Maybe This Time [Possible M]

[DragonSong]

Azalea knew the quartermaster in passing, mostly, but they'd always been on friendly enough terms. Which is why she was surprised at herself when the older man's ribbing of Daxten made her hackles quite literally rise, lips pulled back in a silent snarl as she felt ice gathering in her chest.

Whoa. She forced herself to settle, glancing down and realizing that her talons had gouged rather considerable rivets in the earth below her feet. Her wings shuffled against her back, accidentally brushing up against Daxten's sides. She huffed when she realized what she was doing and tried to make herself go entirely still.

She merely nodded when the older man returned with the money and Daxten caught the pouch of coins. She was still a little taken aback by her own reaction, and seemed rather contemplative.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah." She huffed again and rolled her shoulders when Daxten's words registered. "Yeah, I suppose he is." She gave her head a quick little shake and glanced back over her shoulder at her rider. "Well. I suppose we should get moving." They should make this a relatively quick hunting trip if they wanted to get back in time to actually find a decent saddle before the next round of training started up.

[Paladienne]

Daxten looked back over his shoulder as Azalea began to move away from the quartermaster's building, so certain the man was watching them leave. He didn't see him, of course, and honestly hadn't expected to, but that didn't shake the feeling that the quartermaster's eyes were on him and Azalea.

Turning back around, Daxten tucked the pouch into his tunic and made sure it was secure. He didn't want to lose it, especially because he didn't think that he'd be able to get another allotment of coin and voucher. Then he adjusted himself on Azalea's back, ensuring that she would have a smooth take off so they could go hunting.

"I'm ready when you are, Azalea," Daxten said, tightening his hold in the rope that bound him to her back.

[DragonSong]

If she'd have been able to, she might have smiled a bit as she felt him tense on her back, the makeshift harness tightening just slightly around her chest when he gripped the ropes.

Without bothering to turn her head to look at him, she noted almost blithely, "I'm not going to let you fall, Daxten."

She glanced around, making sure the area in front of the quartermaster's offices was clear before spreading her wings, loping forward three steps, and launching herself into the air.

She circled higher and higher, watching the barracks and the city shrink below them until the greenery of the surrounding fields and forests came into view. She banked southeast, toward a copse that blended into her favored hunting grounds close to thr city.

[Paladienne]

"I trust you." Daxten replied softly, knowing she'd hear him whether he shouted it or whispered it.

As her body moved, Daxten leaned into the motions as he'd learned to do. Riding a running dragon wasn't all that different from riding a galloping horse; his body remembered the forward and back motions that he'd learned to do to spare the horse's back the constant pounding of his weight as the forces at work on his body worked against him. Granted, a dragon's back was far sturdier than a horse's, and Azalea probably didn't notice one bit. When he felt her muscles bunch and coil, Daxten leaned low as he'd been taught a few hours ago, centering his mass and trying to lessen the weight Azalea would need to compensate for as she pushed off from the ground and took to the air.

The take off was always exhilarating, Daxten had learned. Suddenly his body became incredibly heavy, as if the world was trying to pull him back down to it. But instead of being crushed by the unbearable heaviness, he instead became airborne, secure upon Azalea's back because of the harness. The wind from her wings buffeted him, but other than the fierce wind that tugged at his hair, Daxten felt nothing. And then...

Then they were in the sky.

Daxten shifted to sit back up as much as he could without causing too much drag, and looked around him, staring at the dwindling city behind him. He gasped softly, stunned. He'd caught glimpses during training, but he hadn't been allowed to enjoy the view from on high because he'd been constantly forced to pay attention to orders and maneuvers and to learn how to communicate with Azalea when she couldn't hear his voice over the rushing wind. But now he could. The city below them was almost like a child's toy, complete with tiny moving carriages and people going about their business, all ignoring the dragoness wheeling above their heads.

When she banked southeast, he leaned into the motion, his eyes tearing away from the city to the open world beyond its walls.

That land was even more breathtaking. Colors abounded before his eyes - greens, blues, golds, reds, yellows, cool purple shadows and soft pastel whites and creams - and he could see further than he ever had been able to before. He saw tilled fields and wild places, vast forests and deep rivers. He clutched the rope tighter and leaned lower across Azalea's back, staring at the flashing ground beneath them. When he raised his head, he realized she was heading for a copse nearby as the dragon flies, and he decided that this place was her hunting grounds.

Daxten smiled. He could see why. There was sufficient camouflage for Azalea to hide, to stalk her prey. He only hoped his presence wouldn't change her luck.

[DragonSong]

"Alright, hold on." Azalea dipped into a shallow dive, bringing them down through the canopy of the trees to come to a soft landing on loamy earth. She flexed her claws into the dirt as they touched down, enjoying the feeling of digging rivets into the soft earth for a moment or two before she raised her head and let her jaws crack open as she tasted the wind.

Shuffling her wings so they lay as flat as she could manage without jostling Daxten from his seat, she craned her neck back around to look at him with one eye. "There's a herd of deer about a quarter mile northeast into the trees." She seemed to want to say more, but hesitated, a long, slow blink shielding her eye for a moment as she considered.

"I...don't usually hunt with a partner. I'm used to stealth-diving from high up, but I'm not sure if you're experienced enough to hold on..." She cleared her throat and scuffed her claws against the dirt and moss beneath her feet. "I--I could try hunting from the ground, but..." She huffed a small, almost embarrassed laugh. "I don't exactly blend in to this environment. It's hard for me to find camouflage down here."

And she certainly had a point. While if she had been living in the snowy peaks like most ice dragons her pure white scales wouldn't have been much of an impediment, in the heavily forested areas of Adela she stood out starkly against the browns and greens.

[Paladienne]

Daxten frowned slightly. She was right; Azalea was far too conspicuous for an environment like this. White didn't exactly mesh with green and brown and make for an effective hunter. Were she somewhere else, ambushing from below wouldn't be a problem. Here, her survival depended upon a surprise attack, where prey wasn't entirely used to being swiped from the air. After a moment of thinking, Daxten slung his bow and quiver across his back and untied the ropes that held him to Azalea's back. He tied the ropes together then, making sure that they wouldn't hinder her or get in her way, and then he slid to the ground. He crouched as he landed, letting his knees buckle so he could absorb the force of impact up through his thighs. Then he rose and looked up at her.

"Go and hunt the way you want to." He reached up and patted her scaly shoulder, smiling a little. "I can hunt from below. Maybe I can scare something out for you."

He pulled his bow from his shoulder then and tested the string, drawing an arrow from his quiver and nocking it. He held the arrow loosely with just his finger to balance the shaft, the fingers of his other hand curled around his string, ready to add tension at a moment's notice. Daxten gave her a small smile.

"Just make sure you don't grab me by accident, okay?" He told her, his tone joking. Turning, Daxten strode off into the forest, his jaw set. Even if he didn't catch anything, this trip wasn't for him. It was for her.

[DragonSong]

Maybe I can flush something out for you.

Azalea narrowed her eyes in thought as a small rumble started in her throat. Maybe...

"Dax, hang on." She padded quickly after him and automatically snaked her head out to tap his shoulder with her muzzle. She froze, realizing what she'd done, and hesitated a moment, wondering if she may have perhaps stepped over some sort of personal line between them. But no, no a simple touch was alright, wasn't it?

Clearing her throat, the dragoness pulled her head back and muttered, "Have you ever done hawking? Y'know, hunting with a falcon or a hawk or something?" She didn't wait for an answer, continuing in a rush, "Well, if I understand the concept correctly, it's really a partnership-- it might even be a chance to practice some whistle cues?"

[Paladienne]

Daxten started at the sudden touch of her snout on his shoulder and spun around to face her, his eyes wide. After a moment, he relaxed, and blew out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. It was startling to be touched by anyone unexpectedly, never mind a dragon. But he realized that she'd probably done that out of instinct, considering touching him with her snout was preferable to grabbing him with a talon that could easily rip him to shreds.

Folding his arms over his chest, he shook his head. "My family was poor. We didn't have much, let alone something that was reserved for nobles. So when we hunted, it was the old fashioned way - tracking the animal, setting traps, hoping and praying we'd get something."

He looked up at her, uncertainty spreading across his face. "Are there specific whistles we're supposed to do? We just learned the touches for when we're in the air and you can't hear me over the sound of the wind. And I've never heard or seen a dragon rider use whistle signals before."

[DragonSong]

Azalea shuffled her talons against the earth and ducked her head a bit-- she looked almost bashful, or at least as bashful as a creature of her size and stature could be.

"Well, it's...not usually taught to trainees so soon. But since I've been...here a while, I sort of--sort of picked some of it up. And!" she hurried to add, her tail skittering back and forth over the earth behind her as a bit of excitement entered her stance, "And, I thought, well... When people use hawks to hunt, they intentionally flush out prey for the bird to strike. It doesn't seem impossible to do that on a larger scale..."

[Paladienne]

Daxten blinked, his head tilting somewhat to the side as he considered her. It was true that she had been here for some time - at least, that was what he'd figured, when he'd been told they were each other's last chance - and he would be a fool to not rely upon her superior knowledge. So he nodded, and stepped closer to her.

"Okay. So, teach me these whistles. We might as well see if I can do them before we decide we're going to try this. Better to know that we can do this before we start hunting something and you lose your chance at dinner."

[DragonSong]

"Ahhh..."

Oh dear. She really hadn't thought this through.

While Azalea had no issue remembering the whistles she'd heard dragon and rider partners use in more advanced drills, she rather abruptly realized that...dragons can't whistle.

"Um... Daxten?" She sighed, closed her eyes, then dropped her head and said in a rush, "I'm really sorry but I need you to turn around while I teach you, okay? Please just trust me?"

Oh, that was-- that was so stupid. What was she thinking? A bit of extra practice wasn't worth weirding out her newest partner, her literal last chance, not to mention risking her secret barely four hours after meeting the kid!

[Paladienne]

Daxten blinked at her request. Turn around? Why? How hard could it be to explain a whistle to him? All she would've had to do was tell him whether he used his fingers or simply formed a circle with his mouth and blew air through his pursed lips. She could describe the sounds to him, and he could try to get them as close to what she described them being. He was about to tell her this, when he saw the expression on her scaly face and realized she had squeezed her eyes shut and wasn't looking at him.

Understanding dawned on him then. She was nervous about teaching him this lesson that neither of them were supposed to know yet. She didn't believe in her teaching ability if he was watching her. Daxten scratched his cheek and looked away from her before sighing deeply.

"Okay," he said at last. "I'm turning around."

He performed the action even as he said it, presenting her his back. He wasn't going to berate her for being embarrassed and nervous; not if she was going to teach him something that would put him ahead of everyone else in their class. And he supposed with him turning around, he could have plausible deniability that Azalea was the one who'd actually taught him the whistles, and she would have the same in the fact that she hadn't actually been teaching him.

"Ready when you are."

[DragonSong]

Azalea gave a sharp huff of relief when he didn't argue with her and mumbled a quiet, "Thanks."

She waited until she was sure his back was to her, then took a few shuffling steps back and closed her eyes, curling her body into a tight ball as she allowed her form to collapse inward.

It had been a long time since she'd done this. Years. And dear gods she was out of practice, which meant it hurt. The young dragoness had to clench her jaw against an instinctive cry of pain as her whole body burned and broke, bones melting, shrinking, morphing, and rearranging themselves, wings cracking and drawing back into her spine, claws retracting, teeth flattening out as they shifted in her skull.

It was a painful experience, but blessedly brief. It only took a few seconds before she was left in her human form, crouched on hands and knees and shaking as the aftershocks of the change rippled through her. Snow white hair spilled forward over her shoulders, curtaining her face, and she thought vaguely, It's grown out. I'll have to cut it soon.

Azalea glanced up to Daxten's back, relieved that he hadn't looked around. Well, of course not. It had only been about four seconds, and he'd said he wouldn't.

"Okay..." Her eyes widened as she heard her voice. It was softer, not quite as echoing as it was as a dragon, though still distinctly hers. It was just strange to hear it after so long. Best do this quickly. Didn't want her new partner to get bored and try to glance back at her.

Shuffling back into the foliage a bit to get some cover, Azalea settled back on her haunches and proceeded briskly, "This is a recall." She whistled two short, sharp notes. "Bank left." A longer whistle. "Bank right." Another long whistle, though this one swooped up at the end.

She ran through roughly half a dozen more simple command whistles, quickly as she could. "Alright. You've got that? Think we can try it?"

[Paladienne]

Daxten listened as she gave the commands, frowning at the difference in her voice. It wasn't as booming or as powerful as before, but he chalked it up to the fact that she was trying not to bowl him over with the sharp sounds of the whistles. Dragon lips, he decided, weren't made for making human noises. Still, he appreciated her taking the effort to teach him, and so he practiced for a moment after each one, pursing his lips to get the sound just right as he blew air through his lips. It was awkward, mostly because he wasn't used to whistling, but he somehow managed to get an approximation of the sounds. It would take much more practice for him to get them just right.

He started to turn, then froze, remembering that he'd promised he wouldn't turn around, no matter what happened. Instead he put his hands on his hips, and sighed. "Okay, let me get this right."

Two short, sharp notes. "Recall." A longer whistle. "Bank left." A long whistle that swooped up at the end. "Bank right." Daxten continued through the other simple commands she'd taught him, ensuring that they were at least loud enough that she could hear him from on high. He didn't get all of them right, and often times he failed at whistling entirely, but he managed to at least get the important ones correct. He sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Okay, let's do this." He held up a fist and gave it a short wave. "You get in the air and let's see if you can hear me. If you can, then we can get this hunt started before it gets too late."

[DragonSong]

Azalea shrank back automatically when he started to turn, though thankfully he stopped before she had to come up with some sort of hiding place.

Or, worse, explanation.

She waited until he was done repeating the whistles; he seemed to have gotten most of them down, at least the most important ones, which was all she really could have asked for or expected. She nodded quickly when he suggested she get in the air, then remembered he couldn't see and flushed.

"Right. Hang on." She closed her eyes and inhaled, focusing on the pulsing cold in her chest where she felt her power came from.

It was easier this way, taking her dragon form. Probably because this was the shape she'd been most comfortable in for the last four years or so-- well, most of her life actually, now that she thought about it. She may have been born in human form, but even as a child she'd mostly played as a dragon.

She shook her head, trying to snap her attention back to the present, and felt her neck elongate as she did, her spine bending, stretching, curving as she fell forward onto four paws and spread her wings.

With a soft "Oof" she twisted her head from side to side and arched her wings back, cracking the joints as her body resettled. "Alright. Ready when you are!"

There was her voice. Almost the same as when she was human, but just a little...more. The echo of cracking ice beneath the words, a soft thrumming in her chest on the reverb. With a satisfied little snort, she snapped her wings open again and leaped into the air.

Takeoff from a standstill was typically rather difficult, but this was one instance when her smaller size was a benefit: her wing-to-body ratio was larger than an average dragon, allowing her to lift up quickly and easily. She spiraled up, higher and higher, until she was a white shape against the blue, almost able to be mistaken for a bird of prey as she circled above the grove.

[Paladienne]

Daxten tilted his head back to watch the sky, soon spotting Azalea above him. He wasn't sure why she'd needed him to turn his back, and found that he really didn't much care. She had her secrets and he had his. If this was the way to build trust between them, then that was what he would do - build trust. He waited until she was high enough that no one would recognize her as a dragon before he inhaled deeply, pursing his lips and letting out a long, loud whistle, the signal for her to bank left. As soon as he saw her obey, he let out another whistle, this one to bank right. Smiling, pleased that she could hear him, Daxten headed into the forest to see what he could rustle up for her.

Every once in a while, Daxten let out a shrill whistle only to let Azalea know where he was relative to her. He continued through the forest, moving slowly and carefully, looking for something that would ease a dragon's hunger. He wasn't so concerned with himself; he was certain he would find something to eat, or he could see if Azalea would share a little of her meal with him. Otherwise, well. It wasn't like he wasn't used to going hungry.

Daxten froze, his foot balanced precariously on an upraised root. Ahead of him, its head lifted as its ears swiveled from front to back, was a large buck. Its antlers had many prongs, signifying its age and strength. Quietly, Daxten nocked an arrow and brought his bow up, pulling back on the string. He didn't need to kill it. He only needed it to send it into a panicked run toward a clearing. He pulled back on his bowstring even more, then released his arrow.

The shaft flew true and struck the buck in the hindquarters. It squealed and took off at a flat run, and Daxten gave chase. He needed to keep the animal in sight to lead it to where he wanted it to go, making noise to startle the deer into making wrong turns.

Bank left! Daxten whistled as they took a sharp left. Ahead loomed a clearing. He hoped it was big enough for Azalea to rocket down and make her kill, otherwise he would have to chase the buck down himself.

[DragonSong]

Azalea couldn't help smiling to herself, just a bit, as Daxten's whistles floated up through the air and she found herself almost instinctively following the cues. She flew almost lazily for a time: until she heard the sharper whistle, bank left, and cut her wings through the air to follow the directions, looking down to search the trees for whatever Daxten had found.

There. The clearing. The flicker of movement over the earth that was the startled buck.

The dragoness narrowed her eyes and dove, front claws outstretched like a hunting hawk's, wings clasped tight to her sides as the wind tore passed her sides--

SLAM!

The buck was killed almost instantly by the impact, neck snapped, and Azalea had to curve her flight upward quickly to avoid plowing into the ground with him. She circled the clearing once, twice, then came in for a proper landing. She was almost panting, and a slight chill in the air around her betrayed what would have been a happy flush in human form.

"Nice shooting," she chuckled, giving Daxten a wink and a tilt of her head that was a draconic smile. "...I think we make a pretty decent team."

[Paladienne]

Daxten grinned at her, slowing to a halt as he joined her in the clearing. He saluted her with his bow, and laughed. "Yeah, I guess we do."

He resumed moving, coming closer to Azalea to retrieve his arrow from the buck's hide. He didn't want to have to make more, or buy new arrowheads, and since she hadn't broken the shaft, he figured he might as well get it back. He scrubbed the arrowhead clean in the grass, then moved to a safe distance and settled on the ground, cupping his chin in his hands.

"No need to wait on my account," Daxten told her. "If you're still hungry after that one, we can try to rustle up more."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, I doubt I need the whole buck." Azalea settled back on her haunches and reached her forepaws toward the animal. With quick, careful strokes, she set about stripping pelt from meat and meat from bone.

Perhaps it was a habit born from dinners with her father as a child, but she found she really never liked just tucking in to a raw animal with only her fangs.

Separating out a large strip of flank, she cocked her head at Daxten and blinked once. "Aren't you hungry? We should have time for this to cook, if you set up the campfire now."

[Paladienne]

Daxten blinked, uncertain if he should take her up on her offer or not. But he shrugged and moved to build a fire. He was certainly hungry, and he didn't know if he'd be able to get to the mess hall before it closed for the night. Especially since they needed to get themselves a saddle before the day was out.

It took him mere minutes to build the fire and get it steadily roaring. It took him only moments more to whittle some sticks down to use them as skewers, and on them he put the strips of meat that Azalea had created when she'd gutted and cleaned the deer. He wasn't sure exactly what she was going to do with her share, but he had built the fire hopefully big enough for her purposes as well.

Then he settled in the grass and waited for his share to cook. "I've never seen a dragon dress a carcass as neatly as you do." He winced, realizing how insensitive that sounded. "I mean, you're the only one I've ever seen. Where did you learn to do that?"