Brisse ate breakfast with Dan'yar, putting off leaving him until the last.  
She watched his face as Arly and Leyean visited, and then his brothers and 
sister.

It was nice to be part of a big family again, bickering and all.  Brisse 
missed hers very much.  Perhaps, after Tymor was flying...

Flying!  She needed to get to lessons, she realised.  Today would be the 
day Tymor flew for the first time.

"I have to get to lessons before I'm late," she said, standing suddenly.  
"Tymor should be flying today.  I'll see you for lunch and then we'll 
talk?"

"Of course, love," Dan'yar said, smiling.  "Be careful."

She beamed at him.  "I will."

Then she was skipping out the door, calling Tymor as she ran.  She collided 
with someone, as seemed to be her usual fate, and they both fell over.

"I'm sorry," she said, then looked up into dark eyes.  A chill ran up her spine.

"Brisse, alleh ja," the man said.

She remembered him.  He was Matteen's friend.  What was he doing here?

She knew as soon as she thought it that it was a silly question.  He 
probably had family here from the burning of his village.  Still, the shock 
of it reverberated through her and she felt very vulnerable, when she 
realised how many of the tribe must be here.

For his part, the man seemed rather casual about the whole thing, as if he 
found nothing strange or uncomfortable about running into the girl his 
friend had kidnapped and raped.

"Alleh ja," she muttered quickly, as she rose and fled.

******

Tymor was curled up with My'kel's Voger when she arrived.  She couldn't 
believe the size Tymor had grown overnight.  The young queen easily dwarfed 
all of her hatchmates.  She would have to find an apartment tonight, she 
concluded.  There was no way, at this rate, that Tymor would fit into the 
hatchling barracks tonight.  Cynthia had already explained that she would 
probably want one of the second-level ones over the offices and near to the 
hatching cavern, for when she was landbound while Tymor was brooding eggs.

Brisse's stomach still did flip-flops when she thought of going through a 
mating flight.  Would it be like it was with him?...

She turned her thoughts away from the subject to the mechanics of saddling 
up Tymor.  She would soon need to move up to a queen-sized saddle.

"Why do we need to saddle them for their first flight," she asked.  "We 
won't be riding them."

Jer'lin smiled at her.  "That's a good question.  There are a couple of 
reasons.  One is that we want them getting used to flying with the saddle 
on.  Second, we want to make sure the saddle is secure before you get in it."

"I guess that makes sense," she admitted.

"Okay," the instructor said, turning to the class, "since we have a queen, 
first flight goes to her.  Brisse, if you'd have Tymor run down that slight 
incline and spread her wings..."

Tymor was off almost before the words could be conveyed, and they all 
watched, transfixed, as the green-gold queen's wings caught the wind and 
rose from the ground.  Brisse was caught up in her queen's elation.  Tymor 
trumpetted happily and flew around, swooping and curling.

"Okay, Brisse, have her land now.  She probably won't be really graceful, 
but she'll get better with practice."

The queen approached the green and landed, a little too fast, leaving 
gouges in the green.  Brisse ran and hugged her queen.  <Oh, love, it was 
*perfect*!>

<When do we get to fly together?> Tymor asked excitedly.

<Soon, dear.  Soon.>

By ones and twos, they watched as the hatchlings took their first flight 
and landed.  None were graceful and the green ended up with several gouges, 
but no one was hurt.

After that, the instructor showed them how to lift off from a standing 
start, instead of a running start, and sent the dragons off to hunt in the 
pens and feed for the first time on fresh-killed meat.  Brisse was stunned 
at the voracity that Tymor displayed.

<Don't eat so much, dear,> she warned.

<But, I'm hungry,> Tymor answered.  <I'm growing fast, you know.  Syren 
said the other day that I might even get bigger than the Empress!>

Brisse took pause at that.  <Bigger than the Empress?  Syren said that?>  
She knew enough to know that the biggest queen was the Empress, and the 
Empress's rider was the DragonLady.  <Don't be silly, dear, I can't be the 
DragonLady.  I can't even *read*.>

<You can learn.  Syren's rider is going to find someone to teach you.>

After the hatchlings had fed, Brisse got her first opportunity to ride.  
She had, of course, ridden dragons before, but the thrill of riding her own 
was indescribable.  The wind in her hair, the feel of Tymor beneath her, 
their combined elation.  She didn't want to come down, but finally had to, 
to keep Tymor from tiring out.

"Okay.  Training is over for the day," their trainer announced.  "You can 
all get lunch and have the rest of the day for apartment hunting."

Brisse got ready to head for the Medical Center, but was stopped by My'kle. 
"Hey, would you like to apartment hunt together?"

She shook her head.  "There are only a couple for me to look at, really, 
and I don't want to tire Tymor out.  I'm sorry."

"That's okay.  Frog already asked me to go with him.  Just thought you 
might like the company."

"Thanks anyway," she said, then walked off.

******

Lunch was busy, and both Brisse and Dan'yar forgot about discussing what he 
knew of his attack of the night before.

Brisse told him all about Tymor's first flight and how thrilling it was.  
He basked in her joy.  It was the most animated he had ever seen her.

Soon enough, she had to leave.  Cynthia had excused her from her duties 
today so that she could find an apartment and move.

Finding the apartment didn't take long.

Neither did moving.

But after that, Brisse decided to do a little "shopping" (for it wasn't 
really shopping, as there was no money exchanged) for things to liven up 
the apartment.

She still wasn't used to the communal, moneyless warren society.  It made 
her a little edgy not knowing how much it would be proper to ask for.  
Because of this, she was very frugal in her selections.

******

Dinner was once again taken in the Medical Center.  As she came in, she saw 
the Nomad man again, going into a room.  There was a little girl in the 
room, swathed in bandages, and Brisse could guess she had been burned by 
the rogue dragonriders.  How could people do such a thing?

She hurried by before the man could see her.

That evening, he finally told her about her being mentioned by his 
attacker.  The news stunned her.  Why would anyone attack Dan'yar because 
of her?

She couldn't think of any reason, or anyone.

She sat with him long into the night, before returning to her new 
apartment.

******

The next morning was given over to more flight and concentration 
techniques.  Tomorrow, she would be learning to teleport.  After that, she 
would leave her hatch-mates to concentrate on warren administration while 
they learned combat formations and flying.

My'kle cast odd looks at her all through class.  She wondered what that was 
about.

After lunch with Dan'yar, she reported to Cynthia for more warren 
administration lessons.  They were talking about dealing with people and 
solving disputes when a knock came at the door.

"Come in!" Cynthia called out.

A woman that Brisse had never seen before entered the room, looking rather 
uncertain.

"Katrina, you are right on time!" Cynthia said, pleased.  "Sit down and
we'll talk.  Brisse, please have a seat, too."

"Brisse, this is Katrina, one of our newest transfers.  She has told me 
that she excels in reading and writing and math," Cynthia said, starting 
the introductions.  "Katrina, Brisse is our junior queenrider," Cynthia 
continued.  "Unfortunately, she has a problem that needs solved if she is 
to be able to do her job.  Brisse can't read or write.  I would greatly 
appreciate it if you would meet with Brisse daily to tutor her, teach her 
reading, writing, and arithmetic. What do you think, do you want the job?"

Brisse blushed, feeling stupid suddenly.

<You aren't stupid,> Tymor asserted.  <I wouldn't have picked you if you were.>

<But I can't read or-- >

<You were never taught.  That's hardly your fault.  And I've heard you do 
math in your head, yesterday when you figuring out how much the things you 
were getting were worth among the Landbound.  I don't know why you were 
doing it, but you kept perfect track of everything.  You learn fast, too.>

<Thank you, dear.  We'll see what my tutor says about that, assuming she 
takes the job.>

She turned her eyes back to the new arrival, waiting to see what she would say.

<I'm going to eat,> Tymor said.

<Don't eat too much, dear,> Brisse said, the idea of the dragon growing 
larger than the Empress disturbing her again.

<But, I'm *hungry*!> the dragon answered.

<Tymor!>  But, it was already too late.  The young queen was already diving 
for a buck in the pens.

Brisse suddenly realised that, despite her recent meal, she felt rather 
hungry herself...

or something...

Empty.  That was the word.

Cynthia and Katrina were saying something, but she couldn't concentrate.  
All she could feel was that growing need within her, and a strange heat.

"Brisse?" Cynthia asked.

The young queenrider stood like an automaton and walked toward the door, 
heading for the feeding ground where her queen had killed yet a second animal.

Sated, Tymor let out a roar, and the males of the warren took flight toward 
the young queen.

Brisse briefly realised that her dragon was getting ready to fly to mate, 
and worried that it was much too early, before she was lost.

She launched into the air, wings straining to put distance between herself 
and the puny, weak males who thought the would catch her.

<You can't catch me, you weaklings!> she called.

Brisse was vaguely aware of the riders of the male dragons gathering near.  
Fear of what was to come impinged on her consciousness and was gone as quickly.

<You are all unworthy!  Puny!  Weaklings!  Scrawny!>

Up and down, great dives and climbs, swoops, curves, spirals, turns...  She 
led them on a merry chase, mocking the hopeless males following her.  Then 
the unthinkable happened, and claws raked her back and fastened on her 
shoulder.  She twisted, fighting this wanna-be, and slipped from his grasp, 
laughing.  She started to swoop away, only to find herself grabbed again.  
She twisted again, but the claws in her back sunk deeper, and she felt the 
back of her neck being bitten.

<Submit!> he demanded.

She struggled, feeling the heat in her rise at the pain of his domination.  
She relaxed then, submitting.  <You are worthy, Rook.  I will have you.>

On the ground, Brisse felt herself swept into the man's arms.  Her fear of 
what was about to happen was forgotten as their lips met and her fingers 
tangled in his red hair.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Brisse and Tymor

NRPG: Well, Allen, you knew it was gonna happen some time...  Surprise!... ;>

Kris, what was her answer?  I don't think Brisse heard...

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |