Waylene
***
<<Early Afternoon>>

>"And then?" Waylene asked.

>"Then he staggered back, hit the other wall, and fell. When he didn't move
>I went over to him. I told him to get up, but he didn't move. I knelt down
>to see what was wrong when the door opened and that's when Zaphron and Da
>came in. Zaphron said he was dead."

"All right, Yasi." She said soothingly. "We'll get this worked out. G'vriel
will be close. As I'm sure, S'an will be to. I've got to get back to the
Warren and to do some searching through our contracts, I'll have to send a
message to the Dragonlady .. I think I'll send to Tinobel as well and see
about getting a medical investigator out here. I'd send C'tain or Koda ..
but I'm sure they'll want a more impartial party. But don't worry, sweetie,
it'll be all right."

Yasmine nodded, "Thank you."

"I'm going to have G'vriel take me home, I think S'an would like to see you."

"Okay."

Waylene studied the girl and could see that despite assurances the girl was
still traumatized by what had happened. She certainly couldn't blame her.
And to have Starlin's first mating flight on top of everything. Thank
goodness Jer'lin had been here. She wondered briefly why he was here. But
she really didn't have time to wonder, she wanted to get back to the warren
..

***
<<Shortly after Waylene's arrival back at the warren>>

Waylene smiled as Kendal came into her office, "Kendal. You're back."

He nodded. "I want to make my home here. But I needed to straighten my head
out."

She nodded back, "I understand. I know things haven't been easy for you
since you're arrival. Is there anything I can do?"

He shook his head, "No. I have to do it myself."

"I'm sure Ailill will be glad to see you back."

"Will she?" he had a pained expression on his face.

Waylene nodded, "Though she may not let you know it. Kendal, women want to
know that they are the most beautiful and desirable thing in a man's heart.
So this was a blow to her. Words won't be enough. You have a long road
ahead of you to prove how much you love her."

"I'll do whatever I have to."

She smiled, "Good."

***
<<Late Afternoon>>

Waylene barely paid attention to the roar of the mating flight. They were
common enough around the warren. With some 75 dragon pairs, 34 of which
were female, that was approximately 68 flights a year .. give or take a few
depending on they lustiness of the females. Marrid averaged about one
mating flight a week.

The Warrenlady often took the time to watch the flights, and see the
winners, but not today. Her nose was deeply immersed in thick dusty books
which outlines the contract between the Warren's and the Landbound. She
sent her messages, one to Tinobel .. one to the Dragonlady, and know she
was doing what she could to be sure she completely understood her rights
within the contract.

She was mildly annoyed when Aura interrupted her.

<'Lene, Ribbon's rider needs to see you about the mating flight.>

<Tell her in a minute ..> She brushed the dragon off.

<My rider, I think you should speak to her.>

<Is someone hurt?>

<No ..> Aura said, <It just that Shella ..>

<Shella?>

<The strange dragon .. who isn't really one of us.>

Tina .. right .. Waylene nodded. For a moment she hoped Ainu hadn't won
that flight. It certainly wouldn't help Kendal's suit for Ailill.

<No one won, 'Lene. Few even looked.>

<What do you mean?>

<The males did not give chase. They were not interested. But there's more ..>

With that Waylene stood and hurried from her office. Males not interested
in a mating flight! Now that was something to be concerned about! What more
could wait.

<'Lene ..> Aura continued as she ran. <Shella took on a metallic sheen as
she roared her challenge.>

<What!>

<For a moment .. she was a queen.>

<Don't be silly, Aura. Obviously your eyes are playing tricks on you.>

Aura snorted, <I know a queen when I see one. And for a moment, she was
clearly metallic. Still the males gave little interest to her challenge.
Even as her color shimmered.>

Waylene frowned not liking this at all.

***

Waylene had stopped as she'd come upon the large cyan-green dragon. She
wiped her eyes, as the dragon shimmered briefly, then paled again. It did
almost look as though for a moment she'd been metallic.

Now the dragon lay in heap, just off from the medical center. Clearly
unhappy. <Aura, talk to her .. find out what's wrong?>

<She doesn't know, love. She says she doesn't feel .. right.>

Waylene frowned but didn't have time to ask any more as she spotted Koda
coming towards them.

>"Have you any idea what's happening?" she asked the healer when she saw her.

>"None at all except maybe it has to do with the fact that they come from
>somewhere else," Koda shrugged and began taking things out of her bag.
>"I'm going to take some blood samples and do a few test. Compare them to
>the ones I took when they first arrived and see if that will tell me
>anything. But other then that..." She shrugged again and set to work.

Waylene nodded, "Do what you can? I want to be sure. Did you see her color
change as well?"

Koda nodded, "Well it didn't so much change as it .. shimmered."

"Are you sure it's not a trick of the sun?" Waylene did not trust what she
had seen. It had been to brief .. to unexpected.

Koda shrugged, "Was it not for the fact that the dragons saw it as well ..
I might be inclined to think so. But Ribbon assures me she would know a
queen when she saw one."

"I don't understand. Dragons don't just become queens overnight!"

Koda turned her eyes on Waylene and softened her voice, "Let me do these
tests. This would be the best time to do this. Who know what she's going to
do next."

"Get Tina out here to keep a handle on her dragon." Waylene ordered.

"Normally I would. But Shella told Ribbon that her rider is exploring
caves. She's somewhere deep in the Marrid caves with Samual."

Waylene frowned. She'd forgotten about that. Well at least the girl wasn't
alone. "Well let's do this."

>"How was Yasi when you saw her?" Koda asked, looking back at the other
>woman as she set up to retrieved the first of the needed samples.

Waylene shrugged, "As well as can be expected I guess. I wanted to bring
her home .. but that was out of the question as far as those in Tressa are
concerned. Utha has a niece whose going to be brought in to rule in his
place. As I recall she and her uncle were not getting along. Hopefully
she'll help. But they won't release Yasi without word from her. I just hope
she doesn't see Yasmine as a rival for Tressa .."

"Yasi's a dragonrider .. how could she be a rival. Not to mention she's not
even Utha's real daughter."

"True, but according to Zaphron, his manservant, Utha never changed the
order of succession."

"So that leave Yasmine in charge of Tressa?" Koda asked in disbelief.

Waylene nodded. "I didn't tell Yasi. She was shook up enough."

"It'll take Utha's niece a couple of days to arrive, so there'll be time
enough to get into that. In the meantime I've sent to Tinobel to get
someone to do a full examination of Utha. It sounds to me, from what
Yasmine said, that he had a heart attack or something. But we need an
impartial party to pronounce that."

Koda nodded slapping the samples into her back. "I think that's enough for
my tests." She looked at the large dragon, who was being comforted by
Ribbon as Koda had taken the blood samples. Then she turned back to
Waylene, I'll let you know as soon as I can."

Waylene nodded, "Good."

***
<<Nearly Dinnertime>>

Waylene was just about to head up to her apartment for dinner, when Kendal
stopped her in the hall by her office, "M'lady, can I have a word with you?"

"Of course, Kendal. What is it."

"I've been unable to locate Ailill."

"Ailill?"

He nodded, "Ainu has asked Storm, but I think Ailill is still refusing to
speak to me. Storm will tell him only that she's busy. But.. I don't know.
Something doesn't quite seem right."

"I'm sure if Ailill were missing or in trouble Storm would tell us."

He nodded, "Probably, but she did say something that bothers me."

"What."

"Something about caves and lost maps. Ainu said Storm was hiding something
from him."

"Caves?"

Kendal nodded.

Frowning, Waylene turned away. "No .. she wouldn't.."

"What?" Kendal asked. "If you know something tell me. I just want to be
sure she's okay."

Waylene sighed, "She had asked to spend some time with Z'lec. She felt she
could make things better for him. But.." Waylene shook her head, "I
couldn't let her do that. Not when we know how dangerous he's been.
Attacking you and Trak .. and you saw what he did to that soldier during
Languard's siege."

Waylene looked back at him. "I refused her request. She wasn't happy. She
said she knew Z'lec hadn't been the one to kill that boy .."

"So if she went to the caves to try and prove it .." A determined look came
over Kendal's face. I'm going in."

"Kendal. Tina and a young rider named Samual are exploring in there to.
Tina wanted to try and update our maps .." she looked at him hopefully,
"Maybe Ailill went with them."

"Ailill with Tina? Not likely."

Waylene nodded, knowing what he said was true.

***
<<Dinnertime>>

>"It's like say.... we get a human and run a blood test on him. then we
>drain him of all the blood in his body and replace it with someone else's
>and then redo the test. The results won't be the same. There's no way they
>can be... and somehow that's what's happening to Shella... she's the same
>on the outside.. but her insides seem to be changing on their own and I
>have no idea why this is happening."

"Could she have been suffering some sort of teleportation sickness?"

Koda shrugged, "I suppose it's possible. But it's unlike anything I've ever
seen from that before. Of course there's so much about Dragon teleporting
we don't know."

"So you really think she's a queen?"

"We won't know until her blood evens out. I'll take more samples in the
morning."

Waylene nodded, "I hate waiting."

Regards,
Waylene & Aura
***
NRPG: Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I'm assuming people are
gonna start to worry, and the dragons are probably going to have a hard
time keeping their worry in .. well at least Storm and Samual's dragon.
Shella's not feeling to well :)

Norman, I thought you might like to get in on this.. Feel free to drag
along someone else.. Maybe Talitha? What do you think Jill?

Umm James .. you're up next on Shella's transformation :)

Kristen
------------------------------------
Kristen & Scott Gant
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/gant.htm