When the two women returned a few minutes later, Peregrine materialised in front of Fiona immediately and wrapped her in a black cloak almost identical to the one both he and Freddie wore.

"It fits perfectly," Fiona said. Closing her eyes briefly, relishing his closeness, she leaned her cheek as inconspicuously as she could against his hand that was tying a bow under her raised chin.

"It doesn't." He smiled, then, as if forgetting his resolve of making their feelings invisible to anyone but themselves, pressed a chaste, quick kiss on her lips. "Just like the one Freddie is wearing, they are supposed to finish mid-calf." He looked down, chuckling at the sight of the black fabric sweeping the grey stone floor under their feet.

"Aah, I'm too short," Fiona concluded, looking around before slipping her arms around his waist invisibly, under his black cloak, and pressing her forehead to his chest, breathing him in deeply.

"You are beautiful and perfect the way you are, Bella, you mustn't think otherwise," he whispered, leaning closer to her so only she would hear. "I... "

"Come on, let us go. It's so wonderfully sunny outside!" Annwyn's excited voice made Fiona jump from Peregrine, his unfinished words scattered by his sister's intrusion. "The horses are impatient; let us leave before the weather changes again," she added. 

Peregrine took a step away from Fiona and turned to Annwyn.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to come with us? You have never wished to leave home before," he asked, narrowing her eyes at her, obviously disgruntled by her interference.

It was Fiona who answered for the half dragon who scowled mutely at her brother, while Leodhais came to stand at her side.

"Of course she is coming with us. Her home is where her heart is, and her heart is with Leodhais. Just... leave this decision to her, please," she finished, letting her eyes pour into Peregrine's when she found everyone observing her curiously. 

He nodded, looking abashed. "Of course. Now let us finally go; it's getting late," he said, offering his arm to Fiona and leading her outside.

She turned briefly to Freddie on her way out, still unsure whether she should leave the magic imbued ring with him. But even now, it glowed with such an impossibly warm shade of blue from beneath his cloak that it seemed to be a sign, a sign of the ring finding its rightful master. She would leave it with him for now, she decided, stepping into the sunlit courtyard with Peregrine. 

Before any member of the dark-clad company-- even Leodhais had donned a black travelling cloak over his elven silvery-white finery-- could mount their steed, Freddie, with Gollum following him like a shadow, walked to Annwyn who stood by a magnificent dove-grey horse with a braided silver mane and a long, thick tail so silky and ethereal as if it was spun of mist.

"You said you would show me your dragon?" He formed his demand as a question, allowing her a possibility to backtrack or postpone fulfilling the vague promise uttered the previous night.

But she didn't, she seemed more than happy to oblige and Fiona wondered whether it was because she wanted Leodhais, whom she looked at uncertainly, to meet her other, hidden side before they set upon this journey together. Wise, brave Annwyn, Fiona mused. Between lovers, it was better to know the other as well as possible and not keep secrets to avoid future disappointments. 

"May I?" Annwyn disturbed her train of thought as she turned to her.

"Of course." Fiona shrugged. Just as herself, Freddie wouldn't get scared by seeing a dragon; she was certain. "Unless it will put us in pointless danger, by attracting other dragons' attention... " she trailed off, looking up at Peregrine, who still stood at her side, his arm laced around her waist under her cloak.

"They don't care about normal dragons," he said, looking at his sister, "but is this really a moment to do this now?"

"It is," Fiona and Annwyn spoke in unison, their eyes on Leodhais who looked between them mutely, in confusion. 

Peregrine sighed, capitulating to the womens' joined effort of persuasion. "Fine. But make it quick, Annwyn, we really should be going," he said, observing the surprisingly cloudless sky as if he didn't trust it.

"Come on," Annwyn said, winking at Freddie, taking him by the hand and running towards the gate. "There isn't enough space in this yard with all of us, and I don't want to scare the horses," she called to the rest of the group who stood motionless, observing the two.

Leodhais was the first to follow the woman and the boy into the small muddy meadow outside the inn. When she walked out after the others with Peregrine, Fiona found him standing by the wall, his hands on Freddie's shoulders to keep him in a safe distance from the half dragon who now stopped running in the middle of the meadow.

"She's such a show-off," Peregrine whispered in Fiona's ear from very close behind her and she, using the momentary distraction when everyone's eyes were trained on Annwyn, leaned back into him, relishing his deep intake of breath as he took as step closer, erasing any space left between them, and placed his large hands whose heat she could feel through her clothes on her hips.

"She... isn't," Fiona protested in a tremulous whisper. "This... is a test... for Leodhais." Botheration! Why did his touch feel so good? Why did he have such an effect on her? She closed her eyes briefly; she knew the answer well, but it was too early to admit it even to herself. 

"A... test?" He chuckled, his soft breath landing on her neck through her hair tied in a ponytail making her bite her lower lip to suppress a sigh that would definitely sound like a moan should she allow it to leave her lips. Instead, without uttering a word, she allowed her body to mould even more perfectly into his, making him support her whole weight, which her legs refused to hold.

He chuckled again, resting his forehead on top of her head, inhaling the scent of rosemary and lavender trapped in her dark copper curls. "So we are waiting to see whether he will run for the hills or drop on his knee upon seeing her in her monster form?" he teased as if it was a silly notion on the women's part, even though he couldn't agree more. Both Annwyn and Fiona knew well what they were doing. Women, often, were wiser than the men who claimed to be the more intelligent. He felt privileged to have both Annwyn and Fiona in his life. He only needed to collect Aryana on their way to Lundenwick and then the trio of the most admirable women he had encountered would be complete, and under his protection, at least as long as he would deem it safe to linger around them. Because he knew that a day in the future will come when he'll have to leave them, for their own good, he mused, pulling Fiona even closer to him, making her sigh contentedly, the thoughts making him already feel nostalgic for the present moment. 

Fiona, who had already seen a dragon shifter assuming his dragon form now laid her eyes on Freddie, watching his expression with the same avidity with which she read books, with an expectation of a parent fulfilling her child's wish.

Just as she had thought, he didn't flinch when the beautiful woman morphed quickly into a gorgeous, lapis lazuli dragon, its scales glimmering like foam on the profound sea. Her dragon, with its enormous gossamer wings of a dragonfly, was breathtaking and scary at the same time, despite being a lot smaller than Peregrine's. 

Fiona looked inconspicuously at Leodhais, curious about his reaction, and so did Peregrine. 

He was proud of the elf who didn't flinch at seeing the aquamarine dragon, who was already shifting back to her usual form, the smile playing on his lips, brightening his entire face with admiration. 

"Alexandra!" Gilderoy's voice startled them all. 

Peregrine collected his wits the fastest and rushed to take the tall woman's body from the dwarf who apparently caught her at the last moment as she fainted. 

The dragon shifter looked apologetically at Fiona, who teetered on her unsteady legs, missing Peregrine's support, before she walked to them, even as her mother came to and accepted her daughter's hand to pull herself up. 

"Righ. Hmm. If you are quite done playing, children, may we finally leave?" Alexandra, looking from one startled, guilty face surrounding her to another, admonished. 

Her words made everyone chuckle and Leodhais, who had been holding Annwyn in his arms and whispering fast in her ear, flooding her alabaster cheeks with colour, now kissed her on her full, rosy lips and rushed towards Alexandra, offering her his arm to lead her to his Asfaleem. 

"What did he tell you?" Peregrine asked of Annwyn as he escorted Fiona to her Snowmane, who liked to keep close to Annwyn's Firefoot.

"He wanted to know how come I wasn't naked after the transformation, if you really need to know, brother," the half dragon announced, blushing furiously, making Fiona explode in a fit of giggles. 

"You know, I was wondering the same thing when I saw your brother morph," she admitted, looking at the still blushing Annwyn, quite forgetting about Peregrine being within earshot. 

"Oh, did you really, Bella?" he spoke, suppressing a content smile with difficulty as he placed his arms on her waist and lifted her into the saddle of the tall horse.

"I can do this on my own!" she scolded him, blushing more than Annwyn as he called her out by casting a questioning look at her still shaky legs.

He turned towards the rest of their group and walked to his Shadow before she could say anything more, telling no one in particular, "It's a kind of magic. That's how we keep the clothes on when we transform."