"Can't you see it's just never going to work..." She pleaded with him, turning her huge golden eyes to his cold blue ones. Tears had run lines of mascara down her reddened cheeks. The man she was pleading with had hardly an expression on his stony face.

"Victoriana," he said, "It's done. I couldn't wait. What else can I do?"

Drawing in a shaky breath, Victoriana cried, "Zachary! We agreed you would - we would do this together!" Her voice caught, "and you've gone and done it without me?" She clasped her hands to her face, and turned, sobbing loudly.

Zachary placed his manicured fingers on Victoriana's hair, but then pulled away. His face almost betrayed an emotion - but it was so quick that no one could tell quite what it was. It looked as though he was about to speak.

Zachary's stone facade fell into a twist of anger and bemusement. "I... can't remember my line... crap!"

Victoriana, or more accurately, the actress playing the distressed mistress, busted up in a fit of hysterical giggles, doubling over. "Oh you miserable idiot..." she gasped between giggles.

The crew and director of the soap opera "Smoky Wings of Fate" groaned but couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Come on, Tim, can't we get this guy some lines he can remember?" The director shouted and someone in the back of the set area yelled something back.

The director glanced at Grace and Kimball, his starring actors, and sighed. This take was dead. Time to move on.

Over the course of the afternoon the pair finally resolved the dilemma of giggling and lost lines. While the day's shoot was winding down, other scenes were finished and edited. At last, the group of soap opera stars and teamsters broke up for the evening. It had been a long shoot, with multiple mistakes and many re-writes along the way.

In the actor's changing rooms, Grace slumped against the wall and drew her fingers through her matted hair. The wig she had to wear made her mousy brown hair so sweaty and gross, but she didn't have much choice because she didn't dare get a dye job to keep this role. Her face ached from the crying she had to perform, along with the dull but memorable hurt from all the times laughing so hard. She took her latest fabulous dress off and put it onto the hanger where someone from costuming would pick it up later.

A knock at the door drew her attention away from removing the last of her makeup. "Uh," she said, and listened for the person at the door to leave or enter. Kimball cracked the door and poked his head in. His own hair was always perfect, but the intense blue of Zach's eyes were contacts over his grey-green colored eyes.

"Hey - I'm sorry about today..." Kimball said, swiping his hand over his black hair.

"Oh, don't worry - I think we all needed that." Grace said, barely turning away from her dabbing at her eyelids. "I mean, come on... You know the season's shaky ratings are getting even shakier."

"Yeah, I know... Why do you think they've killed off Zach's wife?" Kimball smirked.

"Apart from firing that bitch? I don't know why they didn't just get a replacement. I mean, I'm a replacement." Grace laughed, remembering her original post on the show was as the sister of some long-gone character who'd gotten pregnant and couldn't continue filming.

"The show's dead," Kimball said, sadly. "And you know we're going to be out of work again."

"Don't say that," Grace warned, dropping the wet-nap and turning to face her co-star. "Don't say that."

"But it's true. I've been looking at heading back home. Maybe going back to school..." Kimball pressed up against the wall, "If we don't get renewed."

Without hesitation, Grace stood and put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Kimball, you're getting all depressive again. Are you taking your meds?"

"I'm drinking, if that's what you mean..." He said, looking away.

Grace grimaced, fishing around for the hidden bottle of -- "there it is," she said, locating a small mini-bottle. It read 'mint schnapps' but it smelled of vodka. "You've gotta stop drinking, Kim, if you remember it's a depressant..."

Kimball didn't take the bottle away from her - it was almost empty anyway. But he couldn't meet her eyes... Those big brown eyes of hers, they always bored right through him.

"Look, let's just get out of here for tonight. Steak?" Grace said, trying to get him to lighten up. He agreed silently, and they left the studio into the darkening evening of downtown.

Over a dinner at one of those "serve yourself" places, the silence was unbearable, until finally Kimball announced, "I can't be alone tonight, Grace."

She furrowed her brows, and put her hand over his. "Okay. Can we head to my place so I can pick up some clothes?"

"You're driving," he said. "I can't stop you."

They tripped across town, gathered Grace's essentials and the next day's clothing, and went back to Kimball's apartment. While both of them made a decent amount of money at this soap opera gig, neither of them had found a cheap enough house or a place close enough to the city that they felt comfortable with.

During the night, Grace pried out of him that he'd listened in on the director and producer's last conversation and knew without a doubt they'd be on the cancellation docket come Fall. Kimball had always been a bit hard on himself, and his depression came and went with the whim of their show.

Grace settled in on the couch, but couldn't get to sleep. What could she do - she could only keep Kimball from getting hurt, but if they cancelled the show, then what? He'd be off on his own, and frankly she felt a bit of responsibility toward him. He hated it because she mothered him.

As Grace drifted off to sleep, Kimball tossed and turned in bed, the lights from the nearby video-shop/ liquor store across the street burned into his dreams from their blinking reflection on the ceiling. He thought he heard something, and his eyes reluctantly pried open. The blue contact lenses were scratching his eyes, they were reddened and a bit swollen.

But what he saw wasn't quite what he expected. There was a small object, something flapping at the window. "A bat? Here? There's no bat caves in LA..." He got out of bed and hesitated. Didn't bats carry diseases?

But this one wasn't really acting much like a bat - in fact it had settled down and sat rather like a cat on the small balcony. It looked for all the world like a little winged lizard.

"... Grace?" He said, quietly. She was probably asleep. He didn't want to scare this thing off, but... He lacked the courage to move. "Grace?" He said louder, until he heard her respond in the living room.

"You've gotta come in here..." He said, and his voice was expectant rather than frightened. Grace slipped out of the sheet and pulled it along with her into his room. What she saw was Kimball, lean and handsome and scared, standing in front of the half-lit window... And a thing sitting there like it owned the place.

"What is that?" She said, pressing forward, and before he could stop her, she'd pulled the window open to investigate.

The flitter opened its wings, and flew into the dark room. Kimball dove behind his bed and hid his head, "get that thing away!"

"It's just a... a...thing..." Grace said, still more curious than anything else. She held her hand out, and the flitter landed on her arm. Its small claws dug in, but she didn't do more than wince. "Look at this," she said, "it's .. really cute. Let me get the lights."

"I'll get them," Kimball said, trying to get away and get some light on the subject. The light came on and the flitter cheeped loudly. It was colored dark bronze, with paler tan wings. At this point, finally, Kimball's courage kicked in. "That thing isn't a bat," he said.

"Duh," Grace laughed. "But the question is what is it, if not, and what's it doing here?"

While they were busy looking at the flitter, a sound came from outside, a heavy sound of what might have been fabric flapping in wind. It was the sound of groaning brick that alerted them to something more.

With all the drama of their own soap opera show, the pair of actors looked up over the flitter perched on Grace's arm. Their gaze traveled to the dark window, where the flashing light from below illuminated ... something big.

Crossing the street, from the roof top of the short building which housed the video and liquor store, there was a long slender object stretching. Lit half a moment and then darkened, this long slender object seemed to end in a wedge-shape that had a fin on its top.

The flitter cheeped happily and flew off Grace's arm and out the window, only to perch again on the narrow iron railing outside. The big thing looked down into the window.

"It's a dragon," Kimball whispered, and lost his balance. He sat on the bed, abruptly. Still staring out the window at the blinking form of the dragon.

"It sure is," Grace said, half tempted to join him on the edge of the bed. "But... w-"

"I was hoping to find someone here," a voice said from above, grunting a bit. "This is so uncomfortable. I can't see how you people can live in places like this!" The handsome brown-skinned young man said as he dismounted from the neck of his sturdy blue-skinned ... dragon.

He held his arm out, and the bronze flitter flew to him. "This is Bolder," the man announced. "He has been getting quite good at leading me places... That I don't usually go-" the man landed on the foot-wide balcony, and looked uncomfortable. "This isn't very sturdy, is it?" He asked, and abruptly Kimball stood and beckoned him inside.

"Sorry - come in."

"Thank you. I'm Levar, and that is Diosth, he's a dragon from Dark Moon. He got us here. We followed Bolder... I don't know how he knew where to go, though..."

"Um, your dragon is... sitting on the video shop." Kimball pointed out.

"He is. What's a 'video shop'? Other than that thing under him?" Levar chuckled.

"Could he maybe break the lights so they're not on all the time?" Kimball said and Grace snorked out a laugh.

"Well..." the rider said, looking around and getting a vacant expression on his face. "I don't think you ought to worry about it for very long."

The seriousness in Kimball's face returned, suddenly. "What do you mean," he demanded, almost angrier than he was afraid.

"I mean - hey, relax..." Levar held his hands up carefully, as Bolder fluttered excitedly. Levar's strange expression returned, and the dragon outside made a noise. "I mean that Diosth has brought me here to ask you - both of you - if you want to come to our world for a dragon hatching."

Grace stared at the man, and if he hadn't just come in from the window across his dragon's neck, she might not have any reason to believe him. But she did.

Kimball was a bit more perturbed. "Hatching? What in the world are you talking about? Maybe I should be taking my meds more often..." He shook his head and scratched his stubbly chin.

"Well my Diosth came from an egg, and grew. You didn't think they just sprang out fully grown, did you?"

"I never gave it any thought," Kimball said, and while he was being sarcastic, the rider didn't realize it.

"Well, they do. And, they need human help. You could be that help for a dragon, you know. I don't usually search for candidates, but since Bolder decided we'd head out, I really didn't have much choice."

"So... what would we do with a dragon," Grace asked. "I mean, bring it back here? Or what?"

"This is no place for dragons," Levar said, flatly. "But you'd always be welcome in many places. The dragons often fight off threats on worlds - things fall from the sky, or crawl out of the water, or even burrow through the ground."

"I thought dragons ate people." Kimball said.

"Well, I've never seen one do it. Not our kind, anyway. I've heard bad things about hydra and other kinds of dragons that are really dangerous. These kinds," he tossed his head and the blue dragon beyond mimicked the action, "they need someone to bond to, at birth. Otherwise often they die because they're not ready to face the world."

"They die?" Kimball said, furrowing his rich black eyebrows. "Well you didn't say that..."

"You've always been a sucker for sob stories haven't you?" Grace said, with a grin.

"And you haven't? Look at you, you've taken me on, haven't you?" Kimball smirked right back.

Levar watched this with interest, but then his dragon made a noise and called his attention to flashing lights below.

"Oh crap!" Kimball said, "the police... The video people are probably freaked out - you've got to get that dragon the hell out of here!"

Levar glanced at the street below, and there were some blue and red flashing lights around the corner - and a howling sound which set Bolder into a tizzy. "Go - the hills are good..."

"No! The hills - you mean the one that has the big 'Hollywood' sign!?" Grace yelled, "He can't go up there, there are always bums and tourists and drug dealers out there!"

"Then let's go, now," Levar said. "Or you can try and explain it to your 'police'."

"Go - you mean with you?" Kimball said, "with the dragon?"

"With the dragon," Levar replied. Panic was obviously setting in on the man's mind, while the woman was being rather more practical about things. She'd grabbed a robe out of Kimball's closet and thrown it on him, and then rushed to get her bags that she'd packed earlier.

"Get your overnight bag, Kim," she said, curtly. "We're good to go. They can figure it out themselves."

In a daze, Kimball obeyed his friend, and stuffed some clothing into a small satchel. His robe fit him, the one that Grace dug out from his closet for herself was way too big, but she didn't care.

The trio gingerly made their way across the street while two police cars pulled up. The cops who emerged from the cars shouted at each other and then pointed up at the people - and the dragon.

"We're out of here," Grace hissed, as Diosth grasped them in his sturdy arms and took off. His rider nestled quickly onto his neck, and with one mighty heave they took off.

On the ground, there was some confusion. There would be more, of course, when people called in about seeing some gigantic monster flying around in the skies over Hollywood. But of course it was tinsel town and most everyone out at that time was on some kind of party drug.

Except for the police who arrived at the scene. But that's their own story...

Grace and Kimball clung on to the warm blue hide of the dragon, and to each other. The exhiliration of takeoff was then coupled with the terror of traveling the nexus. When they arrived at Ryslen Weyr, the pair were chilled to the bone but wide-eyed and amazed.

"This place is... wow..." Grace said, holding her bags to her chest.

"Yeah - what you said..." Kimball announced. They were led into a place to rest - they had been rudely awakened anyway, before they were taken from Earth and led here.

Later on, they would be able to view the red sands and the round eggs under the watchful eyes of the great trio of queens who had laid them. They finally understood - all these dragons had bonds! Well, except the shimmering green one whose bond was a big light-brown one.

They had to learn the ranks, the castes of the weyr, and that kind of thing. And it came remarkably easy to both of them. They were used to quickly memorizing lines, and discarding them when they weren't needed any more. But this heavily repetitive use of information exploited their ability to read a script.

Finally, then, they were told to add their names to the big listing of candidates near the sands.

Name	Grace	Kimball
Gender	Female	Male
Age	32	28
Born...	Earth (Los Angeles)	Earth (Marston, AZ)
Job	Actress	Actor
Hair	Mousey Brown	Black-Brown
Eyes	Golden Brown	Grey-Green
Height	5'9"	6'1"
Build	Healthy, rounded	Lean, strong

** Note that this was where page 1 ended, in December 2022 I've put all 4 pages on from here

(formerly soaps2.htm)

Grace and Kimball paced around, trying to get the hang of being on a different planet. One that had dragons. And bards. And ... well, all those things that Earth just doesn't have.

"Earth has plumbing better than this," Grace muttered about the bathing chambers that they had to use.

"Give them a break, Grace," Kimball said, "these are supposed to be the temporary quarters anyway. I'm surprised they had indoor toilets at all, let alone a nice deep bath like this..." He splished his hand in the water, and grinned.

"Well, I'd rather take a shower than sit in a puddle." Grace grumped.

"Why are you being like this? You wanted to come. You nearly dragged me here." Kimball said. Then his eyes got all wide. "oooh, never mind. You need some chocolate. I think they've got an import shop from some other planet down in the main hall."

Grace turned and was going to be really angry, but she couldn't find the right words - he was totally correct, she was all pms'ing and she wasn't even sure that this planet had proper hygenic ... objects... for women.

They were quickly summoned out of their quarters because the hatching was supposedly going to occur any time now! The eggs were rolling around and that got both actors all excited again. They made it to the sands, and realized that there were so many ... really different people here... A foxy guy, in addition to the dragons and such.

A pretty little irridescent green dragoness hatched first, and then was followed by a very bold, fire-engine red boy-dragon. How did Grace know it was a boy? What in the world?

He took his sweet time getting around the sands. After all he was up in a corner where all the eggs were in his way, and he had to strut past the stands and the candidates alike before making his choice. Up in the stands, Naeodin - whose gold this clutch was laid by - grumbled something about hurrying up and making his decision. Tiyanni laughed while the dragon made his choice.

He looked with a careful and rather snooty gaze at Grace. She turned to look at Kimball who was all wide-eyed and amazed. Grace felt something gentle, yet so strong and pervasive, touch her mind. Suddenly she was aware that there were words, sounds, emotions, coming from the dragon hatchling, and going right into her mind.

Let us go, my precious, before someone steals our spotlight.

"You want me, Zaltierth?" Grace said. Kimball wondered, had she known his name? Wow... This was pretty overwhelming.

Of course, replied the red. He walked away with Grace touching his high wing, she glanced over her shoulder to see Kimball waiting expectantly on the sands still.

He'd have to wait, because it seemed there were no hatchlings which desired his company this time. In fact, though he was still a bit disappointed and saddened, Kimball was a little relieved too. He wasn't ready for this. When Grace described, or tried to describe, the way that she felt when she bonded... Kimball wasn't ready. There were many things he had to get straight in his mind before he allowed a dragon into it.

They added the name and such, of Grace's new bond, to their weyr's placard - and Kimball was allowed to help Grace while she fed and bathed her dragon. That was the best method of learning, anyway. Some day, he'd have his own...

(formerly soaps3.htm)

It had taken several months to get Red Zaltierth to stop being such a drama queen. But he was growing quickly and everyone saw how handsome he was. And what a ham! Grace was trying to figure out a way to get a harness on him, if only she could think up a way without it seeming like work. He was such a clever dragon...

With the happenings at the Weyr being so amazing, both Grace and Kimball were apt to wander the hallways. While Grace had her red to take care of, Kimball busied himself by helping with the tailors or the children. He sat in on as many classes as he was allowed, but without a dragon of his own he could only learn so much.

But finally, the newer eggs on the sands began to hatch, and Mezireth woke the whole weyr at some horridly early time in the morning. It was typical for actors like Grace and Kimball to have to be up at that time for makeup, so neither they nor Grace's Zaltierth complained.

The number of candidates obviously exceeded the eggs about to hatch. But the gold moved out of the way to allow the candidates to see them - or perhaps it was to allow her children to have their view unobstructed of their choices.

A cream hatched first, lovely thing, and squeezed over to Tryne, and bonded. Then, rather surprisingly, another cream hatched.

She was long, her wings were long, her tail and legs were long, and she was pretty graceful for just having shoved herself out of an egg! She walked about, fluttering her wings and amost seeming to bat her eyes at people. But the only one she touched was Kimball.

Kimball... she said into his mind. Her voice was husky, smooth, like Lauren Baccal's voice. Kimball looked down at this beauty and grinned. "Kybrith?" He could say no more, the cream had taken his breath away.

(formerly soaps4.htm)

Cream Kybrith launched herself into the air with a creel of delight. Her short crest gave her the balance she needed, and she followed her older red companion into the sky.

This is what I have wanted for days! They told us not to fly but you are with me, so it's okay, right?

Of course it's okay, Zal replied.

But it was hardly okay - there was a fleet in training, and Zaltierth almost got the two of them into deep trouble by flying right into their path.

Kimball and Grace stood waiting for their punishment in the Weyrwoman's office. The weyrling trainer had passed them both along to her, because Jeyann knew best how to deal with upstarts.

She sat and smiled, knowing that the pair would be either returning to Earth someday soon, or flying with the other Kshau dragons. So it was hard for her to maintain any sort of anger at them. After all, if it weren't for her own disobeyance of rules, she'd never have been able to work up to Weyrwoman.

"Three weeks cleaning duty," was what she said. "And take the weyrbrats with you, because there are half a dozen of them who keep stealing things from the kitchen."

"Great, three weeks out with the kids..." Grace muttered. Kimball smiled at her.

"It'll be like having a family vacation."

Grace said nothing, vacation?! More like torture... But, she'd sat through four-hour makeup sessions before, so why not this? It was just another part of the discipline that she in her heart knew they needed.

(formerly soaps5.htm)

Grace loaded up the last of their packs on her red dragon. Proudly, he stood knowing that all eyes would be on him soon enough. They were going back to Earth, this mysterious place where his rider and her friend had come from. Several other riders were from there too. It seemed a little odd to him that they didn't have dragons properly there. But now they would!

I think it will be interesting to see how people react to us, Kybrith said, while Kimball snugged his riding harness onto her shoulders. Don't you think?

Zaltierth snorted and tossed his head, making Grace nearly tumble to the ground. They will all be watching. I think our riders will be bigger celebrities than they ever hoped for!

Kimball rolled his eyes at that, since the dragon had shared his thoughts clearly with everyone.

"I don't even know about that... Acting dragons? Hey..."

Grace and Kimball looked at one another with a surprisingly similar gaze. She added, "stunt dragons. Fantasy shows."

"MOVIE DEALS!" They shouted in unison. They'd both been dreaming of such things for years, but never really had the chance to express it. Perhaps they would be flying back to a world that was just about ready for special effects like dragons and creatures to pop off the screen.

***

When the pair of Earth riders were instructed as to their destination imaging, the way they'd been working through their weyrling and young adult stages for flying between spaces and teleporting, they got the impression that this would be a bit dangerous.

But they would be able to do it. After all, they'd come from Earth to this odd place and bonded their fine dragons. They knew what they were doing. They were well-versed now in the arts of dragon tack, tending their wounds if they got any, and expressing how their dragons flew or did maneuvers in the air. They could teach - they'd both been on duty with the kids and weyr brats for a while, so they knew that they could adequately convey information.

Besides, they were reminded constantly by their dragons, the dragons could speak telepathically. How better to tell anyone something?

They blinked through the Nexus and felt a rush of cold that pervaded their very bones. This trip was between planets, times and probably dimensions, after all. They were returning home to a world that had changed a bit since they last saw it.

Atop the apartment building's roof, they landed. It was night. There were ... sirens? A gathering of police cars below the apartment where they'd last been on Earth.

The pair looked at one another with a slightly sinking feeling.

They'd come back that same night? When they left? But there was indeed something strange about the world. It seemed... more open. Airier.

That, and there was another dragon swooping over the downtown landscape - not theirs, someone else's.

To be continued!

The Talon City Talent Agency opens!