chapter 2
- Eden doesn't work in the loading bay, but she's been there all afternoon working up a sweat because she arrived late and rumpled to morning drills. Better some extra chores than extra demerits. Besides, she gets to flirt with some of the cute pilots who coo over Eden's pointed ears and curled horns. Eden doesn't mind hauling around heavy stuff in front of them.
- "I've been looking for you," announces a gravely baritone.
- Eden spots Stonesworn before she sees his bond. The hulking dragon is at ease in the loading bay, able to stretch to his full height. The spaded tip of his tail lashes with restrained energy. Seven marches in front of him in civs, rolling his eyes as he spots Eden's onlookers.
- "Must've been a fun search," Eden replies with an easy grin.
- Seven is her direct superior, her drill sergeant most of the time. He's been gone for a while now, off on some Nidus with Stonesworn. She misses him. Eden loads boxes onto a skif, rubs sweat from her brow, and hurries to meet him.
- "Been busy, sir?" she asks.
- Seven looks over her shoulder at the small gaggle of pilots watching her and replies; "Have you? You've got some admirers."
- Eden just grins. "Is fraternization with pilots against regulation?"
- "Meet anyone special while I was gone?"
- Eden's face twists. "Hell no. None of that. I don't date anymore, I don't need that sort of shit complicating my life."
- She complicates it plenty herself. No more relationships for her - flings are fine, crushes are normal, being admired and wanted is great. But she doesn't need emotional attachments that are just going to leave her flayed and raw in the end. Better to keep things casual, no one gets hurt that way.
- "Like flights," rumbles Stonesworn, shaking out his neck and displaying the massive sprawl of his wings. "You outmaneuver your rivals, catch your queen, and move on in the morning."
- "After destroying a lot of furniture and losing some fur," Seven said pointedly.
- Now that she looked at him, it seemed like Stonesworn had a few extra scratches she would have written off as superficial battle wounds.
- "You were at a flight?" she asks, perking with excitement. "Outside the Heimdall."
- Stonesworn preened. "Traditional flights involve a chase."
- And he was all about that rush. The exact opposite of his bond, the calm and often tired Seven, who got through his day on caffeine and perseverance while Stonesworn flew circles around his troops.
- It seemed strange to Eden that two disparate personalities would form a lifelong bond, but she didn't completely understand the process. Seven and Stonesworn completed each other - they functioned better as a team, despite (or maybe because of) their differences. Two people, two personalities, a single unit from that first moment of bonding until death. A friendship that couldn't even be broken.
- Seven had a pensive look on his face and Stonesworn's ears were pinned back the way they did when the pair were communicating telepathically.
- "The Heimdall wants to send some candidates to Nidus Descendi to stand at Stonesworn's clutch," says Seven.
- Eden tried not too look to eager or interested at that.
- "Do you think you could apply yourself long enough that I can get you approved for candidacy?"
- The thought made her head spin. The potential for her own bond, a forever friendship with the perfect dragon that would never (could never) leave her. A means of making her place on the Heimdall permanent.
- A way to never been abandoned again.
- Eden shrugged dismissively. "I'll spitshine the General's boots to knock off some demerits."
Chapter 1 || Chapter 3
