Ansel
(corridor, outside the hatching cavern; Day 5, just after the hatching)

     [Ansel, what is wrong?] the queen asked, her voice sliding quietly 
through his mind as he stood in the silent, dark corridor.

     *Nothing, Varaenna, nothing at all,* he told her. *I just needed to get 
away for a moment.*

     He clearly heard Varaenna give the mental equivalent of a sigh. [This 
isn't the first time I've done this,] she told him, [and at every hatching, 
there are more humans hoping to join than there are available dragonets.  I 
am sorry that none of the little ones picked you to be their rider, but there 
will always be other times.]

     *I know,* Ansel said. *I shouldn't feel this way.  I guess I'm just a 
little disappointed.*

     [Valema's daughter, the new queen, has joined,] the queen said. [Did you 
know this?]

     *I knew that she would have, but I didn't know to whom,* he replied.

     [Then come and see,] Varaenna urged.

     *No, I couldn't....*

      [I think you should, and if you were to do so, you'd see why.]

     Somewhat reluctantly, Ansel moved slowly forward to the cavern's 
entrance once again.  He could see that the newly joined riders and their 
dragons were being led off the hatching sands one by one, but at the same 
time he could see the new queen still claiming center-stage.  And with 
her...Danis??

     Forgetting his disappointment of only moments ago, he pushed forward 
through the crowd to see them.  "Danis?" he asked, "is she yours?"

     He must have thought the words as well as spoken them aloud, because the 
queen's head turned around to regard him curiously. [Well of course I am!] 
she said with great dignity...or at least as much dignity as a hatchling 
queen could muster from her position sprawled across her new rider's lap.

     Danis looked up to see him just then.  "Ansel, look at her! Isn't she 
wonderful?" the girl cried.  

     "She certainly is," Ansel told her.  "What's her name?"

     "Her name's Thalia," Danis told him proudly.

      Thalia looked back urgently at Danis.  "She's still hungry," Danis 
said.  "Oh, darn it, I'm out of meat!"

     "Hang on," said Ansel, smiling.  He was so happy for Danis that he'd all 
but forgotten his own disappointment.  He quickly got more meat for the new 
queen and helped Danis feed her.   Thalia clearly preferred her meat coming 
from her new rider; but she learned, too, that she got the meat faster if 
there were *two* people handing it to her, so she didn't complain overmuch.

     When finally the new queen had had her fill, her eyes began to droop.  
Danis, who hadn't been around dragons, looked to Ansel nervously.  "I think 
she's going to fall asleep, even though she says she won't.  What should I 
do?"

     "Get her to someplace where she can fall asleep without having anyone 
trip over her," Ansel decided.  "C'mon, I'll help you!"

(Tag Louise - Tara will talk more with Danis once she arrives at the party, 
or else afterward)

      
Jerram

>Deftly she kicked away the rock and pulled the door shut.  In his present 
condition, it would take him several minutes at least to figure out the lock 
was on his side.  She heard his panicked gasp and then the knob rattled.

     Normally, Jerram would have taken something like this in stride, but in 
his present condition he was hardly at his best.  After trying the knob once, 
he backed away from the door...and suddenly found himself surrounded by 
something soft and clingy...

     "Arrrrgh!"

>"Remember Jerram - if they dissolve you, you flunk."

>Chortling at his predicament, Gus leaned against the wall and smiled.  
Payback was a lovely, lovely thing.

     "Damn wraiths, you won't get me this easy!" he howled, batting at the 
filmy stuff all around him.  

     [Jerram, what in the world is wrong with you??] Seydor demanded.

     *Damn wraiths are attacking me!* he called.  *Get in here, quick!*

     [Well, to begin with, I'm a little large to try and squeeze into where 
you are,] the dragon said,  [and second, if those were wraiths, wouldn't you 
be dead already?]

     *Huh?  Oh....yeah, I guess you're right...*

     [Aren't I always?]

     Angrily, Jerram pulled free of entangling fibers, and stormed forward to 
the door.  One kick sent if flying off its hinges, and he staggered back 
outside.  It was, as he'd more than half expected, empty.

     "Blasted street-rat," he shouted.   Oh, when he caught that little 
creep, he'd...well, he'd think of something appropriate!  "Just you wait...!"

* * * * * * * *
(Tara - Hatching party - snip from Barb's post)

"And I tell you that Street Rat did it to me!!" Jerram was stammering as
they drew near.

"What did I do to you?"

Gus smiled slyly at Jerram.  She hoped Ojean was right - and without proof,
Jerram had nothing on them.

"You know exactly what you did and when I get my hands on you.." he made a
move towards the kid but stumbled over a bench. 

Saul got up and reached to assist him to his feet. 

"Now wait a minute. Instead of attacking the boy maybe we should find out
where he was," the bearded rider looked towards the two boys. "Ojean maybe
you can shed some light on this. Where was Gus when you found him?"

Ojean didn't hesitate, but he prayed Saul wouldn't know he was lying. "With
Loki... He was sitting there on the floor just staring at him. Then I talked
him into coming back here with me."

Gus moved quickly to back the boy up. Did he have to look so guilty? "Yeah,
got kinda worried about him - so I went to check on him." She faked a blush,
"Couldn't stop watching him."

Shawnee looked them both over quickly just to satisfy her own thinking. She
was sure they were telling the truth, because Ojean would never lie to her. 

"Ah Shawnee.. you remember how it was when Tee was born... I was ALWAYS with
him... You always knew just where to find me."

Saul laughed. "Well that's the truth."

"Look are you gonna do anything' to this street rat... I'm telling you it
was him that did it to me!!" Jerram broke in and pulled his arm away from
Saul, but made no other move towards the boy. 

"Now Jerram.. I know it's a party but are you sure you didn't just have too
much to drink and imagine the whole thing." Tara asked.

(end snip)

     "Of *course* I didn't imagine it, Tara!" Jerram protested.  "Would I 
make something like that up?"

     "Well, not if you were *sober,* Tara said, giving him a critical look.

     "I AM sober!" Jerram declared, making a wild gesture and in the process 
unbalancing himself.  He fell heavily into a chair that was, fortunately, 
right behind him.  Tara sighed.

     "Okay, this should be easy enough to settle," she decided, casting a 
suspicious glance at Gus.  "Someone can go to that room you mentioned and see 
if there's any evidence."

     "I'll go!" Jerram volunteered, trying to lever himself up out of the 
chair.

     "I don't think he'd better go alone," said Darlea.  "Maybe I should 
help..."

     "I'll go too," Lesta said quickly.  Between them, they got Jerram up out 
of the chair.  

     Tara watched them go, and then turned to Gus.  "And now, young man, I'd 
like to hear what *you* have to say about this business."
     
(Kris or Barb - well, what will they find?   Katrina, what will Gus have to 
say for herself? :)

    Just when Tara hoped that things were about to settle back down to 
something approaching normal, she heard a disturbance near the entrance.

>"Oh gods, Devon .." Saul heard Tara breath as she recognized the drunk.

>All eyes turned to look at the young dark-haired man moving toward the
middle of the hall. "How can you be enjoying yourselves!" he roared,
spinning as if trying to take in the whole room at once.

>Saul, as well as several other moved cautiously toward the inebriated man.
He could see the man had been in some sort of scuffle. His eyes was blacked
and a trickle of dried blood stained the corner of his mouth. On top of
that there was a look of despair and near madness in the man's face.

>"Calm down, friend," Saul said.

>"I'm not your friend!" Devon spun on him. His face shattered. "You act as
though everything were fine! But it's not! It's not!"

>"Devon .. please," Tara moved toward him.

>"Oh Gods .." he moaned .. "You wouldn't let me believe that Piper would
come back .. but then you all go on as if nothing is wrong! But it is ..
Everything is wrong without her .." He dropped to the floor and covered his
face with his hands, "It's so wrong .. "

     "Devon," Tara said, laying a hand on his shoulder.  "I know how you felt 
about Piper, but this doesn't help!"

     "She's gone," he sobbed, "and everyone's here having fun as though it 
doesn't matter..."

     "It does matter," the young queenrider told him.  "It matters to all of 
us.  Devon, she and Bishvilea died very heroically to save the lives of 
others.  But this is a special night for these new riders, and she wouldn't 
want this happy time to be ruined for them!"

     "It isn't fair!" Devon sobbed.  "Why did she have to die?"

     Peren and Samika had come up behind the stricken Devon, meanwhile.  
Samika wasn't even trying to conceal the look of impatience on her face.  
"Devon, what if Piper were here?" she demanded.  "What would she think of you 
now?"

     Peren knelt down behind Devon.  "She would want you to be strong, for 
her," he suggested calmly.

     Tara nodded, and leaned over to whisper in Peren's ear.  "Can you do 
something with him?" she asked.   "See if you can get him sobered up a bit, 
and try to find out if there's something we can do to get this straightened 
out?"  Peren seemed to be a patient listener, and she hoped that perhaps that 
was what Devon needed right now.

(Tag Justin or Kris)

    Tara and Samika walked back to where the others were sitting.  "Will he 
be all right?" Vignette asked.  "What's wrong with him?"

     "He was very close to Piper, one of our riders who died at Geode," Tara 
told the Dragonlady. 

      "Ah, I understand," the Dragonlady said sadly.  "Many were lost that 
day."

     "But Jasra had a big part in the victory that day," Samika put in.  "Our 
riders and Daere's destroyed the entire left wing of the wraith horde!"

     Saul's eyes brightened.  "Really? I hadn't heard about that.  I knew 
about the battle at Geode Warren, of course, but unfortunately Whiteriver 
wasn't able to send a contingent at that time."

     "I'd like to hear about it, too," said Shawnee.  

     "It's worth hearing," said Tara, wondering just how much Vignette *had* 
heard about the battle, and about Jasra's role in it.  If Vignette didn't 
trust *her* to take over this warren, perhaps hearing about the heroism of 
its riders that day would at least push her to think again about closing the 
warren.  If she had to return to Ismene, it would at least be worth it to her 
if Jasra could remain - even if it were under someone else's leadership.  

     "Samika, you fought at Geode," Tara said.  "I'm sure these others would 
be very interested to hear about how we won that day!"  

(Tag Christine)

     Tara left the group chatting at the table, hoping that Samika could 
impress the Dragonlady with the tale of Jasra's contribution to the battle at 
Geode.  She doubted that Vignette would have heard this aspect of the battle 
until now, since all of the Geode riders and dragons had been on the far side 
of the aerial melee from Jasra's.  Perhaps, at least, this could drop her a 
not-so-subtle hint that this warren was worth preserving.   She wondered if 
Piper would have thought all of this worth the cost, to her or to Devon.  She 
hoped so.

     She would miss this place terribly, she knew, when she had to return to 
Ismene.  But if she could just know that it was still here...that would mean 
everything to her.

******************************
Vignette
(Guest quarters, after the hatching party)

>"Why thank you M'lady. But I fear it's not my sterling morals I'm here to
talk to you about."

>"Oh," her eyes opened wider as she regarded him in amusement. "Do we have
something else to discuss?"

>"Yes we do," he challenged as he refilled her glass and motioned for her to
take one of the comfortable seats in the living area a few feet away from
the dining area. "I think we do. Like explaining to me what kind of game
you're playing here?"

     "Game?" the Dragonlady asked.  "Whatever do you mean?"

     Wisp sighed.  "I mean 'game' as in you telling Tara and the others that 
you're going to close this warren!"

     "Who says I'm not?" she asked calmly.

     "You do, or at least you did!" he reminded her.  "Vignette, you know 
very well you sent Tara here with the idea of her taking over as Evelle's 
junior queenrider!  You knew then that she might someday be warrenlady here."

     "Evelle and Alicynth were younger than Tara and Varaenna," said the 
Dragonlady.  "Tara may have never been in a position to succeed her."

     Wisp looked crossly at her.  "Fine thing when you start keeping secrets 
from *me!* he said.

     "And you keep none from me?" she retorted.  "All right, look at it this 
way.  When I sent Tara here, I had no idea that Evelle would be assassinated. 
 Taken on top of Bithema's death - whose circumstances were suspicious, to 
say the least - it does seem to make the job of warrenlady here more than a 
little dangerous."

     "And, of course, being warrenlady anywhere else is *much* safer," he 
said, leaning back in his chair and rolling his eyes.  "I'm sure that Phaedra 
of Geode would have something to add to that, were she here right now.  Why 
don't you close Geode down, then, and all the other warrens while you're at 
it?  Bring all of your dragons and riders to Ismene where you can keep a 
personal eye on them?"

     Vignette chuckled sadly.  "And I suppose you'll point out next that 
Evelle's troubles probably followed her from Keldarra, and had nothing at all 
to do with events here?"

     He nodded.

     "Wisp, you know my real concern about Tara," she said.  "I wanted to be 
sure that she could display the moral strength needed to make a clean break 
with that despicable family of hers.  That would have been the final test of 
whether she had the steel in her to command here."

     Wisp shook his head.  "I think, Vignette, that in trying so hard to save 
her relations with her family, despite the way they treated her, she showed 
more strength and discipline than you can truly know.  But if that's what 
concerns you, I think you can see now that she *has* made the break with 
them.  She won't be going back there now."

     Vignette clasped her hands behind her back and turned to face the exit 
where the Empress Darath lay on her ledge.  "But once again, events moved 
faster than I had anticipated.  Of course she's broken with them now, since 
they tried to murder her brother, the one person that she was probably 
closest to of the whole bunch.  Her hand was forced, and the test was ruined."

     Wisp nodded slowly.  "I see," he said softly.  "So you're going to wait 
for some other opportune time for her to *prove* herself to you...and in the 
interim, let the people of Jasra work themselves into a frenzy thinking that 
their home is going to be taken away from them."

     "Under any normal circumstances, I'd have simply acknowledged her as 
Evelle's successor and been done with it," the Dragonlady told him.  "But 
these circumstances aren't normal.  She doesn't know this warren or its 
people!  She arrived here just as the position of warrenlady fell vacant 
under the most horrible of circumstances.  Trying to pull things together 
here would test *my* abilities, Wisp, much less those of someone who's 
totally untried in a leadership capacity!   I do not do this lightly, you 
know.  The riders of Jasra might not like the idea of seeing their warren 
closed, but I think they'd like it much less if I left them here to face 
disaster later!"

     "You're forgetting something," Wisp said calmly.  "You're forgetting the 
determination that these people here have shown to preserve their home...or 
didn't you hear what that rider at the party told everyone about the Battle 
of Geode?    If disaster comes, they'll face it as they have all others, and 
overcome it.  To win, Vignette, sometimes one has to gamble!"

     "I heard," she said softly.  "And, no, I hadn't been aware of that 
particular aspect of the battle until now.  Wisp, I would wish nothing better 
than to see Jasra remain open, but it can only do so if it has a warrenlady 
who I am convinced is ready to take the reins *now,* not years from now as 
I'd originally planned for."

     "You have one, you just aren't yet as certain of it as I am."

     "Easy for you to say, Wisp," said Vignette, turning around abruptly.  
"The responsibility isn't yours it's mine!  And furthermore...."

     She stopped, realizing that she was now addressing an empty chair.  
Sighing, she sat down and poured another cup of wine.

     [Perhaps Smoke's rider is correct,] said the rose-gold Empress, from out 
on her ledge.  [All the dragons here are sad at the thought that they might 
have to leave this warren.]

     Vignette stood up and walked over to the doorway, from which she could 
look past Darath at the flickering lights that dotted the opposite wall of 
the warren.  *I know,* she said.  *But I have a good reason for what I'm 
doing.  Soon enough, they will understand.*

     [When?] Darath asked.

     *That depends on Tara,* said the Dragonlady.


Submitted by:

John

Tara & Varaenna
Jasra Warren