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Thanks!

*******************

"The time is close. Very close."

"What do you mean?"

"He is about to hatch, I can feel his presence! It will be soon, oh so soon.
The time has come, after so long..."

"I don't believe it!!"

"Believe. Take two riders with you. Go to the warren. Bring the egg back to
us."

"It shall be done."

******************************

***H'nin***

Moving with a quick stride, H'nin managed to catch up to the new queenrider
before she reached the food tables. He placed a hand on her shoulder;
gasping with surprise, she turned around and snatched a quick look at
his face before looking at his knees again.

"Oh, its only you, H'nin," she muttered to the ground.

"Did I startle you, Inagua?  Sorry, about that," he apologised.  "Do you
want to dance?"

She hesitated. "I don't know how," Inagua admitted.  "No one's ever asked me
to dance before."

H'nin tilted her chin up till her eyes met his very amused hazel ones.
"Consider yourself asked."  She started to protest but her interupted her.
"It isn't hard, I'll teach you.   Its about time you learned any way."
Looking into her eyes was a bit...disconcerting...but not exactly in a 
bad way. Perhaps I should get to know her a little better, he thought.

<Sure you should. Isn't she a little young for you, 'Nin?>

*She's a queenrider, you know that as well as I. Not a child any more.*

H'nin swept her off onto the dance floor and slowly ran her through a couple
dances.  Surprisingly, once she got the hang of it she started to enjoy
herself, at least as far as he could tell. It was a shame that they were
soon interrupted by the arrival of two youngsters, who looked remarkably
like Inagua.  

"May I help you?" H'nin asked the twins, not recognizing them.

"We're Inagua's siblings.  We'll only be a moment," Yechur said with an
absent smile.

"Are you going to sing now, Inagua?" Yelia asked with false innocence.

"You did promise us you would.  Yelia is all warmed up, so we can do it
now." Yechur added in the same guiless tone.

"You sing, Inagua?" H'nin asked with a bit of amazement.

Grinding her teeth in frustration, Inagua only nodded in reply.

"Well, don't let me keep you.  I look forward to hearing you."  He smiled,
but Inagua was so busy contemplating the floor that she didn't notice. With
a barely-suppressed sigh, H'nin made his way back to the warrenlady's table.

She wasn't there. H'nin looked around, but there was no sign of her. Ah,
well, he thought. It wasn't that great of a loss...Phaedra had never been
much of a sparkling conversationalist. Even with all the times Retick had
won Melith, Phaedra had never shown a spark of interest beyond the dragon-
inspired lust. H'nin was starting to wonder if there was something wrong 
with him...his love life had not exactly been worth telling. Either he was
just plain boring (which he doubted) or else people were staying away from 
him due to his position. H'nin guessed he was lucky as things stood; at least
things worked well in Alpha's wing. 

He was distracted by singing coming from the stage. Why...it was Inagua, after
all! H'nin grinned; she wasn't bad at all. What with her siblings there, 
they made an impressive trio. It was obvious that they had spent a long time
practicing. 

The song slowly ended, until there was only the flute, which dwindled down
to silence. H'nin whistled as the crowd applauded....

************************

***Cygnus***

Kirin didn't dance badly at all! Cygnus thought. Well, until she all of a
sudden tripped over her feet. Cygnus looked down to make sure he hadn't 
stepped on her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

" My smartass dragon.  Thinks she can get away with anything." Kirin
grumbled.

" Well, she probably can.  She's bigger than anyone that would
reprimand her."  Cygnus was laughing.  " What did she do?"

"Nothing important,just annoying."

Taking the opportunity to change the subject, she grabbed a glass of wine
and sipped it slowly.   "Where were you sitting at the hatching Cygnus?
Merle is complaining about how you stepped on her tail."

      "Front row.  But next time Merle just happens to be standing outside
of the grounds, I'll be sure that I don't step on her tail."  He smiled
slightly. Well, you never told me where you were going camping."
 
     "I was going to visit some distant family, then maybe actually camp a
few days. . ."

 "Where do they live?" he asked, the very image of curiosity.

       "South. . .very far south." 

Cygnus was about to ask jus how FAR south when they were interrupted by
Inagua singing from the stage. Now, that is *quite* well done, he thought. 
Almost from habit, he started humming a counterpoint to the melody.
 
"How do you do that? Have you heard that before?" He looked down at Kirin, who
had edged away from him a space.  Had he made her mad, somehow?

"Sorry about that. No, I haven't heard it, it's an original." He looked rueful.
I just have a habit of picking up on tunes..."

"Well, you wouldn't be the harper if you couldn't, I guess." She had edged 
back to him; he was looking at intense blue eyes, and all of a sudden he 
wished he had a dragon; relationships didn't work out well between landbound
and rider, usually. Then again, she was awfully young...then again, she was
a queenrider, and couldn't be considered young any more...it was so horribly 
complicated. Cygnus shook his head.

"What's the matter?"

Now, how could he tell her what he was thinking? It would be misconstrued no 
matter what he said. "Oh, nothing. It's too bad you're leaving, you'll certainly
be missed. I'm suprised the Ice Princess let you go, even for a few days."
He mockingly held his fingers against his lips as Kirin giggled. "Oops."

"You keep that up, and you'll be drummed all the way out of the warren."

"Maybe, maybe not. Speaking of which, where is she?" He looked around, trying 
to see above the crowd and not quite succeeding. The song ended, and there
was applauding and cheering. 

"Can't see her. Oh, well." Turing back to Kirin, he put an arm around her 
shoulers. "So tell me, how for south is south? It can't be too far, the 
Wastes are that way." 

That caught her off guard. "Ah...well, no, it's not too far, I'll just be 
gone a while. A few days."

Cygnus sighed. "If you feel you really need to. I can understand getting away
from this place." He lit up with a mischevious grin. 

**********************

<Where is it?>

<*Here it is! Just like we planned. I will stand guard inside the entrance, go
in now!*>

The darkening sky did well to help hide their silouhettes as two enormous
dragons glided silently into the hatching cavern. 

{It's too late, they're gone!}

<*What do you mean, they're gone?*>

{All that remains are broken shells...I see the jewelled shell of the One 
with the others.}

<*Shards! Regroup, back at our point beyond the Boiling lake. It's too late.
Anything we did now would be too risky. Go now!*>

Three huge shapes winged back up into the sky and vanished with hardly a 
sound.

******************
[Early Evening, still not long after the hatching]

***Phaedra***

I felt wonderful, the wind in her hair, the sensation of flight...just getting 
away from all the hassles and responsibilities, even for a moment, was doing
wonders for her. 

<<And, you were about to think that I was acting better, too, right?>>

<*Why Melith, perish the thought.*>

<<Right.>>

<*I really miss this...you know, someday, we need to get away, just the two
of us. Sometimes I get so tired of responsibility...*>

<<You don't have to tell me about responsibility. I just had weeks of 
responsibility down in the hatching cavern.>>

<*Of course you did, dear. Hey, watch out, I don't want to be parbroiled
before I get back.*>

<<Don't you like Boiling Lake? It feels so nice.>>

<*Yes I do. Yes it does. What I don't like is to feel my hair plastered 
against my head. Wait...what's that?*>

<<Three paired dragons and riders...I don't recognize them!>>

<*Melith, get us back!*>

It was too late. Already, two of the dragons had launched themselves after
the pair. Before Melith had a chance to teleport, flames seared across 
her side. Phaedra felt it, a horrible burning on her side and leg. Her 
scream was dwarfed by Melith's roar of pain and anguish. Then, they were 
out of control, spinning...Melith managed to right herself close to the 
ground, the two dragons close behind. Phaedra felt the fury within her,
focusing, channeling...one of the dragons dropped behind suddenly, its 
rider beating unsuccessfully at his clothes, which were already bursting 
into flame. Melith swerved and looped, her fiery breath reaching out to the
second rider, her range greater than the other's. The second attacker swerved, 
flying out of range, retreating even as the third pair left.

Phaedra could see the rider she had attacked, burning like a torch; seconds
later, his dragon screamed and vanished, leaving nothing of the pair but
drifting smoke. Melith landed with a jar, and Phaedra fell off her neck 
to land on her burnt leg. Her world became a jagged rift of pain, as 
darkness closed in on her...

[Insert Bazie's and Saz's appearance early the next morning]

==========================

Tag for everybody involved :)


	
        Respectfully submitted by:
	Allen Veazey <wolf@dbtech.net>
	Warrenlady Phaedra and Melith (Geode); Gerald and Random (Daere)
	Ash'chenon (Telnor); B'rand and Rook (Cleft),
	C'nis and Liupeth (Keldarra), Orbus of Amber (Amber)
	               Geode Warren Page:
        http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3043/crystal.html
	
     "Don't call ME a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!"
				-C3PIO