"Of course, I have been alone for some time," said Pa'gan. "There might be
things I've forgotten."

"I understand. You are welcome here for now. You'll have to speak to the
Warrenlady when she returns. It might be late tonight, so perhaps you could
see her in the morning." Saul turned to Tanya, "Perhaps you could help him
find an apartment to stay in for the night."

Tanya nodded, pleased at being given such an important task. Saul
smiled warmly at her, then turned back to Pa'gan. "I'm sure Trinale, the
Warrenlady will welcome you to stay also. I'll let her tell you about our
life here. If there are no more questions, there are some other things I
must see to tonight. I leave you in Tanya's capable hands. Feel free to
have dinner and enjoy the Warren for the night."

Saul stood leaving the young man and young woman sitting at the table as he
exited the dining hall, having already eaten his dinner.

Tanya watched the man leave, then turned her attention back to her subject.
He seemed to be almost done eating, and she still had a lot left on her
plate.  She took a couple bites, then set it aside and said, "Are you about
ready?"

As the last bite was scooped in his mouth, he nodded.  Tanya nodded back and
stood, followed by Pa'gan.  "Okay," she started, "I'm not quite sure how
this type of thing goes around here.  I think we should probably check in on
someone before you move in, but I don't know exactly who: I'm new here," she
added sheepishly.  "Anyway, I need to get an apartment myself, so I suppose
we can both go looking for one."  

They started moving out of the dining hall and headed to the apartments.  A
thought came to Tanya, and she thought, "You aren't afraid of heights or
anything are you?  There's low and high apartments, at least at where I grew
up at."

"No, I'm not afraid of heights," Pa'gan answered, smiling slightly.  "Where
are you from?"

"Oh, another warren farther north slightly," she answered.  "It's called
Telnor."

She heard him repeat the name slowly as she called Poldera.  The auburn
dragon appeared soon after, landing in front of the pair.  As Tanya mounted,
she saw Reekor landing beside them, and Pa'gan mounting.  She still couldn't
believe his size, seeing him on a dragon.  The dragon was actually bigger
than most she had seen, but still seemed small compared to his rider.  Tanya
didn't know how that was possible; the dragons were huge, and the size of
the rider usually didn't have anything to do with perceptions, since the
dragons were too large.

She pushed the thoughts away and took off, followed by Reekor and Pa'gan,
heading to the apartments.  *Pol, can you get in touch with someone who
could maybe help us on our search?* Tanya asked, slightly concerned about
protocol at the warren.

<I don't think there's anything to worry about, but I'll check around.>

*Thanks hon.*

Within moments, they were at the apartments place.  Poldera landed on the
ledge, allowing Tanya to dismount; they were followed by Reekor and Pa'gan,
who dismounted.  "Okay," she said, "here are the apartments.  I suppose that
right now, we can just look around at the empty ones and find one for
your...."  She glanced at him.  "Proportions."

She heard him chuckle as she led them towards the entrances.



About an hour or so later, they still weren't anywhere nearer to finding a
room to fit Pa'gan and Reekor than they had been starting out, and Tanya was
beginning to get frustrated.  She had seen a couple apartments she would
like to see again, since they suited her purposes, but she'd resolved to get
her newest friend settled before she engaged in personal things.

Pa'gan, however, seemed as calm as a cucumber; he looked patiently at each
room they saw, betraying none of his emotions.  Tanya wondered if, inside,
he was getting frustrated like her and good at hiding it, or if he just
didn't care.  For some reason, that last thought made her a little angry,
but she kept it in check and showed it in no way.

Finally, they came to the last apartment in the corridor, and entered when
they saw it was unoccupied and empty.  This room, unlike many of the others,
was more spacious, perhaps because of its location at the end of the hall.
The doors weren't any higher than the other doors at the other apartments,
but unlike those, these were built in a way that would make it easy to carve
them a little higher.  The ceiling was high also, yet Pa'gan could still
touch it when he reached up.  He just had to reach higher now.

She turned to her friend and saw that he too was looking around.  "How do
you like it?" she asked.

"Nice," was his answer.  "I like it."

"Good.  I like it too.  I think it'll do."  She glanced around once again,
then remarked, "It needs some work though.  Kinda dreary looking to me."
She smiled slightly, thinking about how her aunt's tastes seemed to have
rubbed off on her.  Her aunt never could take a plain room, and always had
to decorate it, sometimes extravagantly.  

"Anyway," she said brusquely, hiding up a small pang of homesickness, "we
should probably report your choice to someone.  You DO want this room, don't
you?" she asked, turning back to him.

He looked at her with his starteling blue eyes and smiled.  "I believe so."

Tanya felt her knees trembling and hastily looked away, swallowing slightly.
I shouldn't look at him, she thought, then laughed inwardly.  Sometimes, she
just COULDN'T take her eyes off him!  I wonder if this is love, she wondered.

Steadying herself, she headed out of the apartment, followed by Pa'gan.


NRPG:  Hope you can make due with this Keeper.  :)

Submitted by
Sarah
Tanya/Poldera *Whiteriver*