Galen
------------------
Galen watched Naomi silently, listening to her words and to her tone.

"He knows how to handle himself,  but he takes many risks with his
life that I find hard to bear.  I knew that when we first mated and
his nature hasn't changed."  There was a tinge of bitterness in her
voice that surprised Galen.

"He is his own man and may come and go as he pleases without hindrance
from me."  

The pain flashed in her eyes again.  There were a lot of emotions
involved with this subject.  He wished there was something he could do
to ease her pain, but he could not think of anything.

She touched his hand briefly, hiding all trace of personal cares
behind a polite smile.  

"Are you comfortable here?"  she changed the subject neatly  "Can I
offer you further hospitality or do you have everything that you need?
 We haven't had much time to talk since you arrived here......  "

Her words were cut off by a shrill, terrified scream from one of the
trainees, and an urgent bugling from some dragons.  She whirled around
and then instinctively dropped to the earth, pulling him down with her
bare seconds before one of the hatchlings skimmed by scant feet above
them, raising a cloud of dust in her wake.  Naomi scrambled to her
feet.  Galen slowly rose, keeping his eyes on the small dragon as it
sped towards the cliff face seemingly intent on a suicide dash.

Naomi looked furious.  Two dragons bugled angrily, and burst into the
air above the youngster's hurtling form, ready to interpose their own
bodies between the dragonette and the cliff if it was needed.   

At the last possible second the youngster peeled away, and slowly
spiraled down to a perfect landing.  Galen surpressed a chuckle.  That
pair was in for quite a rebuke.

Galen stayed where he was as Naomi rushed off to the pair.  T'grat,
eyes blazing with fury, was there already giving the youngsters a
piece of his mind.  He watched as Zera took the pale faced rided off
of the dragon and the ensuing conversation.

He couldn't here what was being said, but he could easily imagine.  He
had been in T'grat's position a few times.  Not with Dragons, of
course, but the situation was similar.  The warrenlady finally left
with the rider, headed towards the Med Centre.  

Galen strode to where T'grat stood.  He hadn't been that sure about
this idea when Talesin first suggested it.  They had kept a running
conversation during their sparring session and Talesin had finally
suggested this idea.

It would give him something to do with his time.  He still wasn't
fully recovered from his wounds, but he was feeling much better and
would soon be totally healed.  Most of the tactics he knew could be
adopted to aerial combat and he was sure that T'grat knew  tactic's
that he had never heard of.

In the end, it was the possability of learning something from the
trainer that convinced Galen.  Talesin was thrilled to introduce him
to the T'grat.  Their timing had been bad, and he smiled remebering
the expression on T'grat's face when he first saw them.  

He noticed as he came up to him that T'grat was still furious.  

"I take it she wasn't using an accepted aerial manoeuvre?"  he asked
dryly, trying to lighten the atmosphere a little.  He didn't want
T'grat exploding on him.  

Galen heard a quiet curse, and smiled as some of the tension left the
dragonrider.

"You could say that!"  T'grat told him grimly   "She disregarded
everything she'd been taught and  nearly got them killed!  For what? 
A few minutes excitement!"

"Are you sure it was the girl that caused the dragon to run riot, and
not the other way around?"  Galen asked  "It looked to me as if she
really didn't have any control of what was happening."  That girl had
been too pale to have been the source of the problem.  

T'grat visibly relaxed a little more as he thought about what Galen
had said.  The trainer turned to look at the young dragon, now
surrounded by two large dragons.  Galen was still amazed at the level
of intelligence the beasts displayed.

"Well I don't think I need worry about a repeat... at least not for a
few days."  he told Galen.  "I'm with Malachite.... I wouldn't want to
be on the receiving end of the sharp edge of those tongues.  Since it
seems that training is over and I've a bit more time to spare than I
thought.  Perhaps we can discuss strategy now rather than later?"

Galen didn't fully understand who the man was talking about, but he
was ready to talk about strategy.  T'grat's attitude changed quickly
as he saw that Galen knew what he was talking about.  They spent an
hour comparing different tactics.  Galen was amazed by some of the
things the man knew and he saw the surprise on the face of T'grat at
some of the things he mentioned.  

He had to finally excuse himself.  He told T'grat about the scouting
mission he was going on and they set up a time to talk again.  Galen
felt an excitement that he hadn't felt for a few years.  Finally
someone who had as much experience as he did.  He was really looking
forward to the next few days.

He quickly cleaned up and changed.  He made it to the green, where
Meena stood with a group of dragons.  There was a girl he hadn't seen
before, a young man, and the masked man he had seen once or twice
before.  That one looked dangerous.

He turned to see the large blonde fellow striding up to them.  He
wondered what kind of reception the man was receivng after the
entrance he had made.  

"Well I see you*re all ready," Meena was saying.  "I*m not sure what
we*ll find there but I want you to be ready and alert for anything."

"Oh you*ve no needs to worry about me there," the blonde man  grinned.
"Don*t think you*ll need to worry about him either."  Galen was
surprised to see that the big finger was pointed at him.

"He has the look of one who knows how to get things finished once
they*ve started."

"yes well.. we*ll see," Meena agreed, her eyes briefly glancing at
him. "Shall we mount up and head out?"

"Just give the orders," the man replied, bowing slightly from the
waist. "You lead I*ll follow."

Galen looked at the large man a little closer.  He was muscular, with
the look of a smith.  He was older than Galen, and looked to have had
some experience with weapons.  He was observant too.  Hmmmm...he made
a mental note to talk to the man.  Maybe he could join the morning
sparring session.  

He followed Meena to her dragon and watched as she mounted the beast. 
This was going to be quite an experience.  He blocked off the fear he
felt into a corner of his mind.  That was a trick he had learned early
in his career.  Fear could kill you on the battle field.  

He accepted Meena's hand and was straddleing the large dragon, his
hands circling her waist.  He wondered breifly if they would travel
close to .... he blocked that thought.  He hoped fervently they didn't
go anywhere near that place.

The life of a soldier held many things, and counting the dead was one
of the worst.

_____________
NRPG:  Kris, if you're wondering about this mysterious place, let me
know.  The explanation is a little long, so I don't want to put it
here.  

Submitted by
Ben Tate
Galen

Quoth the Raven "Nevermore!"