She was young when they left the abusive Lord, too young to really know better. She followed her parents out of adoration more than fear. Through Curra they ran, from one side of the wide continent to the other. They had gone when she was only eight years old, shortly before any of her well-Bred powers might have surfaced. And because they were always moving, rarely safe, and hardly ever well fed or comfortable, her powers didn't surface even when they had found a reasonably good location.

Along the way, this family of three had run into others that were fleeing from their own Lords and Ladies. Their small group became seven, and at once was both more comforting by far, and far more dangerous. For while one or two people camping out on unZoned land might not be noticed, thinking nothing more than that they are homesteading, a group as widely aged as this, in as shabby clothing... They could only be one thing, and that was Renegades.

It wasn't her own parents who noticed it first, it was the slightly older boy belonging to the newer couple. Ishei would drift into weird trances while they walked through the dense woods or crept across plowed fields. Sometimes she even talked to herself, and it creeped the boy out. They made it to Terena's richly forrested area almost unseen, but she was only thirteen by then and still apt to space out.

Almost unseen.

***

"You'll be responsible for them, and you can't afford that, Trizh," said the Atasan. He was an older man, red-orange skin dappled with bright yellow that had faded over time. He was uncomfortable with the hugeness of the estate and the intensity that Trizhsho looked at him. "I mean, in this day and age who can."

Trizhsho glanced away, more or less. Her sunlit yellow eyes were never really off of anyone - her extremely powerful empathy drew them back after a moment. She could not help but be swayed by the older man's concern. "I know. What exactly must I do, to keep myself ... clean?"

"Give them notice to leave, with a witness," Atasan Veung shrugged. "That could be me if you wish. Technically speaking," he glanced through the paperwork before him, "that is all you must do. You don't have to report them, until they don't leave. Or if someone comes to claim them. Then you'd be in trouble."

Trizhsho had seen the group enter her borderlands, of  course, but 'seen' was perhaps too strong a word. Felt, noticed, became aware. So wide was her swath of empathic sensation that even some five miles away from her main house, she could still detect the group slipping into the light woods. They were there for more than a year, before she even spoke to anyone about them. After all, Renegades had reasons. And she could feel theirs, even from here.

Veung tapped his fingers on the papers, "well? Shall we deliver notice? I would like to ... do so and head home."

"I know, Atasan, I know. You're quite uncomforable in my lovely house." She chuckled.

"Well now that's a bit of an oversimplification," the Atasan said, standing and gathering the documents he'd need to be around when they went out. "It's not the house I'm afraid of, it's the blasted plains. Now, I know you had a Steed or two standing around outside. Shall we get this overwith?"

Trizhsho nodded, and gathered her wits. She knew exactly where to find the group of Renegades, and they headed right toward that area. It would still take half an hour on the Grounded Steeds - she didn't fly because of a terrible sense of vertigo - but they arrived to see the slight scurrying figures in the tall stand of trees. Her own skin was almost the same shade of beige bark as the trees, and oddly enough her hair was also the same olive-tan color as the long slender leaves. The leaves bore movement.

"It's all right, I know you're there," Trizhsho called out, "I need to speak with you, for a moment."

It took several minutes, but eventually three of the Renegades came out from their well-hidden shelters. They did not meet the Mistress' eyes.

"I need to tell you that you are trespassing on my lands, and that I am giving you notice to leave," she said. She spoke in an even, guarded tone, waiting for their emotional responses. She could actually react to them before they realized what they were feeling, themselves. "I know that this is hard for you," she said in a softer tone, "but this is my land, and ... I know you came in over the gates - you can't have mistaken it for anything other than a Hold boundary." She felt a weird wave of guilt come from the elder members of the group.

"Aye, Mistress," said one, finally, clutching a filthy, floppy hat in his hands. "We... we cannot stay but... where could we go?"

Atasan Veung gently cleared his throat, but said nothing. He was clearly uncomfortable out under the wide skies, and he had continued to sit upon the Steed while Trizhsho had dismounted.

"Unfortunately that is not my concern," Trizhsho replied, "all I must say is that you have been served warning to vacate my property. I ... I cannot afford to have you here," she said more quietly. "The paperwork is tremendous, it's not something I can do just now."

With that, a strange chuffle of an angry laugh came from behind one of the trees, and she heard a younger man's voice muttering something about inhumane behavior and how important paperwork was to someone when they had all this.

Trizhsho turned to Veung, "is my legal responsibility waived?" She asked, "is that enough?"

He nodded, "yes, it is, and if you don't mind, I'll just finish this up and head home. I know the way." He nodded once more, glanced at the Renegades, and urged the Steed into a near-run toward the home on the horizon. Once he was largely gone from view, Trizhsho stepped gently toward the group.

"I know that sounds horrid," she said, "but it's true. I ... My half-brother mistreats his own Budak horribly, and if I could afford to, I would buy them from him instantly." She noticed they muttered about all this land might be worth far more than a Budak or two. "He knows how I feel about his behavior, he'd just put their prices at some outlandish amount and that would be the end of it." That brought the adults to nod, they'd seen that kind of thing once or twice themselves.

"But Mistress," said the aged one again, "we ... we have no where else to go, how can we do this? How can we survive?"

"How long have you been Renegades?" Trizhsho asked frankly. She glanced from one face to the next: there were four men, one just barely an adult; three women, the youngest was still obviously a teenager. Something about the darkly orange-skinned girl pinged with the Membayar and she could hardly tear her eyes away from the girl.

"Long enough to be tired of running," said the old man finally. But he turned to the others, "not long enough for them. I am very tired, Mistress."

"You could just turn yourself in, and hope for the charity of the courts. It's not unheard of for someone to lay pity on a Renegade, especially an older one." Trizhsho said. But he shook his head and she waited for him to reply.

"But if one of us goes, all must go," he said. Trizhsho nodded.

"I understand that. They would ask where you've been, require a psionic deposition, and see the rest." Trizhsho frowned.

"Why can't you just leave us alone!" Suddenly the girl yelled, coming out from behind her mother, who tried desperately to pull her back. "I hate this! I hate being out here! I want - I want --"

"You want to go home," Trizhsho said, feeling something unidentifyable, untamable in the girl. Her eyes narrowed in thought. Something was quite odd about this girl, and she was inspired to find out what. "Has... has this girl been examined? For genetics and fertility?" The girl looked downright offended at that, but her father came forward.

"No, ma'am, she was too young and ... well, I don't think our Lord would have done it anyway. Plenty of his Budak didn't get tested."

He was a handsome man, certainly better looking than his woman, but either way they were the girl's parents - and there was always a reason behind Breeding when it was among Budak. They probably had some kind of hidden genes, themselves.

"There is something... very distinct about this girl," Trizhsho said, looking at her and taking the pine-green eyes in once more. The girl was not just over-emotional, causing an empathic reaction. There was something just on the tip of Trizhsho's mind... "I so want to have her tested," she whispered. The girl was still defiantly standing there, eyes brimmed with tears, because she just didn't know what she wanted. Trizhsho knew, but didn't know the words.

"But Mistress, you can't just take her," her father said, "not to any old Peridian! They'll ask for papers!"

"They might, but..." Suddenly she did have an idea. "Listen to me," she said, quietly as though Veung could still hear even though he'd probably reached the Homestead by then. "I want you to be safe. I can't harbor you, I can't legally have you here. But... But if I'm right, and this girl is what she seems, she might stand a chance to do much more to help you than I ever could."

This took the group a moment to digest, and finally the girl stomped right up to the taller Mistress. "I don't know what you mean, you think I'm special?" She glanced over her shoulder, glistening bronze hair a bit grimy from having been out in the wilderness. "Father always says so, but ... that's because he's my father."

"It's not just because of that," Trizhsho said, "the reason that all this space surrounds my Homestead is that I'm a very powerful empath. Do you know what that means?" The girl shook her head no. "It means I can sense your emotions, life, anger and happiness. From pretty far off, how do you think I knew you came here? I didn't tell my friend when I saw you come here. Last year just around spring thaw."

They clearly had thought she was making it up, but now it occurred to them that they had been given a lot more of a free ride with her than they realized in the past.

"If there was anyone else like me around, even for a mile around," Trizhsho continued talking to the girl, "they would feel you. You're intensely strong, in something, but I cannot pin down what it might be. But if you are tested - and turn out to have some kind of Tuning that would help you out... You could automatically be Freed. And if you're able to become an Animal Master, you could make their lives a lot easier." She nodded toward the group. They went more silent.

In thought, then, they took the girl back and watched as Trizhsho mounted back up on her Steed. "You stay here just a little longer. Be careful, remain on the forest side instead of the fields. I've given you notice, so my legal responsibility is taken care of, but if someone comes to claim you, there's nothing I can do to prevent them. So stay low, and I'll return with a Peridian, sometime soon."

"You'll ... bring one here?" Said the elder, "pardon ma'am but... that's madness!"

"It might be, but... I have this feeling..."

***

"But how quickly could you make one?" Trizhsho asked of her friend, and he shrugged. The video monitor made the motion tiny.

"Not more than a week, if you're rushed." He leaned in to the camera on his end, "are you actually going to entertain on that massive estate of yours, Triz? Finally?"

She just laughed, "if you could start tomorrow I'd really appreciate it. Five cots under a nice party-house roof fit for weather and hunting."

The contractor ended his side of the call, and Trizhsho leaned back and exhaled hard. She always felt terrible when lying to her friends, especially about something as crucial as this. But she needed a place where the examination and testing could be done, under yet another false pretense.

Now, she had to contact that Peridian of hers. He was older, a bit addled now and then but he was a kind man, and had never flown wrong when it came to genetics. Her own single child had been born due to his clever and timely interventions, so she owed him that much. But she would still have to lie.

"BreedMaster! I hope you're well today!" She said, cheerily. The old grey-blue skinned man on the other end brightened up when he realized who was calling on him.

"Ah, my little Mistress, what can I do for you today?" He puttered while he spoke, he was always making some notes or fiddling with a tool. Trizhsho clutched her fingers tightly, below the table where her vid unit could see.

"I've got this Budak that I am interested in buying, but... she hasn't been properly tested, and I need to see that she is, before I invest. I've ... got her on loan right now, seeing if she likes my estate well enough to behave herself."

He would see through it, he would always see the lies in her. Or at least, Trizhsho thought so. But the old man raised a bushy eyebrow, "out there? You're planning on changing your Status? At last?"

"If she works out, perhaps... Or, there's another possibility, you know how bad I am with having too many people around. She just begs for testing, Halamu, I might not get the chance to change my Status, but ... possibly hers."

"Oh-ho," he replied, "well, certainly. I would be happy to. Can you bring her to-"

"I can't, actually," Trizhsho said, abruptly. Too abruptly, but she recovered, "Halamu, you know I can't go out there, the city! I can barely handle being in town for buying food!"

Halamu looked directly at her, and even though he was a thousand miles away it seemed he could still bore right through her. But he instead nodded a little, and said, "well if you're going to have me there, I expect she must be quite a catch. I shall be there, when exactly?"

Trizhsho pretended to fumble with a date book, "a tenday? Would that be acceptable? I know it's short notice, but..."

"But if it's for this, I shan't worry about any other appointments. Nevermind that I've hardly had any lately anyway, you know I'm 'too old' for this now..."

They laughed, relaxed a little, made some small talk, and finally disconnected. Again, Trizhsho relaxed and gave a heavy sigh. She hated herself for decieving people. But ... It wasn't like she was wrong to do this, after all if this girl did display some talents, she'd be far more valuable and could help buy land - land which could shelter her family while they rode out their Renegade years.

Twenty years was a long time, she pondered. Over the next few days, her other associates went out to the approximate center of the fields, and started building a 'hunting lodge' - a smallish one-story, three room building which would have cots, a small kitchen arrangement with a natural wood-stove, enough insulation to keep the cold at bay during the autumn, and room to gut and prepare hunted animals before bringing them back to the Homestead.

All a pretense of course. But at least, her construction friend didn't ask questions. He knew that some time he'd be able to stick around and do some serious hunting - the fields here were apparently teeming with small, colorful prey.

***

It was that prey that kept the Renegades fed for the year - and they were mighty tired of it. When the construction workers had gone, and the suppliers who outfitted the place with its gear had finished placing the cots, safety gear, kitchenette and such... It left Trizhsho alone with a group of people who had hardly seen such activity nearby them in a long time.

They'd kept to the forest, as instructed, but of course the girl - Ishei - and her slightly older companion Talhi had stuck themselves in the trees to watch. During the evenings they would discuss what was going on. The construction was near enough that they could see into it, but far enough that they themselves were well concealed.

Trizhsho came to the edge of the camp, waved her arm and beckoned them near. They saw only her Steed, no one else was there. The long grasses were flattened and battered from Steeds, carts and a hovercraft's passing.

"Ishei, you're... going to be meeting a Peridian here, he'll do testing here, because I can't go into the city."

"But that's lying," she stated, as though it was patently obvious. Trizhsho bit her lip.

"Dear. I know. But I cannot risk bringing you out, you've no paperwork for parentage."

She had no reply to that, but was still a little worried. She'd only encountered a scant dozen people outside her group for the last half of her life, and those from before then all left a bitter taste in her mind.

It left a bitter taste in Trizhsho's as well, because the feeling was so strong. Trizh swayed a little, "darling, you need to remember that your mind is as bright as a bonfire, to me. You blot out all but the strongest feelings nearby. You'll need to learn to control yourself."

That left Ishei with a weird knot in her throat. "How can I learn to control something I don't even understand?" She hissed. She bolted from the clearing, back into the safety of the camp. Her parents came up to the Mistress.

"She must know that in order to pass this off," Trizhsho said to them, "she is supposed to be here at this campsite to aid the hunts and be a guide nearby. That's what I've told my Peridian, anyway. All he needs to do is believe me long enough to come and do the testing, and whatever happens then I'll have to just worry about when it comes."

"What if she doesn't have anything useful?" Her mother said, worried hands wringing around themselves.

"Oh I don't think that will be an issue at all," Trizh said, looking out at the spot exactly where Ishei stood, behind several trees and bushes, crying.

***

"I don't want to see anyone about this," Ishei sobbed to Talhi, "I don't even know her, how can I trust she's not just going to sell me off to someone!"

"We don't know, but ... I'm pretty sure she's okay," Talhi said. "Besides, you saw right through her when she said those things, what if ... what if something you can do is see through lies? That's a really good thing to be able to do, Ishei."

Ishei nodded, lip still trembling a bit. She wiped her dirty arm across her face, and stood up. "Well it's not for a couple days anyway. I guess... I guess I should try and be calm. A nice Budak doesn't cry in front of guests." She felt her heart tremble at that.

Distantly, she knew that Trizhsho also felt it.

***

"So I'm a bit addled," said the Peridian, quipping with a bit of a grin, "so you say," he glanced at Trizhsho who groaned and rolled her eyes, "but I do believe you're right on the money here." He looked at the girl before him, who stood faintly trembling. It wasn't cold, but she was terrified. Trizhsho did her best to aim a calming mood at her. He reached up to the girl's heart-shaped face, and urged her to open her mouth a little. "See the fangs? I hadn't before, since she hardly smiles."

"I hate them," Ishei muttered.

"Oh, now don't say that," the BreedMaster tisked his tongue, "it gives you a bit of a wild look, but unless they grow in facing the wrong direction, I'm sure you'll hardly notice them."

"They're ugly," said the girl, defiantly.

It was long past the time when BreedMaster Halamu realized that this girl was a Renegade. The girl's behavior was atrocious, but expected from someone who had never even been given proper instructions on what would be expected of a Budak like herself. It was like Halamu knew things just by looking. If he was empathic himself, no one knew - he likely was. But though he chastised Trizhsho for having hidden their status, he also admitted, "the paperwork will be messy."

"But if..." Trizh said, pondering, while the other Renegades milled around in the main room of the hunting den, "her old Pemilik had never had her tested. Now, you've said she must be Bred, but... without having her records it won't be possible for someone to just up and claim her, based on them, right?"

"True, true," Halamu said. "Very clever, Mistress, clever..." He looked out at the parents, and back at the child. "What kind of fool Pemilik pays for such a complicated Breeding and then doesn't even bother trying to test for any success..." He swished the blood sample around in its vial, and then tucked it into a special container which would keep it at the right temperature for his journey back to his lab. "If worse comes to worse," he muttered while doing so, "I'll just claim her as my own experiment, and to the sea with an inquiry..."

This stunned Ishei's parents, "you ... you would do that?" Her father said, "for us? You don't even know us!"

"I hardly have to," the older man said, his eyes dancing over the pair. "Your daughter may become extremely valuable, if what I've seen is true. Certain traits... yes..." he muttered, and wandered back out to the hovercraft waiting. "I'll have your results in a day or so," he coughed out over the noise of the hovercraft. His own Budak driver of course would never turn in the Renegades, he'd been with the old Peridian for decades himself.

"So what happens now?" Asked Ishei, slightly more confident now that she seemed to believe what the BreedMaster had told them.

"Now we wait for the results. I think they'll be good, I believe him when he says there's something special about you. I felt it too." Trizhsho said. The girl scampered away, happy to chase after the little vermin they called meals, while Trizh turned toward her parents. "Does she do that ... thing... often? Where she just seems to fade away?"

"Oh, oh yes, that," said her mother, whose bright red skin was tamed down by her husband's nutty brown color. "She will sometimes just stand there, it's somewhat frightening. Do you know what it is? You can feel her better than any of us, can't you?"

"Well, yes," Trizhsho admitted, "but that's just it, she seems to just fade away. Like I can't feel her at all, even though she's standing right there. It's almost as if she leaves her body and comes back to it momentarily." It was something she'd noticed over time, unconsciously she had been keeping track of the Renegades for the last year, but never really noticed that their number randomly fluctuated between six and seven...

***

"You aren't going to believe this," said Halamu, as he walked boldly into Trizhsho's homestead, and startled her - he was the only person alive who might do that, certainly he was more powerful psionically than he admitted. "I found something terribly interesting about Ishei... She should be here, her parents."

They headed out to the hunting lodge, giving a little warning with the plume of dust coming up from behind the hovercraft. Halamu was far too old to ride, which was fine with Trizhsho. She liked being given rides and the hover hadn't even cooled from his journey to her home.

When they'd assembled in the small lodge, eyes all wide and waiting, Halamu cleared his throat and spoke as loudly and clearly as he could. "Not only is your daughter well suited to Animal Mastery," he started - eliciting a squeal of delight from her mother and a gasp from almost everyone else, "she's suited to dragon mastery as well - you must be aware of the attacks?"

The group nodded. Once, apparently, they'd been near enough an alien attack to have seen the spacecraft - and the dragons which persued it into the hills where it exploded. Dragons! They were hardly a full two generations into being created, but even now the relentless alien attacks on their planet required defenders. If Ishei could become one of those, surely they'd all have nothing to worry about!

"But that isn't all, that's not what I really found was ... truly spectacular..." The BreedMaster stated, and everyone became quiet again. What could be better than that? "After bringing her genetic chart up, I did as I always do, I run a comparison with the Breeders Network files... Just to see if there are any problems, or ... well, what I found was that her genetics are an exact match for someone's that lived over a thousand years ago!"

Ishei herself blinked and stood up, not even aware of it. "That's ... where I go..." she said. "I see this place, it's a big forest, almost always in Winter. It's not this wood," she waved at the Terena hills covered in greenery, "it's much more dense and dark, and the ground is all snowy. When I go there, it's ... peaceful. There are no aliens, and no dragons, and I'm not a Budak..."

Those adults in the room digested that for a moment, and then BreedMaster Halamu chuckled, "well you're not a Budak any more, little one, you're about to become a Dragon Master."

***

Of course, things never quite go as smoothly as all that. It wasn't any of the people who had come and gone from the lodge in the meantime, who sent word - it was actually coincidence that brought an angry, dark-blue skinned man to Trizhsho's homestead.

He'd banged on the door, all but burst in himself. Let off a string of demands - "I will have my Budak back, you know where they are, turn them over to me" blah blah blah - Trizhsho's mind tried to block it out, but had a hard time.

"Sir," she said, flatly as was her custom until she could get a grip on her own emotions, "you've trespassed into my homestead, I hope you have the proper paperwork to prove that anyone on this property belongs to you - full proof, not just a handful of lies."

That shut him up, but not for long. He corrected himself, "I will have my Budak returned to me," he glared out the window of the tall, open air homestead and saw the small, regular shape of the lodge in the distance through the lightly falling early snow. "And that will be today."

"If by 'today' you mean 'on the day that you bring your full paperwork and information to prove who you're talking about', then perhaps I'll entertain you again. But for the moment, sir, you are invited off my property, or I'll have you arrested. Next time you want to come here, you will ask permission to enter first. That goes for my entire Estate grounds, sir." She stood and pointed at the door, "now, if you don't mind, I have some matters to attend to, while you ... collect your paperwork."

"Go away, don't come back," said a quiet but steady voice from the staircase behind Trizhsho. The Pemilik man froze for a second, raised his head but didn't turn, and the girl spoke again, "never come back here," she said.

Her voice raised the hair on Trizhsho's neck, what was she doing?

The blue-skinned Pemilik strode out, went to his vehicle, and drove it away. Ishei dove into Trizhsho's side.

"I tried to scare him away, I tried to tell him never... never..."

"Never come back here, yes I heard you dear, I wonder why he--"

"It is a power, that Peridian man said so."

At that, Trizhsho widened her eyes. "Oh, my."

"Well, I ... I can't just let him come and take us, I can't!"

"I will not let him, but ... I think you did scare him off, Ishei, I think you did. It might not be the wisest thing to do but ... perhaps we'll see what will come of it. Your paperwork is not finished yet, the Dragon Masters must see to you first, and once they do, I'll try and make some arrangements for your family and friends."

Ishei calmed down a little, and dabbed her eyes with a hand cloth. She had to concentrate hard on being 'civil' - she'd been living in the woods half her life, and spent the other half in a dingy Budak house at the edge of a bad Pemilik's property. If she was going to survive in the world of Membayar and Peridian, she'd have to learn not to wipe her nose on her sleeve any more.

It was uphill work. She was wild, aggressive, and headstrong. But she was also quite intelligent, at least... quite intelligent for a Budak child. If she could become a Dragon Master then her life would be made into a regimented and regular place.

And the good thing about Dragon Masters, was that a lot of them had been Budak too. Trizhsho had no doubts that she'd be accepted into their Status, but she would remain here until she was old enough to really have control over her powers.

Perhaps Trizhsho would get some use out of that hunting lodge after all.

***

By the time Winter was in full swing, and the whole of Terena was covered in a thick blanket of snow, the Dragon Masters came and made a bit of a deal about giving their official Status blessing to this girl. It wasn't often out here that someone was discovered out of the blue. Her former Pemilik had tried - in vain - to come back and claim her and her parents again.

Every time he even tried getting on the vid with Trizhsho, he started having cold sweats, and wound up at least one time vomiting right onto the vid screen.

That, so said Ishei, was worth the bother of learning how to use her powers...

What was weird about these three Dragon Masters, was that at least one of them had such a strange dragon. It wasn't at all like the ones normally seen flying through the skies in persuit of alien craft. It had four legs and two wings, which no Zekiran dragons had. She was extremely pretty, however, both the dragon and her rider.

"Atasan Amaranth," Trizhsho bowed and smiled at the tailed Zekiran woman, "if you wouldn't mind, I need some advice about how to... well, help train Ishei with her powers. I don't have what she does, but... in you I almost sense a little."

That sent Ishei into a bit of a worried tizzy - wearing off quickly because Amaranth was as friendly as her mother, if a little more sly and a lot more up close and personal. Amaranth discovered that their powers of 'out of body' were, while similar, not quite the same thing.

"You say you actually go there? I wonder..." Amaranth said, tapping her hard nail on her teeth while she looked up at the gold and black colored dragon she rode. "There are secrets to some dragons, like mine, secrets that the Zekiran dragons don't share..."

***

One of those secrets was of course that these old-blood, Pernese-bred dragons could travel through space and time. So on a risky guess, Amaranth took Ishei onto her dragon's neck, and (bundled up, because it was Winter fully and still snowing, and it would be snowing at this other place too) started to fly toward ... when?

Nearly a thousand years in the past? And where? It wasn't Terena, but it was still on Curra - farther to the west, nearer Behat - a place which Amaranth knew well enough, since her experiences with Vanya Sengihr had brought her there at least once.

It was piles more snow that greeted them there, no buildings were in evidence, this was unZoned even in the future. The land was wild for hundreds of miles in every direction.

But here they came, and apparently for a reason. The reason stood mutely below them, looking up into the sky. She had died, frozen in the storm, but ...

"She looks just like you," Amaranth whispered, "that's really spooky, Ishei."

"You're telling me!" Ishei said, "I mean... she can't... be me, can she?"

"I would say that you are her, if your Peridian said she was just like your gene profile. It's very rare. But... One of my weirder relatives is actually reincarnated, herself. I think your old self might have been important, look, her Status pin."

On the frozen woman's lapel, a bright rectangle of a Peridian's mark still shone. It made both women wonder - how long had she been standing here, if she was reincarnated so much later? What if they could go back... to before then?

Absolutely not! Racynioth gave a snort, I will not be sending myself any farther away from my home, thank you!

"Th... The dragon, spoke to me, in my head! That's not normal is it?" Ishei said, startled.

"For Zekiran dragons, no it's not, but she's not Zekiran. Is she," Amaranth patted her lovely night-gold's hide. "She's from a place called Ryslen. In fact... why don't we see what's there? I know she misses the place, the desert where we live is nice enough, but there's something about that place that's quite wonderful. Especially if we catch it this time of year there."

Ishei stared at the woman, completely unsure what she was talking about. "Could you ... tell me what that all means?"

"I can do better, I can show you!" Amaranth laughed, they climbed back to the neck of her night-gold, and Amaranth metnally instructed her to head back to her place of birth...

(( From Flurry ))

Kicking herself for not intervening sooner, one last novo made her way over to the knot of dragon adults and pushed her way in.
“You're embarassing her!” Ishei yelled at the adults. “If he's sick just tell his rider to take him to the infirmary after she's eaten.”

The adults' heads pulled back a few inches, not accustomed to being yelled at by small humanoids.

‘He has a heart defect.' One of the adults said.

‘That explains why he was so exhausted by hatching.' Said another.

“Are you not listening?!” Ishei yelled. “Not here! Not now! GO AWAY!”

The adults continued speaking as if she was not there and she pushed past their limbs and got face to face with the nebula white.

‘There you are, Ishei.' He said. She said. They said. Ishei knew in an instant that this dragon — her dragon — was a hermaphrodite. While they would need a little healing, they'd be fine, and she could adjust things to make sure their children would be healthy too.

“Come on now, Nysaro. You've got to be starving.” She reached to pick him up and found the adults miraculously out of her way. They knew better than to interfere between rider and bond, and were feeling a bit chagrined for getting in her way now that they knew.

“Their name is Nysaro Ramaya!” Ishei announced.

They returned to Zekira after a brief period of rest and recuperation at Nidus Ryslen. It was true, Nysaro's condition was present at birth, but not life threatening once they knew what to look for. When they did get back, she was paired up with an experienced woman, a Dragon Master who had extensive knowledge of genetics as well as connections to offworld dragons and their riders.

Ishei chuckled to herself, as she now ranked among those rarest of the rare.

Nysaro tilted his lovely long-eared head, still young enough to not quite understand the varied Status of his bond's home world. You are proud of us, he thought.

"I certainly am," Ishei replied, "it's... refreshing, I think is the right word."

The woman who had been summoned for her training, Yngsame, also gave her own little chuckle. "You definitely earned it," the teal-colored woman said. They got down to business quickly, since it was entirely possible that Nysaro's condition may have changed between worlds. He hadn't been the one to teleport them home, Amaranth and Racynioth had that honor. Far too young to control any power as complex as interdimensional teleportation, Nysaro enjoyed the lift and seemed to have learned from it even as young as he was.

The first thing they did was start Ishei on a path she could understand: using the connectivity that a telepath allowed, Ishei's limited knowledge of genetics was expanded so she could see 'this was fur', 'that is intestine' in a comprehensive manner. But it would definitely take a while. Her basic education had been... well, basic at best, it took some effort to flesh out her reading and maths skills. They would be needed, she'd still need to pass exams eventually.

But according to any Peridian, and particularly those who had been 'in' on her discovery, she had that time. Eventually Ishei would have a good enough basis in the sciences of health care, dragons, and other animals to pass both the Pelatih and Dragon Master exams. Older and wiser, and at least a little calmer, Ishei had spent a good decade working very carefully toward her eventual goal. That being - to make sure that Nysaro's heart was strong while he lived, but also that it wouldn't affect any offspring that... he would sire, or she would lay.

And in that time too... Nysaro learned things too! Things that, while both Yngsame and Ishei could say they 'knew' were in there, until Nysaro actually did it. While holding on to Ishei's shoulders, sitting on his haunches and still able to look her in the eye, suddenly there was a sparkling, slightly-furry, slightly-long-eared version of Ishei! It wasn't perfect, and it only lasted as long as the contact between them was maintained, but Ishei was over the moons!

"It was so easy to see what those genes did, too!" She later recalled to Amaranth and Yngsame, as Nysaro was practicing walking on two feet - preferring four. His upright version was broad-shouldered, thick-necked, but only bore a marginal similarity to the quadrupedal winged and tailed one. "Some of them are for - what's the word..." she searched a little, and Yngsame provided a bit of insight, "ah - reconfiguring deep structure, others are good for rewiring the nerves so that his tail doesn't feel like it's been ripped off, that kind of thing."

"And I am glad for that," Nysaro said, they weren't used to the voice coming from a flat-faced humanoid! "I would miss my tail and wings terribly if they didn't come back."

The trio watched as the white dragon regained those limbs, that tail, the heft, and the fur. He'd never be really comfortable that way. But he had learned to control that adopted-shape power and realized it worked so much better on Zekirans who were also built with four legs on the ground! Less work, apparently, for those genes to handle.

They carefully monitored Nysaro's progress in those years, too, while they were working on his heart and the genes governing it. When he shifted, did those changes revert? Thankfully, no. They were retained - probably because he was still very young, and 'flexible' genetically just like Zekirans tended to be. They would always check, though. There was never a time when Ishei would forget that this might hinder him or the offspring of the future.

One day, not long after being given a fully clean bill of health from Ishei and then Yngsame checking her work, Racynioth popped back over by herself. The queen rounded up Nysaro and they went 'somewhere'. Somewhere private, Ishei shrugged - Nysaro would easily be able to return, they had practiced that quite a bit too.

"I will want to return to my home sands!" Nysaro proclaimed, from directly behind Ishei, startling her but only making her laugh and not lose track of her place in the research she was doing.

"Oh, that would be fun, actually," Ishei pondered. But she knew because of their intimate mental connection... "whhyyyyyy?" She did know. She just wanted to hear it.

"There will be a flight, and I am 'the rarest of the rare', am I not?" Proudly the dragon, with 'his' best coy looking tilted head, reminded that young woman that there were opportunities for dragons who would both rise or chase. "And now that you have fixed the problems that my birth gave me, there is nothing holding me back! I will have fine young! Maybe you might too, if only you would take your friends up on their invitations..."

Ishei's blush was invisible against her pink-red skin of course, but it was definitely there. As she had become a full adult, growing more slowly than any of her age-peers might, her own reproductive needs and issues began appearing. Amaranth was the one who could consult and possible console her, as time went on. Their hyperfertility events wouldn't be happening at the same time, but both women wondered... what if they did, would they have a pack of men all over the place trying to impress them both? Well, that was for another time. Probably not this flight that Nysaro wanted to attend, but. But maybe. Ishei wondered if there would be anyone good enough to put her genes to the test. She had to do some calculations, and some decisions.

Would she want to attend this flight while she was hyperfertile? Or while she wasn't? Was it crass to wonder? Amaranth declared it not - her own dragon's line was known to have thrown riders into a mess of emotions and lust, it was the closest that those people would ever come to knowing what it was like to just be this way.

She decided it would be... 'fun'... to go when she was likely to be at her most receptive. And Nysaro, understanding the gravity of this, would give her enough time before the event to scope out any of the arrivals, perhaps to ask them whether they were interested. Ishei had come to realize that Zekiran paperwork wasn't always needed or even understood on other worlds. Why would you need a 'contract' to have a child?!

There were so many reasons, maybe someone would ask. Maybe that someone might be up for the whole night, not asking them...

Flurry White Nebula Nysaro Ramaya
Hermaphrodite, tends to respond to he/him
6.5 feet at the shoulder
Bonded to Ishei (Zekiran)

Kyttio Ramaya & Neroine Selamputo
Breed: Asandus Mutt
-- Color by Dray

Both clutches:

* Telepathic Speech
* Verbal Speech
* Night Vision
* Teleportation (self): The ability to go “between” places to places they have personally been, or if they receive clear coordinates from another dragon.
* Assisted Fire Breath: Can breathe fire if firestone is chewed as fuel.
* Full Shifting: Can shift into a fully human shape, but retains the coloration of their dragon form.
* Limited Shapeshifting: Can shift temporarily into any other living being that they can touch.
* Bond: Preferred

The 2007s (Destira, Rayentha, and Nysaro) also have:
* Tandem Teleportation: The ability to coordinate or assist in coordinating a jump between
* Inner Temporal Compass: Enhanced ability to know When they are as well as where.