[dl-m]
	Shard studied his opponent carefully.  It had been some time 
since he had faced such a worthy opponent, and come so close to defeat so 
many times.  But he still had a few tricks left.

	Shard slowly reached out, grasped the dragon about its ebo neck, 
and placed it on a dark square.  D'zall exhaled loudly, exasperated.

	"I'da sworn I had you in checkmate in 8 moves.  I gotta rethink 
my strategy."  Shard gave a slight smile to his friend's broad one.  He 
leaned back in the warm light of the cavern and waited.

	Chess was a common enough pastime in all of the lands Shard had 
visited, but 2 distinct sets of rules were most common, the Warren and 
the Landbound, each with slightly different goals, moves, strategies, and 
pieces.  In each culture, there was always a subset of the warrior group,
whether mounted knight or dragonrider, who were proficient in chess,
supposedly the distillation of the art of strategy.  And although the
WarrenLadies frowned on it (and a few landbound lords almost forbade it) due 
to the implications such a match elicited, the Warren vs. Landbound 
tournament, each player using different rulesets and pieces, usually 
turned out to be the most interesting, and, to the unaccustomed, 
challenging, game available.  Shard was expert with neither ruleset, but 
very good with both, and most Searchlings, even experts in the Landbound 
rules, usually either gave up the game or made a concerted effort to 
learn the Warren rules as quickly as possible.

        D'zall and Ziila had discovered him sitting alone in the food 
hall, and D'zall had rushed off to their cavern to grab his chess set.  
In the excitement, confusion, and grief of the past month, the siblings had 
found themselves alone in their parents' cavern, but, being very close, 
sontinued on together.  Such a condition alien to Shard, as an only 
child, although he now almost felt like part of a family.

	<Maybe that's why I said what I said to kyven, about wanting to 
help so much.  I hope I didn't offend him, Chal.>

	<I didn't get that sense from Aethnod.  Did you know that we and 
Mukale and Tarranx and M'lyrr and his rider a few of the others had been 
slated to begin Wraith-scouting expiditions in a few days, before the 
incident with Yenal?>

	<What?  Really?>  Shard frowned.  He doubted that Z'lec would be 
happy with sending wounded Riders out on scouting expiditions; he hoped 
he'd healed soon.  <Y'know, that whole text has got me thinking.  Damn!  
I wish I had it with me right now, there's something I was curious about.>

	<What's that?>
	
	<I was wondering if certain areas are more prone to Wraith 
attacks than others.  Perhaps, if the Wraiths nested in the soil, then 
the soil acidity would have an effect on where they went.  I was just 
remembering that father did fight Wraiths on occasion, but they seemed 
even less common than one might expect, even accepting the fact that we 
were hundreds of miles from civilization at the time.>

	Chal chuckled.  <Perhaps the thing to do, then, would be to talk 
to Mukale.  I was talking to Tarranx; Mukale was searched from a caravan, 
and has probably seen a great deal of the landbound nations.>

	<Interesting ... I'll have to talk to him, later.  but first, I'd 
heard David was wounded, and I was going to see him.>

	"Shard...?"  Shard shook his head, clearing his thoughts.  D'Zall 
smiled, and, beside him, Ziila giggled, her eyes alight.  "I could tell you 
were in the middle of an important conversation with Chal, there, or I 
wouldn't have interrupted you.  But it's your move."

	"What were you talking about, Shard?"  Ziila leaned forward.  
Shard blushed slightly.  'J-just how much I'm en-enjoying myself.'  
"Good!  Let me get some more bread for you."

	Shard tried to restrain his eyes, realizing he was sitting 
opposite Ziila's older brother.  And if he had anything to add, other 
than coughing slightly, concealing his (also blushing) face, it did not 
surface at that time.

	D'zall groaned as Shard Warren'ed his DragonLady, moving her 
safely out of a developing trap, out of harm's way, and revealing a 
Wingleader, with a wide field of attack.  'Y-your m-move.'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  

	Shard tried not to compare the Keldarra and the Marrid medical 
offices, coming as rapidly as he had from one, to the other, then back to 
the one.  Entering, he met Sky and Minty just leaving.  'H-hello, I w-was 
just going to see D-David.  How is he?'

	Minty seemed pale, and her eyes darted about nervously, no doubt 
filled with concern over her beloved.  Sky said "He's doing fairly well, 
considering how badly injured he was, but he's a little spacy, probably 
because of the medicattions.  D'ssarian might not let you in ... Shard, 
isn't it?"  Shard nodded, and Sky smiled quickly, and turned to Minty.  
"We were just going to get something to eat ..."
	'I-I already ate, b-but, m-maybe later I'll see you around.'  
	Sky and Minty left, and Shard entered, finding D'ssarian checking 
David's bandages.  'And I thought that I was feeling bad.'
	D'ssarian turned.  "Yes, uh, Shard, isn't it?  I'm told by one of 
my healers that you just got up, threatened him, and waltzed on out of 
here without a second thought!  I think it's time that someone saw that 
our patients followed orders, instead of thinking they were invulnerable."
	Shard sighed.  'I-I'm sorry, doctor.  I'll leave if you want.'
	"No, no, I'm not threatening you, I'm just saying don't be 
surprised if the next time you come in here, we don't club you over the 
head to make sure you rest."  He chuckled a little; Shard did so, 
imagining far too easily the gentle doctor wielding a crutch like a war 
hammer.  'M-mind if I talk to D-david?'
	"I think he should rest now --" "I won't be restin' fer a minute 
yet, I ken spare a minute f'r a friend."  Shard sat heavily in the chair 
by David's side, and glanced over his friend's wounds.  "It looks like ye 
dinna escape injury yerself.  Y'r first battle?"
	'Y-yes, it was ... I had just g-gotten the message that Y-yenal 
requested our help, a-and I 'p-ported in, without thinking.'  He sighed.  
'The battle was a t-total d-disaster.  But, I went to see K-kyven at 
Keldarra about s-s-setting up a study on the Wr-raiths, even capturing one.'
	David's eyes achieved a glazed look Shard had rarely seen.  Was 
that the medication?  Or something else, something ... probably he was 
just communicating with Kalin'sha.  "Aye ... I see."	
	'An-anyway, I might be going on a s-scouting expidition soon, 
b-but if there's anyth-thing that you c-could tell m-me or K-kyven --'
	D'ssarian stepped closer.  "That's enough now.  TIme for some 
rest.  For both of you.  And di I hear you say something about scouting?  
I have to say, although you won;t listen, I strongly recommend you not do 
anything strenuous for at least 48 hours, to give those burns time to 
heal.  Then we can remove those bandages, and see from there."
	Shard nodded, and stood.  'G-get better soon, D-david.  Minty needs 
you, and y-you and I still have to sword-s-spar again, sometime s-soon.'  
David smiled slightly, and Shard left.
	Chal was gentle in bearing his rider back to his apartments, 
curbing his natural breakneck speeds.  Shard was asleep before they were 
halfway there.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
[NRPG]
	I've had the 'Warren Chess' idea for some time now.  I might even 
go so far as to actually make up rules, and playtest them at home ... The 
Queen takes the moves and importance of the king, and is called 
Dragonlady or Queenrider; the king is a Wingfirst.  The bishops are 
Wingseconds, and the knight, dragonrider.  Idea: Pawns must first become 
Dragonriders (Joining), but dragonriders can move 3 squares in a 
straight line in any direction.  It's likely that there are other 
rulesets as well ...