(Late afternoon, day 2 of the mapping expedition)

Kellie
********

     <Can we go back in now?> came Varie's querulous thought.  <I'm hungry!>

     *You're always hungry,* Kellie reminded her dragon.  *Just a few more
minutes, okay?*

     <Oh, all right,> the green dragon grumbled.  <Never mind that our patrol
was over ages ago, or that you're forcing a poor, tired, hungry dragon to
spend all this time circling around out here as though we've nothing better
to do...>

     Kellie chuckled, reaching out to ruffle the scales on Varie's neck.  *I
know, I know.  I just need some time to get my head together before we go
back.*

     <That long?> came the startled reply.  <By the time they come out
looking for us, they will probably find a pathetic heap of sunbleached dragon
bones lying out on the plain, a few tattered strips of green hide clinging
to...>

     *Watch it, dragon!*

     Varie giggled at her own humor, sending an unsettling vibration through
her rider's body.  <Seriously, though, if you would tell me what's bothering
you perhaps I could help.  It's about Trevor, isn't it?>

    *Well...yes,* Kellie admitted.  *You were there last night...what did you
think of him?*

     Varie considered this.  <I was very surprised and happy to see him,> she
answered.  <And he did a wonderful job of oiling me.  I was afraid he'd
forgotten how after so long.>

     Obviously, Kellie reflected, dragons had their own ideas about what was
important and what wasn't.  *But what did you think about what he said?*

     <I can't talk to him, remember?  That's your job, my rider.>

     *Now, don't start pretending you can't understand our language!  I know
better, remember?*

     <I can, but I'm not sure what language he was speaking most of the time.
 All that stuff about lat-eh-tude, long-eh-tude, magnetic whatevers...I
gladly leave such things to you humans, thank you very much!>

     *Oh, forget about all that cartography stuff!* Kellie said, annoyed.  *I
didn't understand any of that either!  But do you remember what he said when
I asked him what he'd been doing in Ralengarde?  Or how he'd been?*

     <As a matter of fact, I do.  He said `fine.'>

     *He always says `fine!'* Kellie snapped.  *He'd say `fine' if he'd just
been worked over by a horde of wraiths!  That doesn't tell me a blasted
thing!  And do you remember what he said when I asked him about any friends
he'd made in Ralengarde?  Or if he'd found some nice girl he who'd make a
suitable mate for him?*

     <Ummm...well, no, I don't,> Varie admitted, clearly a bit embarrassed at
her own forgetfulness.

     Kellie patted her neck reassuringly.  *It isn't your fault, dear one.
 You don't remember because he didn't answer me!  Oh, he talked for a good
long time, but somehow the answers to my questions never quite found their
way into all those words.  And he was so damned slick about it that I didn't
even realize how he'd sidestepped me until after I went to bed and had a
chance to think over what he'd said word for word!*

     <Well, he's here now and that's what's important.>

     *But it isn't right!" Kellie insisted, clenching her fists in
frustration.  <He's too young to be walling himself off from everyone with
his books and his maps and all the technical mumbo-jumbo he throws out
whenever anyone tries to talk to him about anything more personal than the
damned weather!*

     <Then why don't you talk to him about it?>

     Kellie just shook her head.  She'd tried that, more times than she could
count.  And every time she tried, every time she attempted to get past that
bland facade Trevor showed the world, she could feel his barriers come
springing up - and after that, she might as well try talking to a bronze
statue!

     <A shame he doesn't have a dragon,> Varie sympathized.  <I really
thought he would join at one of Kaeryth's hatchings.>

     Yes, that would have been just the thing, Kellie knew.  Let him try to
block out a dragon the way he did with other people!  But despite having a
strong affinity, he'd stood at several hatchings at Keldarra and each time
left the sands as he'd walked out onto them, alone.  And, true to his nature,
he'd never shown an iota of the disappointment she knew he must have felt at
those times.

     <Perhaps if you were to set a positive example for him,> Varie
suggested.  <How do you expect him to listen to your words about his needing
to spend more time with other people when you don't do it yourself?>

     *That's an entirely different thing,* Kellie informed her.

     <Is it?  How many human males have you spent the night with since
Faltz's rider died?>

     *I think it's time we went back in, don't you?* kellie asked.  She had
no desire to talk about K'rald right now.

     Varie sighed in frustration, but wasted no time in making a hard turn
that put them back on course for Cleft Warren.  She wished that her rider
could see how much she and her hatchling were alike in their ways!  She knew
the reason for Kellie's behavior - she'd been as distraught over losing Faltz
as Kellie had over his rider.  But dragons apparently had a more realistic
view of things; if Faltz were here, she'd have joyfully cuddled with him
every night as she once had.  But spending her nights alone here wouldn't
bring him back.

     Soon, they were winging their way in over the warren.  <Look!> Varie
said excitedly.  <There's Trevor!>

     Kellie squinted as she looked down.  *Where?*

     <There, at the edge of the green.>

     Oh, there he was...Kellie could only make out a tiny figure below, and
would have never recognized him on her own; but Varie, of course, had much
better eyes than any human.  It touched her, momentarily, that her son had
come out to wait for her.  Perhaps there was some hope for the boy yet...

     As they sailed in closer, though, she saw that he wasn't even looking in
her direction.  Instead, he was standing at the very rim of the Cleft, using
his telescope to look at something down below.  "Mapping again!" she muttered
resignedly.  "I've never seen anyone so damned single-minded..."

     Trevor turned around as Varie began backflapping to slow herself for
landing.  As soon as she'd touched down, Trevor came over to help her
dismount.  "You were gone a long time," he said, and to Kellie's amazement
his voice seemed to convey a trace of concern.  "I was starting to wonder
where you were."

     "Sorry," she told him.  "I had something to...check out, before we came
back in.  Did you go out with Lenna and Katrina again today?"

     He nodded, folding his telescope and slipping it into a pocket.  "It
went pretty well, actually.  It's taking longer than I'd hoped, though.  We
keep running into all sorts of distractions."

     "What were you looking at, just now?" she asked.

     "Oh, with the telescope?  I was looking down at the Hanan encampment.  I
was hoping I'd see Jojo down there."

     "Jojo...oh, that skinny old horse you came in on?  The one Syren was
asking all the dragons about?"

     "That's the one.  Cynthia said that none of the dragons admitted eating
him, so I figure he must be somewhere around here.  He's too lazy to go very
far without someone prodding him all the time."

     Kellie nodded ruefully.  "Varie was a bit upset over that.  She seemed
to think that Syren actually suspected her of eating him...since she was the
last dragon to see him, as far as anyone knows.  Anyway, Varie told her that
she had you as a witness to prove she didn't do it, and I cut her off just as
she was starting to inquire about *Syren's* whereabouts when the horse
disappeared!"

     "Same old Varie," Trevor said, smiling as he rubbed the dragon's nose.

     "I didn't know you cared that much about animals," Kellie ventured.

     "I don't.  But he's got my compass in his saddle pack.  Without it, the
mapping expedition is going to come to a pretty abrupt end."

     Worse things have happened, Kellie thought, but kept it to herself.  "If
you want, we can go up with Varie and have a look around."

     Trevor shook his head.  "No...no, I'm sure he'll come back.  I'll wait a
day or so."

     Kellie privately suspected that he just didn't want to be seen having
his mother hauling him around; but she kept  that to herself as well.  "I
need to go back to the apartment for awhile, and Varie says she's going to
waste away to nothing if I don't let her go and eat right away.  Can you stay
with us again tonight?"  She knew that Cynthia had set him up with a small
workshop with a cot in one corner, but it only seemed appropriate that he
spend a night or two with her and Varie.

     "Sure," he answered.  "I need to finish drawing up the maps from today
first, though.  Meet you in the dining hall later?"

     "Okay," she said, as she climbed back up onto Varie's neck.  Varie
sprang aloft, and by the time she had circled the green once, Kellie could
see that Trevor had his telescope out once again, and was peering out into
the darkening NomadLands.


(NRPG: Kris and Barb, I'll wait to see what you have Lenna and katrina doing
at the Nomad village before sending in my next post - I've got it pretty well
sketched out, but since it involves both of them,  I figured I'd better hold
off until I know when they'll be returning.)

Respectfully submitted by:

John

Trevor the Cartographer
Cleft Warren