****
Day 2 Andorra's apartment...

"Don't try to confuse me!"  Andahar bit out at his cousin, "Reain is Chunor,
there will be no marriage," Andahar closed his eyes, feeling the bitterness
of disappointment.  The woman couldn't speak so casually about love to his
cousin, but demonstrate just the opposite in his apartment.  It was obvious
that Andorra had to be making this up, just to distract him from her own
shameful behavior.  "Unless it is marriage between you and *this* man!"  He
turned to look at Nikol...

"We will speak of this later." Andahar said in Dragonrider tongue, his eyes
steely as he stared at the Blaster, who was busily trying to fasten his
pants.  Then he turned and left Andorra's apartment.

He walked out into the light drizzle, trying to clear his head.  Women!  How
could he possibly ever understand them?

****
Patrol had been difficult that morning, with the steady drizzle, that got
steadily harder.  Andahar had noted that the animals seemed to be migrating,
as if heading for higher ground.  The Nomad tribes would normally be
following their game, but there were the ones tied to the warren -- the
Hanan tribe, the Rushela... and now Rainen's tribe... he wondered if they
were aware that the game was on the move.

His mind was, however, occupied with matters concerning the women of his own
"tribe", and he soon forgot his concerns over the migration.  He would need
to talk to Nikol... but he didn't want to offend the man, but he had to
ascertain his designs on Kat, rider of Azure, and his own Chunor, Reain.  If
Nikol were indeed interested in Andorra -- as more than just someone to warm
his bed -- then they would need to negotiate a bride price.

Andorra had skills, she was touched by Anavasha, and she was a good cook.
He would have to ask a worthy price for her.  And Nikol was wealthy.  His
family had many horses... he'd said so when Trevor's horse had been traded
for Reain, that he could send for a replacement.

He was rubbing Bohoc down, when a runner from the Hanan tribe arrived.  The
boy lowered his eyes respectfully and gave him the standard greetings.

"I have been asked to summon you to meeting of chief of all tribe," the boy
announced.  "Also, woman-chief of dragonridah..."

"Warrenlady-Cynthia is not in Cleft," Andahar responded, "But I will inform
Junior-Lady-Isara."  And he dismissed the runner.

<Bohoc?  Could you respectfully ask Rysa where her rider, Junior-Lady-Isara
is?>

<*My rider?  She says that Isara is in Cynthia's office.*>  Bohoc replied
grumpily.

<And this upsets you?>  Andahar asked, surprised.

<*No... Rysa just isn't interested in cuddling....*>

Andahar laughed, <Don't worry, Triss and Syren will be home soon... and
there is always Syrois...>

<*Syrois and her rider have gone out... but I will find some amusement... I
hear there is a new Queen here -- Ayesha.. maybe I'll go over and say
hello?*>

<You do that.>  He chuckled as he headed to warrenlady's office.

There he saw Isara, who was sitting in the queenrider's chair, conversing
with another woman, dark, but very attractive in her bright clothing.  Isara
broke off her sentence in mid-phrase as Andahar approached, and they
exchanged the greetings -- as equals, though Andahar made deference to her
position as Junior-Queenrider.  He then told her, still speaking only in the
Nomad language, of the meeting to be held, and without even a nod to the
other woman, he left.

As he walked away, he thought he heard the other woman mutter in the dragon
rider tongue, "Your 'friend' is good-looking  - it's a shame he has no
manners."

****
At the meeting with the Nomads.

Andahar arrived at Rainen's tent just as the other chiefs were getting
settled.  They exchanged greetings and sat in a comfortable silence, sharing
food and drink, though he noticed some of the men making side-long glances
towards a female figure in a blue cloak -- who wore the two swords of a
chief.  However, he could not wonder long over this mysterious figure as the
flap was opened to let in yet another attendee.

He watched in amazement at Isara came in following behind the dark woman
he'd seen her with at the dining hall -- so this must be the new junior
queenrider!  She did not show the proper respect to the chiefs present, as
Isara did, who nodded her greetings, solemnly

>>Lady Madyllin spoke out, breaking the silence that had saturated the room
until one forgot what noise was.  "The Warrenlady Cynthia will not be able
to attend as she was called away on... business."  She then sat as if that
was all that needed to be said.

    "You come in her place then."  Amberylle pulled the cloth that had been
covering part of her face away to show herself.<<

Food was placed before the newly arrived guests, and Andahar watched with
amusement as the new junior queenrider picked up a bowl of drink and smelled
it and put it down again without tasting it.  Her lack of greeting, and this
insult would have been cause enough for her to be put from the tent, but
instead it was met with mild disdain as all could see that the girl simply
had not been well raised.

>>"Yes. We have come in her place and have authority to speak for the
warren."

    "Good."  Amberylle stood.  "I have a proposal to make to the nomads, and
to the warren.

    "There is great reason to mourn.  Our tribes have clashed and much blood
was spilled."  She spoke the best nomad she could.  Some ideas just didn't
convey well to the nomad tongue.  Politics was not their strong hand.  "I
wish to end this so we can all profit."<<

Amberylle droned on... and Andahar lost interest.  What did planting have to
do with him? He was a dragon rider, a warrior, a chief!  He watched the
faces of the other chiefs... the Hanan and Rushela seemed interested, but he
could tell that Rainen was having his doubts.  Rainen was the heart of his
tribe, and it was a true Nomad heart.

A flash of color caught his eye, and he turned to notice the dark junior
queenrider's hands smooth down the rich, heavy cloth of her skirt -- much
too thick to wear in the heat of the tent.  Andahar couldn't help but smirk
when he heard her mutter under her breath, "Well, at least they could
negotiate in a civilized tongue."

She sighed, and glanced up, looking around the tent, and their eyes met.  He
saw surprise, which was quickly hidden beneath a look of haughty
disinterest.  He could see the beads of perspiration on her forehead.  He
saw her pull out a dainty handkerchief, which certainly wouldn't do much to
aid her, so he removed a soft skin cloth from his waist, and leaning over,
he offered it to her to wipe her brow.

She shook her head, her eyes widened in amazement and perhaps a mixture of
disgust.  He offered again, leaning closer, his amber eyes staring deeply
into her own.  She whispered, a little too loudly, to Isara, "Would you
please tell your friend that I don't need ... that... cloth, and I can
manage quite well?"

Isara hid a smile behind her hand, as she said in the dragon rider speech,
"My friend, I think Junior-Queenrider-Madyllin does not appreciate your kind
gesture."

He raised one eyebrow at Isara, enjoying the new queenrider's discomfort as
he replied in the dragonrider tongue, "It's a shame some dragonriders have
no manners."

At that moment Amberylle stood.

>>"We wish to be known as the tribe of Elenoraa."  Meena was ready to catch
her in case her strength failed.  "What do you say?"  She sat looking at the
chiefs.

    "What about this one who leads them now.  Your husband?"  Rainen spoke
first.

    "He will no longer lead them."  Her answer was sharp.
<<

This was met by a murmur from those assembled.  Jinam and Quaryin conferred
softly before Jinam rose to speak.  He waited for silence before he began.

"Hanan, and Rushela," and he nodded to Quaryin, "are already familiar with
much of what you propose.  But all chief will meet and talk," and he nodded
to Rainen and the others assembled, "and will give you an answer before full
moon."

There was a note of approval in the murmurs from the other chiefs.
Amberylle
nodded as well, expecting as much.  So she would have an answer from the
Nomads in about 3 days -- but what of the Warren?  She turned and looked at
the two Junior Queenriders, "I suppose you will also need to confer with
Cynthia before a decision can be made?"

"It would help if I knew what the offer was," Madyllin snapped, the heat and
the closeness of these alien people finally getting to her.

Amberylle looked surprised, "You don't speak Nomad?  I just assumed... your
being the junior-queenrider here and all...."

Isara's eyes danced with amusement, as she replied, "I will bring your
proposal for offering tythe in exchange for settlement to Warrenlady-Cynthia
for her consideration."

Amberylle nodded gratefully, feeling the adrenaline and the energy it had
given her draining from her.

Isara led the way from the tent, as it emptied of its distinguished guests,
and Madyllin, with as much of her dignity as she could wrap around herself,
followed -- aware of the amber eyes of one particular Nomad watching her
with amusement.

****
Day 3.

When Andahar awoke, his breakfast was waiting for him -- but Reain and her
daughter were nowhere to be seen.  He sighed, wondering again what he was
doing wrong, and also wondered where Reain was always going.  Yesterday
she'd vanished for an extended period, but wasn't on patrol... and now again
today...?

<*My rider?  Tergath has told me that you are needed in warrenlady's
office... about this rain*>  Bohoc relayed.  <*And they say that Cleft is
starting to flood....*>

Andahar frowned, <It is still raining?>  His mind returned to the stories
he'd hear as a child of the great floods.  He swallowed down the rest of his
breakfast, and Bohoc flew him down to the now soggy lower green.

Andahar found Cynthia's office full -- though he noted that Cynthia and
Trevor were absent.

Maddy's eyes widened when she realized that the person that Kat and Farr'in
had been speaking of so highly was... that Nomad with the amber eyes!  He
was a dragonrider?

Isara smiled as she noted the sudden stiffening of the other queenrider.

Andahar stood there quietly while the conversation went on about what areas
were priorities.

"Andahar, we need you to help as a bridge to the nomad riders who don't yet
understand the dragonrider language," Meena said and the others agreed.

Andahar nodded in understanding, but murmured in Nomad that it was the
dragonriders who should learn Nomad, though no one seemed to have heard this
as the room suddenly went quiet as each of the riders were getting the same
message from their dragons.

>>"Too late..." someone said. "It's too late."

The waters had already started seeping though the gates of the Warren and
from every other place they could find entrance.

"Katrina.. get the rider's from Alpha to concentrate on the kitchens now..."
Madyllin ordered. <<

Andahar left with Katrina and they hurried over to the dining hall.  Along
the way, Andahar grabbed a few of the Nomads along the way, explaining the
predicament.

The Nomads formed up an assembly-line in one of the storage areas, and
another group of workers under Kat's direction emptied another area.  As
they hurried to shift the food stuffs to higher ground, packing as much as
they could on to the dragon backs, a few of the Nomads began to worry about
the Hanan and Rushela.

<Bohoc... do you know who has been sent to help evacuate Hanan and Rushela
tribe?>  Andahar asked, concerned that the workers might abandon their posts
to go
help loved ones.

<*Rysa says that Beta wing has gone down to help evacuate Rainen's tribe...
but no one has gone to Jinam or Quaryin yet.*>  Bohoc reported.  <*Oh, and
they can't find Triss and Syren... dragon went to look for them, but they
were not where Triss' rider said they would be...*>

Andahar could feel the concern for Bohoc's two favorite cuddling buddies
through their link and passed back feelings of sympathy, <I'm sure they will
be found... they probably just moved to somewhere dryer.>

<*My rider... Falorin has gone to Hanan...*>

<Falorin?  But he is just a hatchling?>  and joined, as Andahar recalled, to
Feysal, that man who, at the bidding of the false-god-Khazeen, had abducted
Cynthia -- and Lenna.  What ties did that man have to Hanan?


He turned to Kat, "If you don't mind... I think some of Alpha wing could go
now to help bring Hanan and Rushela tribe up to warren?... Kitchen is almost
empty?"

Katrina nodded in agreement, and she herself returned to the warrenlady's
office to see if she could be of use elsewhere.

Andahar and a few of the other riders flew down to help the tribes of the
village outside of the warren.

****
>>Falorin grumped as he made an ungainly touchdown and came to a running
stop.  Feysal unstrapped himself and leaped to the ground.

     "Saleh!" he called, making his way through the confusion of the
evacuation.  "Saleh!"

     "Feysal!"

     He turned at hearing his name, and saw her sprinting towards him.
"Feysal, why have you come?" she asked, coming to a stop before him.  "We
are leaving this place!"

     "I have come to take you to safety!" he told her.  "Falorin will take
us up high in warren, where water has not come!"<<

But before they could even attempt this unlikely feat, the riders from Alpha
wing landed.   They were quickly organized in helping move the more feeble
of the Nomads, which left the more able bodied free to climb the short trail
to the warren.

Saleh stood there, feeling exposed, as Andahar  -- and her father --
approached the two lovers.

Andahar glared at Feysal, and spoke sharply to him, "Your dragon is not
trained to fly passengers yet!"

"Saleh!"  Her father's voice made her jump, and she looked apologetically at
Feysal, as she left his side and moved over to her father's.

Saleh's father asked Andahar, "Could you please see that my daughter is
taken to safety?  She hasn't been feeling well..."

Andahar looked at the girl, and recognized her as the one he had enjoyed
*celebrating* with after the battle with Vorbis' men.  "She has not been
well?  My cousin is dain Anavasha, perhaps she can see her and make her
well...?"

"That would be greatly appreciated, good chief."  The man bowed to Andahar,
and pushed his daughter towards the young chief.

Andahar again turned to Feysal, "See that you get yourself and your
hatchling back to warren!  There is work to be done there." and turning
away, he escorted Saleh to Bohoc for the short ride to the green.

>>Madyllin headed out the door into the rain, with
Farr'in right behind her.  Her eyes moved upward to track Ayesha through the
rain as her hands continued unbuttoning her dress. She was vaguely aware of
other males surrounding her, helping her, but all her attention was riveted
on Ayesha.

<These puny males can never catch me!>

<Never, dearest.  Fly, high and away.  None here are worthy.>

Madyllin exulted as Ayesha streaked across the sky, a dark shape soaring
higher.  And then the lines that divided her and Ayesha into separate beings
was blurred and she was soaring, taunting and teasing the males around her.
None of them was worthy.  They could try and touch her and catch her, but
they
never would.  She would outfly them all!

The talons grabbed her wings as the neck and tail entwined with her own.
Surprised, she tried to rear back, but was held by the arm around her waist.

<I have caught you.  I am worthy.>

Ayesha glared at the green clinging to her.  <None are worthy!>  She rolled
and twisted, trying to dislodge him, but to no avail.  Bohoc had made his
catch and he was going to keep it.

<I accept.>

The dragons flew off to complete their deal as Madyllin and Andahar grabbed
the nearest room.
<<

Reain's eyes filled with tears as she saw who had won the mating flight, but
her heart broke when she heard the comment of a young Nomad girl next to
her...

"Well, she certainly is lucky... Andahar really knows how to please a
woman."  Saleh remarked to no one in particular.

****
In a Cavern North of Cleft:

The smaller green dragon circled around indicating a cave entrance.  Ayesha
followed behind, approving of the location -- high and dry.

The passion in both dragons was almost too much, and the silvery-black queen
snaked her head along the back and wings of the smaller green male.

He opened his wings and rose on his hind legs, his teeth and front claws
raking the back and neck of the larger queen, as he forced her tail to the
side.  Ayesha growled her excitement, and snaking her head around she sank
her teeth into the green's shoulder.

He thrust forward... she willingly obliged, and as they joined together she
screamed out their union.

****
In a Recently Emptied Storage Room at Cleft:

Madyllin tore at Andahar's clothing -- unable to figure out in the grips of
passion how to undo the alien garments.  She growled softly in frustration,
surprised at the violence of the need within her.

Andahar, however, had no trouble tearing off her filmy, silk dress, noting
again, how heavy the material was.  He quickly peeled it off of her already
damp form, enjoying the even more silky feeling of her bare skin.

She tugged restlessly at the thong binding his hair, letting it fall freely.
She twined her fingers through his hair, pulling his mouth to hers,
hungrily.

He forced her back... until she felt the wall behind her -- and as Bohoc
thrust against Ayesha, he found himself unable to control the urge to thrust
into the woman, who clawed at his back, and bit at his neck.

Madyllin arched against him, desperately urging him closer.

He obliged by dragging his teeth down her neck, to her breasts -- taking one
tender nipple in his mouth, he sucked it till it hardened, and he moved to
the other, biting gently.  His hands circled behind her back, and down her
buttocks, pulling her in closer.  She moaned and lowered her own head to his
now upturned mouth.  Teeth and lips met and teased along cheeks and neck,
causing deeper groans of passion.

She slid her fingers down his back, appreciating the tightness of his
muscles, letting her fingernails scrape against his skin.  Shifting her
hands, she gripped his buttocks, urging him inside her.

He pulled her in tighter, and they slid down to the damp floor, joining
finally.  He thrust forward... she willingly obliged, and as they joined
together she screamed out their union.

****
Passion spent... the two rolled away from each other.

Madyllin lay, panting and exhausted, idly wondering just which rider had
won, but unable to muster the energy to find out.

"Ummm... are you... okay?"  Andahar asked her softly.

Madyllin chuckled softly.  "I think I'll live."  The voice was familiar - at
least this wasn't the first meeting with this rider.  Odd sort of accent, he
had.  Accent???

Madyllin sat bolt upright.  Dear gods, no.  Seeing the Nomad with the golden
eyes, she groaned and fell back.

"You are *NOT* okay..."  Andahar said with concern, and quickly moved over
to her side.  His eyes searched her face and then body for signs of injury.

Of course I'm not okay, Madyllin thought, closing her eyes.  I just mated
with you!  She carefully refrained from saying anything and tried to calm
herself down.

He noticed the teeth marks, and reached over and gingerly touched her
bruised flesh... "Maybe we should get you to med center?"

Her eyes flew open as she startled from his caress.  The med center? "Dear
gods, no!" Madyllin exclaimed.  The last thing she needed was more
witnesses. "Just wait," Madyllin pleaded, hoping it didn't sound as pathetic
to him as it did to her.

Andahar nodded, feeling relieved.  He noticed the soft drumming of the rain
and his thoughts wandered to the Nomad tribes that he had been in the middle
of evacuating.

She was aware of the Nomad, waiting and watching her and twitched irritably.
Her hand hit the floor with a slight splash.  Splash? Oh no, the flood!  "We
have to get back!"

"Of course, if you think you are up to it..."  Andahar reached over and
pulled on his clothes, easily tying the thongs.

Madyllin ignored his comment and pulled the dress over her head.  It was
then she noticed the damage.  "Oh no!" she wailed.  "I can't go out like
this!"

Andahar glanced over at the young woman, noticing with appreciation, just
how much of the dress she was not wearing, and he couldn't suppress the
chuckle that escaped along with the comment, "Perhaps I could get you
something else?"

"Yes, anything.  I can't let them see me like this."  Madyllin began to pull
her long hair forward in a fruitless attempt to make up for the dress's
deficiencies.

Andahar watched her with a mixture of amusement -- and desire.  Her black
hair did nothing to hide, but only teased, and he thought of the softness of
it as he had pulled it from its ribbons.

Madyllin growled.  This wasn't helping.  She glanced around the room for
something else to cover herself, but the room had been well emptied.  Short
of emptying a sandbag and using that rag, there was nothing she could use.
"Damn!"

Madyllin stood up and squared her shoulders.  There was nothing to do but
brazen it out.  It couldn't be that far to her quarters.  She took a deep
breath to steel her nerves and prepared to face the warren.

He smiled at her discomfort, "Wait here..." and he left the storeroom for a
moment.  The Nomads from the village were trailing in -- many loaded down
with all their belongings.  He hailed a passing Nomad woman, and asked to
borrow one of the multi-colored blankets she was bearing, and seeing his
double swords, she immediately gave it to him.

He returned to the beleaguered queenrider, and wrapping the blanket around
her, Nomad style, led her out of the storeroom, and into the crowd of
similarly clad individuals.


***
Respectfully submitted by Arlene
AKA Andahar, rider of Bohoc, of Cleft Warren
and Saleh of Hanan Tribe

Much thanks to Katrina for the insight and dialogue with Maddy, and our
friends in ICQ Chat with their critique and comments ;).