Christalla rolled slowly to consciousness to find that the 
second half of her bed was empty.  She pulled herself up.  "M'ressan?"

	"Oh, I'm here dear!" M'ressan singsonged from the other room.  "I 
was wondering if you were ever going to wake up!"

	<He's too cheerful in the morning,> Christalla thought darkly.

	M'ressan came in with a tray baring breakfast.  "Food for my 
DragonLady," he teased.  "Is there anything more I can do to please 
you?"  

	"Not this early in the morning, dragonrider," Christalla laughed 
and began to eat.  She hadn't realized how hungry she was.  "Why so 
helpful this morning?" she inquired around a mouthful.

	"Well, you know, I'm just looking forward to getting my hands on 
the new trainees," M'ressan admitted, grinning.  "And you, I believe, 
have a new queenrider to initiate.  She's quite a young lady, that new 
queenrider.  Were I a bit younger..."  He quirked an eyebrow at 
Christalla.  "...And wouldn't be cinders if I looked at another woman..." 

	Christalla sobered instantly.  "M'ressan, you know what that 
means," she said quietly.  

	M'ressan sat back and looked her over.  "It means what?"

	"Evelle is going to become Senior Queenrider of Keldarra," 
Christalla sighed.  "I'm going to have to remove you as WarrenLord."

	"Oh, is that all?" M'ressan replied lightly.  "I'll be glad to be 
rid of it.  More responsibility than I've every wanted."

	"It's not fair," Christalla cut back.  "I have to call Falangand 
Warren out on charges of gender prejudice, and we're all such hypocrites 
with a power structure that keeps men out of the upper echelons..."

	"The system works," M'ressan replied quietly.  "Isn't that all 
that matters?  For us and the Landbound too?"

	"But you've always been so much more fit to lead than I have..."

	"Christalla!" M'ressan grabbed his mate by the shoulders 
tightly.  "How many times do I have to tell you I DON'T WANT IT!  I am a 
telepath.  I keep hoping you're going to be able to live with that 
someday.  But I don't want to lead any more than my Beta Wing and 
trainees every hatching.  I don't have the stomach for power-play.  
That's where *your* skills lie."

	"M'ressan..."

	He let her go and sank back to a wry smile.  "If you don't like 
the Warren power structure, then do something about it.  But don't do it 
because you want me someplace I don't want to be."

	Christalla sighed, leaned over, and hugged him tightly.  "I'm 
sorry," she whispered.  

	"It's all right," he replied, returning the embrace.

	"Well, now, you're going to have to call the trainees to order," 
Christalla said, smiling.

	"I just did," M'ressan replied.  "The dragons are eager to get 
going."  Christalla tensed.  M'ressan rolled his eyes in exasperation and 
gently disengaged.  "I'm going to have to head down to meet them."

	"I'll see you later," Christalla replied.  He walked out of the 
room, calling silently to Alanth.  She could hear the red dragon shift in 
the his large stone chamber adjoining their apartment.  

	<Well, time to get myself up,> Christalla said to herself.  

	<Yes, yes,> Kaeryth answered.  

	<Well, send a message to Alicynth that I'm going to need to meet 
Evelle in my office in about an hour,> she sent to Kaeryth.  <I'm going 
to be out in a minute.>  Groaning, Christalla pulled herself out of bed 
and got dressed.  It had been a long night, and there was a lot to do 
today... she would have to send out a call for a Council of Warrens, and 
begin Evelle's training.

**********

	David Swordson, Michel Lighthand, Araminta, Wynn, Reolden, and 
Darlea all received calls from their dragons.  M'ressan instructed them 
to meet on the Warren green for their introduction training.  

	Interestingly, Hedda received a call as well, <Lannith, tell 
your Human that I could really use her help today...>

	The dragonriders gathered out in the grass at the spot M'ressan 
had taught new riders for several years, along with the rest of the newly 
joined humans and dragons.  The dragons were already growing... so 
rapidly that their riders could swear they'd doubled in size overnight.  
At the Hatching, they'd been about 4' long and awkward.  Now they were 
much more graceful and stood as tall as their riders-- some taller.  In 
another day or two, M'ressan knew he'd be teaching them to fly combat.

	"Well, if you don't know who I am yet, I'm M'ressan -- that man 
who hangs on the DragonLady all the time," he began, grinning.  "Today, 
I'm sorry to say, we begin with the mundane stuff.  We're going to learn 
to clean our dragons and help them care for themselves.  Then we'll go 
into preflight stretching and flight preparation.  We stay on the ground 
for the next day or two.  Baby dragons doing become fierce, firebreathing 
monsters overnight."

	He glanced over in Hedda's direction.  "I'm going to have an aide 
this time.  This is Hedda, a -- transfer from Falangand Warren."

	David Swordson stretched and made ready to sit down in the grass 
and be taught.  Suddenly, he heard a rumbling behind him.  Crying out, he 
jumped around to find himself face-to-"face" with a massive grey eye 
almost as big as he was.  <This is the one, M'ressan!> he heard in his 
head.  

	David couldn't believe his eyes.  His senses were acute like a 
warrior's... and the massive red dragon had just sneaked up on him 
silently!  

	"Well, then," M'ressan said, walking over to David and claping 
him on the shoulder.  "You're our latent telepath.  Alanth has been 
telling me about you.  You and I are going to have to spend some time 
together, just the two of us... you have a lot of control to learn.  
Believe me, I know.

	"But, at the moment, we've all got a lot of work to do."

**********

	"DragonLady?"

	"Evelle! Come in! I've been expecting you."  Christalla stood up 
and greeted the new queenrider, leading her into the DragonLady's 
office.  "Please, call me Christalla.  We're equals now."

	Evelle smiled shyly.  "Nobody's equal to the DragonLady, 
Christalla," she replied.

	Christalla laughed, making Evelle feel more at ease.  "Well, a 
close approximation, anyway," she conceeded.  "I'd love to take some time 
to get to know you, Evelle.  We're going to be working closely from here 
on out.  But we're going to have to spend today largely on business."

	"I'm ready for anything you need of me," Evelle said promptly.

	Christalla gestured to a comfortable couch.  "Please, sit."  
Evelle obeyed, and Christalla took her seat in the formidable, high- 
backed chair behind the large, engraved desk.  The small, childlike woman 
seemed laughably out of place, but her eyes held strong authority.  
"Well, I'm going to be asking a lot from you," she began slowly.

	"As you're probably aware, Keldarra has had only one egg-laying 
dragon for several years.  Shortly after I assumed the role of DragonLady 
10 years ago, the senior queen of Keldarra flew her last mating flight.  
Since the queen was infertile, the rider retired, and we lost both of 
them to the plague not long after.  The following year, we lost the 
queen dragon Kaeryth displaced as Empress to a badly-visualized teleport. 

	"There MUST be someone to represent Keldarra at the Council of 
Warrens.  As DragonLady, I must be objective.  It's difficult to pursuade 
another Warren to transfer one of its queens.  They are so precious.  So 
we've been existing with just Kaeryth all this time.  My mate, M'ressan, 
was elected to hold the position of WarrenLord -- to represent the 
interests of Keldarra at the Council of Warrens.  Now we have you.  He 
has been removed of that position as of now, and you're going to take his 
place. 

	"You are now Senior Queenrider of Keldarra.

	"I've called a Council of Warrens to meet in two days.  Usually, 
a new queenrider comes in as the youngest and has time to learn the 
ropes.  You're going to be baptised by fire, and I'm going to help you 
the best I can.  This is going to be a serious meeting.   Wraiths are 
back in the DragonLands, and I must call out Falagand on charges of 
gender prejudice.  I'm going to need your help."

	With her speech done, she sat back and waited for Evelle to 
react.  


Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Rati
Administrator, DragonLands

NRPG: Wow! Well, that does it.  Sorry for being so wordy folks, but I 
can't help it.  My admin characters are more than cardboard cutouts to 
hold DL together :).

All: Please continue the settings from where I left off.  In a couple of 
days, we get into the combat stuff, which is where it heats up <EG>

Justin: Feel free to add a private training session with M'ressan in the 
evening.  

Judi: Take the conversation from there, and go ahead and go into 
Christalla's diplomatic training.  There's no reason I should come up 
with all of it from MY imagination! <G>


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