Belle snickered, turning to grin at Daemon. He growled at her and schook his head, holding on to the harness but not tightly. Once they were in the air, Belle scooted herself back next to Daemon.

"Terrified yet?" she teased.

"No," he said dryly, just before grabbing the back of her shirt and hauling her into his side as she slipped off to the side. "Stop. Moving."

Belle grinned impishly but stayed there.

It didn't take them long to find the lake. As soon as it was in sight, Temeraire dove down and snatched a fish up from just under the surface, taking care not to splash any water onto his passengers. Lien did the same thing, and Andy had the good sense to hang on.

Daemon kept one hand on the harness and his other firmly gripping Belle's shirt, since she didn't seem to care if she fell off or not.

Once each dragon had a fish, they landed on the shore of the lake to eat. Once Andy was sure that Lien was on solid ground, she slid down the dragon's hide. It only took her a couple of seconds to find her land-legs again.

Belle followed her example, sliding down and moving out of the way so Daemon could jump down as well. He glowered at Belle as he landed.

"You are an idiot."

"I am not! I wasn't going to fall off or anything. I was perfectly fine."

"Temmy would have caught her," Andy added helpfully. "Really, it's pretty safe, especially with the harness to hang on to." She gestured to Lien, who was only wearing the golden, gem-encrusted mesh. "I usually ride her."

"Lien is just as fun to ride," Belle said with a big grin. Daemon merely grumbled an unhappy response.

Andy grinned as well.

"Really, it's not that bad. Of course, I won't tell the others that you're a pansy about riding dragons..."

"I am not a pansy," Daemon said, frowning at her. "I have never seen anyone ride dragonback before, and I didn't wish Belle to fall off."

"Honestly, I was teasing you," Andy replied. "But really, Temmy would catch her if she fell, it's not a big deal. I've fallen off before once or twice." Not that she ever wanted to repeat the experience, but hey, she was still alive.

"Yes, well, I'd rather not take chances," Daemon replied quietly.

Belle stayed quiet, not teasing him for the time being. She could tell he was sincere about that, for his own sake as well as hers.

"Fair enough," Andy replied, dropping the subject. Going over to Temeraire, she climbed up his harness and inspected the metal and leather. She made note of which areas needed attention the most. "Note to self, no more giant cats on the dragon harness."

"Well you didn't exactly have a choice at the time being." Belle shrugged. "Besides, giant cats and dragons generally don't mix."

"Yeah, no," Andy agreed. "Like I said before, Kaelas hated it. There are still marks in the leather from his claws."

"I say next time we get a sling for him. Like a big hammock that Temmy can carry." Belle grinned at the thought. "He and Dejaal can stay in there."

"It's actually not a bad idea, as a contingency plan," Andy said after a moment. "You know, just in case the network crashes again. Which I really hope it doesn't, but I'm not holding much hope out now that we technically have so many magic-users between us, and I'm about to look for two more."

"I don't think these guys really effect it, though," Belle said, pointing at Daemon. "I don't know how Briar and Tris will effect things, though."

"Well, we'll find out," Andy replied. She looked up at her dragons. "Alright, you two... Into the lake, clean off all the fish guts."

Belle snickered and stayed where she was, just watching them clean off. "Oh I can't wait to get my Pern dragon or two."

"The weird part is, in the series, Temmy is the one who figured out dragons can swim," Andy said. "They float."

"Oh yea. In the Pern series, the dragons love nothing more than going for a swim and then flopping out somewhere to sun dry for a couple hours." She grinned broadly. "I can imagine it's really funny to watch."

"We'll have to see how they get along," Andy said. "It would have to be a really big lake to have four or five dragons all swimming in it."

"Pern dragons are smaller than these guys," Belle said with a shrug. "They can carry five or six people at a time, depending on the color of the dragon, but only along the neck ridges, not along the back. So they're probably, oh, forty feet long? It never tells you exactly."

"I think a fully-staffed Temeraire has a crew of..." Andy trailed off, thinking.

"Eighteen," Temmy supplied helpfully. "Maybe closer to twenty-two."

"Right, and then things like cargo and such," Andy added.

"Yeah, that's a lot," Belle said. "I'm not used to that style. At all."