by and spoke to me; some of them measured me for a new harness. Also, I have been talking to Maximus here, and he tells me we are to train together.’
Laurence nodded a greeting to the Regal Copper, who had acknowledged the mention of his name by opening a sleepy eye; Maximus lifted his massive head enough to return the gesture, and then sank back down. ‘Are you hungry?’ Laurence asked, turning back to Temeraire. ‘We must be up early to fly for Celeritas – that is the training master here,’ he added, ‘so you will likely not have time in the morning.’
‘Yes, I would like to eat,’ Temeraire said; he seemed wholly unsurprised to have a dragon as training master, and in the face of his pragmatic response, Laurence felt a little silly for his own first shock over it; of course Temeraire would see nothing strange in it.
Laurence did not bother strapping himself back on completely for the short hop to the ledge, and there he dismounted to let Temeraire hunt without a passenger. The uncomplicated pleasure of watching the dragon soar and dive so gracefully did a great deal to ease Laurence’s mind. No matter how the aviators should respond to him, his position was secure in a way that no sea captain could hope for; he had experience in managing un willing men, if it came to that in his crew, and at least Martin’s example showed that not all the officers would be prejudiced against him from the beginning.
There was some other comfort also: as Temeraire swooped and snatched a running cow neatly off the ground and settled down to eat it, Laurence heard enthusiastic murmuring and looked up to see a row of small heads poking out of the windows above. ‘That is the Imperial, sir, is he not?’ one of the boys, sandy-haired and round-faced, called out to him.
‘Yes, that is Temeraire,’ Laurence answered. He had always made an effort towards the education of his young gentlemen, and his ship had been considered a prime place for a squeaker; he had many family and service friends to do favours for, so he had fairly extensive experience of boys, most of it favourable. Unlike many grown men, he was not at all uncomfortable in their company, even if these were younger than most of his midshipmen ever had been.
‘Look, look, how smashing,’ another one, smaller and darker, cried and pointed; Temeraire was skimming low to the ground and collecting up the three sheep that had been released for him in one claw before stopping to eat again.
‘I dare say you all have more experience of dragonflight than I; does he show to advantage?’ he asked them.
‘Oh, yes,’ was the general and enthusiastic response. ‘Corners on a wink and a nod,’ the sandy-haired boy said, adopting a professional tone, ‘and splendid extension; not a wasted wingbeat. Oh, ripping,’ he added, dissolving back into a small boy, as Temeraire backwinged to take the last cow.
‘Sir, you haven’t picked your runners yet, have you?’ another dark-haired one asked, hopefully, which at once set up a clamour among all the others; all of them announcing their worthiness for what Laurence gathered was some position to which particularly favoured cadets were assigned, in a dragon crew.
‘No; and I imagine when I do it will be on the advice of your instructors,’ he said, with mock severity. ‘So I dare say you ought to mind them properly the next few weeks. There, have you had enough?’ he asked, as Temeraire rejoined him on the ledge, landing directly on the edge with perfect balance.
‘Oh yes, they were very tasty; but now I am all over blood, can we go and wash up now?’ Temeraire said.
Laurence realized belatedly this had been omitted from his tour; he glanced up at the children. ‘Gentlemen, I must ask you for direction; shall I take him to the lake for bathing?’
They all stared down at him with round surprised eyes. ‘I have never heard of bathing a dragon,’ one of them said.
The sandy-haired one added, ‘I mean, can you imagine trying to wash a Regal? It would take ages. Usually they lick their chops and talons clean, like a cat.’
‘That does not sound very pleasant; I like being washed, even if it is a great deal of work,’ Temeraire said, looking at Laurence anxiously.
Laurence suppressed an exclamation and said equably, ‘Certainly it is a great deal of work, but so are many other things that ought to be done; we shall go to the lake at once. Only wait here a moment, Temeraire; I will go and fetch some linens.’
‘Oh, I will bring you some!’ The sandy-haired boy vanished from the windows; the rest immediately followed, and scarcely five minutes later the whole half-dozen of them had come spilling out onto the ledge with a pile of imperfectly folded linens whose provenance Laurence suspected.
He took them anyway, thanking them gravely, and climbed back aboard, making a mental note of the sandy-haired fellow; it was the sort of initiative he liked to see and considered the making of an officer.
‘We could bring our carabiner belts tomorrow, and then we could ride along and help,’ the boy added now, with a too-guileless expression.
Laurence eyed him and wondered if this was forwardness to discourage, but he was secretly cheered by the enthusiasm, so he contented himself with saying firmly, ‘We shall see.’
They stood watching from the ledge, and Laurence saw their eager faces until Temeraire came around the castle and they passed out of sight. Once at the lake, he let Temeraire swim around to clean off the worst of the gore, then wiped him down with particular care. It was appalling to a man raised to careful grooming of horses and daily holystoning of the deck that aviators should leave their beasts to keep themselves clean, and as he rubbed down the sleek black sides, he considered suddenly the harness. ‘Temeraire, does this chafe you at all?’ he asked, touching the straps.
‘Oh, not very often now,’ Temeraire said, turning his head to look. ‘My hide is getting a great deal tougher; and when it does bother me I can shift it a little, and then it is better straightaway.’
‘My dear, I am covered with shame,’ Laurence said. ‘I ought never have kept you in it; from now on you shall not wear it for an instant while it is not necessary for our flying together.’
‘But is it not required, like your clothing?’ Temeraire said. ‘I would not like anyone to think I was not civilized.’
‘I shall get you a larger chain to wear about your neck, and that will serve,’ Laurence said, thinking of the golden collar Celeritas wore. ‘I am not going to have you suffering for a custom that so far as I can tell is nothing but laziness; and I am of a mind to complain of it in the strongest terms to the next admiral I see.’
He was as good as his word and stripped the harness from Temeraire the moment they landed in the courtyard. Temeraire looked a little nervously at the other dragons, who had been watching with interest from the moment the two of them had returned with Temeraire still dripping from the lake. But none of them seemed shocked, only curious, and once Laurence had detached the gold-and-pearl chain and wrapped it around one of Temeraire’s talons, rather like a ring, Temeraire relaxed entirely and settled back down on the warm flagstones. ‘It is more pleasant not to have it on; I had not realized how it would be,’ he confided quietly to Laurence, and scratched at a darkened spot on his hide where a buckle had rested and crushed together several scales into a callus.
Laurence paused in cleaning the harness and stroked him in apology. ‘I do beg your forgiveness,’ he said, looking at the galled spot with remorse. ‘I will try and find a poultice for these marks.’
‘I want mine off too,’ chirped one of the Winchesters suddenly, and flitted down from Maximus’s
