A/N: And now we're on to the Training!

Hope you enjoy yourselves!

R&R

Eight

Temeraire took to sleeping outside the courtyard do to insecurity and, to keep him company, Daemon took to sleeping with him. Apparently, the other dragons, whilst they were feeding, had taken a notice to the differences that the Imperial had compared to the rest of them, though none of them had apparently been unkind. As he didn't need to eat yet and could avoid the feeding grounds, Daemon hadn't heard the questions or statements made, about both Temeraire and himself, but he had noticed the blatantly curious stares.

"They are only unused to differences amongst themselves," he consoled his friend kindly. "Humans are much the same. If there is a difference amongst them, they like to stare and poke and exclaim about it, though sometimes they are frightened by it and attempt to destroy it," he added with a thoughtful, absent frown. "But that is human nature, so it can be ignored." He shook his head, and smiled with warmth at his friend. "Pray pay no mind to it, dear." He nuzzled the downcast Imperial under the chin and stretched out next to him to enjoy the sun.

The week was a constant flow of training, with Daemon barely allowed to sleep through the mornings, and forced to periodically take naps during the afternoons. He was rather grateful for Temeraire's move to outside the courtyard now; the lack of added heat made him much more comfortable and made sleeping during times he was usually wide-awake much easier as well. Celeritas had kept him in constant practice of one-wing-flying, and he could now fly a steady five hours on each wing without having to pause for a rest, and while flying turns and maneuvers as well.

When Saturday came around, Laurence and Joshua were given the day off, so that Temeraire and Daemon could be fitted with their new harnesses. Daemon nuzzled his Captain lovingly as the ground crew scrambled about him and up and down his neck, connecting leather and chains, until he was tricked out in his new light-duty harness. His name was stamped neatly in curling letters along the leather that traced up his neck, which had thick chains securing it around his throat, adding extra protection. There were two extra-thick bands of leather with harness-attachments up just behind his head, large enough for two small men to sit. The harness wrapped about through his legs, against his stomach, with bands across his upper shoulders and thighs, and the broadest band along his back. The last band circled the base of his tail, and Daemon cautiously moved around, tossing his head and rolling his shoulders. The chains on his neck jingled pleasantly, and clanked against his scales, but he purred, pleased, and had Joshua test his own new harness so that they could see how it was fitted.

"Very comfortable," the boy said, reassuring the dragon, who nodded with a pleased look.

"I commend you, gentlemen," Daemon said to the men warmly. "Thank you very much. The harness is both comfortable and easy to move in, and the chains make a rather nice sound when I move. Come, Joshua, let's take it for a test-fly, shall we?" He asked eagerly, laying his head down and letting the fifteen-year-old up. He waited as the boy was told how to harness himself in by one of the ground crew, whose name was Higgins (Daemon made note of the man's name, and would remember it for later). Once he was positive Joshua was secure, Daemon took to the air, twisting and curling, doing multiple loops and fast swerves in his new harness. He made a pleased sound.

"This is an excellent harness," he called to Joshua, gliding over the lake, a good hundred feet above it.

"It's much more secure," Joshua called in agreement. Daemon, feeling decidedly playful, tucked his wings in and fell into a nosedive, making Joshua yowl. At the last second, he whipped his wings outs and yanked himself from the dive, his toes just barely scraping across the surface of the water as he lazily slid along its surface. And that, ladies andg entlemen, he thought proudly,was a spectacularly preformed Wronski Feint. Thank you, thank you, hold the applause.

"That was brilliant!" Joshua exclaimed, laughing with just a hint of a hysterical edge behind his head. "Can we do that again?" Nodding, smiling, Daemon angled himself up, steadily rising until he was more-or-less at the same height.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Oh yeah," Joshua said, sounding positively gleeful; chuckling, Daemon once more folded his wings and dropped like a stone, hurtling towards the black water. It sort of reminds me of the Black Lake, he thought as he snapped his wings open again, his feet sending up a light spray as he playfully dragged his toes through the water and listened to Joshua laugh. Lock Laggan caught his eye, and he looked up at the main fortification. And that is like a bizarre Hogwarts... Abruptly, he veered up into the air, going through a sequence of rapid loop-de-loops and flips, trying to rid himself of the painful, bitter memories, mourning in his own way. Joshua hooted, laughing, and the sound of his hatchlings joy helped ease some of the ache, making him relax and twist into a triple barrel roll with a laugh, smiling faintly as the boy whooped like a monkey.

After an hour of aerial acrobatics, Daemon settled outside the courtyard, letting Joshua down with a happy sigh. The boy called a ground crewman over and, with the older man's help, removed the Steelwing's harness. Murmuring his farewell, Daemon curled into himself and decided that a nap would be good.

Closing his eyes, he pushed back the memories of Hogwarts, both good and bad, and sank into a dreamscape that looked like the Black Lake during winter, the black water standing out starkly against the pristine white snow, with the black trees of the Forbidden Forest in the background, and nothing moving but the snowflakes falling down.

It was the most peaceful sleep he'd had in a long time, dreamless sleep included.

Endurance was something Daemon had in spades and buckets. He had learned at the hands of the Dursleys' how to push his body beyond its normal limits, and the endurance trial Celeritas put him through on Sunday was no difference. Maximus and Temeraire had gone through theirs on Friday, and now the Steelwing was flying with a Winchester and a Greyling whose names he didn't know, as well as a Yellow Reaper named Orianna who was only six months old and had just transferred from Gibraltar with her Captain, Jeremy Barnes.

After three hours, the Winchester dropped behind and went to land. After six, Orianna dropped out with a tired, but cheerful, 'good luck!' to both Daemon and the Greyling. Daemon sighed and stretched his wings to their full length so that he could glide longer between wing beats, watching the Greyling curiously from the corner of his eye. He looked determined and yet content, as if he was going to damn well win, but he just loved flying.

The Steelwing could understand the sentiment perfectly.

Ten hours straight, and the Greyling was beginning to flag. Joshua had gotten bored and started practicing moving to the main harness and back to the neck-harness. He'd nearly slipped once, which had had Daemon's head snapping back to nudge him back up, but otherwise he was alright. At twelve hours, the Greyling reluctantly flew down to the courtyard, his wings laboring and breathes heavy. Daemon continued to glide easily for another hour before Celeritas called him down so that Joshua could eat. Once the boy was off, Daemon took immediately to the air again and began to once more glide, bored out of his mind. He remained in the air well after dark had fallen, and continued flying easily, though he knew Celeritas had gone to sleep sometime earlier. Bored of flying, even while upside down, he decided to sing a song he remember hearing from Seamus, a Muggle band called Spiral Dance had sung it. It was upbeat and fast, just what he needed.

"Through the dark and cold winter long,

they hold together in ancient song,

waiting for the spring to set them free

by oak and ash and rowan tree

and they dance all night till the sun does rise

and spread its beams across the skies

then they'll speak their secrets wise,

in the arms of the great stone circle.

And if you go around widdershins,

there's faerie fold who live within

it's nine times round you must dance and spin

in the arms of the great stone circle.

Light, light a fire in the night,

jump through the flames as the flames burn bright,

see the world through elfin sight,

in the arms of the great stone circle!"Before he could sing the second verse, he executed a barrel roll and flew upright again.

"Sing to the moon when she is round,

and luck for you will then abound.

What you seek for shall be found

in the arms of the great stone circle.

Come with me at Halloween

and follow the march of the Faerie Queen

on Elf King hill she shall be seen,

in the arms of the great stone circle.

And if you go around widdershins,

there's faerie fold who live within

it's nine times round you must dance and spin

in the arms of the great stone circle.

Light, light a fire in the night,

jump through the flames as the flames burn bright,

see the world through elfin sight,

in the arms of the great stone circle!" Then the first verse repeated, and the chorus repeated twice (if he remembered correctly) when it was finished, he was smiling, mood lifted. It was such a fun song, Faerie Tale, and he always got a bit of a kick out of singing it. He'd have to teach it to Joshua sometime later.

Gliding around the valley, he continued the endurance trial, humming the tune to the song as he did.

"Have you been flying all night?" Celeritas demanded from him the next morning as Daemon sleepily flapped around the valley. Daemon hummed in agreement and nodded, yawning.

"I can fly while sleeping," he told the older dragon honestly. "And I can see in the dark pretty clearly, so I'm mostly nocturnal anyways." The training master stared at him silently from where he was flying beside the younger dragon, and soon Daemon was putting fact to his claim, and sleeping while flying, his body so used to the continuous circle of the valley that he instinctively followed the exact same path he'd followed the entire night through. He'd been in the air for a good twenty six hours now, and was glad to be allowed to sleep through the morning, even if he was flying through it.

"Daemon," Temeraire's voice broke him from his sleep, and he jerked his head up, blinking his eyes open with a snort.

"Wha-?" he asked groggily, turning his head to look at the bemused Imperial. "Oh, hello Temeraire," he said, yawning hugely. "That was a wonderful nap," he announced, getting a startled stare from Maximus who had risen up from his other side.

"You were sleeping?" he asked, surprised.

"Yes," he said easily. "I can sleep while flying, as long as I know the course, or have someone to follow." He nodded in cheerful greeting to the Regal Copper, and flew between the two for a few circuits, until, finally, his wings began to ache with tiredness, and he landed in the courtyard, stumbling a bit, as his legs had little feeling in them.

"Oh my," he said, sitting down hard. "That isn't comfortable at all." He huffed and yawned again, Celeritas staring at him assessingly.

"How do you feel?" he asked; Daemon frowned and thought about it.

"Really thirsty," he said, nodding calmly, "but that's about it. Actually, I really want to see Joshua now," he added with a bit of anxiety, looking around for the boy. Celeritas nodded, and lead him to his hatchling, who was being taught aerial signaling by an old captain named Joulson, who immediately began teaching Daemon as well. At first, he couldn't make heads nor tails of it, and it took a week of steady training to finally get the simplest. Joshua got them faster than he did, to his embarrassment, which made him determined to learn them better. He finally asked Temeraire for his help, as the Imperial got them faster than anyone else did (something that had earned him some awed looks from the Captains and a proud look from Laurence). The black dragon was happy to help him and, over the next four weeks of nonstop training, he finally got the damn things memorized.

During this time, he had grown to be the same size as a full grown Yellow Reaper, though his wings had continued to grow massively, until they matched a Longwing's at a hundred and twenty-feet long. He'd also developed purple splotches on the silver membranes of his wings. His horns had grown larger and his claws had a curved, talon-like look about them now. According to the book Dir Edward had given them about Steelwings (which was very thin, and contained mostly stories referencing the blue breed and instances that dealt with the purple breed, he was a few weeks away from his full growth, which would be signified by a dark purple beard growing at the end of his chin, smaller then it would be for the blue Steelwings, but still noticeable.

That made Daemon nervous, though, because he knew that, once he reached full growth (at about six months, so two months from then), then his first Heat Cycle would be quick to follow, and that was not something he was looking forward to.

Temeraire had grown as well, to rival Maximus in size (who was almost at his adult size, and who Temeraire was only shorter then by a human mans length at the shoulder). He was mostly length, though, all lean and proportionate: a very handsome specimen all together. Daemon was still faster than he was, to his chagrin, but the two remained close friends and rested outside the courtyard together, listening to Laurence read various works with content and discussing training and such together.

Daemon had been assigned a ground crew: Higgins made the head, with List (an armorer) and Hale (a leatherworker) taking up the core. He had a gunner in a fellow called Clyde as well. All of them were good men who he would trust with Joshua, so he approved of them well enough. His harness-master was a man named Gregory, who was chatty but knew his work. Daemon's harness was always soft and shined when Joshua went to pick it up in the mornings, the chains were always well oiled but not wet with it. It was something Daemon greatly appreciated, which he showed by asked Joshua to raise all their pay by a half-crown (which he did, with his compliments and Daemons, which made the men all smile at the enthusiastic teenager). He had two harness-men (named Terrance and York), where he normally would only need one, but Joshua insisted on him being out of harness when he wasn't training… and for good reason, as they'd discovered that he couldn't curl upon himself in his harness without pinching himself in the sensitive spots in his armpits and under his thighs.

He had a crew of eleven, and two ensigns (little Cadets Josephine "Josie" Rigbey and James "Jamie" Newman, who were the ones who transferred information between Joshua and the lieutenant, a woman named Susan Rogers, who had blond hair and hard gray eyes, who made sure no one on the crew did anything but their jobs…Harry rather liked her. She reminded him of a younger, blonder McGonagall). Daemon could admit to liking his crew, and told Joshua so. The boy immediately put in to have them as the permanent crew, and it was granted a day later. His five riflemen (made up of completely raw midwingmen) were improving and willing enough to learn, especially under the patient, stern hand and eye of their lieutenant, Smithe, who was Lieutenant Roger's second. His two topmen and two bellmen were fast and steady, senior officers who had flown with other crews (all Yellow Reapers and Angelwings, so they were used to middleweight dragons). All together, they were all satisfactory for Daemon, and for Joshua, whom Lieutenant Rogers and Lieutenant Smithe were both teaching the finer points of military thinking to.

Running maneuver drills again with Temeraire and Maximus (the more complex ones flown entirely upside-down, which Joshua adored, because they made him dizzy and want to throw up), when Temeraire remarked,

"That is Volly over there, coming towards us," and Daemon looked and saw that it was, indeed, his favorite little Greyling. He sailed directly over the valley and landed in the training courtyard, a violation of the covert rules when a practice was in session. Captain James leapt from his back to talk to Celeritas. Temeraire, interested, righted himself and stopped midair, while Maximus and Daemon flew on. Daemon smoothly executed a barrel roll and was straightened, carefully performing a loop-de-loop, stopping halfway in order to twist and fly back towards his friend. Maximus, noticing he was alone, righted himself and flew back as well, ignoring the curses Berkley gave him in response.

"What do you suppose it is?" The Regal Copper asked; Daemon flew a bit closer to Temeraire, who he was more comfortable with, having been with him when he was mostly the same size. The Regal Copper still made his instincts flutter with nervousness, and since he couldn't hover, he was obliged to fly in circles, which was a distinctly predatory act that made Daemon even more uncomfortable, since he was forced to fly in smaller circles.

"Listen, you great lummox," Berkley barked, "if it is any of your affair you will be told. Will you get back to maneuvers?"

"I do not know," Temeraire said, speaking to Maximus, "perhaps we could ask Volly. And there is no sense in our doing maneuvers anymore; we already know all of these." He sounded so mulish that Daemon frowned slightly at him, but didn't deny it. Before anyone could say anything else, Celeritas called to them, urgently.

"There has been an air battle in the North Sea, off Aberdeen," he told them with no preliminaries when they had scarcely landed. "Several dragons of the covert outside Edinburg responded to distress signals from the city; though they drove off the French attack, Victoriatus was wounded. He is very weak and having difficulty staying in the air. Maximus, Temeraire, the two of you are large enough to help support him and bring him in more quickly. Daemon, you are fast enough and have enough stamina to get to him and help relieve the two dragons that are assisting him until Temeraire and Maximus get to him. Volatilus and Captain James will lead you."

With that, they were off, following Volly as the Greyling took to the air, barely staying within normal sight, and well within Daemon's magnified vision. They had a dragon to help rescue.

A/N: OMG CLIFFHANGER! Next chapter will tell you what happens, so R&R~!