Renata
(evening, Day 8)

     Renata was just beginning to doze when suddenly Vega lifted her head.
<Someone comes!> the dragon sent urgently.

     As quickly and quietly as possible, Renata moved forward to look out of
their place of concealment within a small grove of trees overlooking the road.
She listened intently, and then heard it: the unmistakeable sound of a horse's
hooves!

     *That may be him,* she told Vega.  *Get ready!*

     She waited as the sound of hoofbeats drew closer and closer...and as she
waited, the feeling of dread and remorse grew almost unbearable.  It had been
part of her ever since the moment that Khazeen had thown the spear at her feet
and ordered her to commit a murder.

     <My rider,> Vega said hesitantly, <are you sure you wish to do this?>

     *I have no choice,* she told the dragon sadly.  *What else can we do?  We
can't go back to Jhezrael otherwise.*

    <I do not wish to go back to Jhezrael,> Vega said flatly.  <Shamir is
there...and you saw how he tried to hurt me!>

     *I know, love,* Renata said, reaching up  to stroke Vega's muzzle.  *But
there's noplace else we can go...we've been banished from Epion, and no warren
will take us.  We cannot live in the wilds.*  She could tell by the sounds
that the horse was about to come into view.  She raised the spear and waited,
ready to hurl it.

     She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that it was not C'aranth.  It
was another man, one she had never met, riding slowly down the road.  She
crouched back down so he wouldn't see her.  Good thing she hadn't simply
thrown the spear before identifying her target.

     She watched him go, laying the spear aside, but then Vega spoke again.
<Another horse,> she said.  <Coming behind the first.  I can hear it!>

     Once again Renata tensed, her hand closing around the spear.  Since she'd
taken up position here, they hadn't seen a soul...and now, two at once?

     As soon as the man on the black horse rode into view, and Renata saw the
moonlight reflect off of the armor he wore, she knew it was C'aranth this
time.  *The other man must be with him, then!* she told Vega.  *He's a clever
one!  He sent the other one ahead, hoping we'd go for him instead - and then
he'd have slipped in from behind!*

     Renata slowly rose, hefting the spear.  *I'll take care of C'aranth.  You
go and deal with the other one,* she told Vega.  *Don't kill him...just his
horse.  I don't want him getting back to the warren too quickly.  And give him
a good scare while you're at it to send him on his way!*  Taking aim, she
hurled the spear.  At the same moment, Vega launched herself into the air.

     The spear missed C'aranth, but not his horse.  Struck in the neck, the
animal reared and threw C'aranth from its back as it collapsed.  Damn...she
thought she had better aim than that.  Or...was it that, down deep, she had
*wanted* to miss?

     She watched C'aranth rise from the ground, sword in hand.  Well, she'd
just have to do things the hard way.  She stepped out of concealment and faced
her adversary.

     "You should have killed me with the lance," C'aranth said.

     "I have my reasons for keeping you alive," she replied, drawing her
sword.  On the surface this was a lie, but there was perhaps some truth in it
too.

     Behind the visor of his armored helmet, she saw C'aranth's eyes widen.
"You're Master Th'roth's daughter, the Wingleader for the First Wing!" he
said.  "What are you doing here?"

     "I am Renata, rider for Jhezrael," she said, surprised that he had
recognized her.  She hadn't even been a rider when he'd left Epion, and he'd
never seemed to notice her while he was a rider there.  But surprise or no,
she had a job to do.  She quickly closed the distance that separated them.
Steel rang as their blades met.

     Back and forth went the battle, with each parrying the other's thrusts
and seeking openings to make their own attacks.  She knew that C'aranth was at
least her equal with a sword, possibly even better...the first time they'd
met, he'd managed to best her.  But tonight, he didn't seem quite as quick or
agile...perhaps, she thought because of the wounds he'd received from the
wilder he'd slain.

     "I don't know who you are now," he rasped, "but your being with this
warren has tarnished your family's name!"

     "I have no family, and no warren!" she cried, as they momentarily locked
blades and found themselves face to face.  She surprised him with a backward
shove that sent him rolling on the ground.  But he was quickly on his feet
again, slipping past her blade and catching her arm to pull her close to him.

     "Do they rape children at your warren, or is it just the Nomad women?" he
demanded.

     No, she thought bitterly to herself.  They just order others to commit
murders for them.  "I'm not like him!" she cried, more to try to convince
herself than for C'aranth's benefit.  "He's sick...not me!"

     And yet...she'd been a part of it all.  She had, bit by bit, surrendered
her morals and principles to expediency in serving Khazeen, both before and
after he'd taken up playing at being a god.  She'd known that all along, but
somehow...somehow hearing C'aranth say it in that way made it strike home.
And something inside her broke...she couldn't go on as she had.

     She couldn't kill C'aranth...she couldn't go back to Jhezrael...she
couldn't even purposely drop her guard and let him kill her, for that would
mean Vega's death as well.  There was nothing she could do, except fight on
pure instinct and pray to the gods - the *real* gods - for a way out of her
dilemna.

     And it seemed as though the gods replied, in the form of a loud
concussion and a flash of light that momentarily blinded both of them, and
brought their deadly contest to a halt.

Vega
* * * * * * * *

     The dragon, because because of the distance that separated her from her
target, reached the second human at just about the same time that her rider
locked blades with her own opponent.  Vega closed her wings and dove, flaring
them at the last second, and rammed her claws into the horse's neck with such
force that the beast was slammed sideways and its human rider sent tumbling
onto the ground.  She withdrew her claws, ripping the horse's throat out in
the process. Then, standing over the body of the fallen horse, she swiveled
her neck around to locate the human.  She didn't see him, which meant that he
must have landed in one of the clumps of brush that dotted the landscape here.

     Well, she couldn't wait...her rider needed her.  She decided to do this
the easy way, and let the human take his chances.  She opened her jaws and
swept the underbrush with a stream of fire.  The dry brush caught fire with a
satisfying crackle that lit up the night, and she knew the pesky human would
either have to run for his life or be incinerated.

     But then, one of the burning bushes did something she could hardly have
expected - it blew up!  So close was she to the blast that the concussion
stunned and blinded her momentarily,  and she felt starp stinging sensations
on her chest, legs, neck, and face as splinters of wood from shattered tree
branches struck her scales.  They couldn't penetrate, but they certainly hurt!

     Shaking her head to clear it, she stood up again and looked around her -
and found herself surrounded by a pall of smoke so thick that she couldn't see
anything other than the hazy glow of the burning bushes.  Well...at least the
explosion must have scared the puny human witless, and that was all she'd been
ordered to do.  She was ready to rejoin her rider - assuming she could even
find her in all this smoke - when she heard the sound of dragons roaring in
the sky above.

     <My rider!> she called frantically.  <We have to get out of here!>

      *See how many there are,* Renata answered.  *Then come and get me!*

* * * * * * * *
Trevor

     This time, as it turned out, his estimate of the distance had been right
on the mark - due more to luck than anything else, he suspected.  Below him,
in a clearing, was the yellow dragon.  But he saw her for only a moment before
a bright flash right next to the dragon blinded him, its concussion rattling
his teeth.

     <Oooh, what was that?> Triss asked.  <If this is that Jhezrael place,
then we are too late - it blew up!>

     *This isn't Jhezrael,* he told her as he watched the dense column of
smoke rise up from the ground, obscuring everything.  *Not this close to
Cleft, and not in this direction.  The question is, what are that dragon and
her rider doing here?*

     <That, and is Blanchie's rider here?> Triss reminded him.  He quickly had
Triss relay a message to the other dragons and their riders, telling them to
fan out and encircle the huge pillar of smoke to prevent their quarry from
escaping.  Then he and his dragon went in.

      The combined effect of darkness and smoke cut their visibility down to
zero.  Trevor couldn't even see Trissana's head from where he sat, much less
anything around them.  He was beginning to think that this was a bad idea.

      He *knew* it was a bad idea when a large form materialized in front of
them out of the smoke.  Triss backwinged quickly, as did the yellow dragon,
both startled to encounter the other so unexpectedly.  But it was too late -
the two dragons clashed chest-to-chest, their wings flapping madly to keep
them aloft as they instinctively clawed and snapped at one another.  Trevor
looked up to see the gaping jaws of the yellow dragon descending right toward
him.

     It was only the fact that he already had his sword out that saved him.
He brought the sword up in an overhand stroke that connected with the dragon's
lower jaw, not doing any real damage but at least causing her jaws to snap
shut just above him rather than right *through* him.  Triss roared angrily at
the yellow dragon, giving a powerful shove with her forelimbs that sent the
slightly smaller dragon tumbling away from them.  Trevor noticed that her
saddle was empty.  Their mystery woman must, then, be somewhere on the ground
below.

    *Tell Dotarth to have the other dragons land!* he ordered Triss.  *Tell
them her to try and capture her rider!*

     <He says they will try, but...it is very hard to see anything on the
ground as well.  Where did all this smoke come from?>

     *Good question,* he told her, as both rider and dragon looked nervously
around for the enemy dragon, who had once again disappeared into the smoke.
He knew that Triss could find the other dragon's direction if she used her
locating talent, but he dared not have her do that - if she did, they'd
blunder right into her with Triss unable to defend herself until she came out
of her trance.  Nor did they dare try to land until they got back out of the
smoke - his dragon couldn't land safely if she couldn't see the ground.

     *Get us out of here!* he told her, and Triss immediately responded by
pumping her wings to make a climbing turn.  It wasn't until he saw the belly
of the other dragon appear out of the smoke just a few feet above his head
that he knew that this, too, had not been such a good idea...

     The other dragon had apparently had the same idea, and as a result they'd
run right into her again.  Both dragons became aware of each other at the same
instant, and the yellow dragon darted her head down to try and catch
Trissana's neck in her jaws.  But the pearl dragon's reactions were just as
fast, and as the other dragon tried to clamp down, her tail swept up and
around to catch the yellow dragon squarely in the flank.  Trevor breathed a
sigh of relief as the two dragons parted again...and yet another sigh when
they broke out into clear air at last.

     *Where is she?* Trevor asked, as he seached vainly for any sign of their
opponent.

     <I don't know...> Triss began to say.  <Wait! Dotarth says he sees her -
on the other side of the smoke.  She's just landing!>

     Trevor knew there was no need to give further instructions - M'yer would
be right on her tail - he too had a special score to settle with the mystery
woman and her dragon!

* * * * * * * *
Renata

     Both she and C'aranth were coughing so much from the smoke that neither
could have wielded a sword effectively had their lives depended on it.   In
fact, even though they were a scant few feet apart, all she could make out of
the armored man was a hazy outline in the darkness.

     "Those are...Cleft dragons!" C'aranth coughed.  "You have...lost, Renata.
Give it...up!"

     "You're...wrong," she coughed back, knowing that C'aranth was trying to
bluff her.  He had no way of knowing whose side the newcomers were on - she
herself hadn't until Vega had reported her run-in with that pesky pearl dragon
whose rider had shot arrows at her during their previous encounter.  Things
had fallen apart here, and not just because of the new arrivals.  She needed
time to get away, time to think clearly.  And so she made a bluff of her own,
mixing a lie with the truth.

     First the lie. "Those are...from Jhezrael!" she said, placing her hand
over her mouth to try and block out some of the smoke.  "Khazeen has come!"

    She could see C'aranth's head turning from side to side as he sought to
peer through the gloom.  "The queen!" he hissed, raising his sword agian.
"She's here?"

     "No!" she coughed.  "At...Jhezrael.  C'aranth...I don't...want to...kill
you!" And that, she now realized, was the truth.  "We must...get....away!"

     "Why...should I...trust you?" C'aranth demanded.  "You have...lost...your
honor!"

     "Not all...of it!" she cried.  "I will...not...deliver you...to Khazeen!"

     Something in her voice must have told C'aranth that in this, at least,
she was speaking the truth.  "Very well," said the tall swordsman, just as
Vega bounded through the smoke and skidded to a stop before them.  "I will
go...with you!"

     <Hurry!> Vega cried in her mind.  <I eluded the big female, but another
dragon chased me into the smoke!  He could be here any second!>

     Renata needed no urging.  She and C'aranth both scrambled up into the
dragon's saddle.  They were just strapping themselves in when they heard a
dragon's angry roar just behind them.  Vega leaped forward, snatching her tail
away just as Dotarth tried to clamp his teeth down on it.  An instant later,
Vega used her hindlegs to spring into the air, her wings snapping open to take
her aloft.

     *Get us out of here!* cried Renata, giving Vega the first image that came
into her mind.

(Tag Darren - Renata is very confused, and hopes that perhaps C'aranth, whom
she  admired at Epion, can help her think things through.  She will not, yet,
be willing to reveal the location of Jhezrael or to accompany C'aranth to
Cleft.  Also, she has no knowledge that Khazeen and Vascone are up to anything
unusual on the evening of Day 8.  She *does* believe that Zelandreth is the
escaped queen from Epion, and would tell C'aranth so.)

* * * * * * * *
Trevor

     By this time, Triss had landed and forged ahead into the smoke.  Trevor
decided not to undo the riding straps yet, since they might yet have to make a
quick takeoff.  They hadn't gone far when they nearly ran into Dotarth, who
was coming from the other direction.

     "She got away!" M'yer shouted, obviously not happy about that.  "We
almost had her, but she jumped up and teleported just before we could grab
her."

     Trevor sighed.  "She has a way of doing that," he said, unfastening the
riding straps and jumping down onto the ground.  "Did anyone see Lenna?"

     "No sigh of her," came P'ker's voice, as Verdanth came plowing through
the underbrush.

     "It looked like there was someone on the dragon's back with the rider,
but I couldn't see who it was through all the smoke," M'yer told them.

     "Okay, then...we'll have to try and follow her again," Trevor decided,
wondering if it could be Lenna.  "Maybe this time she's gone back to their
hideout."

     "How's your dragon?" P'ker asked, as he too dismounted.  "She's made at
least half a dozen teleports today that I know of."

     Trevor looked up at his dragon.  <Triss...are you okay?  Are you up to
another teleport to go after that dragon?"

     <Yes, my rider,> Triss told him.  She didn't tell her rider that her
answer was based more on her concern for her friend Blanchie than on any
assessment of her own condition.  Right now the young dragon was almost too
tired to think.

     "She can do it," Trevor told P'ker and M'yer.   

     "Say, who's that?" M'yer asked, pointing through the smoke at the outline
of a human figure approaching them.  The other riders turned to look, and
Trevor held out a momentary hope that it might be Lenna.  But as the figure
came closer, they saw that it was a man.  He was holding something peculiar in
his hands, a long pole with a tube on the end.  When he spotted them, he
stopped and pointed the end of the tube at them.

     "Who are you?" he demanded.

     "Trevor, of Cleft," Trevor responded, and lowered his sword.  He
remembered the man from somewhere, though he couldn't yet come up with a name
to go with the face.  "M'yer and P'ker, also of Cleft Warren," he went on,
gesturing to his companions.  "And you are...?"

     "Nikol," said the man, clearly not convinced that these were really Cleft
riders and not rogues.

     Trevor nodded.  "Oh, right! The blaster!  The one who took care of that
little problem for Syren!"

     Nikol blinked, and lowered the pole so that the tube was no longer
pointed at them.  "Guess you're who you say you are, then," he decided.
"Rogues wouldn't know anything about me, or how I helped out the Queen."

     "What are you doing out here?" Trevor asked.  "Was that explosion and all
this smoke some of your work?"

     Nikol nodded.  "That it was," he agreed, and Trevor thought he detected a
touch of pride in the man's voice.  "Saved my skin, I don't mind telling you!
Scared that yellow dragon right out of its scales when it set the pack with my
explosives in it on fire!"

     Trevor looked around him.  "One hell of a smoke bomb you must have put
together," he commented.

     "Right enough," Nikol agreed.  "As to what I'm doing out here...right now
I'm looking for C'aranth.  Have you seen him?  Been looking for him ever since
the dragon ran off, right after the explosion."

     M'yer groaned.  "Then it must have been *him* she carried off, not Lenna.
Now we've got to tell Cynthia that we've let someone else go missing!"

     "Not yet," Trevor reminded them.  "If we find Jhezrael, we've found both
C'aranth *and* Lenna!  Come on!"

     While M'yer and P'ker saw to getting the other dragons and riders
reassembled for another trip, Trevor climbed up onto Trissana's saddle and
motioned that Nikol should follow him.  The blaster seemed a bit hesitant, and
Trevor realized he'd probably never ridden a dragon.  But he also clearly had
no desire to be stranded out here in the wilderness, and mounted the dragon
without complaint.

     "So you were with C'aranth?" Trevor asked, wondering what sort of trouble
the swordsman had gotten into this time.  "Did anyone else come with you?"

     "Just the two of us," Nikol replied, as Trevor helped him find a place to
stow the curious lance he'd brought along.  "Mind you, I'd rather have had a
whole army with us, do to what he wanted to do, but he's a bit of a loner.
Had to almost glue myself to him to keep him from going alone."

     Trevor wanted to ask what Nikol knew about C'aranth's purpose in leaving
Cleft, but Triss told him that the other dragons were ready to go.  Telling
Nikol to hang on, he had her take off.

     The other dragons formed up behind them, once again in single file.
*Okay, you know what to do!* Trevor told his dragon.  Trissana's mind again
went blank as she surrendered herself to her locating talent.  She wheeled
around to the south so abruptly that Trevor had to shout back to reassure
Nikol that she hadn't lost control of her flight.  Once she'd settled on a
heading, and Trevor had gauged the strength of the return echo, he woke her up
again.  This time the signal had been so faint as to be almost undetectable.
At least a hundred miles, he decided.  He vizualized a spot almost that far in
the right direction - a grove of trees standing on either bank of a swiftly
flowing stream - and had her pass it on to the other dragons.

     "You've never teleported before, have you," Trevor asked Nikol.

     "No," the blaster said suspiciously.  "But I expect I'm about to..."

     "Not as bad as some folks say," he said.  "Just remember, it only lasts a
few seconds!"  *Go, Cupcake!*

     <Yes, my rider,> said Triss, and her mindvoice was so weak that Trevor
knew at once that this was a mistake.  

     *Trrss, no!!!!* he mindshouted, trying to stop her.  *Don't!!!* 

     But it was too late.  Trissana teleported, and Trevor could sense the
image of their destination wavering in her mind.  He struggled to hold it
steady, but felt it slipping away even as the three of them plunged into
blackness.

* * * * * * * *
Kellie
(dining hall) 

     The dining hall was empty right now, save for Cynthia, Turner, and
herself.  The waiting seemed endless.  Every few moments Kellie would ask
Varie if Trevor and the others had returned, and always got the same answer.
She knew she couldn't blame Cynthia for sending her son back out...she, if
anyone, had as much a personal reason *not* to have sent him as Kellie
herself.  Like Cynthia, she knew M'yer and P'ker were very experienced riders
and would keep an eye on things.  And Lenna was no doubt in far greater danger
than Trevor.  But she wished that there had been some other way...

     She glanced up from her coffee and saw Cynthia looking at her.  "You have
to trust him," the Warrenlady told her.  "If I didn't, I would never have
allowed him to go."

     Kellie nodded and took another sip.  "Yes, I know...I guess I still think
of him as a child."

     "Mothers always do," said Turner, giving them a smile to try and lighten
the mood.  "Look at mine!"

     "Kellie...now that we have a chance to talk...how are things between you
and Trevor?" the Warrenlady asked.

     She shrugged.  "I don't know," she said.  "I...I *think* maybe I've
managed to break the ice, but I haven't really had the chance to sit down and
have that heart-to-heart talk with him like I wanted."

     <Kellie, Syren wishes me to ask you whether may talk about your hatchling
with your friend present,> Varie told her.  <Syren says I am to tell you that
if if you wish, she can wait until the two of you are alone.>

     *Tell her that her rider can speak freely,* Kellie replied.  *Turner
knows pretty much everything.*  Not only that, but she was beginning to hope
that...someday...Demee would not be the only one at Cleft who unexpectedly got
a new father.  If Cynthia had something to say about Trevor, she felt that
Turner should hear about it too.

     Cynthia nodded slowly as she received Syren's reply.  "Kellie, when you
*do* find the time to have that talk with Trevor, I think you need to be very
careful about what you say to him.  It may determine how he feels toward you
for the rest of his life."

     "Why do you say that?" she asked.  "I just think that...he needs to
understand what happened to him all those years ago.  It's stood between us
all this time, and I want it to end!  I want him to know that I did what I
thought was best for him, and so did his father!"

     "He knows that, I think," Cynthia replied.  "But what will you tell him
about his brother...about M'del?"

     There was no hesitation on Kellie's part.  "The truth!" she said.

     Cynthia shook her head.  "That might not be wise," she told the older
rider.                   

     "But he already knows, doesn't he?" Turner asked.  "I mean...he had to
know, otherwise he would have abandoned his dragon."

     "He made the decision not to abandon her *without* knowing any of that,"
Cynthia said.  "And it was very important for both of them that he accepted
her in spite of his doubts about himself.  And learning *why* he had those
doubts, from reading your mate's old journal, helped him to put the past
behind him.  But there's still one thing that's lingering...and I'm fairly
certain its the reason why he's reluctant to speak openly to you."

     "Danki said she thought it was because he was afraid I'd bring it up,"
Kellie said.  "That he was still embarrassed by it."

    "She's partly right, but she doesn't know Trevor as I do," Cynthia told
her.  "It's not so much that he doesn't want to talk to you about it - he does
- but he's afraid of what you'll say."

     "He told you that?"

     "Not in so many words, no.  But I'm coming to know how his mind works.
And I know that for all of the years that he shut himself off from everyone,
the only person he could really talk to was his brother - if only in his
dreams.  He came to depend on M'del, or at least the image of him - and he
accepted the things that M'del did to him in those dreams as being for his own
benefit, however...painful they were to him."

     "I...didn't realize that," Kellie said, saddened by the fact that he'd
felt able to tell such things to Cynthia and not to her.

     Cynthia laid a hand on her arm.  "He *didn't* tell me outright," she
said.  "Kellie, I've read your mate's journal myself, just as Trevor has.  Do
you agree with what K'rald said about your stepson?"

     That question wasn't at all what Kellie had been expecting...nor had she
expected to hear that Trevor had allowed the Warrenlady to read about their
family's shame.  She stared blankly at Cynthia for a moment before she could
put together an answer.  "I don't...know what you mean," she said.  "All
K'rald wrote was what had actually happened...so, yes, I guess I'd have to
agree."

     "Kellie, what I mean is this," Cynthia pressed.  "K'rald was clearly of
the opinion that M'del was not a bad person...that he did the things he did as
a result of his joining.  Trevor believes that too...but do you?"

     Kellie bit her lip, hating to be forced to dredge up those old memories
again.  "I...no, I don't!" she said.  "K'rald always took up for M'del...he
didn't see him for what he really was...or at least, not as *I* saw him.
M'del was almost nine years old when K'rald and I first met...and I think he
disliked me from the start.  He felt I was trying to replace his own mother,
so I guess I can't really blame him."

     Turner hmmphed.  "I don't see Demee feeling that way about Far'rin," he
observed.  "Sounds to me like he needed a good whipping or two to bring him
into line."

     "Maybe," Kellie agreed.  "But I guess...I just gave up on him after
awhile.  He was stubborn as an ox when it came to holding grudges, and his
biggest grudge was always against me.  But...in other ways, he wasn't strong
at all, not like Trevor.  He had no morals...he lied, cheated, bullied others
when he could get away with it...and he was too selfish to ever give a thought
to anyone other than himself.  When he was old enough, he flaunted his having
male lovers, even though he knew how much it hurt his father.  He didn't
care."

     "And when he joined?" Cynthia asked.  "The journal said he changed after
that."

     Kellie nodded, and felt Turner's arm go around her shoulders to support
her.  She reached up and grasped his hand.  "He did," she said.  "Rashevon's
brains were scrambled, or something...he was crazy.  And being joined to him
drove M'del crazy too.  I think that, deep down, even K'rald knew there was no
hope for him after the day he found that wilder clutch near Keldarra.  But I
was sure that he'd have come to a bad end in any case.  The only difference is
that...maybe if he hadn't joined to that creature...he wouldn't have done what
he did to Trevor."  She couldn't continue...all she could do was bury her face
in her hands and lean against Turner for support.  "Damn it, I *knew*
something like that would happen...but K'rald wouldn't believe me...I wanted
him banished before he or his dragon hurt someone, but...but the Warrenlady
said she couldn't until he'd actually *done* something...l"

     "It wasn't your fault," Cynthia told her, again putting a hand on her
arm.  "But I think you needed to get this out as well."

     Kellie nodded, straightening up and using a napkin to wipe her eyes.
"But what should I tell him?" she asked.  "Or...should I tell him anything at
all?"

     "I don't think Trevor wants to believe that M'del was entirely bad,"
Cynthia told her.   "In spite of everything, he still holds to the image of
his brother that kept him going all those years.  He's afraid you'll destroy
that, even if he doesn't fully realize it."

     "Makes sense," Turner said.  "Just like I'd never want to believe
anything bad of Far'rin."

     "But Far'rin is alive," Cynthia said.  "M'del is not.  Kellie, when you
talk to Trevor, don't try to make him see M'del as you did.  Let him at least
keep whatever feelings he can about someone he looked up to for so long...and
then, I think, you can both close that old journal once and for all!"

     Kellie had to agree that the Warrenlady's words did make sense...and was
about to tell her so when she heard a dragon's roar from outside.  *Varie,
what's going on?* she asked.  *Have they come back?*

     <It is Dotarth!> Varie told her.  <He asks if Trissana is here...he says
that they all teleported together, but when they arrived at where they were
going, she was not with them!  Oh, my rider...where can they be?>

     Kellie felt the blood drain from her face, and saw Cynthia go pale as
well as Syren relayed the news to her.

(Tag Alton - how will Cynthia react to the news that Trevor is now among the
missing?  Also, I hope you don't mind my putting so many words in Cynthia's
mouth...but I needed to move forward in resolving that old matter between
Kellie and Trevor, and Cynthia seemed the ideal person to handle it! :)

NRPG:  Well, part 2 is done...I expect to have part 3 out tomorrow!  Sorry for
the length, but...well, you know how it goes!

Submitted by:

John

Trevor & Trissana, Cleft Warren
Kellie & Varie, Cleft Warren
Renata & Vega, Jhezrael