so buck's had it drilled into him his whole life that he must never tell anyone who/what it is, that's buckley family rule number one, but on the other hand it seems like his life is over now anyway so he spills his guts to this handsome kind stranger (although buck doesn't know WHY he turns into a dragon, he thinks it's just something he was born with). eddie's like this sounds crazy and the scales/birthmark thing could just be a coincidence but this guy is clearly in need of a warm meal and a place to stay for the night, so he serves up a big bowl of venison pottage and gives buck a spare tunic and leggings, and despite how this guy is clearly Going Through It they wind up having a good long chat into the dead of night. before buck dozes off he tells eddie he'll wake him right before dawn, so eddie can see. and sure enough a few hours later, buck shakes him awake looking pale and sweaty and fully naked again (he's left eddie's clothes neatly folded on the sideboard) and quietly leads eddie outside, and sure enough when the first light breaks over the forest treetops, buck transforms into a dragon. (it looks like it hurts.)
eddie is suitably like 'well shit'. he shoos buck off to hide in his forest clearing again and tells him his abuela might be able to help. so that day he rides into the city to speak to her - on his way through the city, he passes the guard barracks where bounties are posted, and there's a whole crowd of eager adventurers and knights-errant come to slay the dragon. there also wanted posters for the forest brigands, led by a man known as the captain (😉). eddie asks around a little bit about the attack on the city and the royal family etc, then goes to fetch abuela and bring her back to the cottage. she eyes buck up and concludes that this is definitely the result of a curse, but it's a really powerful one, not something she can undo. (eddie murmurs to her that the transformation seems to hurt buck, so she gives him a recipe for something that might help, and pats him on the cheek and tells him he's a good boy.)
so eddie and buck are hanging out!! buck is still in mourning and reeling to learn that he was cursed; he has no idea who would curse a baby or why, and can't imagine his family knew about it or else they would have told him, right?? but still he's having such a nice time getting to run around outside and talk to the diazes!! he's never been in a forest or a cottage or outside of the city walls before. he's never had a friend that wasn't his sister or a servant before. (he feels so guilty that it took his sister dying for him to experience this.) but one day while eddie is at the market or whatever, something happens to christopher, like idk he falls into the river - and buck blows his cover to come fly and rescue him. all the townsolk who are at the market see this bloody great dragon emerging from the forest and maybe try to eat this sweet small child???? buck has to go deeper into the forest to hide (not easy when you're a bloody great dragon). at first eddie regretfully lets him go because he just needs chris to be safe, but chris is absolutely furious and demands they help their friend, and well - it's extremely easy to track the path a bloody great dragon makes in the woods, and eddie can see the adventurers on their way to slay their foe. so he grabs chris and his old sword and legs it into the forest, hoping he might at least be able to delay them long enough for the sun to go down.
buck didn't make it far before the trees grew too close for him to get through, and he's tangled in the branches in a panic when eddie catches up with him. the knights aren't far behind him, and they're really confused to see eddie and christopher there already and extra confused when eddie draws his sword on them and yells at them to abandon their quest. (ravi is one of the knights. these guys aren't monsters, they're people who earnestly believe this dragon attacked the castle. there was a fire! people died! including the princess!)
ravi draws his own sword in confusion, and then an arrow flies through the air and knocks the sword out of his hand. BRIGANDS emerge from the trees. eddie and ravi and the other knights ready themselves for a fight, but then a short woman with her face obscured by a scarf steps forward and says, 'buck, it's me.'
eddie doesn't know who this is, but buck clearly does from the way he stops thrashing around. ravi and his pals all lower their swords, recognising her voice. and sure enough princess maddie tugs her scarf down and runs to her brother
