[L'sein.  Dinner, Day 1]

L'sein entered the hall, looking for someone to sit with.  Prania, he knew 
was busy.  He and B'rin were still barely on speaking terms.  R'chis was 
with Laria.  Ophelia was still in the Medical Center, and his father was 
with her.  He didn't see Ryan or Eliana.  And Kay...

His eyes fell on the newest queenrider.  He had heard what she had been 
through.  It bothered him to see her sitting all alone.

He quickly collected some food and went to join her.  "May I sit here?"

Kattibrie looked up and saw him standing across the table from here with a tray.

"May I sit here?" he asked again.

"Yes, sure..." Kattibrie said, distracted.

L'sein sat down and began to eat his dinner.  He let her set the 
conversational mood, which was basically silence for the most part.

Then Kattibrie looked up from her plate.  "You're friends with Kay, right?"
she asked suddenly.

"Um... Yes, I am," L'sein responded.

"Would you please take me to see him?" Kattibrie asked frantically.

"You should stay here," L'sein responded.

Tears welled up in her eyes.  "I beg you, please!  I need see Kay!  Please
take me to him!  Tomorrow maybe?" She looked at him pleadingly with her
sapphire blue eyes.

Gods, he couldn't resist that.  And, it gave him an excuse to visit Kat.  
He smiled.  "Of course I will.  Tomorrow, after breakfast?  We can even eat 
breakfast together if you like."

******

[Day 2, breakfast]

He waved at her as he grabbed food and started to head to her table.  
Unseen by him, several people glared at his back as he passed.

He did hear some comment about, "Taking advantage, again..."

He shrugged it off.  No one else had cared enough to spend time with the 
girl.  You'd think rape was contagious or something.

He settled across from her.  "How are you this morning?"

[NRPG: I'll leave the rest of the convo and the visit to you, Morgie.]

******

[Sandor, morning, day 2]

He watched as the black monstrosity known as Veil landed on the green.  
He'd heard several people talking about the dragon.  What was it about the 
creature that so disturbed him?

The rider slid from the monster's neck and approached, smiling.  "Good 
morning.  I'm here for wing drill and assignment," Gabriel said.

"Good morning," Sandor greeted.  "The good news is that I've picked your 
patrol partner.  The bad news is, she's not here, as her dragon is still 
recovering from being poisoned.  He name is Danielle, rider of Violet.  
I've sent word to have her meet you as soon as possible.  She's away from 
the warren right now on personal business."

Gabriel nodded.

"Anyhow, you can still join us for drills, and we'll put you on standby 
patrol for is someone has a sick partner or whatever today."

"That would be fine.  I look forward to meeting her."

"Speaking of which, Gabriel," Sandor said, "be careful around her.  She's a 
little... wild.  And I don't think her mate would take well to... anything 
happening."

******

[Retala, night, Day 2]

The shadows were stalking her.  She called for help.  Sandor turned away.  
Trey turned away.

"Please, help me," she called to their receding backs, then she felt the 
cold fingers grab her from behind and she screamed.

"Retala, it's all right.  Shh... calm down.  It was just a dream."

She blinked and looked into H'nry's eyes.  How had he gotten here?

Wait.  Where was here?

"H'nry... what...?"

"You fell asleep, so I rented us a room for the night."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  Just a nightmare.  I've been having a lot of them 
lately."

"I can imagine," he said quietly, then started to lay down on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going back to sleep.  There was only one bed and I thought you could 
use it."

"I'll share," she offered.

He looked at her doubtfully.

"Nothing like that," she protested (not that she would mind).  "But there's 
plenty of room and I trust you.  Having a warm body beside me might even be 
nice for a change."

Gods, that had come out a little more bitter than she'd intended.  She 
hoped he didn't notice.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  L'sein and Renulf
  Sandor and Dinnan
  Retala and Rimanda

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |