"So where are we going this time?"
Nathime looked up from the parchment in her hand toward the speaker, that deep voice rumbling through her bones like thunder rolling across the plains. The giant dragon beside her had his head cocked to the side so that one large eye could peer down at her, attempting to read the piece of parchment in her hands, his pupil expanding as he tried to decipher the scrawling hand there. She smiled, turning the parchment toward that large lilac eye, watching the striated bands of colored muscle contract as his pupil adjusted, again trying to focus on the writing on the parchment. The hawk that had delivered it ruffled its feathers and shot off Nathime's shoulder, disappearing into the distance as quickly as it had arrived.
"It seems," Nathime started, "we're going to a small town near the border. It appears there's been some thefts of very valuable items there, and apparently someone was killed when they confronted the thief."
The dragon snorted as he lifted his head and looked up toward the sky, his wings rustling as he adjusted them. His gunmetal-grey scales rustled like leaves in a breeze as he crouched down, stretching out his foreleg to allow his rider to climb up to the saddle between his shoulders. "I don't see why *we* are the ones who have to go."
"Because, Kaillen, we're the closest and we're available." Nathime rolled the parchment up and slipped it into a pouch on her belt. Then she climbed onto Kaillen's back, settling into the saddle and strapping herself in. "And apparently there's no one else who can or wants to do it. Catching thieves and murderers is for rookies and those who don't have responsibilities, apparently."
Kaillen rose to his full height and made a rumbling noise low in his throat, as if he was displeased by her response. "Just because we don't check in regularly, or come back to say hello to anyone, they send us the unwanted dregs."
Nathime leaned forward and patted Kaillen's scaly neck. "Now, now. This could be quite easy. And if it is, then we can brag to everyone about how easy it was, and that they're lazy, soft-bellied marmots for not wanting to take on something so simple."
Kaillen laughed and spread his wings, tamping down with his hind legs to shove them into the air. A few quick flaps took them further away from the earth and higher into the air, and then he adjusted himself in the direction they were to go. Nathime leaned low in the saddle, thinking about the contents of the missive. A couple of thefts of valuable items and a murder. Not usually something a dragon rider was sent to take care of. But she knew that it had to be something more dangerous, something simply *more* than what was written on that parchment. And they would soon discover what it was when they reached the village. Until then, Nathime watched the horizon as Kaillen flew, his powerful wings eating up miles with every stroke. They would make it there by duskfall, she hoped, or just after true night, which meant that their investigation wouldn't be able to start with the next dawn. That was just fine, she decided. The trail wouldn't go cold. And even if it had, Kaillen could pick it up without fail.
They would find this thief. They would find the murderer. They would stop them and bring them to face justice. Nathime clenched her fist and swore that she would fulfill this job as quick as she could. Then she and Kaillen could go back to their mundane lives of patrolling the border and ensuring the peace of the country.
----
It was almost moonrise when Kaillen landed on the outskirts of the village, careful not to let his wings cause too much disturbance and wake those that had already fallen asleep. As soon as he landed, Nathime leaped from the saddle to the ground, then waited for Kaillen to make himself comfortable. They had already decided that he would remain outside the village and wait for her. There was no point in revealing all their cards before they had even begun their investigation. Giving him one last pat on the snout, Nathime started walking toward the village's entrance, a hand on her sword's hilt. It wasn't meant to be a threat, but she didn't know what she was walking into, and she wasn't going to take unnecessary risks.
Entering the village, she saw a few people still about even with the growing night, mostly people heading home or heading to the local tavern. They gave her odd looks as she passed, but she ignored them. She was dressed in riding leathers and light armor, nothing people out this far usually expected to see in a dragon rider. That was fine. Nathime was used to having strange looks cast her way and people underestimating her.
She decided to head for the tavern and see if she could find the village elder, or whatever passed for government here. She wouldn't stay the night in the village - they made her uncomfortable - but introducing herself and listening to rumors would prove far more useful to her than it would to stumble around blindly in the dark.