“D’you ride any of them yet?” Astrid hadn’t meant to ask that, as such, but the question suddenly hits her when Siegfried mentions his sparse observations and a rowdier bunch. She knows he’s been looking after all the various pets at the Gallows (including the wyvern!!), but thinking back to whenever she’s haunted the eyrie for training with Clarisse, she can’t remember having seen him bonding much with a specific animal.

Only half cheekily: “How’s Volonel with heights?”