she felt as if she had managed to escape and then looked down at her plate of food. Her moment of calm lasted until she reached forward, and a small, sharp hiss rang out from beside her, pulling her attention to the small hatchling beside her.

Kaariyo's father said something to the hatchlings in a low, stern voice, but shy of the hatchling's small, tapered ears twitching, she seemed not to listen. Instead, the hatchling looked up at Viina and covered her food as best she could in a defensive posture. Given that the plate was larger than she was, it was quite hopeless, but the hatchling's attempt at a snarl brought a smirk to Viina's snout. Tilting her head to address the now embarrassed-looking Asian man, Viina tried to give him a reassuring smile. “It's okay. When I was her size, I was pretty protective of my food,” she said warmly and reached toward her own plate to select a piece of bread topped with various hams and drizzled with olive oil. The entire movement was tracked by the sharp eyes of the hatchling, as if making sure her paw didn't stray an inch toward her food.

“I don't mind her being protective; I just wish she would eat when we do,” the man said, his voice thick with a deep foreign accent. Viina wasn't completely sure which country the man's accent belonged to, but if she had to guess, she would have said Japanese, given the deep tone of his voice. “We are always in the middle of an activity when she gets hungry, and then I keep finding forgotten meals in her—ahh, carriage,” he said, looking at Viina for validation. His English was very professional, but there were clearly some words he wasn't sure about. In the corner of Viina's eye, she saw the stroller parked against the wall of the villa. Unlike those for a human child, the stroller was more akin to a padded cart, offering a soft floor and walls for the hatchling to lie in, with a retractable roof to offer shade on hot days. “Thank you again, Dra Viina, for finding my daughter. I don't know what I would do if I lost her,” the man added, and Viina was confused by the use of a title. She guessed it was something ingrained in his culture, as she had never heard a Westerner give a dragon such a title.

“It was nothing, really…” Viina said, before realizing that she didn't know the man's name. Thankfully, he understood and bowed as he introduced himself as Rikusan. “It was nothing, Rikusan. I'm just glad she was a part of the group. It would have been weird if I had dragged her away to a bunch of strangers,” Viina added, and the man laughed quietly in agreement.

Biting into the bread topped with meat, Viina's mouth watered as the curiously sweet meat delighted her taste buds. The bread was far more savory than the almost cake-like bread she had grown up with, but the crust was flaky, and overall, she found the piece exquisite. She had hardly paused to swallow before she reached for her plate again and took a slice of something that looked remarkably like a sparsely topped pizza. Lifting it up and dipping her head down, she paused before smirking at Rikusan. "If it helps, tell her that I’m very hungry, and once I finish mine, I will eat hers." The threat was obviously empty but as he repeated what Viina had said in their language and gestured to Viina's plate, the hatchling snarled as fiercely as she could and turned to shield her piece of bread from Viina's sight. Only when Viina had finished her slice and reached for another did the hatchling err on the side of caution and begin to nibble at the corner of her food. Flicking her eyes towards the hatchling's father, Viina smiled as the man bowed his head in a silent thank you.

"Hoarding is pretty common in hatchlings," Viina said as she ate, grateful to ignore the rest of the group and focus on just the hatchling and her father. Seeing Rikusan look up at her quizzically between bites, she understood this was new information to the man and nodded as she finished her mouthful. "It's not… it's not always food though," she explained before swallowing. "Sometimes it's books, or rocks, or anything really. But usually, whatever it is, has to be brought to one spot," Viina added and glanced towards the stroller. She guessed that Kaariyo probably saw the padded contraption as a safe place to stash her treasures, which, in this case, was food. "It's just a phase though; she will eventually grow out of it," Viina explained and took another slice of her pizza-like bread from her plate.

"I used to hoard food too," Keekzee chimed in from beside Viina. "I would hide food in the snow around our house when I was a little one," Keekzee added with a chuckle as he tore off a chunk of bread and topped it with smoked fish. "I had the bright idea of keeping it fresh, like a freezer does. It worked great! Until spring and the snow melted, and well... the crows ate pretty well that day," he added with a grin before taking a bite of his own food.

Chuckling at the idea of the large drake squirreling away his food only for a flock of equally black crows to find his stash, Viina flashed him a smile before swallowing. "Glass pebbles, that was my treasure," Viina said as she reached for another piece of food and caught Keekzee looking at her with a confused expression. "Oh, I'm not sure what you call them. Little round glass blobs, usually coloured blue and green. I don't really know what they were for, but my folks worked at a nursery and they had them for sale at the register." Viina explained and held her talons together to indicate how big the small glass baubles were. "So many of them went 'missing,'" she added before shrugging her wing shoulders under her elastic harness. "Almost cost them their jobs when the boss caught me swiping a handful," she added, and found her eyes losing focus as she remembered how angry the large man had been. Although, thinking back, he was probably quite short, but everything had seemed so large when she was a hatchling. Her parents had, of course, been furious with her, forcing her to give back the pillowcase she had managed to fill halfway up with the small glass gems. She had been inconsolable when she had lost her hoard, but her parents had shown zero sympathy. To them, this was just yet another mistake, this time one that almost cost them their incomes. The dark look that seemed perpetually etched on her father's face surfaced in her memories, but she shivered and dismissed the haunting image.

Chewing slowly while Keekzee and Rikusan chuckled, it dawned on Viina that she had never told Riimack that story. It wasn't an overly important story to tell, but since their crash, she hadn't really talked about her past to anyone except her therapist. Even her Doctor Prin had only ever heard a curated and rehearsed version of her childhood, and while Viina suspected the woman knew this, she had always deflected any attempts the doctor made to pry into her life before the military. Growing up under the shadow of the guilt her parents placed on her, Viina knew that whatever she did would never make her parents proud. They had regularly reminded her that they had kept the wrong egg whenever she had done something wrong, and their disapproving words had become the soundtrack to her upbringing. It didn't seem to matter what she did; everything was either wrong or not good enough, to the point that she had stopped trying to impress them. The day she had been old enough to enlist had been like a breath of fresh air. The way the recruiter had complimented her, praised her, and offered opportunities that she hadn't believed in had all caught her off guard at first. It wasn't a decision she had made lightly, but after reading through the countless brochures and flyers she had been given, she had announced her choice to her parents. Their brief look of surprise was priceless, yet they hadn't stopped her, even going as far as helping her pack for her first day of boot camp. It had made her feel uneasy knowing that the only time her parents had helped her was when she was leaving them, but their attitude had cemented her decision.

“Everything okay?” Keekzee asked softly as he reached to pick up more food. His voice was soft and barely audible over the noise of the rest of the group, but it shook her from her thoughts, and when she glanced at him, she saw a deep look of concern on his features.

“Just enjoying the food. It's really good!” Viina replied, not a lie, but far from the truth. It would have been believable if her frill hadn't flattened against her neck with guilt. The drake's piercing amber-yellow eyes looked straight through her deception, but thankfully he didn't press the subject and instead gave her a small, reassuring smile. Reaching forward for more food to distract herself, Viina took the initiative and changed the subject before he could pry further. “So, I have to ask. How many languages do you know?” she asked, breathing easier when the large drake smirked. Viina never felt as if she was manipulating someone, but while in the military, she had learned that the best way to change a subject was to get the person to talk about themselves. Almost everyone liked to talk about themselves, especially when it was about something they were good at. Drake or ‘ness or human, it didn't matter—everyone was proud of themselves for something. “And how did you learn them? Do they teach them in school or something?” she added, committing to the conversation in a way that took it away from her.

“Ah… a few,” Keekzee said sheepishly, and as she looked at him, intrigued, he pulled his neck back into a proud ‘s’ shape. “My folks already spoke a few, so growing up, my mother taught me Russian, Czech, and enough of the other Slavic languages to get by. My father was German, and made sure I learned his tongue. School was taught in Polish first, English second,” he added, smiling as Viina's eyes widened in surprise. She knew that it was common for Europeans to learn more than just one language, but she was still surprised. “One good thing about working at the ski resort: we had a lot of people come and work just for the winters. They came from all over, and that's where I learned a bit of Italian, Spanish, French, and Dutch. Although I'm not very good at Dutch.”

“And Japanese?” Rikusan asked. When Viina briefly glanced in his direction, she saw the same look of surprise on his face that she felt.

“Oh… well…” Keekzee said, his expression almost guilty. “Anime, you know.. Like their cartoons?” he said, causing Kaariyo's father to let out a deep laugh. “When they dub it, it's never the same. And as much as I like reading, it's hard to concentrate on the characters if you're reading it.”

“And learning Japanese was easier?” Viina asked with a small, surprised laugh. She hadn’t gotten into the shows as she grew up, but she remembered the arguments that occurred in basic training between recruits over which series was better or what should have happened in their favorite show. Of all the repetitive discussions she had listened to comparing the dubbed versions to the subtitled versions, none had ever suggested learning the language to get the best experience.

“Well… no,” Keekzee replied with a grin before shrugging his folded wings. “But you know, it was something to do.” He added casually, though Viina could hear the pride in his voice. Even as the drake took another bite of his food, she saw the corners of his mouth turn up and knew he was quite proud of his accomplishment. “And it was worth it. It helped me get this job,” he added before taking another piece of bread from his plate. Halfway to bringing the food to his maw, he opened his mouth to ask her something, but was interrupted by a voice on his other side.

“Yo, K-dog, what is our plan for the afternoon, cuz?” came the voice of the large, tattooed aquatic drake. It still caught Viina by surprise how jolly and cheerful the accent was; it didn’t match the fearsome appearance of the drake’s many tattoos. “Do I got time for a swim or nah-aye?” he added. His words gave Viina pause. The drake was speaking English, yet the additional words and almost singsong tone were like a speed bump to her thoughts as she tried to process what he had said.

Keekzee, however, must have gotten used to the drake's way of talking. He tossed his food into his maw before grunting in acknowledgment and leaning back. While chewing, the black drake brushed his paws against his harness and then reached into the pouch across his front. Looking around the table, Viina saw the eyes of the rest of the group on the large drake, waiting as he pulled out the thin, magazine-like book from his harness and flicked between the pages. “Ah, here we are!” Keekzee said, clearing his throat and addressing the group. “Alrighty, yes! We don’t have anything scheduled until four, so now is a good time to explore the markets, relax after lunch… or have a swim,” he added. The last activity wasn’t read from the script but was added for the aquatic drake. A murmur of chatter rose from the group as they discussed with their partners what they might get up to. Viina noticed that the black drake used the opportunity to glance down at the book again before lifting his head and speaking confidently. “But I want you all back here by four. Emmanuel will bring the bus around, and then it’s off to Castello Sonino! That’s where we’ll have a tour of the vineyards, see how wine was made in the twelve hundreds, and then we all get to have a tasting of some properly exclusive Italian wines…” he explained before glancing toward Kaariyo and then back to the group. “Well, almost all of us,” he corrected, earning a small chuckle from the group. “But until then, the afternoon is yours.”

At that, some of the group nodded to their respective partners, and a few began tidying up their plates to help the hotel staff. Viina tilted her wrist to check the time on her phone—it was almost two in the afternoon, and already a rectangular bubble appeared on the phone's lock screen. It was an email from her doctor, and the short two-line preview told her that the doctor wanted to discuss her vitals from the morning. Her stomach sank at the thought, and she considered tapping out a message to cancel the appointment. An easy excuse would do—a stomach bug or something to delay their session—but deep down, Viina knew it would only delay the inevitable. It would also give her a few days to think herself into knots. She had just finished reading the notification when Keekzee cleared his throat.

“Hey, it’s completely up to you, but you’re welcome to come with us. I don’t drink that much, and we have a few empty seats,” Keekzee said, his yellow eyes darting nervously between her, her phone, and the plate of food in front of him. Viina quickly tilted her wrist to shield the phone away from his gaze, faster than she had intended. She shook her head and glanced around the rest of the table. Most of the guests had already risen from their seats and were leaving the slower eaters behind.

“Oh, I couldn’t. But thank you,” Viina said with a stiffness in her voice that she wished she could control. Her mind raced with what the dark-furred drake was actually asking. Previously, he had offered his hospitality as a way of saying thanks, but this felt different. Seeing the crestfallen look in his eyes before he flashed her a reassuring smile, Viina softened her voice and explained. “I have a video call tonight I have to do—maybe another time.” While it wasn’t completely a lie, it wasn’t the whole truth either, and her frill flattened against her neck as her eyes failed to hold his gaze.

“Oh no, I understand. It’s okay,” Keekzee said with a forced smile, picking up another piece of his food before looking past Viina to Kaariyo and her father, who had finally made some progress on his own plate. The small hatchling had managed to eat a fair chunk of her food while watching Viina out of the corner of her now sleepy eyes. A mixture of breadcrumbs and dip covered the small dragon’s snout and jowls, her head drooping as she slowly chewed, all while clutching a chunk of mushed bread in her paws. Viina sensed from the drake’s expression that he had more to say but didn’t feel comfortable with the hatchling and her father within earshot. “How good is this food?” he asked rhetorically and awkwardly, but Viina smiled.

“It’s really good. Best I’ve had in a long time,” Viina replied, taking a smaller bite. She had eaten her food, but the mixture of diced tomatoes, olive oil, crusty bread, and a paste she couldn’t identify was truly delicious. A long pause filled the air as the last of the others finished their meals and left the table, leaving Kaariyo, her father, Keekzee, and Viina alone at the large stone table. The awkwardness between them grew, and Viina was about to finish her mouthful and excuse herself when a loud yet padded thud rang out from beside her.

Snapping her attention to the source, Viina's frill flicked to full extension as she saw what had happened. There was a brief moment of silence before an escalating cry rang out across the outdoor eating area from Kaariyo. With her head still resting in the plate of food, the small hatchling's lips were curled back in a grimace as she kept her eyes scrunched closed, and her father reached to lift her head back up. Viina tried not to smile at the image of the hatchling falling asleep while eating and clenched her lips together, looking away toward Keekzee. The dark-furred drake was better at concealing his emotions, and while his eyes sparkled with amusement, he kept his voice soft and gentle. He spoke in Japanese, and Viina could tell by his tone that he was trying to soothe the hatchling. Even as Rikusan pulled the hatchling closer to his chest and tried to comfort her, the cries escalated, and she pulled at her father's shirt to get closer to him.

“Excuse us,” Rikusan said as he stood up from his chair, holding his child close and bouncing her slightly as she sobbed into his neck. The man pouted sympathetically as he stroked the back of the hatchling's neck, then began to carry her away from the table and out into the hotel gardens that joined the eating area.

Viina could still hear Kaariyo wailing even as they disappeared from sight and continued to pick at her food as if she couldn't. “Do you know if she’s adopted?” Viina asked, turning to look at Keekzee, who shook his head.

“I don’t know what the deal is, but I don’t think she’s adopted. I heard Rikusan say something about her mother being on another tour. Kinda implying that she might come back or something,” Keekzee said, pulling his wings closer to his body. “They were booked in as a couple plus hatchling, so I think she’s kinda on the scene or something. Just not here.” He added with a hint of sadness in his voice. It was a universal fact that humans and dragons couldn’t reproduce, however, that didn’t stop some mixed couples from adopting, using a surrogate, or sometimes it was as simple as a partner joining an already established family.

“He’s doing good,” Viina remarked as she looked across the gardens and saw that the man was now trying to distract the hatchling by showing her the flowers growing on the trees. “Better than mine,” she thought to herself. A small part of her wondered if she could have been half as patient with a hatchling if she had to take care of one permanently. Once, she had been eager to try, but now she wasn’t so sure. The memories of her parents simmered in the back of her mind, but she buried the thoughts and instead turned to Keekzee. “So, wine tasting, huh?” she asked, hoping that he would lead the conversation.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Keekzee asked, furred eye ridges raising hopefully. Viina’s chest tightened as she went to refuse, but was glad that he waved a paw to dismiss the sincerity in his offer. “It’s okay, it’s going to be an interesting night, that’s for sure. A bunch of half-drunk dragons and a hatchling in a Tuscan villa. What could go wrong?” he asked rhetorically with a chuckle. “I can see why the company usually sends two of us—it’s practically a full-time job keeping these Americans from insulting the locals,” he added as he picked up a chunk of bread. His dark paw paused halfway between the plate and his mouth as he realized what he’d said and quickly snapped his head around to face Viina. “I didn’t mean—”

“It’s okay, I know who you meant,” Viina chuckled, watching as his wings relaxed at his sides. “Myyrah is a bit much. I don’t envy you having to put up with her and her mate, let alone wrangle the rest of the group,” she added, meeting his gaze. “Although, I have to ask—almost all the couples are human and dragon, yet they aren’t. What’s up with that?”

Viina felt like it was an innocent enough question, yet the drake scoffed and quickly turned his neck to glance around. After checking that they were alone, he dipped his head closer to hers and spoke in a hushed tone. “Between you and me, Myyrah and Liinal fucked up and booked themselves on the wrong tour. I got a memo from the head office. Apparently, she went full Karen at the person who was about to refund their trip, so the rep canceled the refund and told them it was impossible to back out,” he added, shaking his head with a smirk. “But it’s not like this is a tour where they can’t join in on the activities. It’s just that there are other companies better suited to a flying couple. Probably cheaper too. They wouldn’t need to hire a bus and driver if they were just leading a flying tour across the country.”

Viina nodded in agreement but now understood why the prices were so different between companies. At first, she had thought it strange that a dragon-exclusive tour was cheaper, provided every member could maintain a certain pace while airborne, but now it made sense. “So they decided to stick with it then?” Viina asked rhetorically, smirking when Keekzee nodded solemnly. “How much longer do you have this group?”

“Four days,” Keekzee said, taking another bite of his food. “We leave here just after sunrise, head to the thermal springs, a quick stop at Florence for lunch, then we’re in Venice by mid-afternoon. All of tomorrow is checking out the cathedrals, then we start heading south. San Marino for a day and ending in Rome,” he explained, glancing down at the itinerary in his guide. “Yup, four days. Maybe three and a half if they have an early flight.”

The reality of how fleeting their company was sat uneasily in Viina's mind. Even though she had only met the drake this morning, Viina was beginning to feel comfortable around the large, furred drake. The knowledge that she would head back to her hotel room shortly and never see him or the group again made her chew slower. It was nice to talk to someone who not only understood her but wasn’t trying to sell her something or judge her like her therapist always did. “It sounds like a good tour, though. I landed in Rome and was going to head to Venice after here,” she said, picking at the fragments of food left on her plate. In the corner of her eye, she caught the dark drake mouth something silently before quickly swallowing and finding his voice.

“-So, come with us then?” he said, his voice breaking slightly before he looked away bashfully. Clearly, the drake had intended his offer to come across more elegantly than it did, but he chuckled before shuffling his large feathered wings. “I mean, the offer is there. The bus is already going there. It would be no trouble,” he added quickly, looking at her hopefully.

“Keekzee, thank you, but I really couldn’t.” She said softly and gave him a friendly smile. The large drake clearly didn’t understand her reservation, and if she was honest with herself, she didn’t either. Even as he returned her friendly smile and shrugged his wings, she caught a hint of a crestfallen look in his eyes and knew he had really been hoping she would join him. Judging by his reaction, Viina was sure the furred drake hoped to be more than just her guide and didn’t want to lead him on in any way. “Thank you for the offer. It’s really generous. But I’m just kind of taking things at my own pace,” she explained, hoping he understood enough of what she meant to not push the subject.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Keekzee said, slightly faster than would be believable. “Sometimes I feel like we rush things with this tour company,” he added. Viina wasn’t entirely sure if he was cryptically apologizing. If he was, she appreciated the gesture, as it didn’t ruin the mood like speaking openly would have. Instead, she continued to feel comfortable eating beside him, even if her plate was now more or less empty.

The sound of wings flapping behind them made them turn to see the dark dragoness, Kaahina, taking flight from her balcony with her human partner straddling the base of her neck. The man wore a pair of goggles to shield his eyes from the sting of the wind and wrapped his arms around her scaled neck as they swept over the top of Viina and Keekzee. With a series of hurried wingbeats, the pair climbed quickly and then leveled out to soar through the afternoon air. The dragoness looked almost black against the pale blue sky as she continued to climb, riding thermals in lazy circles. Back home, it was quite rare to see a dragon allow a human to ride them, as it was so often seen as a symbol of servitude. Yet as she glanced at Keekzee, the drake had returned to picking at his meal as if nothing was amiss.

“Is flying with humans not frowned upon out here?” she asked, looking skyward again. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to make out the details of the couple, but she was sure Kaahina’s rider was now sitting up and holding his arms out into the wind currents.

“Um… that depends,” Keekzee said as he tilted his head from side to side. He took his time formulating his response before finally shaking his head. “Each country kinda has their own culture around it. Some don’t care; others do. And even then, some dragons just don’t like it,” he added, giving a small chuckle as he realized that he really hadn’t answered her question. “Where I come from, it’s not really a thing. Like in America, we were a little late to the freedom thing. But the Germans, like Kaahina and Hans?” he started, nodding toward the pair high above the town. “They would have grown up with it being pretty normal,” he added, patting the last slice of his crusty bread into the small fragments of meat and dip on his plate. Once he had collected them all, he tossed it into his maw and began brushing his paws on the front of his harness.

It still baffled Viina that the cultures could be so different when the countries were only a few hundred miles apart. “Have you ever done it? Flown with one of them?” Viina asked, genuinely intrigued. During her training, she had heard from one of the drakes that flying with the bulky radio wasn’t much different from flying with a human and wondered if he was telling the truth. “Was it difficult?” she asked, to which the drake nodded.

“Well, most of the time they were unconscious,” he chuckled and flashed her a smile when her frill flicked up in confusion. “Probably eight times out of ten, they’d crashed into a tree while skiing or snowboarding, and then it was up to me to get them on a stretcher and to an ambulance,” he added, adjusting his wings. “When they’re strapped onto a stretcher, they’re pretty easy to carry. And it helps that the hotel is downhill most of the time, so it’s usually an easy glide.”

Viina could hear a hint of cockiness in his voice and couldn't help but smile. Judging by his broad chest and thick wing roots, Viina guessed that he was likely a very capable flyer, and if he grew up in the snow, he was probably comfortable flying in blizzards and other harsh weather conditions.

“And the other times?” Viina asked with a smile, noticing him frown. “You said eight out of ten were ski accidents? What about the other times?”

The drake's smile faltered, and he avoided her gaze, briefly looking down at his empty plate. “Well, there was the occasional time I carried guests. We had this Karen of a dude and his girlfriend come to the hotel, and oh god, I regretted giving them a ride,” he said, catching himself. “The guy booked a dragon-exclusive cabin and threw a fit when he was told he had to hunt for his food.”

“They let dragons hunt?” Viina asked, genuinely surprised. She had heard of some backwater ranches back home ‘allowing’ dragons to hunt deer and other prey, but those places were often shut down or operating illegally. The only other places she had heard of allowing the practice were expensive big-game hunting experiences in far-off countries, outside the jurisdiction of animal protection agencies, with prey so exotic that the hunt was more for bragging rights than sustenance.

“Well, yeah. Only deer, though, and the owners had pretty strict rules on how many could be hunted, etc. Everything was recorded and in line with government regulations, and the hotel would handle all the paperwork and permits. It’s pretty popular but also one of the more expensive packages.” Keekzee explained, scratching his foreleg with his paw. “They also offered packs of raw meat if people wanted to skip the bloody part and just feel like they were doing the primal thing. It's a really nice cabin, though—overlooks the south and is quite remote. The zjeb was too busy to read the ad properly, so I had to fly him and his girl up to their cabin.”

“Both at once? Or did you do two trips?” Viina asked, her gaze lingering on his powerful chest. Her frill betrayed her emotions, lifting higher as she watched the thick, corded muscles move under his thick fur. The drake adjusted his wings. While she had been deployed, she had seen a dragon carry multiple injured humans out of a firefight when things had gone wrong, but there was a difference between an adrenaline-fueled feat of strength and carrying passengers on a joy flight. Additionally, she guessed that on a ski slope, the air was thinner, which would make the task even harder.

“Both at once,” Keekzee said proudly, flashing her a smile. “They weren't that heavy, thankfully, and I've always been a pretty good flyer. Hell, I used to carry my ex while we were dating, and she was only a little smaller than you,” he added, curling his head to look down Viina's length before nodding. “Yeah, maybe three-quarters your size, give or take.” Keekzee quickly averted his gaze from her pale scales and tried to change the subject. “What about you? Have you ever carried a rider?”

Viina's mind was still stuck on the idea of the large drake carrying another dragon in what she could only assume was a romantic gesture. As she looked at the drake's size, her thoughts shifted to the logistics of such a large drake being with a smaller dragon. Thankfully, his question snapped her out of her thoughts, and she quickly took a deep breath through her nose before answering him. “Only once, during basic. For a dead guy, he sure screamed a lot,” she added with a small smile.

The dark drake tilted his head in confusion as he turned to look at her again, and a tightening sensation gripped her chest as she realized she had opened herself up to a plethora of questions, which she didn’t really want to answer. “It’s a long story, from another life,” she said, waving a paw to dismiss the conversation.

“You were in the army?” Keekzee asked, causing Viina's frill to flatten against her neck and her jaw to tighten. Mistaking a Marine for a member of the Army was an easy way to rile up a Marine, but she forced herself to relax, telling herself that he wouldn't know the difference.

“Marines,” she said flatly, looking away to try to end the conversation. However, the drake didn’t seem to read her body language, and she heard his breath hitch. Now, she braced herself for the barrage of questions that would ultimately end in her explaining how she lost her wings. The thought of explaining her crash made her heart race, and her tail flicked in agitation.

“Really? That's awesome!” Keekzee replied with enthusiasm, and Viina could tell by his voice that he was now fully engaged. However, it was what he said next that surprised her. “We had to do mandatory service, but it was only for twelve months,” he said before shaking his head. “It wasn’t for me though, a whole year of early starts and getting shouted at? …Nah,” he added with a cheeky smile, and Viina couldn't help but snort a soft laugh.

“It's not for everyone,” Viina said, thinking back to her time in the Corps. At the time, she had thought basic training was brutal—waking up often before dawn, flying long exercises, followed by theory and more exercises throughout the day. However, while it gave her the skills she needed, deployment often saw her going multiple days with little or no sleep. The needless shouting had stopped once she deployed, but having been conditioned by it allowed her to process heated orders being barked at in firefights, so, in a way, she was strangely thankful.

“Yeah, I don’t miss it at all. I’m glad I never deployed. It was just like a really shitty gym membership,” Keekzee mused, and even though his eyes drifted towards the crippled remains of her wings, he thankfully didn’t ask how she lost them. After a brief pause, the black drake huffed a singular chuckle and flashed her a smile. “This kinda tour is more my style, less bullets, more biscotti.”

Viina could do nothing to stop the corners of her lips from pulling back into a smirk, and without turning her head, she looked up at him and rolled her eyes. Her expression seemed to only amuse the drake further, whose chest quivered with laughter. “Well? Am I wrong? This is way better than getting shouted at and shot at, right?” Keekzee asked, and Viina’s smile wavered as the question tugged her mind in two different directions. The black drake had no idea what she had been through, nor what she had left behind in the desert.

When she had recovered from her surgeries, she underwent an extensive medical evaluation to assess if she was still fit for service. After all, there were still many roles for a dragon in the corps, even for those without wings. Ultimately, however, it wasn't the physical injuries that had led to her discharge; it was her psych evaluation. She had been too eager to return, too willing to say what needed to be said to impress the trained psychologists. They had asked her the same questions in a dozen different ways and eventually saw straight through her act. She wasn't the soldier they had recruited years prior, nor the soldier they had made. To an outsider, an angry, rage-stricken dragoness with nothing to lose might sound like a perfect candidate for the military, but they declared that she would be a liability to any squad she was embedded with. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure if she would prefer to be here or still trying to avenge her mate. Even though those who had shot her and Riimack down had already met their maker, it didn’t make her sleep easier at night. She could still see herself fighting in the desert until there was no one left to fight.

“Viina?”

“The biscotti is good,” Viina said sharply as she returned to her senses and forced a brief smile toward the drake. “And yes, it is very pretty out here,” she added as she averted her gaze and looked out across the landscape. Her mind simmered with a sudden mix of realization, guilt, and regret. For the last few hours spent with Keekzee and his group, she hadn’t thought about Riimack, and for that, she felt as though she had done her mate a disservice. Taking a sharp yet deep breath, Viina lifted her foreleg and glanced at her phone without any need to actually see the screen. “Oh, shoot. Sorry, I have to get going,” she said stiffly and far too quickly to be believable.

Keekzee’s expression saddened slightly, and he seemed to understand, at some level, that he had said something wrong. “Oh, really?” he asked, but didn’t protest as she got to all fours. “We’re not going to the wine tasting for a few hours; are you sure you can’t join us?” he asked hopefully, and it pained Viina to shake her head.

“Sorry, Keekzee, I really can’t,” she replied politely yet with an edge to her voice that she didn’t mean. “But you have fun, and try not to let Myyrah get under your scales… I mean… fur,” she added, feeling her frill perk up involuntarily. His offer was generous, but she felt as though she had overstepped her boundaries by being so comfortable around the drake. Now, she felt an urgent need to leave, even if it meant she might never see him again. “It was really nice meeting you, Keekzee, and thank you again for this morning,” she said with yet another forced smile, though this one at least had some genuine warmth in it. “And for the tour, and the food,” she added, relieved when the drake returned her smile.

“Well, thank you again for finding Kaariyo, Viina. I hope you enjoy Italy and everything it has to offer. If you still want to come to the thermal springs, we leave just after sunrise. You are more than welcome to join us,” Keekzee added as he rose to his feet out of respect. Bowing his head slightly in a farewell gesture, the drake’s body looked quite regal, if not for the way his wings were held close to his sides and his tail appeared stiff. The subtle body language told Viina that the drake felt as if he had done something wrong, but she didn’t have the words to explain why.

“Thank you, Keekzee, I’ll think about it,” she said, with no commitment in her voice. Instead, she dipped her head to match his. After bidding him farewell, she turned and left the friendly drake. Walking through the villa, Viina appeared composed, even as her emotions tore at her like angered beasts. She hated herself for wanting to feel guilty; that was what hurt her most. The kind words of encouragement from her therapist haunted her, telling her it was okay to live and that living wasn’t forgetting Riimack. Yet, she couldn’t let him go! For her, her mate still lived on inside her, and if she allowed herself to forget him, would he drift away? Would a day come when she didn’t remember him? His brilliantly wise blue eyes? The way his wings would hold her close so effortlessly? And how could she live with herself if she willingly let it happen?

Once out of the villa and onto the main road, her pace quickened, and she trotted quickly down the cobbled streets until the groups of people forced her to slow. Many were emerging from their siestas and beginning the second half of their days, and she pushed through them rudely as she tried to escape from where she had allowed herself to be happy.

---

Laying on her bed, with multiple pillows clutched together in her forelegs, Viina stared at her phone with an intense expression. Her entire body was completely rigid and unmoving, save for the subtle expansion of her sides as she breathed. The device was propped up on its side against the headboard of the bed, showing the image in its entirety. The phone’s screen had been set to never dim, no matter how much it drained the battery, and even though the image was one Viina had committed to memory, she continued to stare at it.

The image was a group photo, mostly of strangers she had met only once. It had been a group training exercise. She hadn’t even been assigned to this squad; instead, they were Riimack’s charge. He had been responsible for providing overwatch for a squad of Marines during the faux mission and had led them well to accomplish their objective. Not that their command had seen it as a success. The drake had broken away from his station to help them, and while they had successfully completed their mission, he hadn’t been able to see the danger they were in until it was too late.

Now, the image captured the humans and one of the dragons from the squad, covered from head to toe in an orange, chalk-like powder. It had been caused by a dummy shell from an artillery barrage that detonated too close to them—something she had tried to warn them about, even though it had been Riimack’s responsibility to relay the intel. At the back of the group, Riimack stood with a dazed expression on his snout, a byproduct of being too close to a booby-trapped objective. Regardless, he now stood with his wing draped over a younger version of herself, while the orange dragoness, Taalli, stood on his other side.

The knowledge that two out of the four dragons had been killed weighed heavily on her mind. It hadn’t been long after she had fully recovered that Viina tried to reach out to Taalli. After all the orange dragoness and Riimack had been close friends and because of Viina, the drake was gone. However, when Viina received the news that the dragoness who had saved her had been killed in some sort of car bombing, it added fuel to the dark thoughts that kept her feelings isolated. Was she some sort of bad omen? A force of fate destined to ruin the lives of everyone she came close to? Her parents had seemed to think so—not in any superstitious way, but they hadn’t been subtle in showing their disappointment in her.

Now, looking at the photo, she wondered how the rest of the members had fared. If three of the four dragons were no longer in the fight, would the same be true for the men, who stood leaning against one another with smiles on their faces?

Unbeknownst to the spiraling pale dragoness, she wasn’t entirely alone in her hotel room. The late afternoon breeze rippled the white embroidered curtains that had been pulled back on the balcony door, bringing with it a refreshing coolness and the sounds of life from the streets below. Their soft fabric moved through the ghostly silver drake who sat beside the opening, looking on with a troubled expression. With his navy blue wings tucked tight against his sides and his tail coiled protectively around his paws, Riimack was trapped, wanting to help but unable to be there for her. He knew she needed him, that seemed to be the universal constant that brought him to her or the rest of his family. Whenever someone he loved was missing him, he found himself materializing to watch from the ethereal world he now inhabited. Unable to interact with the living or be seen by them, he told himself it was a blessing to see his loved ones even after his passing, but moments like this always took their toll.

He had been beside Viina ever since she woke from her nightmare, staying with her the entire day—unseen, unheard, and forever watching, as always. Like a knife slipped between his ribs, it pained him to see his mate like this. Blaming herself for something that wasn’t her fault, hating herself for living when he couldn’t, and being unable to help. He longed for her to feel better, even if that meant letting herself open up to another drake. Every day she tortured herself with his memory was more painful than that fateful day in the desert.

“Where are we, Riimack?” whispered a familiar voice from the balcony. They didn’t have to keep their voices low; no one would hear them anyway, but it was respectful, and for that, Riimack was grateful. Turning his head, he glanced out of the open balcony door and briefly held the gaze of the dragoness standing there, as if she had just landed. In the afternoon sun, Taalli's scales looked as if they were burning with a divine radiance. The depth of her orange hue seemed endless, and the scars and marks of battle were completely absent from her hide. Yet she wasn’t the soft and delicate dragoness he had met in basic training. He guessed that their appearance was a reflection of their own self-image, and for her, she was the beautifully strong and powerful creature she had been at the end.

“Tuscany, Italy,” Riimack said quietly, turning back to face his former mate, who still lay motionless on her bed, her eyes unblinking as she studied the photo. “A little west of Florence,” he added softly, watching as Taalli approached with slow, reverent steps. Riimack knew they would materialize near their loved ones when they needed help, and just as he had been there for Taalli, she was now here for him. There was no point in lying to the dragoness; she knew why she was here and moved just inside the room to sit beside him.

“She’s not doing well,” Riimack answered the question Taalli hadn’t asked, forcing a swallow past the lump in his throat. “She had a good afternoon, but she feels guilty for it.” He adjusted his wings against his sides.

Shuffling closer to him, Taalli lifted one of her black wing arms and draped it over Riimack's shoulders in a friendly hug. “Does she still think it was her fault?” Taalli asked, sighing softly when Riimack nodded. “Still seeing that therapist?”

“Her next appointment is in an hour or so, provided she doesn’t cancel it,” Riimack replied, nodding toward Viina. “I hope she doesn’t cancel…” he murmured, mostly to himself, but Taalli heard and gave a small hum of acknowledgment as she continued to hold him with her wing.

“I just wish she wouldn’t lie to the doctor. She isn’t getting better, and—” Riimack's voice shifted pitch, becoming hoarse. He tried to extract himself from Taalli's wing, but she stubbornly kept him against her side.

“It will be okay, Riimy,” Taalli said softly, using her snout to tuck his head under her jaw. The embrace eased the tension in his chest, and while it felt strange to be held while his mate was in front of him, he didn’t pull away. “She’s a tough egg, you know that, and I think she does too,” she added warmly, stroking her wing down his side to comfort him. “And she is getting help. That’s something I wish I had done sooner… it’s something I wish Keenis would do…” Her voice was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the sounds of the street outside.

“She’s just so… angry all the time… today was the first time in a long time she seemed like herself.” Riimack muttered, looking across at his mate. “And I just want her to be happy… she deserves to be happy…” He added before slowly pulling his head out from under hers and shuffling his wings. The simple gesture made Taalli retract her wing to give him space, but she remained close to his side for support should he need it.

“I think everyone handles it differently…” Taalli replied after a brief pause. Her throat undulated softly as she swallowed, then cleared her throat. “I’m grateful that Mike had moved on… or as much as he had. But Keenis…” Her words drifted off as she caught herself, taking the conversation away from Riimack. Riimack knew most of Taalli's story: how she had left her boyfriend when she deployed, and how she had fallen for a drake assigned to her squad. He felt sorry for both Keenis and Taalli, although he thought his relationship with Viina was fleeting, theirs had still been in their very early days when Taalli had been killed.

“What about Keenis?” Riimack asked as he turned his head to read her expression. The orange dragoness's eyes narrowed briefly as she considered dismissing the conversation, but as he continued to look at her, Taalli began to relax again. “Is he okay?”

“Yes and no… he is alive.” Taalli started before resetting her wings and coiling her tail around her feet. “He’s gone really quiet… In the last few months, he’s hardly said a word to the rest of the squad unless he has to. He’s just been focusing on whatever he has to do to keep busy and is always looking for work. Except for guard duty, he has to keep moving, keep thinking...” Taalli continued, and while Riimack made no indication that he was listening, he enjoyed hearing her speak, so the orange dragoness went on. “The squad knows he ain’t right. They've tried to talk to him, but he isn't interested.”

Riimack watched as the dragoness stared in the direction of Viina, but her eyes were unfocused as she thought about her mate for a minute before blinking and inhaling sharply. Forcing a flash of a smile, she seemed to put on a brave face as she glanced in Riimack's direction. “But, he's getting out! He's already stateside and being discharged at the end of the month.” The news made Riimack's eye ridges raise in surprise, which wasn't missed by the dragoness, who nodded in understanding. “From what I heard, the higher-ups weren’t in a hurry to lose a doc after only one tour and wanted to keep him on. But Shane, Bishop, and Joker all wrote a letter and managed to get him out. After what he went through… it was only right. Not that Keenis knows that, of course. For all he knows, he isn’t fit for combat, and that’s what the corps agrees with.”

“Well… it’s good that someone made it out of this in one piece. He was good for you,” Riimack mused, and Taalli nodded silently in agreement. “Can I ask a personal question?” he asked and met Taalli’s gaze. Only when she softly nodded did he continue. “How did you get over Mike?” He asked, gesturing with a folded wing towards Viina. “Asking for a friend.”

A wry smile curled the lips of the orange dragoness as she tilted her head towards the ceiling and contemplated his question. She didn’t rush to answer, nor did she dismiss the question, and after what felt like minutes, she finally spoke. “I’m not entirely sure I did,” she admitted quietly. “Not completely, that’s for sure. I still care about him, I still feel guilty for the hell I put him through. But as much as I wish I could talk to him, I’m glad he is starting a new chapter of his life.” She said and turned her head to face him. “Life is short, right? And I would feel so much worse now if I hadn’t ended it when I did. What he did was the right thing to do, I can admit it now. But if I had stayed, I know I would have resented him for going behind my back. I probably would have caused more pain for him somehow, or my parents would have… I don’t know.” She admitted and looked away from Riimack to focus on Viina. “He didn’t deserve that. He deserved better than me.”

Riimack hummed in agreement and looked toward his mate. “What about Keenis and your condition?” he asked and felt as if he had overstepped when his friend closed her eyes and kept them closed. “Never mind, hindsight is a bitch–”

“I was selfish,” Taalli started and slowly opened her eyes but didn’t look at him. “I knew I was sick and would eventually be a burden. I initially saw him as someone who could help me. An aspiring doctor, magically gifted and kind. If anyone was going to look after me, I would have wanted it to be someone like him… my own personal physician, without having to crawl back to my parents for money.” She explained before shaking her head as if to dismiss her own idea. “But the closer I got to him, the more I realized that I needed a mate, not just a doctor.”

“Do you regret it?” Riimack asked, looking towards Viina. When Taalli didn't answer him, he rocked his head from side to side. “I wonder sometimes if it would have been better if I hadn’t gotten involved with her. Especially seeing her like this. She probably would have her wings if we weren't mates–”

“You can't think like that, Riimy,” Taalli said bluntly, firmly nudging him with her wing. The impact wasn’t hard, but it pulled his attention away from Viina and back towards Taalli. Her expression was hard to read, a mixture of disappointment and something else. “It's happened. You loved her, and she loved you. Sure, it would have been good to love while not in an active warzone, but those were the cards we were dealt, and there ain't no redraws,” she added, but Riimack wasn’t convinced. Unable to hold the dragoness’s gaze, he turned his head away only to shrink back as Taalli rose to all fours. The orange dragoness could be tenacious sometimes, and this was clearly one of those moments. With three steps, she moved to stand in front of him, making avoiding her gaze impossible. “You brought joy to her life, just as she did to you. You made her feel like the happiest ‘ness in the world, and she remembers that. This?” She said, jerking her head toward his mate. “This will pass. She will learn to love again. She won’t forget you, just like I can’t forget Keenis and Mike. Hell, I still think about Daanic sometimes, and I was young and dumb back then. But you can’t dwell on it. You can’t undo this. She is hurt and needs you. Just as Keenis needs me, and we have to be there for them.” She snapped, her voice raising to the point where she was almost shouting at the drake.

His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched as he looked at the dragoness. He could see that fiery, determined look in her eyes and knew that she truly believed this. Her whole body was poised to continue if he tried to disagree, and after a long, pregnant pause, Riimack conceded. After all, she wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t change what had happened, and while he still wondered how their lives would have gone if things had been different, he knew it was useless to dwell on what could never be. Taking a deep breath, he held his friend's gaze before softly shaking his head and forcing a small smile. “Once upon a time, you used to be a scared, dainty ‘ness who was out of her depth. Wearing scale paint to her first day of basic training and not having a clue what she was doing,” he said, without any venom in his voice. “What happened to her?” He asked rhetorically when her expression softened, and she pulled her neck back into an elegant ‘s’ shape.

Taalli's lips curled back into a defeated smile, and she shrugged her wings as she began to walk back towards his side. Sitting down with a soft sigh, the orange dragoness gently rested her tail on his in a friendly and reassuring gesture while she mulled over his words. She didn’t rush her answer and looked deep in thought before finally tilting her head toward him. “I was told by a wise and handsome drake that I was out of his league… I kind of took that personally,” she joked, and her smile grew with his own.

Shaking his head in a mixture of disbelief and amusement, Riimack gave a soft chuckle from deep in his chest. “It was a silly thing for me to say. If anything, it was the other way around. Gorgeous ‘ness like you meeting a prison rat like me. It wouldn't have worked out,” Riimack scoffed and looked toward his mate. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t once have feelings for the orange ‘ness beside him. On the first day he met her, he thought he had a chance and stuck his neck out to keep her safe. However, by the time he learned she was already in a relationship, he had already become her friend, and he had no intentions of trying to get between her and her boyfriend Mike. After everything his father had done, he’d been determined to prove to himself that he was better.

“Nah, you’re alright, Riimack. After all, you got her.” Taalli mused and nodded toward the pale dragoness. Viina was still absorbed in her thoughts as she stared at the image on her phone, her mind likely years away, reliving the moment when she met her mate. “Viina is a good egg; she was good for you.”

“That, she was…” Riimack mused before taking a deep breath and flashing his friend a warm smile. “You really thought I was wise?” he asked, tilting his head in confusion when the dragoness nodded.

“Handsome, wise, and kind… It’s a rare combo, Riimack. She did right by seeking you out,” Taalli replied with sincerity as she gestured with a folded wing toward Viina. “You were far stronger than me, that’s for sure. Without you, I wouldn’t have survived basic training.”

“Prison will do that to a drake. The only exercise was weights—”

“I didn’t mean physically,” Taalli interjected and stared at him with a focused expression. “Of course you were stronger; I was pathetic back then. I couldn’t take a hit without crying like a whelp. But I mean, you were more than that. I really looked up to you during basic,” she added, and Riimack found it hard to hold her gaze. Thankfully, she turned back to watching Viina before nudging him with a wing. “Still look up to you now. Ya big, handsome, wise drake,” she concluded with a chuckle.

“Gods, I was trying to impress you back then, wasn’t I?” he retorted playfully, making the orange dragoness glare at him with a smirk. Looking back toward his mate, Riimack took a deep breath and steadied himself. “Will you stay for her session? It should start soon,” he asked hopefully. Viina's sessions sometimes revealed hints about his mate's past that he hadn’t heard from her. While the stories were rarely pleasant, he felt as if he was learning more about his love in each session.

“Riimy, You know how this works as well as I do,” Taalli said and leaned closer to the silvery drake. “I’m always here if you need me.”