[R'fas]

"R'chein!  Why have you dragged me out here at this time of morning?" said 
R'fas, as the two of them arrived at the practice field together, R'chein 
pushing R'fas in a wheelchair.

R'chein was watching the elderly dragonrider carefully as they walked.  
"R'fas, the nurses tell me that you are awake every day about this time.  
And I thought that you would like to go for a walk and see who's out and about."

"Out and about!  Who in their right mind would be out at this time in the 
morning?  R'chein!  Have you lost you senses?  The only people up are the 
cooks and the patrol.  The only reason that I get up at this time is I had 
to have the extra time to practice."

R'fas paused at the sound of of metal on metal.  He might be old but he 
still had good hearing.  R'fas watched as Dirk defended himself from a young 
man that he didn't know.  The amazing thing was that Dirk had his sword and 
the stranger was defeating him with only daggers.

"Who is that young man?" asked R'fas, his body sitting forward in the chair 
with interest.

"His name is F'gon," said R'chein.  "He arrived here a couple of days ago 
with no memory and bond to a wild one.  He hasn't made many friends-- he 
stays to himself a lot."

R'fas was only half-listening, as most of his attention was on F'gon.  "I've 
seen moves like that before, R'chein.  When I was younger, I got into a 
fight with a man who just happened to be part of the assassin's guild.  
F'gon now is using those same moves.  There's differences, but definately 
the same moves."  R'fas's voice was wheezing on the last sentence, but he 
was too excited to stop to breathe.

"R'fas!  Are you trying to tell me that F'gon could have been or be an 
assassin?" asked R'chein.

"No, No, he's no assassin.  But at one time he was trained by one."  R'fas 
paused for breath, watching the two men fight.  "The way he carries himself 
is not the way of one, but the way that he uses those daggers is."

"Well, Dirk says that he is better than most," said R'chein.

R'fas nodded.  "He is good."  He was out of breath now, and just sat 
watching, but R'chein could see the intensity of his gaze.  His body began 
to move reflexively as he watched the combat, hands moving as if he were 
standing in F'gon's shoes reacting to Dirk's attacks.  "Ah!  Did you see his 
left foot?  He slid it back just a bit and it threw off his balance a hair."

R'chein shook his head.  "It didn't seem to matter."

"Not matter?  Well, maybe not with Dirk, but that doesn't mean that at some 
point he won't meet an opponent who would use that.  Why, if I were 
younger...  Well, if I were younger, there's lots of things I would do... 
and I doubt attacking that young man with a sword would be one of them."

R'chein smiled.  That was the R'fas he knew.

The practice broke up and both F'gon and Dirk did some stretches after it.

"You still need to practice," Dirk said.

"You need to watch that left foot," R'fas called out.

Dirk turned and grinned at the man in the wheelchair.  "R'fas!  It's been a 
long time since you've come and bothered my students during training."

"He needs to watch that left foot.  Didn't you see it, Dirk?"

The weaponmaster smiled.  "Yes, I caught it.  You interrupted me."

"Pah!  You were going to gloss over it."

"You know me better than that, R'fas," Dirk said as he turned to F'gon.  
"F'gon, I want you to meet one of the best swordsmen at Telnor, in his day.  
This is R'fas, rider of Renth.  She's our oldest dragon at the warren.  
R'fas, this is F'gon, rider of Starlight.  She was one of the wilds that 
arrived the other day."

"Good to meet you, young man," R'fas said, holding out his hand.

R'chein glanced over at Dirk and noticed a knick on his arm that was 
bleeding quite a bit.

"Let me take you back to the Medical Center and get a bandage on that."

"What about R'fas?"

"Oh, I'm sure F'gon can bring him back to us when they're done talking.  
Come on."

The weaponmaster shrugged, and fell in step beside the healer.

[NRPG: Frank, I'll let you take it from here.  R'fas is frail and runs out 
of breath easily, but once gotten out of his depression, at least for a bit, 
has a wry sense of humour and a very flamboyant style.]

[The Beach Party]

B'rin slipped off Renulf's back and surveyed the beach.  This was a very 
popular spot with the warrenfolk.  Not many landbound ever came here because 
of the risk of running into nude warrenfolk cavorting in the sun.  Once or 
twice, he had seen people watching from the treeline that sat back from the 
beach a bit.

The beach changed constantly, sometimes piled high with tumbled stones of 
many colours and other times being nearly barren of rock.  Today there were 
some strands of tumbled stones, but for the most part it was just sand.  The 
water was mostly calm now, with only small curls lapping in the shore.

He quickly started stripping, anxious to get in the water.  Beside him, 
L'sein was doing the same.  He heard a slight gasp and turned to see the 
girl, Eliana, turning away from him.  The side of her face that he could see 
was a deep red.

"Perhaps in respect to our newly-joined from the landbound, we should stop 
at our undergarments," L'sein suggested.

B'rin had the feeling that Eliana would be embarrassed even by that, but it 
seemed a good compromise.  He nodded, readjusting the waist of his 
underwear, since he had been about ready to pull them off.

"I'll tell the others."  L'sein's eyes grew distant as he conveyed this 
suggestion to the other dragons to convey to their riders.  "Okay.  I'll 
beat you there!"

"No you won't!" B'rin yelled and sprinted for the water.  He bumped L'sein 
into an area where there were still rocks.  While the rocks were rounded and 
smooth, they were still hard on the feet, and L'sein slowed down as he hit 
them, watching B'rin splash into the water ahead of him.  Damn if the kid 
didn't have a cute butt.  L'sein sighed.

******

Eliana shyly settled on the sand next to the man who had been training them 
the last couple of days.  She wasn't sure she wanted to switch over to 
Thomas.  She didn't know him.  She looked out longingly at the water where 
L'sein, B'rin, Laria, R'chis, Tahlaya and Storm were splashing each other.

"Aren't you going to swim?" H'nry asked.

She shook her head.  "I'm not a very good swimmer..."

"There's a shelf of sand that goes out a long way," H'nry explained.  "It 
doesn't get up to above your head until... well, roughly ten feet in front 
of where all the dragons are swimming.  There's a sudden drop-off there.  
Just don't get close to the dragons and you'll be fine."

She shrugged.  "Maybe... maybe I'll try it a little later."

******

R'chis stepped out of the water, looking for targets.  He spotted the girl 
sitting shyly off by herself, splashing her feet into the waves, but keeping 
the rest of her body dry.  He thought her name was Lyonnia.  He walked up to 
her.  She was still dressed, except for her shoes.

"Aren't you going to join us?"

She shook her head.

R'chis considered her.  He could see his brother moving in for the kill 
behind her as she was distracted by him.  "Aw, come on--"

She screamed suddenly as L'sein's arms slipped around her and lifted her.  
"Put me down!  Put me--"  Her demands ended as L'sein complied, dumping her 
unceremoniously in the water.  She came up sputtering.  "Why you... you..."

L'sein stopped laughing at her discomfiture as his legs suddenly went out 
from under him.  He landed half on Lyonnia, catching himself as best he 
could so as not to hurt her.  His face was bare inches from hers as Laria 
surfaced, wiping wet hair from her face.

"Got ya," she said with a grin, as she headed into shore where R'chis was 
laughing his head off.

He hugged her to him, then kissed her.  "You know, I was a little annoyed 
that it wasn't just going to be the two of us, but I'm so happy to see you 
smiling and having fun."

She smiled up at him.  "Last I checked, you had a couple of other dunk 
candidates-- Kay and Eliana.  Though I'm not sure you should do that to Eliana."

"Hmmmm... you may be right.  We'll see if we can't get Kay sometime."

<You won't.>

<Oh, really, Pech?  Why not?>

<I've already warned him about your evil ways, my rider.>

<Ah, then we'll just have to be more subtle...>

******

R'chis dropped Kay off at the hatchling barracks and then took to flight 
once again.  Laria had agreed to meet him back at the lake, on their special 
beach, after the party.

He arrived slightly before her.  The waves had picked up slightly and the 
moon was just rising over the water.  It was a perfect night.

There was the flapping of wings and Vithraena set down on the beach next to 
him.  Laria slid off the dragon and into his arms.  He kissed her as the 
dragons flew out and into the waves together.

"You didn't mind too much that I decided to invite a bunch of people, did 
you?" she asked when they parted.

"Mmmmm... well, not as long as you make it up to me," he said with a wink.

"Why, if I didn't know better, I'd think you have wicked intentions toward 
me, gentle sir," she teased him with a smile.

"Only the most wicked intentions, my love."  His fingers slowly began 
undoing her blouse as their mouths met.

Her passion that night was greater than he'd ever experienced before and he 
was glad he had let her have her party without complaining.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  R'chis, L'sein, B'rin 
   and a whole slew of others

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 * Lynette R. F. Cowper       *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess *
 * lcowper@io.com             *        Circle of Janus Secretary      *
 * lcowper@indy.net           *   VP of P.U.R.P.L.E. (People United   *
 * http://www.io.com/~lcowper/*   Respecting Purple Legal Equality)   *
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 *    I write of things which I have neither seen nor suffered nor    *
 *  learned from another, things which are not and never could have   *
 *  been, and therefore my readers should by no means believe them.   *
 *                                            --Lucian of Samosata    *
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