***day B'rin is found***nighttime***

"Fascinating!" Kattibrie exclaimed. "H'nin, if you don't mind, could you
show me how you all figured this out?"

H'nin pointed to Mandrith. "He's the brains, sweeth- uh, milady. I'm just
a dragonrider."

Cygnus snorted. "Right, and I'm an apprentice jongeleur. You're the Alpha
Wingleader, H'nin."

H'nin glared at Cygnus. "My point being that I don't know about stargazing.
Or navigation. Or parallel."

"Parallax," Mandrith interjected. He and Barak were rechecking figures. "I
must say, your esteemed Mastersmith has been a great help. I shall enjoy 
talking to him."

"I bet you told him about the Chalet."

"Actually, I'm interested in seeing this huge geode Master Mandrith keeps 
telling me about. It sounds fascinating." 

"We of course will be happy to indulge any of you who wish to visit," H'nin
said. "Perhaps Phaedra could be encouraged to visit, as well."

"Not by you," Cygnus said under his breath. H'nin heard it and glared again.
At Kattibrie's confused look, Cygnus continued, "Our lady Phaedra is, shall
we say, strong willed. If she wants to some, she will. If she doesn't, you 
might as well go see her."

"Cygnus," H'nin grated. "This is not the time." Cygnus shrugged, then began 
to hum a slow, triumphant melody. 

"I've never heard that before, what is it?" Kattibrie asked. 

"It's the tune for a song I'm working up to celebrate this moment," the 
harper said. The rest of the warren and the Duchy have to be informed, 
and this is the catchiest way."

"The Duchy?"

"From what I gather by talking to people here, your landbound have a large
central government administered by a king. For Geode, at least, the 
landbound government is smaller-overseen by a Duke. It's organized a little
more loosely because the population is condensed more around the warrens.
The warrens are farther apart, and it is harder to get from place to place.
I'll go into it in more detail some other time if you wish."

"Yes, I would like to hear more about that," the junior queenrider said.

"In the meantime, all this talking is making me thirsty. Perhaps we could
refresh ourselves? I would like to try that...what was it? Marrid wine?
I seem to have forgotten."

H'nin grinned. "The day you forget where a wine comes from, even after 
drinking it once, is the day I forget how to ride a dragon." He laughed
as they moved back towards the lights of the warren...

********

***the next morning***

"Again, milady, we are greatly honored to be here. I have a feeling V'dar 
will return directly to Geode, but if he stops by here please let him know
that we are waiting on him," H'nin said.

"I shall," Kattibrie replied. 

"Your dragons have the image now...I hope to see you again soon. I hope that
we all can benefit from this meeting. Think of it...we were all so close,
even after all this time."

"Yes," Mandrith continued, "there is so much to learn, so much to share.
The implications are staggering. The meeting of two different worlds, almost
...I wonder how many more there are out there?"

"Who knows?" Cygnus added. "At the moment I'm content with what we've just
found. We have much to explore; I will be looking forward to seeing
riders from Telnor in our skies. We will spread the word to our Dragonlady,
and I'm sure much will have to be done; but for now, we must depart."

"It was a pleasure having you here," Kattibrie said. "I hope to see all of
you again soon."

They waved as Retick took off, and blinked away, to reappear over the mists
of Boiling Lake. Within minutes, they had landed on the green, close to
the quartz-lined cave that Phaedra used as an office. H'nin entered, followed
closely by his companions. 

"We're back! You wouldn't believe where we are in relation to each other,
it's-"

"Wait, wait!" Phaedra said. "We have something to attend to first. I just
found out Ghost is missing, and Kikeane is going crazy. You have to 
organize a search!"

===================

Telnor: thanks for the invite...Lyn and Morgie, I think it's a tag to you 
if you want to do anything while they're there or for follow-up of 
contacting Geode and Vignette. 

Return to Geode Posts for Apr 1997