A New Look At Life

Ghost
******

Ghost felt one last feeling of fright as Mc'key gave the order to teleport.
They'd been warned about the shift in the magic pockets and had decided to
go the jump in one long jump.

<Be easy my rider. Vas and I have the picture of where we are to go. We will
get you and his rider there safely and then we can start our new lives.>

New lives. Yes it would be good. She was still riding a high from the fact
that Key had chosen to come with her. It proved to her that he did love her.
She swore she would never give his a chance to regret his decision to leave
Geode and come with her.

With one last look at the tall handsome man who she loved, Ghost gave
Kikeane the order to teleport and then they were gone from the cold frigate
skies of their home.

They arrived over Jasra Warren in the middle of the Warren's afternoon and
the first thing they noticed was the heat that hit them like a dragons blast. 

<Oh I think I'm going to like it here!> came the joyful comment from the
pink dragon as she followed her mate down to the sands where other dragons
were laying about. 
<They ask who we are and what we are doing here. Vasleth has told them that
we would like to make our home here and that we have come from Geode.>

<<And how did they take it?>> Ghost asked looking across at the man she
loved. Key gave her a warm smile and then came to help her down off the pink
when the pair of them had landed. 

"We're to be met here by someone who will take us to see the Warrenlady,"
Mc'key told her then helped her off with the riding jacket that had seemed
to be reasonable wearing apparel in Geode.  

"It's quite a bit hotter here then it was back home," she commented, unable
to stop her hand from lifting up and undoing the top most buttons of her
shirt. "Do you think you can get to like the heat love?" she asked.

"I can if you can," he grinned wickedly looking down at the skin she'd just
exposed, then lifted his glaze to her blushing face. "I could get to like
seeing more of you then I did before."

"Oh?" her breath caught as she imagine the feel of his hand on the path his
eyes had just taken. A path they knew well by now but hadn't been on in such
a long time. Her heart beat faster just thinking about the time when he
would once again..... 

He just looked around and when she followed his eyes she could see what he
meant by the way the people here were dressed. 

"Back home there was a name for people like this," she leaned closer to him
and whispered. 

"Well back home there was a reason for that," he chuckled, pulling her
slender body to him.  "With the cold winters we had and a foot of snow on
the ground anyone dressed like these people would have been considered crazy."

"Kiki says she will like the heat," Ghost relayed to him her dragons earlier
comment. She was so nervous about the rider coming to meet them that she
just kept talking about anything that came into her mind until she felt Keys
hands cover hers and pull her to the spot just under his arm where she fit
so perfectly. 

"We'll be okay here love," he assured her in the soft gentle tone he used
when they made love. "It'll just take some time to get used to being
somewhere new. But we'll be together in the trying."

"Yes," she turned her face up to his for an all to brief kiss. "Together."

"Umm... Excuse me... But I was sent here to bring you to see Warrenlady
Tara." A voice said and they broke apart to turn as one and saw a young boy
standing there eyeing them. "I'm Ojean, Teewith's rider and one of Tara's
courier's. If you follow me we can go see her now."

"It's nice you meet you Ojean," Mc'key held out his hand for the traditional
greeting. He kept his thoughts about this one being to young to be a rider
to himself. But wondered how the joining had happened.

Though Ghost knew what he was thinking, upon seeing the age of the boy. She
knew Key could tell this one really was a young boy. Not at all like she had
been when she had first come to Geode and had had to pretend to be younger
then she really was. "I am Mc'key. Vasleth's rider and this is my mate
Ghost, rider of Kikeane. We've come here seeking a place to make a new home."

"Well Jasra is a really cool place. You'll like it here and Tara's a good
Warrenlady," the boy said and they began to follow him as he led them away
from the beach. "You're dragon's will be fine here for a little while. But I
wouldn't advise you to let them swim until you've found a place to unpack
all your things. Not that it takes that long for things to dry out here...
but....."

"I can see your point," Ghost said and then sent a strong message to her
pink to stay out of the water. <<You can swim later once we have found a new
place to live.">>

<Hurry please... the others dragons say the water if fine today... Not to
hot and not to cold. Vas and I really want to go for a swim. We've never
seen so much water before in one place.>

Ghost chuckled and told the others what Kiki had said to her. The boy Ojean
smiled.

"Our dragons said that when we first got here too," he told them, as he
walked them past the shops doing business on the square.  "We'd had a river
going through our old Warren but all this was just... something you'd read
about in books."

They were just passing the leather shop when the door was open and Dontey
came out with a package in his hand. Spotting Ojean with the others, the
older man waved to him and they waited while he walked over to meet them. 

"Are you going by Tara's by any chance?" Dontey asked his son, while nodding
a friendly greeting to the two strangers. 

"Happens I am," came the boys cheeky reply. "This is Mc'key and Ghost...
Fresh come from Geode Warren asking to live here in Jasra." Then he turned
to the others and told them," This is Dontey the warrens leather shop owner,
and my father. If you need any work done on you saddles or whatnot, he's the
man to see."

"It's nice to meet you sir," Mc'key said and lifted his hand up to clasp the
one Dontey had thrust out. 

"I hope you'll feel welcome here in Jasra."

Dontey suddenly knew why Ojean had pulled this job of meeting the new comers. 

"So how it Teewith's mother?" his eyes sparkled in mirth as he asked his son.

"Not yet," Ojean blushed slightly, then turned back to the others. "My
dragon Teewith... You see I asked Tara if I could be the one to meet you
when I found out you were from Geode... You see Tee's mother moved there to
live and I was wondering if you could tell me how she was... I mean we heard
about the ... battle there and ... well..."

Both new comers looked at each other in puzzlement. Neither remembering the
boy or a dragon by that name joining in Geode. And there hadn't been any new
Queens there in a long time. Unless you counted the Nomad woman and her
Queen who had shown up during the battle. But that Queen had been to young
to have taken her first mating flight.

"You say she came to live in Geode," Key asked hoping for an explanation.

Ojean nodded.

"Her name was Caliban and her dragon was cream colored by the name of Lute."

"So your Teewith wasn't from a Queen's hatching?" Ghost asked, still a
little confused but she had recognized the riders name. "I knew Caliban. She
and her Lute were doing fine when we left Geode."

The boy's smile grew as he heard and past on the news to his dragon. "Tee
and I are happy to hear that," he told them as they bid Dontey goodbye and
headed once again for the Warrenlady's office. "We both missed them when
they left Whiteriver, Tee especially. Her being his mother and all. He'd
been the lone egg from her clutch you see... very strange for a non Queen to
lay an egg, but Lute did and Teewith and I have been together every since."

They could both hear the pride in the boys tone and couldn't help but smile
as they remembered their own joinings. Yes the pride was well deserved. 

They arrived soon at Tara's office and Ojean lead them inside with a brief
knock at the door to let her know they were there, then he motioned for them
to go on in ahead of him, before making the introductions. 

"Thank you Ojean. I hope you had some good news?" Tara asked as she motioned
for the two new riders to take the seats that were in front of her desk.

"Yes ma'am," the boy grinned knowingly. "They said Tee's mother is doing fine."

"Well good. I'm glad to hear that young man."

"Me too," the boy said and then turned back to Key and Ghost. "I'm sure
you'll like it here, and if you need any help finding things just have your
dragons ask for Teewith and he'll let me know."

He left then to go in search of Cill to let her know the good news.

"He seems... sort of young..." Ghost said after the boy had left. "But a
good kid."

"Ojee is young for all his years but he has the training and he and his
Teewith have been a big help to me," Tara told them. "His sister, Shawnee is
our Wingleader here in Jasra and her mate Saul is our searcher. So he comes
from a good family. For all he and his Teewith are small, they make up for
it by being well bread for their duties. Now... I'd like to hear about the
two of you."

Ghost turned to Key and nodded that he should go ahead and start the
talking. "My name is Mc'key. My dragon is Vasleth. I was the acting
Wingleader in Geode after the former one was killed in the battle... My mate
here is Ghost, rider of Kikeane..." 

They had agreed not to give out who her family was unless they had to. Ghost
had wanted a new start and the fact that her family were well respected
landholders might have caused the same sort of thing that she was running
away from. 

"A Wingleader... I would have thought you'd be needed more now in Geode then
ever before??" Tara looked puzzled.

"I didn't desert my Warren in a time of need M'lady," he told her stiffly,
and Ghost placed her hand on his arm to keep him calm. Then she took up the
story.

"Key didn't really want to leave Geode M'lady," she said softly, giving her
mate a very loving glance. "He did it for me, because I couldn't stand
living there with all the memories any longer. "It's a story that I would
prefer not to have to tell again... but I don't want you thinking Key
deserted the Warren in a time of need. He's a good man and knows his duty well."

"Perhaps if you tell me some of it," Tara suggested. "I promise what you
tell me will stay in this office."

Ghost looked back at Key, wanting to know what to do.

"It's your story to tell my love so the choice is yours to make."

So she did. But only to save her love from suspicion. 

Briefly she told Tara of how she had come to be in Geode. How her mother had
sent her there for protection and of how she had pretended to be a young 12
year old with no memory. Then she told about the now dead Lord Bridgett and
how upon finding her had tried to bring attack to the warren to gain her
back. But by this time she had joined with Kikeane and he had no legal claim
on her since she was now a dragonrider. But it hadn't stopped him. 

She went on telling about how he had hired men to kidnap her from the med
center and her reunion with her mother. Told about how she had found out
about her true identity and marriage to the man who now was the legal ruler
of her family's lands. About her divorce from the man who later married her
mother with whom he'd been in love with all along and how they were now
ruling the lands together.

"I never wanted the lands or the title. I just wanted to be who I was. A
dragonrider, and they wouldn't allow me to be one in Geode," she told Tara.
"If I had stayed them anyone wanting to try and use me to get to my family
would have had a good chance to do so... They thought they were protecting
me... but I couldn't live like that any longer... A friend... suggested that
I come here... and Key... loved me enough to come with me. He did it for me
M'lady, not because..."

Tara understood. More then they might have thought. But she understood. "No
more will be said about this then," she told them. You have my word that
what you have said will stay in this office between us, and may I welcome
you both to Jasra. I'm sure you will find here what you are looking for."

"Thank you M'lady," Key's tone was thankful as he placed his hand over the
one his mate had laid on his arm. "We will both make sure you do not regret
this."

"I'm sure you won't," Tara knew she had made the right choice. Just then
there was a knock at the door and Darlea entered. 

"You wanted to see me Tara?" the girl asked, then spotted the two new riders. 

"Yes Darlea, this is Mc'key and Ghost formerly from Geode Warren. They'll be
joining us here in Jasra and I'd like for you to show them around and help
them get settled. I'll make sure Shawnee meets with them when she and Saul
get back later today."

(tags to Kris and Peter. Have fun finding a place to live...)

[[nrpg: Shawnee and Saul will be returning to Jasra later this day..... I'm
sure there will be at lease one person eagerly awaiting her return so he can
comment on her not being there to do her *duty* ;) ]]

[[Later that afternoon.......]]

Shawnee
********* 

They arrived in the middle of Jasra's afternoon and as soon as they
unpacked, Shawnee told Saul she was going to go by the Warren offices and
talk to Tart. 

"I want to make sure nothing happened that I should know about while we were
gone."

"Shawnee we were only gone two days," Saul grinned.

"A lot can happen in two days time," she said and then avoided his
outreaching hands when he would have pulled her back into his arms. "Later
my love. I did promise to take you exploring when we got back if you were a
good boy."

"And was I?" he asked following her back out to the dragon's ledge.

"I'll show you tonight just how good you were," she lifted her hand up to
wrap it around his neck and pull his head down to hers for a brief but lusty
kiss.

"I'll be waiting."

"I would hope so," she chuckled as he helped her to mount the teal. "But I
think you'd better play with your daughter for a while or she might think
you've forgotten her."

............... 

"Oh you're back! Good... How did things go?" Tara asked after greeting her
returning Wingleader. 

"The memorial service was sad... And I wished we could have gone back for a
happier reason, but it was nice seeing old friends,' she didn't mention and
never would what had happened to the cult members in the end. Something's
were better left unsaid.

"So what's been happening around here while we were gone?"

"Well besides my queen deciding to redecorate the hatching caves....." Tara
said and sighed.

"Redecorate?"

"It's a long story believe me you don't want to know..." Tara assured her
then went on. "We've a new pair of riders in from Geode asking to make Jasra
their home. I met with them earlier and approved their transfer request."

"What are they like?" Shawnee wanted to know. Mainly in her role as the
Warren's Wingleader. She thought it best to know something about each of the
riders she would be leading. 

"Mc'key is a former acting Wingleader. He took over when H'rin... He was the
Wingleader... was killed in the Battle of Geode... His mate is
Ghost...unusual name... and I'm sure it's not her real one, but that's what
she's called. Might be an interesting story there somewhere... is a patrol
rider."

Shawnee looked puzzled. "If he was acting Wingleader..... then why did they
ask for a transfer?"

Tara cleared her throat knowing she'd promised the pair that their story
would remain their own secret. But what to tell the woman across from her. 

"There are reasons... I can't go into them, but I hope you trust me enough
when I tell you that it won't effect their being in the fighting wing."

"Shawnee looked her over good, but could only see the sincerity in her eyes.
"You know what these reasons are?"

"Yes I do." Tara replied but went no further. 

"Okay if you say it won't effect their being in the wing then I'll trust you
and ask no more about it." the she asked. "What else has happened? I can
tell you're saving the best for last."

"The new Queenrider we're suppose to have join us was suppose to have
arrived today."

"And she hasn't?"

"Well the rider sent to bring her here arrived... But she wasn't with him."
Tara let Shawnee see how worried she was. "I've sent him back to make sure
she left there and to try and stop along the way to see if his dragon can
find any trace of her."

"What's being done about finding her?" Shawnee asked already thinking of who
to get to help. It would have to be someone who knew the area.

"Since you weren't here I asked Ed'wen to get a team together and start
looking for her," the Warrenlady informed her. "I figure he would be the
best one to do so since he grew up here in Jasra."

"Yes I agree," and Shawnee did. She just didn't like that the man held the
last wraith attack against her. But that couldn't be helped right now. "Has
he come back to report anything yet?"

A knocking at the door came before Tara could answer. She bid the caller
welcome and in walked the man they had been talking about.

"Oh you're just in time Ed'wen," Tara smiled, not aware of the sudden
tension in the air. "Shawnee here was just asking if you'd been back to
report on your search for the new Queenrider."

[Well Dana..... has he got something to say?]

Ojean
******

"And then the girl... her name is Ghost... can you believe that... though
she does seem real nice... Well she told me that she knew Caliban and that
her and Lute were fine." Ojean told Cill as the two of them were walking
across the green towards the dining hall. 

"Well I'll bet Teewith was  glad to hear that his mother is doing fine,"
Cill responded.

"Oh he was," Ojean told her and his eyes caught sight of someone he had been
wanting to introduce Cill too. "Hang on a second. I want you to meet someone."

He didn't see the girl hesitate, but called out to Gus as the young man was
walking towards someplace. "Hey come here... I want you to meet someone."

Gus frowned but came along. 

"Cill this is Gus. He's Loki's rider and the friend I was telling you about.
Gus this is my friend Cill....."

"Yeah I figured," the boy said and nodded to the girl. "He talks about you
all the time. Must be nice for him that you're finally here. Come for a
visit?" Gus asked innocently but didn't know how much the question upset her.

[Tag Kris... what will she have to say.......]

*****Submitted by: ******

Shawnee & Doshayne, Jasra Wingleader
Ojean & Teewith 
Ghost & Kikeane
Jasra Warren

Aka
Barbara