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The island they touched down on was a fairly remote one, but had a reasonably flat top, lots of prickly grass, and was just perfect for a picnic. Well, as perfect as anywhere could be in this place. So it might be really bad to someone else, but it was perfect for them.
Mai directed her Night Fury Constellation to land, and immediately set about untying the picnic blankets she’d tied to the back of the saddle. No longer so makeshift as it had been just a few months ago, but far more refined, now product of not just her work, but others as well.
It took a solid minute for everyone else to actually touch down, not just because Constellation was the fastest dragon there, and they did kind of have to wait for Aone and Obara with their much slower Gronkles, but also because trying to give everyone’s dragons enough room to land involved some shuffling.
Moniwa’s Scaldron, predictably, dipped as soon as Moniwa had finished removing her saddle, she always did that, since she was mostly aquatic and got very wilty if she spent too much time out of the water.
The other dragons mostly hung around even after their humans had dismounted and removed whatever they needed to, some beginning to tussle playfully, others just settling in for naps. Futakuchi’s Hideous Zippleback apparently decided it was going to agree with itself so it could harass Futakuchi, since they looked like they were arguing.
In the wise words of Moniwa, the only thing Futakuchi’s dragon liked more than arguing with itself was arguing with Futakuchi, and the only thing Futakuchi liked more than Aone was arguing with his dragon. Dragons? There was technically just one, but two separate heads, did it count as one or two dragons?
This was why Mai brought multiple picnic blankets. She could throw one at Futakuchi and tell him to go somewhere else to argue with his zippleback, throw another at Moniwa and Kamasaki and tell them to suck face somewhere else, and throw another at the remaining members of her age group from her island and tell them to go find somewhere else.
Listen, just because this was a celebration of the end of this war and the resolution of the situation with the dragons didn’t mean Mai actually planned on hanging out with the boys her age. She spent plenty of time with them, she wanted a break.
And she wanted to hang out with the two guys who weren’t from their island and weren’t really stupid.
Constellation crooned at her, although her gaze was somewhat mischievous.
“You can go play with the other dragons, you don’t need to babysit me,” Mai informed her.
Constellation stared intently at the bandages still covering Mai’s arms, neck, and parts of her face.
“Extenuating circumstances and you know it.”
“You talk to her like she can understand you,” Ennoshita said, sliding off his Changewing, only to be immediately beset by his colony of Terrible Terrors, who clustered around his legs and arms whining like little babies. His Changewing, with her colors purposely so similar to the Terrible Terrors that crowded around him, just settled down and kept an eye on him.
“You’d do it too if you knew her well enough. She can understand,” Mai replied, rubbing Constellation’s head. “She’s a little smarter than your collection of idiots.” Terrible Terrors may be cute sometimes, but they weren’t all that smart.
“Smarter than your collection of idiots?” Akaashi asked, glancing over her shoulder at where the rest of the teens her age were presumably getting up to problems.
“That’s not hard,” Mai replied, ignoring the outraged ‘Hey!’ from behind her. “If I had to bet on the winner between a Terrible Terror and one of them, my money’s on the Terrible Terror.”
She also ignored the offended gasps after that statement. If they had a problem with it, that was their problem. They weren’t going to make it hers, they were still too scared of her.
“The burns healing well?” Ennoshita asked, nodding to the bandages.
Mai drummed her fingers lightly on the outside of one arm. It hurt, but not nearly as much as it had just a day or two ago, and not nearly as much as receiving the burns had. “As well as they can be. Turns out Night Fury saliva has anti-infection properties, so no infections have managed to take root. Looks like they should heal well, or as well as is possible.”
The burns had been deep, and so painful to receive, but it was worth it. The dragons were free from their tyrannical ruler, the humans were free from their stupid battle with both the dragons and each other, and Mai had a cool new buddy. Dragons, without the pressure of their ruler were beginning to befriend humans in a way they hadn’t been able to before.
“Well, I’m sure the scars will look cool,” Akaashi offered, and Mai grinned. Yeah, there was that.
“I’ll be the coolest girl in town. Not that I wasn’t already, since I’m the only one in my age group.”
“You’d be the coolest one in town even without them,” Ennoshita said, almost shockingly honestly for how their villages had been at war not three days ago. In the time she’d known him she’d come to expect it somewhat from him.
Mai just grinned. “Aw thanks. I suppose Constellation does help, huh girl. You’re the coolest one ever.”
Constellation crooned proudly, rubbing the side of her head against Mai’s body.
“Why did you name her that? I never asked,” Akaashi said, reaching up to scratch the underside of the chin of his nadder, who was peeking over his shoulder curiously, evidently done wrestling with the other nadders.
“She’s got a bunch of pale scales on the underside of her wings, like stars in the night sky. I figured Constellation was a good name for a Night Fury.” It certainly seemed to suit her, and Constellation had been fairly enthusiastic about the name from the beginning.
“It’s a pretty name,” Ennoshita said, gently pushing away a Terrible Terror’s head when they tried to butt their head against the underside of his chin. “Suits her.”
“She’s a beautiful dragon,” Mai agreed, scratching Constellation’s head again. She was very lucky to have found her, and even luckier to be able to call the dragon her friend. They’d already helped make the world more peaceful, and she could only hope they’d be able to do even more from here out.
After she finished healing though. She was on strict orders to not do anything too strenuous until she healed.