Petunia

  Petunia was getting used to the horrible plastic seating of the Rindburg Imperial Airport departure lounges. She’d flown more in the last three months than in her entire life to date, and if all the travelling was stressful, at least she was starting to get practiced at packing. The temptation to shop at the exorbitant stalls lining the concourse nearby was fading too.

  Sat across from her, Phoebe looked less at ease. She was used to the travelling, but not to airports. This was the first time that her trip to a race hadn’t been on Soot’s back. The dragon was aboard an official charter transport plane, as was standard for dragons in the IL, but IL rules stipulated that only the vet team were allowed on that flight unless Tenebrae paid extra.

  So, Phoebe was travelling with Petunia in the place that had been Adelie’s for the first five races. Misery drooped about the dragon rider’s shoulders as she thumbed listlessly at her phone. Occasionally she seemed to type out a message and then reconsider, rubbing a hand across her forehead or flopping her free arm against the seat not-quite-forcefully-enough to hurt.

  The concourse was mercifully relatively quiet – it was a late Thursday morning and still too early in the year for summer to be drawing significant numbers of holidaymakers. Petunia glanced around, wondering if anyone would recognise Phoebe. Travelling with Adelie, they hadn’t had to worry about being recognised, but Phoebe’s face was increasingly visible across the city, from local newspapers to gossip magazines. Hopefully in the future, once the new sponsorship deals were actually formalised, they’d be able to afford to put Phoebe on the ICDA plane with Soot.

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  “Hey, Petunia, what do you say to a friend you accidentally ghosted?” Phoebe’s question caught Petunia off-guard. She studied her friend’s face for a long moment, seeing in the hollows around her eyes an unfamiliar fear, different again from the desperation she’d showed when confronted about her mob entanglements at the last race.

  Then Petunia thought about the question she’d actually asked. “How do you accidentally ghost someone?”

  “I just meant, like, I forgot, I mean, I didn’t mean to-“ PhoebeSelen caught her own defensiveness. “I need to have a difficult conversation with someone and, uh, I kept being too busy with everything.”

  Petunia frowned. “Can’t you just apologise? Honesty is the best policy, right?”

  “I don’t know how to word it, though, Petunia. I can’t just be like ‘sorry I didn’t message you for two weeks, I was busy’.”

  “Can’t you?” Petunia shrugged, a little awkwardly. “Isn’t that exactly what you need to say?”

  Phoebe looked down at her phone and typed something. Her fingers started out sure and quick, then slowed, then ground to a halt. The dragon rider didn’t look up or speak again. Eventually, she dropped her phone into her lap and pressed both her hands to her eyes, tipping her head back to face the ceiling.

  Petunia checked the clock. Still over half an hour until their posted boarding time.

  Saturday: DNN2 - supplement (621 words)

  Sunday: Adelie - supplement (916 words)

  Wednesday: Qualifying - major update (947 words)

  Friday: Phoebe - major update (1432 words)

  Sunday: Race (4115 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)