As Vrack and Anija returned to the guest bedchambers, they both knelt down next to their Riders to do their confessions. As mounts, they never kept anything private from their Riders, even internal thoughts. This went on for a long while for both of them, this time with more tears than usual. After all, they had hidden their love for each other from even themselves. Upon completing this task, they were given leave to join the other dragons, besides Hadad, Annie, and their hatchlings, in the stable.
Just as they emerged from the adjacent quarters of Vaestro and Avelia, Karyu and the other two hens, Astrid and Hilda, walked by also en route to the stable, and Karyu made a motion with his head inviting the two lovers to join them. Since the earlier session with the hens, Karyu and they had hit it off as friends, and they were at the tail end of a pun contest.
"...and I told him, 'no, I have never been incognito. I would not know anyone there,'" Karyu was finishing as Astrid and Hilda giggled jubilantly.
It was the green-and-bronze hen, Astrid, that first smelled the evidence of what had transpired, between Vrack and Anija. "So that's what you two were off doing!" Astrid cheered delightedly. Astrid and Hilda were lifemates, however loosely, and they could bear no animosity over another hen being serviced by one of the same drakes that had kindly helped give them a clutch. If anything, the evidence of Vrack's virility seemed to delight her.
To Vrack's bemusement, Hilda came up on the other side of Anija, between her and Vrack, giggling mischievously over to Astrid, "I bet, if we were to be extra-nice to her, she would give us sloppy seconds!" It was hard to tell whether the golden hen was serious or joking.
"Hilda, you are such a whore," Astrid scolded her mate, as they moved her away from the two drakes. They were heading for a comfortable area of the stable that appeared to be where the hens slept, the three of them walking abreast as they whispered to each other. Vrack lifted a forepaw with a thought of following after them, but Anija shot a glance over her shoulder that spoke clearly, "This is girl-time."
Vrack flushed, feeling like a very naughty hatchling that was being told to wait in a corner, while the hens determined how he would atone for making such a large mess, and he went to join Karyu at the dragon's exit, which was a large, open balcony that overlooked an incredibly high cliff. The construction of the platform was a sophisticated cantilevered design that protruded several meters out from the palace wall, so there was more than enough room for the two drakes to stretch out under the stars.
The rain had long since passed, and the sky was now littered with a magnificent starscape, with so many twinkling lights in the sky that one could never count them all. Karyu looked as majestic as a heroic statue under the great veil of night, his muscular form sprawling cat-like under it. Luke had removed his tack for the night, giving Vrack his first look at the stunning creature without it. Realizing that he would otherwise be sleeping alone this night, Vrack tentatively asked, "do you mind if I join you?"
Karyu nodded, the great vermilion dragon opening his russet wing and backoning Vrack to join him under it, which was a kind but dominant gesture.
Vrack obediently joined Karyu, nestling his steel-white body up against Karyu's side like a hatchling against its mother as Karyu pulled him close with the wing. "You were right," Vrack admitted to Karyu, "although I have no idea how you could have known."
Karyu smiled with wisdom well beyond his years. "Anija has been through some hard times," he thrummed deeply. "Terrible things have happened to her, Vrack. She doesn't admit it, but the cultists that once held her captive left terrible scars on her. Dragons are just devils deserving of punishment and humiliation, to cultists, if not vermin to be murdered on site. If they kept her alive, it was just only to fill her life with one torment and degradation after another, reducing her to a beaten draft animal or using her as a toy for circus-like amusements. If dragons didn't regrow their teeth, she would not have any."
Vrack shuddered, and Karyu responded by pulling his wing closer around his body and putting his forepaw over Vrack's. "I shouldn't have taken advantage of her," Vrack said guiltily, feeling the remorse that some drakes do after breeding their hens.
Karyu shushed him. "She needs you, Vrack. Be there for her. I am very proud of you for coming out to her. You are a good drake."
Vrack rested sleepily against Karyu, and since it was in the wee hours of the morning by this time, he was certain that it was now bedtime. It would be a busy morning, he knew, for all of the crew.