The sun hung low after a long day, though it still had a few hours before setting. Jane and her fellow squires were kept busy all day to "make up" for their time off. It mainly consisted of various exercising drills and general warm-ups. Nothing too demanding but very tiring due to the volume of tasks. She was relived to now be laying on her bed and resting her sore muscles. Unfortunately for her, a certain lizard friend of hers was now more excited than ever that she was off duty. His big nose loomed over her as he begged, "Come on, you've been bed-rotting a lot lately and it's time for patrol!" She sighed and covered her eyes with her arm dramatically, "I've been bed-rotting for other reasons, Dragon. This time I actually have a good excuse." It's true that she had been sulking the last couple of days. The threat of her mother appearing at any moment ready to whisk her away to a wedding that was being planned in secret left her on edge. She didn't know if it was a good sign or not that the days following the ball had been relatively normal. Her friends awkwardly would ask for news every now and then, but she didn't have any to give. She knew it would be best to march up to the castle and demand answers from her mother, but she had to admit she was avoiding it in exchange for the peace and quiet she finally had. Well, the peace and quiet she did have until just now. "Jane, you know nothing makes you feel better than flying at death defying heights. Hop up, let's go," he said as he retracted his snout from her room. At this, she did get up, but not to come outside. She approached her window to make her point clear, "Dragon, although I do love to go flying, I have to decline, just for today. I promise we can go on patrol first thing tomorrow morning." Dragon opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by a third-party, "I can go on patrol with you, Dragon!" They both looked down to the training yard where the voice originated from and Jane was surprised to see who it was. "Gunther?! You want to go fly on Dragon?" she bust out laughing but promptly stopped when Dragon answered, "Sounds good to me!" As he shimmied his way down the castle wall to the yard below. "W-wait!" Jane, with a new burst of energy finally did leave her room and chased him down the stairs. "You can't be serious Dragon! Why on earth would Gunther want to go on patrol with you? He's never offered before!" She directed the last few words toward her fellow squire, who she now stood in front of. "For your information Jane, I've been contemplating it for a while now. Why should you be the only knight who knows how to ride Dragon and decide when the castle benefits from patrol, hm?" He answered in his signature coy tone. The only thing that had not been normal since the ball was Gunther. He had been acting oddly since their argument, and by "odd" she meant "nice." He hadn't insulted her at all during training today and she could tell he wasn't putting his all into sparring. Nothing too severe that it caused for concern because she figured he was just trying to make things up to her. However, now she was on full alert. There was something he was after but she didn't know what. She also wasn't sure what it had to do with Dragon. The reptile in question finally spoke up, "He has a point, Jane. It won't be the same without you but it would be fun to have someone else to fly with when you're being all moody." Jane scuffed in embarrassment, "I do not- ugh, never mind!" She turned back to Gunther, "what is it that you are hoping to gain from this?" He smirked, seeming to have expected this question, "simple: more knights who can work with Dragon are good for the castle. What's good for the castle is good for me." She rolled her eyes at this, obviously, fake answer. However, as usual, he said all the right words and had his lined rehearsed, thus arguing was a waste of time. "Fine, but if you are to ride Dragon, I will accompany you," she said pointedly and approached the beast. "Doesn't that defeat the purpose?" Dragon asked sarcastically. Jane was ready though, "Yes, for now. However, learning to ride you wasn't the easiest thing to do. I would hate for dear Gunther to fall off and tumble through the air, possibly, dying." She glanced at the squire and loved the look of fear that flashed over his features. Gunther hurriedly responded, "These are all good points that Jane has made. Fine, we will all patrol together." It was Dragon's turn to roll his eyes, surely amused by their "short-life" squabbles before lowering his head, ready for them to board.
It took a bit more arguing on who would sit where before they were able to take off. In the end, Gunther was in the front, holding onto Dragon's horns, and Jane was wrapped around him from behind. The logic in this decision was that Gunther couldn't properly be shown to ride Dragon if he wasn't at the helm. In actuality, this came around because Gunther and Dragon started joking around with each other before take-off and Jane ultimately ended-up being, both figuratively and physically, the third-wheel. That's how she saw it anyway. Jane did her best to act civil as she told Gunther where and how to sit for the best stability. However, between Dragon mocking her for being a "worry wart" and Gunther shooing her off like it was no big deal, she eventually gave up and climbed to sit behind Gunther. Despite this upset, she did get a lot of satisfaction when she felt Gunther tense up when Dragon lifted his head and let out a small scream when Dragon leapt into the air. She held on tightly to Gunther and prayed to God that he listened to anything she said. Once they hit the right altitude for Dragon to cruise, she loosened her grip and asked smugly, "So, how does it feel to be higher than the clouds?" "I-it's grand," was his short response that sounded like it was said through gritted teeth. Dragon laughed, "Gunther has his eyes closed!" Jane also laughed, "do you really?" She attempted to peek but Gunther moved his head away from her, " I am not-" His words were cut short when he gasped and became as rigid as a statue. Jane giggled assuming he had just now open his eyes. Dragon piped in before she could say anything, "Don't worry Gunther, if you fall, I am decently good at catching people." Both Jane and Dragon laughed at the joke but Gunther remained unusually silent. Jane waited a few more moments for a snappy come-back but it didn't come. "Gunther, are you okay?" she asked tentatively. Her shift in tone must have helped him snap out of his shock because he was able to give her a simple, "Yes!" She sighed at how unconvincing that response was. His body was tense and his hands were turning white with how hard he was holding onto Dragon's horns. In most other situations, this would probably be funny. However, Gunther's silence concerned her. She had known him long enough to know when something was wrong, but considering where they were her options for comforting him were limited. Plus, he never was the type to accept pity or compassion, especially from her. Bringing up his fear verbally would probably not help, so she simply wrapped her arms around him again as they flew. She Hoped it would give him a feeling of grounding and stability but he remained stiff. As they flew in silence, she watched the countryside and contemplated Gunther's odd sense of bravery. Many would argue he was cowardly most of the time, however, Jane most often saw his bravery come out in situations of social discomfort or jeopardy. It was a selfish form of bravery but bravery nonetheless. Which rose her questions again on why he picked today to be brave, and why it was extreme enough to be "let's go flying." She could feel his chest's effort as he breathed heavily and his heart raced. She also assumed his eyes may be closed again because his face was turned downward. She felt bad thinking he was doing this to appease her in the form of misguided logic. Teaching Gunther to fly on Dragon was never something she would have considered doing before now. Now that he was in the air, it was obvious he bit off more than he could chew. Thinking fast, she saw her excuse to get Dragon to land. "Oh Dragon, look, it's your favorite cow field!" She took her hand off Gunther's beating heart to point in the general direction. "Indeed it is," Dragon responded in a giddy tone. "They just introduced this new bull to the herd and he is hilarious!" Dragon rambled on, "all his grunting and mooing. Believe it or not, he always tries to chase me out of the field! HA, what a laugh!" Jane seized the pause in his speech before he could continue, "Wow, maybe you could take us there so we could see the new bull? Didn't Gunther promise to go watch cows with you ages ago?" Her hint of playfulness wasn't missed by Gunther, "Really? Cows? Right now?" His tone was hard to place considering he still sounded terrified. That didn't matter though because Dragon wasn't about to turn down such an offer. "Oh right! Our visit is long overdue!" Dragon made a sharp turn which caused both his passengers to yell in surprise as he begun his decent downward.
Once they landed, Jane hopped off with the ease of experience. Meanwhile, Gunther took a moment after getting his foot caught on one of Dragon's scales. Once free of leaches, Dragon wasted no time in rushing over to the field's fence-line in excitement, spooking many of the cows with his approach. Jane hung back with Gunther who was leaning over and breathing like he had been holding his breath the entire trip down. Once she was sure he wasn't going to hyperventilate, she decided to play it safe and tease him, "So, it's harder than it looks to be a frog-rider, huh? I worried for a moment you were going to pass out." He shot her a dirty look before righting his posture, "Didn't I tell you I was fine?" She rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that evening, "Oh sure, and I'm the mother of a goat." He scuffed, "my condolences to the goat." She couldn't help but laugh at his response. It was then that she couldn't help but notice Dragon had begun to chase the helpless bovines and she knew she should probably stop him. "Dragon! Wait up!" she called for him, sprinting toward the herd and leaving Gunther behind to follow if he so inclined.
The sun soon begun to set, turning the green pasture orange. Dragon was busy individually introducing Gunther to each and every cow. Which was taking a lot longer than Jane had anticipated. Gunther, to his credit, was a good sport about it at first. However, after cow number twenty, she could tell Gunther was getting irritated. Jane, wanting to save the situation, resorted to the worst thing possible, "these cows seem udderly in love with you, Gunther!" She felt like such a beef-brain the second the joke left her mouth. She got the slightest chuckle from Dragon but a hard stare from Gunther. She wasn't sure why she felt like she had to entertain him. She felt caught in the middle of being a host and being a babysitter for the two of them. She normally wouldn't care how Gunther felt, but seeing Dragon so happy having another person to show his cows to made her want, whatever was happening, to work. Gunther and Dragon had briefly been friends in the past. A bond she still felt she, selfishly, had a hand in ending. She sighed, knowing that if she ever wanted to become friends with Gunther, she needed to be okay with him being friends with Dragon too. Her big-break came in the form of her absent mindlessly stepping in some cow dung. Gunther and Dragon burst out laughing at her disgruntled face. "Why does it always have to be at my expense?" she inwardly groaned. Luckily, this had broken the weird tension that seemed to hang over her companions for they begun to laugh and make horrible jokes amongst each other. She trailed behind them as they carried on with their dung jokes, which was humor that she didn't understand. Eventually they noticed her lagging behind and Dragon tried to loop her in, "Do you have any other jokes, Jane?" Gunther chimed in before she could answer, "Come now Dragon, Jane thinks dung jokes are shit." They both giggled which caused the situation to officially get on Jane's nerves. "And what do you find so funny about them, Gunther? Why are they your favorite type of joke?" She huffed and crossed her arms. "They are not my favorite," Gunther responded, suddenly serious. There was a brief pause in their conversation before he added in a lighter tone, "but they're a solid number two!" Dragon hollered at this, "Gunther, why did we ever stop hanging out?" The mood shifted again as the conversation completely halted. Jane worried Gunther would remember the incident with his father's cargo and get upset. However, he simply waved it off, "Don't worry about it." Dragon smiled, "Will do! Worrying is too much work anyway."
Once the sun had set, they decided it was time to return to the castle before they had to wake for their duties. Gunther was less hesitant about getting on Dragon this time but still yelp during take-off. Jane loved night flying, there was something different about it. The air smelled fresher and the world felt peaceful. The moon was bright this night and it allowed for the view to still look gorgeous. Gunther and Dragon continued to chat and she was thankful it wasn't about dung. Her sore muscles from earlier were making themselves known again. Despite trying to fight the urge to fall asleep, Jane loosely held onto Gunther and laid her head on his back. He smelled of lather and sweat, much like she did. However, he also smelled of the sea and the harbor he lived near by. She closed her eyes and listened to the beating of Dragon's wings mixed with the vibrations of Gunther's voice by her ear. Unfortunately, the moment was quickly ruined once the conversation became about her. "Did you know the reason Jane's mother had such a hard time getting her in a dress was because of you?" Dragon said this in that innocent tone he always had when telling a deep-dark secret without a thought. She tensed and didn't move in fear of being perceived further. "Really, why?" Gunther seemed genuinely surprised, which in-turn surprised Jane. "I don't know, she was all like, 'oh no, what if Gunther sees me in a pretty fancy dress? He might think I'm a pretty fancy lady-in-waiting' or something like that. How'd you put it, Jane?" If she could strangle Dragon, she would. How could he be so thick and insensitive? He knew she got weirdly fluttered when it came to Gunther and her femininity! Well, okay, maybe she never directly said it like that, but still... She felt Gunther shift under her arms in an attempt to try and look at her. Not knowing what to do and being too mentally drained to deal with the situation, she did the first thing that came to mind: pretend to be asleep. She kept her eyes shut and she laxed her arms a bit more, unmoving and unresponsive. "Jane?... Is she asleep?" Gunther asked in bewilderment. Dragon laughed, "I wouldn't be surprised. It wouldn't be the weirdest place she's slept." Jane thought back to all the times she slept on Dragon's cave floor or other odd places most would probably find unbearable. Her thoughts were interrupted when Gunther placed his hand on hers. He pulled it forward and up to the base of his chest. He held it there and pinned her arm under his. Jane was puzzled at first and thought about dropping the act, but she eventually pieced together that Gunther was attempting to keep her from falling off. Her cheeks warmed at the gesture as she thought about how sweet he could be when he thought no one was watching. It was unfortunate she seemed to be the only one who ever noticed.
The rest of the flight proceeded without incident as Gunther steered the conversation in a different direction. The next thing she knew, she was being justled awake. She looked around in a haze and noticed they were back at the castle's training yard. It took her a moment to realize she had actually fallen asleep while pretending to be asleep. Gunther offered his hand to help her disembark and she took it without thinking. As they said they goodnights, she briefly worried about Gunther walking all the way home at this late hour. However, She knew he had done it many times before, and suggesting he sleep on her bedroom floor was too scandalous for her to think about a second more.