Life for a dragon after capture can be a bit of a mixed bag. Executions are the worst possibility, but imprisonment or being pressed into hard labor are more common, with the luckiest dragons able to negotiate a truce. Though Ashar here was not so fortunate as to keep his freedom, he's been put into a line of duty that suits his skill set: courier duty. Footmen and even mounted messengers can only go so far so fast, and a dragon on the wing can take a few riders or messages farther in a day than any man could manage in a week!

Yeah he has to submit to carrying human riders, he hates when they clip reins to his bridle and yank so roughly on them to lead him around, but at least he gets to run, and fly, and usually gets to bed down in a comfortable stable instead of a prison cell... And carrying a human or two beats having to tow rocks in a quarry any day of the week. He misses freedom, like most dragons do, but at least he still gets to soar, and see the world beneath him, and some riders even have enough of a stomach to let him indulge in the occasional aerial acrobatics.

And they're sure to free him once he's put in a few years of service and demonstrated he can be peaceful and friendly and defer to humans... right?

Art by Muscled_Dragoness! See it in her gallery here. I really like how it came out, both how he looks and the harness and bridle. :3 Go give the original post some love!