May 14
On the green

Danis stood in the shadows next to Ansel as they watched the firey display
that Jasra's Dragonriders put on for the Dragonlady.

"It's so frightening!"  she said, moving closer to Ansel, glad to feel his
arm reach around her shoulders.

"I think it's great!" the young man replied, the sparkle in his eyes
echoing the flaming glory that welcomed their esteemed visitors.

The pair watched as everyone walked to where the tables had been prepared,
overlooking the beach.  They had been instrumental in helping set
everything up, Ansel helping move tables and chairs, Danis peeling potatoes
and cleaning other vegetables and carrying stacks of plates, cups and
silver to be laid out carefully for the Dragonlady's visit.

"Do you think she will really close the warren?"  Danis asked, quietly,
almost to herself. She had no idea where she would go, or what she would do
if the warren closed.  Not being a dragonrider, she wasn't sure if they
would worry much about what happened to her if the rest went to other places.

"My sister will convince her, I just know she will,"  Ansel said, sounding
confident.  He looked down at the dark haired girl, as she peered up into
his eyes.  

"I hope so,"  she said, finally and pulled away, gently, taking his hand in
her small ones.  "Anyway, I'm starved.  I brought some of the extra out.  I
thought we could picnic here on the green and watch what's left of the
sunset."

The food that Danis had brought along was delicious, as good as what was
sent for the visitors, but perhaps a small blemish on the berries or the
end slices of the beef that weren't quite as perfectly formed as the center
slices.  Still, it tasted wonderful after their busy afternoon of work and
play.

They were just finishing up the soft pieces of sweet, white cake covered
with juicy red berries when a roar sounded from the hatching cavern.

"The eggs! They're hatching!"  Ansel said, jumping up and pulling Danis
after him.  "Come on!"

The pair sped away, leaving the basket forgotten in the shadows.  Danis
wondered what she was getting herself into.  "Ansel! Wait!"

He turned and slowed for only a moment, to let her catch up and then he was
off again, followed by a laughing, but confused Danis, close behind.

The cavern seemed dark as they entered, but there were several men carrying
torches to put in the high sconces.  Danis looked at the seats that rose
about the central area, wondering if she should climb to the top to stay
out of the way.  

But Ansel would have none of that, and dragged her along behind him right
down to the middle of the floor.  Several others were there, some rushing
forward on their own, other being shoved into the gathering crowd of
candidates.

"What do I do?"  Danis tried to ask, but no one seemed to hear her, and
there were several people between her and Ansel.  

Watching the others out of the corner of her eye, she moved close to the
eggs, watching them rock too and fro as if they were lids on a pot that was
just beginning to boil.

Blushing, Danis glanced around at the crowd.  It looked as if everyone was
watching her.  She looked back at the other candidates, Ansel was at the
far side of the group now.  She thought about trying to make her way back
to his vincinity, but then an egg near her cracked open.

Wet and gangly, a little dragon clawed it's way out of the broken shell and
staggered away from her.  Then another one, next to the first, pulled its
self almost out of its shell and staggered toward a young boy with dirty
clothes.

She watched as a third shell broke open.  The little dragonette appeared to
stagger toward Ansel and Danis held her breath to see if he would join, but
suddenly, a loud crack near her drew her attention away from the others and
her attention was rivetted to the queen egg that now began to hatch.

She didn't notice the other girls that crowded around her, their eyes on
the shining egg that seemed to crack and split in slow motion before them. 

A dragonette, a bit bigger than the others, poked it's head out of the
shell and peered about herself regally.  Drenched, it reminded Danis of a
story she had heard when she was young, of a princess who had gotten lost
in a rainstorm, but even so was regal.  

A golden wing unfolded, shattering a bit more of the shell.  Glints like
copper shone in the torchlight as the dragon turned, slowly opening the
other wing.  She appeared to gaze about at her subjects as if trying to
find the one that had dared to awaken her from her warm bed.

Danis backed up a step as the dragonette's eyes landed on her.  The eyes
swirled, glowing wildly in the darkened cavern.  

*Where are you going, Danis?*  she heard, a voice in her mind such as she
had never dreamed of.  *I'm Thalia and I'm hungry.*

The new queen shook off her shell and began to walk toward Danis.  She even
walked regally, it seemed, Danis thought, but she couldn't help herself,
she took another step backwards as the beast came toward her.

*Danis!  Don't you love me?*  the voice said, a pitiful little cry escaped
its mouth.  *I'm hungry!*

"I.. uh.. "  Danis looked around for the bucket of meat that she had seen
the others feeding their dragons from and grabbed it, trying to move closer
to the one that had chosen her.

"OH!" Danis's foot hit a spot that was damp from one of the other hatching
dragons and sat down on the ground, hard!   And quite unladylike also, for
that matter.  Thalia strutted regally over to where she sat and fell in a
heap on her lap.

*Feed me!*

Danis pulled a chunk of the meat from the bucket and fed it to the queen.
And then another and another.

"You sure like to eat don't you?" Danis said, out loud.

"Indeed they do,"  Tara said from behind her.  "Vignette, I'd like you to
meet Danis, our newest queen rider.  She's from an island off-shore from
here."

"Oh!"  Danis exclaimed, trying to disentangle herself from her hungry
dragonette.  "Dragonlady Vignette, I am so pleased to meet you! I, um.."

"Don't try to get up,  Danis,"  the Dragonlady said, smiling.  Your new
queen will require your attention for a while yet, and she doesn't look
like she is ready to relinquish your lap."

Danis shook her head,  "No, it doesn't seem so, though she's heavy!"

*This sure is good!  I am sooo hungry!*  Thalia said, butting at the girl's
hand to remind her that it was empty again.

Grabbing another slab of meat, Danis scowled at the dragonette, not quite
sure what to do.  

*You don't talk much,* the dragon said, chewing on the meat while staring
at Danis with those strange, but intelligent eyes.

"I.." Danis started, aloud, but as she noticed the Dragonlady and Tara turn
toward her, she stopped and tried a different tact. *I don't know how to do
this..*

*How to do what?*  Thalia said, still eating greedily.  *You are doing a
good job of feeding me, but you could go a little faster, your hand is empty.*

Danis grabbed more meat and answered, this time in her thoughts,  *How to
talk to you without saying it out loud.  I've never done this before.*

*Oh, well, you're doing it now.*  Thalia peered over the side of the
bucket. *No more?*  

Danis noticed the other new dragonriders were up and following Jerram out
of the hatching cavern.  *No more, maybe Jerram has some.  Let's follow and
see.*

Danis stood and curtsied to the Dragonlady and Tara, and then ran to catch
up to Thalia who was following along to find more food.

Danis followed after the others, definitely feeling out of place in this
line.  She wondered if Thalia had chosen the wrong person by mistake.

*I didn't you know,*  Thalia replied.  *You are Danis and you are my rider.*

*But I don't know anything about riding a dragon,*  Danis said, starting to
get used to speaking within her mind to the little dragon.  She was glad,
because she really didn't want anyone else to know how insecure she felt.

*Just be sure to feel me, and do something to make me stop itching!*
Thalia slowed down a bit and rubbed against Danis's legs.  She was soft,
not at all scaley feeling.  And the gooyness from the egg had seemed to go
away also, so touching her was now a joy.

*I don't know what to do!*  Danis said, feeling panic rise in the back of
her throat.  

Just then, Jerram turned and spoke,  "You've already fed your little
dragonette.  The next thing you need to learn is to oil him or her."
Aleipha walked up to the group at that moment and began to hand out little
bottles of oil to each of them.  The next thing was a lesson in dragon upkeep.

Beds were assigned in the training quarters for each of the newly joined
riders-to-be and soon, the little dragons were curled up sleeping.  Aleipha
motioned the dragon's humans away and said,  "They'll be happy to sleep
now, for a while, it's time for all of you to make an appearance at the
party."

Danis hurried to the apartment she had been assigned previously.  Stripping
off the dirty, oily dress she had worn to the hatching, she quickly bathed
and slipped into a clean dress. 

None of her clothing had been made to fit her, hers having been lost in the
shipwreck that had led to this day.  But she had taken her spare time to
redo them into creations that were original and beautiful.

This dress was a beautiful yellow check that set off her deeply tanned
skin. Swirling once in front of the mirror, she hurried out to the Dining
hall, shivering slightly.  She wondered briefly if she should have brought
a sweater against the cool night air, but as she stepped into the hall, the
thought left her, running down the back of her mind and into the pools of
subconcious, forgotten.

She looked around the room.  Danis had noticed that Ansel hadn't joined and
she wanted to talk to him.  She was so excited, but she knew that he must
be devistated.  Where was he?


Respectfully submitted,
Danis and Thalia

NRPG:  It is STILL hard to write Danis (Instead of Piper) and it will take
a while to write Thalia ;)

I'd have written more but I'm falling asleep... sorry for my silence of
late, I don't know where last month went, or this one for that matter!
Busy busy days that turned into months :P  I"ll try to do better and
actually get the web site changes up where they belong.

Here's my dragon, not much else known just yet ;)
                          Thalia (Golden-Copper)

hugs!
Louise