FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next morning, Hunter awoke and immediately regretted his existence. Every muscle in his body ached, especially his legs and arms which had done most of the gripping the day before. A hot shower helped sooth the pain a little, but he had a busy day ahead of him, so he begrudgingly went back to his room to prepare for the day.

He slid open the door and greeted Em who had somehow curled up into an even tighter ball. "Ready to go?"

"I suppose." She uncurled herself and stretched, reaching out her forepaws towards him. A slightly sweet smell hit Hunter's nose and instinctively, his brain became curious. It was floral and slightly sweet. Had they changed the shampoo? Not exactly a scent he would use to represent an elite covert unit, but maybe it was the cheapest they could get.

"Alright, let me get suited up." After much, much practicing, Hunter had managed to get fully equipped in only a few minutes. He no longer mixed up the similar looking pieces like he had before, though that could probably be attributed to the small marks he had made on the inside of each one. "Do you smell that? Something smells sweet."

Em shook her head. "I don't smell anything." She nodded her head towards the corner where another helmet sat. "That one is mine. Finally got fitted."

The wolf thought it was strange that she had changed the subject so fast, but it was pushed into the backseat by the addition of more equipment he'd have to put on her. The process to equip Em was noticeably longer. The pieces were heavier and there were quite a few straps, some of which went dangerously close to under her tail. Hunter was no prude, but he knew he should probably tread carefully when dealing with a dragon that could easily take his head off with a swipe of their tail.

When he finally managed to get her geared up, the two of them walked to the spot on the ramp where the other pairs were assembling.

Now that they had done most of the coursework that just involved wolves, the classes would be held outside where hands-on training could be done under the close supervision of he officers.

Captain River welcomed them all back and remarked about how well they were hiding the pain. It drew a chuckle from the riders who seemed to be sharing Hunter's experience.

The rest of the day was more equipment training. They were presented with the full suite of equipment that was available to the dragons depending on the mission. Armor, additional storage, CASEVAC, and even a setup that could function as a basic first aid station.

"Autonomy, stealth, and flexibility are your advantage in the field. If you ever find yourself in a prolonged head-on fight with the Pack, something has gone very wrong." Captain River pointed at his dragon who was fitted with a light armor set. "Your dragon is your most valuable asset. Small enough to be a flock of birds on radar, large enough to be a threat, and basically silent compared to aircraft."

He kept talking as the Riders swapped out the gear on their dragons. "Natural fliers, they can fly places that would be suicide for normal pilots and best of all, they don't need fuel."

"Hunting, primal as it seems, is an important part of our operations. Usually, when it's harder to find food, it's easier for ships to slip through and drop supplies." Kean continued where the Captain left off. He explained how the lush worlds had larger populations and were better defended while more desolate worlds tended to have smaller garrisons. "It gives a unit unprecedented longevity in the field."

Training intensified over the days, but it followed the same pattern. Coursework, practice, flight, rest, repeat. For Hunter, even his rest involved flight as Em would often whisk him away to partake in her favorite activity. It left him sore and exhausted, but he couldn't say no to her. Her excitement about sharing the wonders of flight always made him agree to it and then regret it later.

It was not without benefit though. Hunter quickly found himself to be one of the most proficient in equipping Em in a variety of loadouts. He could strap the bed on her back in under five minutes and a heavy armor set in under fifteen. It left him mentally exhausted and physically sore, but it was good practice and it showed.

He logged the most flight hours of the unit and was slowly adapting to how Em flew. Hunter was by no means an expert, but he could mostly anticipate the dragon's movements before they happened. The bed made it difficult, but he could still feel muscles tense or relax moments before the maneuver would happen. It was fascinating, and oftentimes Hunter found himself spacing out and concentrating on her back.

Hunter could feel the burnout looming in the distance. His current routine was excellent for practice, but it could not be sustained.

"You all have been training hard. For that reason, you have been granted a weekend pass." Captain River explained at the end of a training session about small unit tactics. It immediately gave Hunter a boost of energy as there was the sudden promise of relaxation on the horizon. "Obviously, there are very limited options, but we have set aside a heavy lift shuttle to take you all to the southern colony who have graciously agreed to host you for the weekend. I expect you all to be on your best behavior while you're there, am I clear? Report to the ramp at 0600 tomorrow if you want to go, you can also stay here if you wish."

A chorus of excited "Yes, sir" came from the Riders who were murmuring to each other.

They were dismissed and everyone was suddenly talking of their weekend plans. Hunter returned to his room with Em and freed himself from his armor. He applied a regime of ice packs and gentle massaging to ease the pain out of his muscles.

"I think if I had to go another week like this, one of my limbs would have fallen off." Hunter said as Em sat by the door and watched him.

"You know you can always say no." She lowered her head to meet his eye level which he appreciated since it meant he didn't have to crane his neck to look at her.

"I could, but as much as it hurts, I am starting to enjoy flying. Anyways, I need to get used to it, so I figure might as well get it out of the way now." He got up and started to put away the equipment.

"Well, I'm glad." She patiently waited for him to wipe down his armor before tending to her dusty hide. "It'll be nice to get away from this base for a while at least."

"Yeah, I haven't swam in... I can't even remember how long it's been." The faint sweet smell returned. It had been following him for the last couple days since he first noticed it and he couldn't quite pin down where it was coming from. His best theories was that it was a scent being pumped in through the air systems, or Em. Either way, he had no real way to investigate it further without sticking his nose places they shouldn't be.

Hunter stowed the thought and helped Em remove her equipment and clean up a bit. They rested, giving Hunter time to read the little material Tree had sent over. It was limited and mostly focused on anatomy, but Hunter read it anyways. It left him with entirely too much knowledge of their reproductive cycles and not much else. According to the reading, Dragons went through a similar heat that wolves did.

After reading and resting for a bit, the two of them got dinner. Em suggested skipping their daily flight, but Hunter insisted against his body's own wishes.

It started poorly as Em took to the skies. Hunter accidentally lowered his head too much as she leaped, slamming his ear into the back of her neck. It was a lesson he would have had to learn eventually, but one that he had hoped to put off for as long as possible.

"You okay?" Em's voice came through his helmet radio. For this flight, Em had kept their gear light. She had her helmet and bed while Hunter just had the top piece of his helmet. It allowed them to communicate and kept the wind and bugs out of his eyes. "It felt like it hurt."

"Definitely did. Sorry for headbutting you." He rubbed the throbbing side of his head. It hurt, but there was no blood.

"It's fine." She kept her flying as smooth as possible, raising and falling with the gusts of wind. There was no destination for a lot of their flights. They just flew and saw the few sights to see around the base.

Dune after dune of sand rolled under them as the heated air shimmered. Luckily, the star was setting and the temperature was quickly falling.

"Do you have someone, Hunter?" Her question surprised Hunter who was spacing out a bit on her back.

"Hm? What do you mean?" He looked forward at the back of her head despite the fact that she couldn't look back to make eye contact with him.

"Someone other than family. A wolfess." She paused. "Or wolf, I don't judge."

"You mean a mate?" Somehow, this conversation had never come up before, even when they had talked about their families and friends back home. From their conversation about Em's position in the Splinter military as the first dragoness in a combat role, Hunter just assumed she wasn't taken.

"Yes."

"Can't say I do. I've had a few relationships, but they never panned out for one reason or another." In fact, it had been a long while since Hunter had enjoyed the company of another like that. Joining a rebellion and frequently being on the run or living on backwater planets wasn't exactly a good way to connect with people. "How about you? I know you've been fending off suitors left and right out here."

"Maybe in the future, but for now I'm a one-wolf kind of dragon." A bit of her tone was lost to the digital filtering of her mic, but he could still hear the playful teasing in her voice.

Hunter laughed "Well, I'm flattered. Never thought you'd be one to go after the small and fluffy."

"Soft has its benefits and you're only small compared to me. You seem to size up to the other wolves well enough." She banked, turning in a wide arc.

"I don't judge based on preferences." Between not having anything to focus on and the current conversation, it made Hunter think about relationships between wolves and dragons. He recalled a few stories about them happening, but it was all hearsay or tabloid news more interested in selling copies than the truth.

Their return to base was uneventful. Hunter braced for landing, carefully minding each limb as she bumped to a stop. They both made it to the showers without adding more bruises to Hunter's growing collection. The promise of weekend leave made the warm water feel even better than usual and Hunter found himself nodding off leaning against the tiled wall as water ran down his back and tail.

He powered through and managed to clean himself thoroughly without falling asleep naked in the showers. He let the dryer run and skimped a little on the toweling, pulling clean clothes over slightly damp fur. As soon as Em flicked off the lights, Hunter quietly removed his shirt and pants and draped them over the railing. He kept his underwear on and with the blanket, he'd be mostly covered, so he felt there was no harm in it.

Sleep came soon after he laid back down, warding off the chill in his damp fur by covering himself with his blanket. In his last few moments of wakefulness, he couldn't help but feel that he had forgotten something. It ceased to bother him once his dreams took over.

The dreams were incoherent as always. Familiar faces in bizarre situations that seemed completely normal to dream Hunter. Sometimes, there was an inky black void where time had no meaning. It stretched out into eternity in the blink of an eye.

Hunter snapped awake. He wasn't sure how long he had been sleeping, but he had changed positions on the bed. It annoyed him. He was still exhausted, he could feel it, but there was no noticeable reason he should have awoken as he had. Sighing, he licked his dry nose and tried to get comfortable again.

A wet noise interrupted him and his ears perked at the new sound. The bathroom sink did have a tendency to drip occasionally, but this was new. His nose finally woke up like his other senses and he smelled that sweet scent again. It was the one that had been following him, but it was stronger this time. Almost overwhelming.

He could smell the soap that both dragons and wolves used, the ever-present sand and dust, the dragoness that slept underneath him. It was intensely intermingled with Em's scent. The noise happened again. Quiet, but still audible over the normal hum of the barracks.

Piece by piece, his brain put the information together and it clicked just in time for him to catch his breath. He didn't dare move, but he knew what was happening below him. A ragged breath, quiet and measured as not to wake him. A wet slurp as a tongue slid over soft flesh followed by another shuddering breath. The pattern repeated over and over.

Em was pleasuring herself.

So many emotions flooded Hunter all at once. He had to carefully let out his pent up breath and pretend to still be sleeping. Em didn't seem to notice and Hunter tried his best to force sleep upon himself. He felt like he was intruding, witness to something so intimate and private. At the same time, he couldn't blame her. There was almost zero privacy on the base, so opportunities for such activities would be limited at best.

The bed frame vibrated slightly as the dragoness purred quietly. It must have been unintentional as she stopped after a moment.

The wolf regretted waking up when he did. He felt dirty despite the earlier shower.

Em groaned softly and the sound sent a shiver down Hunter's spine. It was not a sound Hunter had ever heard from the dragon in their time together.

She was speeding up her licks. Once Hunter beat back the brief panic at the realization of the situation, things got worse. Some part of his brain recognized what was happening despite the species difference and set about getting things prepared. He felt warm. Warmer than usual and a certain buzz ran through his limbs.

_Traitor. You are a fucking traitor._Hunter thought to himself as he felt the start of an erection start to brush up against his underwear. Part of his brain kept telling him how wrong this was and another gleefully threw those thoughts out the window and started vividly picturing what was happening below him.

Hind legs splayed and neck craned so that her head could lap under her tail. Her long tongue parting her slit to pleasure her in a way only she knew how to. He cursed the anatomy books for equipping his mind for this.

Hunter had told himself he was reading it purely for educational reasons, but now he knew that wasn't entirely true. Despite his best efforts, his imagination ran wild. He knew her underside was slightly lighter than the rest of her body and he wondered if it went all the way under her tail.

A shudder ran down his back. Hunter was very aware of how Em felt. The thought of her smooth, warm hide only adding to his fantasies as his brain built a mental image of her entire body inch, by tantalizing inch. Did her paw digits curl in pleasure? They did in his head.

Another quiet gasp accelerated his traitorous mind's plan and he found himself thinking of her in her entirety. Every time Hunter strapped the bed onto her, he passed a hand under her tail. He knew how dangerously close he was to her intimate parts. Just where her tail met her body would be her tailhole and just slightly below that would be her slit. The similarity of sexual organs between dragons and wolves had a whole chapter about the theories and science about evolutionary paths. Fascinating as it was, it as completely irrelevant to Hunter right now as he wondered how she looked.

His thoughts were interrupted by an increase of activity below him. Em's breathing was picking up and she was struggling to contain herself. The room was saturated in her scent, an enticing, but foreign cocktail that was seeping into his sheets. She was licking faster and faster, making more noise, but she didn't seem to care as much anymore.

Hunter heard her climax. Her breath caught and she writhed against her bed, rustling the fabric as she let out a pent up breath. She gasped and moaned, only barely catching herself from fully embracing the bliss that ran through her body.

The dragoness' orgasm petered off and it left Hunter feeling dirtier. The ethical war waged on inside his head, leaving him frustrated and tired as Em seemed to go to sleep. In the darkness of the room, time had no meaning and he wasn't sure how long he had been awake or when he fell back asleep. His last thoughts were questioning his sexual preferences.

Next thing he knew, he was waking back up. He reached over and flicked on the tablet. 0558. He watched it tick over to 0559 before he realized what he had forgotten.

"Shit!" Hunter put the tablet down and rubbed his eyes. He had forgotten to set an alarm. They were going to miss the shuttle to the colony.

"We missed it, didn't we?" Em's voice came out of the darkness. From the grogginess of her voice, she had just woken up as well.

He sighed and nodded, though he doubted she could see him. "Yup." The more his mind woke up, the more uncomfortable he felt. It felt like he had dreamed it, but he could still smell it. The sweet scent of her arousal had seeped into all the fabric of his bed and it was starting to stir his body.

Hunter dressed and poked his head out into the hallway. There was not a soul to be seen and the barracks were eerily quiet. When he returned to the room, he flicked the lights on after warning Em and confirmed that they had missed their opportunity to get away from the base.

The dragoness sprawled belly up as they talked and Hunter had to avert his eyes to prevent himself from wandering too much.

"At least the barracks will be empty too. Anyways, we still don't have any duties so we'll just have to make the most of it." She said as she rolled over onto her feet.

"Yeah, that'll be nice." Hunter needed a shower and an excuse. He felt uncomfortable talking to her and without any classes or duties, it'd be difficult for him to get away from her. "I'm going to take a shower, then... Breakfast?"

Em tilted her head and he tried to come up for a reason why he needed another shower despite having taken one the night before, but thankfully she didn't ask. "Sounds good. I think I'll do the same."

She wandered off towards the dragon showers and Hunter took the opportunity to strip down his bed. He took all the fabric he could and bundled it all into a large ball. He sniffed the clothes in his closet and to his dismay, the scent was there. No doubt it would linger for a long time, but he had to do something about it.

With his arms full, he waddled over towards the showers and threw it all into the chute. He stripped down, throwing the last of his clothes into the chute before stepping into the empty showers. Relief washed over him as he confirmed he was alone and turned on the hot water. It was as hot as he could bear, but still not hot enough to burn away how dirty he felt. What his body was feeling was obvious. Hunter looked down and saw that the tip of his cock was peeking out of his sheath, eliciting a sigh.

He gently rubbed over his crotch, shivering despite the scalding water. It had been entirely too long. So long in fact, that Hunter couldn't remember the last time he had indulged in the pleasure of another. He hung his head and firmly placed both his hands on the tiled way in front of him.

"No. No." The wolf muttered to himself. He started to wash himself. Each step was methodical in an effort to distract himself. Pump the soap, lather all over to scrub out any lingering scent, rinse, lather again, rinse. The temptation was always there. A quiet voice in his head telling him to relax and enjoy himself, not to mention the very visible red of his flesh against his darker fur.

Lathering twice felt good enough and since Hunter couldn't smell Em anymore, he shut off the water and went about drying himself. He still felt a bit dirty inside, but he had resisted and that made him feel a little better about himself.

He made a mental note to go back to the textbook and see if it mentioned how long a dragon's heat lasted. If they were anything like wolves, he had about a week, maybe more if he was unlucky. By the time he had retrieved a fresh set of bedding and replacement clothes, his erection had died down, allowing him to cautiously return to the room. Luckily, he arrived before Em and had time to line his bed and hang up the flightsuits that didn't have her scent. His personal clothes would take some time, so he donned a flightsuit and waited.

The smell still lingered, but Hunter did his best to put it out of his mind as he flipped through the digital textbook on his tablet. Unfortunately, it didn't mention how long a dragon's estrus cycle lasted, leaving Hunter to wonder.

Em returned, bringing a fresh wave of her scent into the room.

"One benefit to missing the weekend pass is how quiet the barracks are." The door shut behind her.

"Yeah, I haven't ever had the showers to myself. It was nice." He climbed down from his bunk and hopped the last few rungs. "Wanna grab some food?"

It was less because he was hungry and more because he didn't want to be cooped up in a small room with her.

He tried his best to keep upwind of her without being too obvious about it, but the wind kept shifting as they walked to the mess hall.

"You okay?" Em asked, breaking the long silence.

"What do you mean?" Hunter replied, trying his best to sound as natural as possible.

"You seem distracted." She looked down at him as they walked.

"Little bummed, I guess. Aside from that, I'm fine." They reached the mess and entered. A couple of wolves occupied it, but without the units' dragons, it felt empty.

"It happens. We had a tiring past couple of days, I don't blame you."

"Thanks. Still a bit disappointed that I won't get to see the colony." The two of them went their separate ways and fetched their meals.

"How many dragons are there outside of our unit here on base?" Hunter asked when they reconvened at an unoccupied table.

"Half a dozen at most." She dropped her tray and to Hunter's surprise, the cooks had given her some actual meat alongside her normal food. "The only other dragons are the ones that work in R&D for the air wing. Testing drop pods and stuff like that."

"Wow, not many at all." He dug into his meal, eating slowly to hide the fact that he wasn't hungry.

"Yeah, the unit makes up most of the dragons at any given time. With so many of them off base, they had enough actual food to give me some." She ate with much more enthusiasm, taking chunks of both the protein printed meat and the actual meat at the same time.

"Speaking of drop pods. When does that training happen?" The idea of falling out of space in a metal pod still seemed beyond insane to him, but he wasn't here to argue the insanity of plans. He was here to participate in them.

"It's the last part of training before the test. Have to make sure riders can handle the flying before they get dropped out of space."

"Makes sense. Have you done it yet?" The longer the two of them sat there, the more her smell became noticeable again. It wasn't overbearing yet, but it tingled his nose and his brain had been quick to associate the smell with the memory.

"I have. I'm at twenty drops."

Hunter could feel his breathing become deeper. "What's it like?" He pushed his tray away, indicating that he was done. Until her heat was over, he would have a time limit for how long he could coop himself up in an enclosed space with her.

It meant a lot of flying and a lot of laying around in the desert. Hunter wisely packed a blanket before they took off. With the whole day ahead of them, they decided to go beyond their usual range and explore out in the desert.

To aid in their exploration, they also went higher than usual. Because of the homogeneous nature of the desert, it was difficult to tell how high up they were. Sand dunes were sand dunes. Occasionally, they would spot vegetation or an animal that would give him a sense of scale, but rarely anything of interest.

They took a break atop the widest of several stone arches that reached out of the sand, stable for now, but slowly being worn away by the sand and wind.

Em was quick to settle down and offer Hunter a spot tucked right up against her side. Hunter politely declined, giving a halfhearted excuse to sit closer to the edge of the arch despite the fear that gripped his stomach.

"You're not as smooth as you think you are." Em commented as he sat down upwind of her.

"Hm?" He felt his face flush and he forced himself to maintain eye contact.

"I'm sorry for not telling you. I guess I was hoping that you wouldn't notice or it wouldn't affect you. Guess I was wrong." Her tail flicked with an anxious energy. It was an unusual sight for Hunter, he was so used to the calm, collected, and dominating personality that Em presented. It was almost... Cute? "I'm talking about my heat."

Hunter released a pent up breath once she said what she was talking about. He wasn't about to start assuming with a topic like this. "Wolves have keen noses. It took me a while to figure out the who and the why though."

"Not ideal when we share a small room and spend every waking moment together."

He chuckled and nodded. "When did you figure out I knew?"

"You commented about the smell, then started acting differently a little while after. I thought nothing of it until now." A breeze blew from Hunter's back towards Em.

"Guess I wasn't as subtle as I thought."

"No, no you were not."

"I'm sorry." His ears splayed and his tail curled around his ankles. Normally, he hated how instinctual it was to betray his emotions, but this was an exception.

"For what? I'm the one causing the issues here." She laughed as her tail mirrored his. Whether it was unconscious or not was the real question.

"I didn't want to make you self-conscious or something. Just wanted to do my best to ignore it and let you go about your day." The wind died down. It was odd as he usually spent his time cursing the wind as it just spread the dust and sand to every inch of the planet. As her scent crept towards him, he found himself missing the breeze.

"Hunter, clothing and modesty is a wolf concept. Anyways, my day _is_you." She laid down, lifting her head to be at his level. The debate on clothing being a social construct was way beyond Hunter's ability to comprehend right now. "If something I do irritates or otherwise gets in the way of you doing your job, it's important that I know."

"It's just a little distracting, but nothing I can't deal with."

The wind picked back up again, leaving them with nothing but the sound of gusts. It wasn't an awkward silence, just silence.

"I've heard that you've been poking around looking for anything you can get on dragonesses." Em broke the silence.

"How'd you know?" Hunter's ears perked up. He hadn't explicitly told anyone, but it wouldn't have been too difficult to piece together, especially if Tree was a talker.

"Word spreads." Her vague answer did little to sate Hunter's curiosity, but he let it go. "What do you want to know?"

"Well... Everything." That set her off. Em told him everything she could. She started with actual facts, but would occasionally wander off on long tangents filled with anecdotes.

Did Hunter know the frustrations of trying to access "dragon friendly" buildings only to find out they had been built to accommodate male dragons and were slightly too small for females? Now he did.

Hunter listened and absorbed the best he could. Previous conversations on base always had a edge of professionalism, but this time she seemed to be letting it all go. He did his best to let her talk, occasionally nodding or making a brief comment to let her know that he was still listening.

The longer they sat there, the more comfortable Em got. She first laid down on her belly, then rolled onto her side, talking with her head on the ground. Hunter just sat back and propped himself up with his arms behind him.

She covered an amazing range of topics. Some of it was just expanding on things Hunter already knew, like where she was born and what long-term life aboard a starship was like. The logistics of such a large creature living aboard a confined vessel still boggled his mind.

"You don't tend to think about how others live until you're forced to adapt to their lifestyles. Suddenly, there were airspace restrictions and traffic laws about who had the right of way when you're on the ground." She rolled over onto her other side.

"And I've never considered myself lucky to be able to fit through doors until you mentioned it." Hunter laughed. He could only sympathize with most of what she had told him, but it was an interesting perspective and he realized he'd probably think about it every time he went through a door from now on.

"Are you calling me fat?" She rolled back onto all fours, threatening to pounce.

"I wouldn't dare." He sat up straight. It was strange to be looking down on her for once. "Just saying I can sympathize. Thanks for sharing all that."

"It was mostly personal stories, probably not the scientific journals you were looking for."

"I'll take anything, honestly. Anyways, it's a unique perspective." He stood and stretched. The desert sprawled out in all directions around them and the sun was already starting to fall from its zenith.

"Your turn then. I know about wolf culture, but give me your perspective on things."

Hunter blew out a long breath. "Where to even begin?"

It was a bit difficult to start off, but like her he started from the very beginning. What it was like growing up among a litter on a largely industrial colony. The more he talked, the easier he found it to be. One topic rolled into another and he quickly found himself recounting most of his life, or at least what he could remember.

At one point, he went over all of his scars. Each had a story and a lesson learned. Some were more hidden than others and Em seemed interested to learn about the scars she hadn't noticed. Midway through explaining one just below his ribs, he realized that he had unzipped his flightsuit to show her. Though she had seen him in pretty much all stages of undress, this felt different. He felt a flash of embarrassment, but it vaporized as soon as she asked a question.

"Someone hit you with a fence?" Either she didn't believe him or she was trying to figure out the logistics of hitting someone with a barrier.

"Someone hit me_into_ a fence. Then they kicked me in the back which caused this."

"Sounds painful."

"It was. I'd safely say he won that one." Hunter zipped the flightsuit back up.

"How many fights have you won?" A breeze made her flick her ears. He chuckled, though he wasn't sure if it was because he was thinking of his past fights or because he thought the small gesture looked cute.

"Almost none. Got my tail handed to me more often than not."

"Then why fight?"

The wolf exhaled loudly as he tried to think of an answer. "Honestly, I have no idea. Call it a learning experience."

Hunter lost track of time as they talked, but Em cut the conversation off short and said they should probably head back to base. The star was dipping towards the horizon, but it looked like they still had plenty of daylight. Despite this, Hunter agreed and mounted the bed for the return trip.

It was a good thing Em was such a good navigator as Hunter didn't feel a sense of familiarity with any of the sand dunes on the way. Darkness swept over the landscape much faster than Hunter anticipated and they landed on the ramp outside their barracks as the burnt orange of the sky turned to black.

"Nice timing." Hunter unclasped himself and slid off her back.

"Didn't want to be caught out in the desert at night." She shook herself once he was clear of her wings. A small cloud of dust exploded off of her. The wind carried it directly into Hunter's eyes and nose.

"Hungry?" He asked after having a short coughing fit.

"Always."

They took their food to go and ate outside, with Hunter sitting a little ways upwind. The night brought on a piercing cold, but it was tolerable as they ate.

"Oh hey, someone else missed the flight." Hunter pointed at a dragon as they entered the barracks. He recognized them from training, but he couldn't remember their name.

"Hm?" She looked in the direction of his outstretched finger. "Oh, he probably chose not to go. He's not the social type."

"Well, now I don't feel better about missing the flight."

The two of them laughed and finished up their meal. The other dragon was nowhere to be seen once they returned to the barracks, but his scent led to one of the other rooms so he had probably retreated to bed.

Shade and Nim. He did his best to commit the names to memory, but he knew it was more than likely that he'd forget.

"Have a goodnight, Hunter" Em turned back once they reached their room.

"Where are you going?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"I can find elsewhere to sleep."

"That's not necessary. I'm not going to make you sleep somewhere else just because you smell a little."

She huffed. "That's a rude way to describe it."

"I'm being serious. I can't be calling myself your rider if I can't be around you at any given situation."

She relented and they both headed into their room. He cleaned himself off and quickly wiped the dust off of her as well, though the smell quickly became an issue the closer he was. Gritting his teeth, he managed to finish the task without embarrassing himself and tossed the dirty towel into a corner.

"Goodnight, Em... Alci." He climbed up to his bed and flopped down, though he decided to sleep with clothes on just in case.

"Em is just fine. Goodnight, Hunter."

The smell became overwhelming. He tried his best to distract himself by recounting the events of the day. It partially worked and Hunter drifted to sleep, though not without a pressing issue under his sheets.