From:  "Dianne Eberle" <mari.reggie@bigpond.com>
Date:  Sat Apr 6, 2002  2:04 am
Subject:  Life at Telnor

Day 3
Early Afternoon

8<snip>8

And they were lucky, as they entered the dining hall the new searcher was
sitting at a table with the pretty Jr. Queenrider. They both looked in good
spirits but rather tired.

Fal'k was excited and spoke almost immediately.

"Please tell me she has dragon affinity."

8<end snip>8

"And if I say she doesn't?" he said grinning, giving Mari's knee a squeeze
under the table.

The two young peoples face dropped.

Mari knew she had dragon affinity. Jason had already mentioned it to her. But
he hadn't approached the young girl yet. He had picked her out the night of the
party. But so much had happened that he'd not had a chance to approach the
young girl, and he actually wasn't sure how she'd take his approach.

But as he said this, and saw the faces of the two had drop, he wasn't sure he
should have teased them.. He'd yet to see such disappointment. Now he'd
wondered if he'd done the right thing.

Mari cleared her throat, letting Jason know that he'd better stop teasing the
young couple.

"I'm only joking." he said. "What's your name, young lady?"

"Brandy?" she nearly whispered. It wasn't like her to be nervous, but she was.

"Well Brandy, yes you do. I was going to talk to you at the party the other
night. But with all that happened, I never got the chance. But just because
you have dragon affinity, doesn't mean you'll join right away, or ever. It
depends on what the dragonet's see in you. We do have eggs on the sands, so I
hope you'll stay and take your chance."

A huge grin broke out on Brandy's face. It changed her hold personality. The
two young people left the dining hall. Both very excited.

"Jason, you have to stop that." she said with a stern look. "Did you see how
disappointed they were."

"Yeah, it was fun." he laughed, leaning into Mari and giving her a light kiss.

(Tag Jason and Michael?)

Day 4
Morning

8<snip>8

Mari swung her arms around her queen and hugged her tightly. *Now you look
after these eggs. I'm going to go get something to eat. Maybe I'll have
Starfire bring you a nice fresh deer.*

<That would be nice.> Reggie nearly purred.

*Okay, I'll asked Jason if Star can't do that for you.*

She left the hatchling cavern and headed to the dining hall, just awaiting
another day.

8<end snip>8

As Mari headed to the dining hall Kalena ran up next to her.

"What are you doing? Are you busy?" she asked.

"No, just busy thinking of what I'm going to have for breakfast." she smiled at
her friend.

"Good, I'm hungry too. Maybe we can talk over breakfast." Kalena said quickly
falling into step with the queenrider.

"What's wrong?" Mari asked Kalena.

"I don't know. It's just not home here. Maybe no place is home." Kalena
answered as they entered the dining hall.

"Oh boy, do I ever know what you mean." Mari replied with a hint of sadness in
her voice.

"What do you mean? You seem quite at home here in Telnor." Kalena responded as
the two approached the buffet and began to fill they're plates.

"I can't go back to Daere. Not ever. I thought maybe it was temporary, but
Dalmar told me this morning that Reggie could never go back. Not unless I want
a psycho dragon." she said with a grin.

<Hey watch it.> Reggie replied.

"Have you asked for a transfer? Things seem to be good here for you. Reggie
couldn't leave here now anyway. Not till the eggs hatch."

"Well no, I haven't. I don't know if they need me." Mari said sadly.

"What's need got to do with it? If there's three queens on the sands at once,
it doesn't mean they're banished from the warren once they've hatched.

"But I want to be needed. And now Jason and Dalmar found this new Queen. She
was born in Telnor domain. So they have two Jr. Queenriders. They really have
no use for me here."

"Two?" Kalena asked.

"Yes, Mae and now this one...her name is Ann, rider of Mint." Mari replied.

"Mae isn't the Warrenlady?"

"You didn't know? No Laria is Warrenlady. I really don't know the history
behind it, but she's away from the warren indefinitely. Mae is only acting
Warrenlady."

"Oh. Well she does a good job at it."

"Yes, a very good job. But that still shouldn't matter. What difference should
it make if there's 3 Jr. Queens." Kalena said emphatically.

"Yes, she's very good. She's had good training. Obviously." Mari said with
pride in her voice. She was glad to be able to call Mae her friend. She had
learned a lot from her since arriving in Telnor. It had only been a few days,
but she'd already learned so much from the acting Warrenlady. "But it's you
that wanted to talk. What's the trouble."

"It's very nice to see you Mari, but this isn't home. I don't think it ever
will be. K'Tarr is at Norwall and so is my sister."

"Sister?" Mari queried. "I thought you had no family."

Kalena laughed. "Well that's what I thought. But I've learned a lot since
being at Norwall. I have a sister. Her name is Jasmine. She was lost as a
child. Antwin had heard that that's how I ended up in the circus. The circus
purchased me. My parents needed money to be able to continue there search for
my sister. They must have died looking. They never came back for me."

"Tell me about her." Mari asked. "How did you find her?"

"Well she found me actually. Or her "mamma" did." this statement really
brought a confused look to Mari's face.

"Her "mamma" was a dragon that had adopted her. They weren't joined. But
somehow they communicated. It was more of a feeling than communication. But
the dragon was old, and she brought Jasmine to Norwall, in search of a place for
Jasmine before she died. Jasmine joined with a dragon, Vandira, shortly after
arriving at Norwall. And her "mamma" died almost as quickly. She calls me her
"Big Little Sister." I've really grown to love her. Except for our height, she
looks almost exactly like me."

"You sound like you want to go home." Mari stated.

"I do, but I don't know whether I'm ready yet." Kalena replied.

"You'll know when you're ready. Give it a little more time."

"Yes, I think you're right. I just hope they're not too mad at me. I left
without saying goodbye."

"I'm sure they understand. They'll be happy when you're ready to go home.

"You know you are home now. So are you going to talk to Mae?"

'Yes, when she's not so busy." Mari sighed.

"She's not too busy to talk to you. Go asked her if you can transfer. With
this new Jr. Queenrider, I'm sure she'll be happy to have the help training her.
You need to stand up for yourself. If you never do you'll always be a
Queenrider without a Warren. Now go!"

Mari new that Kalena was right. She had no excuse. All she had to do was ask
for the transfer. She played with the food on her plate.

"You're not eating, now go and talk to Mae!"

Mari slowly got up from the table and just as slowly walked out of the dining
hall and on to Mae's office. She hoped that she wouldn't be turned away.
Telnor was her home, Kalena was right. She needed to stand up for herself and
not back down. She quietly knocked on Mae's office door.

"Come in." Mae replied.

(Tag Arle)

Respectfully Submitted,
Brandy
and
Marialla and Regenta
and
Kalena and Donjanth