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Dragons NEVER attacked their crew, not even in the cases of documented harsh abuse. To the dragons, it would be the equivalent of destroying a priceless diamond that had cut you, even if they had NOT developed a deep attachment and affection for their captains. Nevertheless, in the pressure of wartime, oftentimes heated disagreements will break out between soldiers, and dragons were not immune to this, nor to the instinctual displays of aggression that flowed from frustration and wounded pride.

Nevertheless, intellectually knowing your dragon won't harm you is a different beast altogether than staring down the maw of a five-tonne serpent as its displeasure with you manifests in a fiery glow roiling its way up its gullet. Thus, it took phenomenal courage, and not a little fire of her own, for Captain Ashley Kalin (pictured) to dress down her Crested Scythewing, Ajax.

--Neville Winterbottom, "Scales and Chrome: Aerial Dragon Combat In the Second Great War"

*This is an old pic, actually the last drawing I did with my finger on my old iPad. Every drawing after this I started using a stylus, so this was the ultimate "finger painting." I'm putting this here only because I wanted you all to have all the pics that will be in the book, in as high a resolution as they come.