"Thomas, I'm sure Tia Dalma would be more than pleased if you went to join her," Andy suggested as she gathered up her things. Hooray for double-entendres. With one last glance around the camp, she went in to settle in for the night with Sesshoumaru.

The next day Belle didn't bother to pack things up yet. She figured they could stay there for a few days before heading back to a real town to get some more supplies. She wasn't running low yet, but she knew she would be in a week or two.

Andy slept in the next morning, very comfortably snuggled in next to Sess. She had no need to get up early, and felt a bit lazy when she finally did wake up. What finally forced her out of bed, however, was the whining she heard from Temmy.

"Alright, Temmy, really, I'm up," she called as she came outside, dressed.

Cal just looked up at the dragons in disbelief. How had they missed those things last night? They were gigantic! He glanced at his brother to see what Niko's reaction would be.

Niko was both fascinated and very unhappy. Anything that big was just not good for their survival, and he was instantly wary of the dragons.

Belle looked over at the boys and snorted. "Honestly," she muttered. "They're fine. They like people. None of them will hurt you. The worst you'll get from them is if Temmy gets chatty and decides to talk your ear off, and even then I don't think that would bug you, Niko. They both like information, although Temmy moreso than Lien, the white one."

"Andrea," Temeraire said, "I think it is past time we went to hunt or fish."

"I know, Temmy," Andy replied as she checked her gear. "I meant to take you last night, and I was out too late. We'll go now."

"Good," Temeraire replied, nodding once. Andy looked at her group. She would take Harry, to get him used to the dragons, but she wanted someone who knew the territory. "Cal, you're with me, come on."

"What?" Cal replied in what was absolutely, positively not a squeak.

"I need someone who knows the territory," she replied. "You know, where not to go. So come on. You get to be the co-pilot."

"Only if Nik comes too," Cal replied. There was no way he was getting up on a dragon by himself. It would have to be inflicted on his brother, too.

"That's up to Belle," Andy replied.

Belle grinned and clapped delightedly. She loved going on rides! And they were likely to get more than three miles away in their hunt for fish, so she figured she should go too, just in case.

"That's fine with me. Lien, do you mind if I go with you?"

Niko shot his brother a withering look that promised an extra hard training session later. But at least he'd a chance to study the dragons and the girls.

"Belle, I doubt we're going too far," Andy pointed out. "Besides, didn't you want to bother Bob for a while or something like that?" It wasn't that she didn't want Belle to go with them, it just seemed kind of unnecessary at the moment.

Belle hesitated for a moment before she shrugged. "Alright. Well, yeah, he can go with." She went back over to go take note of who was out and about and check her stores.

"Hey, while I'm here, you want me to check your dry foods and see what you're getting low on? I'm already making a list for my stuff."

"Sure," Andy replied. "Feel free to go through whatever you need, and shanghai any of my guys into working if you need them to." She turned to the brothers. "Alright, both of you, up on the big black one. He's the only one with a harness." Even as she spoke, she went to climb up onto Temmy herself.

Niko scowled faintly before he got up on Temmy. He did not like this. At all. But he would endure it if he had to.

Belle grinned and went to go gather volunteers to help her out, looking over at Andy's remaining bishis first to see if anyone would volunteer.

Cal followed his brother, scowling as well. He kept a white-knuckled grip on the leather straps.

"Alright," Andy said, looking at them, "where would be the best place for a pair of thirty-ton dragons to hunt or fish? They get the equivalent of a cow each, except Xiang, he gets something smaller for now."

"About a mile and a half north, and a little west," Niko directed. "That's the biggest lake in this area, and it borders on two other territories."

Hey, he figured he may as well be useful. The faster the dragons went fishing the faster they could be back and on the ground.

Temeraire nodded once he had the heading, and he spread his wings to take off. A moment later, Lien was in the air as well, with Xiang a little in front of her. The dragonet could easily make a mile and a half flight, now, so he was allowed to go with them.

"This is wrong on so many levels," Cal muttered as he held on to the harness. He scowled when he noticed Andy getting up and moving around easily, checking on buckles and straps. "Just not right."

Niko nodded. He was definitely unnerved by this whole thing. He decided right then and there that he did not like traveling by dragon.

It didn't take long to find the lake, and Andy had the dragons land by the shore.

"Alright, you can get down now," she said to the brothers. "Elsewise you might get wet when they start fishing." She deftly climbed down the harness and jumped down onto the ground.

Cal scrambled down, more than glad to be back on solid ground.

Niko got down with more grace than Cal had shown, but he was definitely happy to be on solid ground again. He moved away from the dragons, watching them as they started to fish.

Okay, definitely bigger than he was used to dealing with. But he just watched for now, glancing over at Cal briefly to make sure he was fine and wasn't about to be sick or something.

Cal, aside from looking slightly unnerved, was still doing okay.

"Just the ride back, and then you get to stay on solid ground," Andy said, glancing at them. She'd settled near the water to keep an eye on her dragons. "Temmy only needed a guide the first time, so he won't need one over the next couple of days."

"You have a gigantic flying lizard and you call him 'Temmy'?" Cal asked. Andy shrugged.

"Well, why not? His name is Temeraire, and technically he has two names, but I just shorted it to Temmy." She gestured to the black dragonet. "And since I have two now, the other one is called Xiang, which is his second name rather than the first."

"Belle referred to him as Temmy as well," Niko said thoughtfully. "A preferred nickname?" It made sense to him, anyway. Like how he never called Cal by his full name. Not even in his own head.

"I've called him that since I caught him," Andy replied. "He's never told me otherwise, and he's more than capable. The white one is Lien, I tend to call her LiLi, or Li, and she's also never said anything to the contrary." She glanced at the two of them. "And I'm all up on my Thurman books, so I know the do's and don'ts and I'll make sure Belle gets around to reading Doubletake in the near future."

"So that means don't say anything," Cal replied. Andy nodded.

"Belle doesn't survive on spoilers like I do," she said. "Though if we're not in town and a new book comes out, I fully expect to be told. I've snapped at Lucivar and Sebastian for that already, although Sebastian is Belle's, not mine."

Niko just nodded. That was easy enough to do. He wasn't in the habit of giving out information, anyway.

Then he blinked. "Sebastian?" he questioned. He hadn't met everyone yet, but he wanted to know how many more he still had to meet.

"One of Belle's incubi," Andy replied. "There are three in her group. Sebastian and Teaser are from the same territory, Thomas is from the same territory as my Harry Dresden."

Cal blinked. Maybe he hadn't heard right.

"Incubi?" he asked. Andy nodded.

"Not the kind you're both used to seeing, at any rate, but yeah."

"Explain." Of course Niko knew there were differences between 'verses, but this was new. He'd never heard of another type of incubus. And now he was curious.

"I can probably do better than that," Andy replied. She moved back as the dragons waded out of the lake to dry off. "I can let you borrow the books they're from. Fun stuff there." She grinned. "Belle and I are big readers, so we always have our own copies of things."

"I guessed that," Niko said, a tad dryly. He'd already guessed that they read a lot, since he'd seen Andy spend time reading, and he'd seen Belle's stash of books, albeit briefly.

Andy rolled her eyes slightly and turned her attention back to her dragons. They were lounging about near the water, now, so she decided it was time to head back to camp.

"Come on," she said to the brothers. "Time to head back."

Cal didn't whimper. Really.