Lenna
*******

With his fingers laced tightly through hers, B'rand wasn't about to give
Lenna the chance to avoid him as the two walked towards their dragons.

She nearly laughed out loud when he told her of all the things he'd had to
suffer at her brother's hands in the last two weeks while learning how to
handle the cutlass well enough to meet her challenge... Nearly....But she
was still mad at him and didn't feel like letting him off that easily.  

Though, not as mad as she had been earlier.

She couldn't believe he had gone through all that trouble just to win their
bet. If he had only told her the truth about his lack of sword skills, she
would have come up with some other way to prove her point....

She could almost forgive him for the trickery, but her brothers were a
different story all together.

It would be a *long* time before she forgave them. She hoped their mouths
were still burning.

Lenna had planned on making B`rand grovel a little bit before she let him
back into her good graces, but her mate had other ideas when their dragon's
dropped them off at home a few minutes later.

Taking her hand and as they entered the human area, he started to pull her
close, but she held herself back a ways.

"What?" she asked, her blue eyes flashing. "You think all you have to do is
kiss me to make it up to me?"

A grin slowly spread acrossed his face as he raised his hand up to tangle in
her long blonde hair. Applying a little downward pressure, she was forced to
tilt her head back, leaving her neck open for the warm lips that moved there
and began to nuzzle her sensitive skin.

"Mmm!!" he muttered, chuckling when he heard the gasp she was unable to keep
quiet. Pressing his advantage, his hands began to wonder over the body he
knew so well how to please.

"Don't think you've won me over so.. so.. easily.. love..." she muttered
with difficulty when his fingers began to undress her. "I'm... still.. mad..
at you.. mumm... for cheating."

"Ah.. but I did win my love," he chucked again, as he pushed her shirt off
of her shoulders. "And you still have three days left of the bet. Then again
maybe we should add an extra day for you temper tantrum tonight..."

"You wouldn't!!"

"Show me why I shouldn't," he told her... and she did.

My'kel
*******
The hour was late. 

Much later than the time Shinner's rider usually brought Brisse home for the
night after having his way with her. 

Where could they be? What was taking them so long to arrive?

Damn the man!!! Hadn't he hurt her enough?

His anger towards the man grew as he forced himself to watch the darkened
entrance to Dan'yar's apartment. He wanted to march right on in there and
put a stop to what the man was forcing her to suffer, but the presence of
the copper-green dragon sleeping on the ledge stopped him.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow would be soon enough to seek his revenge.

The watcher didn't know how long he had been standing there watching the
apartment, when suddenly he saw the copper-green Shinner taking off from the
ledge. As his eyes followed the dragons short flight, he became aware of
where they wee heading.

The hatching cave. The queen, Tymor was laying her eggs.

Knowing that they would be occupied for sometime, the watcher decided this
would be the perfect time to wreck havoc at the same time seeking his
revenge and reminding the older rider of the lesson he must not have learned
when he been beaten.

"It's time," he told the other two a few minutes later after waking them and
whispering to them to get dressed and follow him.

"That son of a bitch is with her even now in the hatching caves while her
Queen's giving birth. It wouldn't surprise me if he's taking her right there
on the sands in front of Tymor."

No one was up yet. So there was no one to see the three steal through the
shadows in the direction of Dan'yar's apartment. When they got there, the
tall man reminded them to do as much damage to the place as they could.

"But remember to keep it quiet," he cautioned them. "The twins are in their
rooms asleep and we don't want them waking up and catching us."

As they slipped inside Frog, moved towards Dan'yar's bedroom. What he saw
there made him glad the My'kel hadn't chosen this room to destroy himself.
The bed looked as if it had been enjoyed by to people who had little time
for sleeping. It made him wonder once again if what they were doing was right.

He'd seen the way Brisse looked at the older rider and half believed she
really was in love with him. He knew the rider was in love with the girl. So
why couldn't his friend My'kel see that? Because he wanted the girl for
himself and was jealous the older man had moved on the girl before he
himself had had the chance.

He was half way finished with the room when he opened the closet on the left
side of the room and found the hand tooled leather saddle.
Just by looking at it he could tell someone had taken a lot of time and love
into it's making. The elaborate details alone must have taken hours to do.

Dan'yar was going to give it to Brisse as a gift.

Suddenly Frog didn't have the heart to go on. He couldn't ruin such skilled
work. Why it must have taken the man a good few weeks to 

Pushing it to the back of the closet, the man began to rip the clothes down
off of the shelves and threw them on top of the saddle to hide it from
anyone checking up on his work. He just couldn't destroy it.

When he was finished with the rest of the room, he went back out into the
living room and joined the others until everything laid broken and torn
apart all over the room. Even the kitchen hadn't been spared.

Dan'yar
********

You're pregnant, Brisse."

She began shaking then, and Dan'yar drew her closer.

"Brisse," G'abril said quietly, "I know you have objections, but if you 
can't handle this, please consider an abortion.  Having to carry, deliver 
and raise the child of a rape isn't something you should feel you have to do."

Dan'yar knew even before she shook her head, that his Brisse would never
concede that course. She had shared her beliefs with him over the last few
weeks and knew it wasn't even and option.

"Unless it could be Dan'yar's...?"

In as much as he could have hoped it was, he knew it to be impossible. His
head was shaking when the healer turned to glance his way.

G'abril considered for a moment.  Something seemed to occur to him.  "Wait.
Your dragon had a mating flight a couple weeks ago, didn't she?"

Brisse nodded, wondering where he was going.

"And B'rand's Rook won?"

She nodded.  "Why?" she sniffled.

"It could be B'rand's, then?"

So profound was her shock that she stopped shaking, staring at the healer,
remembering the mating passion she had shared with B'rand.  "Y-yes, it
could be."

"Oh, gods!" Dan'yar groaned, thinking of the problems this would cause with
his younger sister if she found out her mate might have gotten Brisse
pregnant during the mating flight she had flipped out over.

Lenna would not be happy about this twist of events at all. For a brief
moment, Dan'yar was glad he wasn't B`rand. The red-head would have a hard
time of it with Lenna as his mate if this child proved to be his.

Then his mind turned back to his love. B`rand would have to handle his own
mate... if he could. Dan'yar's was more concerned how his own mate would
react to this new development. 

He met her eyes as she turned to look up into his.

"I'm sorry.  What... what do I do?" her eyes were begging him for an answer.
He could also read her fear. She was scare he might get angry over this and
leave her, he realized.

Gods, didn't she know how much she meant to him? How much he loved her.
There wasn't anything he wouldn't do for her. 

"Bri, love.. you have *nothing* to be sorry for," he told her, his eyes
never leaving hers as he held her in his arms. "Nothing at all. But I can't
tell you what to do love. The final choice will have to be yours. But I want
you to remember how much I love you and whatever you decide to do... I'll be
there to help you get through it. We'll do it together."

"Lenna...?" 

"Isn't going to be to happy when she learns, I'm afraid," he sighed. "But
she knows these things happen. It just might take her a little while to come
to grips with it."

For some reason, though he knew he had every right to be upset with Rooks
rider... Dan'yar suddenly started feeling sorry for him.

And for the first time in as long as he could remember... he found himself
worrying about his tough little sisters feelings. The girl wasn't as tough
and strong as she liked people to think she was. She had a vulnerable side
to her that not many people saw. She had proven that with her reaction to
the queen's mating flight.

He wondered how she was going to be able to cope when she heard the news
about the baby and prayed B`rand's love for her would be enough.

Lenna
*******

<Lenna wake up dearest,> the purple dragon couldn't wait to tell her ride
the happy news. 

<<No my heart let me sleep,>> the girl groaned and pulled the pillow up over
her head. <<Just for a little while longer. We didn't get much sleep last
night.>>

<Well if you don't enjoy mating with Rook's rider, you can always say no!>

The blond let out a slow chuckle as she imagined herself telling her mate
no. "Not tonight love I need my rest. Wasn't the four times we did it last
night enough for you?" 

Oh no... B`rand had a way of making her want him time and time again... and
she it would always be like that with him. 

<Well now that you're awake...>

<<I'm not awake,>>

<...I'll tell you the happy news I just learned from Tymor,>

<<The eggs!!>>

<12 of them, very early this morning. But that's not the news I was talking
about.>

<<Then what is it love? Tell me so I can get back to sleep.>>

<Tymor's rider is going to have a hatchling and Rook's rider may be the
sire!! Isn't that wonderful?>

The news caused her to sit up. Wonderful!!! NO!!! 

It most definitely wasn't wonderful!! 

The mating flight the two had shared had been bad enough for her to go
through. How was she ever going to get thought this? 

The door to their bedroom opened and B`rand came in. He was fully dressed
and by the two cups of coffee in his hands, she could tell that he had
already been up for some time. Long enough to get them breakfast.

Long enough to go see Brisse, she wondered?

She could tell by the way he was looking at her, concern and... something
else.. in his emerald green eyes, that he had already heard the news.
Sitting there in the middle of their bed she stared unsmiling back at him.

"You heard?" he asked. when he noticed the look on her face.

"I heard."

"Lenna...I..."

"Not now B`rand," she stopped him from saying anything. "I don't want to
talk about it right now."

"But love..." 

"I don't blame you if that's what you're worried about?" she told him, her
voice was without emotion. This was all still to much of a shock for her
handle right now.

Getting up out of the bed, she moved to walk past him on her way to the
bathroom. Transferring both cups of coffee into one hand, he reached for her
with the other and stopped her when she would have past him by.

"Lenna... "

"It was a mating flight B`rand. It wasn't your fault." she said, turning her
eyes up to met his. Her starling blue eyes were without their normal sparkle. 

"Gods love..." he started but she had continued on by him and as he turned
to follow her, the bathing room door was slowly shut in his face.

As soon as the door was closed behind her, Lenna couldn't stop the pain that
suddenly hit her. Her body slid to the floor, and her tears began to fall. 

She couldn't understand why she was feeling this way. She who had never even
thought about having children of her own, suddenly found herself very
jealous of Brisse.... and could come up with no reason why.

Except that if the news were to be believed and the girl was carrying
B`rand's baby, then the bond that had happened between them during the
mating flight, would always be there between them.

Lenna wasn't sure she could handle it if a part of her lovers heart was
taken by someone else. 

He found her there, crying a few minutes later when he went to check up on
her. When he sat down on the floor beside her and pulled her into his arms,
she went willing. 

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. 

"Shsss love," his voice soothing as he rocked her. "We'll get through this."

"B`rand?" she didn't want to... but she had to ask. She had to know.

"Are you happy about the baby?"

((Breakfast hall after joining Katrina for patrol))
-----------------------------------------------------------

"Did you hear that Tymor laid her eggs last night?" Katrina asked.

Lenna finished swallowing her juice before replying, "Yes.  Blanchie was so
excited she woke me up to tell me." 

"I'll bet you were happy about that."

"Overjoyed."

"If she only knew." Lenna thought and frowned. It was seconds before she
noticed the strange look on her friends face. "Katrina, what is it?" She
asked as a look of shock in the girls eyes.

"Something's wrong with Cynthia.  Syren just contacted Azure.  Azure
says she's in a state of panic."

"Does she need a healer?" Lenna said getting up from the table. 
<<Blanchie come pick me up we have an emergency.>>

<I'm already waiting for you outside the hall. We must hurry. The Queen is
all alone.>

"Yes," Katrina said moving to follow her partner, "Azure has already
contacted Leis."

It didn't take them long, once the dragon had a picture of where they were
going, to find the spot where the Queenrider had fallen. 

A minute late, S'lomon the healer dropped to the sand and ran to where
Katrina was kneeling by Cynthia.  The young queen rider lay naked, face down
on the warm sand.  Her breathing was labored.

"Help me roll her over," S'lomon asked.

Katrina and Lenna did, and the healer began to check her over.  The
only mark he found was an abrasion on her forehead.  As he examined
her, her breathing became easier.  Suddenly her eyes fluttered open,
and Cynthia tried to sit up.

S'lomon pushed her back down, "Don't move."

"What happened?" Cynthia asked.

"I was hoping you'd be able to tell me that."

"I don't know," she replied.

"Ok, I want to get you back to the warren where I can examine you
further.  We'll need a stretcher from the med center."

"Be right back," Lenna told him as she jumped up and started to run towards
Blanchie. "I've got a fold up one here."

She was back within seconds, showing the healer how to open the folding
stretcher her brother Farr'in had made for her sometime ago.

"I'm an apprentice Dragonhealer," she explained to the man as she helped to
secure the Warrenlady in, so that she would be safe during the ride back.
"I've had use for this before, to transport a rider when I was called to
heal the dragon."

Within minutes they were in the air and the dragons had teleported back to
the Warren. Lenna had asked Blanchie to tell the Queen, Syren where they
were going, and then to stay with her and comfort her until they could find
out what was wrong with her rider.

<No need for me to do that,> the purple dragon told her seconds later. <She
will have many here to comfort her. But we are being asked to go back to the
spot we found her and have a look around. Others will join us there. We are
to look for any sign of what ever could have done this thing. If anything is
there to find.>

<<Then let's go my heart. Let's go>>

"Well come on partner," she said, turning towards the other girl. "We just
got our orders."

"Don't wait on me, blonde," the girl said as she turned to follow. "I'm
right on your heals."

*****************

Well we got Cynthia back to the Warren. It's up to someone else to decide
what's wrong.

Anyone who wants to join Lenna and Katrina to look around for some unknown
person or whatever....?

****Submitted by: ******

Barbara (a.k.a.

Dan'yar & Shinner
Lenna & Blanchie
My'kel & Voger
Cleft Warren