Andahar watched the sky and the circling dragons.  Why had he agreed to
return to this rock village?  Everything here was so strange, so different.
Not that he had enjoyed his life with the Nomads -- not after his tribe had
been attacked and his family killed.  Life alone with Bohoc had been
peaceful.  He could come and go as he pleased, choosing where to hunt, when
to rest.

Here he felt he had no purpose... then suddenly Bohoc's mind-voice
interrupted his thoughts.

<<We are needed rider.  Riders need to see you in the dining hall>>

Andahar felt surprised, but headed into the dining hall.

>"My dragon said you wanted to see me?" he asked when he'd come to
>stand beside their table.

He spoke in his native tongue, wondering suddenly if they would understand
him.   He was surprised when one of the women replied in the Nomad tongue,
though with a very charming accent.

>"Yes please have a seat and we'll tell you why," Kat told him as she
>was talking her own seat.
>
>She reached across the table and took the note from Lenna, and then
>showed it to Andahar, and asked if he remembered ever seeing a plant
>that looked like the one drawn in the picture.

He glanced at the strange writings on the paper and the carefully drawn
plant.  Yes, it was familiar to him.

>"It's called a Tejas root, by our people," Lenna told him as he
>studied the picture. "We're in bad need of a supply of it right now
>and frankly I'm at a lost where we can find any. We were hoping with
>they traveling you've done you might have seen some of it somewhere."
>
>"And could take us back there now to get some," Katrina added.
>
>"My people call it Sleitcaze," he told them then gave the meaning of
>the word. "It means plant that makes one sleep deeply, or something
>close to that."
>
>"So you know where it can be found?" Lenna leaned closer to him as
>she took a sip from her cup.
>
>"and you'll take us there?" Kat asked hopefully.
>
>"When would you like to go?" Andahar looked from one to the other.
>
>"NOW!" the both said in chorus.

****
They circled over what looked like a rocky out cropping, Andahar and Bohoc
scanning the area carefully, looking for landmarks.  Someone had been out
this way, perhaps a Nomad tribe had passed through, though the way that the
land had been scuffed looked more like dragons had landed and taken off
again...

"There!"  He pointed to what looked to Kat and Lenna as more of the same
dusty rocks.  But Andahar and Bohoc were already landing and dismounting.

Surprised, the two women found a cleft cutting the rocks just out of site.
Among the cleft grew some of the grey-green Tejas plant, nourished by
moisture that collected in the cleft.    The root was a bit hard to dig from
the rocky soil, but the three gamely set about collecting all that they
could from that little spot.  It filled the sacks on Lenna's saddle.

The three then climbed back onto their dragons and set off for another
destination.

<<Our cliffs?>> Bohoc queried.

<Yes,  cliffs are good site for Sleitcaze, send other dragons picture?>

After confirmation, the three dragons teleported to the cliffs by Lake
Azure.  There they searched for more root and found more than an ample
supply.  No one had been by this area of the Nomad lands for many days,
Andahar noted.

<<This would be a good place to come back and hunt!>> Bohoc happily
remarked.  He could scent the game nearby and wanted to do some searching of
his own.

<Later, my dragon.  Today we work for our new home.  We find Sleitcaze for
dragonriders>  Andahar grinned at his impatient dragon.

<*Do you know that this Lake was named for *me* *> Azure smuggly informed
Bohoc, preening slightly to impress the green male.

<<Really?  We call this lake "Scum Bottom">> Bohoc teased, noting how
attractive the female dragon was, actually how attractive both of the female
dragons were.  There was one advantage of Warren living!

The two women looked over at their silent companion.  They spoke among
themselves in the Dragonlands tongue, but Andahar didn't mind, though he
understood little of what they spoke of, he enjoyed listening to the musical
quality of their speech -- and enjoyed watching the women bend over as they
grasped the tough root to pull it out of the sandy soil.

****
>Late morning-Day 5
>
>The three had found a spot with a good amount of Tejas and hopefully by
>late afternoon they would gather enough to fill the quota for Telnor.
>Katrina believed she had endured this task quite well since the start of
>the search yesterday. Andahar likewise had done well. Kat thought maybe
>it was because he was in a sense in his element-the wild outdoors.
>Lenna however had spent a good deal of time grumbling about the task,
>but then that was Lenna.
>
>There was one thing that had bothered Kat about this task, and that was
>as of yet she had not gotten Lenna back to the caves that her partner
>so feared. Lenna had been willing to return to the caves, but yesterday
>the trio had spent so much time looking for Teja that there had been no
>time left for the caves. With the thought of the caves now in her mind Kat
>went over to where Lenna was picking.
>
>"You know, I sure hope this will be the last day we will have to pick.
>I think my back is developing a permanent curve and my hands are so rough
>and dry they look like a dragon's hide."
>
>Lenna grinned,"I couldn't agree more. I really hope when we are done
>with this task we will get a job more befitting a rider then picking roots
>and doing milk runs for mapmakers."
>
>Kat replied,"Speaking of finishing, I was thinking, since we were
>unable to return to those caves of yours yesterday, we could try today."
>Katrina could see the troubled look in Lenna's eyes at the mention of
>the caves.
>
>"I guess it all depends on if we finish the quota today. If we do and
>get done at a reasonable time we could go. We have already mentioned the
>caves to Andahar, so perhaps he would be willing to come along. We will
>just have to see how we progress today."
>
>Katrina nodded her head in agreement, and then headed back to her
>spot to pick. As she picked she hoped the cave trip would fit in today.
>She looked over at Lenna, and Kat swore that her partner was intentionally
>picking her share of the roots slowly. Kat shook her head, and started
>picking quickly.
>
>(tag, Barb if you want to add anything to the root search,or anything
>cavewise).
>


Andahar was satisfied with the day's work.  They had gathered enough root,
so the women said, to supply Cleft and to send to another Warren far away.
He noted, however, that the women's hands, unused to such hard labor, had
become raw and blistered.  He broke off a piece of a rather succulent
looking plant and peeled off some of the stem.

Offering it to them he demonstrated rubbing it over his hands.  He noted
with satisfaction the surprised smiles as the herb did the trick, easing the
soreness and burning in their palms.

"Thanks," Kat smiled then nodded to the dozing dragons, "Shall we head for
home?"

Home.  What a concept!  Andahar nodded and smiled back.

They mounted the dragons, rose a short distance and teleported back home.

****
NRPG: After the attack by Renata, et al., and Ankara's kidnapping.
****
The warren was in an uproar.  Andahar didn't understand. So, one woman had
been kidnapped?  It happened all the time in Nomad tribes and no one every
was concerned over that -- unless she was the chief's favorite wife, but
then she wouldn't have been allowed out in an Oasis like that.

But perhaps it had more to do with the attack at the caves?  It didn't seem
that the raiding party had gotten very much in that attack, however, and
again Andahar didn't quite understand what the uproar was all about.  Maybe
it was that they were hunting on Cleft hunting lands?  Was that it?

In all the confusion, however, Andahar was told that he needed to report to
his "wing leader", but no one explained to him who or what a "wing leader"
was.  Who could he ask?

****
NRPG:  Okay, Andahar is part of the Warren (again).  But who is his partner?
Who is his Wing Leader?  Anyone want to send him out on patrol?  He'd be
good at asking the natives what they know about these self-proclaimed gods
[g].
Again, apologies for this being so long in coming.  Thankfully I found my
first draft and could rewrite it!!!

Respectfully Submitted by
Arlene (AKA Andahar rider of Bohoc of Cleft Warren)

****************************************************************************
Arlene E. Jacobs (9/22/63) <ajacobs@zebra.net>; ICQ 11274608
in Montgomery, Alabama
Loving Wife to Mark (7/9/59) and Mother of
Kevin (5/17/92-11/22/93), Jeffrey (5/14/94) and Jessica (3/25/96)
Charter Member of The Wise Women of the Web
http://www.neosoft.com/~acoustic/wwwarlenejhp.html
Family page http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Park/1013/

"I will extend peace to her like a river,
 and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
 you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees,
 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you;"
 Isaiah 66:12-13