Time felt like it was turning from a walk into a run. Days and activities started to bleed together in my mind and memory, each day a routine. We would head to the refectory for breakfast, then Ingo and I would go to work the garden. Then I'd stop by the medical wing to tell Linus once again that nothing had changed since last time and learn some more about field medicine, and then the whole flight would spend the rest of the day training together.

That wasn't to say that nothing changed in those days; Ingo and I at least developed a relationship that I would describe as being "willing to tolerate each other", enough that at least I was pretty confident that he wouldn't attack me without warning again, and I wouldn't do the same to him. I got better at figuring out what he could and couldn't see, and what conditions made it better or worse for him, a knowledge base that I was sure would be good for all of us to have, and which I was able to convince Ingo to teach in a little more detail to the rest of our comrades during our brief moments of rest in between activities.

We trained in combat and in aerial skills. I spent the first couple days sparring with the humans and occasionally Arthur or Griffin in dragon form, getting used to using my body as a weapon. Just like flying, the basics came fast, but once Griffin started trying to educate us on some more advanced theories and forms of fighting, it became a challenge. It was clear just how deadly I was; every part of my body could be used to fight. My tail was heavy and strong enough to bludgeon targets or sweep them away when I swung it, my wings had enough similarity to hands to be able to force opponents away, my claws could dent thin sheets of steel, and Griffin showcased just how powerful our jaws were when they picked up a training dummy in their mouth and bit clean through the standard-issue armour it was covered in.

The training deepened in complexity even more when we got the rest of our equipment. First came the dress uniforms, which for the humans were all similar to what Cynthia and Leo wore most of the time: burgundy coats with dark brown trousers, shiny metal buttons, and epaulettes marked with that runic symbol I had come to learn was the symbol of the corps as well as the number "9" over a bent line. They had those very pale pink cravats, too, and broad tricorne hats with black feathers rising from the side of the crown, which I thought looked very silly but Grace was really excited for. The dragon's dress had us take off those shifting clothes we had been given, and instead we had golden caps to put on our horns and wings and a set of long cloth sashes that hung between our wings, torsos, tails, and necks. I was convinced that if we ever had to do more than sit still and look pretty in them, I would immediately get tangled up in all the fabric.

One day, though, Ingo came into our bunks late one evening carrying a large chest. I looked up from the table, where Yura and I had been studying a book on tactics. "What the hell is that?" I asked.

"Weapons," Ingo said simply as he plopped the chest down right in the middle of the common room. Everybody immediately stopped whatever they were doing and gathered in a wide semi-circle around the chest as Ingo knelt in front and opened it. I could see the gleaming of shiny metal implements inside.

Ingo first passed out weapons for the dragons. Each of us got four sets of what he called "clawguards", small diamond-shaped plates attached to rings that fitted them around our fingers and toes. The plates stuck out in front of our claws, presenting a more blade-shaped edge to them.

"Why do we need these?" I asked. I wasn't in dragon form at the moment, but I could tell that the feeling of my claws clicking against every surface I walked on with those guards on was going to drive me insane. "Aren't our claws already strong enough?"

«The guards let us cut things,» explained Griffin. «You know. Sideways. Like how a sword cuts things. And they keep our claws from getting cracked when we're fighting. Or chipped, or broken.»

I stared at my set, and put them aside near the backpack-saddle that held all of my dragon gear. Hopefully I wouldn't need to use them much. I wasn't a big enthusiast for fighting with my claws.

Next, Ingo began going through all the weapons that we'd commissioned from the armoury a day prior. I had been busy studying with Linus at the time, so I had written down what I wanted and passed it to Ingo. I only hoped that he had relayed the instructions correctly.

Most of them weren't overly complicated, just simple changes to familiar weapons that allowed them to function in more ways. Rosalie and Arthur both had the swords they'd brought here modified with a pistol barrel next to the lower blade and a trigger on the handle, allowing them to be used as firearms without taking the entire weapon apart to make it transformable in the way of the gun-swords I'd seen in the hands of the other recruits. Grace replaced her spear with a new one that had a slimmer blade that a lever on the grip caused to slide to the side and become a bayonet for the rifle hidden in the haft, while Ingo got a long metal baton, similar in size to his cane but made expressly for fighting without any compromises for utility and with a sling attached to the handle end. Griffin, meanwhile, only received a small knife and an ordinary pistol.

Yura's was the only weapon that I would have described as especially complex. The iron club that he had wielded in practise had had its head split into ten pieces stacked on top of each other, with two metal wires stringing them together. A trigger on the handle made the pieces snap together for their ordinary use as a club, or split into pieces that I assumed would be used as an extra long bludgeoning whip. Yura seemed immensely pleased, though I wondered how he was planning on using a firearm if the weapon that filled his only hand didn't have one integrated.

"And mine?" I prompted. "Did they send mine?"

Ingo nodded and pulled the last weapon from the bottom of the box. It was just like I had hoped: a single-headed axe with a broad head and a straight haft. The bottom of the haft had a wide, thicker metal handle, and when I twisted it I could pull it back and reveal the telescoping metal rods hidden inside the haft, extending it to a length of about five feet where it clicked back into place. Twisting it the other way let me slide it back down, making it small enough to hold in one hand again.

"Yours they had to make specially," Ingo said as he passed over the fine wooden pistol that came with it. "I thought they wouldn't make it at all when I explained why you wanted it like that. Apparently there's some old stories about bonded dragons wielding giant lances or swords, though, so they didn't take much convincing."

I glanced over the axe again. "Thanks," I said.

"Hm," Ingo hummed. "We're going to practise with it starting tomorrow."

Like he said, we didn't have time to fully inspect our acquisitions that night, but they were immediately added into our training schedule. The axe was a good deal heavier than I was used to when it was in its short form, but I got the hang of it pretty fast fighting for my life in spars with the others. Better yet, it was easier to wield on the ground in my dragon form than I had expected. I had more than enough strength to hold it in its long shape with only one hand, meaning I could still devote three legs to standing and moving instead of just two. I did give up some agility to accomplish it, but the comfort it brought me by freeing me from needing to use my claws and teeth alone to draw blood was worth it. Worst case, it was sturdy enough that I could grip the handle between my teeth and swing it decently well with my head while using all four legs to manoeuvre.

Ingo kept his word and fought with me almost every day. He was clearly already deeply skilled in the use of his baton and sling, but now that I had weapons at hand, I was able to keep up at a level that I was satisfied enough with, though he still won almost every spar that I wasn't a dragon for, only getting pushback when I got a little lucky. I also learned through these fights exactly what the base form of that Trial of the Key had done to us: we had a bit more strength than before, but more importantly, we healed very fast. Cuts and bruises we got during training faded within the hour, and a deep gash I put in Ingo's arm with a bullet apparently barely hurt after getting a salve and a bandage applied, and then was all but gone the next morning.

On the subject of healing, I got faster with applying bandages and learned how to tell different common wild medicinal herbs apart, and how to mix them into a quick poultice or salve when properly-produced medicines might not be available. After I showed Linus how I'd patched Ingo up after that gash, he gave me a confident nod.

"Well done," he said. "I believe that there is little more that pure instruction can do for your skills. Any further improvements, you will need to learn by performing them yourself. Seeing as how I am not willing to grievously injure anyone here for you to practise on, you must find those opportunities as they come."

I couldn't keep the disappointment from my face. All I'd learned was basic first aid techniques, nothing about how to actually make more complex and useful medicines. The tinctures and tonics that had been refining and distilling on Linus's workshop tables taunted me every time I came in.

He followed my eyes, then raised a brow at my expression. "Is something the matter?"

"Well, I was just…I kind of hoped that I'd also be able to learn something more?" I said. "Like what you need a laboratory like this to make. The kind of things that I can help give more long-term treatment with. Like blood tonic."

Linus crossed his arms. "That may be a line of questioning that you will need to experiment with on your own," he said. "We simply don't have the degree of freedom in our supply lines to risk any of our quickblood or rare herbs being wasted to allow you to use them as practise for medical formulations. I'm sure that you've been studying the medical textbooks we have on hand here at the academy; those will be able to provide you with the recipes you are looking for. You will need to practise once you have the funds and ability to find or purchase the ingredients yourself."

He tapped his thumb against his chin. "Although, given your enthusiasm for the subject, I suppose that you would be a good candidate to help us field test a number of potion recipes that Brother Alvhir and myself have discovered recently." He began leafing through a set of notebooks stacked on one of the far tables, rapidly scribbling things down in a free, seemingly blank one as he did.

"Potions?" I repeated. "As in alchemical potions?" My hopes rose.

Linus gave me a side-eye. "Are there other kinds of potions?"

"Er…not that I know of. Sorry I'm just kind of surprised that you're just giving me potions."

"Hm," Linus hummed. "It's rare to find someone interested in apothecaryship as you are. But I'm not giving you the potions themselves; I'm giving you the recipes. Once you've been commissioned, I will request that you inform me of their effects through your liaison. Now, how much do you know about potions and alchemy?"

I dove into my stores of knowledge, which were far shallower on this subject than I would have liked. "Uh, alchemy involves using blood and reagents to make mixtures that have magical effects, and then potions are some types of those mixtures that you're supposed to drink?"

"Right enough," said Linus. "The vast majority of alchemical compounds use the interactions between the vis of blood and the natural vis of the reagents to mimic the effects of proper spells. However, it is always human blood that alchemy uses. Animal blood is too weak, as it is for most forms of occultic magic, but dragon blood is toxic, even to themselves once it has been agitated with the alchemical process, and can only be used in compounds that are not to be consumed.

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"But dragons' blood has different magical properties than humans'. There have been reports written about dragons raised in isolated draconic communities being able to perform magic using the art of evocation—burning their own blood in their veins—that altered their bodies. It reportedly made them faster, stronger, even made their blood corrosive to the touch. We haven't been able to harness this form of magic because what dragons who have come to live amongst humans don't seem to know its secrets, but Alvhir and I believe that potions made from dragons' blood rather than humans' may be able to carry its effects, as long as the drinker can withstand the toxicity.

"It would be a tremendous discovery, if it were to be proved true. It would be a sixth branch of magic, or a sub-branch of restoration at the very least. Somatics, Alvhir and I have taken to calling it. Magic with power over the body."

My eyes widened as a thought entered my mind. "Do you think that's the kind of magic that made me and the other ersatz?"

"I have given that some thought," said Linus. "That is part of why I am interested in answering these questions as soon as possible. Our theory is that the regenerative abilities granted to you and your comrades by the Trial of the Key may enable you to overcome the toxicity of dragon blood potions. If so, it may be the line of reasoning to pursue to cure you of your condition."

I couldn't stop my fingers from continuously fidgeting as I took the notebook from him. There were a set of eight recipes in the first twenty to thirty pages. I recognised some of the names of the ingredients from the past week of training with Linus, but most of them were new to me, especially the ones that seemed to be derived from the remains of beasts or monsters, like "fels elk antler powder".

"These will provide you with the information that you need to make the potions I want tested, and a brief description of what I believe that their effects should be. You and your comrades will need to be careful when testing them. I advise keeping a tincture of blood and snapdragon root on hand when doing so. That is the general antidote for dragon blood toxicity."

"Wow," I breathed. "Thank you so much."

Linus inclined his head. "You are the one helping me. But I'm glad that we can benefit each other from this."

I thanked Linus again and took the book back to my room, reading over each recipe a hundred times or more until I could recite the ingredients and procedures in my sleep. I'd have to keep looking at it every day, probably in between the paragraphs of the textbooks on medicine, combat, and tactics that I was spending a lot of my free time on. The medicine books were my choice; the rest were Yura and Griffin insisting that what they had to say would make us a more effective team. They were dry as hell, but they might have actually made me better at Fence when some of the others would challenge me to a game in the evenings. It could have just been practise at the game, but I had all the books' silly names for gambits and strategies on my mind whenever I managed to win, so clearly they were doing something.

The shakeup to our routine came a little over a week into our training. I had only just crawled out of bed, giving Juniper a few pats where she slept at the base.

"Morning, Juni," I grumbled as I gave her scratches on her side. She didn't respond.

"…Juni?" I said, shaking her a little more vigorously. Icy talons of fear briefly laid themselves on my heart before Juniper suddenly jolted up, growling for a moment before turning her head back to see me and flopping down to present her head for pats.

"Saints, don't do that, girl," I whispered, relieved. "You scared me."

"She hasn't got very long left, has she?" I looked up to see Yura sitting cross-legged on the bed opposite me. "Is she ill, or just very old?"

"Shut it," I snapped. Then I immediately thought better of it. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just a little…stressed." Juniper had already fallen back asleep, and I carefully extricated my leg from under her head to stand up. "She's old. Seven years, now, and she did a lot of work when she was younger."

"A working dog. I see," said Yura. "She must be well-loved to have accompanied you all the journey here."

A thin, melancholic smile came across my face. "She is," I said. "She's…she reminds me of a time that was long ago, now. She's on borrowed time, now. I think she knows that too."

Yura bowed his head. "I am certain that she is filled with peace knowing that her time will come while she is amongst those who love her most," he said. "I could not wish for a better way to pass on, myself."

"I guess," I said. Suddenly I felt completely miserable. "I'm just not ready for that yet."

Yura sighed. "We so rarely are."

I couldn't take much more of this topic, so I just nodded and briskly walked into the common room just as three loud knocks at the door signalled the arrival of Captain Leo just before the door swung open. The few who weren't up suddenly began scrambling to get their uniforms together and jump out of bed, while those who were immediately jumped to form a halfway-coherent line in the common room facing Leo.

"Settle down, lads," said Leo, giving a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm not here to issue you orders. I'm only here with an announcement and a bit of a suggestion."

I waited for the rest of us to gather close enough to hear before I nervously asked, "What kind of announcement, sir?"

Leo cleared his throat. "In five days' time, you will be put through an aptitude test to determine your level of skill and competency. The test will be physical, involving flying, skywalking, and combat assessment both in the air and on the ground. The test is to determine if you are ready to accept a mission for the first time. If you pass, you will be given the mission, after which, should you succeed, you will receive your commission and begin handling the corps's tasks out in the wider Vale. If you fail, you will miss this mission and require remediation before attempting the test again."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Grace, demonstrating for the fiftieth time this week why I was glad this wasn't the actual Confederation Army. If it were, she would have been court-martialed for how many times she had spoken out of turn.

"Mm," said Leo. "Remediation will be performed directly under my command. Should you fail the test too many times, you will lose your ability to lead yourselves, and will be placed under the command of another commissioned flight. You won't have any autonomy to determine what missions or other tasks your flight accepts and performs. So, if you want to retain your independence, I suggest you make an effort to pass on the first attempt."

"Oh," said Grace. "Got it."

Leo's face softened. "I don't say this to give you undue stress. Of the eight flights before you, only one hasn't passed the test on their first or second attempt. As I said, it is a baseline test of skill."

He looked straight towards me. "However, intending to ensure that you do pass is the other reason that I came, and the basis for the suggestion that I would like to make to your flight."

I crossed my arms. "Alright, what's the suggestion, then?"

Leo paused before answering. "During the test, you three ersatz will be required to be in your dragon forms for the entire time. I say this because from what I have seen, you three have spent less than half of your training period in those forms. Especially you, Belfry; since you received your weapons, I've only noticed you take dragon form for a few hours at a time, and no more."

I grimaced. I could already tell where this was headed. "Yeah, I want to make sure I'm ready for anything, and I never really trained my combat skills as a human before now."

"Right," said Leo. "But you will be expected to be a dragon for the duration of most missions that you accept."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you are the dragon half of a rider-dragon bonded pair," said Leo. "You being able to transform into a human doesn't change that, it is only a small expansion of your role. You're still a dragon first. If you can't make full use of that form, then you can't fully support your partner. Have you made any use of your fire breath yet? I haven't seen it."

"No," I admitted. "And I'd rather not, if I can help it. Because I'm not a dragon, I'm a human who can turn into one sometimes."

"Here, you are," said Leo. "If you want to be a dragoon, you must first be able to accept being a dragon too. That is the truth of the matter. And it leads into my suggestion." He cleared his throat. "In order to better acclimate yourselves to spending long periods of time as dragons, I would like for the three of you to spend the remainder of your time between now and the test as dragons. During that time, I want you to focus on training your fire breath in power and accuracy, your agility in flight, and your skywalking. These will be critical skills that you will need to pass the test."

"Is this really a suggestion, or is it an order?" I grumbled.

"It's a suggestion," said Leo. "For now. If you fail the test and require remediation, it will be an order. Right now, your flight only has one functional dragon. It needs four. Be sure to make up the difference before the test." He held still for a moment, and then, seeing no response, clapped his hand over his heart twice before turning and leaving the room. "Farewell, and good luck."

We all held silent for a few seconds. Griffin broke it with a loud yawn. «I'm ready already,» they said.

Arthur gave me a sidelong glance. "I guess I'll change first," he mumbled. He ducked into the corner of the dragons' sleeping area that we'd designated that week to be the transforming space. Even if we now had clothes that would survive the whole transformation, the process was a bit too gruesome to watch. I had seen Arthur change in the open once that week, and watching the wings emerge from his back like they were surfacing from enormous boils on his skin made me feel so sick that I hadn't been able to change myself until the next day.

I went to sit down on my bed and pet Juniper again. Only a moment later, Grace was right next to me.

"Are you going to go through with it?" she asked, her voice low and quiet.

"It sounds like I have to," I muttered. "You heard him. If we fail because I wasn't good enough at the whole 'dragon' thing, then I'm going to have to do it anyway."

"Well…I mean, I think you're plenty good enough just doing what you're doing," said Grace. "You're pretty great at flying."

"Not as good as Griffin," I said. "Not as good as most of the other dragons that we've seen out there. It's fine, Grace. I'll be fine. It's only five days, I did more than twenty-four hours back when we were in the swamp. I can do five days."

Grace pursed her lips. "That was before you had claws full time, though." She tapped my scaly hand for emphasis. "Seriously, Belfry. I can't count the number of times that you've said 'I'll be fine' in the last ten days, and you haven't looked or sounded fine after any of them."

She was probing too close to the truth. For once, my skill at deception completely abandoned me, and I couldn't think of anything to say. I just stared down at Juniper, hoping that Grace would forget her point.

She didn't. "Look. I can't stop you from doing this, but I can at least say that you should turn human again in the evenings. You obviously don't like being a dragon most of the time, and if you're only human when we're back in our bunks anyway, then you're not losing out on any dragon training."

I pulled my hand away from Juniper's fur, staring for a second or two into space before I sank backwards, laying down on the mattress and putting my face in my hands. "You're right," I said. "I don't want to be a dragon for so long. I don't want to get used to it. But Leo's right, too. If I want to be a dragoon, I have to get used to it. It isn't just about breathing fire and flying better. I've got to put my stupid hang-ups about being a dragon to rest."

Grace looked down at the floor. She seemed sad, or maybe guilty. "Please don't change who you are for me," she said. "Please. I already had to say goodbye to you once. I don't want to do it again, especially not for my sake."

"I'm not doing it for you," I said. I meant it to be a comforting lie, but when I said it, I realised it was true. The back of my mind started to feel fuzzy. "It's for me. I'm going to be stuck like this for who-knows-how-long. It's been a week, and there's been almost nothing new about a cure. I need to come to terms with this for good, or I really will be miserable all the way until we find that cure. If it exists."

"Don't talk like that!" Grace lightly slapped my shoulder.

"There isn't any reason to think that a cure is possible," I said.

"And there's also no reason to think that it isn't!" countered Grace.

I sighed and sat up, my shoulders sagging. "I suppose," I said. "But we're dragoons. We need to be prepared for every possibility, right?"

Grace stared down at the ground again.

"I'm not going to change who I am," I promised. "I'll just treat it like…like if I lost a leg. I'm not a different person, I just need to adapt to living a little differently. Okay?"

Grace wiped away a rogue tear and let a wry smile come across her face. "I'm supposed to be the one comforting you about all this," she muttered.

"We're here for each other," I said. "You help me sometimes, and I'll help you the rest."

She gave a shallow nod, and then leaned into my side for a small hug. I reciprocated the gesture, knowing that I wouldn't get a chance to do so again for a week.

From the other room, I heard Arthur call, «I'm done! Belfry, whenever you're ready.»

I gently pulled myself away from Grace's grip. "Alright," I said. "I'll be back."

"Yeah," said Grace. She cleared her throat with a loud cough, and flashed me a bright and genuine smile. "I'm excited to do more practise in the air!"

"Me too," I said, and I meant it. I walked past the rest of the flight as they started filing out for breakfast and knelt down in the sleeping area I'd be using for five days. I ran my hands through my hair. It was unkempt and messy; transforming always ruined whatever style I'd tried to put on in the morning, so after a few days I'd just stopped trying. Still, even so, it was one of those little things that I knew I was going to end up missing.

Okay, I said in my head. No other way but forward. And with that, I transformed for the final time that week.

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