"How exactly did I get roped into this?" said Baul.

Sebek had long since given up on questioning Miss Melody's requests. Besides, he found venting to her often provided insightful advice. She was like an older sister figure, despite only being a few years older than him.

He was currently carrying Teddy, with Lia being carried by Melody herself. Baul was carrying the heaviest supplies, which contained most of the tents. He still didn't understand why Melody only had a single case with her.

"Where is your tent?" asked Baul.

"I have this with me," said Melody cheerfully.

Besides, if she had to sleep outdoors she found it more convenient to sleep in her animagus form anyway. The case was just for supplies at this point, and a hot bath.

Seeing the look on his face, Melody snorted.

"Tell you what...let me set up the tent you brought while you show the boys about what is safe to eat this far in the woods. Nothing is better than a fresh grilled fish you caught yourself, right?"

Baul had a dubious look on his face, but agreed since it was a task he found annoying to begin with. He'd rather hunt for his food.

"Miss Melody, are you sure that's alright?" said Sebek.

Lia and Teddy were already giggling, having an idea of what was coming next.

"It's okay! Mama took us camping lots!" said Teddy. Lia nodded enthusiastically.

They knew what was coming, after all.

Baul took the boys to a nearby lake to get some fish, and to show them what plants were safe to eat. They managed to catch a decent haul of fish. Sebek was put to work hauling most of it, while the children gleefully ran around him. They knew better than to do anything that could potentially trip him after all.

The first thing he noticed was the tent properly set up, and a decent sized fire already going. It was set up in such a way that would not cause any issues if left to burn all night.

Then his eyes drifted to find the other tent that Melody and the children would be using...and he froze like a deer in headlights.

There was no tent. There was, however, a mostly grown female dragon napping on the ground.

He hadn't heard such a large beast landing at all, and was about to scoop up the children to back away slowly.

Lia and Teddy were much quicker than he anticipated.

"Mama!" said Lia gleefully, as he raced towards the dragon without an ounce of fear.

Sebek sputtered.

"Mama?" he repeated, incredulous.

Teddy and Lia were climbing all over the large dragon without any care at all. It woke up slightly to give an amused snort, and to stare down the two shell-shocked males nearby.

Baul was the first to recover...barely.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Mama can turn into a dragon!" said Teddy.

"We never use tents with Mama around!" said Lia, as if that explained everything.

The dragon briefly lifted the wing closest to the fire, revealing a pair of sleeping bags sized for children. The two ran under the wing and adjusted them to their liking from the ease of long practice.

Seeing the massive beast begin to shrink in an all too familiar way to reveal Melody had Baul stunned.

"You...how..."

"There's a trick among my people called the animagus transformation. My animal form just happens to be a large black dragon," explained Melody. "I find it easier to sleep outdoors as Meleanor than in a tent, since most magical beasts aren't stupid enough to piss off a sleeping dragon...and the smarter adventurers usually go straight back to town to try and get back up first, by which time I'm long gone anyway."

"Dragon tent! Dragon tent!" cheered Teddy and Lia.

Baul had an odd look.

"Why Meleanor?" he asked.

"My father learned this same trick to keep one of his friends company during nights of the full moon. That man was Teddy's father, and he was cursed by a particularly cruel werewolf by the name of Fenrir Greyback. They called themselves the 'Marauders' and gave their animal forms a nickname of sorts to use between themselves. After I managed to unlock my own, I decided to call her Meleanor," said Melody calmly. "It's better than what my friends wanted to call her."

"I'm almost afraid to ask," said Baul.

"One of my female friends took one look at her and almost called her Maleficent," said Melody with a laugh. "While I admire the Thorn Fairy a great deal, I didn't want to invite trouble by calling my dragon side by that name."

"Why would you be inviting trouble by using such a noble name?" said Sebek in his usual loud tone. The children made a face, which caused him to adjust it to a lower one.

"What do you know of the Greek pantheon? And I don't mean simply Hades himself," said Melody.

"Not much," admitted Baul. The only one anyone really paid attention to was Hades, and that was because he was one of the Great Seven.

"Let's just say there is a plethora of ancient stories from the pantheon he's from where doing even something as innocuous as naming a child after a god would only invite trouble later. And don't get me started on the mess caused by one queen who had the absolute gall to claim her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess of love herself."

"Do I dare ask what happened?" asked Baul.

"The goddess became enraged and forced the king to sacrifice that same daughter to a hydra as penance. The only reason she survived was due to the demi-god son of Zeus showing up with the decapitated head of Medusa to turn it into stone," said Melody dryly. "While the stories about faeries aren't nearly as bad as the Greek pantheon, there are enough of them that I didn't want to risk more trouble than I already get on a good day."

"Sensible," said Baul. By this time he had calmed down on the matter. Even if the fact she had named her dragon side after Meleanor bothered him a great deal. "So the boys are going to be sleeping under your wing?"

"Again, very few things are stupid enough to attack a sleeping dragon," she said smugly.

The next morning, Baul exited his tent and took a proper look at the dragon. It was a very impressive specimen, and did proper justice to the species. However upon closer inspection he did notice a few things that were overdue for correction.

"Miss Melody...when was the last time you gave your dragon form a proper cleaning?"

Melody blinked, and to the mild surprise of Baul replied. It was clear she was using some form of telepathy, because there was no way a dragon's body would be built for human speech.

"I...haven't?" she said confused. She had meant to show Charlie her dragon form, but their schedules always conflicted. Which was a shame really.

Once the others were up and fed, Baul used a bit of magic to teleport back to his house and brought back a stiff looking brush, some oil, and what looked to be a buffing cloth.

"What's all that for?" she asked, amused.

"As a former member of the royal guard, I cannot let someone with such an impressive dragon form go around with such poor scale maintenance. Sebek, you should learn this as well...you never know when Lord Malleus will need a quick buffering to impress guests or enemies."

Sebek perked up at that, and followed his grandfather's instructions intently.

As Baul instructed the boys on how to properly inspect and remove damaged or misaligned scales, Melody decided to take a nap of sorts. She began to let out an odd almost purring sound as the boys began to remove the old growth that had been driving her nuts lately with how much they itched.

Since she had not been properly maintaining her dragon form, the project took most of the day. Teddy and Lia were tired from collecting the old scales and putting them into the buckets Baul had also brought with them. Dragon scales, even damaged ones, could be sold to the guild for a small sum.

It was very strange to be sleeping under a dragon's wing, but at the same time Baul found it oddly soothing. The warmth she provided offset any chill to the night air, and it was nice to actually look at the stars.

On their third day, Baul discovered the reason Melody only had a single case strapped to her back. Seeing her disappear into the depths of the case shocked him to his core.

"Is this normal?" he asked Sebek.

"Miss Melody showed me the case shortly after I started babysitting for her. There's a full potions lab along with several healing potions and a list of what they could be used for, how much to give to a potential patient, and possible side effects," said Sebek. "She offered to make me one as well, but was unsure if it would be acceptable for a knight to have since it cuts down on how much weight we have to carry. She commented on how a properly spelled case like hers could hold not only a full armory, but a medical wing as well."

Baul rubbed his beard. Having something like this would have been an absolute game changer during the war with the humans...especially during the time Princess Meleanor was killed.

It would be like carrying around an entire fortress with you, never mind the reinforcements you could hide within to bring out during a fight. It would have made evacuating civilians a far simpler matter as well. As a soldier he could easily see the endless possibilities of such an artifact.

Melody exited the case, this time carrying an odd contraption.

"What's all this for?"

"I plan to catch a deer or two. We'll need to bleed it out and if nothing else I can bring the leftovers home with us. I have a fridge down there for just that purpose," she replied.

"It can't be any worse than what Lilia used to have us eat..." said Baul without thinking.

Melody paused.

"Do I dare ask?"

"Let's just say that I would only eat the general's cooking if there were absolutely no other alternative...including plants that would give me the runs," said Baul deadpan.

Baul was pleasantly surprised Melody was well versed in how to properly prepare wild game for consumption. In very little time they had the deer prepared, and the excess stored in the fridge for later. Melody was kind enough to let him take some of it home with him.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable camping trip. The boys were properly attentive to what he taught them about wild plants and how to properly fish. It was nice, being able to spend some quality time with his grandson.

~*~*~~*~*

"Are you sure you can handle this? We're going to be gone for a least a week," said Melody.

"I'll be staying with my daughter in case something happens. It'll be fine and I can start their knight training for later," said Baul.

"How exactly did you get permission to take the C-rank exam so soon after applying?" asked Sebek. Usually it took a year or two to qualify, and she did it in less than six months.

"Goblin extermination," she deadpanned.

"Goblin extermination?" repeated Baul.

"There was a rather large backlog of requests, and I took it upon myself to wipe the bastards out," said Melody flatly. "Well, in between herb retrieval and regular monster hunts."

Baul and Sebek stared at her.

"Exactly how many did you take to qualify?" said Baul.

"...I may have lost count?" she said sheepishly.

Baul made a note to ask the receptionist later, and found it was well over a hundred of them. Which really made him wonder what her issue was with the lesser fae that most considered a nuisance at best and a blight at worst.

It had gotten to the point they didn't bother to post the requests and simply told Melody where the new nest was and stamped the acceptance sheet. They also wisely did not ask why the proof of kills usually looked like they had been mauled by a particularly pissed off badger.

Lia looked visibly unhappy about his mother being gone for a week. However he knew it was important for her, so he kept quiet.

The two would return tired, but victorious. The family had a double celebration for them reaching C-rank.