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The Dragon Knight (Ren Olvry & AlabasterDragoness)

Seeing his ears flick and his head tilt made her think that perhaps she asked too bold a question. But when he suggested that he get to study hers at the same time, she shrugged. "That would be fair. Besides, we tend to cover up as it's more for modesty. Can't have everyone traipsing around naked."

At his mention of returning, she nodded. "I believe there should be food ready for us when we get there." There were so many questions she wanted to ask him, but she decided it would better to hold them off for another time. She got to her feetand waited to Drace to pick her up so they could start heading to the castle.
 
Well, sure, perhaps not naked, but to the degree humans seemed to cover... well, never mind. Perhaps it was one of those things he'd start to figure out a bit more as he spent more time around this place, around these humans. Never minding that, he'd have to figure out a fair bit more over time, but he'd have a few free days with which to at least start to do so. First, though... there would be the first meal to have in these human lands, that he rather expected would be different than what he was used to.

"Then... until we come back here, for more. Four days, around midday, perhaps? Unless you'd prefer a bit later," he suggested, steadily picking himself up to his feet in the meantime with a light stretch of his wings. Glancing momentarily over to the castle, or the direction he recalled it was in, Drace stepped a bit closer to Joanna so he could kneel down slightly and carefully scoop her back up into his arms. Like that, he was back up in the air shortly enough, only to alight a short ways from the castle entrance to a bit of clamor and drawing of weapons from the two guarding the doors.

"Put away the weapons. I'm her knight now, as you may have heard," he insisted, a light, but pointed, growl making it into his voice. Seemingly satisfied with the way the men cautiously stepped back a little, he carefully lowered Joanna back to her feet, his eyes lingering on her for now and ignoring the guards. "After you, then, queen Joanna."
 
"Four days is sufficient," she agreed, "and midday would be fine." She wasn't exactly picky so long as they didn't give away what they were planning on doing. Letting him scoop her up, she held on as he flew her back to the castle where the two guards unsheathed their weapons until the growl in Drace's voice made them step back. Once she was on her feet, she approached the guards and gestured for them to lower their weapons.

"His people are our allies, now. You'd do well to remember that."

"Yes, Your Grace," the guards said as they bowed.

She gestured for Drace to follow her through the courtyard into the grand hall where she felt the eyes of her court drawn on her and her new companion. It wouldn't be long until Sebastian learned about her return, no doubt wanting to embrace her and tell her how worried he was about the whole ordeal.
 
Even as Joanna approached the guards -- and regardless of them pointing their weapons at him -- Drace himself, meanwhile, stayed close, just as he'd assured before. And with that seemingly settled for now, he gave one last passing glance to the two before stepping into the castle after Joanna, his eyes already starting to wander a little. Even just here, it was rather... different than their sparse, simple, stony buildings back home. All the while, the dragon remained silent for now, only giving as much as passing glances to the people around when they reached the hall. Staring, muttering to each other; no different than he'd have expected, really.

"Ah, my dearest sister! You are..." so spoke the man that walked in from the back, arms out as if to come up for a hug, before he very distinctly paused on the sight of the dragon, who met that gaze with a bit of a cold stare of his own. After a few moments, though, Sebastian moved again, rather more quickly this time to somewhat firmly grip Joanna's arm, giving her a little tug a bit further away from the knight. "Space, if you would. She is your queen now; you will show her due respect, and keep your distance," the man angrily snapped. "If one of the guards could show him to his quarters, he may eat there," he pointedly added, giving a small wave to one of the guards standing over by the doors.

"That isn't up to you. That's up to her," Drace coldly replied, giving a small tilt of his head to Joanna on that point. "But I suppose it would be best for you to say," he added, glancing over to the woman herself.
 
As she saw Sebastian running down the hallway, she caught the cold stare he gave Drace. She felt him grip her arm and tug at it. "Brother, stop." But when he tried to order her knight to keep his distance and eat in his quarters, she glared at him.

"That is not your place!" she snarled. "He is my knight, and he will only take orders from me. Show him some respect." She pushed his hand off her arm. "He is to remain close to me at all times. It is to ensure I have some degree of protection." Shaking her head, she shooed the guard and turned to Drace. "Forgive his outburst. He tends to be a bit mistrusting of those he doesn't know."

Sebastian's behavior was still inexcusable, however. He should be thankful she didn't feel the need to chastise him further. But he knew she would be coming back with a dragon, and he should have expected as such. "Now, then. If brother is done with his tantrum..." She led them to the dining room where a few roasts and several platters of fruits and fish were laid out on the table. So long as Sebastian behaved himself for the rest of the day, it would save her a massive headache.
 
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"Protection?" Sebastian snapped. "We have guards for that! Guards we know, and trust! I..." he trailed off, before grumbling under his breath and stomping off ahead of Joanna and Drace into the dining room. And while Drace was to curiously glance over the offerings -- most of which, indeed, he wasn't familiar with, but his kind also weren't much for cooking if they didn't need to -- he soon found another glare on him from Sebastian as the knight himself took one of the seats nearest Joanna, as he felt he was expected to. And would insist on, if it came to it.

"If I may, then... where should I begin? I am not... used to having much of a selection..." Drace glanced over to Joanna to ask, if in slight embarrassment... doing his best to ignore the derisive chuckle from across from him. "And... after this, a small tour of the place, perhaps? The library, our rooms... whatever else I might need," he requested, practically feeling the stronger glare from Sebastian.

"Is this not too much? He may be a... guest, but would you truly not say he's overstepping?" Sebastian made a point of insisting.
 
"You don't want me to have extra protection?" Joanna shook her head as Sebastian stromed ahead. As much as she loved him, she couldn't stand it when he got into one of his moods. She had Drace sit near her and listened as he asked where he should start.

She smiled softly. "One of the roasts would be a good place to start," she said before giving her brother a death glare. "Be respectful." There would be no room to tolerate his behavior toward Drace. She tried her best to focus on her meal while ignoring Sebastian.

"Tell me, Drace. What's your home like?"
 
'Roasts', hm? If she said so, then; it wasn't as though Drace had much clue what any of this was in the first place, though for now, he could take a bit of said 'roast', as well as a few scattered fruits and other items to lightly cover his plate. While, in the meanwhile, Sebastian himself had gone huffily silent, turning quickly enough away from Joanna and to his own plate of gathered food.

"It's rather... different than here, I can say that much," Drace himself replied, glancing up and around at all the... he could only call it extravagance. Decorations, furnishings, lighter textures than just, well, stone. "Stone buildings, stone halls... I suppose you might call it 'dreary', as I've heard? It's rather more... simplistic than all of this, and certainly not near as large, but it suits us," he offered with a small shrug. "Though if you meant my personal home... a simple, single-room stone building, a dresser, and a cot. That's all, really; I've never needed any more than that," he added, noting that Sebastian appeared to be about to say something before he'd stopped himself with a brief glance to Joanna and returned to his food.

With that, though, the knight took a first bite of his own food, a curious little hum escaping him at the rather different -- and certainly not unpleasant -- taste than he was used to. "This... isn't meat. At least, not fully," he mused, curiously sniffing over a small forkful after. "You humans... really do like making things complex, don't you? The buildings, the food... the clothing," he asked with an ever so slight smirk, glancing momentarily over Joanna's outfit, even if he had commented a bit on it earlier. "Now I'm rather curious to see what even just my own room might look like, I admit."
 
Joanna mused over how Drace reacted to the taste of roast, but he seemed to be fine with it. She also nodded at his comment about the dragons being more simplistic about their homes. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

"Your room will probably be a bit more ornate that what you're used to," she told him. She wasn't about to let him sleep on a cot, either. "But I hope your room will be to your liking." She found herself eager to see his reaction when she did show him his room.

After some time, she had finished her meal and waited until Drace was finished. "Now then. Let me show you around so you can get around easier."
 
Whether it would... he'd see, at least. For now, though, Drace simply gave a small nod, his focus a bit more so on the food before him for the moment. Tempting as it might have been otherwise, the dragon ate perfectly politely, curiously taking his time with parts of it that were particularly unfamiliar and different to him. And when he was done, he set down his own utensils, glancing over briefly as Sebastian, huffy as he still was, left first, leaving just the two of them.

"Of course," Drace replied, picking himself up from his seat and stepping up to be able to once again walk beside Joanna. "If there's a library or something of the sort, I think that would be a fair place to start... then on to anywhere you think would be of interest before ending at our rooms," he suggested, before glancing momentarily back to where Sebastian had left from. "And I do hope there are enough places around here that tend to be quiet. I rather doubt he's the only one who would... object to my presence here," he added, perhaps somewhat pointedly. The less he had to deal with these humans, the better it would be for him, he had to imagine.
 
Once Sebastian left, Joanna turned her attention to Drace as he suggested they start at the library. "Of course." She led him down the grand hall before ascending a flight of stairs where she walked through a doorway at the end of the hall. The room was filled floor to ceiling with shelves of books and scrolls with large bay windows separating the shelves from each other. In one corner was a little desk, covered in ink and hastily written scrolls. She ambled past the desk and opened a small door beween this and a large book shelf.

Here would be her personal office: a small, cozy room with a fireplace, two fairly sized book shelves, and larger desk littered with letters and notes. A mirror sat opposite of the desk where she could... well, she never knew why there was a mirror placed here. It had no magical properties.

"You will be free to use my office should you need a quiet place to study." If Drace looked closely, he would find a few notes from when she studied human anatomy.
 
Following alongside Joanna like that, Drace himself curiously glanced around every so often. The decorations, the rather different nature of the structure itself... all of it would certainly take some getting used to for him. Never minding not having a single other dragon around, just a bunch of humans that might or might not be hostile toward him.

The first room she took him to, then, he looked around in particular. Plenty of books and scrolls, so it appeared; plenty for him to actively study over the next few days, if it came to it. And, seeing the attached room, a small, thoughtful hum escaped him, glancing around the place and idly sliding a few fingers over the edge of the desk. Different was very certain; humans certainly were strange creatures. "Mm?" he curiously mused, more so at his glancing over the notes than her next statement. "Your own personal studies, then?" he asked, though he didn't spend long looking at the notes, nor indeed did he go so far as to pick any of them up. "'Unladylike' indeed, perhaps one might say. Were one to care about that sort of thing," he suggested, another slight smirk tugging up at the edges of his lips.

"But I think... I will likely be spending a fair bit of time here over the next few days. So if there's anything you might wish me not to see, please do say so now," he requested. "Next, then... I think I'll leave up to you. I'm curious what you think may be of interest, truthfully," he added, giving a curious little tilt of his head in turn.
 
Joanna laughed at Drace's comment of being unladylike. "Yes. I get that a lot." She knew he meant nothing by it, but she couldn't help but notice the smirk he gave her. At his request to perform his studies in her office, she nodded. "I thought you'd say that." At least it would be quiet for him.

She led him back out to the hallway where she showed him the gardens in the back. An array of colorful flowers and plants canvased the landscape as they walked under large trees and statues until a semi secluded gazebo came into view. Another little corner for her to escape to. "I like to come here whenever the parties get to be a bit much."

She ran her hand over the bench thoughtfully for a moment before placing a hand on his shoulder. "This way." It wasn't long until she brought him to his room.

A large, plush bed sat against one wall with an amoire opposite of it. A little vanity was placed adjacent to it with a door leading to her room at the far end. Glass doors led out out to a sizable balcony with a splendid view of the mountains.
 
When Joanna moved again, Drace followed along just as ever, once again glancing around a little on the way; both to observe the place, and, especially by now, to get his bearings at least a little. The next spot... he couldn't say he'd particularly expected, but it was... nice, he had to admit. Peaceful, perhaps most helpfully of all... though to her next statement, he couldn't help but finally chuckle slightly. It was a feeling he knew, at least a little; he'd never much cared for parties or crowds himself, in all truth.

Glancing over then to the hand on his shoulder for a moment, he gave a small nod in turn, following along to... well, rather more extravagance than he'd ever had. Glancing curiously around the place, there was some temptation to look out the balcony... but first, there was that. The bed, that he pressed his hand down into with a fairly surprised look before sitting himself somewhat abruptly onto it, a curious sound escaping him at just how it sunk down like that. A rather large difference from the fairly stiff cots he was used to.

"This is... what you sleep on? It is, erm... stable, is it...?" he somewhat nervously asked, carefully picking himself up off of it and glancing it over as it seemed to return to shape. "S-sorry, erm... it's just... not what I'm used to..." he mumbled slightly, before scratching a little at the back of his head. "All of this, really... you least of all. At first, I might suggest you were only treating me so because of the truce, but I feel there might be a bit more to it," he curiously asked, turning back to Joanna for now.
 
"Yes," she replied. "Most of us like to not wake up with sore backs." It was so amusing to see how he reacted to everything. "It's stable and comfortable." At his suggestion that there was more to how she was treating him, she paused. Raising a brow for a moment, she wrung her hands slightly before clearing her throat.

"If you mean... being more than what we are, I assure you that's not my intention. I thought that it would be alright if I treated you as my equal. I figured you would prefer that." She wasn't sure why he would bring this up when she thought she made it clear that she wasn't looking for any kind of intimacy. Perhaps she unintentionally gave him a social queue that meant something entirely different to dragons.

Did he want something to come out of this arrangement?
 
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Sore? Because they were just... different, Drace could only imagine. Scale-less, most of all. Well... he'd find out more when he actually slept there that night, at any rate. Seeing Joanna's reaction to his question, though, he blinked in surprise, tilting his head curiously. Had he... asked something odd?

"Ah... n-no, that's not..." he grumbled slightly, seeing that he hadn't quite made his intentions clear, and reaching up to scratch a little at the back of his head again. "I... said something odd. I apologize. I'm used to... being a subordinate. Doing what I'm asked, not being allowed to question much. I am not used to someone paying this much mind to me, when they don't need to," he somewhat nervously offered, before exhaling a light sigh, imagining he was probably digging himself a bit of a bigger hole.

"Well... never mind it. Regardless of anything else, it is... nice having a bit less to worry about," he mused, moving back over a little to take a -- still careful -- seat back onto the bed, otherwise fixing her with a curious look. "You're really not worried about me at all, then, are you? Even for all the time I've spent fighting your people. Or are you that confident in that magic of yours, perhaps? You must know I've faced mages before," he suggested with another slight smirk, albeit a bit wider this time. "You will forgive me, I hope, if... in truth, the stern persona of a knight may not fully suit me."
 
"Oh, I see..." Now that Drace had clarified what he meant, she nodded. "Well, I think you should be my equal while you're here." She knew that he felt that he might have dug himself into a hole as he had made her believe that he wanted more than what they had. But it was all a misunderstanding, and that was all that it was. "I like ensuring those under my care are taken care of, that's all."

She shook her head as she watched him take a careful seat on the bed and chuckled when he asked her if she really wasn't concerned about him harming or if it was because she was a mage. "Perhaps both." Seeing his smirk again, she gave him a half smile. "This is just fine."

Moving over, she sat next to him on the bed and glanced at the balcony doors. "Would you like to go stand on the balcony?"
 
Equal. To that, he gave a curious little tilt of his head, even if she'd brought it up just earlier. Him being an equal to a queen -- one of a once opposing nation, no less -- was a rather... odd thought. Though no less odd than any of the rest of this, he mused.

"Well, if you say so," Drace replied with a slight chuckle, only to glance over as Joanna took a seat next to him. When she mentioned the balcony, though, he exhaled a thoughtful hum as he looked over in that direction, before giving a small nod. "Yes... I think I would like to see the view. Even if it may be little compared to what I can get by wing," he replied. "And from here... would there be much view of the town or city nearby? It's not a place I expect to actively visit anytime soon... but it would still be something of a curiosity," he asked. With that, though, he picked himself steadily up to his feet, only to offer a hand out to the queen herself to help her up, should she want it. Letting her otherwise lead -- it would take some time to rid himself of habit, after all -- the dragon soon exhaled another thoughtful little hum as he looked over the view the balcony would offer him, and in some part, over to what must have been her own balcony not far off.

"All your territory that we can see, am I to assume? I admit... I can't help but wonder how surprised people here might be to hear you say you consider a dragon your equal. For as much as I was suddenly pushed into this, I think I can consider that its own victory, of a sort," Drace chuckled, a bit more free of a smirk starting to come across his features. "There is... a bit of temptation to let out a roar, but I don't believe people would appreciate that very much, hm?" he suggested, his smirk only serving to widen slightly as he started to show what he could really be like under the surface visage that he showed most others.
 
She opened the doors and walked onto the balcony, taking in the view she had seen hundreds of times as Drace joined her. "You can see a few towns right over there," she said, gesturing to a few clusters of buildings and such to their far left before drawing her gaze to a larger settlement. "You can see more activity in that city from here."

At the mention of his temptation to roar, she snickered. "That might be the wisest course of action," she teased as she gently nudged him. "But yes, you can see see the entire kingdom from up here."

She rather liked this side of him. It gave her some comfort to know that he wasn't as rigged in personality as she initially thought.
 
City... so it was wooden buildings after all, or so it seemed to him. How they even managed... well, but never mind. That would perhaps be just one of many parts of his coming research into human... well, everything. Feeling Joanna's nudge, though, Drace let out a little chuckle of his own, that smirk remaining on his face.

"All of it, hm..." he mused, glancing back out to the view. "Sparse settlements dotted here and there, one singular place of rule... I suppose that much isn't so different from what I'm used to," he added, thoughtfully leaning a little onto the railing of the balcony. For now, there were plenty of questions he could think of to ask... but perhaps it might be better, he figured, to look into them, and what he otherwise could, on his own. He would, at least, have less to bother the woman with that way.

"I think... I might stay out here and think things over, for now," he offered. "You are of course free to stay, if you wish, unless you have anything else you should be getting to... and then unless it's something you wish to avoid. If someone gets upset over it, I think I might be a fair target to blame," he suggested, that smirk quickly enough returning to his features. "And since I say that... you asked before what I expect of this. I'm still not certain what I expect... but what I want is pure and simple freedom. For me, and for you, to have times like out in the woods to do what we wish without worry," he added. "Not such a bad deal to have someone who can help you escape the castle whenever you wish, hm?"
 
She stayed by Drace's side as he said that he wanted to stay on the balcony for a while. But when he mentioned that he wanted freedom for the both of them, she nodded. "That is understandable. The last thing I want is to feel like I'm in a gilded cage." Not that she felt like she wasn't sometimes.

Perhaps that was why she liked to be away from everyone and find a little spot to conceal herself from the world, if only for a moment. She was at least grateful that Drace wanted to help her leave her responsibilities for a short time whenever she needed it.

"There are a few more cities scattered about," she added. "No doubt they're preparing to celebrate the end of the war."
 
A cage... given his circumstances especially, it seemed an appropriate comparison. To that, Drace let out a thoughtful little hum, but didn't say anything more on that particular matter. He'd still yet to see what this place might actually feel like to him, though he had his assumptions, at the very least.

"Celebrate, hm... yes, I suppose so..." he mused. Would they be celebrating likewise back home? Well, probably not; they'd probably just go back to how they were before this entire war started. And likely make sure to avoid these lands even more so out of worry of anything more happening, even if one of their -- now former, perhaps -- knights was remaining here. "Then... perhaps one more question before I return to my own thoughts. Why a knight? I've heard of such arrangements being made before, in foreign lands... but those were usually nobles. Princes, princesses, others of high standing. I am curious, at least, if there was any reason behind that... and don't worry, it would be fine to say if that reason is because Jarus's son can be fairly... difficult," he asked, allowing himself a little chuckle in spite of it.

"Answer me that, however you may, and I'll allow you one more question as well, answered honestly. Especially as your last one was a request more so than a question," he added, giving Joanna a somewhat teasing little smirk.
 
When he asked why she chose to take a knight instead of a noble, she sighed to herself. "It's not just because of Jarus's son. I will not forge an alliance with someone through marriage. If I happen to want that, that's one thing." She shifted to turn to Drace as she tore her gaze from some of her subjects running about in the courtyard below. "If and when I do marry, it will be on my terms and it will be with someone of my choosing. I'm not about to be forced into something as loveless as a political coupling."

Joanna, of course, had had many men seeking her hand in marriage, but she chose to not see any of them as she wasn't looking to be a wife. "A knight, on the other hand, felt more suitable to me. Not only would I have someone to help defend the kingdom if needed, I would have someone close by for extra protection." Based on some whispers in her court, she was likely going to need it.

"Really?" she asked, laughing slightly as she glanced up at the rolling clouds. "Hm. Let's see." Pursing her lips, she folded her hands over the railing and looked at him. "I didn't really think that dragons could have fur. Is that considered unique among your kind?" It was probably best to ask him a question pertaining to his race rather than risking asking him something that would likely be too personal.
 
Ah... it was that, was it? He'd thought they'd exchanged, or something of the sort... but since she mentioned it, that made more sense. Still didn't stop a look of mild embarrassment from crossing his face, not realizing that that was the normal custom for such things. At least, for humans; for dragons like himself, he had to imagine this sort of thing was rather new.

"With me, you can certainly count on that much," Drace offered in assurance all the same. She was still... odd to him, just as any human perhaps might be... but he'd already sworn himself, after all. And besides, there were still curiosities that he'd not settled yet. Were anything to potentially happen, he would very much have something to say about it... and if he were to judge by Perseus earlier, it would surprise him if there was anyone larger than him in this kingdom.

To Joanna's reaction to his offer, though, the dragon's ears perked a little, curious what might've been going through the queen's head that she found amusing. When her question came, though, he couldn't help but smirk a little wider, this time giving her a slight, careful nudge with his elbow. "Really, you could ask me anything, and you ask me that? I'd thought the anatomy study would be for our next visit to that spot of yours in the forest in four days' time," he teased. "But as I've promised to answer... yes, it is fairly unique. My family, a sparse few other families; most of the rest just have scales, as you've seen. Many of them truthfully don't find the fur very appealing; they think it looks silly on us," he ultimately replied, allowing himself an idle, dismissive shrug. What they thought was their business; what he thought was that he was fine as he was.

"'Til it's time to go out there next, then... do feel free to request anything you like," he offered, turning his gaze curiously back out to the expanse that they could see from the balcony. "In fact, I might encourage it, at least from time to time. I am, admittedly, curious about more of what you're like. Let's say, you aren't... exactly what I'd expected from a human ruler. In a good way, that is," he offered with a little chuckle.
 
"Good." She couldn't help her smile when he nudged her and teased her that she could have asked him another question and her choice of settling on the matter of his fur. "I'm trying to be ladylike." A laugh tumbled from her lips before listening to his explanation. Nodding, she huffed quietly when he said most found his fur to be silly. "How? It makes you more distinguished and hands-"

She quickly closed her mouth as her cheeks turned beet red and her entire body tensed. How could she let herself just speak like that? This was to be a professional relationship, nothing more. Taking the time to compose herself, she took a deep breath and finally mustered enough courage to lock eyes with him again. "Forgive me. That was out of line for me." Joanna wrung her hands some more before continuing. "What exactly were you expecting me to be?"

It was good that she went against his expectations in a good away. She was half expecting him to say that he thought she would be more stoic and simply treat him lower than the dirt she walked upon. Perhaps her uncle or Sebastian would have, but she saw no point. The dragons were now allies, and it was imperative that they were treated as equally she would treat anyone else. Resting a hand on his arm, she gently ran her fingers over the fur before eyes his wings. But it was best not to ask for now; perhaps when they ventured out in four days. "So... what kind of festivities would your people have? Any holidays or...?"
 
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