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The sheep tried to run away but it was too late. As soon as Reagalus (call him Ray) saw him, he picked it up and ate it. He enjoyed the way the bones crunched under his teeth and made a pleased rumble noise.

 Walt, perched on Ray’s neck, looked around them. It was empty except for the sheep that had all congregated to the other side of the pasture and were huddled close together.

“Come on, let’s take off.”

Ray expended his wings and pushed with his legs to take the air. He turned his head to look at Walt “Where to?”

“Back to camp. We were sent to see. And we saw.”

“Saw nothing.” Lilley quipped from the middle of Ray’s back, riffle in his hand.

“We saw some sheep and I ate one. We should do more patrol like this one.”

“Then you’ll grow fat.” Walt answered with a smirk on his face. Ray turned his head back to look where they were going –it wouldn’t do to have an accident because he was chattering with his Captain, especially since it wouldn’t be the first but then it was always the others dragons fault: they didn’t watch where they were going and Ray being one of the biggest dragons should have the priority. So Admiral Sink should understand really- and muttered:

“I’ll never be fat I’ll exercise a lot. By doing patrols. See? It’s a great plan! We should propose it to the Admiralty. More patrols. More food.” He made another rumble sound to express his happiness at the idea.

They were on their way to Russia on some sort of secret mission to relink with the country and to help them develop a real Air Force since the Russian were now recognizing the need for dragons and the error of their ancient and barbaric ways. They had to be careful to not let any countries know: they hoped that by helping them, they could manage some sort of alliance and exchange eggs after that. Or you know without too many countries knowing. Because sending a group of giant-ass dragons on a secret mission was kind of stupid. Obviously people would notice them. They couldn’t really hide –well they tried at best anyway and flew at night only but there were day when they would be seen no matter what. Sometimes they even ended up having no choice but to shoot poor messengers on horses. (Who use horses instead of dragons anyways? Sure horses were good and Ray liked eating them when he could but they were kind of lame: they were slow and scarred of many things and so small, and couldn’t protect a man; really they were completely useless.)

At first Ray had been surprised to be chosen for the mission: he was one of the very few fire-breathers the United Kingdom possessed so sending him away seemed stupid. But his sister and his mother were still at home so he supposed they could do without one fire-breather. Walt had told him that they would probably ask him to breed with a Russian dragon once they arrived. Ray was not really bothered by that. A bit intimated maybe? He had never done anything with a dragon yet. Not that, he didn’t like the female dragons back home, he was friends with a great deal of them, but he couldn’t see them in this light (love? That’s what the human called it right? Walt was in love. With a very pretty girl called Esther. Ray tolerated her. As long as she didn’t steal Walt away from him too much they were fine.) So knowing that he had to do something with a dragon he barely knew felt a bit intimidating. But he would cross that bridge when he got there.

As for now the sky was beautiful and the air was a bit cold but then Ray was a fire-breather alright so he was always running hot. Which mean that his crew was always warm.

They arrived at the camp where the other dragons were. They were huddled together and Ray could see the crews milling around. He landed himself with a great deal of flapping wings, then plucked Walt carefully before deposing him. He let the rest of his crew managed. (Walt was his most precious treasure and no harm could befall him. Even the simple danger of falling while getting off Ray. No. Harm.)

“So what is the news?” Captain Guarnere asked.

“No one on the road, and no food to be bought.”

“Then how come yours is covered in blood?” asked Babe –Guarnere’s first lieutenant.

“I ate a sheep we found “Ray answered proudly. Walt looked at him half-fond, half-annoyed.

“You’re disgusting. There is blood all over your face. How did you manage that? “

Ray gave the equivalent of a dragon shrug before trudging toward the dragon’s pile. “Should I light a fire?” he asked them.

It was Chuckler –a regal Copper- who answered: “Yes, please. The mornings are awfully cold.”

He went around picking some trees before lightening them up. Everyone huddled close and Ray felt pretty great. When he looked down Walt had a hand on his paw and was smiling at him.

This day had well started: after a full night of fly and a breakfast of cow he had a sheep and now he will sleep while everyone was warmed by his fire! Great day indeed he thought as he curled up and let sleep took him.

***

“How long before we arrive?”

He asked Walt for what must be the tenth time just today. It’s not Ray fault that the flight was utterly boring. Especially since they were flying at night. Nothing could be seen and they could just catch a quick glance at lights of villages. Ray liked talking to other dragons and people. He tended to annoy them quite fast but he still liked it and the problem with his formation was that he had no new stories to tell them since they saw as much as him. So it was just more boring every day.

And when daylight was there, all he could see, generally, -was green forest or a cave. Because they had to hide. At first Ray was quite excited about the mission. Now he was starting to feel annoyed toward the admiralty to have sent them there. He bet that at home they had a lot of very interesting missions going on. (Or maybe not, there was no war going on and everybody seemed so happy about it but Ray as a dragon felt largely useless if there was no one to fight against.)

They were somewhere over the East part of Prussia when a messenger caught up to them. It was not an English one but apparently a Swedish one. Sweden not being on their route demonstrated that clearly they had not been as secretive as they had hoped (but once again: giant dragons flying over countries explained quite well this situation.)

They landed and the captains consorted over the message.

“We need to alert the government of this.”  Captain Leckie said holding the letter like it was a weapon. “We’ll need their support for what I suppose is not going to be a nice civilized discussion between us and them.”

“We passed what I think was a quite large city if I may say.” Captain Basilone said. She pointed toward North-West.

“I have a map let’s look at that. We need a big enough city with a courier system so that we can transfer it to them. And we have to find a good excuse for us being there. If the Swedish are not happy about it I doubt the Prussians are going to be any happier.”

“We can lie and say that our goal was Sweden since the beginning and … pretend that an unexpected development took place.”

“If we are lucky we could spend a night in real beds. And find them some different food than the games they have been chasing all the while.”

Most of the dragons seemed mostly interested by that last idea. (Games were good but sometimes nothing was better than a good cow and some sheep. And sadly, they rarely could buy them. They did it sometimes but not that often -Ray still remembered how the sheep had tasted-.)

“There I can see the city. Seems quite big. At least we can always inquire. We should just hope that they don’t see us as a threat.” Captain Guarnere said the last bit looking at the dragons.

“We’re not dangerous,” Joe said.

“You are the size of a house at least and you have claws the size of a person. You may be perfectly nice- people will always fear a dragon.” He rolled up the map.

“Come on everyone; let’s put an end to this whole ordeal as soon as possible.”

**

They arrived in the city called Belgard at the beginning of the night having decided to stop the pretending and started flying in broad daylight. The dragons landed outside but not so far. There were men shouting on the rampart and some envoys were sent to talk to them. Luckily for them in their formation they had captain Leckie who was remarkable in his learning of languages and served as the main spokesman of their little group.

Ray tried to listen to the conversation but they didn’t talk loud enough and his understanding of the German language was quite insufficient to follow properly the gibberish protocol talk they were having.

They talked for some time before the crews were allowed to come into the city. They would meet the official of the city on the morrow to decide where to go next then, they would pursue their travel. Some cattle was to be bring forth for the dragons so Ray didn’t feel more concerned about the issue. As long as he got food!

As for now, the dragons all huddled together to keep themselves warm and safe. Most of them were quite worried to not have their captain in their vision range but Ray understood how appealing a bed could be after weeks of flying and sleeping on the ground. He still worried but tried to be rational: no one would be stupid enough to kill one of the aviators while a bunch of dangerous dragons were sleeping just outside the city and would feel it in their right to burn it to ashes.

When they woke up the next morning and their captains rejoined them they had been told by the Swedish emissary, in agreement with the Prussian people, to go to Stockholm the capital where people would be asking what they were doing in this part of the world. Seeing the face of the crews were enough to gather that nothing that would happen from this point was going to be good.

Clearly no one had believed their lie about visiting the region –not that it was a very credible one- and so they were sent back to the capital to have their story examined in a deeper fashion.

“We should look at the bright side of this: we are probably going to be able to send a message to the base. Maybe they will be able to help.”

“Does that mean we will have to stay longer than expected?” Hoosier asked looking quite bored at the prospect of spending more months in those countries.

They had left during spring so hopefully they would be back before the weather became too harsh but who knew how many obstacles they would have to face before finally being home again.

“The more you complain the more time we lost! Come on everybody “Captain Guarnere bellowed “let’s take the road to Stockholm!”

**

If he had knew what was going to happen Ray wasn’t sure he would have gone. They arrived in the Stockholm’s base by midday and were welcomed by a lot of cattle. Until then it was all very good. Then between two cows Ray looked around and something caught his gaze. The something was a very large, white dragon, with a long elegant neck and fine-chiseled head and gorgeous blue eyes. The only dragon Ray knew to have blue eyes was Temeraire and he only met him when he was very young and couldn’t remember very well. But this dragon was magnificent and Ray watched him, totally unaware of his surrounding and of Hoosier stealing his cow. That brought the other dragons’ attention; since usually Ray would try to fry them if they even so much as looked at his food. They all looked at the dragon, then at Ray.

Most of them returned to their dinner not interested in the slightest about what was inside Ray’s mind. Except Josephus (they usually called him Joe) who asked:

“Did this dragon do something to you?” (It wouldn’t do to have Ray suddenly deciding to start spitting fire everywhere because another dragon had mocked him or whatever.) Ray however didn’t respond and just kept looking. Joe head-butted him, with strength, in the shoulder. This cause Ray to come out of his daydreaming and watched around, looking completely lost. Then he looked down and screamed a “WHO EAT MY COW??” before spitting fire high in the air in rage.

***

“But they stole my cow!” Ray said plaintively. Hoosier, not sorry at all, shrugged and added “You didn’t notice until well after. You were looking at this other dragon and acting all weird. How should I know that you were going to eat it finally? Maybe you wouldn’t. And then what a pity.”

Ray let a growl and steam off his body, he opened his wings and showed teeth ready to fight but Walt called him back:

“Ray calm down! You know you have to be careful of your food.”

“But it’s not an excuse to steal it.” Leckie said to his dragon. Hoosier faked looking apologetic but Ray wasn’t fooled. He was going to murder him later. Or stole all his cows during the next meal. Yes, much better.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Walt asked him once he had lowered his head. “They say you were acting strange.” And Ray had no answer to that. Saying “there was a very beautiful dragon.” didn’t seem like an option, and felt so stupid. He curled up around himself a bit tighter. Walt obviously noticed and came even closer.

“Ray… did something happened?”

“No!” he said too quickly. Walt looked at him for a while before letting out a sigh. “Fine! But, you’re going to tell me at some point.”

Ray nodded but wasn’t even sure that there was something to say to be honest.

He looked around and saw, again, the white dragon. He detached himself prettily against the blue sky. And he was looking in their direction. Ray hid his head under his wing.

Joe who had observe all of this, start connecting the dots together and sighed a “I can’t believe it!” Babe who was polishing his harness sitting against his paw (even though it wasn’t his job) looked at the black dragon: “What are you talking about?”

“Raegalus is fancying the dragon over there. That’s why he was acting weird.”

Ray came out of his hiding spot and protested immediately: “I don’t fancy anyone!”

“Please.” Joe said like it had seen that many time and couldn’t care less.

“I don’t! It’s just… we don’t have dragons like that over here.”

“Isn’t it the reason we’re here? To get dragons that we don’t have in our country?”

“Yes… but… We were never told what those dragons could look like!”

He looked again and the white dragon had disappeared. He felt sad which was ridiculous. Seeing Joe looking smug he proclaimed: “I don’t fancy anyone. You’re just being stupid.” and turned his back to the others. Of course Joe just laughed and Ray scowled.

He was not fancying anyone. He was so not.

***

The day after, Walt was walking with some stranger toward them. Ray had a nice breakfast –he managed to steal one cow to Hoosier and felt better about the whole ordeal- and he supposed that if Walt asked then, yes, he could demonstrate his great control of fire.

“Good morning!” he chirped and Walt smiled at him and it was like the sun finally came out. So precious he thought fondly as he was already curling his tail around them to protect Walt from the world in general.

“Raegalus I present you Captain Fick. “

“Nice to meet you” the man said, bowing. Ray was a bit surprised (Walt used so rarely his real name).

“Nice to me you too…. Fick doesn’t sound very Swedish…” He added slowly, not wanting to insult the man.

“It is not indeed. I’m English by birth but was raised here.”

Ray nodded, his perfect English pronunciation made sense too then.

“Who is your dragon,” he asked feeling like he should. Walt was grinning up at him and he found it odd but maybe Walt had a really great breakfast too?

“Maybe you caught a glimpse of him already? His name is Bjarte. He… Well he is coming over.”

The dragon coming over was the white-dragon of yesterday and Ray was sure he should blame Babe for everything. And Joe.

“Nate.” The dragon said and his voice was a nice baritone and Ray felt so inadequate –he was often told that his voice was way too high and annoying… but maybe the last point was because he talked too much.-

Closer, he was even more magnificent: he was white with some cream strips on his wings and his skin looks smooth with few scars to be seen. His head was not big but more on the long side and his horn looked like ivory. His wings were bigger than they should so he was probably skilled in flight. His tail was long and spines decorated it, but stopped on his back to start again on his neck. He had some horns on the side of his mouth like Longwings but his were a bit smaller and didn’t seem as intimidating.

Captain Fick did the presentation and he turned his head toward Ray:

“Nice to meet you, Raegulus.”

“Nice to meet you too… Bart?” he tried pronouncing the name but it came out all wrong and he let out a mortified sound. The blue eyes were fixed on him.

“You can call me Brad if it’s simpler for you.”

“It doesn’t sound like your real name at all!”

“Well… I’d rather have you uneducated-fire-breathing-mess not mispronounced my name.”

Ray was silent. He just didn’t say… what … This couldn’t be possible!

“Well, nothing to say? I shouldn’t be really surprised about that. England has only recently recognized dragons as proper intelligent creatures but maybe it was because of specimens like you?” and he was taunting Ray, wasn’t he? And well, Kazilik –or even half-kazilik- were not known for their calm and patience, were they?

“So you think you’re better than us because you have some fancy name? Here's some news for you, you arrogant-pissing-dick, I am one of the best dragons in the Aerial Corps! Stop judging others because they can’t talk as many languages as you, you fancy-privileged-moron!” he finished with a huff of smoke.

“Ray!” Walt shoot, sounding scandalized but Ray was not going to apologize or back down. The other had so started it and Ray was defending his honor and England’s honor. Walt should be proud of him.

“You’re not bad,” Brad said before picking up his captain and flying away.

“Well I supposed the fancying problem is over now,” Joe added after a lapse of silence. Ray launched on him in revenge.

***

After some thinking, Ray didn’t understand how he could have been admiring Brad for one second. The other white dragon he knew was only by name, and Lien didn’t seem nice at all, or so his mother told him. It was probably a common trait in white dragons: complete dickhead.

Walt had rambled on how he shouldn’t have said what he said when he was the one being provoked. Which he explained, Walt had answered:

“I know but if you hadn’t insulted him back, you would have looked better than him.”

Ray hadn’t really agreed to that and just asked if he was going to spent time with captain Fick- who sounds nice, poor man being stuck with Brad! Walt had answered positively looking worried like Ray might act jealous or something.

Like he said: Captain Fick was nice. Brad no. he didn’t want to talk to Brad anymore. (And if he tried to pronounce his real names in his spare time hiding under his wings then it was his business.)

Ray only wished for them to be leaving as soon as possible but apparently, they were delayed over a diplomatic problem.

“I don’t understand all this pretending. It’s seriously retarded if you want my opinion: nothing is done because you all have to say a lot of niceties before going to the point and then they will usually tell you that they will think about it before asking you a lot of stupid documents as proof or whatever. Can’t you just tell him what you need and then we can go?”

Walt was petting his head and didn’t answer immediately. He looked contrite so Ray supposed that he did have a point. (Ha!)

“We don’t want to start a war.” He replied at last.

“I don’t see why being direct and exposing our plans would be enough to start a war. We aren’t insulting them! We just go straight to the point.”

“It’s rich coming from you, who insulted one of their most precious dragons.” Chuckler said from where he was laying around. Ray shot him a dirty look before returning his attention to Walt. (He would have to ask about the “most precious” comment. But later. He didn’t want to seem eager.)

“What are we asking them anyway? Do we really need their blessing?”

“Well… obviously they don’t appreciate our will to help the Russian rebuild an air force of dragons and are pretty much against the plan. We are trying to convince them that we don’t want to invade them but merely are trying to rekindle with the Russian Empire. However, it is complicated to explain and none of us are diplomats. Some of us are educated, like Leckie but it doesn’t make him a specialist of the political game. So it is all kind of stuck right now.”

“… Well, their reasons seem solid. Maybe Russia is going to invade them later on when they have enough dragons. I didn’t thought of that. Is helping the Russians really a good idea?”

“If Stella can get an egg from one of their iron-wing, then yes. We are trying to create a partnership. So we gave them some samples from England and they give us some simple from them. They have at least one iron-wing and it is a good occasion.”

Ray knew that he will have to do his share but suddenly he wondered about the others. Surely a regal Copper such as Chuckler would be appreciated. And what about an anglewing? (Joe was a descendant from the feral, he wasn’t a specified breed but he had strength and he was tall, he could be interesting too.)

“Are we all going to give eggs?”

“Well…. They really wanted a fire-breather apparently.” Walt said and it didn’t really answer the question. He still didn’t know for the others.
He was suddenly afraid. What if he disappointed them? What if they didn’t find him good enough?

His distraught must have shown because Walt started talking reassuringly to him:

“Don’t you worry I’m sure everything is going fine.”

Ray was not sure he believed that but he nodded anyway. After all, it didn’t seem they’ll leave tomorrow so he had time to calm himself.

**

The days followed each other with more meetings and more waiting. They had sent a courier back to England to explain their situation but so far no answers had reached them so it was them against the Swedish government.

Ray tried to befriend some of the dragons of the Stockholm base but found it quickly impossible: most of them spoke only Swedish and the few that spoke English were the couriers who were busy doing their jobs.

Some dragons spoke German but Ray knew only the basics so the conversations stopped short. The only big dragon that spoke English was the one Ray wanted to have nothing to do with.

He kept catching glances of Brad but they didn’t speak more even though Ray knew Walt saw captain Fick once or twice after the “incident”. The other dragons of the formation seemed as bored as him. Stella however was more skilled in German and managed to catch some words of Swedish so she started speaking a bit to the other dragons.

“I’m trying to convince them we are not here to start a war. Maybe if they can convince their captains then the authorities will let us go? I’m worried something might happen to Lena if we stay too long.” She glanced at her captain who was talking with Captain Sid and her first lieutenant.

Ray understood her worry and hoped too that they would soon be able to go.

**

Because they made them wait for so long for an answer the dragons were permitted to hunt games on the island of the kings: Djurgården. “Hunt” Ray thought was a great word: the Swedish released some games on the islands and let the dragons caught them. It was apparently how it was practiced by the King and the most distinguished dragons but it seemed quite boring. It was still a nice distraction that Ray couldn’t turn his back to.

While he ate his deer –very nice but he started to miss dishes that get cooked, they didn’t bring any cook with them and Ray resented the lack of it- he caught Brad flying toward them. He didn’t know how to feel about that. Hopefully, he was just here to hunt and he would not bother Ray.

Of course, his hopes were cut short when Brad landed next to him. Walt who was on Ray's neck descended off his perch and walked toward Captain Fick.

Ray swung his tail nervously. The island wasn’t too big and he thought he could catch Brad up if the other dragon decided to kidnap his captain but still. He was worried. Brad looked at him faintly amused and Ray scowled letting puffes of smoke feeling defensive.

He still cradled the remaining of the deer closer.

“Captain Fick I wasn’t expecting to see you today.”

Fick just shrugged a bit.

“I was just checking up. See if everything was right. I’m sorry that my government keeps you waiting like this.”

“Well, we understand their worries really. But it’s true that we’d really like to go soon as possible; if we wait too much and are stranded in Russia during winter… well everybody knows what good it did to Napoleon so…”

“It is okay Walt, don’t worry! Even if we have to face the harshest winter ever I’ll be able to protect you from it! I’ll always keep you warm.” He spitted fire just to prove his point. Brad looked at it uninterested. It pissed Ray off a bit.

“Are you allowed to come here anyway?” he asked Brad directly “I heard it was for distinguished dragons or guests like us!”

“I’m a distinguished dragon, unlike you bass-born hick. I’m always allowed to come here.”

“How come you are? You don’t seem very different from others…” which was a blatant lie as he was the most graceful creature Ray had ever met. Maybe Chinese or Japanese dragons could be like that –for what he heard- but as he had never seen some –except Temeraire, and the black dragon was covered in scars and it was when he was little- Brad still was the noblest dragon he had ever seen.

“I’m a very ancient and rare breed of dragons. As such I am allowed to come here as I please.”

Ray pondered on this for some moment. It didn’t make a lot of sense to him because if Brad was from such a rare breed why would they let captain Fick have him? Not that Fick wasn’t a good person, but he wasn’t a Swedish by blood, only by adoption, and shouldn’t dragons like that be reserved for Swedish people only? Could it be it was the same as Temeraire? They simply didn’t know? His confusion must have shown on his face because Walt took one look at him before asking:

“Pardon me if I’m rude… but how come you came into being his captain. Shouldn’t he be kept for the Royal family or close friends of them?”

“Ice-breathers are very stubborn. As such … well the choosing of the captain didn’t go as planned and they couldn’t really say anything after that. Some were angry that he chose me but like I said: they couldn’t do anything it was too late.”

So Brad did put Nate in a difficult position. Didn’t surprise Ray at all.

“But the question could be returned to you. Fire-breathers are very rare in Britain and you are very young!”

“Well … Things have been changing in Britain for dragons and they are left alone before choosing a captain. I don’t know what Ray saw in me to be honest!” he laughed a bit and immediately Ray puffed out:

“You are amazing Walt! Don’t say such nonsense! Every other dragon is jealous of me because I have the best captain of the corps! Don’t you dare sell yourself short! “

“So if you were raised alone… you choose your own name? I’m surprised that could choose a name with so many syllables, must have hurt your brain.” Ray narrowed his eyes feelings of annoyance grew inside of him.

“I let you know that I choose Ray because I liked it. But since the admiralty thought it wasn’t a good enough dragon’s name, Walt made up something more appropriate.”

He almost wanted to retort something but since he still couldn’t pronounce his name right well… he prudently stayed silent after that.

Brad suddenly turned his head and Ray suddenly heard a flapping of wings. It was Stella with captain Basilone.

“Gentleman,” she said as she landed off.

“Is there a problem? You have us all worried, with a Swedish dragon coming in secret here.”

Captain Fick gave a quick salute and said:

“Just wanted to know if everything was alright.”

“The food is good but it’s kind of boring the island is not that big.” Stella piped up, flapping her wings a bit and stretching out her neck.

“But I suppose it’s better than waiting on the base without anything to do.”

“Just waiting for the government to finally decide to let us go! We feel like prisoners! We did nothing wrong!” Lena put a calming hand on her muzzle. Stella did calm a bit but still looked very annoyed.

Ray silently agreed but they all had said a million times already that they found the waiting stupid. More so some of the dragons had started to plot to go away without the government’s approbation. Clearly, it would only end in battle but they were starting to get restless and those hunts weren’t going to calm them down for long.

Captain Fick looked at them with a slight tilt to his head before addressing Brad in Swedish. Meaning Ray had no idea what was going on. He could see Stella trying to understand but she seemed confused.

“They speak too fast.” She finally confessed. Ray just shrugged and decided to eat the remains of his deer. Surely they would know what was about soon enough, no need to worry so much about it.

**

Soon enough was apparently the next day. Captain Fick appeared at the portion of the airbase that they had invested. He asked to speak to all the other Captains. Naturally, Ray decided to eavesdrop because he wanted to know what was going on. (That was a completely normal reaction after all.)

“I think you’ll be able to leave very shortly. I proposed a plan to my superior and they deemed it a good idea. They are of course waiting for the parliament's conclusion but I think you can start packing your bags.”

Of course, it raised a tumult of voices and questions:

“How did you manage this miracle?”

“Well… it will be on one condition.”

Immediately Ray started being suspicious. It couldn’t be good, could it? After all, this time wasted they were going to ask something terrible of them.

“Me and Bjarte’s crew will have to come with you.”

There was silence during which they processed the information. Ray was the first to come back to his sense. No way! Brad was not going to come with them! It was impossible! How Ray was supposed to do if this arrogant beautiful annoying bastard was to come on the trip?

“Why?” he cried surprising almost everyone –except Walt because he knew him too well-.

“Well, I actually am bound to go to the base of Lulea in the North-East of the country to check things. We don’t receive much news, and people are concerned, especially since they are the first base on the line if Russia plans to invade us. I then proposed to accompany you on your journey. You’ll have to come with me to Lulea but hopefully, it would be deal with swiftly. And then I can accompany you to Russia. Just to make sure that their first idea will not be our invasion. Since they have already invaded our neighbor.”

The thing was: Ray understood that it made perfect sense. Two missions in one flight. Not only that but Brad being included in the formation mean less danger of being hurt or attacked or whatever. And they could land their help if needed be to Lulea. Then once in Russia Nate would represent Sweden and its interest and would make sure that peace was insured. However, it meant that Brad was coming with them and that was the only thing that was bothering him now.

He wanted to forget about Brad completely. So having him with them on the trip was completely counter-productive. There was no way in hell he was going to get remotely over him if he saw him every day.

He really hoped they finished this mission fast because he just wanted to go back to England and not have to face any more noble Swedish dragons, thank you very much.

“You think your parliament will agree with this? To let go of one of their best dragons? Not only that but you’re British I mean…. Aren’t they afraid that you’ll change side?”

“I proved my loyalty time and time again. They believe in me. I’m assured everything will go well.”

Nate smiled a confident smile even if it seemed a bit shaky. Maybe it was his first mission “alone”.

Ray resigned himself. This was probably going to happen.

And soon enough it was true: on the afternoon a messenger came to tell them that they could proceed with their mission, on the promise that they would take Captain Fick of the Swedish Aerial Corps with them and help him settle a problem in the northern base of Lulea on their way.

“No way we can refuse that. And we can finally move!”

Every British was soon swept in preparation for leaving.  They had to find food in case the game was rare on the road, clean water for the trip, make sure the harnesses were ready, check the dragons, check all the men were here and hadn’t been lost in some taverns or whore-houses…

Ray looked at all those tiny humans running everywhere. They all seemed very happy though. The idea of finally doing something had chased away the bitterness and the memory of those weeks spent waiting.

When Ray looked up he could see Brad and his crew preparing him. He wanted to scowl but didn’t want to spoil Walt’s mood. He seemed so excited to take the air again.

He would just bottle up his emotions for now and would let them take over at another moment if he had time.

**

Brad might be an asshole but he was fast and kept showing off doing acrobatic figures before going back into his place. Ray would like to show him that he was fast and skilled too but they were flying in formation and he shouldn’t break it. (However, he made his displeasure known by puffing even more smoke than before. To the great displeasure of his crew. But whatever. He couldn’t please everyone at the same time.)

The worst was that the other dragons seemed to have accepted Brad and talked with him and seemed to like him. Even worse Stella managed to pronounce his name perfectly, and when the other failed he didn’t insult them. Ray was feeling angry and the angrier he felt the bitter and lonelier he was, and when he saw them laughing all together he felt even angrier. It was a damn circle of hell. He hated everyone. Except for Walt.

But the others, he could do without. He vowed to himself, to feel better, that he was going to find the prettiest dragon once in Russia and they all would be jealous. It didn’t work very well, but if he repeated it enough it might become true.

But for now, he was flying deeper into Sweden and it was cold and there was a beautiful white asshole that annoyed Ray just by existing.

(He knew he was being jealous but he had never been the best-behaved dragon in the world and he had always been the weird-one of the formation. Brad had arrived and two days later it was like he had always been there. It was infuriating.)

The more they stayed in Sweden, however, the more Ray could witness the state of poverty of the Country. Walt had told him that Sweden was hit hard by Napoleon and his war but as he flew over desolated villages and almost empty fields he finally realized the importance of it.

 They were almost at the base of Lulea (captain Fick predicted they would arrive during the evening the day after. They had been flying for a week, they could have made it faster if it hadn’t been for chuckler) when they were attacked by a bunch of ferals.

Many questions came to Ray’s mind immediately: Where the hell did they live? Where did they come from? The country had been pretty flat and the mountains that were now appearing didn’t seem very friendly or inviting at first glance. The only things he had seen for a while had been farms dispatched around. Also, why were there ferals so close to a base of aerial force? Shouldn’t they be trying to hide? And lastly: who were they kidding?

They were bones and skin. Ray could count their ribs and the socket under their eyes made him wince. He didn’t want to fight them. Fighting against a strong enemy? Yes. Fighting against dragons driven mad by hunger? No.

The ferals despite being incredibly small and skinny still tried to attack them. Ray just avoided them, he tried to look around and was happy to notice that all of them were doing the same. Even Brad. He was looking at him as the white dragon twirled and dived and danced across the sky purchased by a grey and green dragon and that’s what caused a little and brave (Ray could recognize that) dragon to launch at his head.

Ray had the reflexes to spit fire: on one hand good idea: it touched the other dragon, on another hand: it made him desperate and he was scratching and holding on at Ray’s face. He shook it, and moved it up down on the side, roaring, spitting even more fire and, finally using his paws to remove the dragon. He moved so much that his crew was left holding on as Ray was acting like a serpent under the influence of alcohol.

He finally managed to wrench the little dragon away. In his pain, he didn’t control his movements and he felt more than he saw the blood as his claws tore the other dragon open. Then with his good eye, he saw him fell to the ground.

At least his show had scared the others ferals who had turned tail as soon as possible.

“Ray, are you okay? Ray, look at me!”

He turned toward Walt letting him see all the scratches and blood.

“I’m fine.” He said and it was not exactly a lie. They had a day and half of flying left, he should be able to hold on this long.

However, Captain Guarnere passed the flag signal for a landing and Ray obeyed -but grumbled a bit about it-.

Doc Roe was the doctor assigned to their formation mostly because of Babe. Babe was prone to get hurt very easily and by the most innocent things. He tripped over all things, even over air and was rarely sees without a bandage somewhere on his body. Doc roe was one of the only surgeons in the Force who didn’t seem to care about it or made fun of him because of that. (Walt also told Ray that Babe may like the doc a lot so Ray wondered if Babe didn’t get hurt on purpose. Until he saw him hit a wall full-face while Roe was on leave so Ray supposed that, no, Babe didn’t do it on purpose finally.)

Eugene Roe had a French mother who fell in love with an Englishman, a sailor. They married and he brought her to England. He still spoke the language and Ray liked to talk to him. He had a nice deep soothing voice and he was always kind, except if you put yourself in danger and hurt yourself for no reason –the only exception being Babe. But maybe having no luck and two left feet was enough an excuse? So Ray was half-afraid because he should have avoided a dragon that small and that weak. He was half-expecting a harsh reprimand.

He got none of that. Roe was talking to him very calmly and treating each of his wounds. Some cuts were apparently deeper than others and they required stitches –a thing Ray didn’t appreciate a lot- Walt was petting him too.

Ray apologized for not paying enough attention. He expected someone to say something and when he was met with silence he started to fear.

The only reason no one would answer was if it was bad. Like really bad.

 “I need some ice.” Roe declared and Ray emitted a whimper of protest. He was a fire-breathing dragon he was not sure ice was recommended for him.

Besides they were in the middle of a plain. No ice around to be seen. There was a lac with that they had flown over a few minutes ago but that was all.

“How much do you need?” Brad asked and Ray looked at him. He hadn’t got a scratch and it was like a reminder of how much Ray sucked.

Captain Fick carried over them –helped by some of his men- a large bucket full of water. Ray idly wondered when they found time to get one.

“Is it enough?” he asked Roe who nodded and was about to spoke up –probably telling them that “hey it’s water, not ice!” but Brad hunched over the bucket and well…. Blew on it. Or something like that’s. The air seemed to come from the horn on the side of his mouth and the water turned to ice. Once it was done, he lifted his head up and looked at Roe expectantly. Everyone was speechless. Ray had never heard of a dragon that could freeze things. Literally.

Of course, they had all heard people calling Brad’s breed an ice-breather but they thought it was like… A reference to their magnificent white skin and blue eyes. Not because they literally breathed ice.

Doc, however, got over it promptly and was soon breaking the ice and with bandages managed to cover more or less all the left side of Ray’s head. He felt weird and he knew he wouldn’t hold on for very long.

“it’s going to melt fast “He piped up “I can’t control my body temperature” he whined. Then Brad moved, lie next to him, and blew a gentle cold air on his face.

“I can keep it in ice longer that way,” he said like it was the most natural thing, and Ray's heart was doing weird things. He put his head on the ground and stay silent, terrified at the idea of moving, hyper-aware of the dragon next to him.

While Roe was taking care of him –and before Brad’s magic trick- the other had established camp. Hoosier and Joe were chosen as hunters for the day and they flew away, their crew very much armed and prepared to face anyone.

Walt was still by his side.

“That was a nasty fight.”

“Is it bad?” Ray finally asked.

“No. I think you should heal well,” Roe told him. “You’re lucky the eye was somehow not touched. That could have been problematic.”

Ray didn’t dare respond to that. He didn’t know any dragon on earth that only had one eye. Or at least a fighting dragon. Walt could have lost his position in the force because of a little feral! Because Ray was so enamored with Brad that he lost track of time even during the fight.

“I need to be a better dragon,” he said while curling his paws around Walt. The blond seemed surprised.

“What are you talking about? You’re an excellent dragon Ray!”

“I didn’t pay attention! It was my fault! If I get hurt badly you’ll lose your position, your capital! Because of me!” he curled his paws tighter around Walt afraid that something would happen to his dear captain.

“It wasn’t your fault;” and it was Fick who had spoken. He had been standing there watching Brad settling against Ray with complete indifference;

“No one had told us about them. I didn’t know there were ferals around here. And it’s supposed to be my country. We weren’t prepared. You had left Britain months ago now, you were maybe a bit tired but it wasn’t your fault. We should have known.” He clenched his fist and his jaw and Ray realized that the commandant of the base was going to hear some words.

Brad next to him rumbled like he agreed and once again blow his cool breeze against Ray’s face.

Ray felt better –a bit- and settled in a more comfortable position. If his tail happened to brush against Brad’s well…. Then maybe it was not completely accidental. But who could tell?

***

Ray woke up the day after, feeling fine despite his face feeling numb because of the cold. When he turned slightly Brad was looking at him.

“Did you sleep?” he asked because he knew that the ice was still ice and unless Brad had been checking on it every hour it shouldn’t be so.

“I’m fine.” Was the only answer but it still was enough.

“You shouldn’t have done that! Sleep is important!”

“I rest once we are at the base. Don’t worry about me.”

It was only then that Ray noticed how curled into each other they were. He didn’t mean to, but apparently, it happened somehow. He tried to dislodge himself quietly and then before going to see if there was something to eat he said –mumbled really- :

“Thank you Bjarte.” then promptly settled into not looking back or not talking to Bjarte ever again.

It worked for about two seconds before Bjarte caught Ray’s tail in his mouth as a sign to stay. He did but he was kind of scared. He was pretty sure that he hasn’t messed up the pronunciation. He had trained after all. When no one was looking.

“What?” he asked on the defensive. Bjarte looked pensive for a moment.

“I’d rather you call me Brad.”

He felt hurt like he received a cannonball on his chest and had difficulty breathing.

“But I… I pronounced it right! I know I did! I said it exactly like Stella. There is no reason for you to be all high and mean like that. I know I say it right. So you can’t just-“

“Raegalus.” he cut and that was so weird to hear his entire name. Ray winced.

“I’d rather you call me Brad because you’re the only one calling me this way. It makes it special. It makes you special.”

And then he looked at him, really looked and Ray felt … flustered. (If the books Walt had read to him when he was trying to find a way to talk to Esther was anything to go by.)

“Oh. Well… thank you Brad.” 

“Also let’s be honest you might hurt your brain trying to learn too many new things. It is already damaged as it is; we can’t make it worse…”

“What??? How dare you?”

The white dragon emitted a noise that could constitute a laugh and Ray’s anger disappeared as fast as it had flared up. Ray was so so gone it was not even funny anymore.

***

They arrived at the base later than expected but no one made a remark to Ray. In fact everyone was nice to him and Hoosier even made sure that he got the nicest goat they found while hunting.

So maybe his formation liked him. He just forgot about it. Probably. Or maybe they liked him but since he was an annoying bastard most of the time they didn’t show it.

Brad was flying right next to him every so often asking him if he needs ice or cool air. Ray said he was fine with a weird high-pitched voice. Walt seemed to be intrigued but was nice enough to not mention it while they were in the air. He knew once in the base they would talk but that was not for now.

The arrival at the base was nothing expected. It was usually understood that when a group of dragons arrived you had to welcome them or something. Especially when they were dragons from another country. Not here apparently.

They landed and no one appeared. Captain Fick looked like he might implode. The crews all got off their respective dragons and the captains concerted together. Fick finally sent his first lieutenant –Mike Wynn –another English man turned Swedish- and one of his ensign Elias.

Ray watched them as they disappear inside the big building. It looked like a lot of buildings Ray had seen before. He expected maybe something different but it looked a lot like what was done in Britain or France.

After a few minutes, a man wearing the same dark blue uniform –same as Fick but with more gold- appeared, looking quite angry.

He started speaking to Fick. The exchange seemed violent. It lasted for a few minutes before they both disappeared inside. The British captains looked at each other at a loss.

“What are we supposed to do? Wait again?”

“Nate is looking for your rooms,” Brad replied. He looked a bit ruffled. He probably didn’t appreciate at all how they had been welcomed and how Nate had been talked to. Ray could completely relate to that. He kind of wanted to show his support but had no idea how to do it so he just stood still waiting.

After a few minutes –Captain Guarnere had started pacing in the yard under the vigilante eyes of Joe- Nate came back outside and with a murderous look on his face. He calmed down though and then said:

“The dragons can have all the east part of the lodging and the east wing is reserved for us so you can saw them through the windows. They have food so it should be fine but they don’t have many. We will have to resolve this quickly. As for the lack of people, they still refuse to answer me. I hope that tomorrow will find them in a better mood.”

He smiled a tired smile. Brad let escape a growl, sounding threatening. Alas, the only people present were his own crew and the British, so his threats were completely useless since they all knew it wasn’t directed at them.

They all took their leave after having taking care of the dragons. (Ray especially needed to have his wounds checked by Doc Roe.)

All the British dragons decided to sleep together feeling tensed and worried about what was to come.

Brad, at first, stood alone. He was quickly reprimanded though:

“Don’t be an idiot and come here! We have to take care of each other. Be a united front! Come here!”

So Brad came looking perplexed at the affection the other dragons were showing to him. Ray couldn’t help to mutter “idiot” under his breath because that was what Brad was being: a complete idiot! Like they were going to let him be all alone and miserable! They were friends now; they took care of each other!

**

The next morning Nate looked like he might go to war.

“I won’t let them run away. I’ll have answers so we can remedy to it and you can continue your trip.” He put his hand on Brad’s nuzzle. “I’m assured it will be fine.” And then promptly stalk off to the building. They didn’t see him for the rest of the morning. He only reappeared mid-afternoon looking tired.

“Finally, it seems us coming here was a good thing and their silence can be excused… almost.” He rubbed a hand on his face. Brad lowered his head and looked at him critically:

“Maybe you should sleep, then we can talk about it.”

Nate put a calming hand on his muzzle.

“Don’t worry I’ll be fine. I just… the better we have a plan the earlier we leave.” He smiled, tiredly and begun:

Apparently ferals from Russia not yet captured again by the government crossed the borders –which made sense, borders were invented by man after all, they were imaginary lines not materialized so they were nothing to indicate to the dragons that they were in Sweden now- in search of food and had settled around the base. At first it wasn’t a problem but the ferals were hiding somewhere and couldn’t be found and yet always managed to steal food which kind of became problematic. Then they started attacking the couriers or any other person moving on their own and all of them had to get back to the Lulea base.

The ferals were a mixed group of courier and heavier dragons which meant that they could compete in speed or weight if needed to be. The group they had encountered earlier was a small group and in fact, was probably a different band as Nate had been told that the other Russian ferals looked healthy enough.

“So they put up some hierarchy. We can imagine that the ones we encounter were the rut of the litter… In that case, we were damn lucky.” Guarnere added after Nate had finished.

“So what? They’re outnumbered?” captain Leckie asked sounding slightly disbelieving “more importantly: I understand that the base can’t send couriers but the people in the town around must know about it: human or horses courier still exist.” Hoosier made a deep rumble sound to support his captain.

“The problem is: they’re wary of what the command might do if words got around. The parliament could decide that it’s Russia’s fault and start discussing with them, maybe start a war-… I know, I know” he said raising his hand to stop the objections coming “it’s a stupid idea. I actually think it has more to do with the fact that they were unable to do their jobs and thus fear that they might get scold or being punished more severely according to their ranks. They were probably hoping to keep everyone in the dark.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“Well first of all we are going to find a way to send a message back to the main base –probably by horses- then we are going to organize an attack once we can find where the ferals are hidden. I mean if they are numerous… they should be easily spotted. Right?”

They organized a flying overlooking mission for the next day deciding that Nate should be there and that right now he really needed some sleep.

From where they were they only vaguely saw the shape of the dragons of the base.

“I don’t understand how they managed to get outsmarted by ferals… I mean, I know that they weren’t always feral but …”

“How many are there anyway? And how many are strong enough? We’re in good condition but there’s nothing on the land, the more we went north the less people and farms they were. Or at least working farms. What do they feed on?”

“People,” Brad said and silence fell heavily on the group of dragons.

“Don’t you think it’s a little harsh? I mean …. Really?”

“Famine has hit the country hard; some villages may become more isolated as a result. Make for an easier target.”

They looked at each other not saying a word thinking of this. Ray could picture clearly some families lost and with no one to help as hungry dragons fell from the sky to prey on them. They couldn’t let it happen. They needed to do something.

(Damn that French Maréchal who thought it was a great idea to release dangerous uncivilized dragons on poor innocent people!)

**

Waiting for the flying mission had been hard, especially since the Swedish dragons present on the base didn’t look very decided to speak to them. They even ignored Brad which made no sense whatsoever.

Ray was excited to go flying because at least they were doing something. (He had been a bit worried that Doc roe would say he was unfit for duty but his injuries were healing just fine and so he had been allowed to go with them.)  While they were waiting they had designed a volunteer on Nate’s crew to carry the message to the next big town. He would be leaving as the same time as them in the hope that the ferals would focus on the bunch of dragons and not on the single rider.

They flew in a circular motion, making it bigger and bigger every time trying to find a mark or trace. Obviously, they couldn’t hide forever. But the landscape was pretty flat around the base. Well not flat, there were obviously some mountains but they were not very high for starters. But there were full of trees. A dragon might have managed to hide into them and leave traces, but they might need to investigate further into this matter, which was the next step in their plan.

Ray spotted the clue after two hours of flying. He was just flying above another farm, ready to pass it up but… He had a feeling in his gut so he turned back around.

“Ray? What’s going on?”

He didn’t answer immediately scrutinizing the abandoning buildings with a lot of attention. He went to land, wary of what he might encounter, feeling tension in his whole body.

“Ray?” Walt asked his tone a bit more serious than usual.

“Look at the mark around the barn Walt. It looks like claw's mark.”

“Well, maybe dragon came to feed there.”

“Those marks are fresh. Yet do you see any fresh blood? And I can’t smell it either.”

With precaution, he came closer. His formation was flying in a circle above his head, waiting for updates.

He passed the head through what once was a door. The doors had been torn down, but he could have been like Walt said, because the ferals came to hunt there once. Nothing too serious. But still. Now a medium size dragon could easily pass through. Ray could pass through it because he was thin but he was not sure that a bigger one could. (Like Joe, or Brad or Chuckler.)

It was deserted but the smell didn’t fool him. A dragon had been there very recently.

He got out and flew back immediately.

“The farms!” he almost screamed “they are using the abandoned farm as a hiding place! It’s such an excellent idea! You can’t spot them from the sky.”

“I could understand for the smaller dragons, but clearly the larger ones had to find another solution.”

“The mountains? They hide deep in there and when they see the smaller dragons flying away they know something is up.” Ray explained. His brain felt like it was working very fast. It made so much sense.

“The bigger dragons must be in regular intervals between the farms. That’s why they always managed to be in a pack. Because they keep an eye on each other. But they don’t stay together.”

But where are they now? They should have seen them. Or maybe they had been very prudent and stood as close to the ground as they could once they were far away. And bring the message to the other.

But they’re not attacking us? Why?

They weren’t that numerous. It made no sense.

“They want to take us out in one coup,” Ray said slowly realizing the horror of the words as soon as he had pronounced them.

Stella quickly understood and screamed:

“EVERYONE IN FORMATION WE’RE GOING BACK TO THE BASE! AND IF THEY COME TO US LET’S TAKE AS MANY OF THEM AS WE CAN!”

**

They had minutes of advance on their adversaries. The ferals came to them. The only advantage Ray could see it was that they didn’t fly in formation.

He remembered the report about Russia ways of dealing with their dragons: they weren’t involved seriously in how the battles were fought, they just went where they were needed and that was all. Ray thought it could work in their favor. If they could take one of two of the bigger ones, it would maybe scare the others enough to have them retreated back to Russia. Which was not such a good thought once he realized that, at one point, they had to go back to Russia too but… well that was a worry for another day.

“Ray? You’re sure you’re okay?” Walt asked. Ray turned his head quickly and saw his crew getting ready rifle in hand. Good, he thought.

“I’m fine. Don’t worry. We’ll get them.”

Their formation had always been fond of the acrobatic style. Temeraire was the one who launched those ideas and they used it to their advantage.

Stella was targeting the head. The first dragon that got hit (an iron wing still covered in her armor) roared back furiously pawing at her head. Her screams kept echoing as she fell to the ground. That got the other more suspicious and they tried to avoid Stella. Which meant they were getting by the side. Where Ray and Brad were (Brad had taken a position at the opposite of Ray. Better that way, the less he saw him the less distracted he would be).

They charged upon Ray. Maybe they thought he was weak. He was leaner than most dragons, his black horns were shorter than usual for a kazilik (the wonder of breeding), and well… The Russian dragons probably had never seen a kazilik before (his mother was in Russia if he remembered correctly, but they were mostly a lot of Chinese dragons:  they probably remembered them, if they remembered anything at all) so they didn’t know.

Too bad for them. Ray didn’t hold himself back. As a group of three dragons approached (two smalls, one medium) he roared fire. He heard Hoosier calling him because his fire spray was so big that he touched his tail. But he didn’t care. Two of them fall to the ground, their charred corpses reminder of how dangerous Ray was beneath his petite stature. The third one was running away. Half of his body was aflame and Ray knew that he wouldn’t pass the night. He heard other roars and screams coming from the other side. Brad.

There was also the sound of reaping skins, of claws against metal.

And the sweet melody of the rifles firing.

Some ferals tried to come by under. Their head exploded when they met the bombs launched by the crew in the net.

Ray wasn’t sure how long it lasted. He burned many other dragons. They desperately tried to break the formation. And almost succeed at one point. But they were well trained and the flag kept sending messages, adjustment screamed by Walt as he fired bullets after bullets on the flank of the ferals.

One of them, maybe trying a last desperate trick, launched himself at Ray all claws out. Ray spinned on himself to avoid, opened his mouth and heard the satisfory “crunch” the bone in the wing made as it was being broken under his jaw. The feral roared and jerked back, trying to inflict some last damages. Ray avoided once again, hit him with his tail then put his claws in, held him as he roasted his head.

When he let the corpse fall he quickly rejoined the formation. The ferals still alive were leaving as fast as they could.

When Ray looked over his formation they looked worse for the wear. Most of them had blood on them and it was hard to tell if they were wounded or if it was from the now-dead dragons.

Brad offered a striking figure: his once white skin covered in patches of vivid black. It reminded Ray of this dog he had seen once in London. A white thing with black spots all over his body.

They went back to the base. The Swedish dragons were looking at them. They probably heard the noise. And yet Ray thought they didn’t come to help us. The cowards.

He shook his head as he landed off. Once on the ground he felt tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep. His side was hurting him though.

“I think I’m hurt,” he told Walt who nodded. “I’m going to patch you up until Doc can examine you.” Ray just nodded. It stung a bit Walt assessing and treating the wound. It was a crude job but hey… Better than nothing.

Ray was glad to see that his crew had made it intact. In fact, all the humans had survived (but then they didn’t let the ferals come close enough to hurt) so it was only the dragons that had suffered injuries.

(Babe may have tripped at one point but it was Babe, it didn’t count.)

He relaxed a bit after that. They did well he thought, they chased off the ferals for hopefully some time. Maybe they would go back in Russia and hide in the mountains. Of course it was a tragedy that they had to kill so many and that no dialogue was possible between them but Russian dragons had always been savages only interested in gold.

Maybe that was why they left? Did they want to find some gold? But they were none here. Even Lulea who was quite a big city was made of brick. No shiny things to look at. Only the blue of the water and the warm sunlight offering a semblance of hospitality.

He looked back at Brad. He was still covered in black blood. He was talking with Nate, head close to the ground slightly tilted to the side.

Soon they would be flying to Russia. He wondered idly how much time did he have left with him. How long before they both had to go back to their respective country. Not only that but he realized they hadn’t met such a long time ago, a few weeks ago in fact, and yet, the idea of not seeing him again made him felt sad and a hollow feeling settled into him.

He wished he could find a way to make him stay.

**

None of them could have expected what ensued. Two days after their attack on the ferals, as they were waiting for confirmation from the commander of the Base that they could go, Chuckler spotted movements on the Swedish side of the base. He obviously called all the other dragons so they could all look at what was going on.

The Swedish dragons were being harnessed.

“Is there something going on? Another attack?” they started speculating.

Brad looked very concerned and mildly worried. Ray gave him a light head-butt on his shoulder.

“Relax. I’m sure everything is fine. And it’s just a routine fly after all those months of inaction.”

When their captains came to see them they immediately asked what was going on. None of them knew. Not even Nate. He was chewing on his nails though. He didn’t look good at all and you could see Brad getting anxious about it.

“They left without telling me why. An important mission. They didn’t even tell me the basics for it. It’s insane they could make an effort.”

He stood up a little bit straighter.

“But I’m assured they will return soon. I’m assured of this.”

Ray tilted his head remembering when he had said the almost same thing before they left Stockholm. He sounded so unsure of himself, of his country.

Ray felt bad for him. If you couldn’t trust your superior who could you put your faith into? Yourself? God? It didn’t matter since at the slightest mistake they would punish you.

But if you didn’t have faith in them how were you supposed to obey them?

Ray went back to his clearing.

**

The Swedish came back the day after covered in black blood. The men seemed pretty excited as they got off the dragons, and Ray was mildly curious as what was going on and what happened.

He quickly changed his mind when Brad became angrier and angrier the more he listened to them. If he could have fumed he would have. Instead his horns let’s pass a hissing sound like a kettle on a fire that had reached his limit.

“Brad? Brad? You need to calm down okay? Talk to us, tell us what’s going on!” Ray pleaded, hopeful to understand why the white dragon looked ready to murder all the humans present.

“They went and killed the last ferals. They didn’t need to do that. We had defeated them. Scared them enough that they wouldn’t want to come back. But they went anyway. They’re all dead apparently.” He said sounding very bitter about the whole thing. “Their deaths were unnecessary.”

“Where did they find them?”

“They apparently hadn’t fled very far… maybe they were taking care of their wounds? So they caught up with them pretty easily. And now… And now they’re gloating about this victory.”

“That’s stupid,” Joe pointed out “we did all the difficult work. We’re the ones who finds them and send them fleeing. Why do they feel victorious when they did nothing for months?”

All of them felt pretty insulted in their pride. It was true. The Lulea base had done nothing for months letting the feral took control and now that there was only a little number of them, wounded, tired from the battle they went and slaughtered them. And for what? There was no need to do that.

They could see Nate entering the building talking with one of the captain. They couldn’t hear from where they were but they were hoping that they would soon learn about what was being said.

Nate came out almost half an hour later, stomping through the court and coming toward Brad full speed. So nothing good came out of the meeting apparently.

It started pacing back and forth in front of Brad whom followed him with his eyes, his tail wagging with worry.

“They’re sending a report in which they take all credits for the decimation of ferals. They changed everything. Saying that they had no idea of the ferals being there and that they didn’t know the Stockholm base received no messages. They’re lying to cover their asses and-“

“But we can prove their lies! “Chuckler intervened, looking somewhat perplexed.

“You’re a bunch of foreign dragons that might be labeled as enemies since you want to help Russia so no one is going to listen to you…”

“But you’re a captain too. A respected one. Beside you have Brad? Why would you lie? “

“It is my voice against them. They might say that I felt entitled because of Bjarte I just… I have no power to stop it.”

“But I do.” Brad said and he started expending his wings and Ray could feel the tension in his body, the righteous fury that was eating at him and Ray wanted to stop him, fearing for him to turn into someone darker and so not Brad.

“Bjarte! Nej!” Brad stopped mid-motion; he looked contrite but followed the order and stayed still.

Ray wanted to comfort him to assure him that everything would be fine, no worry.

“What did they say about us exactly?”

“That we met ferals on our way here and hurt them. That’s how they got the news.”

“Wait they didn’t talk about our epic battle against them?”

“They did. But describe it as a small group.”

Ray flinched back at that. How dare they, he thought, making it seems like it was so easy or nothing when we had risked our life for them? He wanted to burn them to ashes. To destroy the building and to unleash the fire of hell upon them, to hear their screams of agony, to hear them begging for forgiveness and mercy.

Saying they played no role, belittling Brad and Captain Fick. Refusing to acknowledge that they had killed dragons and that they wished they could have done it differently if possible. He scowled and let a low growl escape him.

Hoosier turned his head toward him and quickly took a step back once he saw his expression. Brad payed him no mind and it was okay. He understood. They could probably took them on he mused. The dragons of Lulea’s bases were obviously suckers who didn’t know how to fight if they couldn’t even face ferals. So a trained regiment of British dragons? They would kick their asses!

Of course his dreams of glory were cut short.

“We shouldn’t bother with them” Nate added “We should just leave and forget about it. If someone asked me once I’m back in Stockholm maybe I’ll try to rehabilitate the truth but for now we have to head toward Russia. We can’t afford any more delay.”

Then suddenly Ray remembered something:

“Wait! We send a messenger before, didn’t we? When we went to scan the area? Surely his message must have arrived?”

Nate looked somber as he said:

“He is dead. Killed by a dragon, probably one of the ferals. After all we didn’t find them immediately. Maybe they were keeping an eye on us? And decided to eliminate the messenger.”

“But… How could they know he was a messenger? And how would they have managed to get to him while we were flying in circle. We would have crossed path. Isn’t it strange? Beside Russian dragons weren’t privy to technique or even to the human world. They were left in the dark about practically everything. How could they have understood that he was a threat to them when we were there?”

“Maybe they were hungry?” Hoosier piped up.

“No! I mean if you say they was attacked by a dragon they must have been some remains, right?” he asked Nate who responded with a quiet “yes I saw it too but-“

“So, if they were hungry why would they let pieces of him? It makes no sense for the ferals! It must be-“

“Ray. “Brad cut in “I know what you want to say but don’t. We’re in Swedish territory. Don’t say things like that. Besides, you imply a plot finely elaborated. I don’t believe they’re capable of that.”

Ray shut his mouth only because Brad was glaring and Nate was looking very faint.

But I must be right. It was the Lulea base who killed him. They sent one of their dragons. We wouldn’t have seen them as we were circling away from the base. And now they’re going to spread this false story. How terrible it is?

“I hope we leave soon.” He muttered not enjoying any minutes he had to stay here in the middle of traitor and honorless men. And stupid dragons.

**

They finally got the authorization to leave the next day. Like we would have stayed even if they didn’t give it, Ray mused. It would have been the excuse he had waited to destroy the base in its integrality. Sure it might have started a war, but they would have been the one to start it after all! What with all the lies and plots? No, Ray thought it was a pity they left and didn’t even get to make them understand what they thought of their dirty methods and way of playing.

As he took off, he cast a last look at the Lulea base. He could see the Swedish dragons following them with their eyes. He wanted to spit fire at them just to remind them that they were nothing to them but decided against. They did have a mission after all. They had to go to Russia to accomplish it as soon as possible.

Which made Ray realized that soon he would be faced with a lady dragon, and he would have to do things with her.

It was a good thing he was just following the other dragons because now that he had thought about it, it wouldn’t leave him alone. He was just thinking of what he should say or do or… He didn’t have anything to offer now that he thought of it. Well, no he had a necklace of pearl but… it felt cheap? Maybe he could get something on the way?

Right. It was desert land all around. Nothing shiny or pretty to be seen.

She’s going to think the worst of me, Ray thought and wanted to go back to Britain, tail between his legs. He was so stressed he didn’t notice Brad flying closer until their wings brushed and he swerved abruptly in surprise before righting himself.

“Oh!” he blurted out “sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“You’re not focused. It’s dangerous. What are you thinking of?”

“Nothing, really.”

Brad cast him the most unimpressed look Ray had ever seen.

“Right. You think of nothing and aren’t aware of what’s going on around you. What a great warrior you are Ray, a fine example of Britain’s training I assume. What were they thinking when they send you here it is a wonder!”

He scowled and debated with himself. Maybe Brad had already mated with another dragon. Maybe he had experienced. Something Ray solely missed.

“So…. In your life… Have you ever had to produce an egg?” he asked trying to sound as casual as possible.

Brad cocked his head on his side and his eyes twinkled in amusement.

“So you’re stressed about that? Is it your first time?”

“Well! I wasn’t asked when I was in England! I don’t see how it’s wrong.”

“No. It is not.” There was something in the tone he said it. Ray couldn’t put a word on it. It was not pleasant exactly. It was definitively not mocking. Ray decided to ignore it for the moment. No need to worry about little things like that.

“So did you? Did it before?” he repeated.

“Once. It is fairly simple you know. She offers you something you accept, you ask her name, she asks yours, maybe you talk a bit then you just… Go for it.”

“Don’t I have to offer her something too?”

“You’re a firebreather aren’t you? You’re a rare breed, a special case. She should be honored enough.”

“Was the dragon you mated with an icebreather too?”

It was apparently the wrong question to ask. Brad shut himself immediately and went back to his position. Which, in Ray’s mind, was a pretty shitty thing to do, thank you very much.

He gapped unable to understand. He turned his head to look at Walt:

“Did I say something offensive?”

“Well… Maybe it was a bad story? And don’t worry about it, once we’re in Russia I’m sure everything is going to be fine.”

**

They had a week before arriving in Moscow and Ray had to wait the day before their arrival for Brad to stop his silent treatment and to speak again:

“I’m sorry about last time. It was rude of me to go like this.”

“Yes, it was.”

“It’s just…. It didn’t go well. Usually, since we’re a very rare breed with very few dragons, we are paired up and supposed to stay together for life and make as many eggs as possible. I was paired with a dragon named Maja and I thought we were good. But apparently, my choices had left her uncertain about my future.”

“Your choices?”

“Choosing Nate as a captain. It was unseen of me to do so. And she felt that I wasn’t living up to the standard of the breed. So she refused to mate with me. And coupled with another dragon I was very close to. I thought him and I were friends. Apparently not.

Later on, I had a chance to mate with another dragon, though she was a middleweight with no particular trait. We did have an egg but it hasn’t etched yet. “

“Yet? When did that happen?”

“The mating? Two years ago. Ice-breathers are known to stay a long time in their eggs. I supposed it took after me.”

Ray was silent after that for a while. He watched the fire –he had lit it- casting shadows on the camp around.

“She is not worth you lamenting over her. She is a terrible dragon. Abandoning you like that? What a trollop!”

Brad seemed to lighten up a bit:

“Besides you made the best possible choice with captain Fick. Maybe she was jealous? I mean he is pretty great. I mean not as great as Walt, but still.” Ray finally conceded.

“No, I suppose that no one can ever be better than Walt. I mean what with the fact that he put up with you every day.”

“Excuse me?” Ray asked but couldn’t really keep up the anger when Brad snorted. He seemed finally relaxed and Ray was stupidly happy that Brad had told him.

“Thank you. For sharing your story.”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”

Somehow though, he looked a bit sad as he was saying that. Huh, probably a trick of the firelight.

**

They finally reached the Moscow base. They couldn’t believe that they finally managed to arrive. It had been such a long journey. Of course mostly because the Swedish empire had decided to put his nose in other businesses but still: a long journey.

They were welcomed properly, by the Russian responsible for the base and even royal representatives. They were a lot of food prepared for them, and they had cleared up an entire part of the base which looked relatively nice.

“Finally the treatment we deserved!” Joe exclaimed, munching on his part happily.

“Yes! The Lulea base could learn a thing or two from them!” Ray exclaimed, mouth full of food and offering a disgusting vision of what’s going on in his mouth while talking. The others couldn’t help but express their profound disgust. Walt (their captain had stayed with them, they had a dinner to attend but wanted to make sure everyone was settled) couldn’t help but laugh loudly. Ray was glad to hear that sound; all the Captains had looked so somber after the whole Lulea business:

“You can’t even eat properly.”

“I am eating” he replied, offended, and some meat fell from his mouth. Bill growled something under his breath which sounded suspiciously like “we should buy him a bib” which Ray could only feel slightly perplexed as he had no idea what a bib was.

He wanted to ask Walt, but he petted his leg and then all of the captains walked toward the inside of the base, adjusting their shiny uniforms –the one they had put in their luggages to have something clean to put on-.

Captain Fick was following behind, his blue uniform shining under the sun. He had put his best clothes on and one of his men was with him. They had to discuss the relationship between Sweden and Russia as soon as possible.

Ray however didn’t felt very concerned by all of this. He was just supposed to rest and maybe in a few days he would meet his mate. They probably would let him have some time right? So he could prepare, at least mentally, for what was to come.

**

Ray didn’t have, in fact, much time to prepare himself as the day after their arrival he was presented with the dragon he was supposed to mate with.

She was not a specified breed exactly but was one of the few dragons that they were able to get back. She was a middleweight. Since she had no specific traits they expected that Ray’s kazilik side would take over.

The mating didn’t happen for one reason only: Nate. As long as he didn’t have a paper that would bind the Russian government to not attack Sweden he refused to let them mate.

And he was ready to use any means to do it. Especially Brad.

The little dragon was trying to present herself in a weird-accented English, holding a really nice necklace make of silver in her paws as a gift when there was a great flapping of wings and when they looked up Brad was towering over them. He landed next to Ray and growled –yes growled- for the other to back off.

She looked uncertain and Ray had no idea what he was supposed to do. They had been left alone to mate in peace so Walt wasn’t there to tell him if he could hit Brad. Finally, scandalized, he shouted:

“Brad!! You can’t do this! What is wrong with you? Why are you so mean! You can’t be like this!”

Brad turned a cold stare at him before replying:

“I have orders. I can’t let any of you give them what they want.”

“But... but” and then Ray remembered what Walt had told him –months ago- “We want an egg too! So I need to give them an egg! You can’t do that Brad! I’m sure we can find a better solution.”

“No.” and then he launched himself on Ray before pinning him to the ground. Mindful of his spikes Ray scarcely dare to breathe.

“Brad!” he whined hoping to inspire pity. The white dragon didn’t seem incline to move. He looked up to see the female still there, head tilted to the side. She looked more amused than anything now.

Great. How was she supposed to like Ray, when the first time she met him, he was pinned on the ground by a Swedish asshole? Ray groaned for good measure.

She managed to say a “see you later” before flying off. Ray hoped Walt would come soon.

“Aren’t you supposed to stop all breeding? “

“Yes”

“Then why are you still lying on me! You have to keep an eye on the others.”

“The other would listen to me if I said not to do it. You on the other hand…”

“I would have listened!”

“Really? I’m not convinced. Besides, you seem to have a talent to find troubles.”

“Yes, I would have listened.” And he didn’t elaborate on how he didn’t really want to do it, on how he was so smitten with Brad he could hardly think of other dragons or mating with a stranger. He wanted Brad. He was stupid and hopeless. In hope of not letting Brad caught on to what was going on in his head he finally said :

“Just admit it: you just wanted to spend some time with your pal Ray-Ray. It’s fine you know, but you could just have told me instead of suffocating me under your giant ass!”

Brad shot him a look but his eyes were twinkling, clearly amused. “I have better thing to do than to spend time with a poor uneducated hick like you.”

“Really? Because I don’t see you moving, Brad.”

He finally sighed, letting his headrest on the ground.

“Am I really too heavy for you?”

“No… I’m fine.” I’m in love with you, was what he didn’t say.

Walt found them a few minutes later. When he saw them he just said: “Captain Fick’s doing I supposed.” Ray just nodded. The young man sighed and rubbed his eyes with his hand: “This journey will never end. There are always new problems. Always. “

(Ray could only agree. Sweden’s refusal to let them pass, ferals’ attack, Lulea’s problems, and now This. He hoped for everyone's sake that the Russians would sign the damn papers soon enough. He was starting to miss England and its cows. His friends too. He would have miss months of gossip!)

Brad's nosiness obviously didn’t stop there. Every time Ray tried to sneak away to accomplish his duty Brad appeared out of nowhere. It was like he could read Ray's mind or see the future. It was destabilizing at best, creepy at worst.

“Brad, listen to me, you have to let me do this okay? They refuse to let Stella meet one of their dragons because we won’t hold up our end of the bargain, we need to give them something so let me do this! Don’t be such a code-sticking fellow!”

“No.” was the flat answer, every single time. Ray was starting to lose patience. Finally, Joe came to find him:

“Listen, Bjarte is really hang up on you but not so much on us, sure they wanted a firebreather but they should see it with Sweden not with us, what I think we should do is use you to distract him while Hoosier does his job, okay? “

Ray was relieved to see that this plan didn’t involve him having to fight or do something completely crazy (and even more relieved to not have to perform his duty) but kind of upset at the fact that Brad had been really targeting him. Which was majorly unfair! Why would Brad do that? ( Maybe he is jealous a treacherous voice whispered in his head but he tried to ignore it.)

Him distracting Brad apparently involved him deciding to ask Brad about his life. In his head, it sounded like a marvelous idea. However, Brad seemed very reticent to answer.

“Come on, you must have done some missions right? Even a simple one! You could tell me!”

“Why are you here? You have been trying to run away from me for days and now you came to seek me out? Why?”

“Figure it might help you? Also, I’m very tired of this surveillance system you have set up. I’m tired of trying to sneak out. I shouldn’t have to, but you’re being unreasonable. I’m just taking a break. But if you really want me to leave then I will leave you with pleasure. ”

 After a while, the white dragon stopped looking suspicious.

“We could go flying a bit if you want?” he even offered and Ray, ecstatic, accepted with enthusiasm.

For the next four days, they went flying every day, and Ray spent the better part of the afternoons with him. He knew that somewhere on base Stella was coupling with another dragon and Hoosier too. That was what they told him. He was happy to spend time with Brad but didn’t like leading him on, lying about why he was spending so much time with him.

Then, while they were enjoying a cow (not cooked this time, he missed his cook dearly) Nate came striding toward them at a fast pace. Ray thought “he knows” and went to hide himself somewhere but Nate didn’t look particularly angry. He might even look… happy.

“I got the paper! They signed the damn declaration of peace, the ambassador was present we managed to do it. I’m sorry Ray for having stopped you before but I supposed now you can do what Britain asked you to do.”

Ray should rejoice at the announcement –it was good, no war in the foreseeable future- but all he could feel was dread.

He wasn’t remotely ready for coupling with the dragon he met. The cow felt heavy in his stomach and he didn’t feel well. But he nodded anyway:

“Thank you, Nate, I’ll go tell Walt.” He didn’t dare look at Brad while he flew out to try to find his dear captain.

**

They were left alone once again. She presented to him the necklace again and said her name to him finally, it sounded like “Fialka”. He tried to pronounce it but he knew he wasn’t completely successful (he really needed to work on his language skills once he was back home). The dragon didn’t reprimand him and didn’t comment on his horrid pronunciation. He felt angry at her for not standing up, for not protesting. He knew it wasn’t rationally thinking but anyway.

She came closer, lowering her wings, looking kind of fragile which Ray suppose was terrible. She was smaller than him, though maybe larger. He felt quite weird doing this with her when he couldn’t even pronounce her name right.

It makes you special.

Of course, the bastard would invade his head at the least appropriate moment. It was a curse really. She turned around and he knew that he had to do his part but then there was a flapping of wings.

When he looked up there was a white shape coming down toward them. He thought that maybe Brad had come to say goodbye –his timing being incredibly horrible if Ray was asked about it- or maybe something came up like a war or an attack or worse Walt being hurt.

Brad landed and growled at the dragon girl. It feels a lot like déjà vu. Except this time Ray was even more confused. Nate got the papers, what the bloody hell Brad was doing here?

The dragon girl Fialka looked between them both, then sighed.

“I should know it be impossible. You need to sort it out with captain of yours.”

And then she was gone.

“What just happened? “

“The British have lied to us,” Brad said, he probably meant to sound angry but missed the mark by a landslide. He sounded a bit scared.

“Why do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me Ray, you’ve been keeping me busy while the others were giving eggs to the Russian.”

“Who cares anymore? The papers got signed?”

“The Swedish government will care. A messenger had been sent once the ambassador finds out. Who do you think they will blame for this?”

Ray didn’t need to answer. He knew it too well.

“They will blame Nate.”

“Exactly. Maybe they’ll force him to quit the force. Put me on a breeding ground for a while before I accept another captain.” He flapped his wings around, angry.

“We didn’t mean to do that! We never meant to hurt you or Nate I swear!” he hoped Brad could hear his sincerity because if he had known…

“I won’t give them an egg? Maybe that can reassure them? “He was begging and kind of hated how Brad made him feel like. He would burn the world to ashes for him. He looked at him, judging him silently before speaking again:

“I know you didn’t mean that… You never thought it was important. Besides…” and he kind of looked uncomfortable now “I knew what the others were doing.”

It shocked Ray and he just blinked and managed a few sounds before finally finding his voice again:

“Wait, what? You knew? Why didn’t you say nor do something? Why didn’t you stop them? Why was it only me?”

Could it be that Brad had sensed Ray being uncomfortable about his mission and had decided to help? By being a complete dickhead sure, but still? He tilted his head on the side,  confused.

“I don’t understand.” He confessed hoping Brad would explain.

Brad didn’t.

“It’s not the time for that. Besides I don’t want to hurt your brain too much. Now it’s time for finding what we will say to the government.”

“You can say the truth. You were being held by a British dragon –me- and Nate was kept busy by the British officers and all the meetings with Russian officials. “

“And what about the rest of the crew? What about Mike? Maybe they will hang him.” He said sounding absolutely scandalized at the thought.

“They won’t. And if they want to, we will save them. We’re friends right?” he brought his head closer to Brad. He huffed a sigh.

“Yes … we are. But I’m not sure you can do something here.”

Ray thought about it.

“Me no, because it’s a human’s problem. Which means humans will solve this.”

**

Ray managed to gather all of the British captains and explain to them the problem. He had decided that he would be better if neither Brad nor Nate were seen with them to not let the Swedish government believe in active treason. (Just a slight hand-forced passive one if the need arose).

Most of them felt very concerned, even guilty that they put Nate in this position.

“But what can we do?”

“We have to write to the British government as soon as possible, using a Russian courier to send the message and to explain the situation: how captain Fick had helped the British crown and had made this mission possible. Show him under a nice angle: he is a young captain of British blood with a rare, magnificent, and powerful dragon at his order: the Corps should be honored to receive someone that important.”

“Wait you want what?”

“I want us to offer political asylum to Nate and Brad. And anyone on the crew who wants it too.”

“Isn’t it like admitting that he did something wrong?”

“Nothing forces him to accept. But he can if the situation becomes too dangerous. And of course, we are here to help.”

“Did you think a long time to make up this plan?”

“No. It’s a human problem so humans have to put it right: governments are humans. The Swedish government is not happy? The British will be delighted to receive Brad in their rank. I mean an ice-breather?”

“I see your point Ray” Captain Leckie cut in “but I think there is a fault in your plan:  won’t the Swedish attack us? I mean Bjarte is an important dragon to them.”

“Russia is more our allies than them if I understand correctly as we at least offer them dragons. So Russia will help us. Our relationship with France has been far better lately. And the Prussian loves us. I think?” he tried to remember what he could about past conversations with Walt and the couriers about the political mind of other countries but couldn’t think of much. “Anyway, I do rather think that they won’t try to attack us. Beside? Fire against ice?” Ray smiled smugly:” I will kill them all. And remember the Lulea base? Terrible fighters. They have no chance against us. They won’t risk it. Besides they don’t have the money for it. Their country is dying of famine. Why risk a war? For one dragon? Brad and Nate had always been looked on as a strange duo that shouldn’t exist. At least in Britain, they won’t face this disdain. Or at least they have us.”

Ray couldn’t help but be proud of his plan. If it worked it would save Brad and Nate and eventually the crew if they wanted to. If they wanted to stay loyal then they would find their own way to went back to Sweden. At least the formation wouldn’t stop by Sweden on their way back to the crown, for sure.

The captains hold a small talk to decide. Ray rolled his eyes. His plan was the only one existing and they had to act as fast as possible. He had started looking at possible couriers and had tried to engage the conversation. His Russian was nonexistent but he hoped some of them could understand bit of English or Swedish. With the help of Stella he should be able to tell them that if they met some British courier by the name of Luz or Skip they should deliver the message to them. They were some of the fastest dragons Ray knew and trusted.

Of course, the captains agreed with his plan and put in motion instantly. Captain Leckie helped by Captain Basilone would write the letter to the Admiralty. Captain Guarnere and Walt would keep an eye on the situation of captain Fick –but not intervene directly if possible to let people think that they weren’t involved in this.

Captain Phillips would keep up the meeting with the Russian representative –chuckler hadn’t given an egg yet- to keep the appearance on this side too.

Ray and Stella had the task to find a trustworthy courier who would send the message as fast as possible.

**

They found the courier the next day which was good for the plan. He was a small creature called Grig. He hadn’t been a courier before, he had seen battles and was serving Vosyem one of the Ironwing before the Great Escaping. He had stayed behind seeing an occasion to be free of her control.

He had been used as a combat dragon when there were almost none left in the base, and he had been lately moved to the courier. He was willing to help in anyway after he learned that they were British and that Ray knew Temeraire –well knew him was maybe a bit too strong but he had seen him before so there was that-.

Ray gave him his special instruction and Grig promised to follow them if he could. Then once the letter was secured enough and signed by all the captains they watched him depart.

“And now we have to wait. Let’s hope nothing happens to him on his way.”

Let’s hope he makes it and save Brad and Nate.

Ray sighed. He was incredibly tired despite having done nothing. It was the stress he supposed. This journey was hell and at every turn, they met unexpected development in their path.

He wanted to see Britain, to eat some cooked cows, and to sleep in his pavilion. He missed his friends and all the other dragons, the smell of dragons, leather, and food, and the soft smell of the sea, the chattering of men, the flies above the sea, the chilly wind on a nice morning. He even missed the fog, something he never thought could be possible.

He had always wanted to go abroad because of his mother’s tales but now? He wished that once he was back home they would never make him leave again. Britain was great. Britain was simple. Britain wasn’t full of problems and political plots.

He looked around as Stella went away. Far away he could see the building of the base in which the ambassador of Sweden was habiting for the duration of his stay. Ray wanted nothing more than to put his teeth into his skin and make him disappeared.

Sadly starting a diplomatic incident wouldn’t be good. (Well he was trying to steal one of their best dragons, maybe it was enough and he shouldn’t do more.)

**

The following days were just them looking up at the sky hoping to see a courier soon. Meanwhile, Ray had to try once again to mate with the dragon.

She seemed a bit bothered by it like she was expecting a new problem once again. Brad, though, didn’t show up.

It was a bit awkward Ray could admit, as he didn’t know what he was doing but he got better as the days passed. She also seemed to warm to him so at least there was that.

He still couldn’t quite look at her in the eyes but she didn’t complain about it.

He thought it was a very intimate act and it felt way too formal. If only, he thought idly, they had a relationship, a friendship at least, then it wouldn’t be so awkward, right?

He talked with the rest of the formation but didn’t bring up the subject. He wanted to know if they felt as awkward as him but felt too stupid to actually ask.

None of them really talked about it and they seemed rather unconcerned by it. Ray envied them. He thought about it every second of every day.

Not only that, but Brad had been hard to see. Of course, he was probably looking after Nate and making sure he stayed alive and free, but sometimes it was even hard to just catch a glimpse of his figure.

And Ray missed him. He didn’t know how it was possible; he had only known him for a few months. He shouldn’t already be so dependent on him and yet.

He missed his voice and sarcastic comments.

Walt seemed a bit down too. He explained to Ray that he missed his girl, wondering if she was okay. Ray curled up around him as best as he could.

“I’m sure she is fine. She is waiting for you to come home and counting the day. But she will be fine!”

Walt petted his head. “Thank you Ray…” he muttered, Ray just sighed.

Soon. Soon we will be home. He watched over the base. And hopefully, Brad will be coming with us.

**

Grig reappeared on a Friday while the sky was clear with only some lazy clouds drifting along. His form detached neatly on the blue background and Ray couldn’t help but make a small exclamation noise of surprise and excitation. He immediately raised himself on his hind legs hoping to catch Grig’s attention if his nice and vivid colors weren’t enough.

The small dragon landed off next to him and announced:

“I have an answer from your country. Should I give it to your captain?”

Ray knew Walt was inside the building for the moment and it would seem weird and bring attention if he was to call for him.

“No. Give it to me. I’ll pass it along as soon as possible. Thank you for your help!”

Grig just shrugged and handed the letter. There was the seal of the admiralty on it and Ray felt a shiver ran through him. It contained the fate of Captain Fick and Brad. He sincerely hoped the British crown had accepted his idea and that he would be able to announce this good news to Brad himself. (Besides it would make an excuse for him to see him right?)

To be honest he hadn’t thought of what they should do if the crown refused. For Ray, it was pretty obvious that they had to say “yes”. Brad could bring new blood and new power and new everything to the Aerial Corps and he couldn’t see why they wouldn’t agree.

But the admiralty was also a bunch of stupid people who thought they were better than everyone and treated the members of the Aerial Corps like they were the worst kind of people to deal with. Ray didn’t really understand this view that people had of them. Was it because they were big carnivorous things? Was it because they used to kill people? It was a long time ago! People should really stop being scared of them. It was beginning to be ridiculous.

He waited impatiently, keeping an eye for Walt. When he arrived, once again, he rose on his hind legs flapping a bit his wings.

Walt walked to him, faster almost running.

He handed the letter waiting for Walt to read it and tell him the news. He could feel his heart thumping loudly in his ribcage. He was nervous. He needed this to work. To save Nate and Brad! It was the only way.

“Ray” Walt begin and his voice was cautious and Ray feared the worst, could already see the shackles around Brad, could see Nate bound and led to the guillotine, he caught his breath trying to think of something else but then Walt cut him:

“Ray you made it! The admiralty is offering political asylum to Captain Nate, his crew, and his dragon! You saved them!”

The words hang in the air, Ray was stunned. He felt light and happy a weird feeling bubbling inside him. He curled around Walt.

“We need to tell them! And then we need to leave!”

“Yes,” Walt nodded “we need to leave as fast as possible!”

**

Captain Fick refused to leave immediately.

“I look guilty if I did. I need to stay. Besides, it’s only supposition. Maybe the government will forgive me.”

Even Brad scoffed at the idea. Ray decided to address him directly.

“You know we can offer you protection. Take him by force and fly back with us. He will be safe for sure.”

Despite seeming hesitant he rejected the offer:

“He is right. We will look guilty if we fly away. Besides… We need to take Mike with us. And maybe there will be other crew members who will wish to stay with us? Leaving them alone could let them be subjected to harsh treatment. I have to stay.”

“Then we’ll be staying too.”

“Ray-“

“We won’t leave without you or Nate. The government offers you protection, we are its representatives. We’re staying.”

And on that point Ray was right, they did stay in Russia. Even though now that almost all couplings were done it seemed like they were lingering for nothing. Ray was almost afraid that the Swedish government had a spy and was waiting for them to be gone before bringing news. Or maybe they expected Captain Fick to be on his way back. Anyway, a few days later two shadows appeared in the sky.

Dragons with large wings and elegant necks. White as a cloud with cream lines on their wings. Brad stood utterly still as they approached and landed. Their crews were sporting spotless uniforms with riffles that shined under the sun.

Ray couldn’t help but feel that they were probably not experienced in combat whatsoever. They were representatives, here to be pretty and to pronounce the sentence.

Captain Fick walked toward them, head held high and back ramrod straight. The exchanges between Fick and the other captain were made in Swedish and Ray couldn’t understand a word of what was being said. It annoyed him a great deal that the most important part of this adventure eluded him because of languages. The Russian dragons (mostly couriers) that have been around had come closer and seemed to be following the exchange. He didn’t know they spoke Swedish but he supposed he shouldn’t be surprised.

He saw Nate flinched physically at what one of the men said and Brad made to come closer, the other two dragons growled and lowered their head looking like snakes ready to bite. A group of men approached Nate with hackles. Ray reacted faster than he could think: he lunged forward, wings deployed, smoke pouring out, fire licking at the air out of his half-closed mouth.

The whole formation followed him and a cacophony of growled and roars were heard as they all stood around Brad as he retrieved Nate from the envoys.

The Swedish dragons were taken aback by those reactions and stilled, then looked confused at the whole ordeal. Their orders must have been simply to make sure Brad didn’t make the arrest difficult. They probably hadn’t expected to have to face an entire formation of angry English dragons.

Good, Ray though, now we have the advantage.

The crews however were more vocal about their reactions, and started to shout and even to load their rifles. Ray was severely tempted to just roast them, but the situation was not completely lost yet. So he tried to contain himself.

Captain Leckie came in the middle of this, arms raised. Ray could hear Hoosier emitting a sound of loud protest and he could see his claw pawing at the ground as if he wanted to snatch him back. Ray could only imagine the anguish he would feel if Walt was the one walking in front of an armed and angry crew.

He showed the letter to the envoy who read it and then probably swore. Captain Leckie snatched the letter back before they could tear it, and made some appeasing gesture. He then turned to Brad:

“I know you’re worried but I need your captain to translate and also to explain the situation.”

It seemed for a few seconds that Brad wouldn’t listen, but Nate put a hand on his neck, patting it slightly. Brad visibly deflated and put him on the ground suspicious eyes following even the slightest movement from the whole Swedish convoy. Ray brushed his wing against him as a sign of support.

“Tell them that if they want to start a war over you and your crew and Bjarte they are welcomed: our dragons will love the exercise this will provide. Also, the crown will hear how Sweden had dealt with us: first by stopping us then by letting us handling one of their problems, and now refusing to acknowledge the order of the crown.”

Nate translated and then the Swedish envoys started speaking between them, frantic in their panic.  One of the Swedish dragons tried to make a move, Ray hissed and he retreated hastily.

He knows what’s good for him.

Finally, Nate's shoulders relaxed a little:

“They won’t start a war. But the crew should be free to choose. If they decide to stay with Sweden they will be taken by the envoys. Most likely to file a report. And then depending on how the Government reacts either been repositioned or… fired from the service.”

It took some time to have all of Brad’s crew assemble (the whorehouse outside of the camp had been really busy this last few days). Nate made probably a moving speech. Or maybe he went straight to the point. Ray couldn’t tell. He still kept an eye on the Swedish dragons who looked bored. Maybe they were expecting something more dramatic. Too bad for them Ray had thought of everything.

Brad stood behind Nate a white statue of loneliness. He watched as most of the crew chose to stay loyal to their country. It was a day of great loss for him obviously. But he was safe and so were Nate and Mike and the few men more loyal to their captain than to their country. Ray approved of them immediately. They thought more like dragons than like men in that way. Ray was not particularly attached to England. But he was immensely attached to Walt and Walt loved his country so Ray was ready to die for it, for him. It was as simple as that.

The Swedish left as soon as possible. Brad watched them, head tilted to the side:

“Do you regret how things had played out?”

He turned to Ray :

“No. Not really. We never really fitted with them. I supposed we can try and see how we fit in England.”

You will fit well, Ray wanted to tell him, you’ll be well with us and even though it rains a lot it’s a good country and the cows are really good and we have those cooks that make us great meals.

But he didn’t. He was scared of being too eager, too happy that Nate and Brad had been exiled from their home because of them. It was their fault. It was only normal that they dealt with the situation.

Of course, probably none of the captains would admit their fault in this but it was because they decided to pursue their mission regardless of Nate’s order that he ended up in this terrible spot.

The days that follow were filled with preparation for their departure. The last couplings were done while the men managed to order food, to mend their clothes, and to pass their goodbye to their favorite Ladies.

Ray felt a bit melancholic. Of course, he was happy to go home, to see his friends again, to hear all the missed gossips and most importantly to sleep in his pavilion. However, this trip had been so chaotic and so many things had happened he felt like he had left Britain a lifetime ago. And besides, there was Brad with them now. He was elated about this and couldn’t help but feel guilty. If everything had gone well, Brad would have been returning to Sweden and they would have never seen each other again.

Now Brad would be a part of the Aerial Corps. They would fight side by side; sharing the same meals, the same friends.

It was so weird Ray thought. He let his eyes linger on the landscape around. Flat and brown, grey sky hovering above. The first snow would happen soon.

He didn’t exactly know what kind of weather they had in Sweden, but he supposed, considering its position (very north)that it must be quite similar. Britain was grey yes, but wet. Here it was dry. The wind was mean and cut like ice. It was so different from home.

He was so lost in thoughts that he didn’t notice Fialka sitting next to him. He jumped in surprised and she huffed a bit.

“I come to say goodbye.”

Ray felt surprised and utterly unprepared. He hadn’t expected to see her again, nor that she would like to see him. After everything he could have sworn she was hoping to never meet him again.

“That’s very nice of you. I’m sorry for how things went… And if I have disappointed you. You were very nice to me despite the circumstances.”

“You not terrible. It must be hard to make egg with me while boyfriend was around.”

What she said made him pause, but then he felt smoke coming out of him as the embarrassment caught on:

“I’m not… Brad and me we’re not... It’s not like that!”

She tilted her head questioning and seemed suspicious before relenting:

“Fine. “

She rubbed her muzzle against his neck “It was nice to meet you.” He returned the gesture “Spasiba” he replied hoping that his pronunciation was not atrocious.

She fluttered her wings before flying off and probably going back to her clearing.

When he turned his head Brad was looking at him. He waved his wings (imitating what he saw men do) and he could see Brad snort from where he was.

The white dragon didn’t look so lost or sad and he felt relieved at that. He could make Brad laugh he knew that! He could make an idiot of himself if it meant that Brad wouldn’t be sad.

He would do anything for him and he really shouldn’t be thinking like that.

***

Finally, the time to leave came and the whole formation took the air. Ray shot a last look behind him seeing the base becoming smaller and smaller.

“Concentrate on the road,” Walt told him so Ray did. The weather was optimal for flight even though the temperature had severely dropped. He was quite happy to return toward Britain where it wouldn’t be so cold.

Brad was flying slightly behind him. He was the less charged dragon what with the loss of many men of his crew. He had proposed to take some on the luggage of the British but they all refused vehemently. It was their crew possession so in sort, it belonged to them and even though they liked Brad they didn’t like to share. Ray would have accepted but after everyone else’s he didn’t want to stand out.

The journey back was eventless. They flew over Prussia and France, pausing once arriving at the coast. It was raining and you could smell the sea. On the other side of the it, Britain stood, waiting for them to come back home. Brad was looking over as if he could catch a glimpse of the “promised” land.

“Excited?” Ray asked.

“Curious mostly.”

Ray hummed standing still and silent beside him.

***

When they landed –on the Scottish base the London base being too full to welcomed them all- Admiral Sink was waiting for them. He must have come from the London Base. He looked over them all and smile.

“Nice to see you all back. And safe”

Other crew members arrived then and help them be discharged. Ray recognized some of Ethel’s crew or Snafu’s. Which meant they were on base, probably resting. As he sniffed the air he caught a scent trail of stew that made his stomach growled very loudly. He started waving his tail around in excitement.

“Oh my god! Calm down you Idiot!” Walt told him when his waving started making it dangerous for the man to come close to him.

“But Walt! I can smell food! Cooked food! We should have brought a cook with us! I need to go eat!”

“Yes, yes you guzzler!”

Ray should felt insulted, but the smell was becoming more pronounced and the other dragons had smelled it too and started getting agitated too. Brad was sniffing the air curiously then looking at them as they grew more and more impatient.

Then, finally, their harnesses were out of the way and they all departed to be the first to arrive. Brad followed, curious. When they arrived the cooks were bringing the giant cooking pots out. The smell was delicious, and they all descended rapidly and started licking the pots and quickly emptying them. Brad tasted it and his eyes widened in surprise before quickly joining the others in their frenzy.

Once the pots were empty, they all stay around feeling full and content for what seems to be the first time. Then Ethel arrived her large shadow hiding the rare sun’s ray. She landed next to Brad with her usual grace and then politely asked him to follow her as they had some details to go over.

Brad nodded before they took off. Ray followed them with his eyes before flying back to his own clearing. There he met back with some of his closest courier friends: Luz and Skip. They were both very excited to see him after all their time apart:

“Tell us everything about this new dragon!”

“And about your adventure!”

“Only if you tell me all the gossips I missed!”

They all huddled closer as Ray started to tell his story. He might have embellished a bit their fight against the ferals , but all in all, he stayed pretty close to the truth. Luz and skip were completely enraptured in his story and he knew that soon the whole base would know everything.

In terms of Gossips he didn’t miss much apparently, they were rumors of the admiralty sending a “middle-man” to the base in London, and Ethel and her crew will soon head back with Admiral Sink and Benning’s crew to supervise this.

“I’ll try to know more about it when I’ll go to London but I don’t think it’s very relevant to us you know?” Luz said. Ray just thought always better to know what was going on.

He had spotted in the middle of his retelling Brad coming back and landing in a clearing a bit south of where he was himself. He knew that he would probably go and see him later.

“Snafu had been awful these last few weeks. Eugenia had fallen sick and if you listen to him it’s him who’s dying. He’s impossible! The doctors have said that she will be fine.”

“With her condition, he can be worried.”

“Sure but still. He keeps whining “I’m dying! I’m dying!””

They also told him about the situation in China :

“It is starting to be scary. I don’t think we will be back before a while. Some tensions are brewing.”

Ray was surprised to hear it. He just came back from Russia, China’s neighbor, and yet nothing of that had transpired.

“I didn’t hear about it at all” he lamented

“Maybe Russians are not worried?”

“Or doesn’t care. What with their lack of dragons.”

Ray supposed it was a good explanation.

Before they noticed the whole day had passed and they all went together to eat their second meal. Ray shared his part with them, quite happy to have found his friends back. He had missed them dearly.

But if Brad were to leave he would miss him more.

**

When Ray finally said goodbye to his friends he went to see Brad. He had been attributed a big clearing probably because of his wings and the fact that despite being not very heavy he was long.

He was kind of curled on himself and for a moment Ray turned on the air above him wondering if he should leave and let him sleep.

The white dragon rose his perfect head and blue eyes were looking at him:

“Do you intend to come today or do you prefer to stay there?”

“I was trying to be nice!” Ray protested landing –he still sent dirt around and Brad sent him an annoyed look. “Sorry. I’m not good at this!”

“I can see that.” but he lacked heat.

“So… How do you find England?”

“Not bad. Less cold than Sweden for sure.”

They stood next to each other for a few minutes.

“Do you miss it? Sweden I mean. It was your home right?”

“A bit but it’s okay. Nate is with me. And you are.”

Ray felt embarrassed so he just swayed his tail, searching for words –he did have those, he knew.

“Everyone is great here you know? They are really friendly and I can present you to the messengers they always have the best stories! And maybe tomorrow we can fly together so I can show you around! The sea is not far away and sometimes we are allowed to fish. When the fishermen are okay with it. Which is stupid! I’m sure if they allowed us to fish or to help them we could fish more and be more –“

“Ray. You’re babbling.”

“Right.”

He looked at the sky. The stars were shining prettily and the moon was shining bright.

“I should go, it’s time to sleep.”

“Or you could sleep here.”

Ray swore his heart almost give out. Brad was proposing so… so simply!

“I… Well… I mean... Surely Walt would be worried if I’m not in my clearing tomorrow-“

“I’m pretty sure he’ll know where to search” and Brad moved so that there was a place next to him.

“I’m full of spines. What if I hurt you!”

“Ray, just shut up, lie down and sleep.”

He did. He tried to install himself to make sure he didn’t hurt Brad and end up lying quite uncomfortably. Brad sighed.

“Ray I swear if you don’t stop being like this-“

“But I could hurt you! And you freeze thing and I spit fire and maybe I’ll hurt you because I’m too warm.” He turned his head looking at Brad “I don’t want to hurt you. Ever.”

He put his head on the ground expecting Brad to be angry but he just lay his head and let their muzzles touch.

“I knew you were a fire-throwing hick but I didn’t know that you were that much of an idiot.”

Ray felt himself getting slightly angry before he realized that Brad’s eyes were twinkling with amusement.

They curled their tails together and Ray relaxed himself.

***

He woke the morning after and he was curled tight against Brad with one wing above him like a protection. He nuzzled closer, feeling content and warm.

“I’m sorry to disturb you but I think it’s time to go back to work Ray.”

He turned his head fast. “Walt! I didn’t know you were there.”

Nate was there too. Both of them seemed to be smiling, even laughing. Brad had lifted his wing and lifts his head. He still looked sleepy. Ray wanted nothing more than to stay huddled close with him all day long.

“Come on!” Walt called and begun walking back to Ray’s clearing.

“Next time you should come! I have a pavilion and it’s really nice! You can have one! I’m sure I can buy it for you!”

As he took off suddenly he realized that buying something this big for Brad might be considered as a gift before coupling. But it was not like they could, right?

It was in this juggled mind state that he landed off in front of Walt. His crew was there, all ready for a day of training, something that would seem quite peaceful after their journey across Europe.

Doing a work he had done countless times before was reassuring, and he let his mind go blank. He twirled and dived and turned without thinking just following the formation.

When they were done they landed next to Brad who had looked at all the exercises. Ray suddenly wondered what would happen to him. Clearly, they should integrate him in a formation but they would probably put him in another one. Since this one has already an acid-spitter and a fire-breather it seems kind of extra to put an ice-breather in it.

Ray knew no one was going to ask his opinion on it but he didn’t like it. He didn’t want Brad to be in another formation, making other friends and meeting a nice lady-dragon that would make him laugh. Sure he was nice with Ray and Ray was sometimes confused but… they were both male dragons so clearly nothing was possible right? At least he had never heard of such a thing. Besides, why would Brad who was so elegant, poised, and perfect settled for Ray who was blunt, spoke way too much, and was known to have troubled following order?

It made him lose his appetite. When Nate had said that they were coming with them in England he had been overjoyed: more time with Brad clearly but now… It was one of his flaws: not looking too much in the future, and focusing mainly on the present. Sure carpe diem and such but he should have started to think.

Maybe Brad would even be sent away since Sweden couldn’t be too happy about losing one of their best dragons. So putting him away until they calmed down might seem like an easy and wonderful solution, and it made Ray felt sick. He looked at his plate full of cooked cow and rice and things he had dreamed of during this past mission, and now he couldn’t even eat it as his throat felt like it was closing up and his heart was trying to come out by his mouth. (Not a nice sensation at all by the way.)

“Ray are you all right? You’re not eating.”

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Hoosier looking at his plate, and trying to decide if it was a good idea or not. Ray pushed the plate toward him.

“No. Not really. I’m a little tired I think. Can I go lay down?” he asked Walt hoping that sleep could chase his troubles away. (It was never going to work but one could hope.)

Obviously, the fact that he pushed food away had all the other dragons looking at him wearing concerned faces.

“Maybe he caught a fever.”

“It is probably the rain.”

“He just needs to readjust to Britain’s food that’s all.”

Ray just nodded at their suggestions. Walt of course seemed more worried than anyone else but urged Ray to lay down hoping that tomorrow he would probably feel better.

He was left alone in his clearing since Walt had to eat too (and he might have assured him for a good ten minutes that he was” fine, just really tired, really Walt you can go”), and he let his black thoughts come back to him. He curled himself up into a ball. He heard a flapping sound, and he didn’t need to look to know who it was.

Brad nudged him so he let his head lift up. The white dragon had his head tilted on the side all curiosity and concern and Ray just wanted him to stay with him forever.

“I thought I could keep you company.”

Ray was pleased but wondered: wouldn’t be better if he tried to separate himself from Brad already? Shouldn’t he try to lessen the pain for when he would be sent away? Be it to another country or formation? In the end it was the selfish part of him that won and he scooted over so Brad could lay next to him.

“Your pavilion is very nice,” Brad said after a while and Ray remembered what he had said earlier.

“You could have one too. You need a little bit of money of course but I could help. I think I have some capital left that I could lend you. It is so much nicer than sleeping out on the ground.”

Brad looked at him silently before adding:

“Wouldn’t it be too grand a gift?”

Ray felt mortification seized him. His only answer was that he wanted to because he wanted to please Brad but he didn’t know how the other dragon would react so he just muttered:

“Maybe ... I suppose. But you helped us and helped me when I was hurt so you know…” Before lowering his head on the ground, and trying to make himself as small as possible.

“Do you have plans that I could study? I supposed I should start thinking of how my pavilion should look like.”

Glad that Brad wasn’t mad at him, Ray eagerly nodded before opening one of his safes the one with his own plan for his pavilion.

“Look at them if you want, I’m sure I can find you some more!”

They started a conversation about what Brad should do when Walt reappeared. He looked relieved to see Ray chatting away. He knew that he would have to talk to Walt about it. Maybe they could find an arrangement to make sure he saw Brad at least once a week. Maybe it wouldn’t be too much a bother right?

“You’re feeling better? Do you need me to call the doctor?”

“No, no! Really I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be better!”

Walt had this look on his face which means that if tomorrow Ray still showed signs of sickness, he would be examined by Roe. And Roe would find nothing wrong with him, and maybe they would think he was pretending because he didn’t want to work which was not the truth.

His thought froze when he felt Brad putting his muzzle on Ray’s cheek. It was cold and felt weird. It hadn’t noticed earlier. Maybe Brad had used a bit of his power?

“Let’s talk about the pavilion some more, okay?” and Ray utterly and hopelessly in love just nodded.

**

He forced himself the day after to eat and to pretend he was fine and that it was just a minor inconvenience, nothing wrong, really. The only one who saw through this was Walt but he knew that he wouldn’t address the issue in front of the others. He hoped in vain that Brad would come into his pavilion again. As long as he wasn’t alone he couldn’t have the discussion with Walt.

It was, of course, a lost cause: when at the end of the day they had finished with training, Brad followed Stella to see some plan of her pavilion. And so Ray was left alone to face Walt.

“So. Now. What was going on? And don’t try to lie to me, Ray. I don’t have the patience for that today.”

Ray knew that. Hell, he knew Walt was the only person he could trust with his thoughts.

“Brad is going to leave? I mean… He can’t stay in the formation, right? He probably can’t stay around either. Maybe he’ll go on another base? I just… I don’t want him to leave me. I like him. I love him.“

He looked at Walt. The young captain sighed.

“I can’t believe I’m talking with you about a heart problem! Did you talk to Brad about what he is going to do?”

“Well, we don’t decide, do we? It’s the humans that make the decision for us. And even if I talked to him about it… Why would he stay?”

“Because of you? It seems pretty evident to me that he likes you too.”

Ray stayed silent, hesitating to say what he thought:

“But what if he only stayed with me because he hadn’t found better? Maybe if he moved he would meet another dragon? Maybe he will love her and I would only be reminiscent of the past?”

“Why would you think that? He could have chosen to spend his free time with Stella. He chose to spend it with you.”

“But… Why would he choose me? I know I’m annoying and talk too much and sometimes I put fire on things I shouldn’t just because I find it funny. And I’m not that good at fight. It’s only because I spitfire that I have an advantage.”

Walt looked at him, gawking.

“Ray… Are you serious? You’re one of the best dragons in the whole kingdom, even in the world! You have read a lot of books and have studied military strategy, you are easy-going and charming and all the couriers love you and you’re always the first dragon they come to see. They would die for you or fight a battle for you despite having no training in that area! Sure sometimes you babble too much but you’re loyal and your formation cares about you as much as you care about them. You helped Stella accept Lena’s wedding with Captain Basilone from the navy. And everybody though it was an impossible fit.

You’re great! I wouldn’t trade you no matter what they could offer me! I don’t understand how you can think yourself inadequate. I have always feared I wouldn’t be a good enough captain…. Because everyone talked so greatly about you and you choose me, an aviator with no particular merit.

If Brad doesn’t want you? Then he doesn’t deserve you. But I’m pretty sure he likes you a great deal.”

Ray felt emotion swirled inside him. He caught Walt in his paws and nuzzled against him.

“I love you too Walt. I would never trade you for another captain. And I choose you because I felt great courage and potential. And you were nice and kind and you sing well. That’s very important.”

Walt laughed softly.

“You choose me for my song? I should share this secret with aspiring captains! I didn’t know it was a thing!”

They stayed together like that a while.

“You know what? Tonight I’m sleeping with you. It’s been a while since it was just the two of us!”

“True! I mean I like my crew, of course, they’re mine, but we were always surrounded during the trip. We should enjoy our time together. And perhaps begin a new book.”

“Well, we haven’t read the collection of short stories from Voltaire. So we could start it?”

“Yes! Very good! He was French wasn’t it? During the revolution? “

“Yes… Yes, he was.” And he petted Ray’s muzzle as to congratulate him on his good memory.

They ended up talking quite late into the night about the revolution and the different ideas and how France was now doing after Napoleon.

**

It was Lilley who came to wake up Walt, finding it strange that he chose to spend the night here, instead of inside. It was hard to explain that they had a heart-to-heart.

Walt had been clear though: Ray should talk to Brad.

Which terrified the half-kazilik. Walt had reassured him about Brad's affection but he was still afraid that it was an act or just mere friendship or convenience and Brad would just laugh at him.

Still, since Walt had faith in him he forced himself to go ask the white dragon if they could talk. Brad looked at him funny –head tilted to the side- but agreed to his request once he had checked that there was no particular plan for him and Nate that day.

Ray had no idea where they should go in order to have this conversation. But because he expected to have to make a strategic exit he went to Brad clearing so he could run and hide in his pavilion if the need appeared.

For a while he just stood there, waging his tail in stress searching for the right words.

Brad showed patience but finally prompted him:

“Well? What it was that you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Mmh... well... see...Hum. What are you plans for the future? I mean, have you any idea? You, Nate and Mike, and the other members of your crew came here but have you some specific thoughts at all? Are you staying in the country? Are you staying here?”

Brad narrowed his eyes but answered anyway:

“If possible I’d rather stay here. I think I would be a good asset to the formation. A good counter to your fire. It will surely surprise the enemy. But is it all?”

Ray thought of that before continuing. Brad wanted to stay. That was just so nice. And he wanted to stay with Ray’s formation. And with Ray specifically, right? He wouldn’t have mentioned the fire otherwise, right?

Don’t let your hopes up Ray; don’t do that to yourself.

“Before you make this decision I have to be truthful with you Brad. I like you. Like really like you. Like love like you? And I understand if you only want to stay friends or partners, but I think you should know.”

Brad's face was a wall. No emotion on it. Ray was dead, wasn’t it? Brad was going to kill him. Oh, poor Walt! Losing his captaincy because his dragon fell in love with the wrong dragon! How terrible! He wanted to take it back, take it all back! Why did they let him go on this mission? If he hadn’t gone he wouldn’t have met Brad and he wouldn’t find himself in this predicament! This was so stupid!

“I know I insulted your intellectual quite a few times, but are you really dumb Ray?”

Okay, that’s just…

“Excuse me? What? Why are you-“

“Ray, sure the Swedish government was full of incapable people who couldn’t see farther than their noses and leaving was the only good option; but do you really think I would have traveled all the way here if I didn’t like you back? I could have just take Nate my crew and fled. I thought it was pretty obvious?”

“Wait, what?”

Obvious? When had it been obvious? Never, that’s the answer! How Brad could expect Ray to understand if he didn’t use words.

“I just thought you came because we were all good friends and we offered you protection! How was I supposed to know that you like me if you don’t tell me?”

“I took care of you when you get hurt!”

“I TOOK CARE OF SKIP WHEN HE WAS SICK! DOESN’T MEAN I’M IN LOVE WITH HIM BRAD!!”

Ray couldn’t help but to shoot, feeling his frustration mounting up. Did Brad think Ray could read his mind? Communication, damn it! Didn’t seem impossible to have!

Brad growled, very very low. Ray jerked back surprised.

“What are you-“

“Don’t say stuff like that. I don’t like you taking care of other people. “

“Are you… Are you jealous? Of my friends?”

Brad shot him a dirty look. Great, he now had a possessive dragon-boyfriend. Amazing.

“So just to be clear. I like you. You like me. So we’re like… together, right?”

“Yes, Ray we are,” Brad said like it was a great sacrifice of his part to admit that.

“So I’m allowed to buy you a pavilion? And to build it next to mine?”

Brad nodded.

“But I’m not sure about the following part.”

Ray blinked.

“What following part?”

“The mating.”

Oh! Oh.

“Yes. That… That’s .. it’s… Is it possible? For us? As male dragons? Together?”

“We’ll find a way. “ Brad said and slide next to Ray. He nuzzled his neck, making Ray’s stomach to do some weird stuff.

“Sure. I totally trust you!”

Ha! He almost couldn’t wait to tell Walt the good news but… well he was going to stay here a bit now.

***

“See Ray! I told you everything was going to be fine! “

The morning after the great declaration (the whole base had let them alone for the rest of the day! What a nice intention! Not that anything really happened except some nuzzling – he was still trying to understand how two male dragons were supposed to do things if things were possible-) Walt came to see him to have the full story of how it happened.

He was now sitting in Ray’s paw as Ray beamed at him excitedly.

“They won’t send him away, will they? I mean, do I have to threaten someone to make the message clear that I’m not leaving him? Never? And that he can’t leave me too? Will I have to marry? Can dragons marry each other? Is it something that exists?”

“Reagulus! Calm down! Everything is fine! I will talk to Admiral Sink and I’m sure he will understand your position! Don’t you worry! “

Ray swished his tail around. He couldn’t even threaten Sink. Surely Benning would be very upset if he did. And if there was one dragon you did not want to annoy: It was them.

What a pain in the ass!

 He grumbled under his breath but prayed that they wouldn’t take Brad away. He was not exactly sure how the formation was supposed to work now but surely they would find a way to do it!

He had never felt happier and proposed Walt a ride. Immediately he protested on the ground that all of his crew should enjoy it.

It took some time to have him harnessed and everyone prepared, but soon enough he was in the sky, going full speed, roaring powerfully.

A roar echoed back and when he turned around Brad was there, next to him.

They raced through the puffy cloud and the blue sky –no rain today! What a chance! - And Ray wanted to push himself further, show Brad that he was skilled and powerful! He spinned on himself then replied his wings as he let himself fall –he heard some of his crew screaming and some whooping- then at the last moment open then and mounting up in the sky again, making loop after loop. He let himself turn around Brad, taunting him.

“Come on, Brad! Let’s play.”

Brad looked at him like he was a child. He still managed to nudge him until Brad relented and started spinning too through the air. Ray followed with a clamor.

When they came back to the base –completely exhausted- Skip was there with Penk. Both the couriers were eying him.

Once most of his crew was on the ground –some going to throw up a few steps away- they lunged themselves on Ray to ask him all about Brad :

“So there is a rumor going on that you two are together!”

“Nice work Ray! How did you do it?”

“Did he offer you some gold? He must have, right? I bet he had a lot of gold!”

“Ooh! Precious stones!”

He laughed before pushing them lightly with his muzzle.

“He has nothing at all now. He is very poor!”

They both looked very disappointed. Then looked at Brad :

“Well… I supposed Ray is big enough to make his choices. But really? No gold at all?”

“No gold.” Was Brad’s curt answer. When they were gone Ray came closer

“I know you said that you were jealous but you better get used to them. And the other dragons I’m friends with. It doesn’t mean anything…It’s just... You know how I am. In exchange, I won’t burn to ash every cute female dragon that would –inevitably- try to seduce you. Deal?”

Brad tilted his head, look at Nate –who was laughing- and with a sigh:

“Deal.”

“Good!”

Then he looked at Walt.

He was the luckiest dragon alive he had no doubt about it! He leaned his head on Brad and thought about all the years he would have to cherish those moments together.

THE END