Commander Pharamol's page

"Sigh."

"Will you two stop bellowing?" comes Pharamol's voice from below, "At least try to establish your telepathic bond so the rest of us can concentrate!"

Despite his harsh words, the Triaxian Commander is grinning broadly.

"Cindrix doesn't like talking about her past overmuch," Comannder Pharamol tries to be helpful. He walks over to the big dragon and runs a caring hand down her side. Ishbaad gets a better look at Cindrix's scales and notices massive lines of scar tissue running up and down her flanks. "I'm not even sure how much she remembers. Most of it seems to be simply pain and emotion."

Pharamol walks around to the dragon's front and holds up a hand for her to smell. His slow, deliberate actions remind Ishbaad of how horse wranglers treat their mounts. "Cindrix, Ishbaad is to be your rider. If you want revenge on the Drakelanders, he will is the one who can train you how to get it. He will be able to teach you to fight in a squadron and - if all goes well against Malesinder - he will lead you to victory against Yrax himself."

Pharamol and Ishbaad get lost in a long conversation that ebbs and flows between dragons, military formations and logistics and the finer points of proper use of a cavalry regiment and what that means when the combatants are all aerial.

"Aerial battle is distinctly different from that on the ground," Command Pharamol notes at one point during the discussion, "Three dimensions must be considered at once. You cannot be flanked as easily when you can also travel up and down. However, you must also take care because your enemies can come from any direction. You must use your mount's eyes as well as yours if you would hope to see where your enemies are coming from."

The chat continues for a long while, at the end of which the commander smiles and moves to the doorway to have a private chat with an aid. When he is done, he returns to Ishbaaad. "I believe you are capable of the task I have for you. I believe you are the one to tame this mount. Her name is Cindrix, and she is a white dragon. Being a true dragon, that would typically mean she is evil to the core, but Cindrix has suffered greatly at the claws of her own people. You see, for a dragon, she is somewhat of a simpleton. This has resulted in some cruel treatment from her own kind. As such, she defected and joined the dragon legion.

"However, her first combat for us was not a stellar experience. Her mind is ill suited to the tactical situations required. She needs a rider to form a bond with and to guide her. Triaxians, though, are more adept with dragonkin than true dragons. You, I believe, will have the aptitude required to ride Cindrix as a mount rather than an equal companion like we are used to." Commander Pharamol pauses while this sinks in.

"Would you like to meet her?"

Commander Pharamol looks genuinely pained to hear Ishbaad's story. "It seems that you, like we, take the bond you share with your mount very seriously. There are few things that can match such a relationship, and that is doubly so for we Triaxians and our dragonkin companions.

"I get the sense, however," the commander strokes his lightly furred chin in contemplation, "That you would best be served with another kind of bond... one that brings out the most in your mount, and one that is more a rider-mount kind of relationship. I do not think that companionship is exactly your thing.

"Tell me, Ishbaad, how much do you know of true dragons?" The oread gets the sense that Pharamol is not interrogating him and would be equally happy with an answer that shows much knowledge, as an answer that shows total ignorance. He is merely curious and assumes little from this alien life form that he is now addressing.