Adelie

Outside the open mouth of the stable, a klaxon sounded. Adelie watched Stefan perform one final check of the new stirrups on Soot's harness – both sides, walking all the way round the dragon's tail at his most careful, thorough pace. Only when he was fully satisfied did he pat Phoebe on the calf. She grinned down at him, flipped a chirpy wave to Adelie where she stood with Petunia and Tamra, and gently urged Soot out onto the perch.

Once the dragon was away, Stefan walked over. Phoebe's enthusiasm was infectious, and the big man was smiling. "I think this time we have finally solved it. This model has been much easier to fine-tune, and Phoebe seems satisfied."

"Are you really ok making these for us for free?" Adelie couldn't argue with the results, but the prototype that Stefan had brought back with him from the McCaffrey's factory was bespoke to Soot, and the materials were far from cheap.

"Provision of a complete and functional harness is part of our contract with McCaffreys-" Petunia started, her face showing the first edge of a frown.

"Don't worry." Despite the gentle depth of Stefan's tone, his interruption cut Petunia off. "We stand to benefit a great deal from developing harnesses for smaller dragons at this point in time."

Adelie gave him a quizzical look. "How?"

"I forget sometimes how new you are to the Imperial League, Addie," he said, and Adelie couldn't tell if he meant the remark to be condescending. He wasn't really the type to be, but it stung nevertheless. "Several teams are already said to be considering buying lunar dragons when members of their existing lineup leave. Your Phoebe and her dragon have turned everyone's heads."

"You're betting on future business?" Petunia said, her attention sharpening.

"As I said, the bet seems secure. With Soot we have at least the rest of this season's advantage on our competitors, with the data we can take from him."

Petunia folded her arms, expression sharp enough that Petra almost flinched to interrupt her. She said, "Did we undervalue that data when we agreed the terms?"

Stefan chuckled. "Peace, little flower." He'd taken to calling her that recently, and it still made Adelie wince, but Petunia hadn't objected yet. Maybe Phoebe would talk to him about it, the way she'd insisted on Adelie's position as head vet until Stefan stopped butting in on the radio. Regardless, and probably heedless, Stefan continued, "You could win the value back and more by thinking beyond this season yourselves."

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"What do you mean?" Again Petunia's tone was sharp, this time with the specific tension that had started to come over her whenever the subject of the team's finances came up. She'd assured them again that they were solvent, but something was eating at her from that quarter.

"Stud options." Stefan said it very simply but it sent a gust of chill up Adelie's spine despite the day's heat. "Soot's a few years from ready to sire a clutch yet, but I think you would find many takers already."

Petunia blinked at him, then looked at Adelie.

"He means for breeding." Adelie held her voice steady. Better not to think what Phoebe would say about the idea. "Like, we make a deal with a ranch to take Soot there and sire a clutch or two during the off-season once he's fully matured."

"Oh, and you sell it as an option now," Petunia nodded, then looked up again at Stefan. "What would it be, like, a flat fee on contract, and the take-up charge variable based on results? You could make that quite intricate, even renegotiable maybe… Adelie, how long would it be until Soot's ready?"

Adelie gaped at her, and somewhere under the cold, hard shock – the reminder that the Team Manager had actually worked in some sort of financial services business back home – was the quieter problem that she didn't actually know how to answer Petunia's question. She turned to Stefan to ask and saw an expression on his face like something sharp and heavy had just hit him right between the eyes.

For once, his voice lacked that deep, chesty resonance as he mumbled, "Um, well, traditionally, I think it is after the second ridge of horn forms on a dragon's brow. A few, um, a few years from race age. Perhaps four?"

"So we could build a renegotiation option for ourselves into the contract," Petunia said, more to herself than anyone else. "Say after two years, and then if Soot does well again next year we can say it wasn't a fluke and push for more on the take-up, yeah." She looked up again. "Thanks, Stefan, that's really helpful, I'll think about it. Anyway, we have to make sure we get the results, let's get to work."

Stefan shook his head gently and turned to walk over to his workstation. Adelie, still reeling slightly, caught Petunia's sleeve as the Team Manager started to walk past her. "Is this really ok?"

"What?"

"Won't Phoebe object? To selling Soot's whelps, I mean?"

Petunia's face flickered, slightly. "We're not selling his whelps, it's just breeding rights, it's different." When Adelie didn't immediately nod, Petunia put her hand over Adelie's and said, "I'll talk to her before I make any deals, don't worry."

Tamra had gone back to her station, leaving Adelie and Petunia alone in the middle of the stable. The odd moment of privacy tickled Adelie's memory, and she held on to Petunia's dress as the other woman turned away. "Uh, one other thing."

Petunia waited, her eyes flicking up the room to her laptop. From Adelie's headset where it hung around her neck, Phoebe radioed in, the scratchy, thin voice announcing she was starting her first fast lap attempt. Adelie said, "Um, about, um, the ghost. Marisa?

"Don't worry about it." Petunia patted Adelie's hand again. "We'll be moving out of the farm next week. You don't have to go there again if you don't want to."

"No it's, um, I mean," Adelie tried to get some words in a line and more or less managed, "before, um, you said you'd spoken to her, I mean, I had a conversation with a witch about maybe doing an exorcism, or something."

"Is that necessary? She's not hurting anyone." This time, Petunia gently pulled her arm from Adelie's grip. "You should try talking to her first, she's really nice, I promise."