Unexpected encounter 

It was as if the had skies opened. From one moment to the other the water fell down like stones. Icarus let out a huff and dropped a few metres before she caught herself again, wings heavy from the water. 

"We need to find shelter!" Azure yelled through the howling of the storm that came from all sides. The dragon let out an agreeing growl and tried to see something through the falling water on the mountain side, a cave or some kind of opening as a dark body crashed into them. 

Both dragon and rider let out a startled yelp, Azure suddenly had an armful of human and Icarus in the meantime tried to push off the black dragon who crushed into them. 

They quickly spiraled down. Azure threw his coat over the other human to stop their struggling. He was sure the other rider was as surprised by the weather as him, and Icarus threw up her claw one last time before she shoved the other dragon away and steered in the direction of the cave she saw for a second during the fall. She crashed heavily into the opening, Azure and the other rider flying out of her saddle and dropping hard on the ground. He heard a crack and felt a sharp pain in his leg. To his luck, he fell directly on the fucking arrow.

Before he could get back to his senses he had a dagger on the throat. The other rider had freed themselves from his coat and now sat on his chest. He held still, closing his eyes. "Come on, do it." He barely whispered through the pain in his leg and ribs he realised, in his left arm and the back of his head. He let out a defeated sigh, he felt so tired, better off dead to end the pain and the struggling. "At least I die a free man."

"What do you mean?" A female voice above him asked. He dared to open one of his eyes and looked into the most beautiful amber eyes he has ever seen. He blinked a few moments at a loss for words. "I-..." he took the woman in, her sharp nose, delicate face, purple hair, pointy ears, slender frame. She looked familiar, he realised. "You are the hero of the North," she blurted out, before he could say anything. 

"Nice to meet you?" He replied weakly.

"The former guardian of the eastern gate! The rider of the famous white feathered dragon!" Said dragon let out a pitiful whimper at that, similarly pinned down by a huge black forest dragon with impressive horns and a dark mane over his scales. Azure nearly killed himself as he turned his head in her direction, checking on her condition; if the purpleheaded woman hadn't removed the blade quickly he would have been successful.

"Wow, easy soldier! I don't wanna kill you. I just acted on reflex, so don't do it to yourself either! Thanks to you I didn't die. Fucking storm threw us off." She stood up and helped Azure to sit up too, her dragon did the same with Icarus who rushed over to her rider and pressed her snout into his face. Azure weakly stroked her with the hand that hurt less. 

"You alright there?" The purplehead kneeled next to him with a concerned look on her face. "I'm Corvi by the way, from the Southern Clan, but I bet so far you would've guessed." She helped him out of his soaked coat and hissed as she saw the blood under his left leg on the stone floor. "Oh shit, they got you a farewell present huh?" She went to her dragon and dug a small leather pouch out of his saddlebags before she sat down again next to Azure and tried to remove the boot.

"Oh it went straight through the leather."

"I fell on it just a moment ago," Azure explained, a bit airy. She abruptly looked up at him. "Lay back man, you're about to faint!"

He smiled at that, "obviously," he managed before the lights went out. 

Azure slowly woke up again, needing a moment to realise where he was. Above him was not a dragon barn ceiling but solid stone. Left and right of him were two purring dragons and somewhere at his feet he heard the crackling of a campfire. His leg still hurt but not as bad as before, and his left ribcage felt weirdly numb. Same with his left arm and shoulder. He turned his head and pressed his face into Icarus’ feathers, soothed by the familiar smell and feeling. The dragon let out a cooing sound at him followed by a few chirps. He never had seen and felt her that relaxed in her whole life. He had tears stinging in his eyes as he realised that the other dragon was cuddling his head onto her hip. She had never let a dragon that close before either.

"Oh, you're awake!" Corvi gently nudged her dragon to the side and helped Azure up.

"Here, drink some tea. I put some pain reducing herbs into it. You're really in a bad state. What have they done to your lower arms? The wounds look terrible,"

He just looked at her before taking a sip, leaving it uncommented. He frowned at the bitter taste but he had worse. His blanket dropped from his shoulders and he realised he was, except for his pants, naked underneath. Did she see the old scars on his chest?

Ashamed he pulled it back up, nearly dropping the hot beverage. "Can I please have my tunic back?" He managed. 

"Sure, just removed it to apply the balm. You were soaked from the rain too, it should be dry by now.” She reached over to the other side by the fire where his tunic hung over a dragon saddle. “Shoulders and ribs seem only bruised badly. And I could remove the arrow from your calf. Guess it was good that you passed out. Here, lemme help you." She took the mug back from him and helped him back into his clothes. "Did you work up a fever?" She pressed her hand to his forehead as she saw his dark blush. It did not help. 

"I-... I don't think so!" He murmured. He just realised that he couldn’t remember being so close to another person for so long before. The healers, sure, and Sari when they trained together, but this? He tried to get some distance between them on his sleeping bag.

To his embarrassment Icarus shoved him back so he fell into Corvi's arms. "Iccy!" Не scolded the dragon who seemed incredibly pleased with herself. Corvi only laughed and helped him sit up again. "Cheeky that one. So that's her name? Iccy?"

"Short for Icarus," Azure took back the mug with a nod, thankful for the change of topic. He felt weird. "I was five when I named her."

"I named mine Merle," Corvi grinned, "his feathers reminded me of Blackbirds so I came up with that. I was six, so..." 

That made Azure grin back, feeling less embarrassed. "Cheers to the dragons named by us kids I guess." And raised his mug to drink another sip.

"You should do that more often." Corvi smiled.

"What do you mean?" He looked up from his mug.

"Smiling. Suits you." She mumbled, now blushing herself. That made him stutter "W- well between nearly crushing from the sky a- and close to being slid open by a pretty woman there was not much time in between...!"

"Pretty?" She squeaked, looking at him with her big golden eyes. The pupils were slit like her dragon’s, he thought with wonder, when the understanding hit him. "Ooooooh my dragon is going into heat!" Corvi blinked at him owlishly. "And?"

"That, that might be a reason for my wording." He stammered. Corvi started giggling at that. "No, not really, the heats should never affect us that way." 

His face fell suddenly. "Really?"

"Yeah, I mean it's nice to feel that they enjoy themselves but it does not affect our reaction to other humans... hey, what's wrong?!" She got closer, worried, making a nervous fluttering gesture with her hands.

He realised his eyes were wet. "She has never enjoyed herself, you know?" Corvi mouthed his words, baffled. "What? But she's so young! Usually you let them jump and fool around with the others and when it happens it happens! They seldom have a clutch from that!

“How..." comprehension started to show in her face. "They didn't."

He shrugged, trying desperately to rub the tears from his face. Here he was, talking with a total stranger about his worst past experiences. Near death experiences might do that, he wondered, rubbing the tears away that kept coming. The dragons behind him shuffled closer and pressed into his back, Icarus let her head rest on his lap with a low whine. He hugged her firm, hiding his face in her soft feathered neck. Corvi softly stroked his back soothingly.

"Oh for fucks sake, I knew the North was home to a bunch of sick assholes but that is really the worst, and they call us savages," she snorted. Truer words have never been spoken.

Azure was just glad she didn't prod further. It was awkward enough crying, even more so doing it in front of someone else, after he was taught his whole life to not show weakness. To be a strong and reliable symbol of peace and prosperity for the northern kingdom. He remembered the monks of the dragon rider monastery, yelling at him when he cried. Feeling a warm hand on his back was… different, nice even. The calm presence of Corvi and the two dragons who purred and huffed to soothe him, he felt so incredibly exhausted after his emotional outburst, that still pressed into Icarus' side he fell asleep again. Corvi gently put another blanket over the defeated looking rider and tucked it in around him so he wouldn’t freeze. Even in his sleep he was wearing a wary frown on his face. She let out a quiet sigh. Who would’ve guessed that she stumbled into a northern dragon rider after her headless run from home? And their famous hero at that too?