Day 9

Gus stood on the beach, staring at the marks she'd made in the sand.  Her
name, she had written her own name. Granted, she wasn't sure she could
recognize it again, just seeing it, but she'd written it down.  

She glanced out from under her eyebrows at Elly,  but she thankfully had made
no move to hug her again.  Instead she was just  standing there, looking all
choked up.  Good grief, was the woman going to cry? Gus snorted in disgust and
backed away. Nutty family this was!

Backing away caused the now ever-present bag of gems to thump against her
chest, reminding her of other tasks that needed doing.

"I got other stuff to do,"she muttered.  Uneasy gratitude made her voice gruff
and her tone curt, but the eyes that met Elly's couldn't entirely conceal the emotion.

"When shall we try again?" 

Gus frowned in thought.  She really did have to do something about this scheme
of Tara's.  What, she wasn't quite sure yet, but something.  And there was
training, too.  With Jerram in charge, he'd be just waiting to pounce on any
misstep of hers.  

"Dunno.  After training anyhow.  We can talk at lunch tomorrow, ok?"

Elly nodded, her eyes still glistening dangerously and Gus hastily made her escape.

*****

Crossing the green, Gus involuntarily looked back at the beach and shook her
head.  Crying - and for being happy, too.  Just like her ma, she thought, soft
and weak.  Hell, she hadn't even cried when Krelˇ  Her back twitched with
remembered pain. She ignored the voice in the back of her mind that reminded
her she'd cried after and turned her thoughts back to more important matters.

She found the trader in a far corner by the warren shops.  Approaching
cautiously, she made sure he was alone.

"Hey, can I talk to you?"  He inclined his head in assent and she continued. 
"I need your," choking on the word "help", she adjusted and went on, "advice."
 

"Go ahead, lad and I'll do what I can."

"Warrenlady wants to set up some kinda "relief fund" for them what got put out
by the storm.  I can handle the sellin' part, but I aint never had extra money
to give away."

"All right then, I'll be needing to know how much money we're talking about
and whether you want to buy supplies for those in need - or just hand out the money."

Gus blinked in surprise. "Uh, I dunno.  Should be a fair bit o' money, but the
Warrenlady just said to see to those who need it - she didn't say how.  Can
you tell me for both ways and I can decide after?"

{Tag, Barb! Have fun with it.}

*****

Finishing up with the trader, Gus wandered off, wondering what to do now.  Her
stomach rumbled loudly, as if to answer the question.

<You're almost as bad as Selene.>

< *I * could steal food out of the kitchen without leavin' a mess.>  Gus
chuckled and headed for the Dining Hall.  

Unsurprisingly, the Dining Hall was doing a brisk business.  Gus eyeballed the
room, looking for a quiet place to sit when she noticed Darlea.  By now, the
news that Lesta was gone had made its way through the warren.  Gus frowned in
thought.  Was her deal with Lesta still goin' if Lesta wasn't here?  And
without Lesta right there to protect her, was Darlea gonna be safe?  Gus
watched the rider and shook her head.  She was short but more rounded than Gus
- even without the bindings.  Soft, no doubt about it.  She needed help.  

Gus gathered her meal and threaded her way through the crowds over to Darlea's
table.  Despite the crowd, she was still siting alone. Gus hooked a chair out
with her heel and glanced at the blonde rider.

"Mind if I sit here?"

{Tag, Kris}

*****
Gus arrived for training ahead of time.  Looking around to make sure no one
else was watching, she picked up a stick and slowly traced her name into the dirt.

<How's that look?>

<Umˇthere's something wrong with that last squiggle.>

<There is?>

<Yeah, the squiggles go the other way.>

<No, I'm sure they go side to sideˇ>  Frowning, Gus rubbed out the offending
mark with her foot and closed her eyes to concentrate on the feeling of
writing.  Slowly she inscribed a new mark in the dirt.

<That's it! See, I said they went the other way.>

Gus grinned broadly in relief and pride.  She'd done it!  Maybe this reading
thing wasn't so hopeless after all. Noticing the other trainees arriving, she
rubbed out the marks in the dirt and sauntered happily into the half-circle. 
She was aware of Loki craning his neck past her to call out.

<Hurry up and park your fat butt next to me.>

Gus sighed inwardly.  Where Selene was, Lainie would be too. She turned to see
Lainie striding up to join the circle.  Spying the same gleam in Lainie's eyes
as in Elly's, Gus quickly stepped back, holding one hand up to ward off the
hug that seemed forthcoming.

"Hands to yourself."

Lainie stopped abruptly, her eyes widening in shockˇand hurt.  "I just wanted
toˇto thank you.  If you hadn't dived in after us ˇ  You saved my life, Gus
and I -." 

"You wanna thank me, you'll forget all about it.  Not one more word."  When
Lainie would have protested, Gus shushed her, jerking her head to where Jerram
was standing in front of the group.


Jerram glowered at the trainees in his usual fashion. "I suppose you are all
looking forward to flying today.  Well, tough.  The dragons will not be
carrying riders."  There was a ripple of disappointment at his words and he
smiled thinly.  "Don't worry, you will get your chance.  Trust me, your
dragons are not ready yet."  When the disappointment turned to murmurs of
protest, he continued.  "I realize none of you are going to believe me without
seeing for yourself.  Gus!"

Startled from her daydreams of flying on Loki, Gus snapped to attention.  "Yessir?"

<Sir????>

Gus shrugged mentally.  <Sorry, got carried away.>

Jerram's eyes narrowed at her choice of words.  "Why don't you have Loki show
the others how it's done?"

Gus nodded and turned to Loki, who was all but skipping into the clear space
readied for today's dragonflights.  He crouched low and fanned his wings into
position, pausing to take a deep breath.

"He's probably going to want to get a running star-."  Jerram's words were cut
off as Loki  sprang into the air, his wings pumping to send him aloft.  Small
compared to the other hatchlings, he was still powerfully muscled and after
all, had much less mass to get airborne.

Gus craned her head skyward to watch.  Loki drifted from one thermal to
another gliding happily over the watching trainees.

<This is GREAT!  I don't know what Jerram is talking about - I could carry you easily.>

"Call him in to land now.  Time to let everyone have a chance."

Gus nodded and relayed the command to a protesting dragon. <NOW, lizard-breath.>

Loki grumbled, but obediently dropped his tail and swooped toward the landing
strip.  Gradually folding his wings in, he stuck out his feet to hit the
ground.  Gus watched him proudly, slowly coming to the realization that there
was something dreadfully wrong with his approach.

<You gotta slow down!>

<What? Why?>

Any answer Gus might have given would have been lost anyway. Wincing, she
moved to head Loki off, but it was too late.  His feet hit the ground solidly
- too solidly and he reared back, fighting to regain balance, his wings fanned
desperately.  This only served to propel him further along the "runway",
spraying the immediate vicinity with moisture culled from the grass. 
Careening wildly, a totally out-of-control Loki headed straight toward Jerram,
who stood in utter disbelief for just one moment too many.  

The force of the colision was enough to take them both of their feet and
tumbling head over heels.  Only Seydor moved fast enough to intervene,
providing a wall to end their slide.  Loki fetched up, head on the ground, his
wings still helplessly spread and his tail in the air.

The entire group of trainees broke into a run to rescue the unfortunate pair. 
Elly was first to reach them and almost without breaking stride dropped to one
knee, propping a shoulder underneath Loki's back.  With a grunt of pure
effort, she managed to heave Loki up high enough that the other trainees could
grab Jerram and pull him out from underneath.  Gus skidded to a halt just shy
of the tangled heap of dragon and trainer and watched this feat with some
amazement.  Jerram emerged from underneath Loki, well-dampened and with a
streak of mud along his cheek.

It wasn't funny, really.  Both Jerram and Loki could have been hurt - Jerram
badly.  She must NOT laugh.  It was no good.  Gus bit down hard on her lip to
keep the chuckles that were shaking her body from erupting into sound.

<You could help me get down, you know.>

<I'm laughin' too hard to move.>

<Thanks a lot.>

Several of the other trainees, now reassured that no damage had been done
noticed Gus's trembling shoulders and twinkling eyes.  A snigger hung on the
afternoon air.  Glowering and once again filthy from his encounter with just
one trainee, Jerram stalked over to Gus. 

The impending doom should have been enough to still the laughter, except that
Selene chose just that moment to butt Loki hard with her snout, landing him on
his side.

<Gee, thanks, fathead.>

A giggle escaped Gus just as Jerram reached her.  He bent over, nearly nose to
nose with her, dripping mud onto her face and simply stared angrily at her for
several moments. Finally, he sighed gustily.

"The landing needs work."

Spinning on his heel, he turned to face the rest of the trainees.  "I trust
you see why we have the dragons fly solo to start with.  Now, who wants to go next?"

{Tag Dana, Arle, Louise or John - so, anyone else for flying?}

Training was just finishing up when Loki  passed along a message.

<Warrenlady wants to see you right away.>

<Oh hell, what did I do this time?>

Gus turned to head toward Tara's office, noticing as she did so that Corwin
too was headed in that direction.

"You, too?" He asked as they hurried across the green.  At Gus's glum nod, he
went on.  "Any idea what its about?"

Gus shrugged and taking a deep breath entered the Warrenlady's office.

________________

Katrina

Ok, Arle - so when shall we do that JP?