NRPG: Whoops! Made a little booboo in my last post. I'd forgotten Noni was
still in the hospital. *sigh* I think I may need to reread all the recent
posts to get it all together again.

RPG:
Rezsia stood by Jayleigh's side, supporting her throughout her meeting.
Danika was seated nearby, mainly keeping quiet which seemed good in Rezsia's
opinion. The new queenrider was a novice to Daere's politics, and Rezsia
could tell she was figuring it out while watching the discussion.

"There are plenty of things I should be doing Lord Gossimor," Jayleigh
stated in a voice that seemed on the verge of anger when the door to the
office was thrown open.  She looked up to see R'ven enter at the same time
her queen's message reached her. <Gerald's been hurt!> Jezebel explained. <A
wraith cut through the saddle's cinch and he fell to the ground. Random's
frightened because he can't hear his rider's thoughts.>

Jayleigh turned her eyes to R'ven's, and Rezsia saw something pass between
them. "R'ven!?!" she asked in a strained voice.

Rezsia could see Jayleigh wanted to bolt out of the office, so stepped in.
"Lord Gossimor, please excuse the interruption, but we seem to be having a
crisis here. If you'll please excuse the warrenlady, she has some personal
business to attend to." Not knowing if she'd handled the situation right,
and really not caring, she turned to R'ven. "R'ven," she asked in a soothing
voice, knowing that Gerald was a friend of his too, "could you please escort
our warrenlady to Gerald?"

R'ven had regained composure, and wasn't quite as frantic looking as he'd
been when he'd initially entered. He'd quite honestly forgotten that Lord
Gossimor was here, and he wondered if perhaps he might have interrupted
something important. Nevertheless, he went over to a still shocked Jayleigh
and helped her up. Jayleigh however, ever the warrenlady, paused before she
exitted the room. "Please forgive me Lord Gossimor. Rezsia will help you
however you need. I really must be going..." The last couple of words seemed
frantic, and with that the door closed, leaving Rezsia and Danika with the
landbound Lord and the rest of his entourage.

Silence reigned for the first few seconds, then Lord Matory stated quietly,
"With you permission, ma'am, we'd like to retire for the time being. Perhaps
later we can---"

"I can't believe she just walked out on me!" Lord Gossimor raged,
interrupting his son. "So a dragonrider was hurt; it was probably just a
flesh wound. Happens every day!"

Matory cringed slightly at what his father had said, and glanced at Rezsia.
What he saw didn't make him feel much better. All expression was off the
queenrider's face, leaving it utterly blank; that in itself wasn't enough to
make him worried. It was mostly the way her hands kept twitching, as if
wanting to grab his father's neck and wring it, or to grab one of the knives
he'd heard she carried on her person. He was about to step in and try to
diffuse the situation when the other queenrider, Danika, stood up.

"Lord Gossimor," she stated in a soothing voice, "we're terribly sorry we
have offended someone of your rank. We truly hadn't meant to offend you. It
was for your safety that you were kept at the gates; it was so chaotic
inside the warren here you might have been forgotten, or lost. As for the
warrenlady's hasty departure, it's because the rider that was brought in was
her mate. And from what his dragon is saying, it isn't merely a fleshwound."

Lord Gossimor's face lost its pomposity, and he seemed genuinely contrite.
"Please give the warrenlady my condolences," he stated to the young
queenrider. "I had no idea..."

"Perhaps for the time being it'd be best if we retired, father," Matory
stated, flashing a thank-you look at Danika.

Lord Gossimor nodded, then bowed regally to the two women. "Ladies, I pray
we meet again under better circumstances."

Danika nodded back, noticing Rezsia did the same. Then the Lord's party
exitted the room.

Rezsia's hands had lost their desire to reach for her knives, and she turned
to Danika. "Thank you for helping me back there." It was hard to thank the
other queenrider; she, Rezsia, should have shown a little more discipline
and patience. "It's just that Jayleigh's my friend, and I didn't like it
when he talked about her like that."

Danika just smiled slightly and waved it off. "It's okay. He's a typical
lord; tell him what he wants to hear, that it was completely our fault that
he is uncomfortable, and he can't accuse you of anything else. Adding a
little guilt never hurt. I had to learn all about that when I became a
queenrider. Epion's warrenlady was good about that; I stayed in during many
of the meetings between the local lords."

And here I'd thought she needed to learn, Rezsia thought to herself. It was
*herself* that needed to learn. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I need to be
going. I'd like to check up on how Jayleigh is doing."

Danika noticed the note of anger that had crept into the other rider's
voice, and wondered what she'd done to make the dark haired woman in front
of her angry. She didn't know it was directed inwardly, not at Danika herself.

*Jez, how is Random's rider?* she asked as she exitted the office.

<Random's getting really scared. He says he can't feel his rider at all,
that Gerald won't answer when he calls.>

*Is Jayleigh doing alright?*

<Viktroy says she's in with him now. She's scared too.>

I  would be too if it was someone I loved, Rezsia thought. *How is the rest
of the wings?*

<There're just finishing up with the wraiths. It was bigger than they'd
anticipated; ten dragons and seven people have been hurt. Gerald is the worst.>

A small fear came over her. *Is Ja'ks okay?*

<Yes, he seems to be alright. At least, that's what I last heard.>

By now, Rezsia was entering the hospital. She stopped to ask the nurse where
the wounded rider had been taken, and was directed there. It wasn't a very
far walk; she was there in minutes.


NRPG: Morgie, I hope you don't mind what I did with Danika. I'd thought that
since she had been a queenrider at Epion, she might know some of this stuff.


Submitted by

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The Dragon Queen
Ens. Taerin S'ral, USS Orion
Lt. <jg> Leanna Vere, USS Magellan
Rezsia and Jezebel, queenrider and queen of Daere Warren
Lyonnia and Dianthus, rider and dragon of Telnor Warren
Agent Sandra McCormick, Delta team, X-Files
Sarah Matthews, Amber
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/7335