Senior Officer Shannon Dooley, a serious woman with little patience for games. She has been a firefighter for 10 of her 36 years, and her duties are always taken seriously. She is liked but feared by most of her peers - she's a climber, in the business of fighting fires. Though she is capable of doing all the hard work required, she is probably more suited to the desk jobs and public relations areas, and will probably retire from these difficult tasks earlier than her male counterparts.

With dark and heavy red hair, pale skin that is dotted with freckles, and bright green eyes, you would get the first impression that this is an impish woman, but you'd be dead wrong. Her build is strong, from the work that she does, but she has a good figure and likes to use it to her advantage when she can.

Her family is distant, living in Chicago. She has both her parents alive, several uncles and aunts on either side, and many cousins. Her younger brother is in accounting, and younger sister working on her law degree. She is the only one among them to want to go into this field, and they've let her do it without question. Even her own family fears her slightly.

Back to the bonding page

Dooley was attracted to the beauty and sharp lines of gryphons, instead of dragons. She guessed that there would be others doing so too, but hadn't realized that everyone had chosen somewhere different. She'd be on her own?

That was acceptable. She was always on her own. But perhaps now, she might get a bit more respect. The place she was brought to by a local rider (she didn't know his name, but he was a handsome black man with a colorful set of clothing, and bald as could be) was named Xidaver Isle.

There were storm clouds surrounding the place, and a high mountain which seemed to be the place where they were going to land. Wind, cold and sharp, kept Shannon wide awake as they came in to land.

"The ledge is so small!" She cried, but Chaz grinned and his bronze dragon slipped onto the slick ledge with ease. Still smiling, he helped Shannon down and got her bags of belongings from the claws of his dragon for her. Dooley stood carefully at the edge of their landing spot and looked down.

The cliff was sharp, dark, jutting with small ledges down the whole face. Here and there were nests, and the gryphons that flew from them were just like in the computer's description.

Chaz saluted, and said, "good bonding, my lady, you'll be sure to write, won't you?" But before he could even really give his name and how to contact them at all, he was back on the sleek bronze's neck and flying away.

"What a colorful idiot he was," she muttered to herself. Dooley found the local important people, introduced herself properly, and was set up with a room to place her things.

It wasn't much more than a week before the chosen were asked to come to the big chamber where the tyrin would hatch. Their eggs were trembling, but their mother was furious. People had to come see her like this? Dooley looked with a knowing eye at the moulting gryphon, whose drooping feathers would probably have used the stiff wind outside to depart from her skin. Sometimes, Shannon felt like that tyrin looked.

The Accepted were led to the nest carefully and Dooley noticed that the folks up in the stands slightly away from where they were had let off a strange set of discussions - this group isn't even local. Why is there another tyrin among them? Who are these people that will bond our tyrin?

Dooley grinned to herself. She was here because she knew this place would help her. None of them were down here by the nest, now were they?

They had just enough time before this to explain why there was a strangely dressed woman setting up shop behind the accepted, blocking their exit. She would do 'something' to the chosen pairs, to seal their bond. Dooley wasn't much for magic powers, but these creatures were made of it. She'd have to learn and get along with that idea.

An egg shuddered open as if hit by the lightning that struck outside. He was beautiful, and it looked like he was the lightning from outside. Beautiful. Two eggs hatched at the same time, then, and as they shook the wetness off their beautiful hides and pinfeathers, Dooley knew that one was for her.

There was just something tingling in her mind, when the grey furred and fire marked female got up and moved in front of her darker brother to look at the Accepted.

Shannon looked into her eyes, which were calm but sure, and she placed her hand on the tyrin's head just to make sure that she was seeing and believing.

It would be a while before they exchanged names, though - that was what the girl behind them was to do. So Dooley helped the hatchling out of the rest of her shell, little bits of which had clumped up on her tail. In the meantime, more eggs hatched, and more bonds were made.

Eventually when every tylet had paired up with something or someone, Dooley was instructed to stand at the head of the line of them. That was nothing new. Proudly she did so, and was approached by the Sileen. She and her tylet looked straight on, as the woman put her hand on Shannon's forehead and the gryphon's head. A surge of emotion and strange magic thrilled Dooley - something she'd never felt came onto her. Another life, so close by, her gryphon's.

The young woman doing the cerimony said, "what is her name?"

With a grin, Dooley glanced at the tylet, and smiled. She returned her gaze to the woman, "Her name is Irrel, and she says she's very hungry."

"You can get some meat from the kitchens. Evin will show you, he is over by the door. And by the way, your bond is an Alpha."

That was something significant, Dooley realized. They'd had just enough time to teach her the basics of what each rank of gryphon was like, and ... well, it was not really a surprise to her that she'd paired up with the strongest, rarest type. That, and her markings had never been seen before - she wondered that the next in line, the lightning male, he was pretty special too.

But right now, the only special thing that Irrel could think of was Could we get food? I don't care if he eats. He's just a male. I will be able to assist you when we get back to your place. I should like to live with you though...

The thoughts of having to return time and time again to the weird Den was obviously showing through Dooley's mind. "It's all right, though - they have the room for you and the dragons."

Dragons are nothing compared to me, Irrel proudly stated, as they went and got her meal.

***

The work was less difficult in many ways, Dooley thought. This was actually kind of easy. She had a lot to do, of course, but the duties of a fledgling tyrin and rider were far less stressful than fighting fires and doing tons of paperwork.

The realization that all that work and papers would be waiting for them when they got back, meant that Dooley and the rest were going to have to adjust several more times to their lives.

Do you like your life with me? Asked Irrel.

"Of course I do," Shannon said, with a rare smile. She only smiled for Irrel - with the mental shield of bonding in place, they were privy only to one another - and when Irrel needed to communicate with others of her kind, she could choose to do so. Only Irrel could really draw out the best in Dooley.

The worst, too, perhaps. The moult was horrifying, but Dooley demanded that Irrel handle it with a bit of class. When it finally all broke down, was when Irrel had naught but tufts of feathers drifting down in clumps to her clawed feet - Dooley felt the wave of embarrassment and shame come from the gryphon and finally started crying herself.

"I'm sorry Irrel!" Shannon said, wiping her eyes. She helped clean up the feathers, and then privately was happy when the next year's plumes came in.

Irrel flew with great flourish over Talon. The gryphon was not the only exotic creature in the sky that day, but she was the only full grown gryphon - tyrin - and she gloried in that fact for the time being.

She called out loudly, with her clear voice, that there were fires to be put out. Her control over flame and heat had developed in the last year of her young life, and Dooley was now sure that though she'd wanted a nice desk job? She no longer wanted that.

It wasn't that she disliked playing with the hoses and running the trucks... But they were so grimy and heavy! Now that she could ride with Irrel it was as though a tremendous weight was lifted from her. She took her duties seriously, still, but they were now something so strong in her life, a focus that she hadn't had before.

They swept over the fire, and Irrel used her powerful telekinetic blast to blow out a portion of it. Unreached by hoses, that area of the building would now be safe.

"Good job, my friend," Dooley called over the wind. Irrel gave another bright call, and they went back for more.

It was less than three months after their re-arrival to Talon that Irrel started making some strange looks into the sky.

"What is it?" Dooley asked, looking up and squinting into the sun but not seeing anything in particular.

It is... not a what. A who. Male, I believe... Her feathers and wings shifted around, as though she felt uncomfortable in whatever posture she was in.

"A male tyrin?" Her rider asked, and Irrel tilted her head oddly. After a moment she shook her head.

No, not a tyrin. But... almost...

The question of what it was, who it was, that was circling so high above them was answered shortly. A gryphon-like creature certainly, but not quite... Red, dark, fiery like Irrel. Yet so unilke her in ways!

He landed on the rooftop, where other smaller mounts would occasionally perch. He was magnificent, head held high and hooves sparking against the helipad.

I am Dharakanal, he proclaimed, stamping one hind hoof while scratching the rooftop with his clawed forelimb. Sunset Fighter, I come from DouPas. I will accompany you, be one of your fighters, if you need me.

"..." Shannon tried to speak but nothing came out. Then, she got her bearings. "We'll have to talk to the chief. I think he'll probably ask you to stay on." She vanished quickly down the stairs inside the building and came back a moment later with Manny Steele in tow. The big grey and ashy colored fralamar winged wolf of the station's also came with.

"Well doesn't that beat all?" Asked the wolf, "a hippogryph! And a Gryphon."

"TYRIN!" Irrel bellowed, not normally vocal. The wolf yipped and pretended to be wounded. The Hippogryph stood his ground, and looked Steele in the eye.

"Do you have fire magic or air?" He asked.

Both, the hippogryph spoke mentally, perking up Steele's black dragon outside the area. I have seen you fight, and I wish to aid you.

"Then by all means, Dharakanal," he didn't stumble at all over the name, Dooley wasn't sure she'd have been able to do that. "You're one of our crew. Let me get some pictures of you and we'll make up an official badge."

I must have a badge?

"Don't you want one?" Dooley asked, knowing that Irrel loved hers. She felt some kind of mental communication go between the two four-footers, and suddenly Irrel began preening.

I suppose I do, the hippogryph responded proudly.

They set him up shortly, and announced his arrival at the front desk. Eventually, everyone would be seeing him. For now, there was a paramed request, and everyone got moving.