"No Harley, that's not the harness, those are the reins," Virgil said with a sigh. He snatched the dragon reins out of the hands of his coworker, pointing at the harness. It was already the second week of his new job as one of the royal family's dragon keepers, and his companions still didn't know the difference between the reins and the harness. "I honestly don't know how you're still mixing this up."

Harley, an auburn haired boy with glasses and a couple years older than him, frowned, looking hopelessly lost and confused. "It's not as simple as it looks," he whined, pouting. "I'm not good with the technical parts of this stuff, and dragons scare me!"

"Why on earth are you a stable hand then?" he countered, raising an eyebrow at him as he removed the reins from the Ridgeback dragon's head.

"Well, to be fair, when he and I agreed to do this, there were very different four-legged beasts kept here," his other coworker, Brian said from the other room. The two boys had evidently been the stable hands for the royal family for almost three years, and it was only two months ago that they'd invested in dragons. Before that, the stables were reserved for horses, which Harley continuously reminded him he was very good with. "When are you going to teach us to ride them, Virgil? It would be much more efficient to exercise them than you taking them out for a flight one-by-one."

Virgil smiled slightly; he'd noticed within his first week working with the two of them that Harley was more of an emotional person while Brian was more logical. He often joked about them being the 'heart' and the 'brain'.

"I'm not letting you ride any of them until you can tell the difference between a Ridgeback and a Fang Reaper," the darkly dressed stable boy called back. He went over the steps, again, of how to properly take the harness off a dragon to Harley, sighing as he turned to yell out to the other stable hand again. "Not to mention the fact that Harley still can't seem to figure out this whole harness thing."

"Hey! It's not as simple as it looks!" he protested.

"Actually, it is as simple as it looks," Virgil said, rolling his eyes.

Laughter filled the stables as Harley attempted to take a harness off a Ridgeback and failed miserably, ending up clinging to the dragon's neck for dear life as it bucked underneath him. "Oh good lord, just stop, let me do it," the darkly dressed stable boy said, taking the bucking dragon by the head and calming him with an experienced hand.

Harley scowled at him from his new place on the ground, having been thrown off by the bucking dragon. "It's not my fault! He won't stand still!" he complained. His companion came into the room and helped him to his feet with a chuckle.

Virgil stroked the Ridgeback's snout. "Aww, poor Harley can't get a harness off Ailli here?" he said, smiling at the dragon as he rolled his eyes. "Ailli is the calmest dragon in the stables. I mean, honestly, you're not good with dragons."

"You do it then, oh great master," Brian said sarcastically as he brushed his friend off.

They looked at him expectantly, making him sigh and roll his eyes again. "Fine, at least we'll somehow be finished early if I do it." he said. In swift movements, Virgil's hands unbuckled the first strap at the base of Ailli's chest, before moving to the next one. Within seconds, he slid the harness off the back of the dragon without a single movement from Ailli. "See? It's easy, I don't know why it's so hard for you guys."

"Well, you've had a lot more experience with them," Brian pointed out. "You said that where you're from they've been domesticating dragons for centuries. We've only just been beginning to domesticate dragons here, thanks to you."

Virgil nodded. That was true; where he was from, dragons were a common domesticated animal. They raced them and trained them as a part of their way of life. However, his kingdom was on an isolated island far from the main continent. It was rule by a beloved royal family and it was much smaller than this one. This place was much different than what he was used to.

Harley pulled him from his thoughts with an excited clap of his hands. "Can you show us some tricks? Please?"

Brian looked intrigued by the idea as well. He looked back and forth from each of their eager faces. Before moving to this kingdom he'd flown dragons all the time; he was an experienced rider, and they loved to watch him perform tricks. The two of them begged him to do them all the time in their own ways. Harley openly asked him constantly while Brian questioned him on the technique. It was clear that even if the two of them weren't experienced with the dragons, they were intrigued by them.

He looked between Harley's wide eyes and Brian's intrigued gaze again. Sighing, he caved. "Alright, alright, I show you some tricks."

The two of them celebrated as Virgil walked over to a dragon named Dath. He was a Gealwing, having glowing scale patterns along his wings and body. The sun had just slipped below the horizon as he saddled Dath up. The patterns were incredible for night flying, and never ceased to amaze the other two stable hands.

He couldn't help but smile to himself as he led the dragon out of the stables. His new life wasn't entirely terrible if he was honest.