[Night after the mating flights]

[B'rin]

He stepped shyly into Diana's room at the Medical Center.  The blond woman 
looked beyond him and when his father wasn't forthcoming, looked the 
question at him.

He blushed and stared down at the floor.  "Koroth won Rimanda-- that's 
Retala's dragon."

Diana nodded.  "I see."

"I'm sure he... I mean..."  He didn't know what he meant, so he stopped.

"It's okay.  It's the way of dragons."

He nodded and shyly sat in a chair.

"I don't think your father's ever mentioned Retala.  They appear to know 
each other fairly well, though.  Was she in his wing?"

"Retala?  She was... his Wingsecond."  He didn't know what his father had 
told her of his old life.  He decided not to mention anything else.

******

[Early the next morning]

[Retala]

She looked at his face, so tranquil in sleep.  It was a better memory to 
carry with her than the memory of his rages, of Ophelia walking in on them, 
of the uncomfortable silences afterward, the sidelong glances, the pretense 
that all was over between them.  She considered staying, but she wanted to 
remember him this way.

She quietly pulled on her clothes and slipped out.  Rimanda landed before her.

<Is Kalon still here?> she asked her dragon.

<No, he and his rider went back to Marrid last night.>

<Good.  We're leaving as well, my lovely.>

<You did not say goodbye to Koroth's rider.>

Retala smiled sadly.  <Oh, I said goodbye to him in my own fashion.>

She mounted the dragon and took one final, fond look at the storage 
building where she had finally gotten to say goodbye to Trey.  <Home, my 
lovely.>

And they were gone.

******

[Koroth]

He didn't know what to think.  Should he tell?  It was certainly not 
normal.  Better to be safe, he decided.

<Go away!> Aura hissed as he landed.

<I'm sorry to disturb you, but I have to talk to you,> he begged.

<Why is it that everyone must bother me while I'm trying to protect my 
eggs?> she whined.  Koroth was taken a bit off guard.  Beryth, the Telnor 
queen, had never been a brooding queen.  He was not used to this.

<It's about my rider.  I'm supposed to report when things out of the 
ordinary happen.>

<Gossip!  Well, come in here and fill me in!>

<I don't know whether this means anything or not, but my rider mated with
Rimanda's rider... after the mating flight was finished.>

<Why should that be of concern?> Aura asked.

<You know how silly humans get over such things.>

<Yes!  I certainly do!> Aura groaned.  <Raynod's rider is mighty upset over
the fact that my rider mated with Amadith's last night!  I don't understand
the problem!  His behavior might cause my rider to lose our hatchling!  Why
are humans so stupid sometimes?>

Koroth didn't know who Amadith was.  Nor did he have any idea who or what 
the hatchling was to whom she referred.  <I don't know, Aura, but they are, 
aren't they?  My rider used to mate regularly with Rimanda's.  And he 
always ordered me not to tell Beryth, or anyone else.  And that was the 
beginning of his problems at Telnor.  So I thought I should mention it.>

<So you think they are starting again because he mated with Rimanda's rider
again?>

<I don't know.  But I am concerned,> Koroth said.

<I will relay this on to my rider and see what she thinks.>

<Thank you.>

<Now get out, before you step on one of my eggs!>

******

[Later in the morning]

[Tr'etram]

He awoke to a pounding headache.  He was cold and his body ached from 
sleeping on a hard, cold stone floor.  Someone had been with him...

Retala...

He sat up suddenly at the memory and surveyed the room.  She wasn't there, 
but his body bore the traces of their passion.

"We shouldn't be doing this," she had said.

Oh, gods.

He had a mate he loved with all his heart and two new baby girls.  What had 
possessed him?

A stab of fear ran through him.  What if...?

He hugged his knees to himself and cried, much as his son had done the 
night before.

"It's a little scary, isn't it?" he had said.

He was more than a little scared.

******

"Diana?"

He quietly opened the door to her room.  Though it wasn't terribly early, 
he wasn't sure she'd be awake.

She looked up from feeding a baby and smiled at him.  The smile faltered as 
she saw the strained look on his face.

"Trey, what's wrong?"

Like a supplicant, he dropped to his knees by her bedside and took her 
hand there, the tears springing to his eyes anew.  "Oh, gods, Diana, I love 
you...  I... I'm so sorry."

She sat up then, fear in her eyes.  "Sorry for what, Trey?"

"I... lost control.  No.  I... I never got it back after the flight...  
I... Oh, gods!"

The baby, sensing her mother's tension, began to cry.  Diana laid her back 
in the bedside crib with her sister, heedless of her fussiness, overwhelmed 
by Trey's obvious distress.  "Tell me what happened?  Trey, what did you do?"

"After... after the dragon's mating, and after we'd slept some... I woke up 
with Retala... and she... and I..."  His voice choked and he squeezed his 
pounding head as if to stop it from exploding.

"You what?" she asked, though her voice held some hint that she had 
guessed.

He was trembling more with each passing moment, but there was no turning 
back.  "Retala and I... made love."  He buried his face in his hands.  "I 
don't understand how I could have...  It was like I was out of control...  
I...  Oh, gods, don't let it be happening again!"

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Tr'etram and Koroth
   Retala and Rimanda
    B'rin and Kalon

NRPG: Kat, I'll leave it to you how she reacts.  Kris, I figure his waking 
up the second time and going to see Diana was after the convo between 
Waylene and Aura.  If Aura asked Koroth to have him come see Waylene, he 
hasn't relayed it to Trey yet, seeing how upset Trey is.

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |