"How much longer will he be out there on his own?" Tera asked.  
"And when can you arrange for me to see him."  Her eyes met and 
held those of the Warrenlady's.  She wasn't making a request, she 
was giving a demand.

"When I realized that it was going to take longer than any of us 
expected, I sent him a message that he didn't have to continue.  
I've continued to keep him aware of that.  But, he always says it 
will just be a little while longer, that he almost has it all sewn 
up. I can't force him to come back, Tera.  He's a very dedicated 
young man.

"As for how soon you can meet him, Diemis is usually positioned in 
the area Sandor patrols, so we can get a message to him quickly.  
If Sandor can get in touch with him, you could probably meet him 
tonight."

"Tonight?" Tera asked, her voice tinged with anticipation.

"Maybe," Ophelia answered.  "Tera, I want you to know that it 
wasn't just my decision to tell you he was dead.  For one, it is 
the story the warren knows, so you'd have heard it eventually if 
you'd asked enough people about him.  Second, he wanted to see you 
himself, but things have worked against him."

Tera nodded.  "I understand."

"I also want to talk to you a bit about Lyonnia.  I'm going to 
leave it up to you what you tell her.  The more dragonriders we 
tell, the more dragons that know.  And dragons like to gossip.  
Every dragon that knows and every person that knows brings us one 
step closer to disaster, one step closer to a slip.  That could be 
fatal to your brother.

"Also..." Ophelia debated how to even bring this up, "also, I 
think something may have happened between Trap and Lyonnia."

"What?!"

"I don't know for certain, but every time the Shadow's mentioned, 
Lyonnia blushes.  Beryth has talked to Dianthus, who says her rider 
gets 'a tingly feeling' whenever the Shadow is mentioned." Ophelia 
put up her hand to forestall Tera's protestations.  "I'm not 
saying he did anything untoward with her, but something happened 
that she's not talking about. So, be a little careful."

Tera thought back to the blush she had seen on the you girls 
face, and realized the Warrenlady could be right.

<<Sundee, would you tell Dianthus's rider that I want to talk to 
her later, and that she had better be ready to tell me everything 
that happened.>>
 
After leaving the Warrenlady's office, Tera and Ga'brin decided to 
head over to the dining hall to get something to eat while they 
waited for Sandor to let Tera know it was time.

Suddenly a dragon roar filled the air. 

]] Preston, NO!! [[ Ga'brin shouted out load. But it was too late. 
He turned to his mate, panic filled his eyes as he knew what was 
about to happen. 

"Oh love I'm sorry," he cried, "I'm so sorry....Preston...I tried 
to stop him..."

<The queen Syren flies to mate.> Sundellath told her by way of 
explanation. <Preston raises with the other male dragons.> the 
dragon sounded unconcerned.

Tera stared at Ga'brin in horror, finally understanding his sudden 
change. His dragon had gone off with the others after the queen. 
She remembered Laya telling her just after Tera had met Ga'brin, 
that his dragon had won many of mating flights. 

Trying hard not to let him know just how upset she was by this, 
Tera tried hard to work a smile onto her face. She didn't want her 
mate to see how upset she was, at the thought of him making love to 
some other woman. But she had promised him........

"Just as long as you come back to me love," she had told him the 
night of the beach party. "I think I could handle anything."

As Ga'brin tuned away from her and went to join the other male 
riders, encircling the queen's rider, Tera's eye moved skyward. 
Her eye's searching for the royal blue color of her mates dragon. 
In the back of her mind she prayed that he wasn't up to the chase, 
but knowing in her heart that he was.

Tera watched as the queen landed, giving her rider only a few 
moments to dismount before taking to the air again, roaring 
another challenge.  She watched as a multicolored ribbon of 
males took off after the queen, trying to catch up with her 
already great lead. A circle was already starting to form 
around the queen rider, the men's eyes filled with dragon 
induced passion. 

She began to move, almost dance around the males, rubbing against 
their bodies and teasing them with both her hands and eyes.  Just 
when one would try and take her she would skip away with a laugh, 
and move on to the next.  The circle started to enclose, the 
losing riders dropping out one by one, with the men who were still 
in the race moving in...

Syren dodged in the air, avoiding yet another would be partner.  
and made a sharp turn, flying through a cluster of the males, 
making them collide with each other as they all tried to grab 
ahold of her.

More dropped away, but a few were persistent, still chasing after 
her.  She dropped her speed, feigning tiredness, teasing them with 
the possibility of winning.  Then a royal blue broke out into the 
lead, his roar filling the sky as he latched his talons onto 
Syren's tail, pulling her back towards him.

She twisted and dove, trying to get away from his grasp, yet he 
still hung on, entwining his body around hers.  She had accepted 
him, and the two had flown off into the hills together.

Preston had won!

Tera turned away before she had to witness, her lover leave with 
the other woman. She just couldn't bare it, she had to get away.
-------------------------------------------------------
(nrpg: insert Justin's Flights of fancy....post here :}
because there is NO WAY I could improve on the master "mating 
flight" writer *grin* and I'm NOT about to try :}
-------------------------------------------------------
>>Sundee come get me.<< her voice was raspy as her tears began to 
fall. She was on the midnight blue seconds after the dragon had 
landed. >>Take me home.<< 

At home she could hide herself away from the pitying looks of the 
other riders, and the people who had grown up in the warren. In 
time maybe she could learn how to accept it, but right now it hurt 
to much. She thought she would be prepared for it, but how wrong 
could she have been.

Just as Sundellath landed on the ledge of their apartment, she 
noticed she wasn't alone. The double headed dragon of her friend 
Tahlaya was waiting there. Laya standing next to her dragons 
front claw, a worried expression on her face as she waited for 
her friend to dismount. Laya didn't speak as she opened her arms 
wide and Tera threw herself into them. 

"Oh Laya, I thought I could handle it. I thought I would be 
able....." tears began to fall, as Tahlaya stroked her friends 
blond hair. She held her friend letting her cry. Knowing it was 
the best thing to do. When she had heard the dragon roars earlier, 
and Sunburst and Eclipse told her who had won, Tahlaya knew her 
friend would need someone to talk to, so she had the girls bring 
her here.

After a few minutes, Tera stirred, pulled herself out of her 
friends arms, and took a deep breath. 

<Beryth's rider wants me to ask if you are all right?> she heard 
her dragon ask in her mind. <I don't understand why she would ask 
me this.> Sundee's tone sounded puzzled. 

Tera took another deep breath. No, I'm not all right she thought 
to herself, but to her dragon she said,"<< Tell Beryth, to tell 
the Warrenlady that I am fine. Thank her for asking.>>

She turned back to her friend and let the girl lead her inside 
the main room of the apartment, and seat her in a chair, before 
Laya went into the kitchen area and returned with a bottle of 
spirits and two glasses. 

"Trying to get me drunk enough so I won't remember?" Tera 
quipped when she saw how much of the red liquid the girl poured 
into a glass before handing it to her.

"No, it wouldn't help anyway," Laya said. 

"It made you forget what happened, or thought might have 
happened," Tera shot back and saw her friend blush. "Did you 
ever find out?"

"Don't change the subject," Laya avoided the question. "I'm not 
here to talk about me. Are *you* going to be all right?" 

"I guess I'm going to have to be," Tera said in a bitter voice. 
"I'm a warren dragon rider now, and nothing going to change that, 
so I'm going to have to learn to accept it."

"Did you ever stop to think what's going to happen when Sundellath 
flies to mate?" Laya asked, hating to remind her friend that it 
worked both ways. "How do you think Ga'brin will feel if Preston 
doesn't win, and you mate with someone else? 

Tera took a sip of the red spirits before she answered the question. 
"I really haven't thought about it." she confessed. "I guess I with 
everything else (she thought about her meeting later now with her 
brother) I just put it out of my mine. Until today there haven't 
been any other mating around the warren to remind me."

<Tear I hope you're finished talking with my friends rider,> 
Sundellath broke into her thoughts again. < Dinnan said to tell 
you his rider asks if you are ready to go.> her tone peevish again 
with the thought of her rider going off on an other dragon besides 
herself. 

<<Tell him to give me a few minutes to change.>> Tera told her, 
then tuned back to Laya sitting on a chair acrossed from her.

"I have to go," she said quietly. "Sandor's coming to pick me up."

"Sandor?" Laya asked. remembering the way the black haired man 
had treated Tera the day of her dinner party. 

"Don't ask," Tera told her as she went into the bedroom and found 
clean dark colored clothes to wear. She returned to the living room 
when she was finished changing. Laya was cleaning up the glasses 
and putting the bottle back into the cabinet over the sink in the 
kitchen. When she came back into the main room she walked over to 
her friend, took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"You know all you have to do is call me if you need to talk 
anymore," she said. "And if you don't want to stay here by 
yourself tonight..." she paused, not wanting to remind her friend 
of the reason why she would be alone.

"I'll have to learn to live with it sometime," Tera replied. 
"Ga'brin means to much to me, and if what I suspect is true...."
she paused with a smile on her face, as her hand moved to pat 
her stomach.

Tahlaya's eyes opened wide in shock. "You don't mean you're....
are you sure?" 

"I'm not sure, but I've had my suspicions." Tera admitted. "I'm 
going to make an appointment with Ga'brin's mother, Sarrine, 
tomorrow to find out for sure."

"Oh I can't believe it," Tahlaya's smile grew bigger. "So you 
two finally got it right. About Time!"

As she turned to leave, she didn't see the tears that where 
threatening to fall from Tera's red rimed eyes.  After tonight, 
how would Ga'brin react to the news.
*********
(Meeting Place Above The Lake:)

Trap wasn't very happy when he had received the summons to meet 
Sandor at the meeting place. He'd just left the planing meeting 
with the other raider sub leaders, and was looking forward to 
some time alone with Diemis. Trap knew he had been neglecting  
the green lately and had promised his friend a swim in their lake 
and a good oiling. 

Sandor was already waiting on the plateau when Diemis teleported 
into the clear blue sky above. As soon as the green landed, he 
waited just long enough for his rider to dismount before moving 
to join his friend. 

<<Catching up on the Warren gossip, my friend?" > Trap asked.

<That and spending time with a friend....just like you and his 
rider do,> Diemis replied. <How else will I ever know what's 
happening in the warren?>

Trap didn't see the girl standing there until Sandor moved 
aside. His heart began to hammer in his chest as he stood there 
in shock, as recognition set in.
 
"Trap, it is really you," he heard her say as she began to slowly 
walk towards him. 

"Damn you," he swore bitterly as he turned away from her to face 
the man he'd called friend. "Why the hell did you have to bring 
her here? Do you know what could happen to her if anyone found 
out?" 

"Hey don't yell at me. Tell her," Sandor yelled back at his friend. 
"She's the one who was threatening to fly that blue of her's around 
the Landbound nations asking every raider she found if they knew 
where you were. What do you think would have happened to her then, 
if I'd let her go, instead of bring her here to see you?" His voice 
was full of sarcasm. 

Trap wasn't amused. "You could have stopped her somehow. Ophelia 
could have ordered her to stay in the warren," He shouted back.

"You try giving her an order, and see how far you get," Sandor 
snapped, hoping Tera would forgive him for his little lies. He 
hadn't told Trap he was bring the girl to see him, for fear he 
wouldn't have shown up. He knew Trap had hoped the girl 
wouldn't find out. 

Tera stood there fuming while the two men stood there yelling 
back and forth at each other. Talking about her as if she wasn't 
even there. This wasn't exactly like she how she had planned for 
her first meeting with the  brother she hadn't seen in three 
years to go.

When it looked as if the two men would come to blows, she moved 
to push her way in between them. With a palm laid flat against 
each male chest, she shoved them apart. Both men stumbling back 
a step, more out of shock over her tenacity than any real 
strength on her part.

"You," she pointed at Sandor, "Sit!! There!!"  she move to point 
her finger in the direction of a big rock, forgetting for the 
moment she was giving orders to a Wingleader, as she would an 
errant child.

She didn't see the smile that crossed between the two men as she 
turned back to her brother. The bemused expression on his face she 
did see, and it irritated her already short temper. She brought 
both of her hands up and pushed hard against his wide muscular 
chest.

"Gee Trap, it's really good to see you too brother dear," she 
shoved him again. "Been a long time Trap. (shove) Forget how to 
write home, or did you conveniently forget you had a sister there 
who just *might* for some stupid reason  begin to worry when she 
hadn't heard from you for three years. (shove)

Trap stood there, knowing he dissevered her angry outburst. He 
made no move to defend himself, as Tera vented her anger on his 
body. After what he had put her through, he was lucky she even 
come to see him, here tonight.

"Damn you!" he heard her swear, there were tears in her eyes, 
giving testimony to the pain and hurt she was feeling.. "So what 
now Trap? What's going to happen now?"

"I don't know," his shoulders sagged forward as if the load he'd 
been carrying all this time had finally become to much for him to 
bare. He couldn't bare to see what he had done to her. 

"Tera.." his voice almost a whisper as he said her name, his arms 
opened wide, he was leaving the choice up to her. If she could 
bring her self to forgive him, he promised himself this time he 
would tell her the whole truth. Everything.

She didn't need a second invitation.

Sandor wondered off towards the dragons, giving brother and 
sister time alone together to work out their problems. He only 
hoped they could. Trap was his friend, and had been every since 
the first day the tall blond headed man came to be at the warren. 
If only this thing with the raiders would end...
_____________________________________________________________
(nrpg) Lea if you want to add anything (please do) to your
talk with Tera.....and about the little surprise.....

*****Submitted by:*********************
Barbara
Voices of:
Tera & Sundellath (Telnor)
Ga'brin & Preston (Telnor
Dan'yar & Shinner (Soon of Cleft)
"The Shadow" (parts unknown)
Dragonlands

Fatala of Kindis Weyr