Molis woke MeiAnne up the next morning. She jumped up onto her chest as MeiAnne slept on her back. Molis proceeded to headbutt MeiAnne's chin.
This woke her with a jolt. However, MeiAnne was not bothered after she saw Molis' bright, sunset colored eyes staring at her. MeiAnne reached out her hand and Molis responded by rubbing her head into her palm.
This beautiful being would be by MeiAnne's side for her entire life. She loved feeling the scalehide against her skin, soft but already toughening up after hatching. She loved how Molis yawned and wiggled all down her body as she stretched.
Then MeiAnne noticed that Molis had dug her claws into the blanket Raba had dropped off the night before.
"Oh- oh no…" MeiAnne knew this was either a blanket Raba bought himself or was a special blanket officers received. It was softer and had extra lining compared to the one she had grown used to.
She tried to pull Molis off her chest gently, but instead Molis decided she didn't want to move. The little dragon sunk her claws in as far as they would go, tearing the blanket slightly as MeiAnne lifted.
"Come now Molis, just let me move you."
As though she understood what MeiAnne said and instead decided to thwart her entirely, Molis threw a fit. She began to struggle to get back down to her bed on MeiAnne's chest.
Defeated, MeiAnne let the angry Molis back down. She looked past the blue bundled dragon and saw that Raba's blanket, while repairable, was badly torn. MeiAnne didn't know how to sew or seam so she would have to pay someone who did, or just buy a new blanket. Something she couldn't afford to do having barely earned anything in her short time in the military.
MeiAnne saw Raba pass by their stable without stopping to check on her. The sun had just barely risen above the horizon, earlier than the wake up time for everyone.
She stood, careful to hold Molis to her chest, letting the blankets fall to the ground. She was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, but her curiosity came first. She followed Raba as quietly as she could, stroking Molis with one hand to keep her quiet.
There was his dragons stable in the far back. "He must be feeding his dragon," MeiAnne thought. She realized she hadn't met his white dragon yet. She had met Jusa, Gen's red dragon before. She didn't even know the name of Raba's dragon.
Her thoughts proved correct as she carefully spied on Raba leading his dragon out to the feeding fields. He was not a short man by any standards and yet his dragon dwarfed him. He stood at her elbow, very different from how most soldiers stood at a dragon's shoulder or neck.
When they reached the fields Raba separated and stood further to the side. His dragon lowered on her haunches as all dragons do before taking off. When this one took to flight she left dust flying up and wind reaching all the way to MeiAnne, several yards away.
The dust in the air caused Molis to sneeze, and while it was a very soft sneeze it was still enough to cause Raba to turn his head. Instead of being upset he smiled enough for MeiAnne to see it at their distance and waved them over.
When MeiAnne came to stand at his side he looked up. "It would be good for Molis to see Loola hunt. She is a good example." Loola. That was his dragon's name.
They stood there, together, watching Loola glide in circles in the early morning sun. Light reflected off her scales and seemed to form small rainbows beneath her, as if Loola's wing membrane were a prism.
Molis had her eyes glued on her much larger counterpart. As Loola began to dive at her prey, Molis craned her neck to watch closer. As Loola dug in with her claws and sank in her teeth, Molis seemed to whine with hunger.
"I think this is torture for a hungry baby." MeiAnne smirked when she saw Raba watching his dragon eat with pride. MeiAnne's words seemed to snap him out of it after a moment.
He looked down at Molis before speaking. "Come with me."
He led MeiAnne by keeping his hand on the middle of her back. Once again she was very aware of his touch, just as Molis was very aware of the smell of blood. Raba led her all the way up to only a few feet away from the carnage of Loola's meal.
"Share some." Loola seemed to rumble from her chest as she loomed her head over MeiAnne and Molis.
Loola then tore a small chunk out of the beasts hind leg. She left it at the ground before MeiAnne's feet. Molis scrambled to leap out of MeiAnne's arms to devour the fresh meat in front of them.
Now both MeiAnne and Raba watched with pride as their separate partners ate together. As they watched MeiAnne never felt Raba move his hand from her back. However, she was not bothered. It only made that nervous feeling a little stronger, nothing to worry about.
MeiAnne was glad Molis was not the size of Loola. Loola had an enormous maw and all of it was covered in the deep red residue of her meal.
Raba finally let his hand off MeiAnne to part ways, as he had to clean Loola's face and claws so she could remain presentable.
MeiAnne would come to miss that peaceful moment with Raba and their dragons as Molis grew. It was not long before MeiAnne and Molis both had to go through training. Molis would grow quickly, only taking six months to reach a close to full size and be allowed to join her Flight in drills.
MeiAnne's worries over Molis ripping Raba's blanket would turn into worries over whether Molis would rip off her arm in excitement as she grew. Thankfully Molis learned quickly to be gentle with her partner she turned out to be a rather excitable beast.
That wasn't a problem in Raba's or Gen's eyes, as they interpreted it as intelligence. If Molis was a smarter dragon, she would not take long to learn her own magic. This was all something a younger MeiAnne never had on her radar, but was becoming a recurring thought.