T'rell
(Daere Warren, shortly after the raid)

    With the battle ended - for now, at least - T'rell decided there was
nothing more for him to do at the moment.  All the wings were back, and he
decided that he could use a cup of coffee. He knew he must look a fright right
now...but he really didn't care.  He walked into the dining hall, got his
coffee, and sat down.  He just hoped that N'ran didn't decide to come in here
as well.  If he ran into that bloody fool right now, he knew he couldn't trust
himself to hold his temper.  Or with Desr'y, for that matter. 

     Once again, he cast his thoughts outward.  *Jadain?  Jadain, can you hear
me?*

     Nothing.  He sighed, knowing he should be joining in the search...but at
the same time knowing that it was pointless.  He knew that Jadain was nowhere
in the warren.  And if he wasn't here, the boy could be...anywhere.

     *Danavin?* he called.  Again no response.  Damn! What was going on here?
Had Nefiri taken Jadain out of Daere?  And if so, why?  Or...had Da'ntray
taken him?  He hoped with all his heart that it was the former. 

      He thought back on what the rogue he'd fought had said with his dying
breaths.  Da'ntray...Jhezrael.  Hmmm...he'd asked the rogue who it was that
had had led the raid, and where they came from.  Da'ntray was the answer to
the first...so was Jhezrael the answer to the second?  He'd never heard of
such a place, and neither had Ja'ks.  That meant it was not anyplace in
Daere's territory.  Where was it, then?   It was a strange sounding name,
almost like another language entirely.  Perhaps it was located in the domains
of the recently rediscovered warrens, such as Epion, where Danika had come
from.

     Thinking of Danika made his spirits plummet even further.  From what he'd
heard, the young queenrider's condition was not good.  The healers had said
she might not make it.   And Marialla had been so upset when he'd told her
that...perhaps he'd better look for her...

     But, almost as though his thinking of her had made her appear, he looked
up and saw her coming out of the kitchen.

     "Hey Laudre, tell Mari we want her as our waitress!"

     T'rell looked over at a nearby table and saw two of his trainees, Jonah
and Alexis.  T'rell scowled.  Both he and Ar' Aman had pegged these two as
potential troublemakers...not on the same level as Norin, perhaps, but ones to
be watched nonetheless.  Right now, they seemed to be giving Laudre, the girl
who was waiting on them, a hard time.  Neither Jonah nor Alexis seemed to
realize that he was here watching them.

     "Yeah," Alexis said, loudly enough for everyone in the dining hall to
hear.  "Hey Mari, it's Jonah's birthday, and he wants the same thing you gave
T'rell on his birthday!"

     The room grew deathly quiet.  The two trainees might not have seen T'rell
sitting there, but others had.  All eyes were on T'rell as he rose from his
table and slowly walked over.

     Jonah was the first one to see T'rell, and his eyes widened.  He quickly
elbowed Alexis to get his attention.  And when Alexis turned, his smile
evaporated and his face turned as pale as a wraith.

     Marialla rushed over to place herself between T'rell and the two
trainees.  "Don't, T'rell!" she said.  "You can't do anything to stop them
from talking, and you need to continue to work with them for a little while
yet!"

     T'rell stopped, not wishing to start a scene in front of Marialla...no
matter how mad he was, or however much those two louts might deserve it.  "All
right," he said in a low voice.  "But I'm not going to have you subjected to
this.  You're done waiting tables for today!"

      Marialla started to protest, but T'rell held up a hand.  "In fact, I
think we could both use a change of scenery.  Why don't you wait for me
outside?"

     "All right, T'rell," she agreed, though from the look on her face she was
still plainly worried.  She went outside, giving him a couple of hesitant
looks as she did so.  After she was through the door, he turned back to the
two trainees.

     "Jonah," he said quietly, "if you want to have any more birthdays, I
suggest you be *very* careful of what you say from now on.  Understood?"

     Jonah nodded silently.

     "Good.  Trainee, you've just been delegated to take Marialla's place here
for the rest of the day.  Now hop to it!"

     Jonah all but scrambled from his seat and raced to the safety of the
kitchen.  Alexis started to rise, thinking to follow his friend, but too late.
T'rell kicked the chair out from under him, and Alexis landed rump-first onto
the floor.

     "I'm not quite finished with you, Trainee Alexis," T'rell said coldly.
"Apparently you've missed the lesson I've been trying to teach all
along...that dragonriders in a warren are one big family and support each
other at *all* times.  Was I not clear enough for you?"

     "No...er, yes sir," Alexis stammered.

     "Good," said T'rell, glaring down at him.  "Because riders who forget
that tend to do things that have them end up as rogues.  And before *you* ever
become a rider, you need to think very hard on that."

     "Yessir," said Alexis, not daring to meet T'rell's eyes.

     T'rell nodded slowly.  "I'm glad you agree.  And just to help you while
you're thinking about what I've said, you're to report to the hatching cavern
to help with the cleanup there.  I think you can use a good look at what
happens when dragonriders  care only about themselves!  Dismissed!!!"

     Alexis was out the door in a flash.  T'rell picked up his coffee, and
joined Marialla outside.

     "Where is Alexis going?" she asked, concerned.

     "He just remembered he had to finish his lessons," T'rell told her.

* * * * * * * *
(later that day)

     <T'rell...this is terrible!> Flerrion said, distraught.  The crimson
dragon was just flying back towards the warren after flying T'rell and
Marialla to a nearby lake.  T'rell had, as he'd said, thought they both could
use some time away from Daere.  He was still nervous around Marialla, to tell
the truth...he still blamed himself for what had happened the night of the
party, and could hardly imagine that she didn't as well.  But she'd made it
clear on numerous occasions that she didn't, and for that he was grateful.

     *What is it?* he asked.  He must have been more distracted than he'd
thought...normally, he tended to pick up on what the dragons were talking
about almost as soon as Flerrion did.

     <It is Kalindreth...her rider...they say she will not survive.
Kalindreth has asked to take her now, rather than allow her pain to go on.>

     *Take her where?* T'rell demanded, a chill going up his spine.

     <To the place where dragons go to die.>

     "Damn!" he muttered, clenching his fist.

     "T'rell, what is it?" Marialla asked, leaning forward to look past T'rell
at the warren.  "Are we under attack again?"

     "No," he said, sighing.  He hated to tell her this, knowing how it would
hurt her.  But this wasn't the sort of thing you could hide.
"Marialla...Kalindreth says Danika is dying.  They're...leaving now...rather
than wait for the end."

     He saw Marialla's eyes grow wide in shock.  "Oh T'rell," she cried,
resting her head against his back as he reached his arm around to hold her.
"Now I...I can never ask her to forgive me!"

     "Hush now," he said as softly as he could and still be heard over the
rush of wind as they angled down toward the green.  "There's nothing to
forgive...there never was."  He suspected that if anyone needed forgiveness in
that matter it was C'nis, not Marialla, but he knew that it would do no good
to say so to her.

     "Why can't I believe that?" she sobbed as she pressed herself against
him.  "I should have asked her before...now I'll never have the chance!"

     He pulled her closer to him.  "You forgave me without being asked," he
said.  "I'm sure Danika did the same for you."

     They both looked up to see the silver and gold queen take to the air, the
limp form of her rider cradled gently in her foreclaws.  With a last cry of
farewell, Kalindreth vanished forever just as Flerrion touched down on the
green.

     Marialla pressed herself against him, sobbing, as Flerrion added his own
keening howls to the to those of the other dragons.

     "You won't go alone," T'rell whispered, as though Danika and Kalindreth
could somehow still hear him.  "Someone named Da'ntray will be following you
soon!"

(Tag Dianne)

* * * * * * * *
(next morning)

     T'rell couldn't remember when he'd felt this uncomfortable.  He, along
with Desr'y, N'ran, and several other riders of Gamma Wing were sitting in a
small antechamber waiting to be called in for questioning about the events of
the previous day.  He doubted his own role in things would be looked on too
favorably.

     None of them spoke, or even looked at each other.  That was all right
with T'rell...he didn't really have anything to say.  Besides, they'd been
instructed not to communicate among themselves until after they'd been
separately questioned.

     This was, he reflected, the first time he'd been called before a Board of
Inquiry.  He'd almost been hauled up before one at Falagand, of course.  That
had never come about, though, because B'nair had feared that her own  actions
might have been seen as contributing to Beta Wing's disaster there, had they
become publicly known.  And so B'nair, typically, had decided to handle things
under the table and get T'rell out of Falagand as quickly as possible.  Things
were different at Daere.

     Just then, the door opened and Vesta came out into the antechamber.
"T'rell, please come in," she said.

     This took him by surprise.  He'd thought that Desr'y would be questioned
first, and then N'ran.  But he stood up quickly and followed her inside the
large hall.  As Vesta closed the door behind him, he saw the long table where
the Board sat.  As he'd expected, it consisted of Jayleigh and the two
wingleaders, Tair'n and Ja'ks.  Their expressions were unreadable.

     "T'rell, please be seated," Jayleigh said.  T'rell noted that she still
didn't look well, and was amazed that she was out of the med center.
Apparently she felt this matter was too important to leave entirely to her two
lieutenants.

    Vesta seated herself nearby and quickly began jotting down notes as
Jayleigh spoke.  Apparently, she'd been designated as the scribe, to record
everything that was said.

     "T'rell, you know why you're here," Jayleigh continued.  "Yesterday, this
warren was attacked.  Our junior queen and her rider are dead, as well as
several other people.  Gamma Wing, which had been entrusted to protect the
warren while the other wings were absent, was nowhere in evidence until the
attack was nearly over.  I've called this Board together to find out why.
Would you please relate your version of the events that took place yesterday?"

     T'rell nodded, and gave the three of them a summary of events from the
time that Viktroy had informed them of the attack on Triylar to the time when
Gamma Wing had returned to the warren.  He spoke slowly so that Vesta could
accurately record his words.  When he was done, he waited for the inevitable
questions.

     It was Tair'n who spoke first.  "Considering the fact that Gamma Wing was
deployed to defend the warren, why was the wing allowed to move out of
communications range at a time when it was known that the warren might
conceivably find itself under attack?"

     T'rell shook his head.  "I don't know.  You'd have to ask Desr'y that."

     "All right," Tair'n conceded.  "Tell me, then, do you think that Gamma
Wing's actions were *reasonable* in view of the situation?"

     "The acting wingleader didn't tell me his reasons for doing what he did,"
T'rell answered.  "That makes it hard for me to evaluate his actions."

     "T'rell, we're trying to get at the truth here!" said an exasperated
Ja'ks.  "We can't do that if you keep giving these coy, bullshit answers!"

     "Vesta, please strike that second-to-last word," Jayleigh said, darting a
glance at her brother.  "Continue, please."

     Ja'ks nodded.  "T'rell, you're the trainer here.  That means you teach
things like strategy and tactics to our new riders.  Are you telling me that
you're not capable of evaluating the strategy employed by Gamma Wing to defend
the warren?"

     "No, I'm not saying that," T'rell answered.  Seeing that the others were
waiting for him to expand on this, he sighed and went on.  "What Desr'y did
was right out of the training manuals," he said.  "It's called a 'distant
defense' stragety, which I'm sure you've all heard of.  It's intended for just
such a situation as occurred yesterday, when the wingleader has reason to
believe that the warren may come under attack by wild dragons.  The intent is
to engage the wilders as far from the warren as possible...the theory being
that if they can *see* the warren, they can teleport past the defenders and
reach the warren itself.  I should point out that at the time, no one in Gamma
Wing had any inkling that rogues were involved, whose familiarity with this
warren made such a strategy useless."

    "At the time Javangath communicated his orders to the wing, did you agree
with them?" Tair'n asked.

     "No, Wingleader, I did not."

     "Why?"

     T'rell felt himself squirming in his seat.  He was being asked to condemn
the actions of not only a fellow rider, but also his own wingleader.  Still,
he knew he had to be open and truthful in responding to these questions.

     "Because," he said, "the 'distant defense' strategy is predicated on the
assumption that the warren has an available reserve of dragons and riders to
deal with any attackers who somehow get past the wing and break through to the
warren.  That was not the case yesterday.  When Desr'y gave his orders, it was
already known that both Alpha and Beta Wings were engaged elsewhere."

     "Had you been in command, what would you have done differently?" Tair'n
asked.

     "I would have detached some dragons to take up position midway between
the wing and the warren, to relay messages as needed."

     "Did you suggest this, or relay your concerns to Desr'y and Javangath at
the time?" Ja'ks asked.

     "No," T'rell said.  "I did not."

     "And were you aware that Javangath had not reported his rider's
intentions to Viktroy before redeploying the wing?" Ja'ks continued.

     "I wasn't certain, but I suspected not," T'rell replied.  "I didn't hear
him do so."

     "T'rell, did it occur to you to do so yourself?" Jayleigh asked,
apparently having decided to momentarily abandon her policy of letting her two
wingleaders do the questioning.

     "It did, but not quickly enough," T'rell admitted.  "I thought of it only
after our flight had teleported into its new patrol position, from which we
were out of communication range."

     "And yet," Tair'n observed, "it appears you weren't completely out of
range.  It's my understanding that Flerrion heard Viktroy raise the alarm.  Is
this true?"

     "It is," said T'rell.  "He told me he had heard a very faint call from
her.  I wasn't sure if he did at the time...I didn't hear it myself.  Neither
did Tokarith, or Danavin, or any of the other dragons."

     "And did you inform N'ran and Tokarith of this?" Ja'ks asked.

     "I did," T'rell agreed.  "They didn't believe me."

     "Did this seem...unusual, to you?" Tair'n asked.

     T'rell sighed.  "No, Wingleader, it didn't.  Flerrion isn't known as the
most...astute dragon in the warren, and I suppose N'ran and his dragon felt
that his reliability was open to question.  But I knew better...he may be a
bit gullible at times, but he's not given to imagining things...and in any
sort of combat situation, he's an entirely different dragon than he is when
he's lazing around the warren.  In such a situation as we found ourselves
yesterday, I'm inclined to trust him completely."

     "So you trusted him enough to disobey a direct order?" Jayleigh asked.

     "Yes, Warrenlady, I did," T'rell told her.

     "And to incite half of Gamma Wing to mutiny?"

     T'rell dropped his gaze.  "Yes," was all he said.  "I felt that my
responsibility to protect the warren and the queens took precedence over
N'ran's orders."

     "And having led an entire flight of Gamma Wing to revolt against its
designated leader," Tair'n said, "how would you balance your disobedience
against the results you achieved?"

     T'rell closed his eyes.  "I failed," he said, in a voice that was barely
above a whisper.  "We were too late.  For all the good it did, we might have
just as well stayed right where we were, circling around out in the middle of
nowhere like a flock of pigeons!"

(Tag Barb & Lyn - any more questions for T'rell?)

Submitted by:

John

T'rell & Flerrion
Daere Warren