Trevor
* * * * * * * *
(Dining hall, evening of the wraith battle)

     Since it was already a little past the normal dinnertime, Trevor and
Cynthia had a number of empty tables to choose from.  Somewhat to Trevor's
surprise, the Warrenlady steered them away from the one they had used so often
before, on days when Trevor returned from his mapping flights to show her the
results of the days work.  "We don't need that much light," she explained.
"No maps to look at tonight, right?"

     Trevor acquiesced and followed her to another table, but nimbly skipped
behind her and pulled her chair out for her.  "Well, you *did* just get the
door for me!" he said, grinning widely.

     "All right, you got me - this time!" she said, smiling as she sat down.
Trevor excused himself for a moment, then returned with a bottle of wine and
two glasses.

     "I figured that with all that's happened today, we deserved a glass or
two or three," he explained, as he uncorked the bottle and filled the glasses.

     "Good thinking," she agreed.  "And not only that, but I think that all of
this deserves a toast...or two or three!"

     "Oh, right," he mused.  "Hmmm...how about a toast...to the future of
Cleft Warren!"

     "To the future of Cleft!" she agreed, as they clinked their glasses
together.  After they'd each taken a sip, she held her glass up again.  "To
our new riders and dragons!"

     Again they touched their glasses together.  "You know," said Cynthia,
"what with all the attention one particular rider and dragon drew to
themselves this morning..."

     Trevor cleared his throat, but said nothing.

     "...I think that some may have overlooked something else very significant
that happened in the hatching cavern!"

     Trevor nodded.  "Such as seven of twelve hatchlings joining to the Hanan
and Rushela candidates?"

     "Yes," she said, nodding also.  "We didn't know before if the dragons
would find them just as acceptable as our own people.  But now that we know
they do, it gives a tremendous boost to our prospects for success here."

     "Because the people we're protecting here are Nomads, and will be more
likely to accept and trust Nomad riders?"

     "Exactly," she agreed.  "And also because many of our new searchlings, I
think, are going to come out of the Nomad tribes.  Just think...years down the
road, they may make up the majority of our riders.  And if Tymor does outgrow
Kaeryth, and Brisse has to transfer to Keldarra, my successor here could be a
Nomad queenrider!"

     Trevor chuckled and took a sip of his wine.  "Tell me, is this a
roundabout way of saying it's time to get up off my rear and learn their
language?"

     "Among other things," she agreed laughing.  "After all, once you resume
your mapping, you're most likely going to be the one to first encounter new
tribes...like you, Lenna, and Katrina did the Rushela."  She picked up the
bottle and refilled the glasses again, and leaned back in her chair.  "But
that's for later.  Now that Cleft has survived it's first wraith attack and
its second hatching, I'm all for taking an evening off.  No business
tonight...no papers to sign, no disputes to settle, no rogue warrens to
find..."

     "As my lady wishes!" he laughed.  "And if anybody does come around with
problems tonight, I'll be glad to show them the door!"

     "Or better yet," she said thoughtfully, "anyone who comes in with a
problem will find themselves named acting Warrenlady for the night so they can
deal with it!"

     They both laughed over that one, but as it turned out, the warren did
seem to manage by itself this evening and they were left free to eat an
uninterrrupted dinner and talk about whatever came into their minds.  Cynthia
told Trevor about her life at Telnor, the events that had led to her coming
here, and her dreams for the future of Cleft.  Trevor, in turn, told her of
his past explorations, and even about his life at Keldarra - the first time
he'd ever done so with anyone.

     At one point, Cynthia looked around the hall and saw that except for
themselves, it was now empty.  "Oh my," she said, "it must be later than I
thought."

     "Yeah, must be," he agreed.

     Cynthia stood up and walked over to one side of the large hall, which had
been cleared of tables for this morning's hatching party.  "I see they never
got around to rearranging again," she observed.  "I pretty much missed the
party this morning.  How did it go?"

     "Oh, pretty well," he told her.  "I didn't see too much of it, other than
my mother's back as she dragged me from person to person to show me off."

     Cynthia laughed softly.  "Normally, I consider it the Warrenlady's
priveledge to have first dance with the new riders...the male riders, of
course - I delegate that to J'errid for the women.  Well, maybe it's not
*entirely* too late..."

     On an impulse, she stepped out into the center of the improvised dance
floor and twirled herself around once, her dark hair fanning out beautifully
behind her.  "Come on, let's make one last use of this dance floor before they
put the tables back tomorrow morning!"

     Trevor gulped.  "Me?" he asked.  "Well, I'm really not...much of a
dancer, you know."

     "And knowing you, it's because you've never tried," he pointed out.
"It's easy, once you get the hang of it!  I'll show you how!"

     Trevor wasn't too sure about the "easy" part, but decided to go along
with it.  Cynthia guided one of his arms around her waist, and placed his
other hand on her shoulder.  Then she began to lead him through the steps,
humming a slow dance tune to provide the beat.  Despite his misgivings, Trevor
found out he wasn't as uncoordinated on a dance floor as he'd thought, and
soon Cynthia was able to turn the lead over to him.  Both of them were
enjoying this so much that they once again lost all track of time...


Kellie
* * * * * * * *
     When Varie dropped her off in front of the dining hall, Kellie found that
she was more nevous than she'd been at the height of today's wraith battle.
The reason for that was simple - she and Varie had survived more battles than
most riders could ever expect to.  Fighting had long been part of her life.
But having a heart-to-heart talk with her son...now that was something new,
something she wasn't sure of just how to approach.  She was pretty sure she'd
find him here, though it had taken her awhile to trace him.

     Yet again, she mentally kicked herself for having left K'rald's old
journal with him.  Knowing Trevor as she did, she was certain that he would
have read it from cover to cover by now, and in the process learned the truth
of what she and her mate had always kept from him.  And as uncomfortable as
this was for her - K'rald had always been so much better at these things than
she had - she knew that he'd deserved to hear the story from her, not to read
the unvarnished story from those dry, dusty pages.  No doubt he was furious
with her by now, and probably wouldn't even speak to her.

     As she stepped into the entrance of the dimly-lit dining hall, though,
she heard the sound of someone softly humming...Cynthia?  Keeping to the
shadows, she cautiously peered in through the doorway.  At the sight of her
son dancing with the Warrenlady, her eyebrows went up in surprise.

     *Well I'll be damned!* she thought, as she quickly backed out of the
doorway and into the corridor.  *Who'd have thought it?*

     <Who'd have thought what, my rider?> Varie asked.

     *I'll tell you on my way out, dearest,* Kellie replied, but as she
started to turn around she felt a hand on her shoulder.  Startled, she whirled
around, her hand dropping instinctively to her sword hilt.

     "Hey, it's just me!" said Turner, backing off a step.  "What's going
on..."  He fell silent when Kellie quickly put her finger to her lips.  She
pointed to the doorway, indicating that he should look inside.

     Turner did so, and when he hastily withdrew from the doorway his eyes
were wide.  "I'll be damned..." he whispered.  Kellie quickly took him by the
arm and drew him down the corridor.  

     "Let's not bother them," she said quietly, but she was grinning from ear
to ear.  "Gods, can you believe that?"

     "No, but then again...I always figured there was more to him than he let
on," said Turner as they walked out into the cool night air.

     Kellie walked over to where Varie waited, then turned back to the smith.
"I wonder, though..." she mused.  "Trevor's...well, he's never..."  She shook
her head.  "I wonder if he realizes what's happening?"

     Turner shrugged.  "I wonder if either of them do," was his only reply.

     "Well, time will tell, I suppose," she decided.  "By the way, what were
you doing down there this late?"

     The smith grinned, something she seldom saw him do.  "The excuse, or the
real reason?" he asked.  "The excuse was that somebody said there was a
problem with one of the pipes in the kitchen...the real reason was pick up a
cup of tea before I head back to my quarters."

     <I sorta like him,> Varie observed, her amber eyes calmly regarding
Turner.

     Kellie chuckled.  *I guess I sorta do too,* she admitted.  *Well, maybe
we can help him out, eh love?*  She looked over at him.  "Tell you what,
Turner...if you don't mind a short dragonride, I've got some good stuff I
picked up at a gather awhile back.  It's probably better than what you'd get
in the dining hall, in any case."

     Turner blinked in surprise.  "Dragonride?  It's been a long time since
I've done that..."

     "Only way to get up to my quarters, though, where the tea is," she
pointed out, taking him by the hand and leading him to where Varie waited.
"Don't worry, Varie's never lost a passenger yet."

Trevor
* * * * * * * *
(next day, upper green)

     The training this morning had gone well, well enough in fact to
counteract most of Trevor's frustration at Lenna over that business with his
horse.  Initially, J'errid had explained, the trainees would be split into two
groups - with the new Nomad riders under Qedhar, and the rest under J'errid.
The reason for this was the language barrier, and the task of teaching the two
groups each others' language would fall entirely on the bilingual Qedhar.  The
language lessions would begin that very afternoon, with the idea of fully
integrating the two groups into a single unit as soon as possible.

     Right now they were on break, and Trevor was giving Triss a drink from a
bucket that he had drawn out of the well.  The little dragon, however, seemed
far more interested in gazing at her reflection in the bucket of water.  <Ooh,
is that what I look like?> she asked, fascinated.

     *Yep, that's you all right,* he told her.  *Didn't know you were so
pretty, did you?*

     <Well, I'd hoped so, but it's nice to know for sure,> she answered,
turning her head various ways to get better looks at her profile.  Suddenly
she raised her head and hissed.  <Adrian's rider comes!>

     Trevor turned and saw D'arcon striding toward them.  *Well, well, our
ever-tactful diplomat,* he remarked.

     <I do not like that one,> Trissana told him.  <Adrian was mean to that
poor dragon.>

     *Triss...Garoth is a rogue, remember,* he told her, uncertain as to just
how to explain the full meaning of that to her.  *They're not like us...Garoth
and his rider may have done some very bad things.  I don't particularly like
what Adrian did either, but more because I think it may have hurt our chances
of finding their warren.*  He did not add that his real hope was that, at some
future point, Triss might be able to use her talent to track Garoth back to
Shakar.  He had cautioned Triss not to mention this, either to Garoth or
Adrian, for fear that it would put her in danger.

     "There you are," D'arcon said.  "Listen, I wanted to apoligize for
yesterday.  I planned on discussing my plan with you, before I put it to work,
but I couldn't find you.  I hope your hatchling wasn't harmed."

     "She's fine," Trevor replied.  "But we don't appreciate being kept in the
dark.  What's this plan you're talking about?"

     D'arcon quickly outlined his plan for extracting the location of Shakar
from Garoth, involving the good-dragon-bad-dragon scenario.  Trevor had
reservations after hearing it...he didn't think that Cynthia would go for the
"bad-dragon" part of it, as she'd obviously been very annoyed about it last
night.  But again, his main thought was one of practicality.

     "D'arcon, your plan seems to depend pretty heavily on holding out carrots
and sticks to Garoth," he pointed out.  "Adrian's the stick, obviously...but
where's the carrot?  He has no real incentive to tell Triss anything, does he?
Your only real card is to threaten his rider, and you know you won't be
allowed to do that again."

     "I think it can be worked out," D'arcon said confidently. 

      "D'arcon?"  Trevor said, just as the other rider was turning to leave.
D'arcon  stopped, and looked at him curiously.  

     "Yes?" he asked.

     "About the carrot?" he asked.  "Triss said she thought Garoth seemed very
lonely, and she thought it was more than just his rider being injured.  Maybe
they're tired of being rogues, and are ready to give it up.  I'm not
suggesting this lightly, and you'd have to clear it with Cynthia, but...what
if you offered them the chance to stay here, in return for helping us mediate
an agreement with the rogues? That might be just the thing to make your
good/bad dragon idea work."     

* * * * * * * *
     D'arcon had no sooner departed, then Triss looked curiously up at the sky
overhead.

     <Varie!> she said happily.  <Look, my rider, it is Varie!>

     Trevor looked up as well, and saw the bright green dragon cruising
overhead.  His mother was riding her, of course, and there was a
passsenger...Turner??  Trevor watched in surprise as Varie suddenly executed a
snap roll, and he thoguht he could almost hear the laughter of her two
passengers.

     <Varie tells me that her rider and the other human are very happy,> she
told Trevor.

     *Well I'll be...darned,* he said, careful to watch his language in front
of the hatchling.  *Who'd have ever thought it...?*

NRPG:

Alton - add anything you want to the dining hall scene - but don't feel
obliged to...I know we're straddling two days in these last couple of posts,
and it might be easier to move everything forward to the day following the
wraith battle.  I'll leave that up to you.

Kris - I purposely left out any mention of Katrina, Lonnie, or P'ker being in
the dining hall, so as not to commit you to anything...but Katrina could have
been there anytime up until when Cynthia noticed the hall was deserted -  and
that would have been quite some time after Katrina saw them come in.

Krister - as you can see, I expanded the conversation between Trevor and
D'arcon a bit...hope you don't mind...

Barb - feel free to pick up r.e. Kellie & Turner, or I can do it in my next
post.

Submitted by:

John

Trevor and Trissana
Kellie and Varie
Cleft Warren