Adelie

  Adelie sighed, slid her laptop off her lap onto the couch and pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket. The distraction of a message buzz was welcome, but she really did need to get her monthly report on Soot's fitness filed with the ICDA. She unlocked the phone and brought up Petunia's DM in Squabble. A DM again – it felt like she'd been avoiding their team server for some reason lately.

  [PrincessPetunia]: I'm worried about this race.

  [AnimAdelie]: Is it the money?

  [PrincessPetunia]: Not exactly. With the podium bonus from Loudon we're in the black for now. But I want to ask Ms. Rainpuff for a bit more sponsorship money and she wants to come to our next race and meet Selen and I don't know if that's a good idea.

  [AnimAdelie]: Why not?

  [PrincessPetunia]: You know what we look like compared to the other teams, Adelie. What if she thinks we look so amateur we're not worth funding anymore?

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  [AnimAdelie]: We came second last race, didn't we? That has to count for something

  [PrincessPetunia]: What if it's not enough, though?

  A flicker of light caught Adelie's eye. On the floor next to the sofa-bed, her Wintendo Kitsch had somehow woken up, and was loading into Animal Forest. The console had been twitchy like that ever since she'd brought it up to the farm. It wasn't a problem exactly, except when the battery ran down overnight, but it was weird. She didn't think she'd knocked it or dropped it or anything that might have caused lasting damage.

  Her phone buzzed again.

  [PrincessPetunia]: Adelie?

  [AnimAdelie]: Sorry, got distracted, my Kitsch is being weird

  [AnimAdelie]: I think it'll be fine, you should try to use it as an excuse to ask for more money

  On the Kitsch screen, the game loaded, and Adelie blinked at it. She was pretty sure she hadn't left her character standing around outside Ronald's house. She'd been trying to get the penguin to leave, his competitive nature was too annoying, and that meant avoiding interacting with him, not hanging around where he was most likely to be. She reached down and switched the console off again, shocked at how cold it was to the touch. There really was some sort of weird draught in here.

  Friday: Petunia - major update (1396 words)

  Saturday: Phoebe - major update (1532 words)

  Sunday: Race (282 words - sometimes the major drama isn't the racing...)

  articles from a sports website covering dragon racing, if you want a broader perspective on the lore, the world and the sport.

  Fourth race: Buildup starts June 26th, race day July 7th

  Fifth race: Buildup starts July 8th, race day July 20th

  Sixth race: Buildup starts July 22nd, race day 4th August

  Seventh race: Buildup starts 5th August, race day 12th August

  Eighth race: Buildup starts 13th August, race day 18th August

  Ninth race: Buildup starts 19th August, race day 25th August

  Tenth race: Buildup starts 26th August, race day 1st September

  Mid-season break: 4th-8th September

  Eleventh race: Buildup starts 9th September, race day 15th September

  Twelfth race: Buildup starts 16th September, race day 22nd September

  Thirteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd September, race day 6th October

  Fourteenth race: Buildup starts 7th October, race day 13th October

  Fifteenth race: Buildup starts 14th October, race day 20th October

  Sixteenth race: Buildup starts 23rd October, race day 27th October

  Seventeenth race: Buildup starts 30th October, race day 10th November

  Final race: Buildup starts 11th November, race day tbd (likely 1st week in December)