Phoebe

  > Do you really have a crush|

  Ok, there was no way Phoebe could send that to the mermaid. Yes, it was the question that was actually bothering her, and asking it would cut to the heart of the matter, but what would she do if Thessaly said no? Or yes?

  Phoebe rubbed her face and rolled over in bed. Talking to Helia had helped, sort of, but it hadn’t made it any easier to sleep, and not just because of the warnings about their father. The drab light creeping round the corners of Phoebe’s cheap blinds felt as scratchy as her eyes. Her head flopped like dead weight on top of her neck.

  Her phone chirped an alert, and for a moment she tensed, hoping and dreading that it was another forlorn message from Thessaly, but it wasn’t her text ringtone, it was the Squabble notification ping. Petunia or Adelie in the team’s server. Groaning, Phoebe swiped over to the app.

  [PrincessPetunia]: The PR company for the Galicia venue just called. They want us to go down early to do a promotional photoshoot.

  [PrincessPetunia]: They want the top five riders in the championship to do a flyby on some bridge?

  [PhoebeHyperio]: the 1312 bridge? its part of the course, it’s like the showpiece

  [PrincessPetunia]: Yeah, that one.

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  [PhoebeHyperio]: can we afford to go? when do they want us there?

  [PrincessPetunia]: The shoot is on the Thursday. They’ve said they’ll fund any increase in travel costs due to rebooking, and they’ll let us take the extra day’s stabling at the stadium for free.

  [AnimAdelie]: Where does that leave us with harnessing and all the new kit?

  [PrincessPetunia]: Most of it is being delivered direct to the venue. Can you talk to the harness people about personnel?

  [AnimAdelie]: What do I say?

  [PrincessPetunia]: Just tell them we’ll be in Galicia a day early.

  [PrincessPetunia]: Phoebe, you’ll need to let that media management company know if you’re still interested in working with them.

  Phoebe didn’t answer immediately, letting her head sink back into her thin pillow and resting her forearm across her eyes. The public image stuff was important, and the opportunity she was being offered by Mynah’s management was a good one. If nothing else, if she signed with them she’d be able to hand off organising shit like this.

  She flipped back to her texts and deleted the half-finished sentence to Thessaly.

  > Hey, I don’t know how to start this, but|

  …which was exactly the problem, really, but saying it up front like that would worry the mermaid more than she meant to.

  Back to Squabble.

  [PhoebeHyperio]: Ok ill let them know

  [PhoebeHyperio]: so we fly down on the wednesday now?

  [PrincessPetunia]: Assuming I can get everything rebooked.

  [PhoebeHyperio]: id better go to the farm today then

  [PhoebeHyperio]: bring the training schedule forward a day

  She checked the time. How early did the race organisers get up to be springing this on them so early in the morning?

  [PhoebeHyperio]: i’ll be there in a couple of hours, adelie

  Paging back to texts, she deleted her draft to Thessaly again. She was going to have to rush through the shower and dive into the car to get enough time with Soot today. Maybe spending time with the dragon would help her calm down enough to figure out what she wanted to say.

  Thursday: Petunia - supplement (507 words)

  Friday: Phoebe - major update (1033 words)

  Saturday: DNN2 - supplement (621 words)

  Sunday: Adelie - supplement (916 words)

  articles from a sports website covering dragon racing, if you want a broader perspective on the lore, the world and the sport.

  Seventh race: Buildup starts 5th August, race day 12th August

  Eighth race: Buildup starts 13th August, race day 18th August

  Ninth race: Buildup starts 19th August, race day 25th August

  Tenth race: Buildup starts 26th August, race day 1st September

  Mid-season break: 4th-8th September

  Eleventh race: Buildup starts 9th September, race day 15th September

  Twelfth race: Buildup starts 16th September, race day 22nd September

  Thirteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd September, race day 6th October

  Fourteenth race: Buildup starts 7th October, race day 13th October

  Fifteenth race: Buildup starts 14th October, race day 20th October

  Sixteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd October, race day 27th October

  Seventeenth race: Buildup starts 30th October, race day 10th November

  Final race: Buildup starts 11th November, race day tbd (likely 1st week in December)