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Naomi woke at her usual early hour despite the interruption to her sleep.
As she dressed she reviewed the day's work... First there was Lilliana to
see, and Jaquel to persuade... hopefully that wouldn't take too much time.
There was the new riders to greet... 


*You have a busy day Naomi.  I hope you will find time for me?*  Amethyst
thought  *I am hungry today, and it has been a long time since we flown
together, or visited the lake....*


*I know my love.  There are so many things needing my attention though.
Things will be easier once Lacey is able to take over some of the day-to-day
things that press on me.  I'll make time to take you to the cattlepens
later....*


*I would prefer to hunt Naomi.*  Amethyst said wistfully  *It is much more
satisfying to eat when you have worked for your meal.*


*Hunting.... Are you getting ready to mate love?*  Naomi asked  *You usually
only want to hunt then!*


*No... I don't think so.*  Amethyst replied  *But I would like some fun for
a change*


*OK we'll get to the lake for a swim, and an oiling sometime today I
promise.... Now can you take me down to the Green?  I want to see the new
riders and then go fetch Lilliana.  This business with the water supply has
to be settled without delay.*


Naomi patted her dragons neck as she mounted;


*You're the best of dragons my love, and so patient with the little concerns
of we humans.  I wouldn't know what to do without you.  Shall we go?
There's a lot of people still abed after the party last night... should make
it a little easier to get things done while it's quiet.*


******

>"Soliel!" Soliel turned to see Naomi walk up to her.
>
>"I didnât see you. My apologies." 
>
>"Come walk we me to my office." Soliel agreed and they walked in silence 
>for a few moments before Naomi continued. "You handled yourself well 
>there. If Sâephan approaches you again, are you capable of dealing with 
>him again?"
>
>Soliel smiled slightly, "Moving from inn to inn to inn, well, I had to 
>learn to defend myself from unwanted.. attention." She showed Naomi the 
>two small knifes she kept hidden in her clothes. "Even so, I would much 
>rather be friends than enemies."
>
>"How do you like it here at Norwall Warren?" Naomi asked.
>
>Soliel beamed with happiness, "Sometimes its hard for me to believe that 
>I have joined with such a wonderful little dragon as Firen is, " Soliel 
>paused and laughed. "I find myself pinching my arm every few hours to 
>see if this is a dream or not. It has been so long since I have had a 
>home· did you know that it has been 2 years since iâve had a place to 
>call home. Ever since÷" Soliel paused, not wanting to continue, but 
>knowing that she should tell the WarrenLady. "This isnât something that 
>I speak of often·."
>
>"You donât have to speak of it if you donât want to Soliel. I can see 
>how upset it makes you." Naomi said softly.
>
>"No, its okay. As WarrenLady, you have a right to know·. When I was 16, 
>we were on a trip to see my Uncle. While I was off in the woods 
>gathering firewood, Wild dragons killed my family. I was the only 
>survivor. I.. donât get along well with my Uncle, and so, instead of 
>going to him, I became what I never wanted to be, a Bard. Ironic, isnât 
>it? In the last 2 years, I have sang in more inns than you could 
>imagine. If I hadnât been in that Travelers Rest when MâLent found me·." 
>Soliel let her voice trail away. It was a minute before she continued. 
>"But now! Now I have a permanent home, maybe even a family.." She looked 
>hopeful. 
>
>"We will all be youâre family Soliel." Naomi said.
>
>"Thank you Naomi, it means a lot to me." Soliel paused. "Oh dear!"
>"What is it?"
>
>"Firen is awake.. and she is quite hungry·."
>
>"Go on, feed your dragon, and make sure to feed yourself!" Naomi said, 
>shooing Soliel from her office.
>
>Soliel said her farewells and headed back to the hatchling barracks.


Naomi watched the girl walk away, and wondered had she ever been that young.
And yet so sure of herself... she'd handled S'ephan with ease this morning,
and the weapons she carried looked well cared for.  She'd be a good addition
to the Warren once her training was finished. 

*******

<Med Centre>


Lilliana looked up when Naomi poked her head round the door;


"Come in come in... don't stand gawping in the doorway.  Don't tell me
you've come for a hangover cure too.  Half the Warren have been in this
morning, but I thought you'd more sense than to overindulge."  Lilliana's
brusque manner covered a heart of gold, and Naomi knew the woman well enough
not to take offence


"No."  she said shaking her head  "I've come to take you away from all this
for a while!"


"Thank you Naomi... most kind of you to think of me, but I've too much to do
here.  There's the hangovers to deal with, and I have two babies due any
time now, and there's still one suffering from the effects of the water
contamination.  The gallivanting will have to wait until another time I'm
afraid."  the woman finished quickly and looked back to the papers she'd
been reading, seemingly forgetting Naomi's presence


"Ahem..."  Naomi cleared her throat softly


"Still here?  Why haven't you gone riding off somewhere with that Queen of
yours?  You look as if you can do with a rest and some fun."


"Not you too.  Amethyst's already spoken to me about that and I've promised
her I'd find time today.  I need you to come and see Jaquel with me,
Lilliana.  She's told Hannah that she can stay where she is......"


"She's what?"  the Healer's voice was shocked and angry  "We'll have a
tragedy on our hands if Hannah's not moved.  We were lucky this time as it
was.  Suppose it had been one of the children who'd been poisoned? "


"I know Lilliana... and I'm prepared to move Hannah by force if it's
necessary... but...."


"But nothing girl!  Jaquel's got to be made to see she can't keep
overturning you.... Stand up for yourself Naomi, you're Warrenlady her now."


"I don't want to hurt her Lilliana, and most of the time she's not a
problem... in fact she's becoming very vague nowadays.  Will you come with
me or not?"  


"I won't be as diplomatic as you... so I hope that's not what you're after.
I'll tell her straight what a foolish old woman I think she is.  But I would
have thought she'd know how important all this was anyway.  I spent ages
explaining everything to D'gerrit yesterday.  He said he'd tell Jaquel..."
Lilliana was puzzled  "There's something not quite 'nice' about that man.
Watch yourself around him!"


"Thanks, I really appreciate you taking the time.  And I'm always careful
Lilliana."


************

<Jaquel's office>


"I'm sure it was just an oversight on D'gerrit's part, Lilliana.  He is so
busy all the time, and so helpful to me since dear Constance was killed."
Jaquel paused, eyes misting over, as she thought of the girl who had stood
in place of a daughter to her  


"So he told you nothing of what we'd discussed?"  Lilliana said impatiently
"Doesn't that strike you as odd, Jaquel.  Especially as it was so important
and he said he'd relay the information to you at once."


"He was busy..."  Jaquel said again.  She gestured vaguely towards the desk
across the room  "There's always so much to do in running a Warren......"


"Jaquel you're no longer WarrenLady here.  You know that, and you can't keep
overturning every decision I make"  Naomi's voice was gentle, but determined
"It's causing so much confusion..."


"I'm just trying to help m'dear.  The responsibility is so great for such a
young woman as you.  Now if only Constance had lived....."  


"She's dead Jaquel"  Lilliana said bluntly  "And you're making Naomi's job
twice as hard as it needs to be..."


"Lilliana!"  Naomi said horrified


"I'm not going to beat around the bush the way you do Naomi." Lilliana fixed
Jaquel with a glare  "Either you tell Hannah to move, and quickly or I close
the Medical buildings down and you can get someone else to treat the
poisonings."


"What poisonings?"  Jaquel asked faintly  "No-one said anything about poison."


"Why the hell did you think we wanted to move Hannah in the first place?
For fun?" Lilliana was really angry now, and making no attempt to conceal it
"We traced contamination of the water supply back to the dyers cavern, and a
new dye that Hannah's been using.  Do you want deaths on your conscience
Jaquel?"


"Please Lilliana..."  Naomi protested  "You could at least try to be a bit
less brutal."


"No I can't!  This needs to be said and now before Jaquel does any more harm
than she has already.  Tell her to move. Now!"  Lilliana was adamant  "And I
want you to come in and see me as soon as possible."


"Poisonings."  Jaquel muttered  "D'gerrit never said anything about
poisonings.  Hannah said you wanted the cavern fro something else... she
never said anything about it either.. Maybe she didn't know?!"  The older
woman's eyes pleaded for understanding   


"She knew!  I very carefully explained why she had to move."  Naomi said
gently  "I'm sorry Jaquel, really sorry."


"I'll speak to her, Naomi.  I was just trying to help m'dear.  There's
always so much to do to keep the Warren running smoothly...." she trailed off 


"I'll send Hannah up to see you shall I?"  Lilliana asked, satisfied now
that she'd made her point  "We need to get her moved today Jaquel.  And I
want you to come and see me sometime today."


"Yes, yes.  Send her, and I'll explain..... If you'll excuse me I have a
headache.  I'll try to make time as soon as I can Lilliana."   her words
were dismissive and the two rose and left the room


"You could have been kinder Lilliana..."  Naomi started as soon a sthe door
was closed behind them


"No I couldn't!  She wouldn't have understood any other way.  There's
something not right there I'm afraid...  it's more than the grief of
Constance's death.  She's becoming much more vague than I'd realised.
Tests!"  she said  "I'll let you know after I've done some tests."


*********

<Naomi's office>

A quiet tapping on the door broke Naomi's concentration on the inventories
she'd been studying


"Come in..." she called without looking up


"DragonLady, I wish to apologise for last night.  I didn't mean to
offend...."  A'shair said so quietly that Naomi had trouble making out all
that he was saying


"A'shair!  Please come in and sit down.  Tea?"  Naomi tried to make A'shair
feel welcome  


"Thank you DragonLady... but no"


"It's Naomi, A'shair. Please call me Naomi.  I'm only WarrenLady anyway..."
Naomi grinned at the man  "Promotion!"


"I'm sorry WarrenLady..."


"Naomi!"  she said


"I'm sorry Naomi.  I just wanted to apologise for my behaviour last night.
I had no thought of giving offence...."  he ducked his head, avoiding her gaze


"There's no apology needed  A'shair.  I thought I'd offended you as a matter
of fact.  You always seem to run off as soon as I appear...."


<NRPG  Justin you can finish this off  *g*>


Another knock on the door, and Lacey entered the room.  Her light, and her
joyful expression told Naomi she had been doing some well earned relaxing


>"I can come back later, Naomi, if you want" Lacey said, knowing A'shair 
>was uneasy around most people. She didn't understand why. He was such a 
>nice young man.
>
>She turned to A'shair & said "Btw, Garnet tells me I have you to thank 
>for all the promt torch lighting last night. Thank you. She was pleased 
>that her hatchlings came into this world surrounded by the light even 
>though it was night."


A'shair rose quickly;


"I was just leaving....." he said, heading rapidly for the door


"A'shair?"  Naomi called after him.  


He paused and looked back at her, apprehension clear on his face


"My door is always open.  Please come and see me again soon."  she smiled,
trying to show  she meant her words


"Thank you."  he said, and left the room closing the door quietly behind him


Naomi turned back to Lacey


"So?  Did you two enjoy yourselves?"  Naomi giggled at Lacey's surprised
look  "You look less... er.... harried!"


"Oh!  I hadn't realised.  Yes we did enjoy it.  It was great to get out of
that Hatching cavern an dinto the air again.  I'd missed it!"  Lacey
explained  "I didn't realise just how trying and boring it would be... I
thought it would all be fun."


"I hope you're not too disillusioned sis.  You have to do this again, and
again...."  Naomi laughed aloud


"No... please no!"  Lacey joined in the laughter  "It wasn't so bad really.
And the dragonets are beautiful.  It was worth it.  But that's not why I'm
here.  Now that the hatching is done I think it's about time I pulled my
weight around here.. helped you with the daily running of the Warren, that
sort of thing."


"Oh Lacey"  Naomi hugged the girl  "I'm so proud of you.  It will be such a
help if you can take some of the more mundane things on... and it'll be good
training for when you're WarrenLady."


"That won't be for a very long time I hope."  Lacey protested  "It means you
retiring..."


"The day will come, and I'll probably be so tired by then I'll be glad of it."  


"How did the business with Hannah and Jaquel go, Naomi?  Did you get it
sorted out... I saw Hannah's crew moving their stuff so I thought you might
have."


Naomi explained what happened with Hannah, and included what Lilliana had
said about Jaquel.


"So there might be more wrong with Jaquel than simple age catching up "  she
finished  "I hope it isn't anything too serious...."


"You're too soft-hearted.  She's caused you so much trouble too."  Lacey
told her sister  "And watch D'gerrit.  There's been some gossip making the
rounds today about him stealing a child..."


"Lacey!  Gossip... you're as bad as Amethyst."  Naomi scolded her  "Come on.
I've had enough for today.  I promised Amethyst I'd take her to the lake for
a swim, and then go hunting.  Coming?"


Submitted by


Naomi & Amethyst


NRPG

Anyone wants us we're going swimming...

Josh... would you like to start organising the training of the new riders?

Kris... I'll get to Meena, Deeme and Harkon with my next post.  I think he's
going to be really nasty  <g>








-- 
Les

the voice and soul of

Timi Caplain  CMO    USS Javelin        T'beth  Counsellor     USS Magellan 
Lillith the Mage         Broken Lands      Minty, Kirimith's rider  Dragon Lands

Naomi, QueenRider to Amethyst, Norwall's WarrenLady,  Dragon Lands