I was so happy when Phyler stopped by to tell me all about her new job. She had started employment as a fighting fairy in the Dragon Defenders group. Yes, I made up the title of fighting fairy, and no, Phyler didn’t love it. I tried calling her fearless fairy, and Phyler said that was fine as long as she could call me nosy gnomy. Phyler’s real title is Dragon Defender, same as all the other defenders in the group. I actually thought this was a little strange since she’s obviously not a dragon.

  We decided to drop that topic, and in honor of Phyler’s visit we took a canoe ride down Friends Passage to the Long Lake. It was great to have a day out, watching wildlife and listening to birdcalls as we floated down the sunny creek, just like old times. We climb the cliffs at the end of the lake to enjoy a view of the summer countryside as we chatted.

  Phyler dished the dirt on those famous Dragon Defense dragons. I listened eagerly.

  Not surprisingly, the dragons are a rowdy bunch. They happily chase down evildoers no matter what kind of spaceship they escaped in and no matter what quadrant of space they may be hiding in. The dragons can find ships that are extremely well hidden. Their incredible senses can discern the nearly silent pulses of engines or the almost invisible halos of scattered light around cloaked ships.

  The dragons easily snatch and open ships, ejecting occupants everywhere. They scoop up criminals and hostages alike, then place a robot guard in the spaceship until it can be towed to an impound lot.

  The dragons are pretty careful in their care of unfortunate hostages or other innocents, and place them securely in spaceships. There’s a reason they are so careful: they get bonuses for rescuing live captives.

  Unfortunately, the dragons feel it is their right to play with the alleged criminals as much as they please. They are not supposed to torment suspects they have apprehended. It is clearly stated in their contract.

  The dragons enjoy picking up evildoers and poking them in the stomachs with sharp claws. Then they call them “burn bait” and terrify them by throwing them in the air, pretending they’re going to incinerate them alive. They pull back their flaming breath at the last second and laugh.

  Dragons have profane nicknames for suspects, often having to do with how stupid they were to mess around and find out about dragons. The least offensive terms are “num,” short for numbskull, or “groon,” short for gray matter in the brain is all gone.

  Fortunately, the group doesn’t get paid for dead suspects. They will eventually fling the miscreants toward the burglar bin on the side of a ship, then drop them in.

  Phyler was not at all happy with the impulsiveness, bad tempers and lack of professionalism displayed by her Dragon Defense associates. In fact, she found them impossible to work with. She decided to put all those magical spells she had learned to good use.

  She didn’t change their dragon personalities, just made up some Little Whisper spells aimed at their sensitive dragon ears. For example, want to incinerate someone because they’re annoying? Little Whisper says, don’t do it, you’ll lose your job and that fat salary. Want to fling that suspect extra hard? Don’t do it, how will you explain their injuries? Do you want to tell Phyler she’s not welcome in the group? Don’t do it, if she quits you’ll have to deal with both her and an angry dragon manager. Do you want to behave badly and cause trouble for everyone in the group? Don’t do it, word will get out and nobody will work with you. She added a few Little Whispers of positivity about coworkers to improve working relationships, too.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The Little Whispers worked surprisingly well. Maybe the dragons never realized who had placed them, or maybe they never consciously noticed them at all. Either way, the work environment got better.

  Now Phyler could concentrate on her own duties.

  She was assigned to capture local runabouts and small ships, since the large dragons tended to crush these air vehicles accidentally with their large claws and long swinging tails. Phyler didn’t imitate the dragon method of entry into a spaceship: that is, if a suspect wouldn’t stop their ship and open up to them, they would simply smash the ship with their tail, then hook a claw into a door and peel it open.

  Dragons are very intelligent and could have developed more finesse in their capture techniques, but they were having a lot of fun tearing apart spaceships. Phyler decided to develop her own more refined techniques, which have been working very well.

  Phyler merely materializes into a spaceship, usually in front of the pilot. The crewmembers are quite startled as she appears, and she takes those few stunned seconds to cast some magic spells. She first hypnotizes the criminals to make them peaceful and relaxed. She then suggests to them that they don’t want to retaliate with guns, missiles or any other destructive weapons.

  At this point, the criminals are basically spellbound. They willingly turn their spaceships over to Phyler. She docks their ship and leads the beings into the burglar bin. Phyler brings them any refreshments they want, then sits down to take their statements.

  The suspects often confess quickly. There’s just something about confessing to an attentive, charming fairy that suspects prefer over confessing to a large scary security guard or grumpy spacecraft pilot, and certainly over confessing to one of the terrifying soulless robot guards. Phyler doesn’t even have to implant the suggestion into their brains.

  Phyler generally stays in her small fairy persona, flitting around suspects and literally letting her tinkly voice and natural charisma do all the work. They are often delighted just to spend time with the pretty little fairy. They willingly tell Phyler all about how they played out their little burglary or kidnapping.

  Eventually the culprits emerge from their fairy-induced stupor and wonder how they gave up their freedom so easily and how they could possibly have spilled the beans on their every criminal move.

  Next, Phyler moves to spending time with the hostages. She helps them to get a start on recovering from their terror. With patience, she always manages to get their statements, too.

  Dragons not only get bonuses for a job well done, but they get to keep and sell all recovered items that don’t need to be returned to rightful owners. Phyler has this perk also. It is a very lucrative profession.

  Obviously, fairies are tougher than they look and can easily work with big, cantankerous dragons and evil psychopathic criminals. They even manage to display empathy and kindness to crime victims. Don’t forget that Phyler has been alive for many thousands of years, so she has already seen it all.

  I leaned back and sighed with enjoyment as her tale came to a close. Phyler was a good storyteller, plus I was happy that she was doing well at her job and enjoying it. We gathered our belongings and headed back to our canoe. It was time to head home.