Chapter 135: Resupply

“Kill me.”

“What?” Jacky exclaimed, sounding rather worried at Tom’s statement to an uncaring world. She clambered over onto him looking him over as Tom let out a pained grunt. It might be half grav but Jacky was still rather heavy as she pushed down on his chest. “What’s wrong? You okay?”

“No,” was all the reply Tom could manage; this had got to be one of the worst hangovers he could remember. ‘I didn’t even drink that much,’ he cursed, focusing on just living right now as Jacky’s worried face hovered above him.

“Was the meta… methcanol... methanul... bad alcohol again? Are you going blind?!” she asked. She slurred the words a little, but was very clearly worried as she waved her hand in front of his face.

“No… just headache,” Tom replied, lifting a hand to pat the side of her face reassuringly.

“How many fingers?” Jacky continued, waving her hand around in front of his face.

“Four?” Tom guessed, not actually wanting to try and make them out.

“Huh… I guess not… Want some water?” she asked, relaxing a little.

“Yes please,” Tom sighed as she got off him. ‘Why do they not get hangovers… it’s just not fair.’ It didn’t take long before she returned with a water skin, clumsily setting about giving him something to drink, spilling a bit on his face.

“No Tom, no playing with it, drink it. I know you like water, but not in the bed,” Jacky corrected him a little sternly. Tom tried to sit up but was pushed back down. “No, you are staying in bed. You are clearly not well. You can play with water later. For now, drink.”

“For fucks sake, Jacky,” Tom cursed under his breath “You’re still drun-mrhmg.” Tom was cut off as the nozzle from the waterskin was shoved in his mouth, Jacky squeezing the water down his throat.

“No, you are now in my care. I will protect you,” Jacky went before pulling the waterskin back, Tom coughing and spluttering as she laid down on top of him and nuzzled his head, her arms going behind his neck. “You’re always safe here.”

Tom elected not to protest. He had a headache and no excess mental capacity to try and argue with a drunk Jacky, even if this wasn’t the most comfortable position in history.

“I know Jacky… Thank you.”

To his delight, it didn’t take too long before she started snoring, meaning at worst he had to deal with the sleeping, near two meter tall, killing machine drooling a bit on him in her sleep. He certainly wasn’t in the mood to get up either so why fight it.

Then there was a knock at the door…

Tom considered just pretending to be sleeping, but the knocking continued, and it sounded rather urgent. “Go away, I’m sick,” he finally shouted out, cursing his stupidity as his head rang like a church bell.

“I think we need you sadly,” a worried sounding Tink junior replied, Tom letting out a deep sigh.

‘What did they do this time?’ Tom cursed to himself not moving from under Jacky “No you don’t.”

“Dad’s walking on the ceiling!”

“Oh for fuck sake,” Tom replied after a few seconds of very slow thinking, trying feebly to get Jacky off. She just grunted happily, nuzzling up to him in her sleep. He did eventually manage to roll her over to the side, her grunts starting to sound annoyed as she grabbed after him. He skillfully avoided her iron grip as he rolled off of the bed and landed on the floor with a thunk. “God dammit.”

Looking down at himself, he was still buck ass nude, so went to get some pants and undies on at least before covering up Jacky by just throwing the blanket at her and going to answer the door.

“Oh thank Oleg… had a rough night?” Junior asked, looking at the half-awake, all-annoyed Tom.

“Yes.” Tom replied flatly looking at the kid.

“Right… wanna get a shirt on or just…”

“Take me to the idiot. I must know who to shout at later.”

“Okay then… right this way,” Junior replied, swallowing once and doing a bit of a sideways nod before leading Tom down the hallway.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The day after the big festival everyone had been a little slow getting up. Sapphire and Maiko had made it back up to her room, where they had more or less just passed out and where he was still sleeping. Saph, who was still slightly sleepy, was currently standing at the edge of the platform leading to the greeting hall and looking down. Alongside her stood Nunuk, Lady Deriva, and Luke. Both she and Luke swayed quite a bit in the wind as she wondered if she should really be this close to the edge.

“I guess apologies are in order,” Nunuk went, looking at the sleeping heap down below that was Tiguan, the kids already busy clambering all over him under the watchful eye of Essy and Ray. The black dragon currently sleeping soundly and loudly against the rock outcropping the keep sat on.

“It’s quite alright,” Lady Deriva replied in a kind, motherly tone. “He’s done much already. A day’s rest can’t be too much to ask for.”

Both of the drunk dragons were still sleeping where they had fallen the night before. Tom had been forced to reconsider his dosage calculations since there had still been a bit left in the bottom of the barrel. At least there had been until Glira got Jarix to give her permission to finish it, after which she drank what was left in one go, letting out a mighty burp.

Jarix had been the first to go, falling asleep while they had been checking if he had managed to injure himself in his little stumble. He passed out in the middle of what had been the dance floor, where he was still snoring away despite Zarko’s best efforts to wake him. Tiguan had drunkenly tried to get up into the greeting hall by climbing. Several deep gashes in the stone betrayed his failed attempt at climbing the keep. Grevi had eventually been forced to tackle the black dragon to the ground so he didn’t hurt himself. He did look rather comfortable laying on the warm rocks though, so perhaps it wasn’t that bad.

“Agreed. Let’s leave him to it and go get your supplies in order,” Nunuk continued after they had all stared at the scene a bit longer.

“Our supplies? This isn’t the briefing Victoria talked about?” Lady Deriva questioned, looking between Nunuk and Sapphire, Saph savoring the confused expression on the Lady’s face.

‘This should be good,’ Saph mused to herself.

“No, that comes later. Dakota should have the list. Dakota!” Nunuk shouted back towards the grand hall. Dakota soon appeared at the door with a list in hand, that she was seemingly still putting the final touches on. Saph knew damn well that list had been done for days, and the gilded huntress had likely been waiting for her cue, but hey, it was a nice effect.

“Yes, we’ve put a little something together for you. Just the essentials to make it through winter,” Dakota explained, standing at attention before them.

“This… No,” Lady Deriva went in disbelief as Luke just stood there, seemingly not sure how to take that.

“Two barrels of salted meat, fifty kilos each; five crates of dried meats, twenty kilos each; and three crates of smoked meat, same weight. It’s all various kinds that we could find or just what we had. A lot of it we made ourselves. Nothing too fancy, but it should do the trick,” Dakota listed off as if that was nothing when in fact that was nearly a third of their stores of cured meat. Most of it had been brought in by Archeon with the intention to pad out their own diminished stocks letting them focus on more important things. They could buy more though if it came to that.

Dakota had just about finished the list when Luke fainted. Saph had seen it coming though, catching the guy and laying him down slowly, congratulating herself on a good catch for once.

“Nice one, Saph,” Dakota nodded as Lady Deriva went over to do a quick check on her son, before looking back up to Dakota wide-eyed.

“Moving on… We wanted some livestock for you, but no trader has had any, and we already have too few for our number. Sorry about that. Arch should bring some on his next run though. We also got one hundred kilos of flour in two barrels. So all in all, it might be a bland winter, but we hope it helps. There’s some general supplies in there too. Rope, nets, a little cloth, some of our old tools, and even...”

“Helps?!“ Lady Deriva exclaimed looking at Dakota slack jawed, turning to Nunuk. “What could you possibly want in return? We can’t afford this, you know that, Nunuk.”

“Well for one thing, you are not gonna blab about what’s going on here. Nor will you try to interfere with our more delicate businesses here,” Dakota answered in a slightly more serious tone. “We have the Inquisition breathing down our neck, it’s probably best for both you and us. I hope you understand. Shiva and Tom have also requested whatever decent metal scrap you have left over after the battle. We can always use more metal in these strange times it seems.”

“You will have it,” Lady Deriva replied with a deep nod, eyes still wide, quickly looking down to Luke at her side. “Believe me, I want nothing to do with those scoundrels. You cannot be serious though. Yesterday must have cost a fortune. Now you are giving us at least a month's worth of preserved supplies?!”

“You took quite the hit for us, and we can’t have you not making it through winter. And sitting here with everything we need while you might end up starving doesn’t sit well with me,” Nunuk replied, pulling a kind smile.

“You know at this rate I might as well swear myself to you with all the debts you have gathered,” Lady Deriva went, looking to Nunuk in disbelief. She stood back up looking at Saph and Dakota, shaking her head slightly, though she looked very happy. “Thank you.”

“Nonsense, we were past that point years ago,” Nunuk chuckled, patting the older lady on the shoulder a few times. “Now, I think we have some cleaning up to do… once people start waking up again at least… Honestly, it’s afternoon already,” Nunuk went, looking up at the sun, clouds starting to fill the sky. “And why does Raulf always have to be that accurate with the weather?”

“At least it might wake up those two,” Saph said, gesturing down at Jarix and Tiguan.

“If there is thunder, Tiguan will be on his feet in no time; he does not like that,” Luke added, seemingly having woken back up again, still lying on the ground, clearly not quite recovered from the news of what they were taking home.

“Jarix shot him in the ass by accident?” Saph questioned, looking down at the captain with a smirk.

“Don’t think so. Didn’t wanna talk about it,” Luke replied looking up. “I think I’ll just stay down here for a while.”

‘Poor guy,’ Saph thought to herself, looking down at the sleeping black pile of scales, kids busy rigging what was left of the various decorations on him. Straining her eyes, there were indeed Deriva kids among them, Saph letting a little smile creep onto her face. ‘Great success.’

“No, Tom, not that way,” Tink Junior protested from behind them, Saph turning to see a rather ragged looking Tom standing shirtless in the doorway.

“Oh no, not again,” Lady Deriva let out, looking at the human.

“Well, at least he has pants on this time,” Luke added, trying to stumble to his feet. Saph just put a foot on his chest to keep him down. Tom raised a hand as if to protest before sighing and lowering it again.

“Not dying, just hungover. I promise,” he replied, both Luke and Lady Deriva letting out a sigh of relief.

“Tink drank the gravity oil, I think. Nunuk or Dakota, I require you for shouting. I have a headache.”

“Oh for the love of all that’s holy,” Nunuk went, stepping over towards him as he turned to head for the workshop without saying another word. “Dakota, just start moving things up here for whenever we have a dragon ready to be loaded.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes, Mum,” Dakota went with a nod as the lady stomped off with Tom and Junior.

“Someone is gonna have a bad day,” Saph chuckled looking down at Luke, who just shrugged.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Tom found the hapless inventor sleeping soundly on the roof of the workshop. Twitch, who technically wasn't even allowed in this room, was sound asleep on the floor, clutching what looked like one of his bombs.

“For fuck’s sake…” Tom went, finding two layers of ear protection, putting in the ear plugs, looking at Nunuk. “That one for putting his life at risk, and that one for going where he’s not allowed and possibly risking all our lives… one second actually,” Tom went. He turned away from the fuming noble and went over to Twitch, inspecting what he was holding before ever so slowly prying it from his fingers.

“Right… I’m guessing some kind of grenade then,” he went with a sigh, looking at the polished metal orb. “Let's just put this here.” He very carefully placed the device in a padded box used for the flasks of blitz gel, then put on his ear defenders. “Okay, you may start.”

He was glad he put his hands over them too, as Nunuk was still perfectly understandable even through the three layers. The two idiots shot to their feet, Tink leaving the ground like he was in moon gravity before slowly gliding back to the ceiling. If Tom was feeling a bit better, he might have found it funny. Right now though, he was just pissed.

It took quite a while before Nunuk calmed down, Tom being quite happy with the chewing out the Lady had delivered as he took off his hearing protection.

“Now that that’s been handled, why did you think this was a good idea?” he asked, looking up at Tink.

“I felt tired and didn’t want to walk anymore,” the still clearly drunk inventor replied, looking down/up at the ceiling as he stood there in shame.

“Really… You fucking idiot. For all we know you may be dead in a week… Also, you are likely a cannibal now.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Twitch questioned, doing a double take before looking at Tom. To him, Twitch certainly seemed the less inebriated of the pair.

“One of the books referred to the stuff as ‘dragon essence.’ You do the math.”

“He drank old dragons?” the demo expert asked, looking up at Tink, who seemed deep in thought right now.

“I got no fucking clue, but maybe. Now, do we weigh you down, or do you wanna spend the next however long it might take on the ceiling?” Tom questioned.

“I’ll go find something heavy,” Tink replied in a defeated tone.

“You can borrow my weights for the time being,” Tom said, turning his attention to Twitch, pointing at the metal orb. “What’s that?”

“Armor burning bomb… I think.”

“You think?” Tom echoed, making it quite clear he expected more of an explanation.

“Well, it's a seasoned blitz gel fuze with acid around it. Metal outer protective shell, but glass inside. Throw it at a wall and it will splash it everywhere and burn through,” the demo expert replied, cautiously proud of himself.

‘Fuck, that’s actually quite smart,’ Tom cursed, making sure to keep looking angry. Luckily that was not a hard thing to do with his headache. “Is it armed?”

“I don’t think so?” Twitch admitted with far less confidence than Tom would have liked.

“Would you please make sure?” Tom went, shaking his head. “The fuck is wrong with you?”

“Hey, at least we didn't make the one he suggested,” Twitch went, pointing at Tink as he walked over to the box. Tom decided to take a few steps back eyeing the box with a cautious suspicion. As Twitch got to fideling Tom switched his gaze to the ceiling bound inventor, awaiting an explanation for that one.

“Glira wanted something that could kill one of the airships.”

“We agreed not to tell her about all that.”

“Well, she already knows about the ships. It's not like she just gained the need to blow one up,” Tink protested, Tom just sighing and gesturing for him to continue.

“Besides, you were the one that came up with the bomb idea. I want to talk to you about rockets though. I wanna know more on that point. Do you think…”

“What did you come up with for Glira?” Tom interrupted, glaring at the inventor that had cost him hours of time in a comfy bed.

“Well that, but bigger,” he went, pointing at the box. I have some drawings here somewhere too. “We went with a glass nose full of acid to burn through the deck. Then the bomb would drop inside and the second charge would go off.”

“Which would be?”

“Either flash or gas. Pick and choose,” the inventor replied with a shrug.

“I still say we use both. Choke the ones that don’t burn to death,” Twitch added as he finished fiddling with the grenade. “No fuze. It’s not armed.”

“Well thank whoever for that,” Tom went with yet another sigh.

“That would just burn off the gas. No good, you said so yourself,” Tink replied, looking at Twitch, who just shrugged.

“Eh, maybe. I think we could make it work.”

“Right, we will get back to that…” Tom conceded. If that could work, it was a way better idea than his of just using more explosives. And that breaching nade could be quite useful too, even if the current one looked to throw the acid everywhere instead of just at a door or wall like a breaching charge. “Where is Glira now?”

“She and the crew set up camp on some dry ground they found, hoping not to get wet when the rain comes. expecting the guy’s t take the greeting hall. Oh, and I think you should know, she’s more than good for any promises she makes,” Twitch went, holding a hand to the side of his mouth and winking like he was telling a secret.

“What promises?” Tom asked, crossing his arms.

“Well, from what she’s been talking about, she wants a machine gun, obviously, and is willing to pay a lot for it. She wants your new shotguns for her crew and the grenades you used at Deriva… In a sense, she wants every weapon you have made.”

“Yay, customers. Might wanna start calling me the lord of war… No,” Tom replied, trying to emphasize just how not interested he was. This was not something he wanted to deal with now, to say the absolute least.

“Don’t worry, some of these we can make ourselves,” Twitch replied, looking down at the bomb. “I’ve been fiddling with this for a while. Tink just helped out.”

Tom rather wanted to protest that but wasn’t entirely sure he could. “Right…”

“I will say, though, making that boom powder stuff sounds nastier than expected. Why do you have to use bat shit of all things?”

“You have been liberal with the secrets I see?” Tom questioned, glaring at Tink.

“What… he’s a demo expert.”

“Nunuk, shout some more at him when we are done.“ The lady huffed a little in response, Tom noting she probably required a bit more respect than that. “Sorry… Right, if you try and make any of that stuff just… at least show me what you are planning before getting started. I would rather you don’t blow yourselves up.”

“Thank you very much. I'll be sure to consult you,” Twitch replied with an evil grin.

‘You little fucker. You planned this. You’re hardly drunk,’ Tom cursed to himself. He would have to think about that later. ‘Well played Twitch, Well played.’ “I’m gonna go sleep some more. Come wake me up if that one floats off or drops dead,” Tom went, looking at Tink junior while pointing at his dad. Then he turned to leave, putting the ear defenders back on as Nunuk started shouting again with renewed gusto.

‘I hate hangovers.’

__________________________________________________________________________________

Saph had gone to help oversee the kids to make sure they didn’t hurt themselves or do anything too stupid. Both male dragons were out cold. Grevi and Glira were seemingly awake, just not moving much, though they had retreated to a safe distance away from the swarm of kids.

Ray was currently overseeing proceedings on Tiguan while Saph was stationed on Jarix. Zarko and Radexi were currently working on Jarix’s harness, which was quite hard when A) Jarix was sleeping on his side, B) The kids were still trying to decorate him, which included his harness, and C) Jarix wasn’t lying still, often scratching himself and rolling about. He usually moved when a kid decided that dangling from his ear or horn would be funny. or when someone tried to tickle him.

Of course, the kids were only emboldened when the dragon didn’t actually wake up, and even Saph had to agree it was quite a fun game, but it certainly gave her enough to do. They kept her busy running around to make sure no one got crushed or got too rough in their playing.

Then the rain came. Saph really wanted to go back inside, but sadly it was actually warm enough the kids didn’t immediately make a run for the keep. Instead, they started to run around, trying to find water to throw at each other as small puddles started to form.

It did manage to wake the dragons up though, Jarix slowly starting to stir beneath her as she grabbed Turinia before she slid off the now wet dragon.

“What’s that?” Jarix eventually questioned, head lifting off the ground. “Awww it’s raining… dammit.”

“Morning sleepy head. Just for your information, it’s afternoon, and you might still be drunk,” Zarko went, sliding down the dragon’s side as well and walking up to his head, demanding his attention. The apparently slightly confused dragon looked down at her. “How many fingers?” she questioned, holding up her hand.

“Some,” the dragon answered disinterestedly, looking around as if trying to figure out where he was. “Why am I down here?”

“You fell asleep while Nunuk was checking you over.”

“Why was she doing that?” the dragon slurred, clearly still inebriated.

‘Oh nooo,’ Saph thought to herself, pondering if this would make the afternoon more fun or just more work.

“You fell during the race… You do remember the race, right?”

“Oh right… Yeah… My head kinda hurts too… Did I lose a tooth?”

“Yup. The nimblest dragon in the sky, that I know of at least, and you got knocked down by a damn tree root… At least you had the decency to rip it straight out of the ground.”

“Well, at least I beat the tree stump,” he chuckled, sounding rather dopey.

“That you did. Now, more rain is coming. Wanna try and get inside?” Zarko questioned, clearly having switched to the best approximation of a motherly tone the lieutenant could likely manage.

Jarix just looked up at the rather distant platform, then around at the kids playing in the water puddles. “Nah storm’s coming, I like storms… Been a while since we last had one.”

“Okay then… Guess it’s gonna get rather nasty,” Zarko went under her breath. “Would you mind maybe moving over next to Tiguan then? You know how it is.”

“I know,” Jarix replied, getting up and spreading his wings out wide, making essentially a walking umbrella. Saph took Turinia and moved to be under Jarix’s left wing, walking with him and keeping an eye on the kids running around. As long as they kept burning energy they should be fine, even in the cooling rain. She just needed to keep an eye on anyone who might be getting too cold.

Tiguan had curled up on the rocks, head tucked under a wing and tail wrapped around himself as he lay there unmoving.

“You up, Tigs?” Jarix asked in a raised voice as they approached.

“Yeah, I’m up… Worlds still a little funny though,” Tiguan replied, his head rising up from under his wing. “What's up?”

“Not much. Mind if I lay down here? I think the rocks will be better if it keeps raining. Don’t like mud.”

“Sure, farmer boy.” Tiguan chuckled with a big smile, looking back under his wing. “All good in here?”

“We’re good,” came the chirpy sounding voice of Ray, a few kids joining in.

“Looks like you have become a tent, Tigs,” Jarix concluded with a chuckle.

“I guess. If only I was a red, then they would be warm and comfy too,” the black dragon replied, seemingly quite happy with the situation, even if Saph had a hard time trying to gauge if he was drunk or not.

“I mean, you’re black, a little soot wouldn’t do much; maybe they could make a fire?” Jarix replied, laughing uproariously at his own joke.

“Hmmm… “

“No, Tiguan, we are not lighting a fire under your wing just to make the kids warm,” Yilditz spoke up in a sterner tone, head sticking out from under the dragon’s wing.

“But why not?” the dragon pleaded, looking down at the lieutenant, who looked like the only thing standing between him and a facepalm was his dignity.

“Because you are drunk, and it’s full of kids in here,” Ylditz protested. Saph snickered a little, and Zarko, who was standing next to her, just shook her head and let out a sigh.

“But it might make me warm too,” Tiguan tried again, clearly not willing to yield that easily on this subject.

“I’ve seen it done before,” Jarix seconded.

Saph decided to lend her voice. “Yeah, Arch did it back when he was attacked by darklings in the night.”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, fine. If you want to light yourself on fire, be my guest,” Ylditz replied, clearly not happy with the idea.

“I wanna be warm too. We could make like an even bigger tent,” Jarix added enthusiastically.

‘Yup, he’s still drunk,’ Saph chuckled to herself as Tiguan’s face came back out of its hidey hole.

“Great idea!”

“Now hang on a second,” Zarko said nervously, clearly not finding it that funny anymore.

“Too late,” Jarix laughed as Tiguan carefully started stirring, making room for Jarix as the two of them formed a ring. Saph was all too happy to go help get some wood once the ad hoc construction was complete. Leaving child supervision to Ray, she took Zarko along to help pick up the few stragglers that were hiding under roofs and by the sides of buildings here and there, coming back with two armfuls of firewood.

At least they nearly made it back before it turned from rather regular rain into a truly torrential downpour, everyone quickly running back to the dragons to make shelter. Jarix made an opening for them, everyone rushing inside as he closed it behind them.

“Jarix protects his crew!” Kiran let out triumphantly, patting the dragon as Saph placed the wood in the center and tried to shake herself dry.

To Saph's surprise, it was actually incredibly cozy in here. They ended up with a roughly circular room, with dragon making up the walls, wings as the roof, and the two heads sticking into the space from opposite directions. The dragon's legs and tails, some of which jutted into the space, were being used as seating by some of the dragonettes. Saph appropriated Kiran's seat, picking the little guy up and putting him on her lap as she sat down where he had been, the rain hammering away on the stretched out wing membranes, making quite the racket.

Not all the water was kept out, of course. Holdey let out a shriek as some of it ran off Jarix’s wing and down his back, soaking the poor kid halfway through. Most of the other kids just laughed though, Vigon being the loudest. Seconds later he was splashed with quite a lot of water Jarix snickering as Vigon protested loudly.

Yilditz had reluctantly retrieved a tinderbox from Tiguan’s harness and was now getting started helping Zarko with the fire. The kids giggled and marvelled at their living tent, Holdey making his way over to Tiguan’s head, just holding onto an ear and sitting next to the dragon.

“This is nice,” Tiguan almost purred, inching his head just a bit closer to Holdey.

“I told you kids you were gonna like him,” Ylditz added with a chuckle as the fire started sputtering to life.

“Anyone up for a camp song?” Zarko questioned, as the fire slowly took hold.

“But you can’t sing?” Jarix countered, seeming genuinely curious.

“Thanks, big guy. Really.”

“Essy, can sing,” Kiran added helpfully.

“Grevi too,” Ylditz went with a shrug. ”There are not a lot of dragons that can sing.”

“I certainly haven't heard it before,” Saph agreed.

“It was pretty,” Turinia piped up, having a go at trying to mimic the song from yesterday.

“Hang on, you were still up then?” Saph questioned, looking quizzically at the kid.

“Uhm… no,” Turinia replied, failing very hard at being convincing.

“You were quite loud,” Holdey added, pretty much lying on Tiguan’s head by now.

“Can’t argue with that,” Yldtiz went, prodding the fire a little. The rain had intensified once again, to the point that Ylditz had nearly had to shout.

“I guess we are gonna be here for a while!” Saph laughed out, ruffling Kiran’s head a little. Then there was a thunderous boom. All of them gave a quick start at the loud noise, and a few of the younger kids suddenly looked less happy.

“Now, now. It's just a little thunder. Everything is fine,” Yilditz went, getting up and walking over to the other side of Tiguan’s head, hugging him as best he could manage. Tiguan looked less than happy, to say the very least.

“I know… I just don’t like it,” the dragon whimpered, Saph’s shoulders sagging. Though she smiled a little as Holdey seemed to redouble his hug on the dragon, and Kiran got up from her lap, running over and giving Tiguan’s snout a big hug.

“Now now, just lightning,” the kid echoed as more and more of the kids got up to go hug the dragon. Some of the more scared ones hid under his neck or in the crook of his legs.

The dragon froze in place, eyes darting around, clearly afraid to squish a kid, though his expression seemed somewhere between incredulity and pure happiness. Yilditz took a step back, smiling wide and clearly admiring the situation. As another thundercrack rang out, Tiguan tensed, a few kids letting out alarmed squeaks as most of them set about either hugging or petting the dragon. Tiguan quickly calmed down again and let out a happy rumble, his smile returning as he looked around the little “tent.”

Saph just leaned back on Jarix, smiling wide. ‘Now that’s a happy dragon.’