J'red made another pass over the warren lands.  He felt completely
useless, and so very worried about Jennifer.  Their father had been less
than gracious to the Warrenlady Trinale.  Lord Fowler also assumed, that
J'red's being a dragonrider meant that he should be able to find Jennifer
and her friends in a matter of minutes, and here it had been hours.

<They are found!> J'red's red dragon Firefly announced, triumphantly.

<Where?  By whom??> J'red got the mental picture from his dragon, as
relayed by Satinka, of Chance and Derek and some caves.  It was getting
dark already.

As they winged back to the green, J'red's only thoughts were of getting to
his younger sister, though he worried about explaining to his father why
it wasn't he that found them.  Sometimes Lord Fowler expected too much
from him.

In seconds he was getting ropes and other digging equipment and loading
them onto his dragon.  The expidition took to the air and followed the
young girl on the horse back to the cave in which the girls were trapped.

J'red followed the instructions of the older dragonriders, and soon found
himself stabalizing the edge of the sinkhole, calling to Jennifer to
reassure her that all was being done to free them.

"Jenn, don't cry!  We'll get you out!  Don't worry!"  J'red found himself
repeating to the frightened girls.  The tourches guttered, making seeing
them difficult.

Snivling misserably, Jennifer replied, "I'm cold, I'm hungry, and Faith is
hurt, J'red!  Help us, please, hurry."  

It seemed to take hours to stabalize the edge of the sinkhole enough to
allow the dragonriders to reach the girls.

The dragonriders carefully lowered ropes into the hole, and one at a time
the girls were hoisted from the hole, though one rider had to go down to
retrieve Faith, who was still unable to help herself.

J'red embraced his little sister joyfully and led her from the cave to the
waiting arms of their father, Lord Fowler.

"I think I'd better take her to the med center just to make sure she is
okay," J'red told his father, who agreed.

He helped Jennifer onto his dragon Firefly, seating her behind him.  She
held on tightly to waist, as they rose into the air.

"J'red I'm scared"  Jennifer's voice squeaked.

"Don't be!" J'red reassured her, "Firefly will take care of us," <Won't
you friend> 

<Of course!>  Firefly snuffed.  Blinking his eye as he looked back at his
two riders.

And a second later they had blinked out and reappeared over the medcenter.
Jennifer shivered uncontrolably as they landed, and J'red helped her down
and escorted her into the facilities, where she checked out fine.

By that time Lord Fowler had arrived.  "I have had enough of this
incompetance!"  He fumed.  "We are leaving tomorrow! and you are grounded
for a week, Jennifer!"

Jennifer looked ashamed, "Father I didn't want to go there!  Honest, those
other girls, they talked me into it.  Please, Father, don't be angry with
me" and as always, her pleading, little girl act, softened her father's
heart.  Her eyes, reminding him so much of his late wife.

J'red stood by, knowing the outcome already.  It was an all too familiar
scenario.  Jennifer gets into trouble, J'red gets her out, Father forgives
Jennifer, and somehow, J'red always ends up to blame...

And here it came...

"J'red, your Warren should be more careful of its guests!"  Lord Fowler
turned his anger and frustration onto his son.  "You tell that Warrenlady
of yours that she needs to do something about those dangerous caves!" and
with that, Lord Fowler marched Jennifer back to their VIP quarters.

J'red sighed.  He returned to Firefly feeling morose, and bone-weary
tired.  He flew up to his apartments, high up on the cliff wall.  Tomorrow
he'd be gone.  

*****
K'leev, just the thought of him made her blood run cold!  As far as
Merissa was concerned there wasn't a single redeaming quality to Thorin's
father, except that he was Thorin's father.

"The sooner he is gone the better for us!" she told Thorin as he hurridly
dressed.  "and, no, I do not understand!"

"It was my mother's death, Merissa, that made him turn to the bottle."
Thorin tried to explain.  "He wasn't always like this.  There has to be
something I can say to Trinale..."  

"Well, while you do that, I'm going to find Shawnee.  She is the one I'm
worried about!  There has to be something I can do to help, even if it is
just a mutual I-Hate-K'leev-fanclub!"  Merissa tried to end with humor,
but it came out flat.

Thorin looked at her and frowned.  He came over and put his arms around
her shoulders, giving her a gentle hug.

She looked up into his eyes, noticing the fear and concern there, "I know
he is your father, Th'rin." she murmured, "and I'm sorry, but I just don't
like him,"  she smiled gently up at him, slowly wrapping her arms around
his neck, leaning her head onto his chest.  Then she smiled and looked up
at him, "but I love you".  They kissed again, and Thorin pulled away
slowly, looking down at her.

"I've got to go"  he said, turning to leave.  

Merissa nodded, and returned to her bedroom to dress, and mull over the
possibilities.  She would go see Shawnee right away.

<She will be training>  Chrysthal reminded her.

<Then at lunch!>  Merissa acknowleged.  <But there has to be something I
can do before then>

<Many of the visitors will be leaving today, you should be there to bid
them a farewell>

Merissa again acknowleged, while she came out onto the green, where
Chrysthal and Areena were enjoying the rays of the sunshine.

<I'm a bit scratchy, no..right..yes..ah!>  Chrysthal enjoyed the rubbing
that Merissa gave her.  <Areena is scratchy, too...>

Merissa laughed.  <We should send Th'rin to hatchling training!>

<Areena may be small, but she is no longer a hatchling!> Chrysthal
responded a bit defensively.

<Oh, I didn't mean to imply that, just that Th'rin now has a dragon, and
he seems a bit neglectful of her, is all>  Merissa replied placatingly.

<You should go see those young girls>  Chyrsthal mentioned 

<What girls?>  Merissa responded.

<The ones that came to see me, the ones that liked me, one of them got
hurt in a cave>  Chrysthal replied.

<Hurt?  What?  I didn't know....>  Merissa asked surprised.

<That is because you were too busy with Th'rin to take any notice>
Chyrsthal chided.  <There were 3 of them, one was Trinale's sister, the
other was Firefly's Rider's sister, and the third was that wild girl, she
is the one that got hurt.>

Merissa finished her oiling of her beautiful lavendar queen, and the small
opulescent dragon, and then headed off to say farewell to several of the
Lords and their entourages that were leaving that morning, and to see
Faith.

Lord Fowler, Lord Gingle, and a few others were just loading up when she
approached.  Wanting to get an early start.  The sunshine was starting
to brighten up the day and she managed to make rather light small talk,
reminding them that since Cricket had flown to mate the evening before,
that they were invited back in a few months for the hatching of her eggs.

She was pleased to see Jennifer no worse for her ordeal, but felt
uncomfortable with J'red for some odd reason.  It reminded her of the
first time they'd met -- at the party that Lord Fowler held at his home
whenever there was a hatching at Whiteriver -- where J'red was the Lord's
Son, and she just a traveling Bard.

She next went by the medcenter to see Faith.  The young girl was being
examined, so Merissa decided to return later, and by then it was close to
lunch, as it was.

Merissa entered the dining hall, picked out her food and searched for
Shawnee.

*****
NRPG:  Does she find her?  Tag Barb.


>From jacobs@wsnet.com Mon May  5 17:37:30 1997
Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 17:36:50 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Arlene E. Jacobs" <jacobs@wsnet.com>
To: "Arlene E. Jacobs" <jacobs@wsnet.com>

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
   /^\      /^\                                 Submitted  By
  /  `._   /  `._                               Arlene Jacobs
 ( : :  `.(  : : `.    \^=^/                         aka
 | : :`. `:_ : : `|_   | '.O'--^-^:                Merissa
  \/^|._ _. \_  ._ _\  | '.')__..''              Junior-Queen
     \/. :-._`|  .: | / .'_.-|    __              Rider  of
        \/. ..,`.\__/.,',...')__/^;;)             Chrysthal
          ^\/ ._,_... | ., )-)____/           
            <> \/ | ..  \__)_ __               jacobs@wsnet.com
                __| ., \____(,;;)          
            ../. / . \)____)\      
 _/\_/\__/\/..  ( ... )____)_)___
<__|__|__|__|___(__|___;;; ___;;;) aej

             http://www.neosoft.com/~acoustic/arlenejhp.html