Petunia

"Ms Platt?"

Petunia twisted in her seat to find Stefan standing a few feet behind her, holding out a sheaf of paper. Around him, the rest of the vet team were straggling away towards the exit of the stable, their post-qualifying duties to Soot discharged. The dragon was sleeping the sleep of the just on his heated floor. The coders were still at it, as they always seemed to be, even now with their model better than ever. Phoebe had disappeared somewhere, giving her doctor and personal trainer the slip, but Petunia trusted Dr Arden to find her charge before too long.

Petunia took the paper from Stefan's hand, puzzled. There wasn't normally a written report from the vet team after quali. She said, "What's this?"

"The transfer-and-release paperwork," he said, halting as if about to say more and then stopping for good.

Blinking for a moment, Petunia noticed the McCaffrey's logo on the top sheet. Then her brain caught up. Stefan still officially worked for the harness company, after being loaned to Tenebrae to deal with the difficulties of fitting a harness for a drake as small as Soot. In theory, he went back to their offices at the end of the season, but it was hard to imagine the team functioning without him.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

She'd talked to McCaffrey's about an agreement to transfer Stefan to Tenebrae on a more permanent basis, which was probably what she was now holding. "I thought we were going to sort this out in the winter?"

"I wanted…" Stefan's lips twitched uneasily. "If Brynna doesn't succeed, I worried that we might lose our endorsement. I managed to persuade HR to expedite these. They arrived this morning, um, it should just need your signature in a few places."

Petunia thumbed through a few pages. The Raven's threat had been that he would reveal Soot’s origins publicly on the morning of race day. That left her all of fifteen, sixteen hours to read the whole contract, sign it and return it.

Still, she looked up at Stefan again. "Are you sure about this? Even if, you know…"

He nodded firmly, just once. "I am sure. I believe in you and Phoebe. I want to keep working with Soot."

"Well, ok." Petunia put the stack of paper on her workstation and stood, turning to face the big man. She put out her hand, having to hold it much higher than was comfortable so he could reach it to shake. "Thank you."