Day 3.
Katrina's Apartment.

 Katrina awoke to the excited mindvoice of Azure.

 <Get up my rider. No time to sleep late. There are eggs on the
hatching grounds. Your sibling in the med center is well, and
your dragonrider sibling is in the air again.>

 <What do you mean 'In the air again?' I didn't think he was flying yet).

 <My rider, he has been doing training flights>.

 <What? How could I have missed such I thing?>, sent Kat as she sat
up quickly in bed.

 <The trainees haven't been at it too long. It is just that you were so
wrapped up in saving your sister, and getting at that nasty human she was
with, that your brother and your family, did not mention it. You were quite
obsessed and preoccupied with that, that they decided to wait before telling
you. Now that your family is reunited, and there is not much else, aside from
me, that is to overly occupy you, consider yourself told>.

 Kat smiled at Azure's words, 'aside from me.' But Azure had a point, Kat
had been quite preoccupied with the rescue of Serina. As Kat thought about
the rescue, she recalled the reunion with Serina in the Med Center last
night. The Silvera reunion had not gone smoothly. Samuel had had some stern
words for Serina about running off with Vorbis so abrubtly. But after some
subtle coaxing from Tess, Samuel had eased up, and with sincerity expressed
his gratitude and happiness at Serina's return. Likewise, those feelings had
been mirrored by Tess and Kat. As for Seth, he had been happy too, but Kat
had sensed he was still discouraged that he hadn't had more of an active
role in getting Serina back.

 As Katrina got out of bed and proceeded to get ready, thoughts of her family
remained with her. In the aftermath of Serina's aberration, the family had
changed somewhat. Samuel now seemed more family focused then he used to be.
The rescue had also caused Samuel to forego, at least to some extent, his
dislike of dragonriders. Kat had to admit this lean towards riders had more
of a direct affect on her and Seth. Samuel appeared to have more of an
acceptance of Seth and Kat. But Kat knew Samuel had a ways to go before he
overcame all his prejudices. She also knew it might take him more time to
completely accept Seth, moreso then her, as being a dragonrider. For Samuel
had had such plans for his boy to carry on the family's business.

 As for the rest of the family. Tess seemed somewhat more worryisome,
and more overprotective then before. Serina was a lot less brash, and
self-oriented now. But Kat was sure she hadn't completely lost her
stubborness, or too much of her self-confidence. As for Seth, he seemed
more assertive and a bit more confident. Kat also thought Seth was starting
to developing a tad too much hubris. She wondered if that came about because
of his task of escorting Lady Maddy to court, or perhaps it was because now
he could fly. A light thud in Azure's quarters brought Kat out of her
thoughts. But before she could ask Azure what was up, the unmistakeable
voice of her brother rang out.

 "Hey sis! You up?"

 Kat opened the door of her quarters and looked out on Azure's lair to
see Seth with a wide grin on his face. "Well if I wasn't awake-I sure am
now," said Katrina.

 After Seth laughed, he spoke with that tad of pride, "Betcha wondering
how I got up here!" But before she could reply, Seth added, "I flew!!"

 Kat managed to acted surprised at Seth's words. She then walked around
Seth. And with a hint of in bewilderment in her voice said, "You flew?
Hmm, I don't see any wings sprouting from your back!"

 At Kat's line about wings, a red/purple draconian head and shoulders
appeared in the cave entrance. And Seth laughed as he said,"Well, I didn't
fly up here on my own!"

 Seth then burst out with what he'd been eager to tell Kat. "It is so
great to be flying sis! And eventhough Liz is not quite as big as the
other trainees' dragons, we work well together. You wouldn't belive how
quick and agile the two of us can be. Liz does try to overdue it sometimes.
I suppose cause he wants to make up for his size. But I've been able to
get him to ease up at those times. So you want to see us take a turn
in the air?"

 "Seth! You need not have asked! Of course I want to see you!"

 So Kat and Azure stood in the entrance as Seth mounted up and flew
in the direction of the lower green. Then as Seth and Liz executed a
tight turn and headed back, Kat couldn't help but smile. Her brother
had finally made it into the air. Now, with eggs on the hatching sands,
Seth would probably be getting his own apartment soon. Then eventually
he would be paired with experienced riders, then he would have his own
patrol partner, and then eventually he'd enter a Wing.

 All Kat's mixed emotions at Seth's new era in life were mirrored in the
mindvoice of Azure,  <He has come a ways from being flat on his back on
the hatching grounds with a small red/purple hatchling standing over him
holding an eggshell>. Azure's recollection caused Kat to laugh as she
agreed with her dragon.

 After her brother returned, Kat praised him, congratulated him, encouraged
him, and adviced him on what he had to look forward to now. Then as her
brother departed, Kat decided to mark this new saga in his life by getting
something for him. She considered getting him a new saddle of his own, but
earlier he had expressed an interest in doing that himself. After going
over
a few things in her head, Kat decided to get him a new riding outfit. For
Seth was growing just as fast as Alizarine was. So perhaps new riding
leathers would be good. Kat could get measurement from her mom before she
and the rest of the family left Cleft. That way Seth wouldn't know what Kat
was up to.

********
(Before the return trip to the camp, and the wraith fight)

 Before she was needed on the Green, Kat stopped by her family's apartments
to get Seth's measurements from Tess. Samuel wasn't there, but Tess and
Serina were. The two were at work putting the guest apartment in order and
packing some things up for their departure. The family had decided to wait
until tomorrow to leave since the last few days had been so hectic. And a
day of rest seemed like a good idea.

 Kat stayed only long enough to see how everyone faired, and to get Seth's
measurements. She then headed for the leather shop. Kat happily took a
moment
to listen to any updates on Yarik and Danki's family, before she told the
two about her gift for Seth. A leather vest with some decorative stitching,
and matching trousers was the outcome of the meeting. Head gear was also
tossed around in discussion. But a new helmet wasn't needed, since Kat had
one of her earlier ones that she was going to give to her brother.

 When asked about time, Kat didn't put a rush on the outfit. She thought,
with Seth, his new dragonrider peers, and their growing dragons, there was
probably a nice amount of requests for new saddles. Besides, Kat thought
the outfit coud not only mark a new era in Seth's life, but it would make
a nice birthday present as well. For Seth's thirteenth birthday wasn't
far off. After Kat finished up at the shop, she headed to the Green.

 (NRPG: Alton and Barb. Below is how I worked in the post conflict).

**********
The Former Vorbis' camp.

 Kat hadn't been at the camp long with Cynthia and Lady Amberylle's,
party before a message was passed to her from her iridescent blue.

<Bohoc, and Triss encountered wraiths. The Wings are being gathered.>

 Kat knew as Alpha Second, she was needed to assist. Currently, Cynthia
and Lady Amber were busy with the soldiers, but Kat was only observing.
Since she didn't want to interrupt the proceedings, she had Azure pass
the need to leave onto Syren, and then took to the air.

*******
Jumping ahead to after the wraith encounter. Same day.

 Kat was washing Azure, and to some extent herself, when Seth came over.

 "Kat you gotta tell me about the Wraiths! I wish I could have helped. It
was just as tough for Liz as it was for me. Liz sulked a lot after all of
you left. I managed to cheer him up a bit though. He had this bit of coal
he got back when he was watching the hatching sands after the flooding.
So I fed it to him, and he..."

 An expression of shock broke across Kat's face as she said, "You did what!
Was anyone else around? Is Liz alright?  What about his breathing trouble?
I wish you would have waited for me to be around before doing that Seth!"

 "Ah sis, don't lay an egg! I've seen riders give coal before. And I've an
idea about what to expect from taining. We haven't feed it in training yet,
but Liz and I thought we could give it a try. It was a small piece of coal,
and we did it with water nearby, and nothing burnable close by."

 Kat shook her head as she contemplated Seth's current manifestation of
independence. She sighed, rubbed her forehead and asked again, "Is Liz
alright? And what about his breathing difficulty?"

 "He is alright. He wheezed a bit when he was done, but his medicine helped.
He also puked after flaming. But I've heard that can happen some time."

 Kat rolled her eyes at the term 'puke', but let it go by. Her brother
continued, "His flame wasn't big of course, but it was still neat! And he
was so proud afterwards! I just hope when he gets bigger, and starts taking
in more coal when the time comes to fight Wraiths, his breathing trouble
will have tapered off. And speaking of Wraiths, you still haven't told
me about today's encounter sis!"

 Kat knew she wasn't going to get a moments peace and quiet until she told
Seth of the conflict. The engagement had not been an extensive one, but Kat
knew Seth didn't care, he wanted to hear it any way. The idea of telling
Seth about Wraiths made her think of something else. The helmet she
intended to
give him was one she had worn when she first encountered Wraiths. The thought
of combining that past element, with today's incident, and Seth's future as
a dragonrider now that he could fly, seemed like a good analogy. So without
telling him about the helmet, Kat told Seth to meet her later and she would
tell him all about today's Wraith incident. Then she would surprise him
with the helm to shuffle in so to speak, a new aspect of his life.

**************
NRPG:
All: This took me longer then I would have liked to get it out. I hope
everything fits together timewise. The camp bit was put in to rectify where
Kat was because of a placement conflict(that is why it's short). Hope it
didn't add anymore discrepancies.
 Also; Tess/Samuel/Serina will leave on day 4, since I want them on their
way before anything new arises. I'll probably bring them back later. Maybe
for Seth's B-day. I believe he's still at 12-almost 13 in the bio. So a b-day
would fit.

Barb: Seth would be near to the twins age(eventhough their dragon's aren't).
If you want to do anything along the lines of Seth interacting with them
tell me.  Also, did we ever find a patrol partner for Kat? I don't recall
if we did.
 And last, I liked the idea you had with Kat's work at the shop, and Lonnie
giving a piece to Maddy. I haven't done much with Kat and her jewelry. I
didn't put Danki telling Kat about Lonnie getting a piece. Because, I think
that
happened after the wraith bit, and Kat went to the shop before the wraiths.

Gabrielle: Thank you for getting those young dragons in the air. I've
been itching to get to that so Seth could fly.

John: I'm looking forward to the new threat.

****
Respectfuly,
Kris B
Katrina/Azure
Seth/Alizarine
Also: Serina, Tess, and Samuel



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