Day 3, morning
The Training Green

[ snip author=Bridget title="Dance the Night Away" ]

He cleared his throat, instantly getting everyone's attention. "Today," the 
smile was out in full force now, "you're dragons are going to fly.  By 
themselves, mind you," a few pairs of shining eyes became a little duller, 
but not by much.  "But it won't be long until you can join them.  Now if 
you would all turn you're attention to Trefoil, he's going to demonstrate."

<No showing off now,> N'lin admonished.

<And be partially responsible for breaking my daughters' necks? I think 
not,> Foil answered wryly as he loped down the green, wings out stretched 
to catch the generated breeze.  Almost effortlessly, he took to the air and 
gaining altitude executed a few very simple maneuvers before landing.

"All right then," silently, N'lin made a vow not to laugh at the inevitably 
humorous landings and take offs soon to come.  "Who wants to go first?"

[ /snip ]

Four young dragons stood on the green watching Trefoil's aerial display. 
Now, as before, they made a colorful display, ranging from the iridescent 
hues of the dark green queen hatchling through Calia's sky blue and 
Melodaria's purple, culminating in Narshada's shadowy grey and Feronia's 
deep, green-mottled black. By comparison, their riders were almost 
uniformly bland.

{One side,} the metallic-jade queen hatchling, Nephrititi, 'casted to her 
siblings. {It's only fitting that I go first, after all.}

[* Glory hound, *] Narshada sniped in return as her insufferable sister 
shouldered past her, nearly bowling her over with a very unnecessary shove. 
[* Go ahead, be the first to crash, too, Lizard. *]

{Your petty jealousy of me is so very telling, Runtling.}

Recovering easily from Nephrititi's push, Nar stretched out on the Green 
next to her rider, who was casting curious looks in Lia's direction at the 
apparent exchange between their dragons. [* The only thing petty here is 
your perceived self-importance, Neph. I'll just catch a nap here in the 
nice warm sun while you make an idiot of yourself. You have to run to take 
off, and that's too close to work for someone of your 'importance'. *]

Narshada's mood could be easily explained. Of the five hatched dragons, she 
was by far the smallest... though when it came to dragons, 'small' was a 
relative term. Nephrititi and Feronia easily oversized her by a foot or 
more of length, with wingspans to match. Somewhere deep inside, she 
wondered if she had enough wing to lift herself.

For all the jibing she took, not just from Narshada but in some measure 
from all of her siblings, Nephrititi was a glorious sight to behold. She 
was the largest of the hatchlings, which she took as - and was vocal about 
- her proof of superiority. Stretching her wings out full, she pumped them 
slightly as she bounded across the green, stirring the grasses wildly with 
downdraft until she began to lift from the ground and swept into the air 
like a detached tree leaf caught on a zephyr.

She would never admit it, but Narshada was impressed and a touch envious.

Tinker stole another glance at Lia, finding her gazing raptly in the air 
with a wide smile and a hint of a teardrop clinging to the corner of her 
eye. It was a shame N'lin had to disturb her to ask her to have Nephrititi 
come back down. The exchange between rider and dragon seemed to last a 
little too long, which surprised Tinker somewhat until Lia shook her head 
and looked at N'lin almost apologetically. "She says she doesn't want to 
come down just yet."

N'lin's chagrin was readily visible. "She's too young to make those 
decisions herself." Pivoting on his heel, he kept Nephrititi in his sight 
circling overhead. "Trefoil!" he called out audibly, following it 
telepathically. <Get her down now.>

<You need but ask,> Trefoil tossed back easily. The sun rippled across his 
moving scales as he banked and turned to close on his errant child. 
<Nephrititi, you are ordered to land.>

The jade queen pitched up onto one wing, circling back to overfly the rest 
of her siblings. <But Trefoil, I-->

<NOW!!!>

The three young dragons on the ground winced in unison as the overflow from 
Trefoil's vehemence washed through their minds like an icepick.

Taken totally unawares by the outburst, Nephrititi's concentration was 
shattered in an instant, and her slow, leisurely flight transformed 
abruptly into a flat spin, wings and legs flailing uselessly in an attempt 
to right herself.

"Neph!" Adeliannae's shriek of horror was as loud to the humans as 
Trefoil's mental bellow. The junior queenrider ran forward, arms 
outstretched, as though she were going to try to catch the falling 
dragonet. Tears of joy were replaced by longer, darker streaks as tears of 
panic and fear took their place.

Down, further down fell the baby queen, her audible squeal of distress 
matching the panicked thoughts being 'casted from her mind.

As if it were happening in slow motion, Tinker watched, mouth agape. The 
industrious workers in the back of his mind studied the problem with an 
emotional detachment that no one could comprehend. Air flow, mass 
densities, relative and proper velocities all marched in odd precision 
around one another, uniting in a flash into a single, cohesive unified 
solution.

"Turn into the spin," Tinker said to no one in particular. Rushing forward, 
he grabbed Lia by the arms and spun her around, seeing only terror in the 
woman's eyes. "Tell her she needs to turn into the spin to slow it down! 
Stretch as much as she can! Trust me!"

Lia and Narshada both relayed his instructions to the panicked hatchling, 
shouting to overcome Nephrititi's own babbling mental voice. With every 
heartbeat she fell closer to the ground, and it seemed an eternity before 
her neck and tail stretched and twisted, shifting her mass around to 
disrupt the deadly spin.

Great, powerful wings beat frantically in the skies over the Green. Trefoil 
continued to close, tucking forelegs and hindquarters in close and aiming 
himself at the empty space between Nephrititi and the ground. That ground 
raced up toward him at an alarming rate, but he wouldn't remember that 
part; all he could focus on was arresting his daughter's fall.

And the sickening realization that he wouldn't get there in time.

Nephrititi did as much as she could, stretching her legs and tail out as 
far as they would go. The muscles that controlled her wings complained 
mightily at the strain of keeping them out to her sides and as steady as 
possible, instinct canting them just enough to catch more air and give her 
that much more lift. Only Lia could hear her pitiful plea. <Can't... hold...>

Roaring from a sudden stab of cramping pain in her left wing, Neph flapped 
her wings as hard as she could, easing the burden on her overtaxed body 
even for a moment with a much more controlled free-fall glide. The ground 
kept advancing, but she'd shed enough speed that her landing wouldn't 
immediately crush her bones.

<Ooof!>

Nephrititi skipped across the green like a stone, gouts of dirt and divots 
of grass flying up in her wake until she could get her legs completely 
under her for braking. Tucking her wings quickly, she scrambled for 
purchase wherever her claws could grab. Her landing ended abruptly as she 
spiked one leg downward and got a good grip on the earth, inertia carrying 
her into another, much slower spin on her belly.

One that stopped when she passed out and let her neck and tail fall limply 
to the ground.

**********
Tag... EVERYONE! Every dragon in the Warren has become instantly aware that 
there's been a crash on the training green. Everyone is invited to come 
running and rubberneck.
**********

[* Lizard! *] Narshada led the pack of students and hatchlings at a full 
gallop, racing across to where Nephrititi's first flight had ended. [* Talk 
to me, Neph! *]

The shadowy grey dragon skidded to a halt next to the unconscious one, dark 
eyes blinking rapidly as she studied Nephrititi for signs of life. [* 
C'mon... wake up! I didn't mean for you to really crash! *]

Lia and Tinker arrived next, the former throwing herself down to the ground 
and wrapping her arms around Neph and the latter comforting Nar in what 
little ways he could. All rivalries were put aside as Narshada staked her 
territory out next to her fallen sibling and looked up at the man she 
believed knew everything there was to know with tear-glazed eyes the color 
of the evening sky.

[* Tinker... she will wake up, won't she? *]

_____________________
NRPG: OK, I lied about no more tonight. The rest that I have to write 
doesn't rely on this any, so it can go out, too. This way y'all have 
something more to write about, at least.

HEY ARLE! Did I make quota yet?! <G>
_____________________

Respectfully submitted,

Brian Cook as Tinker/Narshada


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