“Ralem.” He jerked back to reality with the call of his name. He turned to find Jaydon on the bed, elbows on knees and head in hands. He was looking sarcastically at him, one eyebrow raised and eyes narrowed. “That’s your romantic daydream? That was lame.”

                “And what do you know about romance?” Ralem said hotly, feeling pink creep up on his cheeks.

                Jaydon put a hand to his chest, looking pained. “Everything! We male dragons are experts at it. We have to be, because there’s a lot less lady dragons than males. And, of course, being the Ventus Rex, I have the best instincts.”

                “Okay, let’s see. What advice do you have for me, two month old to twenty-one year old?”

                “Don’t rub it in,” Jaydon said sourly, “Now I’m not going to tell you.”

                “No, no. Seriously. Tell me. I’m totally interested.”

                Jaydon smiled. It seemed he wanted this response. “Well, if you’ll let me off the bed…”

                “No. You can explain right there on the bed. Nice try though,” he smirked at Jaydon’s crestfallen face.

                Jaydon tried to squiggle off the bed, but Rider hypnotism is too strong for even the strongest dragon. He frowned, but started anyway, “Well, what you do first is to chase away all the other interested dragons, like, Daemon. Then, you go out and search for the perfect deer. Like a huge one, so juicy and delicious that even the most beautiful dragoness can’t deny. Make sure it’s huge, so that Daemon doesn’t get a bigger one than you. Then you offer it to her, and if she takes it it’s a good sign. It shows she believes you can take care of her and her hatchlings. But the next part is the hardest. She has to let you take a bite. That means that she accepts you.  To edge this one, you would quietly curl your tail around hers and move next to her until your shoulder to shoulder, to show off just how big you are. Then, if she lets you eat some, then aha! You’re battle is won! You take her for the ride of her life, show her how acrobatic you are in the sky. But the best part is when you interlock claws and fall from the sky, your wings outstretched. And that’s what I call romantic.”

                “Actually, that sounds like suicide,” Ralem said. “To make her eat raw deer? I think that would cross me off the gentleman list.”

                “But, eating it, together?” Jaydon protested.

                “Um.. no. And it seems like you’ve been thinking about this way too much. You’re only two months old. You don’t have to worry about the ladies now.”

                “Actually it just came to me right now. I don’t need ladies to be awesome. Besides, I would never want to share my deer, or my pies with any dragoness. I don’t care how long and shiny their talons are.”

                “Good.” Ralem said shortly, “Well then. I’m off to dinner, which you’ll miss because you were naughty.”

                “What!?” Jaydon moaned, then flopped back on the bed, “But I’m… soo hungry!”

                “What? But you ate the whole kitchen’s supply of tarts. I think you’re fine. And you should have thought of this before you sat your butt down on the castle roof. Sorry,” Ralem said, then was out before Jaydon could give him the seal eyes. He heard the dragon’s deep voice roll down the hallway, “But- it’s meat night!”