Temeraire looked down at the ground scanning the crowd, trying to find the owner of that voice. Trying to find his Laurence in his new form from down amid the crowd – but he had no idea what the man looked like. He could only get a general idea of where he was and there were more than a hundred people crammed onto that ledge. He would have to get closer to find his captain, and there wasn't enough space to land directly on the ledge.

For a while he hovered above the mass of little humans, trying to pinpoint his captain, but it was no use, he could only narrow his chose down to a small group of about 30 men, women and children. A young man, barely more then a boy – gazing up at the sky out of calm brown eyes, his mahogany hair blowing in the wind produced by his beating wings drew his attention more than the others, but he needed to be sure and for that he needed a closer look.

Temeraire knew he was about to terrify a lot of people; with a sigh he folded his wings and dropped to land awkwardly on the cliff face rather than the ledge. He was fairly certain he was going to give the tour guild a heart attack, by landing so close to him. It was understandable the tour guild was 1 of about a 100 men who'd been hired last week to dress in traditional garb and lead the 'parks' visitors around, outside of that week he had no experience with dragons.

~~~***~~~

Yuri jerked in mild surprise when he heard Conrart whisper a single word beside him. "Temeraire?" the man sounded more startled and confused than anything else. Almost like a small child trying vainly to convince himself he wasn't lost.

Yuri scanned the skies looking for the creature that had so grabbed his godfather's attention. There was one dragon, flying in formation with 7 others, who appeared to be black, just like Conrart's stuffed animal 'Temmy'. Of course it was possible that the dragon was a dark blue, either way, it was clear that Conrart's whispered words had caught the dragon's attention. The great beast folded his wings and swooped down on them landing mostly off of the ledge, his claws digging into the side of the cliff, his front claws digging into the top of the ledge itself. It was perched so that their guild was standing almost directly in between its foreclaws. Their guild looked up startled, before snapping something sharply and making a sharp gesture at the floor. The dragon lowered his mighty head, the afternoon sun light flashed brightly of the mettle and leather helmet he was wearing, as he moved.

"He is here, and he is mine." The dragon said almost possessively. "No I will not go away."

Their guild frantically swatted at the great muzzle and pointed at the air. The dragon simply shook his head and began to inspect them all. People screamed in alarm and drew back.

Yuri himself couldn't help but be alarmed, that dragon was huge! It could have swallowed him whole, or flattened him by accidently stepping on him without so much as noticing.

The large head, moved almost directly above them inspecting more than 23 people at an alarmingly close range, dismissing them all very quickly. Yuri could just make out one enormous blue eye underneath the heavy metal hood, and a series of spines protruding out of the base, with a great fan of what looked like black silk strung between the spines. Idly he wondered what purpose they stood as a part of the obviously roman helmet. Then the dragon moved on inspecting the man behind him, before moving to Conrart who stood at his side. However when the dragon came to Conrad, his inspection intensified, and the long forked, almost serpent like tongue, flicked out of the creatures mouth and seemed to inspect every inch of the man.

Conrad stood his ground.

Oddly completely unfazed, however when the tip of one forked tongue, flicked across the shell of Conrart's ear, his unfazed look vanished beneath a wave of giggles that wracked his entire body.

Apparently the man was ticklish.

~~~***~~~

Conrart couldn't believe it, that was Temeraire. Temeraire who had been hardly the size of a large bird dog when he'd first hatched, according to his memories. Or rather Laurence's memories; now however, the dragon was enormous now. He had to be closer to 50 tons then the 38 tons he'd weighed the last time they'd set eyes on each other. Or rather the last time Laurence had set eyes on his beloved dragon, but then this Temeraire was now over a century and a half older.

The dragon was now 2 centuries old and the changes in his friend amazed him. It was good to know that he wasn't in fact quietly losing his mind as he had always privately feared.

He stood still allowing Temeraire his examination without protest; although he couldn't help giggling when the tip of Temeraire's tongue brushed the shell of his ear. He couldn't help it his ears where very sensitive – and the only one who even knew that he was ticklish was Yozak, so it was a sensation he was ill prepared for.

The dragon made a deep throated noise, like a dove cooing but far far deeper. He reached up without thinking to stroke what he could reach of the great black cheek – beneath the ridiculous armor, pressing his cheek into Temeraire's muzzle. For a moment he was lost, lost in the pure joy of the moment, he was reunited with his long lost best friend. However a soft 'click' drew him out of his thoughts, and he caught sight of the oncoming men.

Each of them armed with a device he'd never laid eyes on, but recognized from his dreams.

Guns

He didn't know if they were regular guns like the pistol Laurence had carried, or the pepper guns that had been such a hazard in battle. However he didn't want to find out. "Temeraire, fly." He said firmly, his hand dropping to the hilt of a sword that wasn't there.

He felt the shift in the air as the great dragon unfurled his fan-like wings. But to his surprise the dragon didn't take to the air. Instead he roared out a challenge.

The sound was all but deafening for Conrart who was standing underneath the great head. For one terrifying moment he was sure the dragon would engage the oncoming men – then the ground fell away, with only a sharp jerk at his hips heralding the event.

It took him a moment to work out the fact that Temeraire had grabbed his heavy belt in his teeth before taking to the air.

He blinked, highly confused – before realizing with mild amusement that he had run up against the dragon's protective instincts.

~~~***~~~

Temeraire kept one hand under his muzzle as he flew poised to catch his captain when the boy's belt inevitably snapped under his weight. With one of his serrated fangs hooked under the leather there was no way the belt would hold under the young man's weight. He would have liked to simply snatch the man up in one hand, but there had been no way and no time to do so, and he was not about to leave him on the ground surrounded by men with guns.

He flew swiftly, rising above the startled 7 dragon's he had been flying beside and headed for his own cave. He could protect the boy who was both Laurence and not there with far more ease then he could on that ledge.

It only took a few minutes to reach his den by wing, and he landed lightly on his own ledge, and carefully put the young man down. There was an odd sound, like a high pitched, squeal, as he slid his lower incisor out from under the belt.

"I'm honestly surprised that belt, survived that." Temeraire said mildly watching as the boy unbuckled his belt and slid it free of the loops on his odd blue and white leggings.

He flipped it over in his hands inspecting it, over his shoulder Temeraire could see that while his fang had gouged a deep furrow into the leather, but his fang had been stopped mid way by a now dented piece of metal. "I'm not all that surprised really, the belt is made out of several strips of … leather, linen and a strong but lightweight, flexible and very sturdy medal. The end product is lightweight but highly durable. It's also strong enough to stop an arrow. We use it for sword belts, armor and to line our armor, among other things. "

"I see, that sounds interesting," Temeraire replied, wonderingidly how that would translate in terms of harness. "We'll have to find a book on the subject." He sat back on his haunches, realizing with a bit of fear that he didn't even know the boy's name.

"That armor doesn't look entirely comfortable," the boy said quietly. "Actually it looks like its chafing. Would you like some help removing it, or do you have someone to do that for you?"

Temeraire blinked. "I'd appreciate it." he replied lowering his head.

~~~***~~~

Conrart smiled as he inspected the odd armor; finally he began to unbuckle the strange contraption that was apparently a helmet. He wished he had his bags with him he had a small pot salve that would do wonders for the poor creature's chafed skin. It looked like Temeraire had stuffed soft scraps of sheep wool into the armor to keep it from chafing. In some places he could see where the beautiful black scales had begun to press together, overlapping to form a callous.

Finally after five minutes of unbuckling the myriad of buckles holding the strange helmet together and in place, the helmet literally fell off. He likely would have been crushed by the falling mass of leather and bronze, had Temeraire not caught the thing in his talons and set it calmly aside. It took a few more minutes to remove the thick, studded, leather, collar that made up the neck guard, but the work was worth it just to see the Dragon's beautiful frill snap up and stretch out in a beautiful display of ebony and sapphire, before it lowered back into its customary resting position.

Idly he wondered just how long his dragon had had to endure having his frill literally bound to his neck. Then he paused, realizing what he'd just thought. Much as he wanted to he couldn't stay. Earth wasn't his home. He wasn't human, he didn't belong here – and it wasn't like he could take the dragon back to Shin Makoku. Demons died from over using their gifts and he was not about to ask his king to attempt something that could kill him.

But were did that leave him?

Should he give up his home, his life, his family, his – Yozak, to stay here and fly the skies in what amounted to a dragon amusement park? Or should he give up the one thing he'd literally been dreaming about since he was a small child and try to go on with a life he'd never truly felt suited for?

He sat down on Temeraire's smooth neck and slid back down to the ground. Trying to decide what to do as he made his way over to one of the Dragon's forelegs with it's enormous greaves.

He was so distressed by the thought of leaving Temeraire behind now that he'd found him again that he flung himself into the task at hand with a single-mindedness that likely would have gotten him killed at home. So he very nearly jumped out of his skin when Temeraire finally broke down and asked him his name. he flushed hotly at being recalled his forgotten manners.

"I am Conrart Laurence Weller," Conrad replied as he carefully pulled off the enormous armguard, and attempted to drag it away. "However my godson calls me Conrad, and so do a lot of other people, so you may call me that if you wish."

"Conrart," Temeraire said, testing out the sound of his name, as he carefully pulled the arm guard away and leaned it against the entryway of the cave with the helmet and throat guard. "it's a fine name, but what is it's origin? It sounds almost German, I know Conrad is but I have never heard Conrart before."

Conrart paused. How did he explain the fact that he was from an entirely different world, and that while he looked human he in fact wasn't, to a dragon? he remembered from his dreams that Temeraire was a very curious and intelligent creature, but would he understand this? Their was only one way to find out. "It's not German, I'm Mazoku, I come from an entirely different world. Actually I'm not even human; well not fully."

~~~***~~~

This was the scene at one of Japan's newly opened dragon parks as an enormous dragon carried of a young man this afternoon. Park officials, are scrambling to locate the den of this particular dragon and all efforts are being made to retrieve the young man. The question remains will he be alive when park officials finally manage to reach him. This reporter has to wonder just what attracted the dragon to this particular young man. Why was he taken over any of the other people –

Disgusted Ken Murata turned off the TV, and glanced over at a currently pacing Yuri. "I'm sure he's fine Siboya that dragon could have swallowed him whole but he chose not to. I think he may have been trying to protect Him. After all he did grab Conrart's belt in his teeth not Lord Weller himself."

Yuri gave him an incredulous look, "Conrad was Just Carried off by a Dragon, How CAN you be Calm at a time like THIS?!"

"I've found over my many lives that it's best to just let things unfold, getting stressed over it does nothing." Murata replied, in the Mazoku language, ignoring Yuri's gawking roommate.

Yuri sighed highly annoyed, "Sometimes," he replied in the same tongue, "I forget you where once Dikenja, advisor to Shinou himself. To me you are Just Murata Ken, a good friend of mine and someone who's advice I normally take. However I do not see how cultivating calmness can possibly help in this situation. We should be out there helping to look for Conrad."

"Conrart is perfectly capable of protecting himself, or would you label the captain of your own guard incompetent?"

Yuri sighed, "It is not that I feel Conrad is incapable of defending himself," Yuri said, unconsciously switching back to Japanese. "However you and I both know that Dragons are protected and considered nearly sacred in Shin Makoku. Conrart grew up in that culture, and you and I both know that he would not risk hurting the Dragon, if it were at all avoidable. He would not raise a weapon to defend himself."

Murata shook his head slightly at Yuri's reckless reference to the other world; it was a good thing they'd mentioned that Conrart came from a small foreign country. "I believe you are underestimating Lord Weller's will to survive and to protect you from any harm, real or emotional." Murata replied with a slight sigh. "In the morning we will return to the Park and look for him, but for now we should sleep. We are not good to Conrad in this condition."

It took him the better part of three hours to convince Yuri to calm down and get him to actually sleep.

~~~***~~~

Temeraire gazed sadly down at the Young man asleep upon his arm. It was Laurence's customary spot and as far as he was concerned only served to validate his belief that this man was in fact his Laurence born again. He had finally found his captain, his best friend again. Yet, he could not keep him. Conrart was as irrevocably entangled in his duty to his king as Laurence had been. He needed to go home, and much as they both wished to, there was no way Temeraire could follow, and no way he could stay. In a few days he would lose his captain again. Only this time it wouldn't be to death it would be to life.

A series of soft clicking sounds pulled him out of his thoughts and he snapped his frill up, losing him or not he was not about to let these people hurt his Conrart!

Abruptly the cave was flooded with light, Conrart cursed in his own language and rolled off of his arm, reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. Carefully Temeraire nudged him in the direction of the sword he had given to Laurence so long ago. The blade had been carefully maintained by the Kaze Samurai, over the long years and was still just as sharp and deadly as it had been a century ago.

~~~***~~~

Conrart sighed, and rubbed tiredly at his eyes, it had taken the better part of a few hours to explain things to the park officials and to the over abundance of News reporters. But in the end it was generally accepted that he was Temeraire's captain. Currently he was being given a lecture on his duty and they loyalty he should display to his dragon by one of the Kaza Samurai. Apparently when Japan had shut its dragons up in the various preserves it had also shut away an entire clan of Samurai, those living today were the decedents of the men and women who had gone with the Japanese dragon population.

He'd explained his duty to his king and his people, and been told simply that he would have to find a way to spend time with Temeraire. That he was either to come live on the preserve, take Temeraire with him or find a way to spend time in both places. So long as he spent time with Temeraire they did not much mind that he would be dividing his time between his country, his duty to his king, and his duty to his Dragon and by extension his clan. As that was what they now considered him to be – a part of the Kaze clan.

How in the hell was he supposed to deal with this one?

He was being formally adopted at midnight.

In some ways it was ironic that Laurence would be adopted by the Chinese emperor in order to keep Temeraire so long ago, and now he was being adopted for much the same reason by the Kaze Samurai.

~~~***~~~

A.N

Okay so here we go the next chap should be up soon.