Dragon Rider Play

Jeremiah smiled, reassured. He carefully laid back down and tried to go to sleep.

The next day, Pat was back at class with her dragon, taking Erika along as well for Jeremiah so she'd keep up on lessons.  Erika wasn't happy about it, but it was better than all the catch-up work, and she'd have tales to tell!  Tithenor was allowed a short visit over breakfast, and the elf made the most of it.

Jeremiah was glad to see his friend, and enjoyed his company deeply. He talked with him as much as possible during the elf's visit.

Nightshade was happy for Erika's company. She was a good friend, and they got to hang out all day together!

Erika wasn't as quick to obey Pat as she was Jeremiah, but she did well in her lessons that day.  During the lunch break, though, she ran straight to Jeremiah's room and clambered up onto his bed.

Jeremiah laughed and stroked his beloved dragon. "Hi Erika! Good day so far?"

Erika chirped and purred, rubbing against him lovingly.  Yes!  But not nearly as good without him.

Jeremiah smiled and continued to pet her. "Hey, just keep up the good work, okay? I'll be all patched up before you know it."

Erika purred and licked Jeremiah's chin.  She'd be good!  She would, for him.

Jeremiah laughed and fussed over his dragon. He scratched her in all her favorite places, and gave her lots of loving.

The days passed easily enough. The dragons grew rapidly, and before long Tithenor finished his one month sentence and rejoined the group. He was quieter, more distant after the affair, sometimes short tempered, but it was clear to those who knew him he was trying, trying to return to what was, but something about his time imprisoned had affected him deeply.

Pat spent most of her time with Jeremiah, looking after him and helping him to heal. When he was released, she worked with him to hone his now rusty skills and catch up with the lessons he'd missed. She seemed to have found her niche in the group of looking after all three, Tithenor, Jeremiah, and Luke, making certain they looked after themselves as well as others.

As time wore on, and healed his wounds, Jeremiah found himself falling for Pat more and more. He enjoyed spending time with her, and tried to spend as much time with Tithenor as possible. He had sensed the shift in his brother, and tried to help in anyway he could. Tithenor, Pat, and Erika were the only ones he truly cared about, although he liked having Luke around a bit more than most.

Luke learned fairly quickly. He would never be a very strong or athletic lad, but his mad genius mind had concocted many strange and wonderful inventions from spare parts he begged Krudd for. Luke was never sure if the half-dwarf liked him, or was horribly annoyed by him, but Luke loved it here. He loved the dragons, and the learning. Even after his classes with Lucius were over and done with, he still went to the library in his free time and asked the professor questions and borrowed books from the trove of knowledge.

Lucius was delighted by this eager young mind and willingly provided anything he wanted, answers, books, anything. He did not often get a student that loved book learning.
Krudd would never reveal one way or another how he felt about the boy, but he would give Luke whatever parts he could spare without hurting the other students. He wasn't sure if he should be encouraging this mad man, but it was kind of fun to watch.
Wherever he went and whatever he did, Warrior was not far behind Luke, doing whatever he could to help. The dragon carrying some piece or other across the island was becoming a regular sight here.

One morning, Pat asked Jeremiah, "Do you want to try to race to breakfast?"

Luke loved Warrior dearly, and of course never neglected the dragon. At least twice a day, in the morning and again in the evening, Luke provided a solid hour to just doing things with Warrior, be it playing with the dragon, or caring for him.

Jeremiah grinned at Pat. "Only if you want to lose!" He challenged before he bolted towards the mess Hall. He had recovered very well, although he still kept mind to try and not push himself too far all at once, at least until 53 gave him the final green light.

Pat hung back just a little, close enough to keep Jeremiah running hard, but not push him beyond his limits. "Not fair! I didn't say go!" She didn't notice Warrior running across her path and tripped over his tail, rolling head over heels until she ended up in the dust right in front of the door. She lay giggling while Warrior trotted over and whined, afraid he'd hurt her.

Jeremiah came to a stop beside them. "You okay?" He asked Pat, and offered her a hand up.

If Warrior was there, sure enough, Luke wasn't too far away. "Hullooo!" He greeted. "Okay, hear me out a moment. I came up with a really cool idea...." He paused and grinned, and let the suspense grow for a moment. "Doors that opened and took your hat on their own!"

Jeremiah grumbled something about Luke wanting to hire ghosts.

Pat accepted the hand and stood, brushing herself off. "Why on earth would someone want a door to take their hat?" she asked, still smiling.
Erica shook herself, rattling her spines as she came to stand by Warrior.

Luke grinned. "Well, because then you don't have to take your hat off, and rich people wouldn't have to hire people just to open the door and take someone's hat."

Jeremiah shook his head and made sure Pat was okay before he fondly greeted Erika. "And how are you today, little lady?" He asked her affectionately.

Pat smiled and shook her head. "The point of hiring someone to take other people's hats is to rub in the fact that they are rich enough to do that. It's kind of like a status symbol."

Erica purred deeply and pressed her head against his side. She was getting big, almost as tall as his chest now.

Luke pouted, but wasn't truly brought down from that fact. "Yeah, but I imagine that'd be a boring job. Besides..." He grinned widely. "My invention will be far rarer to come by than a normal doorman, so doesn't that count? At least half?"

Jeremiah laughed softly and scratching in one of Erika's favorite spots to be scratched. "You're getting big.... soon I will have to try and make a final saddle for you, won't I? I wonder if Tithenor would give me some tips and make it look nice when it's done. He's good at making things look nice. I usually just get them done, but he gets done, and makes it look good."

Pat tried to hide her smile. "But then you are denying all those poor doormen of their jobs that bring in money for their families. Maybe you could make it anyway, I'm sure we'll find some use for it."

Erica closed her eyes and tilted her head, her purr deepening. That felt goooooood! But she wasn't sure about Tithenor. He acted funny these days, spending more time alone and only with his dragon than he did with his clan. Such an odd thing for a clan leader to do.

Luke nodded and contemplated. "Hmmm.... How would I even make such a machine.... and have it take hats no matter how tall or short a man is...."

Jeremiah sighed as he sensed his dragon's hesitation on Tithenor. "Maybe I will try and talk to him today, and see if that can help. Think that'll work?"

"Maybe a hat rack that moves instead of the door?" Pat suggested.

Erica chirped in agreement. That would make her feel better!

Tithenor slowly approached them, moving toward the door. Breakfast was an important meal.

Luke laughed. "Maybe." He turned to his dragon. "Okay, Warrior. I am going to get breakfast now. Stay here and be a good and cute dragon until I return?" He asked him.

Jeremiah smiled at Erika. "All right. As soon as I come up with something good, I'll talk to him." He hugged his spiky Erika before he followed Tithenor into the Mess Hall.

Warrior "barked" and sat down, waiting patiently for Luke to come back. He wouldn't move until Luke said he could.

Erika licked his chin then wandered off to find a patch of sun until it was time to go to lessons.

Pat followed Tithenor and Jeremiah into the mess hall, humming merrily as she stood in line then went to their usual table.

Nightshade chirped at Erika. She had found a nice sized stone that could hold the both of them. The dragons could both see the mess hall and be in the sun at that vantage.

Luke chattered with Pat about all the brilliant, weird, and zany ideas that were buzzing through his head. He was having a creative streak today, and the ideas were flowing to the young inventor.

As usual, Jeremiah piled his plate high and complimented the chefs on the food he knew would be perfect without having to taste it. He gladly sat down at his normal spot and dug in, and all the while contemplated on how he could go about talking to Tithenor.