Jer'lin squinted furiously against the dust Sienra's wings brought up as she
landed.  How dare they pull a stunt like that!

<Oh hush up Jer',> Banta said chidingly.  <It was a rather nice dive if I do
say so myself.>

*It was damn foolish!* Jer'lin shot back, still furious.  *They were
milliseconds from being dead or seriously injured.*

<Yes,> Banta agreed benignly, <they were, but they aren't.  Encourage them
to do more of it.>

*What!* Jer'lin shot at the cool red dragon.  *Tell them to kill themselves?!*

<No, not kill themselves, but perfect a skill that will be invaluable to
them.  You know as well as I do that Sienra isn't going to get much bigger.
Which means her flame capacity isn't going to be that great.  They will
probably have to do acrobatics just to be effective fighters, because the
only way little Sienra's going to last through a wraith fight is to get
close enough to wraiths to use as little flame as possible.>

Jer'lin was stunned, both at the length of Banta's speach and that he hadn't
come to the same conclusion himself.  It really was obvious, but he hadn't
wanted to believe it.  Sienra was almost three weeks old and looked like she
had only a week's growth for a small dragon.

He looked up to see Dyanisa waiting for him to say something.What he did say
was not what she'd expected.

"How often does Sienra eat?"

She gave him a quizzical look before answering, "Once, little twice... day."
Jer'lin interpretted that to mean "once, occasionally twice a day."  Which
meant the little dragon was past the stage where hatchlings ate every ten
minutes.  Absently he chewed his lip, Sienra's grow some more, but not
horribly much, dragon wise anyway.

"Well, you can go wash and oil Sienra, lesson's over," Jer'lin said.  He
almost laughed at the surprised expression on Dyanisa's face.  She had
expected to get chewed out, and he only asked her a harmless question.    
As the pair walked away, Jer'lin had to chuckle as Dyanisa kept looking over
her shoulder as if she was expecting to be called back.
***************

*There!* Dyanisa exclaimed as she finished puting oil on a now very shiny
Sienra.

<How do I look?> the dragon asked a bit vainly.

*Blinding,* came the cryptic answer.  Dyanisa squinted when the sun glared
off her dragon.

<I'll take that as a compliment, my wastrel.  I'm going to take a nap now.>

*Sweet dreams.*

Dyanisa got up and went to clean up; she planned to stop by the Med Center
later and Herin didn't like dirt.


Submitted by Bridget Olson
Dyanisa/Sienra *Daere*
Inagua/Myacura *Geode*
Nalin/Trefoil *Whiteriver*
N'dovra Leriamtiq *Ralengarde*