(nrpg:  I was going to wait to post this until 
it was time for the first flight.  It's just a 
little *grin* story to tell how Tera and F'gon 
met and how they ended up becoming patrol 
partners. I'll get caught up with the rest in 
the next day or so.) I did send F'gon's part of 
this to Frankie to get it oked with him.
*********************************     

Tera was still a little shaken when lunch had
finally ended. When Lyonnia stood up from the 
table and told them that she needed to go see 
her parents, Tera could tell the younger girl 
was just as shaken with what had happened. She 
reached over and took ahold of the girls hand 
before she could walk away.

"Don't let it upset you," She told Lyonnia 
with a gentle smile on her face. "I was a 
little spooked that's all. I've been thinking 
a lot about my brother lately. You probably 
just heard me talking about him to someone 
earlier."

They made plans to meet at a later time for 
Tera to try to teach the younger girl how to 
talk to Kay using the hand signs. 

"Maybe  you can surprise him with what you 
learn," Tera told the girl with a wink, and 
watched her go.

Then she turned back to Kay and signed that she 
needed to take to Danielle for a moment and got 
up from the table and made her way acrossed the 
dining hall floor to where Danielle and her new 
friend sat eating.

"I hope I'm not interrupting, but I need someone 
to talk to,  and you're the only one around here 
besides the Warrenlady and Ga'brin, who knows 
about what happened at the inn and what brought 
me here." Tera got it all out with one breath.

Danielle asked the girl to have a seat and asked 
if she wanted to talk in privet, but assured 
Tera that her friend Dameon could be trusted.

"So, you've meet Ga'brin," Danielle asked with 
a twinkle in her eye and a memory of their one 
mating flight together.

Tera blushed, "He's asked me to be his mate," 
she told Danielle. "We're going to find an 
apartment together right after Sundellath and 
I fly together for the first time."

Danielle congratulated her on her catch, and 
then listened while Tera went on to tell her 
about the strange things that had happened since 
she arrived at the Warren. She told her about 
the meeting with the Warrenlady and about 
finding out about her brothers death. She told 
her about the threatening note she had found the 
night of the celebration party, and finally about  
what had happened at lunch with Lyonnia.

"Trap has been on my mind a lot lately. The 
closer I get to us finally teleporting the more 
I think about him," Tera admitted. "I know it's 
silly, but what if I can't do it. What if at the 
last minute I chicken out...?" unshed tears 
glinted in her eyes as Danielle reached out to 
give her a hug.

"Don't worry so much," she told the girl. "All 
of us have been through the samething. You just 
have to remember to picture where you want to go 
*clearly* to your dragon, and then trust them to 
get you there.

(nrpg: Tera wants to keep Danielle as a friend. 
She doesn't think it her buisness to judge the 
other girl. All she wants is for Danielle to be
happy.)
*******
Later that night:

Night was slowly falling when Tera finally left 
the dining hall. It was really to early to be 
heading back to the barracks, so she decided to 
talk a little walk first. She just didn't feel 
like being around a bunch of people having fun 
tonight. Without Ga'brin there to talk to, she 
just didn't feel like staying.

"Just keep thinking about tomorrow girl," she 
told herself and felt the joy of happiness 
flow through her veins. 

Tomorrow after Sundellath flew with Tera on 
her back for the first time, she and Ga'brin 
were going to go looking for an apartment they 
could move into together. Tera still couldn't 
believe that he had asked her to be his mate.
After knowing each other for only a short time, 
Tera had shocked them both by saying yes. Her 
father would disown her for sure if he ever 
found out. But Tera could care less what 
he thought. Her home was the warren now, and 
her family, the people who lived there.

After she had agreed, Ga'brin sat her down to 
have a long talk. He warned her about the 
dragon's mating flights. He wanted her to be 
sure she would be able to handle it if Preston 
flew another dragon, or if another male dragon 
happened to win Sundellath when she flew.

"As long as you come back to me afterwards, I 
think I could handle just about anything," she 
told him in all honesty."

"And you to me Love," he replied softly, taking 
her hand in his."Have no fear, I will always 
return to the one I love. You!!" 
 
He admitted to the fear he had felt before 
asking her. Because she was landbound. He had 
wanted to wait. To give her time to understand 
what living in the warren and being a rider of 
a dragon would mean. But the more time he had 
spent with her these last few days, the deeper 
in love with her he fell. It got to the point 
when he was away from her, he thought about 
little else but being with her. That was "how", 
he told her, he knew he was in love with her.T
here would be no other woman for him.

Tera in turned told him about her search for 
her brother. Told him about the odd threat 
verheard at the Blue Dragon, and how Danielle 
had stepped in and brought her here to the 
warren, and safety. She didn't tell him about 
the note she had found in the strings of her 
guitar the day she joined with Sundee. 

After her talk with Ophiela, finding out her 
brother was dead, Tera found herself  
wondering why someone out there was still trying 
to stop her search. It didn't make any sense to  
her. Could the Warrenlady be mistaken? But no, 
she had been so sure, Tera could see how upset 
she had been when Ophiela had shown her Trap's 
picture. He was all the family she had left. 

She went on to tell him about her life at the 
inn. How she had hated it when her father had 
remarried to the little bitch, and how she had 
began to feel like a servant in her own home. 
She never ever wanted to goback to that kind 
of life.

Tera finally told Ga'brin about her feelings 
for him. Starting from the first time they met, 
when she had undressed him with her eyes. He 
smiled at that admission. Telling her he had 
done the samething, except she was on the 
hatching sands at the time.

She would be 'proud and honored' to be his 
mate, she told him, and the mother of his 
children when the time came. He drew her into 
is arms at that point, his lips finding hers, 
he gave her a taste of what they could have t
ogether. When Tera showed her readiness for 
a more intimate contact, he lifted his head 
and stared down into her passion filled 
green eyes. 

"As much as I would love to be with you right 
now making love, I won't," he told her. "When 
I do make love to you for the first time, I 
want it to be in our bed, in our home. I want 
it to be right for you, your first time." 
Nothing she could say would sway him. Tomorrow 
night couldn't get here fast enough as far 
as she was concerned.
***************************************

Tera had walked as far as the forest edge when 
she caught something out of the corner of her 
eyes. She had just enough time to throw her 
arm up, deflecting the blow that could have 
caused her serious harm. Instead the hard 
wooden object mearly glanced the side of her 
head, causing her to stumble and fall. She 
had just enough time to call out to Sundellath 
before they were on her. She tried to struggle 
and fight back against the two unknown men, but 
they were to strong for her. They soon had her 
pinned to the ground. One of the men had his 
hand balled up into a fist, ready to deliver a 
nockout blow, when suddenly he went flying. 
Before Tera knew what was happening, she was 
free.

"Back up," she heard someone yell. "Get out of 
the way."

Tera stood there in horror watching the man who 
had come to her aid fought bravely against her 
two attackers. She felt helpless knowing she 
could do nothing to help him. Not that he 
needed any help. He was a blur of thrusts and 
parleys, welding his sword like a man accustom 
to using it. He was holding his own against the 
other two.

Tera watched as his blade struck true and one of 
the men went down. The second man fought back 
harder now, but he was no match for the whirling 
speed of the other mans blade.

In a matter of moments, both attackers laid 
dying on the ground at his feet. When he was
sure they would pose no more of a threat, he 
turned to face Tera, who was just standing 
there, her face devoid of all color. She would 
have to wait for a moment, he thought turning 
back to the one attacker barely alive. F'gon 
went down on one knee grabbing the man by the 
shirt and hauled him into a sitting 
possession.

"What brought you here?" he demanded in a low 
voice. "Who sent you here to harm the girl?" 

The attacker was losing it fast, F'gon knew he 
wouldn't last much longer, his blade had been 
true this night. "WHO?" He demanded a second t
ime.

"The Shadow.....We had to protect the Shadow..."
he spat out, eyes glaring back at F'gon. 
"She'll ruin everything if we don't shut 
her up...."

F'gon was confused, "Who's the Shadow....what 
will the girl ruin?" he hissed at the dying man 
but it was to late. He had breathed his last.

Frustrated and angry at not getting anymore of
a answer he turned to face the girl, she hadn't 
moved. Her eyes were still on the two dead men.  

"Are you all right?" he asked visually checking 
for any signs of harm. She's in shock, he 
thought when she didn't respond.

Tera could hear Sundellath's panicky thoughts 
in her mind, but she was shaking to much to 
form any coherent replies to the upset dragon.

Her rescuer sensing her distress, moved 
closer to offer what comfort he could. He put 
his arms around her pulling her close, talking 
softly to her, telling her she had nothing to 
fear now. She was safe.

He held her until the shaking subsided, then 
pulling his upper body back just enough to look 
into her tear filled green eyes. "Are you okay 
now?" he made his voice sound as gentle as 
he could.

Before Tera could answer her unknown rescuer, 
the arms holding her were gone and he laid on 
the ground. Ga'brin was standing over him with 
his own sword raised for the killing blow.

"GA'BRIN NO!!!!" Tera found her voice when 
she saw what her love was about to do. She
grabbed ahold of his upraised sword arm and 
held onto him tight when he had tried to shake 
her off. His eyes met hers, blacker than the 
night and angrier that she'd ever seen him 
look before.

"Ga'brin love, listen to me," she pleaded 
trying to make him understand. "It wasn't him. 
He saved me from the other two who attacked me. 
He fought them off, he saved me." she repeated 
and felt the tension in his powerful arm slowly 
ease. The anger turning to pain as he pulled her 
roughly into his arms, crushing her to the hard 
lines of his body. His sword fell to the ground 
forgotten as he felt the overwhelming need to 
touch her, proving to himself that she was safe.

"Oh love," He cried "I was so afraid I would 
lose you, that I couldn't get here fast enough 
to save you. When Sundee called to Preston in 
a panic when she couldn't reach your mind after 
your first call for help, I felt so helpless. 
My life would be nothing without you in it." 

He didn't know how long they stood there 
holding on to each other before a politely 
sounding throat cleared, drawing their 
attention back to the man on the ground. At 
the time he thought it would be safer for all 
concerned if he just stayed where he was.

"Is it safe for me to get up yet?" He smiled up 
at Ga'brin from his vantage point on the grassy 
field. "Your not still planning to use that on 
me are you?" he pointed to where Ga'brin's 
sword laid on the ground.

Ga'brin looked down to where the sword had 
fallen and picked it up, he took a second to
put it back into its's scarab, then turned 
to face the man on the ground.

"For what you have done for my mate this night, 
I offer to you my hand in friendship if you are 
willing to accepted it?" he said as he extended 
his hand to the man to help him up. 

Without hesitation the F'gon reached up to take 
the out stretched hand and as he felt himself 
being pulled quickly to his feet, the thought 
came into his mind that there had to be an 
easier way of making new friends......

"I am Ga'brin, blue Preston's rider," Brin 
introduced himself, relieved that the other 
man could forgive the punch to the face he'd 
taken so quickly. "And this is my mate Tera, 
midnight blue Sundellath's rider."

They saw the man hesitate, but only for a 
second, as if coming to a decision.

"I am F'gon," he said standing up proud. 
"Starlight's rider." He was expecting some 
kind of reaction from the other rider and his 
mate, they would know him now as the rider of 
a female dragon, and all that it ment, he 
wasn't disappointed. It was just a different 
reaction than the ones he usually got. 

"Well F'gon, Starlight's rider, my family and 
I are in your debt, and if there is ever 
anything you need, I hope that you will feel 
that you are welcome to come to us at any time. 
Our door will always be open to you." Ga'brin 
ment every word. 

He would have said more to their new friend, 
but by then other riders and their dragons 
began to appear in response to Sundellath's 
first call, It had taken them a little longer 
to get there because Sundee had been to upset 
to give a clear picture. Now that they were 
here, Ga'brin decided to let them take care of 
disposing of the two dead bodies. He informed 
one of the rider's he would be in to report to 
the warrenlady first thing in the morning. 
His mate was to upset tonight and so he was 
taking her home.

As the rider turned away, a thought came to 
Ga'brin. With all his other duties, he knew he 
wouldn't always be around to keep Tera safe.  
F'gon may have been god sent. 

"F'gon, we would be honored if you would join 
us for a last drink in my apartment.......we're 
going to start looking for a bigger one 
tomorrow...." he said winking at his mate 
who's cheeks reddened. 

With one arm around Tera's shoulders, Ga'brin 
draped the other around F'gon's not giving the 
man a chance to back out before Ga'brin could 
have a talk with him, and started them walking 
in the direction of a male and two female 
dragons waiting.

"F'gon," Ga'brin started in right away. "I 
have a favor to ask of you, and after you hear 
me out if you wish to say no...I'll understand.

For now on Ga'brin swore, he would keep his 
mate safe. He had been to lacked in thinking 
they couldn't do any harm to her while she was 
safe in the warren. What happened tonight 
proved that. For now on if he wasn't with her, 
he Ga'brin would make sure someone would be 
there to keep an eye on her in his absents. 
Of that he promised.

As they walked along, F'gon turned to Ga'brin. 
"I have a question for you," he said. "I've 
always been able to sense danger coming my 
way.....but how was it that you were able to 
sneak up on me the way you did without my 
sensing anything?"

Ga'brin lips broke out into a big smile. 
"I've had a very good teacher. Master Dirk 
who teaches here at the warren. He'll be 
pleased to know that I did learn something 
useful from him after all."

****Submited  by:*******************

Barbara
voice of:
Tera & Sundellath (Telnor)
Ga'brin & Preston (Telnor)
Dan'yar & Shinner (Cleft)
Dragonlands