Shae was still wondering about Māressanās reasoningās for helping her find
an apartment, when she knew heād prefer to keep her *Safe* in the hatchling
barracks where her watcher could keep an eye on her, but decided this was
his way of showing her he trusted her. 

She wondered if heād even picked these apartments out just cause the
watchdragon *could* see them and thought heād found a good way to make sure
no one could bother her stuff this time without someone else there to
witness it. That would be more like the man she was coming to know, and
couldnāt help but think how glad she was that her cousin had found a man
like him to love and stand beside her. He was a good man.

She really didnāt know, but after falling in love with the place they had
chosen, she was willing to forgive the man. Almost.

Though on one hand it made her feel like a child whoās every move had to be
monitored, on the other had maybe this was his around about way of trying to
keep her safe. That made her think of her brothers who had always acted the
same way towards her. Gods she missed them. It had been a while since she
had gone back with Sābrogh to see them.

Maybe if she asked Māressan, and agreed to have another rider go with her
again, heād let her make a quick trip to the familyās inn and pick up a few
things for their new apartment to replace those things that had been
destroyed. It couldnāt hurt to ask! But would he agree?

Her cousin.

The Dragonlady of Keldarra·. Who would have figured?

Not Da·or he would have told her. Wouldnāt he? No he couldnāt have known. 

<Itās time to go meet the others for training,> Kaaren told her. <We donāt
want to be late.>

<<No love we donāt,>> Shae told her and stopped just short of the doorway
leading into the dragonās part of the apartment to take one last look around
their new place and smiled. This really was the best place. Theyād been
lucky to find it. Then she turned and went to mount the Fireball for the
short trip down to the green.

They arrived a little early for the start of the special training secession
and nodded to the others who were already here ahead of her. Elswyth with
glistening white Aedra, she already knew and the young boy sheād seen a few
times around.

<Aesirās rider, Arden,> Kaaren supplied for her. <And the others are Krithis
and her rider Reetsada. The dragons say she was injured in the last big
fight here and has forgotten what it is to be a dragonrider and fight. So we
are to help reteach her·> This thought somewhat confused the Red, but Shae
understood.

<<Thank you love for your help.>>

She saw Elswyth smile at her when she had dismounted from her dragon and had
gone to stand beside her. 

"I am · surprised to see you here," she greeted with slow carefully spoken
words. She was really getting much better with her speaking.

"Māressan asked Kaaren and I to help him with teaching this class," Shae
told her, thinking how much easier it was to talk to her friend without
having to use the dragonās as go betweenās.

"I see your *watcher* is still with you," she frowned as she turned to see
the two familiar figures standing not to far away. 

They talked of other things for a few minutes until the trainer showed up
and got them started with the drills that would soon become second hand to
all riders. 

After the last few weeks with her own training classes, Shae did find that
the exercises were more familiar to her now. Some of which she and Kaaren
could do so well together that they hardly had to think about what they were
doing. 

Sheād walked around and watched as Elswyth and the young boy Arden performed
the tasks, helping when she could and telling them when they had done the
job right. The other woman, Reetsada did things so well that Shae could well
imagine that she had done this before, and wondered about her story. 

Again during the class she wondered why the trainer had asked her to help
out. She really wasnāt needed, and it wasnāt perhaps a good idea for her to
be spending so much time around him. But heād asked and she couldnāt say no
to him, could she?

A thought came to her as they went through the paces. One that sent shivers
down her spine. A forgotten memory that she couldnāt afford to have
forgotten. Māressan *knew* why she had come here. 

She herself had told him the night she had been locked up in that tiny cell
in the Guide of Swords building after her gloves had been found in Michel
and Loriās apartment. Her mind went back to that time trying to remember
what all she had told him.

(((("Who wouldn't want you?" M'ressan asked again when she didn't answer.

"My father's family," she said before she could stop herself.

"If you tell me what you know about them, I can help you find them," he offered.

"No. They wouldn't want me," she insisted. "I would only bring them shame if
they found out about me."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't know about me," she finally told him, meeting his eye and hoping
he could read the truth in hers. "My father had left the Warren many years
before I was even born. His family doesnāt even know I exist."))

Had she told him anything else that night? She couldnāt remember. The whole
ordeal seemed like a bad dream she had wanted to forget happened. She knew
sheād been overly tired, but what *else* had she said to him?

Maybe heād forgotten. A lot of time had past and heād never referred to
their talk again. So maybe she was safe, for her secret couldnāt come out
now. Not now when it could do so much harm to the Dragonlady. 
Not when the man she admired would come to hate her for the trouble the
knowledge would bring to the woman he loved.

She wouldnāt be the cause of that. Not if she could help it. So if that
meant keeping her secret to herself, thatās what she would do. It was the
best thing to do. No matter what her own feelings were. These people had
been kind to her and she wouldnāt pay them back by bring scandal into their
lives.


About halfway through the lesson she heard him call out her name.

"Hey Shae," he called.  "You know how it goes from here.  I need
to talk to someone.  See you at the trial?"

"Sure," Shae agreed, somewhat relieved. Until she thought about the trial.
Poor Lori. She still found it hard to believe the girl had done what they
were saying she had done.

"Thatās it Arden," Shae told the boy when he had finished the job at hand.
"That looks well done. You see here where there is no slack in the riggings·
thatās good. Cause if thereās even the slightest bit of slacking, thereās a
good chance your saddle will slip when your in flight and Aesir makes a
sharp turn. We donāt want to have you falling off of him because your saddle
slipped· now do we?" She asked and got a shy smile in return from the boy,
before moving on to check on the older woman.

"Youāve done this before. You can tell by how easily you got the rigging set
up," Shae commented and saw a sad look come over the womanās face before she
could hide it. But when she turned back to face Shae there was a strained
smile on her face.

"I guess somethingās you donāt forget," the woman told her.

As she walked away, she raised her eyes and happened to see Māressan sit
down next to the girl she had seen last night at the party. The one Sābrogh
had been so upset about. When she saw him take the girls hand in his own, a
wave of loneliness came over her and she turned away.

<You wouldnāt feel that way if you would tell them the truth,> Kaarenās soft
voice filled her mind.

"I canāt tell them. You know that,>> the girl replied sadly. <<It would only
cause them trouble if it came out. And I will not repay their kindness that
way.>>

In truth she was afraid of their reaction. Māressanās in particular. Heād be
so disappointed in her and she would lose the friendship they has started.
Not to mention how Christalla would act. She might think she could never
trust Shae again because she withheld the information. If she believed it at
all.

But wouldnāt it be so nice to be able to claim the woman as part of her
family? Shae didnāt care that she was the *Dragonlady* . That didnāt matter,
for she wanted no favors from her cousin. Not one. It would be enough for
Shae to know the woman accepted her and they could get to know eachother as
family, not just as Dragonlady and dragonrider. 

<The little hatchling will talk to me!> happiness sounded in the Fireballs
tone. <Not that she has much to say, but her little voice is cute!>

<<The little one?>> Shae was confused.

< Alanthās humanās hatchling,> Kaaren told her and her rider nearly panicked.

<<Kaaren·.>>

<Do not worry my human,> the Fireballās tone was flat with her disapproval
on the matter at hand. <I will not say anything to her, but I still think
you are being silly.>

Shae didnāt answer her, but noticing how much time had gone by, turned to
dismiss the class to give them time to get ready for the trial.

Elswyth came over to her before she could mount her dragon and leave.
Her friends face shown of her concern. "Aedra said that Kaaren is upset,"
she said kindly. "Is there anything I can do to help? Have you found
anything more about your family?"

Shae turned to her sharply. How did she know!?! 

Something in her expression must have alerted the girl to her panic. Her
hand came up to rest on Shaeās arm. "Do not worry. It is your secret to
tell. I will not say anything to anyone else about it."

"Thank you," the girl told her, but wondered how much she knew. She didnāt
remember telling her anything about it. Had she been careless somehow? It
worried her. Sheād have to be more careful in the future.

Now though, it was time to get ready for the trial. Shae was going to go not
only to find out what was going to happen to Lori, but also to find out what
she might one day be put through if her name wasnāt cleared. Though with
having a *watcher* dogging her every step lately, maybe those who had tried
to throw the blame on her had given up.

Not that that would do any good until she could prove she hadnāt been
responsible for those crimes already attributed to her. Somehow there had to
be a way.

---------     

The girl watched as the Red dragon dropped her rider off out side of the
meeting hall just as other dragons were landing and letting off their own
riders then took off to allow others to land and dismount. She followed the
girl inside and took a seat in the back of the hall, where sheād be able to
see everything but it would also allow her to leave without being noticed by
to many people if she had to.
 
She waved to those she knew, making a show of it so others would be able to
say they had seen her here. Then when the Dragonlady got up to address the
crowd, the girl slipped out without being noticed. As she had planned the
attention of the people within were focused on the woman addressing them now.

She had work to do and now was the perfect time to start it. 

When she had finished, she returned to the meeting hall and slipped back
into the seat she had left earlier. No one seemed to realize she had been
gone. Smiling to herself, she sat there and wondered what reactions would
later be when others upon returning home, were to find that the clothes in
their closets didnāt belong to them, or found that the things they had left
sitting out on their dressers, or tables, werenāt the same things they were
finding now·.a harmless joke this time. 

But it could have easily been worse.

Things had become to tamed around here, and that wasnāt what they were
paying her for·.maybe it was time to remind the others.

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

Barbara (a.k.a.

Shaelesta & Kaaren (the Fireball)
Keldarra Warren