T'rell
(outside the hatching cavern, just after the queens' sandfight)

     Jayleigh exchanged glances with T'rell; both of them had seen the dragon
affinity displayed by Daere's new arrival, Allora.  "Why don't I have T'rell
here show you around and get you settled into a living space.  We'll have a
longer talk later.  Maybe you could join me tomorrow for breakfast."

     Allora nodded.  "That would be fine," she said.

     "I'll take care of her," T'rell assured the Warrenlady, then gestured for
Allora to follow him.

     The job of finding her an apartment took only a little time.  Daere
Warren was a bit crowded, but fortunately there were usually a couple of
single non-dragonrider apartments available.  T'rell ascertained where these
were, and was able to find one that suited Allora's needs.  She picked the
larger of the two, explaining that she needed additional space for her trade
tools and materials.

      "And what is your trade?" T'rell inquired.  

     "I'm a leatherworker," Allora explained.

     "Hmmm...well, you shouldn't have any shortage of business here," he
observed.  "Dragonriders always need leather outfits...those damned bedsheets
really take a toll of them."

     "Bedsheets?" Allora asked, her eyes widening with sudden interest.  "You
wear leather in bed, then?"

     T'rell wondered if he'd missed something.  "Uh, no...I meant wraiths,
actually...I call them 'bedsheets' because that's what they look like to me.
Damn things eat right though leather, you know."

     "Yes, I do remember that," Allora replied.

     "Saddles, harnesses...we always need more of that sort of thing."

     "Hmmm," said Allora.  "Harnesses...yes, I have some experience with
those."

     "Oh...good," T'rell said, unable to shake the feeling that he was missing
something here.  Well, he was sure it was nothing too important...

     He decided not to come right out and ask Allora if she'd known about her
dragon affinity, or if she was interested in becoming a trainee.  Since
Jayleigh would be having breakfast with her tomorrow morning, he'd leave that
question in the Warrenlady's capable hands.  Besides, no need to hit the poor
girl with too many new things at once.

     He motioned Allora over to the entrance of her new apartment.  "See that
long, low building?" he asked, pointing it out to her.  "That's our searchling
barracks.  Got quite a crew in there now, but with two queens in the hatching
cavern I expect most of them will wind up joined before too long.

     Allora nodded.  "Very nice," she agreed.

     "Training's not quite as bad as some would make out," he hinted, knowing
that she was bound to hear about the "Beast of Falagand" before she'd been
here too long.  Especially if she had the misfortune of running into Norin.
He assumed that Jayleigh would try to convince her to become a trainee
herself, but thought he'd put his plug in while he had the chance.

     If the truth be told, T'rell was *quite* anxious that Allora become a
trainee.  He prided himself on the quality of the candidates that stood on the
sands of the hatching cavern at the culmination of his training program...but
he hadn't anticipated having *both* queens in a motherly way at once.  It took
only a little simple arithmetic to see that if one or both of them laid big
clutches, there just wouldn't be enough trainees to go around.  And if *that*
happened, he and Fae'Rhee would be beating the bushes at the last minute to
locate and drag in anybody they could find who had even the most marginal
degree of affinity.  And, to top it all off, they'd be *totally* untrained!
He had to start thinking of expanding his program now.  Too bad Jadain was too
young to stand as a candidate, he mourned privately.  Well, that couldn't be
helped...but right here was a suitable candidate, and he meant to have her!

     "So," he said finally, "I hope you like our warren.  If you like, I can
take you around to introduce you to some of the folks who live here...maybe
even some of the trainees I work with!  You'd *love* our barracks..."

(Tag Joan...ok, so subtlety *isn't* T'rell's strong suit...:)

* * * * * * * *
Flerrion
(next morning, at the hatching cavern)

     Flerrion made it a point to bring the queens' breakfast in extra early
this morning.  Not only because his rider needed him to work with the
trainees...he'd heard about the fantastic clutch of eggs that Kalindreth had
laid and wanted to see for himself.

     <That is *quite* a clutch,> he told Kalindreth as he stood wide-eyed,
surveying the expanse of eggs.  He didn't miss the queen egg in the center,
either!  <You must be very proud!>

     <Thank you, Flerrion,> Kalindreth told him, taking his offering - a
*very* juicy buck - while subtly positioning herself to block him from getting
any closer to her eggs.  Flerrion knew enough to take the hint...if he got too
close, she might even kick sand at him again!

     <*Ahem*> Troy said softly, from her position toward the back of the
cavern.  <You *did* remember to bring me something as well, didn't you?>

     Flerrion hurried over to where the senior queen lay, carrying the second
buck he'd brought in.  <Troy...can you lay that many eggs?> he asked her in a
quiet aside.  <There are so many I can't even count them!>

     <Oh...there must be more than three of them, then!> she teased, as she
started to work on her own buck.

     <Oh, yes,> Flerrion agreed, knowingly, trying to do his own count to
confirm this without Troy noticing.  <Definitely...why, there must be at
least...um...>

   Troy, watching him, giggled softly to herself.  <Well, don't worry about
trying to count them.  Your rider knows exactly how many there are,  because
he spoke to me this morning about it. He is quite worried.> 

      Flerrion agreed, glad to switch to another subject that didn't involve
his having to count things.  <He is afraid he will run out of searchlings
before you and Kalindreth run out of eggs.>

     Troy's gaze darkened.  <You may tell your rider for me that he had BETTER
not!  If a single one of my children becomes a wilder because there is no one
for him or her to join with, I will be VERY displeased!  You wouldn't want me
to be displeased, would you, Flerrion?>

     <Not at all,> Flerrion gulped.

(later, at the training field)

     T'rell watched Darar launch himself skyward, with Kayla strapped into his
saddle.  *Now remember,* he told Flerrion, as he finished cinching the straps
for Marialla.  *No funny stuff this time!*

     <Would I do that?> the dragon asked innocently.

     *Not if you don't want her to get sick all over you!* he warned.  *Don't
think I've forgotten all the times you put on those little airshows at
Falagand to try and impress any females who happened to be watching you!  I
lost count of how many trainees lost their breakfasts because of you!*

      Flerrion observed.  <But, just to keep you happy, I will go easy on her.
After all, Viktroy won't be watching me...she's in the hatching cavern, you
know.>  He seemed more than a little sad at being deprived of his all-time-
favorite cuddle-partner for the time being.

     Marialla seemed barely able to contain her excitement.  "You are so
beautiful," she told the dragon.  "I'm lucky to get a dragon as beautiful as
you are!"

     <She likes me!> the dragon said smugly.

     *Don't get cocky!*

     Marialla turned to look down at T'rell.  "Okay, I'm ready!" she said.
"Let's take this flight easy.  Remember, this is the first time I've done this
all by myself."

     T'rell stepped back, and signalled Flerrion to take off.  The dragon did
so, and T'rell was glad to see that he wasn't doing his usual aerial antics
with Marialla aboard.  Rather, he did a series of slow, easy turns and gentle
climbing and diving maneuvers that were just right for a first-timer.
Finally, he signalled the dragon to land.

     "Oh, that was wonderful!" Marialla said, once she had climbed down from
the crimson's saddle.  T'rell walked over and stood next to Ar'Aman, and the
two of them watched Marialla and Kayla talking excitedly among themselves as
they headed for the dining hall.

     "Well," Ari observed, "I take it as a good sign that they're able to
think about eating after their first solo flights."

     T'rell nodded, smiling.  "Were we ever like that, I wonder?"

     Ar'Aman waited until the girls were out earshot.  "I see Norin was
absent," he remarked.  

     "Yeah," T'rell agreed.  "I wasn't too unhappy about it."

     "Did you see the queen egg?" Ari asked.  "You know, through the clouds?"

     T'rell couldn't help but grin.  "Yes, a wonderful sight.  Just what Daere
needs."

     "Mm...what if Norin joins with it...or Kayla, come to think of it?"

     T'rell pretended not to be bothered...it wouldn't bother him at all, in
fact, if Kayla got the new queen...or Marialla.  Either of them would make a
good queenrider.  It *would* bother him, though, if some girl from one of the
surrounding villages got it after being brought in at the last-minute to
ensure that there were enough candidates.  And if *Norin* got the queen, it
would be unthinkable!!

     After Ar'Aman had left, he strode off in the direction of Jayleigh's
office. He had some unfinished business from yesterday that the two of them
needed to discuss. 

* * * * * * * *
(Jayleigh's office)

     "...and so, as you can see, we've got a problem!" he told the Warrenlady.
"We've got enough searchlings right now to cover Kalindreth's clutch...but
unless your queen lays a very small clutch - which I'm assured she never does
- we're going to come up short."

     Jayleigh nodded.  "Yes, that is a problem," she agreed.  "Well...what do
you suggest?"

     "Start searching *now,* to increase our trainee count," T'rell said
without hesitation.  "Start scouring the towns and villages, and pull in
anyone we can get who's got the affinity.  Otherwise, if we wait until the
last minute, we're going to have new riders who don't know the front end of a
dragon from the back end!"

     "All right," said Jayleigh, nodding.  "But look...I wouldn't find it too
hard to believe if you told me that B'nair sends out press gangs to grab
likely candidates out of the villages.  We won't do that here, though!"

     T'rell smiled.  "Aw, you know me better than that!" he told her.  "I may
have to bribe a few...hmmm, is getting them drunk first within the rules?"

     Jayleigh gave him a stern look.   "Oh...ok," he said, taking the hint.
"Can I get Fae'Rhee to help, then?"

     The Warrenlady chuckled.  "Yes, you may!" she said.

     T'rell nodded.  "I'll get right on it.  Oh, and by the way..."  He
reached into his tunic and drew out a sack filled with gold coins, which he
laid on her desk.  "The first fruits of out little clearance sale," he told
her.

     Jayleigh suddenly looked very uncomfortable.  "Oh...just what did you
sell so far?" she asked.

     "Oh, lets see...the couch, a few tunics.  Most of the furniture went over
to Norwall, you know.  Most of the clothing is still stashed away.  I figure
we can unload the balance of it within a day or two.  In fact, I was just
going to go out and see to it...maybe snag a couple of new searchlings in the
process!"

(Tag Barb - I don't know if Jayleigh will want him to continue with his little
sale...)


Submitted by:

John

T'rell & Flerrion
Daere Warren

     


T'rell, Jaylrigh, and the picture...