"Gabriel, I might just hire you as the entertainment for the next banquet we have." Xavier took a long sip from his water as Sir Gabriel balanced all the plates from the knights on top of his head and did a dance.

"It would be my pleasure, sire." Sir Gabriel winked. "I'll have to put together a routine."

"Improvisational would be more than enough." Xavier stood, dusting off his shirt.

"Where are you going, sire?" Sir Gervaise got up as well.

"I have to pee. Why, do you want to watch?"

The knights roared with laughter, and Xavier smiled, shaking his head, disappearing behind a few trees. He had barely undone his belt when his eyes fell upon a gorgeous white dragon with glowing, fiery red eyes. The dragon was tending to its wing, which appeared to have split open, and was beginning to bleed.

Then, he noticed a woman, curled up, asleep, being sheltered by the dragon.

"On the bright side, I don't have to pee anymore." Xavier drew his sword, getting ready to grab the woman and run, but he had barely outstretched his hand when the dragon snapped at him. "Nope. Definitely don't have to pee anymore."

He threw his sword to the side, and watched the dragon's eyes follow it. "I'm not armed." He moved closer, sidestepping the creature, trying to reach the woman.

His fingers were hovering above the the woman's raven-colored hair, preparing to escape at any moment, when he felt a slight blow to his chest as the dragon gently pushed him back, covering the woman with its injured wing.

Xavier blinked in confusion, wondering why an injured creature wasn't attacking either him or the woman, then it dawned on him. "She's your Singer, isn't she?"

The dragon nodded slowly, resting its head at Xavier's feet. It sighed heavily, rustling the leaves and blowing away the twigs around his boots.

Xavier sat down so his eyes were level with the dragon's. Its wing twitched slightly, ripping what looked like stitches even farther.

"Is your wing bothering you? I can try to patch it up."

The creature cast its eyes toward its Singer, and back toward Xavier, almost as if it was measuring his trustworthiness. Then, slowly, it lifted the wing up, and nudged Xavier with its snout.

Xavier undid his cape, and ran to the river as fast as he could, dipping the cloth in the water, and dashing back to the dragon. He climbed it's back, using the cape to wipe away the blood, then threading the stitches back through the holes and tying them as comfortably tight as he could get them, mopping up the blood as he went.

"There we are." He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Good as new. Hopefully. I'll have your Singer take a look at it though."

He slid down its side, landing swiftly on his feet where the woman had lain.

He felt a slight poke in his back, then slowly turning around, he saw the woman, blue eyes blazing with fury, but with tear stains decorating her cheeks, brandishing Xavier's sword, tip digging into his chain mail.

"What do you think you're doing to my dragon?"