<Come on Lyonnia!  They're going to start without us!>

     Lyonnia groaned as she opened her eyes, wishing her dragon wouldn't
wake her up that way; with his mind.  She couldn't put her pillow over her
head or plug her ears; she had to listen to it whether she liked it or not.

     <Come on!  You know how long I've been waiting for today.>  There was a
hint of frustration in the voice, finally waking Lyonnia up fully.

     *I'm up, Di, I'm up* she thought back, rising off her bed and making
her way over to where she kept her clothes.  *Let me just get ready before
we start.*

     <Well, please hurry.  You know I've been anxious for today.>  Indeed,
there was an anxiousness in her voice, which made Lyonnia fight not to
giggle.  <Don't laugh at me> came an indignant reply, and a giggle burst
through despite her precautions.

     <Humph> she heard from her dragon <well then, I'll meet you at the
field.  Hurry up then.>

     *Oh,* she thought to Dianthus, *I'm sorry.  You know that.*  She didn't
want to walk all the way there.  She didn't know anyone, and she wasn't even
sure if she knew her way to the field!

     <Well....> the voice seemed to be pondering the question.  *Please?*
she thought.  *Pretty please?*

     <Oh, okay.  But please hurry.>

     Lyonnia grabbed the brush from the table top and hurriedly brushed her
hair as best she could.  She looked in the mirror and groaned, thinking,
Great, of all days for my hair to friz.

     <Come on!>

     *Dang, you ARE in a hurry* she sent to her dragon, getting kind of
frustrated at the impatience of her dragon.  She put her things back into
her drawer and hurried out to meet her dragon.

     <Finally.>

     Lyonnia stuck her tongue out at the little dragon, who promptly did the
same, sending Lyonnia into a paroxym of laughter.  The dragon rolled her
eyes, and, trying to get a hold on herself, Lyonnia started walking briskly
towards the direction she thought the field was.

     Today, she was lucky; she went in the right direction and was at the
field in five minutes.  She was just about there when her back began to
itch.  She reached over to her dragon and began itching with all her might
the area where her back itched.  The dragon's eyes rolled with delight, and
gradually, the itch Lyonnia felt went away.

     *I thought you said you were almost done itching like that!*

     <Well,> the dragon thought, sounding slightly indignant, <I don't know
too much about this kind of thing.  And it's not my fault you can feel it
all the time.>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay.  Time out.  There's something I need to have said.   I recently
checked a talent out for Lyonnia with Susan Rati, who accepted it.  The
talent is empathy between Lyonnia and her dragon.  Whatever the dragon
feels, from a broken wing to itching, Lyonnia will feel also.  She can
partially block it out, but right now, she doesn't know how or even that she
can.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Lyonnia grumbled, wishing she could itch or do something that hurt so
the dragon could feel like she felt whenever there was something wrong with
her, but was pretty certain the talent--more like curse, she thought--didn't
work both ways.

     <Hurry up slowpoke> came the impatient statement from her dragon.
Lyonnia was surprised today with the little dragon.  She was usually
curteous (in her way), and it was usually Lyonnia who was in a rush.  Today,
though, they're personalities seemed to have switched at some point.
Sighing, she trotted out to the field towards the dragons and young riders
in the middle.
*******************

     <That's a lot of instructions for something so simple as flying.>

     *Well, it's for our own safety, you know.* she thought back.  She
rolled the instructions over in her head, wanting to memorize them as soon
as she could.  *Just remember, don't just jump whenever you feel like it.
There has to be a breeze so you can stay aloft.*

     <I know, I know.  I'll remember.>

     Lyonnia turned a frustrated look at her dragon, then sighed and turned
back towards the other dragons running down the hill, trying to fly.
*You're not exactly in the best of moods, Di, are you?*

     Dianthus seemed surprised, turning her huge silver eyes to look at her
rider.  <Have I been that bad this morning?> she thought, clearly wanting
Lyonnia to deny it.

     *I'm afraid you have been, honey.*

     <Oh, I'm sorry!  It's just that....> she turned back to look at the
dragons running down the field, <I've been waiting for today for a long
time, and you were slow in getting out of bed this morning.>

     *If you don't remember, that's about how slow you usually are waking up
too.  I'm usually up earlier than you; today, I just wanted to sleep in.
I'm sorry that I forgot the lesson this morning.*

     <And I'm sorry I've been so snappish this morning.> the little dragon
thought back.  Lyonnia smiled, turning back to the hill.

     "Okay, your turn Lyonnia," H'nry, the teacher here, told her.  "Tell
Dianthus she can go whenever......"

     He didn't even finish the sentence when Dianthus, who had heard every
word H'nry said, shot down the hill, wings stretched out to find the wind.

     *Be careful!*

     <Don't worry.  I will be.>

     Lyonnia watched in facination as her little dragon ran a little more
down the hill then, finding an updraft, started gliding up.

     <I'm flying!> came the joyous cry from Dianthus, and Lyonnia forgave
her all the morning's distress.  She could suddenly see (and feel) why
Dianthus waited so desperately for today.

     Lyonnia felt a faint twinge in her arm and knew that it came from the
little dragon.  *Come on down now, Di* she thought to it.  *I felt that.*

     <Just a little longer> came the reply.

     Lyonnia was about to relent when she felt another twinge, this time a
little stronger.  She knew that Dianthus' wing was beginning to hurt her,
probably from not having used it before.

     Lyonnia knew that the dragon wouldn't come down just because of a
little hurt, so she tried a different tactic.  *Why don't you try landing,
dear?  I've heard that no hatchling but the very best can land perfectly.*

     <Well, watch this then.>  Lyonnia breathed a sigh of relief as she saw
the dragon wheel around and, slowing down slightly, land at the bottom of
the hill.  She stumbled slightly but kept her balance.

     *Bravo!  Bravo, my little one!* Lyonnia mentally cheered Dianthus, and
she could have swore that Dianthus bowed, theatre like, in her direction.

     <So, who is the best now?> came the inquiry.

     *I already knew, darling,* Lyonnia thought, heading down the hill
towards her dragon, *I already knew.*

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

Respectfully submitted

Lyonnia/Dianthus
Sarah Pearson


NRPG

Hi again.  I'm still backposting, trying to give everyone a feel of me.  I
would appreciate some people (maybe) helping me along here.  I'm kind of
ignorant about many aspects of Dragonlands.  :p