[Day 8ölate afternoon, med center]

Elvynia stood beside the woman she'd christened Silver while she donned her 
replacement clothing.

[snip of Les's post]

"You said I had a dragon?"  she asked Elly as she slipped her feet into 
slippers that were slightly too large for her. 

"She's outside on the green with some of the others."  Elly said as Silver 
pulled a brush through her tangled curls.  "I'll take you there first.  All 
the dragons are calling her Friend for the moment because that's all she'll 
say to anyone that tries to talk to her.  What -is- her name?"

"I don't know."  Silver told her as she followed Elly from the room and 
through the corridors of the quiet med centre.

*Friend?* she sent the thought tentatively.  *Are you there?*

*I'm here.*  the dragon told her miserably.  *But where is here and why don't 
I remember anything before we arrived here?  I'm scared.*

"I'm scared too."  Silver answered aloud.

"I know."  Elly said in a comforting voice.  "But we'll help you all we can."

[end snip]

Once outside, Elvynia led Silver toward the green and the assembled cluster 
of dragons.  "There she is."  She indicated the waiting deep-blue dragon.  
"She is a beauty."

"That's my dragon?"

<Yes, it's me, rider.>

Silver hurried over to embrace Friend, the contact reassuring both of them.  
Elvynia considerately gave them a few moments together before gently 
suggesting to Silver that they take their intended tour.

"First I'll show you where everything is, and then we'll see about finding 
you a place to stay."

As they wandered from place to place, Elvynia told Silver about some of the 
most recent events at the warren.  "We just had a tremendous storm blow 
through here, a hurricane.  There's still some cleanup being done, but we 
escaped with minimal damage in the end."  

Silver looked around, taking in the few remaining sandbags and numerous water 
marks.  "No, it doesn't look too bad.  Of course, I don't know what it looked 
like before either."

"Oh, it's the most wonderful place to live."  Elvynia's eyes lit up.  "Let me 
take you down to the shore and show you the sea."

They approached the beach, which was still scattered with driftwood and 
various other debris.  Elvynia immediately removed her shoes and dug her toes 
in the sand.  "This is my favorite place in all of Jasra.  I usually take a 
long swim, but occasionally I like to just walk along the shoreline."

"It is lovely," Silver put in, her eyes scanning the vista before her.  

Elvynia stood for a moment looking out over the waves, her flaxen hair tossed 
by the gusty breezes, then she turned back to her companion.  "Well, we'd 
better head back now.  You don't want to overdo it, even though you've been 
released from the med center."  Silver nodded her agreement.

As they made their way back toward the warren, Elvynia told Silver a bit 
about her own family.  "Why don't you join us for the evening meal tonight?  
I'm sure my family would be glad to meet you."  

"I'd like that, if you're sure I wouldn't be intruding."

"No, definitely not.  My mother's very warm and my father will probably want 
to tell you one of his stories.  Your being with us this evening will help.  
They've been so anxious about my sister, Dalaine.  She's still in the med 
center, but we expect her to be released in the morning.  My brother, Ed'wen, 
may join us, too," she rambled on.  "He can be a bit of a hot-head, but 
overall he's a great guy.  Just don't tell him I said that," Elvynia 
chuckled.  Silver smiled in return.

After procuring Silver an empty apartment, Elvynia returned her to where 
Friend waited on the green.  "See you this evening, then?  I can come get 
you, and we can go to the dining hall together."

"Ok, I'll look forward to that."

****

At the dining hall that evening, it was just as Elvynia had promised.  Silver 
was warmly welcomed by both Evlan and Ro'gen, who tried to make her feel at 
ease by their kindly demeanor.  While Ro'gen was more gregarious and affable, 
Evlan in her quiet way was equally engaging.

"Please sit next to me, Silver," Evlan requested, pulling out the chair 
beside her.  "I'm so glad Elly suggested you join us.  We'd like to help you 
feel at home here at Jasra."  

"Certainly, we're glad.  I'm always happy to have someone new hear my 
stories."  Ro'gen grinned broadly.  "Sometimes my family is not as 
appreciative as I might like," he added in an undertone.

Elvynia smiled at her father indulgently.  "Where's Eddy?" she inquired, 
having noted his absence in the hall.

"He should be along soon," Ro'gen assured her.  Then he laughed.  "I was just 
remembering the time he missed the meal three nights running while he was off 
gallivanting with some of the other boys.  He's been especially careful since 
to see it doesn't happen again.  Sometimes I think he's still trying to make 
up for those missed meals with the amounts he puts away."

"Ro'gen," Evlan scolded gently, "all active young men seem to manage to eat 
great quantities of food."  She shook her head in bemusement.  "One wonders 
where they put it all."  She met her mate's gaze.  "I seem to remember a time 
you did the same."  The warm glow of shared memories lit both their eyes.  

Elvynia smiled at her parents' exchange.  "Don't mind them, Silver, they're 
incurable."  Though she teased, there was an underlying pang as the thought 
of sea-green eyes meeting hers across the table flashed unbidden in her mind. 

The clatter of a tray hitting the table beside her brought her head abruptly 
around.  "Eddy!  Must you sneak up on people?"

"What sneak?  I came up to the table the way I always do.  You just weren't 
paying enough attention, looking like you were miles away.  What has you so 
deep in thought?"

"Oh, nothing important," she insisted to her brother, though she failed to 
convince herself of that fact.  "I'd like you to meet our guest.  This is 
Silver, the woman who arrived so abruptly on the beach this morning."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Silver.  Welcome to Jasra.  I gather your rough 
landing didn't injure you too badly since you're not still in the med 
center."  Ed'wen seated himself across from the petite young woman.

"No, I'm not injured, I just can't remember things."  Silver's look of 
distress caused the family to exchange dismayed glances.

"Don't worry, child," Evlan tried to reassure her.  "We'll do everything we 
can to help you."  The others nodded their agreement.


[Tag, Les--At least Silver has some friends at Jasra now.]

****

[Day 9 ö morning]

[snip of Katrina's post]

Gus glowered, sandy-eyed at her breakfast.  She'd slept poorly and even the 
coffee wasn't really waking her up. She noticed Elly sitting down too late to 
make a break for it.

"So," Elly whispered, "when are we starting the reading lessons?"

"We aint.  It won't work, no sense wasting your time."

[end snip]

"How do you know whether it will work or not until you give it a try?  I 
never thought you'd be a quitter, Gus."  

"Tried already.  Didn't work then, won't work now."  Gus chose to ignore her 
comment about being a quitter.  Better Elly thought she was a quitter than....

"When did you try?  A long time ago?"  Elvynia refused to be easily 
discouraged.

Gus glared at her.  Would the woman never give up?  "Yes.  Years ago.  Ma 
couldn't teach me, why could you?"

"Just because it didn't work out once when you were a kid, you won't even 
give it a try now?  I believe in you, Gus.  I think if you make enough 
effort, you can do anything."  She felt as though she were pleading with him 
now, but she just couldn't let it go.

"I tried then," Gus hissed angrily.  She shoved back from the table and 
started to walk out.  

Elvynia watched him leave, frustrated and hurt by his response to her offer 
of help.  It wasn't as though she herself would get anything out of it, other 
than the satisfaction of helping someone else.  She just wanted to open some 
doors for someone she cared about--and he was walking away from her.  It felt 
as though he'd slammed a door in her face.  She sighed, looking down at her 
full plate of food.  Then she was on her feet, hurrying after him.

"Gus, wait!"

She caught up with him just outside the door.  "Please just give me one 
chance.  One hour of your time.  If we don't get anywhere, I won't ever bring 
it up again.  Please, Gus, please?"  She couldn't even fully explain to 
herself why this was so important, she only knew that it was.

Gus's shoulders slumped.  Even running away didn't stop her.  Why couldn't 
she just leave it alone?  "If I give you that, you'll let it go?"

"Yes, I promise.  Just one hour, that's all."

"Done.  Let's get this over with then."

Elvynia beamed.  "You won't regret it, Gus.  If you just work at it, I know 
you can learn.  Let me go get a book, and I'll meet you on the beach, ok?"

"Fine - but remember, you ain't tellin' no one.  Got it?"

"I won't breathe a word of it.  You just wait for me, all right?"

"Right."  Gus sighed and trudged off toward the beach.  Maybe once Elly 
realized, she'd stop all this hero nonsense.

Elvynia thought long and hard about what would be the best book for Gus to 
start with.  Got it! she thought it triumph.  After retrieving the book, she 
headed down to the beach to find Gus.

Gus sat sullenly on the rocks off to one side, sheltered from prying eyes.

"Gus, where'd you go?" Elvynia called, scanning the beach without success.  
Had he decided to skip the lesson after all?

"Over here."

Oh good, he was here then.  She hurried up to him, the book clutched to her 
chest.  "I've brought you a book that was one of Eddy's favorites.  I think 
you might like it, too."  She held out the worn book for Gus to see.  "It's 
called 'The Kata`krite`.'  It's a pirate story, with lots of action and 
adventure."

Gus shrugged.  "Pirates are good."

"Ok, then, let's get started."  She opened the cover and leafed through the 
first few pages.  Opposite the first printed page was a wonderfully detailed 
drawing of a pirate ship, her sails billowing, her crew armed to the teeth as 
they bore down on their unfortunate victim, a smaller ship with her main mast 
blown to smithereens.  "I'll read the beginning to you, and then we'll begin 
sounding out the words."

"Don't know the letters."

"All right, then we'll start there, instead."  She pointed to the first word 
on the page.  "These first three letters are T, H, E."

Gus nodded and sighed inwardly.  No point, the damn things all looked the 
same...

"Now, you say them back to me as you point to each one."

Gus racked her mind.  What had she said they were?  "Uh...T...A..B?"

"Not quite, Gus.  Look at the page again.  They're T, H, E.  Try it once 
more."

"H...E...uh..T?"

"That's close, but you have them mixed up.  Are you really paying attention?  
It's not that many letters to remember."

"I TOLD you this wasn't gonna work!  I can't do this.  All those damn things 
are the same no matter what you call Îem!"

"What do you mean, all the same?  They all look the same to you?"  Her 
astonishment was clear from her tone.

"Yes," was the sullen reply.

That had Elvynia thoroughly stumped for the moment.  She'd never heard of 
such a thing before.  "They really all look *exactly* the same, Gus?  You 
can't see any difference between them, like how the T has two lines and the H 
has three?"

Gus frowned.  The letters almost seemed to shift under her eyes.  She shook 
her head sadly.  "I dunno.  Knew I was too dumb for this."  She rose to her 
feet.

"You are *not* dumb, Gus.  There has to be more to it than that.  We just 
need to figure out what it is, and then we can work out what to do about it."

"Yeah right."

"Honestly, Gus, a person would think you were bound and determined to think 
the worst of yourself.  And with so little reason.  I know we can get past 
this stumbling block if we just try hard enough.  Think of it as the waves 
you have to get past to save yourself--much the way you saved Lainie and me.  
You were brave enough for that, show the same courage with this."

Gus blew out an exasperated breath.  "It ain't the same thing at all!  
Swimmin's easy."

"It can't have been all that easy under those extreme conditions.  Some of 
those waves had to have been 10 feet high.  So, maybe your trouble reading is 
like a 20-foot-high wave.  Let me help you overcome it.  Tell me more about 
what you see when you look at the letters."

Gus shook her head.  "They's just black scribbles."

"Once upon a time they were black scribbles to me, too.  But my mama showed 
me how to see the differences between them and told me what sounds they make, 
and eventually I learned to read.  I'm sure we can do the same for you."

While Elvynia was trying to convince Gus to keep working, Selene loped along 
the beachfront, once again playing with the waves.  Gus looked up and sighed. 
<<Tell her I ain't rescuing nobody today.>>

Elvynia looked to see what had captured Gus's wandering attention.  "Oh, 
Selene, for mercy's sake, can't you stay out of the waves?" she moaned.

Gus chuckled softly at the matching thoughts, while Elvynia hurried toward 
the frolicking dragon and tried to shoo her back away from the shore.  The 
little dragon pointedly ignored her.

Gus sat back on the rocks, grinning at Elly's fruitless attempts to rein in 
Selene. <<Loki, tell her if she don't come in, I'm gonna tell Lainie about 
the kitchen.>>

<That's blackmail!>  Loki protested.

<<Yup>>  Grumbling, Loki relayed the message.

"Gus, can't you give me a hand?" Elvynia called.

"I am helpin'."

"By just sitting there?  Some help that is!"

Selene skidded to a halt, peered around intently at Gus, and slowly walked 
back onto the beach.

"Worked, didn't it?"

Elvynia's eyes flew wide as she watched Selene magically obey.  "What'd you 
do?"

"Told Loki to tell her to come in."

"Since when does she listen to Loki?"

Gus shrugged.  "Since today I guess."

"It's not that I'm arguing, mind you.  I'm just surprised."  Elvynia shook 
her head.  She didn't think she'd ever come to understand that perverse 
dragon.  Thank the gods she was blessed with Iris, rather than Selene.  

"It was worth a try."

"Sure, whatever works.  Ok, now where were we?"

Loki ambled over to the rocks, angling his head for a good scratching.

"You was wastin' your time with that book."

Elvynia threw him a glare but forbore to offer the same protests yet again.

Gus ignored Elly's glare, apparently absorbed in petting Loki.

"All right, Gus.  I give up."

"Told you it wasn't gonna work."

"I hate to admit it, but I guess you were right."  She sighed.  She really 
had wanted to help him.

Gus laughed sourly.  "I'm always right."

Choosing to ignore Gus's last remark, Elvynia stood looking down the beach 
for several long minutes, regretting the outcome of her efforts, feeble as 
they had been.  Selene was still playfully dashing across the beach, her 
claws leaving patterns behind in the sand.

Gus slid off the rocks, dusting off the seat of her pants and began to pick 
her way toward the open beach and back to the warren.  Loki butted Gus 
playfully, nearly sending her headlong into the surf.

As Elvynia observed the markings, she noticed that in one place it almost 
looked as if Selene had written a word with her feet.  An idea began to 
niggle in the back of her mind.  "Gus...wait a minute, please!  I just had 
another idea.  Will you give it a chance?"

Gus sighed.  "Why are you doin' this?  Its a waste of time."  But the hour 
wasn't up and she headed back toward Elly.

"I wonder if it wouldn't work better to just write the words one at a time in 
the sand.  That way you wouldn't be distracted by all the other words."

"Whatever.  Sandy scribbles instead of inky ones.  I don't care."

"Let me think.  What should we start with.  'The' was certainly not a very 
interesting word.  How about your name?"

Gus shrugged, affecting disinterest.

With her index finger she drew the name GUS in the sand at their feet, keep 
the letters large and separated from one another.  "That spells Gus, G, U, S."

Gus looked down at the marks in the sand, willing them to make some kind of 
sense, but as always, they were just the same elusive scribbles.

"Can you see any difference now?"

Gus shook her head.

"Hmm, well, let's try my name."  She printed her own name carefully below 
his.  "That spells ELVYNIA."

Gus frowned.  "Yeah, so?"  

"Can't you see any difference at all?"  

"Sure, that one's got more scribbles than the other one, but all the 
scribbles are still the same." 

<No, they're not.>  

Gus stopped, her head slewing around to peer at Loki.  <<You can read Îem?>>

<Well, I don't know what they mean, but they look different.>

"Swell, just swell.  My dragon can read when I can't!"  Gus swore and started 
storming off across the beach.

Elvynia and Loki exchanged disgusted glances.  Elvynia inclined her head in 
Gus's direction, encouraging Loki to intervene.

<Get back here.>

Gus sighed, but turned around and marched back angrily.  <<Fine, I'm here.  
Bully!>>

Elvynia glared fiercely at Gus.  "Don't you move another inch from this spot 
until your hour is over!  Hear?"  She dared him to defy her.  "Now, what was 
that about Loki being able to read when you can't?"

"Loki says he can see the letters look different is all."

"Well, at least one of you can.  All right, since your minds are connected, 
there's got to be a way to use that."  She turned to smile at Loki, reaching 
up to pat his dusky hide.

Gus sat glowering at the marks in the sand.  <<So, how are they different?>>

<Well, see that one is kinda curved over there, but this one is curvy all 
over....>

<<Yeah, you're a big help.>>

Gus picked up a piece of driftwood, rolling it over in her hands as she 
waited for time to be up and this nonsense to be over.

<Well, look at this other one.  It looks a little like a comb with its teeth 
missing·not curvy.  Can you see that?>

Gus peered at the marks.  <<Kinda. But it don't matter, I can't see 'em all 
different.  Just let it go.>>

Disgusted with herself for even trying - for hoping - Gus let the driftwood 
sag.  The tip of it landed in one of the marks - of the shorter one, the one 
Elly had said was GUS. Not quite knowing why, she slowly traced the stick 
through the first mark before moving it onto the second. 

<<It feels different.>>

<Feels?>

Biting back on a whoop of joy, Gus traced carefully across the marks Elly had 
made. Over and again, closing her eyes to concentrate on the feeling, she 
traced the letters in the sand.  Taking a deep breath, she stepped over to 
the side and slowly traced the letters on her own. 

"Elly, lookit!"

When Elvynia saw what Gus had accomplished, her eyes suddenly filled with 
tears.  Hastily dashing them away, she stood there looking at the small 
miracle in the sand, unable to form any words over the lump in her throat.


[Tag, Katrina--Is all of Elly's persistence going to pay off?]

****

At midday, Dalaine was finally escaping the confines of the med center.  
She'd been chafing all morning, anxious to be released, but with one thing 
and another, half the day was gone before they'd let her go.  The open space 
of the green beckoned to her.  She twirled around in a dizzying circle, 
relishing her newfound freedom.  As she spun to a stop, she careened into a 
passing rider, who barely caught her before they both went sprawling.  
Looking up into his handsome face, she obeyed the sudden impulse and flung 
both arms around his neck, her lips meeting his.

At that moment, Tara and Jerram returned from Ismene.

[snip of John's post]

Tara unstrapped herself and climbed down as soon as the queen had landed.  
Jerram did likewise, and they stood for just a moment to take a look around 
before starting to unpack the dragons.

"Well, we're home!" Tara said. 

[end snip]

Then her eyes, settling on the couple embracing on the green, widened 
instantly in surprise.  "Kay?" she queried in confusion.  What was he doing 
kissing Lainie?

[Tag, John and Kris <eg>]

****


[Thanks to Katrina for writing Gus's reading lesson with me and to John for 
the helpful suggestions.]


Submitted by:

Dana Zuhlke                             

Elvynia (Elly) and Iris

Ro'gen and Apollo
Evlan and Athena                                        
Ed'wen (Eddy) and Hesperus
Dalaine (Lainie) and Selene

Jasra Warren