We Take {Plot!}

[Nia]

This was awesome. M'kiru couldn't think of a better thing to do than raid a stupid Hold. And it was all Crescent Hold's fault, they deserved it! They deserved it for their stupid... uh, their... sharding...! You know! They deserved it for having so much stuff! And they deserved it because they made it so much fun. M'kiru sat upright on Thauth as they flew towards Crescent Hold. Going between was pointless, since they had to arrive a little far away from Crescent Hold in order to go over things and scout out the area. Anyway, Thauth was laughing maniacally in M'kiru's head, which made it difficult to concentrate. The Black really did love raids, but did he have to sharding laugh the whole time?! It was giving M'kiru a headache.

The only thing that annoyed M'kiru was that sharding T'el had to come along. Okay, that wasn't the only thing, but it was one of them. It wasn't like T'el did anything in particular to M'kiru (except be a complete idiot) but just the fact that he rode an Iron drove M'kiru off the walls. As he began to slip into angry, envious thoughts, he felt Thauth's consciousness brush against his. Miiiinnneee~~ You have me! You don't need that.

[/i] The voice of the Black broke through M'kiru's thoughts, but the blonde didn't respond. Thauth was right. As angry and jealous as T'el and his stupid Iron made him, he would have to get over it.

Yeah, like that was going to happen.

But in any case M'kiru could at least ignore it and raid with the Ironrider. It's not like they had to talk or anything. Oh, wait, yes they did have to talk since they were sharding working together. But M'kiru didn't even have time to dwell on that angry thought as the Hold came into view. Thauth stopped moving forward, flapping cautiously so that he simply hovered nearby the Hold. M'kiru wasn't going to charge right in without making sure T'el knew what he was doing too. Thauth, contact Sjueth. We'll need to land nearby to go over what we're doing, M'kiru told the dragon, who snickered mentally before searching out Sjueth to contact him.

Sjueth, Mine says that you and Yours need to land with us so we can go over the plan,[/i] Thauth informed the Iron. He wasn't exactly a patient dragon, but he could wait a little bit longer. Shards... this was going to be fun! He could hardly wait. And judging by the devilish smirk on M'kiru's face, he couldn't wait either.[/blockquote][/size]

[jack]

T'el was positively brimming with excitement. His eyes were gleaming, his manic grin spread oh so prettily on his lips, his hands gripping Sjueth's neck with impatiently tapping fingers. "Ohboyohboy~" He cackled outloud, licking his lips as he started to sway his hips eagerly, Sjueth giving a rumble to steady His lest he tumble off.

The Black spoke and Sjueth rolled his single eye to stare coolly at him, a flicker of red swirling inside it. He braked, slowing, and began to circle the Black, but did not stop. T'elMine. The Iron rumbled, clear distaste in his tone, The tiny one and His say to stop. To stop and discuss the plan.

T'el snarled, baring his teeth, and Sjueth stopped completely, hovering just above Thauth. "By Faranth that's ridiculous!" He barked down at the other, leaning down with angrily gleaming eyes, "I'm not going to stop by your orders, tiny man!" He gave a mad cackle, Sjueth circling again, "I only joined this mismatched team of freaks so I could destroy. I don't need a plan to tear things apart."

A crazed cackle burst from his lips and he centered his gaze on the Hold, licking his lips before taking a sudden swig of his drink. "We're taking it. You can discuss your plan with yerself, lovelylady~"

The Iron gave a rumbling chuckle of approval and wheeled away from the Black and His, pumping his wings powerfully as T'el gave a hollar of glee, the pair soaring towards the Hold at high speed.

[Nia]

"You--!" M'kiru's retort was cut off as T'el sped off. "...dimglow," he snarled, narrowing his eyes in pure rage.

Shard it! Shard it, shard it, shard everything! This was not going his way. Stupid, sharding unpredictable T'el! M'kiru's mind cursed out T'el with every profanity that the blond knew, cursing his luck, his life, and why he had to go with this man, of all the people out there. He'd known from the start that T'el wasn't going to listen to him, the man just didn't know what good planning ahead could do. They could do so much more damage if they just decided on a few simple details! It's not like it was even going to take all that long!

The idiotic Ironrider was also insulting him with the "small" and "lady" comments. It made M'kiru's blood boil in rage, and even Thauth was getting royally ticked off. Rank and dragon color didn't mean anything. Especially in their stupid little team of freaks! Whatever. If T'el wanted to charge in like a sharding dimglow, that was fine. And when he got caught and killed, M'kiru could laugh. It might actually end up working in his favor, with T'el out of the way! But he doubted anything could kill that dimglow. Especially not a surprised Hold.

Mine! Mineminemine! Let's go!

[/i] Thauth was growing impatient as T'el and Sjueth sped ahead of them, the Black's hatred for the Iron almost matching M'kiru's hatred for T'el. Fine. Let's do it his way, then, obviously he knows better, M'kiru hissed, and Thauth sped off towards the Hold, his huge wings allowing him to easily gain speed and catch up to Sjueth.[/blockquote][/size]

[jack]

The pair had long since begun to ignore the others. Their attention was strictly on the Hold before them, and their attention was something that--while it flitted to and fro--was not to be spared on two things at once.

Ahead was the Hold itself, below pastures and pastures of herdbeasts. T'el licked his lips and tapped Sjueth's sides, the great beast giving a rumble of agreement and diving downwards. He roared as he got to the level of the beasts, sending the poor creatures in a stampede. "Down, Sju!" T'el cackled, pointing to the Hold, and the dragon lifted just a bit, gliding mere inches above the herdbeasts backs before dropping suddenly within the Hold's walls. Imma go break some doors, Sju~ You take some beasties back to bossman.

The Iron gave a rumble of agreement and as T'el dashed up to invade the Hold, lifted up into the air. He went back to the pasture and grabbed two of the beasts gently in his claws, rising to a higher altitude before betweening.

T'el, meanwhile, had found himself a nice-sized hatchet. Gleefully grinning he made his way to the storeroom, keeping the hatchet on hand just in case before busting the door and whistling in approval. "Heelloooo din-din."

[Nia]

M'kiru was muttering angerly to himself the entire time it took Thauth to land (which wasn't long) and for them to decide what they were going to do. Obviously, they were going to raid, steal stuff, etc. It looked to him like T'el had claimed the storeroom with the way he was walking over there with his hatchet. Whatever. Anyway, he looked at Thauth, who was eyeing the herdbeasts hungerly. No, no eating yet. I mean it! You just need to go take the wherries back, okay? M'kiru instructed, trying to get back into the chaotic mood of destruction.

He wasn't going to let his good mood be destroyed so easily, and so when Thauth went off to carry wherries between and back again, M'kiru contented himself with grabbing some daggers and walking through the Hold, searching for potential things to steal. It was important that they remain quiet and not disturb any of the Holders, they didn't want to get caught, did they? Of course not. At least Thauth flew silently (unlike that huge, hulking Iron) so if they got caught, it certainly wasn't going to be his fault.

There, that's the room he was looking for. Supplies! They needed this stuff most importantly. He stabbed open the door entering. There was a lot of stuff in here... a lot of stuff he had no use for. Tools, useless things that M'kiru didn't even know what they were and other typical Holder items. There were a few extra bags of firestone in the back for safe-keeping (that or leftovers, since when was the last time Thread had fallen here?), and M'kiru smirked. Perfect! He knocked over some of the useless stuff for fun, hopefully managing to break something really important just to mess with the people here.

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, there was one Holder that wasn't asleep. Caelin was sweeping up pieces of the container he'd broken earlier. He had just been trying to help...! No one else was up to see him shatter it to pieces, thank Faranth. As long as he managed to clean it all up before anyone showed up he'd be fine. Not that anyone was going to wake up any time soon, it was the middle of the night! But Caelin hadn't been able to sleep, so he figured he might as well attempt to help in any way possible. He was a clumsy boy and it had been a bad idea.

He was 19 turns and he still didn't know what he was going to end up doing. How was he going to help the Hold? No one had wanted to apprentice him, as he always managed to mess something up. But he always tried his hardest...! It just usually didn't work out exactly the way he wanted it to. Actually, it rarely worked out how he wanted it to. He wasn't strong and he had barely any muscle. The only thing that made people want to talk to him was his looks, as he was quite... er, pretty. As embarassing as that was.

His hair was a golden blonde and wavy, it reached a little higher than his chin. His eyes were a soft blue color. He was of average height, he was just lanky and thin. He was useless, pretty much, and he knew it. Most people didn't even notice him! But he was determined to do something to make people remember him. Anything!

Huh? A noise interupted his thoughts and Caelin froze. No one should be awake. He quickly dusted the broken container off to the side, and held his broom threateningly in front of him as he walked forward. The storerooms...? But, why would anyone be in there? His hands shook as his mind considered all the possible people that might be in there, but he slowly crept forward. An... invader? A thief? This was his chance to prove to everyone that he wasn't useless...! Tightening his grip on the broom, he approached figure in the storerooms. "H-hey, you! Stop right there!" He was being bold, he was being confrontational!

And he was also shaking like a leaf.

[/size]

[jack]

While Sjueth continued his repeated rounds of herdbeast thievery, T'el was rummaging through the storeroom, shoving things that he wanted to take to one side and throwing everything else out. Favorite foods were selected with care, set aside in yet another corner as he cheerfully did his deed, taking a few moments to stuff his face with a piece of meat.

It was when he had that delightful chunk of meat in his mouth, chewing absently as he continued to forage, that he heard the rudest interruption. He straightened from where he'd been digging in a bag, ass in the air of course, eyes narrowing in distaste. "Tch..."

Growling he flipped the hatchet from where it had been leaning against the bag to his shoulders, shifting to where he could whip it around before turning, quite prepared to lop off the intruder's skull. But as he caught sight of the invader he froze, eyes widening in surprise, and then narrowing in pleasure. "Oh~"

He flipped the hatchet to lean it on his shoulder, a hand on his hip as he stalked close to the newcomer, circling him with clearly no fear of his broom. "My, my, my...aren't you a pretty thing." He licked his lips, "Darn near tasty looking..."

Without warning he shifted, using the butt of the hatchet to knock the broom away before tossing it to the side as well, a knee slipping between the boy's legs as he pushed him to a wall and pinned him there, grinning wickedly. "What's your name, sweetheart~?"

[Nia]

M'kiru dragged the bags of firestone out to a pile he'd made for them, which Thauth was going to take when he was done with the wherries. Organization made everything better! He'd found quite a few supplies as well as the firestone, something that was going to impress their boss soooo much. And there was still more left in the supplies room! He figured they might as well just clear out the whole room, even the stuff he figured useless. They could easily sell it or something if they found no use for it.

He spotted T'el on his way back and stopped, curious. There was a boy there too. Of course, the dimglow had gotten himself discovered. M'kiru looked around, making sure that no one else was there. If it was just one kid he didn't need to bother helping T'el. The idiot could take care of himself, he'd been the one who wanted to barge in, afterall. But M'kiru made a mental note to himself (and to Thauth, who was rather distracted at the moment) of the quickest exits and escape routes, incase the one who discovered them had went for help or something.

Anyway, he walked back to his supply room, he didn't need to bother with a kid. It wasn't his problem. And even if he had known that his partner didn't need help in the slightest he probably wouldn't have interupted... better that kid than him. So he made his way into the room again, pulling out some more stuff they might need. This was going to take a while....

~~~~~~~~

Caelin was terrified of this strange intruder. He'd been hoping it was just one of the other holders stealing extra food, so he'd have an easy time "defeating" them and getting his well-deserved praise and recognition for once. This man just had a scary aura about him, and Caelin immediately regretted ever going towards him. He had a sharding hatchet for Faranth's sake! It had been a stupid idea. A really, really, really stupid idea.... Well, at least now he knew he certainly wasn't going to be a scholar.

If he even got out of this alive, that is. This man reminded him of a shark, the way he had circled like that. He'd knocked Caelin's broom harmlessly off to the side before he'd even had a chance to defend himself with it! This was not looking good. And he especially did not like those comments, his mind jumping into a panic when he realized what those comments were implying and what this man wanted from him. Oh, Faranth no.

"Like I'd tell you...!" Caelin tried to sound as defiant as possible, but in his current situation and what with being pinned to the wall and all, his voice sounded more terrified than anything. If he'd been bolder, he would have tried spitting in T'el's face, but his rational also poked through and told him that making this shark-with-a-hatchet angrier would be a bad thing. He didn't want to die! And shoving this guy off of him wouldn't work either... he was smart enough to tell that there was no way he'd be able to get free. That wouldn't stop him from trying, though.

[/size]

[jack]

"Heheh. Aren't you the fiesty one." T'el crooned in reply, leaning close with a wicked grin, "Fiesty's all fine and good...but that fear you've got shinin' there..." He gave a shaky sigh, biting his bottom lip, "That's just...enthralling."

He withdrew but didn't release his hold, eyes flashing with eager impatience, "Hm~ I want it." He whispered huskily, more to himself and Sjueth than anything else. The dragon rumbled in his mind, landing nearby to peer in His's direction with amusement. Then take it, Mine.

A long pause. "Splendid idea." he leaned in closer again, eyes whirling wildly, "I will"

He pressed his lips against Caelin's, refusing to take no for an answer as he hungrily forced his tongue into the other's mouth, giving a low groan of approval before withdrawing, "Mmnm...." He licked his lips, "You're coming with me, prettyboy."

Without another word he turned on his heel, roughly grabbing the blond's wrist and dragging him after him, "Oh..and don't scream, mmkay? That would just mean I'd have to silence ya...and I'd rather not cut out that darling tongue of yours."

[Nia]

There, that was everything they needed. For now, anyway. For good measure M'kiru went through and trashed what remained of the supplies room, stabbing at the walls, wrecking the shelves, all that good stuff. It took out a lot of his frustration. His ANGRY frustration. His twin daggers didn't really do much destruction though, in all honesty. He had to get some sharper... aha! The kitchens! They had to have some nice knives in there. ... he liked knives.

After securing all the shiny knives from the kitchen (and testing them out on all the cooking equipment), M'kiru made his way back towards his pile of stuff. That seemed good enough, and they could always come back if it wasn't. Or even go to that other hold, what was it called? He couldn't remember. But it didn't matter anyway, he'd managed to get a huge pile of supplies, and Thauth had taken all of the wherries (he'd eaten a few, even though M'kiru had specifically told him not to). They were all ready to go, it didn't look like there was much else to do here.

He got there in time to see T'el getting ready to leave too... wait, who was that with him? Oh that sharding... he couldn't be serious! "T'el, who IS that?!" he hissed angerly as he approached the pair, demanding answers. They were NOT taking hostages, that was not what they were supposed to do. Taking some supplies and such, yeah, that was necessary, but a little blond kid?! No way, not in a million YEARS. "You're not thinking of actually taking him with us, are you?!" he snapped, crossing his arms across his chest in annoyance.

Miinnee....

[/i] Thauth said impatiently, he wanted to get going already. M'kiru sighed and began loading the stuff into bags he'd brought. Naturally, his pile of loot was a lot bigger than T'el's. Of course the Ironrider wasn't going to carry more stuff, even though he had a bigger dragon. That was just absurd. Mine hurry up![/i] Ugh... whatever, the thrill was gone, and M'kiru just wanted to go home and nap.

~~~~~~~~

This guy was just plain psychotic! What kind of crazy person took pleasure in other people's fear?! It was... weird! But Caelin couldn't really say anything, he couldn't really do anything but glare and hope he looked threatening rather than scared. The blond moved his arms a bit to try and see just how tight T'el's grip was, and found that, yeah, it was quite strong. Stronger than he was, in any case. Which meant that escape looked slim.

"W-wait, what are you--" he started to stammer a protest before T'el's lips made contact with his own. His eyes widdened in surprise, and he didn't do anything to increase or decrease the kiss, he merely stood there with a shocked stare. In a distant corner of his mind, Caelin had thought that maybe T'el was just trying to scare him, and that he wasn't going to go through with it. It wasn't the blond's first kiss, he wasn't completely inexperienced, but he just... er, didn't want it. This guy was insane, who knows what he might do...!

He'd actually expected that T'el was just going to take him there in the storeroom, so he was even more shocked when he felt himself being dragged outside and being warned not to scream. What?! This was crazy! This guy wasn't going to take him hostage, was he?! That was impossible! "You can't do that!" he said, not even sure if what he was saying was making sense, "You can't just... take... me!" he tried to find the right words of protest in his panicing mind. His voice wasn't loud, because he was positive that this guy was going to follow through with the threat if Caelin provoked him.

And the only thing that really made him panic was that he was starting to think that no one would even notice if he just disappeared....[/blockquote][/size]

[jack]

The other rider spoke and T'el tilted his head, shooting the man an icy glare. What a grumpy thing this fellow was. So very grumpy and so very not-nice and so very-rude. He was really becoming a thorn in the ironrider's side, and while T'el had his moments of pain = good...he was never a big fan of thorns. "You gonna stop me?" He asked coldly, giving a rather maniacal grin as he tilted his head, clear challenge in his gaze. He'd spent plenty of time playing ball for the big man with no...true reward. Now that he had something that he wanted, he wasn't about to let it go. It was His. He earned It. He would keep It...and no over-confident, stuck-up, boring rider of a crazy black dragon was gonna stop him.

Sjueth straightened as T'el spoke, turning his gaze to M'kiru and Thauth. While it wasn't all that big a deal to him if the little blond came with them or not, it was clearly something that His desperately wanted. nd what His wanted, His would get. You are not the leader. He hissed, arching his neck as he pointedly stared at Thauth, And you never had the potential to be so. You will stand down...or I will cut you down.

T'el turned his attention away from the others, clearly having dropped his interest in them. As harsh and dangerous as they were, Thauth would stand no chance against Sjueth...so T'el knew they weren't a threat. Knowing M'kiru...he'd have to watch out in his sleep for a while though.
"I can and I am." The ironrider replied with odd cheer, grinning playfully at his captive, "No rules in my little bookaroo that says I can't steal a babe or two...so I am."

He rather roughly shoved Caelin towards Sjueth and moved to pack the food he'd managed to drag to Sjueth's side. "You move, and he'll bite off a limb I don't need." He gave a lop-sided grin, "Which could pretty much be any of them. I'm the least partial to legs though...so move and you won't be walking again."

The man gave an oddly playful wink and set about to loading his prizes onto Sjueth's back, clamboring on after everything else was in place. He leant down and grabbed Caelin's arm, dragging him up to sit in front of him. "Try not to fall off." He crooned in the other's ear before in a strange act of compassion he grunted and slid his own jacket off--having realized he didn't have another on hand--and wrapped it around Caelin before clucking to Sjueth. He didn't want his playtoy frozen, after all.

[Nia]

M'kiru glared back at T'el... and decided it wasn't worth it to fight. He'd think and find some way to get back at the Ironrider. "Whatever, I don't care," he dismissed the topic entirely, walking back towards Thauth. There were some times when backing down was the best way to fight. He'd get back T'el though... he would definitely get T'el back for this. It wasn't like M'kiru cared too much about the blond kid, but it was just unneeded. Completely unneeded. He'd just wait for his time to strike. For his time to finally get rid of every Iron in existance.

And that time wasn't now. Without looking back at T'el, he climbed up on Thauth, sitting there poised and calm, not even sparing a glance. However, the Black was fed up with them. Both of the pair. Even his childishly good mood was ruined! All because of those two inferior dimglows and because of that boy. He didn't like any of them! And he wanted to destroy stuff, and now he couldn't even destroy stuff! Today was just not either of their day.

Thauth, don't respond, M'kiru said quickly to the dragon, who was mentally going on a rampage, but he had yet to send any of those thoughts over to the Iron. Why not?! They're-

[/i] Crazy. They are crazy. Ironic thought, really. I will DESTROY the both of them if it's the last thing I do![/i] It will be the last thing you ever do. Sjueth was bigger, T'el was bigger, and bigger generally meant stronger. They couldn't win, there was no way either of them could win, and M'kiru knew it. Thauth was still quite angry, but he jumped into the air without another word.

They'd figure out their revenge later.

~~~~~~~

Oh shard it, dragons. Big dragons. Even the Black was big! But that Iron... it was huge. He stared blankly at it after the initial shock of oh Faranth I'm being kidnapped wore off and he had control over his mind again. He couldn't just be the average bandit that walked from place to place, he had to also be a sharding Ironrider! Caelin never did have a lot of luck. "I'm not a babe...." he muttered in embarassment. This really was the last place he wanted to be.

The two dragonriders were fighting, it looked like. He couldn't hear the dragon's conversations, but he didn't like the way that Iron looked at the Black. He considered running, but he knew it wouldn't work, being surrounded by two- no wait, now it was only one, the other had left- dragons. And T'el's threat just made him stay even more still. He did look over the Iron in slight awe... he'd always liked dragons. They were cool. But Searchriders just passed over him, no matter how many times he'd gone out to see them. His place was at the Hold, and he knew that. Even if no one cared about him.

Caelin simply allowed himself to be shoved around, not wanting to anger T'el like the tan guy with the pale hair had. He liked his limbs, and he did like being alive. Surely someone would eventually notice he was missing and he'd be rescued! They couldn't keep him forever! And... sitting on a dragon was pretty cool, he had to admit. An Iron, even! The highest ranking male dragon out there!

But he forced himself to frown, even when T'el wrapped him in a jacket, probably to protect him from the cold of between. "I..." he started to say something but stopped himself, there was no use protesting anymore. There wasn't any way he was going back to the Hold now. He cursed his luck and wished he'd just gone to sleep instead of trying to do something. It was a stupid idea. He sighed in resignation, grabbing tight on to something in front of him, praying he wouldn't actually fall off. With his luck, he wasn't taking any chances.[/blockquote][/size]

[jack]

T'el didn't fully turn his attention from the Black until the pair betweened, his eyes watching from the corner of their sockets and his muscles tensed. While he hadn't expected the pair to do anything--he figured with the way M'kiru thought, getting into a scuffle with him and Sjueth would be unadvantageous; after all, he and Sju were capable fighters...and so much bigger than the Black!--he was relieved nonetheless when they were completely gone.

As handsome a man as M'kiru was--and now that he'd gotten even more deeply engrained in the fellow's 'bad side list' it made matters worse--T'el was unsure of him. While it wouldn't be nearly as fun teasing the poor buddy now--lord knows that wierd black might wheel on them next time--he would leave it be and keep their 'relationship' severed to a 't'. Things would be difficulter now. He'd have to start sleeping well away from the camp--and even further away from M'kiru. He didn't want to have to wake up with a knife or...worse...an angry dragon in his bed.

"You are a babe." T'el found himself replying, breaking his own train of thought with a broad grin, "A shardin' lovely one." He licked his lips and leaned in, nibbling at the boy's ear impatiently. He couldn't wait to get his new toy somewhere more....private~ What fun they would have...

Let's drop this crap off and go find somewhere secluded, Sju-baby~
Sjueth gave a rumbling reply and lifted off, wings pumping powerfully as he soared upwards, only to disappear into nothing as he betweened. Oh yes. This would be a fun evening.

[Admin]

I know you are the one we left behind,
Yet somehow we are the ones who are alone,
I will no longer turn my head,
I will never forget you.

With time, the night past and light begin to come over the ransacked hold. Sounds heralded the sights that the people were greeted with when they went out to start the day's work. It started with discontented grumbles, curses to sharding herdbeasts, swearing about disturbances. Then it was screaming that echoed across farmland, a cry that was picked up by many as discontent turned into horror and anger. "Caelin! Where's Caelin?" "Who took the crates from the last storeroom?" Then it was sound of the hooves of runnerbeasts on the paths to the main hold. The poor steward was swamped with unexpected people demanding to see the Lord Holder. Rising voices began to fill the front hall, until he managed to get order and start sending people into talk to the lord. The picture really started to take shape for them after that.

The sound of dragons in the night. Missing food supplies and other things. Destroyed fields and orchards of winter crops. Disappearing holder children. Cambyses moved slowly, a realization of age and exhaustion and trouble weighing down his body that normally held so much energy, after the last of his holders left once his report and his pleas were given. With the knowledge of his peoples' hopes in him, he remained tall and strong yet still. He stopped one of his scribes, the youthful, always eager one, who had been diligently following him with his arms full of notes short when he reached his quarters. It wasn't until he shut the door firmly behind him that he slumped with a sigh, the lines and bags around his eyes suddenly jumping out and his shoulders twisting forward. It was hard to stand straight when the world rested on your back.

From their bed, his wife, Samara, with her sharp, beautiful eyes, watched him as he moved across their room. She did not breath a word though, and let him go out onto their balcony, which looked out to the ocean and to the Weyr across the bay. With his listless gazing, he thought heavily. Had their protectors forsaken them? No, Fajra and O'sho hadn't. The bronzerider was old and experienced. The copperrider was stern and commanding. They wouldn't have resorted to tricky and deceit; they wouldn't have broken custom. Perhaps some of the others though, a reckless young Kingrider who hadn't managed to claim leadership or just some dissatisfied soul. With a sigh, he straightened in resolution. It wasn't his job to pass some resolution or judgment on those who'd protected them for centuries. He simply had to resolve the matter.

Turning with an absentminded smile, he returned to the less than subtly watching woman who was the actual ruler of the chambers. "Samara, where's Marcus?" Raising one eyebrow at him, she silently pointed across the room to where a lump of a purple firelizard was sleeping on the hearth. Chuckling very slightly, which got a smile out of her, he went and picked up his faithful pet, who stirred and opened one eye to stare up at him. He stroked the odd creatures head gently and carried him over to his desk, where he wrote out a short message and slipped it into small collar. "Take this to O'sho. Take this to Daidoroth's. I need him to know about what happened;" he explained to Marcus, fixing pictures of the person, the dragon, of the events of the past night in his mind so that he would understand. With a chirp, the purple disappeared.

We've built our confidence,
On broken dreams now left for dead,
Yet weve been condemned,
To chase these dreams that never end.