Every Thorn Has Its Rose Chapter 24

Ten months later

Admiral White's surprise inspection tour of the Loch Laggan training covert was winding to a close, but he hadn't completed his real mission. The covert itself was in impeccable shape, as always. The sailor-turned-aviator, Rodgers, was slowly but steadily adapting to his new branch of the service, and Mercurius showed no signs of having been injured, aside from a triple row of scars on his flank that the other dragons regarded with a mix of curiosity and muted envy. The dragons and their riders had put on a display of precision flying that was impressive to laymen and dragon professionals alike. The newest fighting wing was even experimenting with the V-formation that Spina had invented, and it seemed to work well in nearly all circumstances. But his real intent was to visit Spina and her riders, and they were nowhere to be seen.

"I sent them out for special target practice, sir," Captain Packard had explained. "Spina told me that her venom glands were getting full and she needed to empty them, so I sent them to a rocky area where she can't destroy anything important. If I'd known you were coming, they would still be here."

"It's quite all right," the admiral nodded gruffly. "I'm sure they'll return soon. I'll wait. In the meantime, pray tell me how Spina's flight crew and ground crew are responding to a female captain."

"Well, sir, the situation is... interesting," Packard began. "Captain Smalls had a bit of a set-to with her new flight crew three days ago. She ordered a mid-air change in crew positions without running it through Captain St. Hubbins first, and no one moved. She immediately ordered Spina to break formation and land, whereupon she read the entire crew the Riot Act – in a very authoritative tone of voice, I might add. One of the topmen said he'd never obey orders from a woman, and a few others began to agree with him. That was when Spina gave them a rather nasty-sounding snarl, and that was the end of that argy-bargy! Rose suggested that the next man who disobeyed her would be grounded and given dragon-ordure duty for a week. Then they returned to their formation, she repeated her order about the change of crew positions, and their obedience was a thing to behold. St. Hubbins held his peace throughout the encounter; I suppose he knew that this was a test which she had to pass on her own. They've given her no troubles since then, or at least none that I've heard of. But I suspect that they are not done challenging her."

"Interesting, indeed," the admiral nodded, secretly relieved. One of his last remaining worries about Spina's situation was whether a woman could successfully command men; evidently, this woman could. That was good news. He actually began to relax a bit. About twenty minutes later, an unmistakable long-winged shape hove into view, with two human silhouettes on her back. Spina landed lightly; Admiral White waited patiently as St. Hubbins dismounted, followed by Rose. They were not acting like a romantic couple, in spite of all the time they spent together. That was more good news.

Then he got a look at Rose from the side, and his relaxed morning fell apart. His breath caught in his throat. He could feel his blood pressure rocketing skyward.

"Admiral White, sir!" Spina was the first to greet him. "We were not expecting to see you here today. Is there a problem?"

"I was not aware of any problems when I arrived here," he said wearily. "But now I suspect that I may have been mistaken. Captain Smalls, will you please be so kind as to reassure me that your... your altered contour is due solely to overeating and lack of exercise?"

"My contour?" She looked at him blankly for a moment, then glanced down at her burgeoning belly. "Oh, that. No, sir, it's exactly what it looks like. I am with child."

He sighed. He'd run out of anger at this preposterous situation months ago; all he had left was a sort of anguished despair. "Smalls, every time I think that you have pushed me to my limits, you find new ways to push me even further. I was almost getting used to that. But this... this is beyond the pale; it is simply unforgiveable. For the good of the service, I must insist that you resign from the Aviator Corps at once."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't do that. As you once said, you are authorized to conscript certain useful individuals into temporary service in times of national need. Does England still need Spina's services? If we do, then I cannot resign, for that would take Spina out of service as well."

"Don't play air-lawyer with me, Smalls! I brought you into the Corps, and I can take you out of it. As your admiral, I am requiring your resignation, effective immediately, before someone on the outside sees you like this and you bring disgrace upon the entire Corps."

Spina bent down to look him in the eye. "And what regulation allows you to do this to my rider, Admiral White, sir?"

He had to think fast; it was hard with a blast of dragon-breath fresh in his face. "I believe 'conduct unbecoming' will cover it nicely."

"You mean 'conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman?'" It was St. Hubbins' turn to jump into the confrontation. "She is no gentleman, as you can plainly see, so that regulation does not apply to her."

"Sir," Rose added, "I do not wish to push you to your limits. I've never tried to push anyone at all. But you must admit that there are no regulations in the rule book regarding pregnancy among Corps officers. And if my condition is not against regulations, then you cannot force me to resign over it."

For a count of five, Admiral White just stood there, glaring at her. At last, he turned to face St. Hubbins. "Why are you taking her side? Don't you realize that, if she steps down from the Corps, Spina will be all yours? I should think that you would... oh." His voice trailed off; he glanced from one captain to the other. "Now I see what is happening here. After all the assurances you gave me that the two of you are not a couple, here is the proof that you have been lying to me, and I do not like being lied to! I have just one question for the two of you: who enticed whom?"

"Neither of them enticed the other, and no one has lied to you," Spina answered for them. "Rose gave him an egg so that, if she ever becomes too old to ride me, someone who reminds me of her can step up and take her place."

"You... you... you what?" White was not prepared for that revelation.

"That's correct, sir," Rose nodded. "I'm doing this for Spina. We're hoping for a girl."

This time, it took a count of seven before White could speak again. "Your... your motives may be noble, but this kind of gross immorality cannot be tolerated among Her Majesty's officers. Surely you can see that!"

"Sir," St. Hubbins replied, "if every aviator who fathered an illegitimate child was drummed out of the service, how many would be left in the Corps? Half of them, perhaps? You have always required Captain Smalls to obey the same rules and principles as any man; are you now going to make a special rule just for her?"

This situation was on the verge of getting out of hand. No, it was already far out of hand. Could anything at all be done to bring it, and her, back under control? "Packard! Have you done anything to deal with this situation?"

"Sir, your clear and explicit orders were to make an aviator out of Rose Smalls if she was capable of doing the job, and to let nothing and no one prevent her. I took you literally, sir."

"Bah! Of course you did. This certainly was not your fault. I should not have implied otherwise." The admiral tried another tack. "Rose, how can you expect to move in polite society if this is your case? The door of every decent home in England will be slammed in your face!"

"Yes, sir, that's true," she shrugged. "What of it? I have no friends in polite society, and I have never had any prospects of making such friends, so my condition costs me nothing in that regard. In truth, were I to number the beings whose approval means anything to me, I could count them on the fingers of one hand, with three fingers left over. Those two friends – one human and one dragon – are both here in this clearing, and I am convinced that they will be true to me to the end. Why should I care for the opinions of several millions of total strangers?"

"You have no regard for common decency whatsoever?" White snapped. "Well, I assure you, when I return to London, my first project will be to amend the book of regulations. This isn't what I conscripted you for, Captain. I must have your epaulets."

St. Hubbins had to respond to that. "Sir, with respect, we all know how slowly the military bureaucracy moves. By the time your changes to the regulations have been reviewed, edited, circulated for comment, returned, critiqued, debated, amended, counter-amended, and finally approved, the problem will have resolved itself because Rose will be delivered of her baby by then."

"And possibly the one after that," Spina added.

"Spina!" Rose gasped.

"What do you mean, the one after that?" White demanded. "Precisely how many bastards are you two planning to inflict upon the world? The last time I looked, Spina required but one captain."

"That is true, sir," Rose said respectfully, "but Spina will lay eggs, and those young dragons will require captains as well."

"Do you propose for yourself and your illegitimate offspring to become the sole riders of England's most powerful dragons?" White asked acidly. "That sort of family influence will be shot down by the Admiralty the moment it becomes known."

"I don't see anyone else stepping up to meet the need for women to ride Longwings," she answered mildly. "Someone's got to do it. And you can scarcely pretend that family influence has never played a role in Corps personnel assignments."

"Not only that, sir," St. Hubbins added, "but I have learned that Spina is not the only Longwing in existence. Our breeders didn't put all their eggs in one basket, if you will pardon the expression. There is at least one more Longwing egg from a different set of parents, incubating in another breeding ground. That dragon will require a captain, as will that dragon's offspring."

"And you are assuming that all of these Longwings will share Spina's preference for female captains?"

"It seems a reasonable assumption, sir," Rose said.

White hadn't considered that possibility, and now that he did consider it, it seemed all too likely. An entire species of dragons, all requiring women as their captains! What a perfect nightmare for the Personnel Office! Should he trust to luck, and hope that England's most powerful dragons would somehow find their own riders? Or should he look for suitable women in advance, and train them so that they would be ready when the eggs hatched? How many women would willingly abandon their dreams of home and hearth to submit to such a fate? Or... or should he put a blind eye to his telescope, and allow the Longwing breeding program to be accompanied and brought to completion by Rose Smalls' own breeding program?

This turn of events was so far beyond absurd, he had no words for it! How could Captain Smalls of the Aviator Corps willingly turn herself into a human brood mare? Had she no self-respect at all? And St. Hubbins – did he have no sense of propriety? Couldn't they at least get married? No, he already knew the answer to that question. Dragon captains almost never married; the daily demands of training and controlling a dragon left no time or energy for other relationships. Such marriages always led to unhappy, distracted dragon riders who made mistakes at the worst possible moment.

What was it she had said? "I'm doing this for Spina." That was a horrific price to pay for a dragon's friendship... but it wasn't a payment. A dragon's friendship could not be bought or earned; it could only be freely given and freely received. Once it had been received, it was irrevocable. So why was she doing this? Out of gratitude? No, it had to go deeper than that.

He consciously brought up some long-buried memories of his days as a young man riding Sirius, his beloved Malachite Reaper. If his own dragon had needed something, anything at all, would he have hesitated to do whatever was necessary to keep that amazing creature contented? No, of course he wouldn't. And he hadn't.

But... to bear a child?! A woman was supposed to bear children for her husband and for her family, not for a dragon!

Those old memories flooded back into his mind now. He remembered their first flight together, their many missions over the Channel, and those awful moments as the last of his dragon's life-blood had flowed out of those horrible wounds, and he had gasped his final words:

"My captain... you were... always... there for me."

Being there for his dragon had sometimes entailed paying a high price. Some of his decisions, had he made them today, would have cost him his post and his rank. But he'd never regretted any of it, then or now, because no matter what he'd had to do, the dragon was worth it.

Yes. The dragon was worth it. Every good dragon captain intuitively understood that simple truth, and Rose Smalls obviously understood it as well as any other rider. He couldn't even guess what paying Rose's price would mean to a woman. But Spina was Rose's dragon, and Rose had deemed that the dragon was worth it. That was the end of every argument he could muster.

He took a deep breath, hung his head, and sighed heavily. Surrendering was never easy. "Can you at least promise me that you'll do whatever it takes to avoid a scandal?"

"Honestly, we're not worried about that," Rose said. "We have no social contacts, so it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of us or of what we're doing."

"Perhaps not, but if the Corps itself is scandalized, I will not be able to shield you from those consequences," the admiral warned her. "Parliament itself could become involved. They might come up with a way to view your actions as a national crime."

"I promise you, we will be discreet," St. Hubbins said. "I know of a midwife who will help Rose give birth without asking too many questions, and I have a married cousin who will raise the child until she is old enough to join Spina's crew as a runner. I even know a clergyman who will baptize the child into the Church of England with Rose's surname, so she can live without any social stigma."

"Humph. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose," Admiral White grunted. "This will be the first child ever to grow up in a three-way family; she will have a father, a mother, and a dragon! In unprecedented circumstances such as those, she will need someone to look after her best interests. Someone with some power, someone with some influence; someone who can do the child some good if problems arise in a life that is certain to be as complicated as her parents' lives.

"I don't suppose you would consider me to be the child's godfather?"

Rose glanced at Captain St. Hubbins, who nodded. "We would be honored, sir."

"I do not know what a godfather is," Spina added, "but whatever it is, it is surely best to keep such things within the Corps."

"Spina, you never cease to amaze me!" White exclaimed. "For the first time ever, you have come up with an unconventional idea that I agree with!"

"I suppose it was bound to happen eventually," Spina nodded. "But is that because I have changed, or because you have changed?"

Admiral White paused, and when he answered, it was with none of his usual gruffness. "I think every one of us has changed on account of you, Spina. Indeed, I think the entire Corps has changed, or will be changed, on your account. You demanded a woman for your captain, you picked a worthy one, and not a one of us is ever going to be the same."

o

Epilogue: timeline of events

1588: most of the events of this story (chapters 1-23) take place.

1589: the Epilogue (this chapter) takes place.

1590: Rose and David's egg "hatches" into a girl; Rose names her Iris. She bears an unmistakable resemblance to St. Hubbins. Rose eventually names all of her daughters after flowers, just like herself. She thereby starts a tradition which is unwittingly continued centuries later when a certain Longwing dragon is named after a flower.

1591: Spina lays her first egg, which was sired by the lecherous Sharpspitter in the breeding ground. This was by order of the Corps' master breeder, not by Spina's choosing, and she did her duty under protest. Also in 1591, Pope Gregory XIV releases an encyclical that denounces acid-spitting dragons as "a barbarous and un-Christian method of waging war." England offers no formal response. Rose Smalls' informal response is somewhat colorful, and can be summed up in this fashion: "On the day that the Pope also denounces the Spanish and French dragons who spit out the fires of Hell, that's the day when I'll take his words seriously."

1592: Spina's egg hatches. Queen Elizabeth I and her retinue are nearby as part of a royal progress, and the Queen has never seen a dragon hatching before, so she is invited to watch from a respectful distance. The baby dragon stuns the officers present by rejecting all of them, and showing a preference for one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting instead. That lady (who, by an unfortunate coincidence, is named Rose) reluctantly becomes young Venenatus' friend and rider. Because she has no taint of disobedience about her, it is this lady who goes down in the history books as the first female rider of a Longwing. Admiral White warns Captain Packard to prepare to train another woman, and begins casting about for better ways to find female riders for future Longwings, just in case they all want women on board, as Rose and St. Hubbins had suggested.

1593: Rose and David "hatch" another egg. This one is a boy, Daniel, who is destined to serve in the Corps like his sister. Admiral White considers what Spina's riders are doing and what their goal is, recalls the second Longwing hatching, and reaches the conclusion that the female children of Corps officers could be brought up in the Corps to serve as Longwing riders. Rose and David read of his informal change of policy and smile. They were way ahead of him.

1595: Rose and David's third egg is another daughter, Flora.

1596: Spina's second egg hatches. Once again, the hatchling rejects all the men and demands a young woman to be her captain. The girls from the nearby village are presented to her, and she selects a goatherd named Penelope, who is almost as thrilled with this change in her station as she is with the dragon's friendship. Admiral White finally admits that preferring women is a trait of all Longwings, not a peculiarity to one or two of them. His decision to raise girls in the Corps begins to look like a good idea to some middle-ranked officers who were formerly hostile to the entire concept.

1597: Rose gives birth to a third daughter, Heather. David St. Hubbins remarks that he might be the first man ever to rejoice at so many daughters and so few sons. Rose replies, "It's too bad that King Henry VIII didn't know any Longwings. He would have been a much happier man."

1598: Eight-year-old Iris joins Spina's flight crew as a runner. She tries to look and act like a boy, but her secret is soon revealed. The other boys her age are curious about her, but not hostile like the adult officers. The idea of women serving beside men slowly becomes acceptable in the Corps, although some of the senior officers take their resistance with them to their graves.

1600: Rose Smalls marries David St. Hubbins. "I suppose it was inevitable," he admits. He formally adopts all of their children, who had used the surname Smalls up until now. The two of them don't have much time to spend together as a couple, but the time they spend riding and working with Spina helps make up for this. Theirs is one of the very few Corps marriages that actually works.

1601: Admiral White honorably retires from the service. He builds a small retirement home near the Pen Y Fan breeding ground so he can watch the dragons, and so he can visit Aurelia from time to time. His place as commander of the Aviator Corps is given to the newly-promoted Rear-Admiral John Luke Packard.

1602: During a visit to the breeding grounds with his family, young Daniel St. Hubbins meets Spina's mother, and the two of them connect emotionally. Captain St. Hubbins requests that his son be assigned to the breeding-ground crew, so he can spend time with Aurelia. Admiral Packard is pleased to grant the request, and adds that Admiral White (ret.) can take the young man under his wing and teach him how to get along with dragons. Packard is heard to mutter, "At last, I've found something about this confounded situation that makes sense!"

1604: Iris St. Hubbins never gets her chance to become Spina's rider. Another Longwing, produced in a parallel effort by England's breeders, hatches prematurely; 14-year-old Iris, who was visiting her brother Daniel at the breeding ground, is the closest thing to a woman within ten miles. The girl and the dragon bond together on sight, Iris names her new friend Pandora, and they show the makings of a fine team. Admiral Packard considers whom he should assign as the new Longwing's senior rider, then shakes his head, mutters, "Oh, what's the use?" and recognizes Iris as Pandora's one and only captain. Rose begins grooming her second daughter Flora, now nine years old and serving as a runner, as her eventual replacement.

? ?: Is there a regulation in the Aviator Corps rule book which states that military officers who ride dragons are permitted to live happily ever after?

The End

o

A/N
...and another story comes to an end. It always makes me sad when I have to write "The End," even when I know the story is over. As I mentioned in the note for Chapter 2, I had intended for this story to be a one-off. But two reviewers asked for more, which surprised me. I will seldom ignore an appeal like that, as long as I have some ideas to write about. And those ideas came thick and fast once I started writing again.

This story is a "first" for me; it's the first time I've written a fanfic using all original characters. Well, sort of. The characters themselves are all original, but most of their names are not. Many of them are named for musicians:

* Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls, and Mick Shrimpton are the four band members in the movie "This Is Spinal Tap."

* Josie Pye and Minnie Mae Barry, the women whom Spina rejects, are taken from "Anne of Green Gables."

* Rose Smalls is original.

* Admiral Jack White is named for Jack White of The White Stripes. I don't care much for his music, but I wanted someone named Jack so Spina could use the line, "That's the fact, Jack!" from the movie "Stripes."

* Lt. Keaggy, the dispatch rider, is named for Phil Keaggy, the renowned guitarist.

* Petty Officer Young, the ground crew chief, is named for Neil Young, who had a hit with "Heart of Gold," which is what the petty officer has.

* Payne, the ground crewman, is named for Freda Payne, who had a hit with "Band of Gold," which is what the ground crewman tried to steal.

* Commodore Starkey is named for Richard Starkey, the real name of Ringo Starr, formerly of the Beatles. There is no significance to this; I just wanted a different-sounding name.

* Jean-Jacques C'est-Poule is original. I chose the name because I originally planned to make him an unsavory character like Rankin, with a name that visually resembled the English word "cesspool." I eventually decided to make him a noble character, but by that time, I was accustomed to his name and decided not to change it.

* Captain Isaac Craunch, who was mentioned very briefly in Chapter 13, sounds like Cap'n Crunch, the breakfast cereal.

* Captain John Luke Packard comes straight from Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." The name of his dragon, Locutus, was the name that the Borg gave to Picard when they assimilated him.

* Lt. Bradley Paisley, skipper of HMS Firedrake, is named after Brad Paisley, the only country-western singer I really like.

* Pierre St. Pierre is original. His role starts out very similar to that of Choiseul in "His Majesty's Dragon;" I wonder if any of you expected him to be a traitor like Choiseul was.

* Brian May, Frederic Bulsara, Jonathan Deacon, and Roger Taylor are the members of the band Queen (Farouk Bulsara was Freddie Mercury's real name). The other trainee, Roy Baker, is named after Roy Thomas Baker, who produced most of Queen's albums.

* Rodgers, the sailor who was kind to Mercurius, is named for Paul Rodgers, who sang with Queen after Freddie Mercury's demise.

* Partridge, the sailor who is disciplined just before Rodgers, is named after The Partridge Family. That make-believe family band's reputation was squeaky-clean, so a drunk and disorderly sailor bearing their name is a deliberate contrast.

Some of the dragons' names (including Spina's) are authentic Latin, but the majority just sound that way, often for humorous or ironic effect. Rapide-flèche is French for "swift arrow."

Spina's character is a sort of middle road, dragon-wise. She is less restrained than Temeraire, but nowhere near as out-of-control or self-centered as Iskierka. She is definitely a handful, but she can learn from her mistakes and she gradually becomes somewhat wise.

Admiral White's unspoken speech in Chapter 22 is a famous quote from Winston Churchill, referring to another group of heroic British aviators.

Chapter 24 started as nothing but a paragraph in the time-line epilogue. Just to amuse myself, I started to write out this latest confrontation between Rose and Admiral White, intending to make it an expanded section of the time line. But I hadn't gotten far before I realized I had enough ideas to make a whole new chapter out of it.

I extend a special "thank you" to Erikstrulove, for your frequent thoughtful reviews. In fact, yours were the only reviews I received, except for one at the very beginning and one complaining about weak soldiers in Chapter 9. You made this story happen. If not for your interest, I might not have gotten past Chapter 1, and I certainly would not have been completed the tale.