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Chapter 5: Old Friends

XxX

(Endurance, Skylar's Quarters)

It had only been a few days since the riders had gotten Skylar back to the Endurance but between the healer's salves and his own efforts the damage inflicted by Drake was near gone. Now the Templar moved through his morning exercises, testing the limits of his movements.

As he flowed through the familiar katas Skylar let his mind wander free, free from thought, free form emotion, he needed to re-centre himself after the trauma of his wounds and the shock of Ian's decision. He hadn't left his room since Ian's visit, but he was certain that the riders were recovering just like he was. The dragon's flight back was admittedly impressive.

No, he mustn't focus on that, he needed to let his mind be free from thought and emotion.

Why hadn't Ian taken his out? Skylar had wanted the Ignitus whelps to be his teammates, they were by far the best option to have crossed his path but why was Ian not running away with his brother?

Damn, he wasn't going to get anywhere thinking about this, he'd even stopped going through his katas.

The brother. Skylar barely suppressed a growl as he thought about the dragon. He distracted himself by stretching off. The mere thought of being so close, being on this ship with dozens of the animals was enough to make his stomach churn.

Ian's brother… well he was not what Skylar had come to expect from the Ignitus, especially given who he was. Hell, Kai's aura was-

CUT THEM DOWN

Skylar's body seized, pain coursed through his body as he dropped into the sand spasming with lighting curled around him.

XxX

(Endurance, Ignitus caves)

The main area of the Ignitus caverns on board the Endurance doubled as a Rider's lounge. There were multiple grass pastures and small outlooks dug out of false rock for the dragon and human partners to relax and bask under the heat from an artificial sun.

“I'm bored!" Kai growled, fidgeting around on the rock to soak up more heat. “How do you spend all this time doing nothing?"

“It's called having patience whelp." Tarth muttered, he along with several other dragons and their riders were taking advantage of the slow day to relax. “Take some time to enjoy it, you never know what's going to happen."

Kai made a noise before rolling over to grind his spine into the rock. His muscles were still stiff but that wasn't anything a good flight couldn't fix. The only problem was that unless Skylar authorised a flight Kai was grounded and doing tight circles within the caverns on board just made him feel worse. Kai needed to really stretch his wings, but the Templar hadn't been out of this room in days. Ian even asked the Caleb about him, but the wolf shrugged it off assuring Ian that Skylar would come out when he was ready.

“Do you want to learn something?" Tarth eventually growled, interrupted Kai's thoughts just because Kai had a whelp's energy did not mean that the older drake had the patience to deal with him. Why did James run off with Ian? James was great with whelps.

“Is it boring?" Kai asked, he was all for learning something cool but didn't want to sit around for hours.

“I don't know, is shifting boring?"

“Shifting?

Tarth answered by closing his eyes and focusing. Kai felt the other dragon's magic flare before Tarth began to shrink, from muzzle to tail that dragon grew smaller and smaller until he reached Kai's size and stopped.

“That's awesome!" Kai chirped bouncing over to Tarth to poke and prod the older dragon to try and find some evidence of the magic that he had just used. “I didn't know you could do that. Can I really do that?"

“Older Ignitus have to learn if they ever want to visit a town or city." Tarth explained as he pushed Kai's exploring muzzle away. “Can't walk around when you're bigger than the buildings you want to see."

That made a lot of sense it also explained why none of the instructors at the academy ever seemed to outgrow the hallways. Some of those elders were as old as dirt.

“So, will you sit still for more than five minutes if I show you how to do this?"

After promising that he would Tarth started going through the basics of how to shift and was pleasantly surprised by how good a student Kai was. The young drake soaked up the lesson like a sponge and Tarth almost feared that kai would get it right on his first try and never let him have peace.

The sight that Ian arrived at later that day made the Rider freeze. Tarth had returned to enjoying the heat and not bothered to waste the energy returning to his original size but even more bizarre was the state that Ian found his partner in. Throughout the course of practicing shifting, Kai had managed to enlarge his right legs, shrink his tail, and manipulate his head so that looked seriously deformed.

“What are you doing?"

Kai might have tried to make words form but he had somehow managed to shrink his tongue to the point of non-existence. Tarth took pity on the drake after a few failed attempts at talking resulted in a distressed whine.

“I taught him how to shift," Kai made a sound of triumph as he got his tongue to grow back only to realise that it was too big and hanging from his mouth. “He's still practicing."

“Is he going to be alright?"

“He's not at risk of doing anything permeant, this way he can feel out what not to do for when he really needs to use it." Tarth explained. “It's a learning experience."

“So, what can he shapeshift into?"

“Nothing."

“But- “

Tarth held his paw up to stop any argument before he carefully demonstrated what he meant. Ian was dumbstruck as the talons on the Ignitus' paw moved around until Tarth had an apposable thumb.

“For an Ignitus shapeshifting isn't about becoming something else, though the most proficient can become others. It's about having mastery over ourselves." Both the younger Riders watched in awe as Tarth's body shifted and the dragon was standing on his hind legs, not quite fully anthro but far from completely feral either. “In the past, before we had Riders who were able and willing to live among us being able to shift was the only way for our kind to interact with the other races of Terra without causing fear. Anything more than being able to change our size has fallen out of practice over the years however."

“Because of us?" Ian asked.

“Yes, that and times have changed. The Ignitus are far more well-known and our reputation isn't that of dangerous apex predators like it once was." Tarth smiled as he returned to normal. “I admit I don't practice very often, I'm not yet of an age where my size is an overwhelming issue."

“That's still awesome." Ian exclaimed feeling a wave of enthusiasm roll through him that was mostly Kai's. Followed almost immediately by the roar of his brother's stomach. “I think someone's hungry."

Tarth took pity and helped guide Kai back to normal before sending the pair away. He planned to enjoy the rest of the peace that would surely come from them not being here.

The boys smirked at the older dragon and threw themselves at him before the older dragon could settle back down. Ian laughed as he hung from Tarth's neck and Kai crawled onto his back to give him a fierce hug. Tarth weathered the assault for exactly five seconds before he shook Kai off him and tossed Ian at his partner. The pair laughed as they left the hanger. It had never occurred to them that the Ignitus must have been able to change their size like that because some of the elders were huge and they all still fit in the caverns of their home.

“So how big do you think dad really is?" Kai asked as they walked through the hanger.

“I don't know- “Ian stopped as a thought struck him. “How old is dad anyway?"

Kai frowned glancing around at some of the other Ignitus in the hanger. “A hundred?"

“How do we not know how old our dad is?" Ian asked feeling a little ashamed for not knowing something as simple about the dragon who took him in.

“Dad doesn't really talk about himself and let's not get started on mom Jeez." Ian rolled his eyes, knowing the argument that was coming even as Kai growled. “A day? That's all we're worth to her?"

“Kai come on, Dad explained it to- “

“No, he covers for her." Kai cut him off, still growling. “I mean she has two son's she could at least make it two days a year."

Ian tried not to flinch. “You know she never wanted me in the family."

Kai deflated at that, even with how young they both were, nothing would make them forget the argument their parents had the first time Naddaba came home and found Ian. She'd gotten used to the idea and come around but Ian and Naddaba's relationship would always be stained by that first explosive introduction.

“Kai! IAN!" Both Rider's snapped to attention as a familiar voice called out to them and a dragoness slightly bigger than Kai bounded from one of the top levels of the hanger and rushed towards them.

“Is that Samantha?" Kai asked before the dragon in question pressed her forehead to Kai's and gave Ian a big lick.

“Yep that's Sam alright." Ian muttered wiping the drool from his face. “Nice Sam."

“Small world eh boys!" The dragoness chuckled backing up so that the brothers could get a good look at her. Samantha had grown since they had last seen her, she now stood a good few inches above Kai and was almost a foot longer. Her rich sapphire blue scales looked as vibrant as ever and Ian had to admit her deep blue eyes were captivating. She was an attractive dragoness by Ignitus standards and Ian felt that familiar buzz travel through his brother at the sight of Sam. As always though Ian's gaze snapped to the albino scales covering Sam's forelegs, the scales looked like sun-bleached bone. “What are you two doing here?" Thought you were being boring and delivering mail or something?"

“What? No, we got assigned out here to a Templar. No mail deliveries." Ian said quickly. “What about you, did you get the Carrier garrison or…?"

“Nope!" Sam said popping the P with pride “Me and Davros got out very own Templar. His name is Raz and he is epic! He has this crazy magic that can bend reality or something."

“Sounds awesome!" Kai said getting giddy at the sight of the other dragon, the pair were awful for setting each other off but they got along like a house on fire. “Skylar's got some cool magic to, Ian's still boring though."

“How is lots of fire boring?" Ian demanded. “Jealous much."

“I can breathe fire remember."

Sam cut between the two brothers before they could start another argument.

“Wait hold up and repeat that last, you have who for a partner?"

“Skylar."

“The Lieutenant? That asshat?" Sam made a sympathetic sound. “Ouch, I'd get rid of him quick."

“Why do you say that?" Ian asked, he already had an idea why Sam didn't like him.

“Aside from him being a fucking- “

“Sam!"

“Ohh Someone's in trouble." Kai sing songed looking behind the dragoness to see her partner and Templar walking towards them. The brothers smiled at Davros, Sam's partner, the human looked very much the same as the last time that they'd seen him, and his soft brown hair was still cut short. Davros was something of an oddity among Rider's, he was always dressed smarter, than the others. Ian wasn't exactly scruffy but growing up with dragons who didn't wear anything left all Riders with a certain lack of… finesse when it came to their clothes. Davros seemed determined to avoid that stereotype even though he was wearing the same breaches, the same shirt and the same boots as Ian but Davros looked neater than a rider should.

The Templar on the other hand looked exactly as expected, the Acrisus, Raz Sam had called him, was wearing an impressive set of armour that looked almost organic in how closely it was fitted to his body. Raz's scales were darker than Drake's had been giving him an almost black look that matched the dark shades of his armour.

Sam blinked at the pair before the dragoness started laughing nervously. “I… I threw you guys off, again didn't I?"

“Ya think?" Raz growled, rubbing his neck. “Seriously girl."

“I'm sorry Raz, I'll talk to her." Davros had the tone of someone who had had this conversation many, many times. “will we see you tomorrow?"

“Depends on the boss, see you guys later. Riders." The Acrisus gave Ian and Kai a nod before staring at Samantha. “Sam."

“Bye… Sleep tight." Kai slapped a paw to his muzzle as Raz walked away with a shake of his head before the dragon burst out in a fit of laughter.

“'Sleep tight?'" He mocked in a high-pitched whine making Sam whirl on him. “Need a hug Sam?"

“Oh, be nice," Ian said, trying not to laugh to much himself. “Look, it's not always easy not to throw people off, you've managed to do it me a few times," The human pointed out to Kai.

When I was five and you rode me like a Horse?" Kai shot back only to snap his head around when someone snorted at him.

“Ian rode you?" James asked, the rider having overheard their conversation as he walked past. Kai looked mortified and even Davros for all his composure struggled to hide his grin. “Sounds like an intimate upbringing."

“That's not what I meant!" Kai looked between the riders before looking at Sam. “They're ganging up on us."

“They are. I don't appreciate that sentiment," Ian said, even as he smirked. It was quite funny. “I wouldn't do that to a dragon."

“Of course. Tarth is still waiting on that dinner by the way." James smirked, he ignored Ian's dumbstruck expression to look at Sam. “So 'Sam' isn't a typical Ignitus name. There a story behind that?"

As one the younger Riders groaned, and Sam gave a genuine growl.

“I've stepped in something, haven't I?"

“Well- “Davros began.

“My parents are areseholes." Sam snapped.

“That pretty much sums it up actually." The rider admitted. “It's not her birth name."

“Something we still haven't figured out." Kai muttered.

“If she wants to tell us, she will eventually. Don't prod at it." The human muttered back to his brother. Sam was fun, but she snapped a bit too easily.

“So, I suppose the reason you became a rider was?"

“Second verse same as the first." Sam growled and James took the hint.

“So, Ian, how's your Templar?" Davros asked, only for Sam to growl again. “Have I stepped in something now?" James made a so-so gesture before looking to Ian.

“Skylar? He's fine, I suppose. Still kind of warming up to each other, but he's getting there. Has his likeable moments." Ian smiled. “I think we'll be quite friendly soon. Soonish… Maybe."

“Wait. Skylar Ventaris, the lieutenant?" Davros winced. “Ouch, you ended up with him full time?"

Sam growled again and slapped Kai on the shoulder making the other dragon wince. “Come on let's get some food, I'd rather not talk about dicks."

“Still going for butch then?" Kai teased getting a threatening growl from the female, before she bit him. “Ow, shit, joke, joke." Kai rushed ahead towards the mess.

“That's better." Sam grinned.

“Why are you so violent?"

Davros sighed as his partner absconded with Kai and gave Ian a helpless look. “Want to trade?"

“Switching partners for a day could be funny. Though Sam might actually eat me." Ian admitted. “It'd be an interesting experiment."

“I'd get through a day without having to worry she'll do something embarrassing." Davros laughed before sobering up and offering James a hand. “Sorry, I'm Davros, nice to meet you."

“James and don't worry about it. I'm starting to think I missed out having an older partner. Tarth just sleeps." The older rider admitted.

“Do you want to trade?" Davros asked before Ian playfully cuffed him around the head.

“Be nicer, yeah? She's the only partner you've got."

XxX

(Endurance, Riders mess)

Skylar marched into the rider's mess looking for his teammates. He had finally got the paperwork sorted out to take the two for a week-long training exercise but now he had to organise all the supplies that were required for such a trip. First, he had to tell his riders and for that he had to find them.

Kai was fortunately the first dragon that he found but there was no sight of his brother anywhere in the hall. Skylar only spent a moment debating on if he should try and find the rider before marching over to Kai, he would not be intimidated by a whelp, no matter how much his skin crawled at the sight of him.

“Ignitus." The dragon snapped his head up at his name, going wide eyed at the sight of the Templar. “Where is your brother?"

“Ian's hanging with Davros." Sgt Razgek's Rider? He hadn't realised that they were back yet. They'd be doing patrols up and down the border to the wastes, he looked forward to seeing those reports. “Me and Sam are just getting something to eat."

“Sam and I." Skylar absently corrected as he turned to see what was causing the deck to vibrate behind him and went still at the sight of the large dragon standing so close to him.

“Skylar, Sam." Kai knew that they knew each other but wanted to break the awkward tension between them. He hadn't missed how tense Skylar had become. Sam recovered quickly and put her weight onto her hind legs so she could grip the hunk of meat in her muzzle with a forepaw instead.

“So nice to see you again." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Skylar didn't let it faze him, facing the familiar dragon with a blank look.

“I'm sure." The two stared at each other, a silent battle of wills going on between them before Sam huffed and looked away first.

“Well can't say that it's been a pleasure to see you again." The dragoness quipped and moved to clap the Templar's shoulder. “But I'm glad- “

A flash of magic, that's all Kai saw as Sam was sent sprawling across the mess, knocking over tables and benches as the dragon ploughed through them.

He may have to work with them and ride on the back of the animals, but he would not let them touch him! The lights gave a harsh flicker as the Templars rage grew, an arc of lightning curled around his fist.

Over on the other side of the hall Sam snarled as she struggled to right herself, static flickering over her chest and neck where Skylar's magic had struck her.

“Stay down specialist." Skylar ordered, his words like Iron. Sam ignored that order, and the pain and shaking in her limbs as she struggled to haul herself to her feet.

Skylar was in no mood for games though and brought his hands together the moment he saw Sam disobey. He started gathering magic, a lot of it, more than enough for everyone in the room to feel and enough to affect every light in the mess.

The ball of condensed power was flashy, discharging random arcs of magic into the floor and ceiling, but it didn't have to be efficient. Skylar could hit Sam with it and not kill her, and he could do it again and again as many times as she wanted to get back to her feet. Skylar had the magic to dominate the dragon and he was showing everyone including Sam that he could and more importantly would.

Templar and Rider stared each other down for a moment before Sam looked away.

“You, your brother and I are going for a week-long training exercise." Skylar informed Kai, squashing the ball of magic between his hands. “Pack what you think you need and meet me in your bay in an hour."

He left the mess without a word, not even glancing at Samantha\ as he paced within inches of the snarling dragoness to leave the hall. Kai was by Sam's side in a flash once he was gone.

“You knew he would lash out like that, didn't you?" Kai growled, helping Sam to her paws.

“Maybe."

“Maybe! How about definitely!" Another Templar shouted as he marched over to the pair. The large lion pinned Sam with a glare. “What's this make? The third or fourth time that he's put you on your tail Ignitus?"

“Oh Sam." Kai moaned.

“Stop fucking aggravating him." The Templar snarled jabbing a finger at the dragon. “He's difficult enough to work with and we don't have scales."

“Hey!" Ian barked at the Templar as he, Davros and James ran into the mess. They'd been coming to see what the magic was and assumed the worst when an angry Skylar came out.

“Finally." The lion sighed pointing to Davros who went from confused to concerned in the blink of an eye. “You're her partner, sort her out."

“Hey who do you think you- “Ian Started until he felt a hand grip his arm.

“Ian." Davros muttered, the Rider hadn't taken his eyes off his partner the entire time. “What did you do?"

“Why do you assume I didn't anything? That Ass- “

“SAM!" As one the room stilled, apart from Samantha who shied away from her angry partner. Davros didn't shout, he never had to with anyone. So, seeing him this mad at his partner shocked the brothers.

“I may have tried to slap his shoulder."

Davros let out a long sigh as Sam sunk even lower to the floor. “Why?"

“I don't know."

“That's a child's answer Samantha." The dragoness flinched at the crack in her partner's voice. “You know this stunt doesn't just affect you, or me, right? Razgek is going to have to apologise to the Lieutenant, again, for your behaviour not to mention you're making all the Templars lives harder by pissing off their XO who isn't nice on his best days. To top it off though now your making Ian and Kai suffer because guess what? He's going to hate the Ignitus a little bit more, because of you."

“I'm sorry Dav."

“Is that meant to make it all better?" Davros demanded, staring at his partner for a few moments before he turned to leave saying he wanted to find Raz before someone else did. “least I can do is tell him before his boss does."

“Err Ian." Kai got his brothers attention with a weak laugh. “We're going on a week-long trip with Skylar, he said to be ready in an hour."

“Of course, we are."

“Sorry guys." Sam whined.

“You're always sorry Sam." Ian sighed heading off to pack. “I think that's the problem."

XxX

(Endurance, Hanger bay)

“Ray, you're coming with us?" Kai asked as the artificer scrambled around their bay setting pieces of armour into cases for easy transport. “Are we taking my Axanar?"

“Yes, to both." Ray smiled. “This is my first training expedition with a Templar team. I'm quite excited."

“So, these trips are common?" Ian asked, he had been worried that it was because of their lack of performance against Drake.

“Well the Templar are always running drills in the airspace around the Endurance and there is a large training area on board for combat. These long-term trips away from the ship are rarer but teams that need to bond or workout kinks in their teamwork do go on them."

“So why are you coming?" Kai floundered after realising what he just said. “No offense or anything."

“None taken." The tiger smiled. “I'm there to maintain the armour and to equip it when it's needed."

“Thought you needed the bay for that?" Ian asked gesturing to the rune encrusted walls.

“It makes it easier for sure, but you can do it manually. I can also show all of you how to get it on and off Kai properly in the case of an emergency."

“Skylar's going to love that." Kai muttered, he'd half been expecting a message saying that their trip had been cancelled after what Sam had done in the mess.

“We'll ask, just remember to be extra charming, he's pissed at Sam not us."

“You think that it matters?"

“I can hope." Ian muttered.

“Have I missed something?" Ray asked.

“Did you hear about what happened in the mess earlier?" The tiger made a small oh sound as he connected the dots. The Lieutenant was not shy in his opinion on the Ignitus. “This is going to be fun."

“Incoming." Kai muttered as he spotted Skylar walking towards them with a large crate in his arms.

The Templar set the crate down next to Ray's armour cases.

Ray looked between the Riders and the Templar, Ian and Kai exchanged looks and Skylar finally looked up at the others finally having noticed the awkward silence.

“Whatever it is you all think I'm going to do to you, you can relax, I'm not." Skylar ground out opening the crate and revealing a dozen tesseract cubes within.

“So, you're not angry?" Ian asked, they hadn't been around Skylar enough to know if the tension hanging around him was any worse than usual.

“Of course, I'm angry." Skylar snapped back, yanking a cube from the crate and tossing it to Ray who quickly and quietly stored the armour cases within it. “I'm just not angry at you. I had an argument with that… aggravating dragoness, not you two."

“Right." Kai muttered, he didn't believe that for a moment. He could smell the tension around Skylar.

“So, you can stop looking like I'm about to pull out a knife and gut the pair of you." Skylar snarled when the brothers looked to each other. “I'm not- “

“Done sir." Ray interrupted the Templar, handing back the cube and giving the riders a pleading look when Skylar turned to replace the cube in the crate. Ian and kai flounder, both shaking their heads and shrugging at what to do now.

“What's with the crate?" Kai asked, wincing at how desperate his question sounded. He thought that he was done for when Skylar gave him a sharp glare, but the Templar fixed his attention back on the cubes.

“It's a field cache. Rations, weapons, medical supplies, Axanar." Skylar slotted the last cube into the crate and sealed it, only to store the crate within another cube that he slipped into his hip pouch. “Anything you might need for a field excursion all in one small package."

“Are they infinite?" Kai asked the tension in him bleeding away into genuine curiosity.

“No, when a cube is stored within another cube, they start to become unstable. Create too many layers and the compressed energy gets released."

“When you say released?" Kai wondered, eyeing Skylar's hip pouch with a weary look.

“Boom. It takes multiple cubes though; you could put together ten field caches together in a single cube without any problems."

“Why don't merchants use them then?" Ian asked he had never seen a Tesseract cube before he saw Skylar use one for Drakes corpse. It seemed like the kind of thing that everyone would want to have, instant storage for anything.

“Only the Warlocks can make them and from what I understand they are incredibly difficult to create. They don't have a very long lifespan either."

“Oh, so you can't make one?" Kai asked.

“No." Skylar frowned at the dragon. “There are things that I can't do."

“That's not the impression you give." The honestly of that took Skylar by surprise and left him speechless for a few moments. “Shall we go?"

XxX

(Endurance, Captain’s Office)

“Admiral Forest." Caleb grinned throwing up a salute to be polite, the two officers were in two totally different chains of command and neither had any kind of authority over the other.

“Captain."! The admiral growled looking the wolf up and down from behind his immaculate desk, it was in far better conditions than Caleb's desk, his office looked like the paperwork was winning the war. The Admiral straightening his aged back had Caleb paying attention to the glorified paper pusher again. “Do you Templar have some instinctual need to fight or is it just the only way you know how to express yourselves?"

“You're stabbing me right in the feels Tim, I thought we were pals?" Caleb whined dramatically holding a paw over his heart. He delighted in winding the stuck-up cat up. Made a point of it in fact. “Whatever did I do this time?"

“You did nothing as per usual. One of your men threw an Ignitus clear across the hanger bay mess hall." Caleb groaned internally, he knew exactly who that was and not just because there was only one Templar on board who had the raw strength to do that. Another headache because of that boy.

“Was it one of yours?" Caleb asked losing his happy persona, he didn't feel like playing anymore today.

“What?"

“The Ignitus was it one of yours?"

“I don't see how that's of any- “

“If it wasn't one of yours then it was one of mine which puts her quite outside of your reach, the same as my Templar." Caleb explained, he was getting sick of having to mark his damned territory with the cat. Forest had been playing the game long enough he knew the rules. “So, stop trying to do whatever it is you think you're doing Forest. You got no ground to stand on till they hurt one of yours or break the Carrier."

“One of these days." Forest got right in Caleb's muzzle and hissed dangerously. “I'm going to nail you warmongers to the wall."

“Please try Timmy." Caleb grinned, he let his control fade away and exposed the weaker man to the full brunt of his power. The Navalia were the only branch of Sentallia's military where personal strength didn't play a factor in the promotion process. The Templar were the opposite of that as strength was a key factor in being promoted. As such many considered the Navalia to be nothing more than uniformed civilians, probably why the two branches could never see eye to eye.

The admiral crumbled under the Captains presence and Caleb left the office the victor of their little exchange, but he still had to find the annoying tick that made him play out that game in the first place.

“Skylar, you're a dead man."

XxX

(Endurance, Templar Offices)

Caleb stared at the empty seat of his XO and had an irrational envy of how tidy Skylar's office was, if the Templar didn't show his face soon then Caleb would have to do something horrific to the carefully organised workspace. Office aside though the target of his ire wasn't there, and Caleb marched across the hall to the NCO office.

“Where is he?" He asked the room at large, there was no need for him to elaborate, every Templar knew who their boss was pissed with, they'd all heard about the incident in the mess. “Anyone?"

“He's taken his team and gone on an exercise Sir."

Caleb blinked and then blinked again. How was it possible for Skylar to do exactly as he was told and yet still make Caleb want to beat him black and blue?

XxX

(Templar Training ground, Codename: Playground)

“These are the Templars training grounds?" Kai asked as the dragon floated along a warm air stream.

“Yes."

“Really?"

“What did you expect?"

“A menacing castle, blackened earth, few towers made out of the bones of your enemies." Ian gave his brother a light slap to get him to stop.

The training ground was miles of forest surrounding a single lonely mountain.

“We'll be passing over the perimeter shortly and two riders will come and escort us to the command post for the grounds." Skylar explained.

“Why do we have to go to the command post?" Ian asked, the place was massive surely, they could just find a good place to make camp and go from there?

“Many areas will already be in use and we don't want to disrupt other training exercises, but the command post will also tell us which areas are safe."

“Safe?"

“The Templar capture and breed all kinds of wildlife within the forest, much of it highly dangerous. We use the predators for training but there are entire sections of territory where the threat of attack is too great for basic training."

“Why maintain them if they're so dangerous?" Ray asked.

“They're used for the older more powerful members of the order. A place where they can really let loose with their powers without risking anyone nearby. Also, some of the best training happens under the real threat of death."

“We're not going, there are we?" kai asked, he was suddenly feeling far less enthusiastic about this trip.

“No, we will be sticking to the unoccupied sections of the forest." He looked around when he felt the barrier pass over them. “We should see the riders any moment."

XxX

The four of them registered with the commander in charge of the Playground and were heading out to their location before the hour was up. Kai found a clearing large enough for the four of them to make a camp within. Skylar assured them that they were safe in this area and even the Templar seemed to relax as he leisurely worked.

Ian let the calm of the forest wash over him, the soft rustle of the wind through the trees relaxing all the tension and apprehension that he was feeling.

Eventually his gaze moved over to the mountain, so out of place with nothing but forest and plains for miles all around. Seeing it reminded him of the jagged peaks of home, with warmth and laughter echoing in the cavern halls.

His chest ached the longer he looked, an unexpected urge to walk the trails, breath the mountain air and find the cave hidden deep within the rock, pillars of ice, a throne of stone and-

“Ian!" The rider snapped back to reality when Ray gave him a rough shake. “You in their mate?"

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry lost in my head." Ian covered his unease with a quick grin though the tiger looked far from convinced.

“Must have been some thought."

“Honestly." Ian glanced back at the mountain. “I think I'm a little homesick."

“Oh." Ray looked shocked at the admission.

“I mean I haven't lived in the Clan Caves for years, but the Academy was in the mountains so- “

“No, no I get it." Ray said, smiling at Ian and looking to the mountain. “You're missing what feels normal. I know the Carrier can take a bit of getting used to- Hey are you cold?"

“Huh?" Ian looked down at himself and blinked because he was, he had his arms wrapped around himself and was shivering. “Guess I am."

“Well come on, Lt says that food is nearly done anyway." Ray smiled ushering Ian back towards the fire and food. The rider quickly forgot about the ache in his chest and the thoughts of ice and stone.