Disclaimer: I want a knight and a dragon...don't have one

Bowen sighed softly as he closed his eyes and let the chilly air of the early morning ruffle his now combed through, and damp hair. The new morning's sunrise gently warmed his chilled form; he'd taken a dunk in the ocean tide about half an hour ago when he'd woken up and very softly left Draco's side where he must've been moved by the dragon late in the night after the storm.

Bowen faintly remembered dozing off leaning against King Arthur's column, Draco's wings, though cold from the rain and wind, had kept the knight from becoming anymore wet and miserable. The dragon's warm breath had soon heated the knight comfortably and Bowen quickly had drifted to sleep standing up.

The knight smiled as the waves crashed on the rocky shore glistened in the new day's sunlight. A soft relieved sigh slipped past his lips, the heavy weight that had lain on his heart and mind had been cleansed free last night in the storm and his own revelations. Even Draco seemed more at ease.

The dragon slept deeply, his faint snores only portrayed by a barely heard rumble in his throat and slight exhales of smoke. Bowen knew for a fact that besides the night Draco's shoulder had become wounded from Einon being stabbed and the pain traveling through the heart, Draco hadn't slept well any night Bowen had been with him, growling and muttering in his sleep nearly constantly; and Bowen was pretty sure by how the dragon acted it had been a very common thing. Only that deeply wounding pain had exhausted the dragon enough to get some decent sleep that night.

A slight tone change in the dragon's breathing made Bowen turn from watching the sunrise. Draco shifted in his sleep, the warm sun slowly heating his scales covering his coiled form in the center of the ring of columns. Bowen gazed at the dragon; the scales a range of colors that he normally wouldn't have thought would look so natural. The deep black and gleaming copper the best of them all; but at the moment, they weren't as bright as they usually were…

In fact, the scales were mostly a filthy mud brown; the dragon would blend in well in a mud hole. Bowen wondered for only a second how the dragon had gotten in this state, but only for a second as he turned his gaze back to the sun.

Bowen winced as the memory of Draco's dive into the muck replayed in his head. That had not been one of his finer moments. Just as he thought of the incident, Draco woke up and went to raise his head…

"Ooooww…"

The complaint was soft, as was the pain filled hiss Draco emitted a second later as he tried to bend his neck.

Bowen whipped around; the dragon's face was deeply carved into an aching grimace as he tried to lift his head more than two feet off the ground. A low moan vibrated Bowen's being at how much pain Draco was in as the dragon let his head drop to the ground with a tired sigh.

"You okay?" Bowen crouched at Draco's eye level, when the man first walked over even tipping his head to meet Bowen's gaze better made the dragon's eyes water and clench shut.

Draco opened his eyes, the pained glaze already turning the bright yellow-orange dull, "I…don't know…really."

The dragon tried again to lift his head, only succeeding in a profound throbbing through his neck. Another deep moan escaped Draco's throat.

Bowen sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Draco…geez, I'm sorry…"

The dragon opened his eyes, "What?"

"I-it…was…my fault…yesterday."

"Your fault for what?"

"Your neck."

Draco gave a faint sigh, and Bowen immediately recognized the frustration, "You might want to elaborate a bit more than a two word sentence Bowen."

The man chuckled a bit, and Draco grinned slightly when Bowen sat on the ground, "I'm the one who said you'd be fine diving into the lake, if that mud-hole can be called water, and…"

"No it wasn't, neither of us could see the depth."

"Yes, it's my fault, I got you into that mess and…"

"No, Bowen, it wasn't."

"Yes it was." Bowen groused as he stood and turned away.

"No it wasn't."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No it was not!"

Bowen spun back around hotly, "Yes it was!"

"Bowen!" Draco nearly roared as he jerked his head up.

"Ahh!" The muscles in Draco's neck throbbed horribly as he moved, and the dragon visibly cringed.

Bowen sighed then glanced over to rising sun. "Come on, there's a small cove a little down the shoreline that's pretty sheltered from the waves, you can try soaking in the water. It might help."

Draco sighed then winced as he slightly tipped his head down and felt the horrible pounding begin in his skull, "Better than nothing…"

Bowen slowly worked the leather soap into his saddle, and then sighed as he swiped the rag through the little jar, it had cost him quite a lot for just one jar, and he had barely used it, but dry skin under his stallion's deep bay coat couldn't be ignored. While he cleaned and worked the leather, Draco lay in the cool sea water, quite aways out to be nearly completely submerged and allow the water to hopefully ease his neck.

Bowen glanced up at the dragon when the water splashed as Draco's tail flicked under water, the dragon was either half-dozing or starting to dislike the sun reflecting off the sea, the dragon's eyes were closed.

A snort came from the dragon; yep, he'd been half-dozing. Draco's tail had flicked a little harder and bobbed the water into the dragon's nostrils, creating two steamy fireballs as Draco jerked to his feet and blew out through his nose quickly. Bowen laughed from the shore, earning a half-growl as Draco stretched his neck, several loud pops echoed around the rocky bowl shaped cove.

Draco sighed loudly in relief that had helped; a forepaw went to his neck to rub it gently, only earning a pained grimace, the dragon's strong claws were too big to make a difference.

"Come 'ere dragon!" Bowen called out and picked up the polished saddle and closed the little jar, now almost empty.

Draco slowly complied, completely drenched even under his scales; Bowen led him back up the side of the beach to the grassy hill where the two had slept. Draco laid down with a pained sigh, lightly fluffing out his scales to shake the water off.

A violent shudder ran down the dragon when the wind picked up, it was chilly in the evening, and damp skin wasn't going to help anything, two short blasts of fire ran down the dragon's sides, the water drying with clouds of steam.

Draco groaned, bending his neck to do that had hurt, badly.

"Will you hold still please?"

Bowen shook his head and placed a hand where Draco's neck joined his shoulders, a light push was enough for Draco the lower his head and let his neck uncurl, "What are you going to do?"

"See if a human trick'll help."

Draco didn't push any further, just turned his head a little to watch; Bowen's hands slowly pushed against Draco's neck, and worked their way down one side until Draco hissed loudly. Then, Bowen started rubbing. Draco sighed and let his eyes shutter close, it hurt a lot, but he could still feel the stiffness fading, if not painfully and slowly.

By the time Draco opened his eyes again, the sun was lower to late evening and Bowen had moved down (technically up, but it was a downwards slant 'cause of Draco with his head down) the dragon's neck to be nearly right behind Draco's head, "You mind turning your head?"

The dragon complied quickly, still wincing slightly, the noise making Bowen sigh a bit and Draco halfway recognized it as frustration.

A deep rumbling started softly and slowly grew louder as Bowen eased his hands back and forth at the base of Draco's jaw when the dragon tipped his head to let Bowen continue. Bowen chuckled when Draco let out a pleased hum to accompany the deeper purring noise, then yelped as a horn jabbed his elbow when he pulled away and Draco tilted his head to look at him with his eye-ridges lifted curiously.

Bowen only smiled and shook his head as he stood, Draco's eyes narrowed slightly. "What?"

"You sound like a cat." Bowen laughed and stepped over Draco's neck to sit on the slight incline on the dragon's other side. He grabbed at one of Draco's horns to steady himself, and the dragon twitched enough to make Bowen lose his balance.

"Hey!"

Draco chuckled and let his eyes fall close with a hum when Bowen sat level with his eye ridges and lightly scratched the one closest to him.

"M'not a cat…" Draco murmured drowsily as Bowen gently moved to the dragon's temple, the deep purring noise started again and Bowen snorted.

"If you're not a cat, then stop acting like one." Bowen smirked while Draco tipped his head to let Bowen reach the other eye ridge without getting up.

"What're you talking about?"

"You're purring."

"'m not." Draco yawned, letting his body relax and conform comfortably to the ground; Bowen rubbed harder, and the rumbling grew louder and deeper to the point where Bowen could feel the vibrating through Draco's (thick) skull.

"Really?"

"Mhm."

Draco yawned and twisted his head to look at Bowen, "Cats purr through their throat."

"And you are…?"

"Thrumming."

Bowen chuckled and shook his head, "What?"

"Cross between a hum and a growl, not quite from my throat or chest." The dragon explained and closed his eyes.

Bowen laughed outright at that and leaned back against the grass; glancing up at the black, star dotted sky, a faint sigh slid past his cracked lips, the night's chill already beginning to set in the all too familiar stiffness in his weary joints. He was really tired of this, the traveling, the cold nights with little sleep, and the never-ending quest that was more pointless than just worthless.

Draco looked up again, "Bowen?"

"Hmm?"

"You alright?"

A slight snort, "Yeah, just…tired…"

Draco tilted his head a little more; Bowen didn't trail off the end of his sentences unless something was bugging him.

The man rose to his feet with a wince and halfway limped to the pile of saddle, bags, weapons, and the blanket the man was looking for, his cloak still soaked from last night and nothing besides fire would get it dry quickly. (Draco didn't want to try to 'blow dry' it, Bowen still needed it) Bowen exhaled roughly as he sat down on the other side of the dragon and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands and rubbed his temples.

The man shivered, and Draco did something he hadn't done for nearly four decades. The dragon shifted enough to let his foreleg half curl around Bowen, his claws gently gripping the man's arm and side. A soft tug was all Bowen needed for encouragement to lean back and lay against Draco's chest and 'forearm'.

Bowen sighed softly, the dragon was warm and surprisingly not that uncomfortable; Draco chuckled and yawned, already hearing Bowen drift into sleep quickly.

Draco smiled to himself, no longer in pain, and relaxed, the second night of sleep in Avalon was as good as or better than the first…

I like this one...I felt really bad for Draco after he hit the muck so hard... ;)