They talked, curled up together for some time, until Tymor, sleepily 
informed Brisse that the warrenlady wanted to see her.  Brisse had timidly 
kissed him goodbye and left.

"Yes, Cynthia?" Brisse asked as she entered.

"Sit down, dear."  Cynthia waited while she took a seat.  "We were 
interupted this afternoon," Cynthia said, smiling, "I never got an answer 
as to whether you want Katrina to tutor you or not.  Obviously, if 
something happens to me you need to be able to read and write to function 
in the Warrenlady capacity, even temporarily."

Brisse paused at that.  It hadn't occurred to her that she would be in 
charge if anything happened to Cynthia.  The thought frightened her.  Could 
she do such a thing?

"Brisse, dear, this is by no means any reflection on your intelligence," 
Cynthia said, obviously misunderstanding her hesitance.  "If Tymor didn't 
think you could do it, then she wouldn't have picked you.  I know you well 
enough to know that you are extremely intelligent, you just haven't been taught.

"If you like," Cynthia continued, "we can arrange it so that you come for 
your training here in the afternoon as usual and you and Katrina could work
discreetly in one of the attached rooms here.  No one would be any the wiser."

"That would be fine," Brisse answered.

"Good, then I'll have Katrina meet you here tomorrow afternoon.  But before
you go..."

"Yes," Brisse replied, a little red-faced, knowing what was coming.

"I was worried for you and Tymor today.  It was too soon, in my opinion, 
for both of you.  Are you all right?"

"Oh, yes, I'm fine."

Cynthia looked at her askance then, not, apparently, certain she believed her.

"Really, I am.  It... it helped."

She couldn't adequately explain it.  That was the best she could do.

Cynthia smiled.  "All right.  But if you need to talk, I'm here to listed.  
Okay?"

"Yes.  Thank you."

******

The next day was teleport training.  It was the final day she would be 
training with the newly-joined.  After this, it would just be them, working 
on wing formations for various weather and combat conditions-- things 
queens needn't know.

Many of the trainees, including My'kle, were looking at her funny, but she 
ignored it.  She expected it had to do with the mating flight.

Her first teleport was only a short distance, but it left her at once 
sickened and thrilled.

"After the first couple of teleports, you won't feel the sickness anymore.  
But, because of that, we'll only be doing one more this morning, after 
you've had some time to settle your stomachs."

The second was much better.  The newly-joined started talking about where 
they were going to teleport to visit soon.  Home warrens and home towns 
were mentioned.

"What about you, Brisse?" the boy nicknamed Frog said.

"I might go home and visit my family," she said hesitantly.

"Well, being a queenrider, you'll need an escort," My'kle said.  "If you 
want, I can go."

Brisse smiled.  "Thanks.  But I don't think it'll be right away.  We'll see 
when I go."

Lunch was spent with Dan'yar as usual.

That afternoon, she met with Katrina for her teaching segment.  Katrina 
explained the concept of writing-- symbols representing sounds-- and began 
introducing letters to her.  It was a strange and exciting revelation when 
she could finally understand how the letters of her name represented its sounds.

"How would you write 'Tymor'?" she asked excitedly.

Katrina thought, and then wrote:

Timor
Tymor
T'mor

"Any of those would do," she explained.

"I like the middle one best," Brisse said after studying them.

"Then we'll spell it that way."

"What about 'Dan'yar'?  'Arly' and 'Leyean'?  How do you spell your name?  
What about 'Cynthia'?"

Katrina laughed.  "Slow down.  I can see I'm not going to have any trouble 
coaxing you to learn..."

******

The next couple of days were split between the warrenlady's office and the 
Medical Center.  Finally, Dan'yar was released.  He and Brisse and the 
twins had dinner in his apartment to celebrate, followed by several games 
of trissa.

Finally, the girls wandered off to bed, leaving Brisse and Dan'yar alone.  
In the days since the mating flight, they had kissed a few times, and held 
each other, but that was as intimate as they had gotten, as Brisse had felt 
the Medical Center was too public to really relax with him.  Now, she 
curled into his arms, feeling desire coiling in her belly.  He kissed the 
back of her neck, his hands rubbing her belly.  Slowly they inched their 
way upward, and Brisse made no protest.

The heat of his hands through the fabric of her shirt seemed to raise the 
fire within her even higher.  As he pulled her closer-- close enough to 
feel the evidence of his desire-- and began unbuttoning her shirt, she 
remembered the need to wait a couple weeks.

"Dan'yar, we can't yet."

"Shhh..." he whispered, as his hands slipped inside the shirt.  "There's 
still a lot we can do, love.  And if you want me to stop, I will."

She moaned as his touch shot such heat and need through her body.  "No...  I 
don't want you to stop..."

******

A little over a week after the mating flight, her period started, though it 
seemed rather scant.

Dan'yar's relief was as great as her own.

He was so good and patient, even when she said she wanted to wait till it 
was over.

Despite her relief, she was queasy that night.  Something she ate, she supposed.

******

She was queasy the next night as well.

******

Her period was over.  How could it be over in only three days?

Once again, she suffered the odd feeling.  It wasn't really nausea.  
Dan'yar suggested she ought to see a healer, but it seemed really silly for 
something that didn't even slow her down.

Because she wasn't feeling well, they decided to wait.  She wanted it to be 
special with him.

******

"I really think you ought to see the healers," he said the next night.  
"This isn't normal."

"Maybe it's just sympathy symptoms with Tymor.  Cynthia says she'll 
probably be laying tomorrow."

"I suppose it could be.  Oh, I got you something today."

"What's that?"

He pulled out a book and handed it to her.  Brisse opened it and saw the 
words, arranged nicely on the page, but they didn't use the whole page.  
She had kept Dan'yar apprised of her progress in her reading lessons and he 
had been very proud of her.

"I've never seen writing like this.  What is it?"

"It's poetry, love."

"Oh!  I've heard poems, but I've never seen them written down.  Thank you."

"Can I hear you read one?" he asked.

"I'll try.  Promise you won't laugh?"

"Oh, love, I'd never laugh at you."

******

"As much as I hate to say it, love.  It's getting late.  You want Shinner 
to fly you home?"

"Mmm..."  She snuggled in closer to her, closing the book of poetry that 
had so intrigued them most of the evening, and hugging it to her.  It was 
decision time.  He hadn't pressed the issue and wouldn't, she knew.  But in 
her heart, she knew it was time.  "I'd like to stay tonight with you."

She felt him tremble at that.  "With me?"

"Yes," she answered the unasked question, "with you."

"Are you sure you're ready?"

She nodded.  "I'm sure."

"And you're feeling well enough?"

"I'm feeling better now."

She let out a yelp of surprise as he stood, sweeping her off of the couch 
in his arms.  She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him, feeling 
the desire course through her familiarly, but now, now it would be fully
answered.

He carried her into his bedroom and laid her on the bed.  She started to 
reach for the buttons of her blouse, but he stopped her.  "Let me do it, 
love.  I want to savour this time."

And so it started, slow and tender, each exploring the other with delight, 
feasting with eyes, and mouths, and fingers, and skin, till finally, they 
could bear it no longer, and their bodies came together even as their 
hearts already had.

Afterward, she cried in his arms, tears of joy, and they fell asleep together.

******

She awoke to a feeling of discomfort.  It was some minutes before she 
placed where she was, and longer till she realised what she was feeling.  
She nudged Dan'yar awake.

"Hmmm?" he asked, pulling her to him.

"Tymor is laying her eggs."

He sat up and rubbed his tired eyes, then smiled down at her naked body in 
his bed.  "Let's get dressed and I'll take you to her."

They spent the early morning hours in the hatching cavern with Tymor as she 
laboured to deliver her eggs to the waiting sands.  When the sun's first 
rays glinted off the river outside, twelve eggs laid on the sands.

<You've done a good job, Tymor.  That's good for a first clutch.>

<Are they not beautiful, my rider?>

<They are, dear, they are.  The perfect ending to a perfect evening,> she 
smiled dreamily and looked at her lover-- her lover... she savoured the 
thought-- as he slept against a wall of the cavern.

<I am glad you and Shinner's rider finally mated.  It has made you happy.>

<Hmmm... yes, it has.>

Tymor's eyes shifted to the entrance, where Cynthia stood, sleepily 
surveying the cavern.  The warrenlady knew how broody some queens got, and 
so avoided coming any further into the cave.

"Cynthia," Brisse greeted, walking over to her, "isn't it wonderful?"

"Yes, Brisse.  It is.  It's always good to have eggs on the hatching ground 
floor.  How many are there?"

"An even dozen."

"Not bad for a first clutch.  Tell Tymor I'm proud of her."

<Tell her thank you.  She can come in.  I won't hurt her.>

"Tymor says thank you, and tells you to come on in."

"Oh, good.  It sounds like Tymor's not going to be a broody queen.  Is that 
Dan'yar asleep over there?"

"Oh... umm... yeah."  Brisse felt her face turning red.  "He brought me here."

"I see," Cynthia said, and patted Brisse on the arm understandingly.  
"Well, I did have another reason for coming here.  I've just gotten word 
from Keldarra that someone's going to come out sometime to look at Tymor."

Brisse frowned.  "Why would someone do that?"

"To find out if she's bigger than Beryth and Kaeryth, of course."

"Bigger... than... Kaeryth?"

"You haven't noticed how big she is?  She's much larger than Syren.  And 
I'd lay odds she's bigger than Beryth.  It's been too long since I've seen 
Kaeryth to say."

"But... she can't be bigger than Kaeryth...  I..."

"Shhh.  Brisse, don't get yourself into a panic.  They're just measuring.  
Okay?"

"Okay."

"I've got to go.  Since you spend half the night up with Tymor, I'll tell 
Katrina not to bother showing up for your lessons.  You get some sleep.  
Both of you."

Brisse watched Cynthia leave, then ran at once to Dan'yar's sleeping form.  
"Wake up.  Dan'yar, wake up.  Oh, it's terrible!"

He started awake at once and was immediately looking for the source of her 
distress.  "What is it, love?  What's wrong?"

"They're sending someone to measure Tymor!  They think she might be bigger 
than Kaeryth.  Oh, Dan'yar, what if she is?!  What am I going to do?"

He wrapped her in his arms.  "Calm down, love.  It's okay.  It's okay."

"But what--"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.  For now, just relax, okay?"

It was a few minutes before she finally calmed down.  He released her then 
as she sat back, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Are you okay now?"

She nodded.

"All right.  Let's go get something to eat and talk, okay?"

She nodded and stood.  Suddenly, the queasiness that had been dogging her 
since last night overwhelmed her, and she found herself retching on the 
cavern floor, while Dan'yar and Tymor looked on in alarm.

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

NRPG: Well, it's choppy, but it gets the job done.

Barb, what's he going to say?

---
|   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                   |