Temeraire sighed and curled up a little tighter on his ledge. They'd just been informed that some international government that oversaw the relationship between all different governments, had decided to release the fact that Dragon's where more then a myth to the general population who had been kept in the dark for about that for more than a century. Apparently it was a way to boost the global economy, the dragon preserves – which had once been the breeding grounds – where being opened to the public as a sort of public attraction.

He snorted, they were to be used like horses, to give out dragon rides to paying customers, the smaller dragons to give out individual rides and the larger ones to ferry the 'park patrons' across the park in special harnesses, or worse to perform feats of acrobatics with a horde of people strapped to their backs in newly made harnesses, while other dragons went about in replicas of the fighting harnesses used during the various historical wars.

They were even going to have them flying in formation – like their new flying war carriages. Apparently they were called Jets.

It was degrading.

He was not a horse who would follow orders without question. He missed Laurence, but his much loved Captain was long dead, and he'd stayed in Australia only as long as the man had lived. Then he'd gone feral, despite the fact that they'd given him to another captain before Laurence had even died. Three years, two months, and 16 days before Laurence had passed away from old age. He'd served the man against his will for that long –under the threat of them ending the life of his helpless aged and infirmed captain. Years of abuse taken, after their betrayal of Brittan, by bringing the cure to the Dragon plague to the French during Bonaparte's rule, had degraded Laurence's health. Hours of labor in the scorching sun with little food and heavily rationed water, had taken their toll. Even in Australia – a prison colony – his beloved Captain had not been able to escape the brand of trader, and he'd been treated harshly. The worst part was that after a time Laurence had begun to believe the horrible things they said to him, and had slowly stopped fighting it.

Laurence had spent every night of his life curled up against Temeraire for warmth, sheltered from the rains by his great wings. Temeraire had hunted to feed them both properly, after he noticed his captain's distressing lack of weight and seen with alarm the tiny portion of slop Laurence was being given to eat.

He'd even sacrificed having his food cooked so that Laurence could shelter under his wing and cook – what he considered to be - a small portion of his kills so that the human could actually eat them. Laurence had put on weight but he had never fully recovered from the harsh treatment, and for years Temeraire had blamed himself for not noticing his Captain's plight sooner.

In the end they'd moved, an aged and sickly Laurence into the barracks after he'd put up an extreme fuss on his Captain's behalf. The price of that small accommodation had been his agreement to take another captain. At first the man had simply neglected the comforts that Laurence had taken such pains to ensure he was afforded. So he'd tried to get the Captain changed, and been issued the ultimate ultimatum – his cooperation for Laurence's life.

Every night he'd flown to the window of the barrack room that housed his at the time 80 year old Captain and settled himself outside of it – refusing to make a fuss over the hard buckles of his now never removed harness digging into his scales or the fact that he now had to lick himself clean like a cat rather then ever having a proper bath or even a helping hand at cleaning the gore from his muzzle after he ate, but rather spent a great deal of time assuring his arthritic captain that he was well, and carefully looked after.

He'd often slipped part of his tail through the window and allowed one arthritic hand to curve lightly around the very tip. He remembered long ago when Laurence had quite been able to carry him, now the only part of his body small enough for Laurence to put a hand around where his tendrils and the tip of his tail.

Laurence had died like that, muttering to himself about the day he'd been hatched and holding onto his tail like a small child with a teddy bear.

One moment he had been there the next he'd been gone.

Temeraire had waited only long enough to discover the plans to simply 'dump the trader's body into a river and let the Crocodiles have him' before making his decision. He'd already decided that Captain Collins was not going to be his captain now that Laurence was no longer there for them to threaten but that bit of information was more then he could bear. That morning just before they were to remove Laurence's body from the small private room in the barracks he'd occupied for the last three years, Temeraire put up a mild fuss refusing to follow Collins' directions. It wasn't difficult he outweighed the man by several tons after all.

Once they'd brought out Laurence's body he'd dived at them to a litany of Collins' horrified and enraged shouts. The four men carrying his body down to the river had scattered, leaving Temeraire to carefully, gently and almost reverently gather the remains of his beloved captain in his claws. Besides Laurence's body he'd taken the sword he'd given the man, the breastplate, and the little gold chain Laurence had given to him and his talon sheaths with him as he'd flown off.

He'd flown north until the sun set, and then informed Collins that they were a 17mile hike from the nearest town, and that he had better start walking with the early morning light. Come morning he'd continued his trek north across Australia to New Guinea and from there he'd made the flight to Indonesia. He'd rested there for a few days, worrying over his friend's now empty body. The body remained but his Laurence was gone. Malaysia was his next resting point and from there he'd made the journey back to the main land, landing in Thailand and making his way from there, up into china.

Once he was there he'd gone straight to his mother and elder brother to arrange to have Laurence's body buried properly. Only in China Laurence was a prince, and his remains where handled accordingly. Temeraire still remembered the ceremony, remembered how Laurence's body had been handled with all the respect due to one of the sons of the Celestial Empire. He'd been stripped of the harness as soon as he'd arrived and had immediately told his family of the horrors Laurence had silently endured. When the preparations where finally over he'd stood watching the ceremony wearing much in the way of white silk finery to mark his mourning the loss of his captain.

He'd stayed in China a full two decades visiting Laurence's grave often, his mother had consoled him by reminding him that Laurence had been a good man and surely his spirit had been reincarnated and that it may not happen in the human's next life but sooner or later he would be reunited with the man's spirit.

However after two decades he'd discovered his need for change and had flown off to see a bit more of the world. He'd headed for Japan curious to meet some of the Japanese Breeds, he'd always intended to return to china, but the new laws banning dragons from going anywhere without their handler was passed soon after his arrival, and he'd soon found himself shipped off to the breeding grounds in a remote part of Japan.

Now the world was being gradually opened up again.

As soon as he was able he would go first to china to see his family, then he would find this reincarnation of his beloved Laurence, and hopefully have another human life time with his dear, dear friend.

~~~***~~~

A.N: Okay so here's the next part, it's a bit longer and it tells us what Temeraire has been up to. Please read and review. It gives my muse a kick in the pants. Anyone think they know what's happening? Well bye for now.