I'll Be Dog-Gone (21)

I'll Be Dog-Gone (21)

Mouse2000 -- Roll Call

Spyral, Mouse, Artic, SunAeryn, Chryse, IQ, Ghost, Viridian, 6th and Drum had not actually been accounted for on the Longboat by Ragnar, Rae, Jila, Kaybe, Kara, and Artist. Not to mention Louie, Thor, artickitten, Elvis, Honey, Juno, and all the dogs. One could assume that Louie, and Thor were with Chryse, 6th, and Drum, as that's were they were last seen. Artic, artickitten, and Elvis were brushing Elvis' teeth in Artic's room. But after that exchange, Artic rejoined the group back up on deck, wondering *where* she was going to get another toothbrush. The kitten and Elvis went back into the hold with the dogs to show off Elvis' new teeth and new, improved breath. Viridian was last seen heading towards the showers. SweetiePie and Natasha were together, but unaccounted for also. Ok, roll call is done. On to our present story.

In the "blue" zone, Spyral, Sunny, and Mouse try to calm Artic, but she is in great pain. Spyral rummages around in his wing, and finds four pairs of heavy-duty earmuffs that are used on construction sites. Mouse shakes her head, always amazed at the quantity (and quality) of stuff that he has in his wing. They quickly put the earmuffs on, then help Artic on with hers. These earmuffs block out some of the sound, but Artic is still obviously in distress. Now, of course, they can't talk to each other, so Mouse makes the "eating" sign and they all head towards the galley.

Meanwhile, in the "red" zone, Sweetiepie and Natasha make their way slowly through the hold of the longboat. They don't see any people, or dogs, or, well, anyone, until they round a corner and walk through Ghost and into IQ. "Nice jammies" SweetiePie says, trying for sarcasm, but too unbalanced to really care. "Where the frell are we?" Sweetie adds. Before they can explain, IQ sees a yellow light and thinking about "laughing morons", he heads to it and the group gets sucked out of their dimension and into the "yellow" one.

At the same time, Viridian, who was napping, woke to a grating noise and quickly got dressed. She went to the galley just to find it was empty. She went up on deck - empty. She started to get a really bad feeling when she opened the hold and was relieved to see about 10 doggie faces looking at her with concern. She calmed the dogs, filled up their bowls, and continued to look for the others. She headed back downstairs, knocked on Drum's door, and it was opened by Chryse. "Thank God." Viridian whispered, then proceeded to fill Chryse in on what she had found (and not found). Drum and 6th were still asleep, so Viridian and Chryse quietly left the cabin (after Chryse wrote a short note to Drum to STAY THERE if he woke), locked the cabin from the outside, and headed up to command. As they rounded a side of the longboat, they saw a shimmering red light. Remembering TtLG, they stayed far away from the vortex, and concluded that they were in the "normal" zone.

<<So, to sum up, (jeez - you need a score card)

"Red" zone - no one.

"Blue" zone - Sunny, Spyral, Mouse, Artic, Rae and Ragnar.

"Yellow" zone - Jila, Kara, Artist, Kaybe, IQ, Ghost, SweetiePie, and Natasha.

"Normal" zone - Viridian, Chryse, 6th, Drum, Thor, Louie, kitten, Elvis, and dogs.

Hope I didn't forget anyone. Love, Mouse >>

Raven-Kat -- Rae’s head began to clear

after only a few minutes in the blue zone, and she led Ragnar back into her room. Ragnar looked on in perplexity as she began tearing the room apart until she came up with a note-book and pen, then he nodded understanding.

_Should we split up?_ Rangar wrote.

Rae shook her head firmly, grabbed the pen and began writing.

Ragnar stared at the uninteliigable hieroglyphs and shook his head. *Come on, Rae! If you can read the language, you can write it!*

Rae stared for a moment, then nodded understanding. She had to think for a moment before writing _together. Safe!_ in big letters.

Rae grabbed the note-book as they ran up to deck. As they went, the buzzing was underscored by another sound altogether: screaming.

Ragnar heard it, too, and was looking around for the source. Rae wanted to explain that the headsets would prevent that, but her written English had never been as good as her spoken, and she wouldn't have been sure how to convey the concepts involved even in Sebacian. Instead, she shook her head firmly and gestured to keep going.

As they rounded a corner, they saw Mouse, bending franticly over Artic as Spyral and Sun stood by nervously. Rae pushed her way through them and knelt beside Mouse.

Mouse rounded on Rae, hands raised to defend herself until she recognized her. She said something, but, of course, Rae couldn't hear it. She passed the notebook to Mouse as she dug for a headset.

As Mouse wrote, Rae secured the headset onto Artic, who didn't look at all happy about conditions.

Mouse shoved a piece of paper over to Rae to read. She looked at it, but only got a few words, so she passed the paper to Ragnar to read. As Ragnar read, Rae passed out headsets. Realizing she was one short, she passed her own to Spyral, wondering how long it would be before her ear-drums sustained serious damage.

Sixth Sense Dreamer -- The Spirit of 6th

Swirling colors like oil slicks in the air...a nauseating sense that the world was spinning, and possibly listing to one side...but no sky, no grass, no trees...no anything...

6th looked up. In the swirling blackness, she saw the wood of a ceiling...she frowned, trying to remember where she was, who she was...and why couldn't she move?

She pushed away from the hard surface beneath her with her fingertips, and felt herself rise into the air. She had to roll over to look down, and the sight of her body laying beneath her, pale and wan, made her cry out. She was even more startled to find that no sound came out of her mouth.

She looked at Thor, curled up by 6th's body, asleep. Drum was asleep as well, his head resting on the table by 6th's arm. Louie was curled up on top of Drum's head snoring.

6th's spirit floated around the room for a minute, when she spied the note. *What the frell is going ON here?* she thought to herself. Taking one last glance at her body, 6th's spirit floated...up through the ceiling.

She surfaced on deck. The blue swirling of water and space was there, swirling around the boat. 6th's spirit noticed that the Long boat seemed to be stuck. *hmmmmm...* she thought, and began to look around for the others.

She came across the red hole, and poked her head in. She felt a pull, but not strong enough to worry about. If she had been in her physical form, the hole would have sucked her right in. But 6th's spirit didn't feel any outside influences--she was too enveloped in the magic.

6th recognized the red area from Farscape, though she couldn't seem to remember what the title of the episode was. She didn't feel any of the naeusea the red area usually caused, spirits don't get sick. She shrugged and floated through the red area.

It didn't do her any good to yell for the others--she couldn't make a sound, and, she realized, she couldn't really hear much either. *except the sound of my own voice in my head.* she thought. 6th didn't really understand why she was now floating around the longboat, or why she, her body anyway, was laying in the infirmary. But she didn't seem to really care either. She just felt that there was something that was supposed to be happening, but it wasn't.

6th found the Blue hole easily and floated through it. She saw Sunny, Spyral, Mouse, Artic, Rae and Ragnar. 6th floated over to them to see what was going on, why were they here? But try as she might, she couldn't get their attention. She found she could touch things though, when she got so frustrated at yelling silently at them for five minutes with no effect, she wacked Ragnar in the back of the head.

He whirled around. He looked left and right, a puzzled expression on his face. He leaned forward, looking around. Ragnar scratched his head, then was wacked again from behind by Rae, who'd been trying to get his attention. Ragnar gestured wildly to her. 6th looked on, watching Rag and Rae gesturing back and forth. When Rae stuck the pad of paper in Ragnar's hands, 6th remembered that the Blue area was the one that had that horrible noise...she could only hear a low dull throbbing hum, nothing loud enough to cause any problems. But as she peered over Ragnar's shoulder, watching him write <Something hit me in the head!> 6th realized there WAS something she could do.

Ragnar was handing the pencil back to Rae for her to reply, when the pencil was snatched out of his hand.

"WHAT THE FRELL?" he yelled, though Rae could barely hear it, she knew what he meant. She stared in puzzlement at the pencil floating in between them.

Sunny, Spyral, Mouse and Artic came over to them. 6th tried for the paper, but Ragnar held on to it firmly, not sure what was trying to take the paper away. The struggle between Ragnar and Spirit 6th was probably comical to the others watching, but to 6th and Rag it was odd. Ragnar couldn't figure out who or what was trying to take their only form of communication away, but he was bound and determined not to let go. 6th pulled and tugged, even planting her feet on Ragnar's chest and pulling back hard. No luck, Ragnar still held firm. 6th let go, ignoring Ragnar falling back on his rear with a crash that was almost audible over the howling noise in the Blue area.

6th turned to the near wall and began to write with the pencil, pressing hard.

Rae looked at the writing on the wall, her eyes wide.

She took the paper from Ragnar's hands, now limp as he stared at the wall...they all stared. Rae held out her hand for the pencil. 6th handed it to her and watched as Rae struggled to find the words.

6th snatched the pencil away, then the paper.

--Yes. What's going on with the ship? Why are you guys here?-- then, --what's wrong with my body?--

Rae took the paper back as it floated to her, read, then handed the paper to Ragnar, motioning the floating pencil towards him.

He took it gingerly and after a moment, wrote

--Ship's stuck in Starburst, we got pulled in. Your body is in a coma. Magical complications. Taking you to Fantasy Land to get fixed. And don't hit me again!--

6th read over his shoulder as he wrote. He began to hand the paper and pencil back into the air in front of him, but 6th snagged it from over his shoulder, and leaning in wrote

--Can ship get unstuck and how?-- she put the pencil back in his hand and waited.

He pondered for a moment, then wrote

--Yes. Push the red flashing button in the helm.--

--yes, that's all-- as if he could hear what she was thinking.

6th took the pencil again. --Can't push button in reality, can't touch things there, not like here, but can get you out of blue area to yellow, then out to reality. Red, blue, yellow, out. Doors easy to find for me like this.--

Ragnar read as she wrote, the others peering around his shoulders to read what they were saying. Rae gave the air the ok sign, and 6th took the paper and pencil out of Rag's hands. She waved it in the air in front of them, so they'd have something to follow.

Before 6th began to float towards the yellow hole she could feel almost calling to her, she wrote a note and passed the paper to Rae. it said

--Once I get you all out, will have to go back to my body. Whatever's wrong with me getting worse. Can feel it here. You need to hurry. And you don't have earmuffs on, maybe try some of Spyral's feathers to muffle the sound.--

Rae nodded, and waved her hands at the air to let 6th know to lead them on. The group walked down the blue passageways, following the waving pad of paper towards the distant yellow hole.

Raven-Kat -- Once more through the looking glass....

As the group steps through the yellow portal, Rae feels an immediate change in mood, but unlike last time, it's not good. This time, it's more like the depression she gets on every time she has one too many.

"What's wrong, Rae?" Ragnar asks.

"I'm stoned." Rae whimmpers sadly. "I'm stoned and I'm depressed." She turns to where Sixth is hovering--she can almost see the spirit's outline. "I want you guys to stay here. It's safer. Only need one to push the button. I can handle that."

"Rae, that's not--" Mouse begins.

"You guys need to stay with Artic. You help her, I help Sixth. Only fair. Lead on, Sixth."

Sixth hesitates, then writes. --We need to go through Red first. Can you handle that?--

Rae cringes. Red... Yuck. Sighing, she nods. "Just get me out of this." She grabs the pad. --Once we get out of this, we can put you in suspension. Slow down your-- she pauses, not sure what word she's looking for. She settles for --progressivness-- though she's not sure it's even a word.

Sixth nods and takes the pad back. --Yeah. Follow.--

Rae nods. "You guys stay safe. I'll go to the infirmary once this is over."

Raven-Kat -- “You know....”

Rae muses from the floor of the portion of the boat stuck in the Red Zone. "I think I prefered Blue."

Sixth waits patiently as Rae gets the last bits of food out of her system, then they walk on. (Well, Sixth floats and Rae crawls...)

Finally, though, the two make it to the portal. "That it?" Rae asks Sixth warily. She has no intention at this point of ending up in any other weird dimensions. (Weird, of course, being such a relative term, Rae chooses to define it simply as 'weirder than the one I live in normally'.)

Sixth waggles the notebook up and down: yes.

"After you." Rae says generously, knowing that in her present form, Sixth is pretty much invulnerable. *Interesting effect. I'll have to try it on some time.*

After Sixth passes through, Rae follows, weapon drawn. Just in case.

She can see Sixth's hovering form much more clearly in the fading sun-light. "Okay, great. You get back to your body, I'll get us out of this fix." She holsters her weapon and races to the helm. There was indeed a flashing red button. "Oh, come on!" she said to no one in particular. "It CAN'T be that easy! It's NEVER that easy!"

"Push the frelling button, sister!" Sweetie-pie squwaks from behind her.

"Sweetie!" Rae turns around and hugs the bird happily.

"LET... ME... GO!!!" Sweetie screeches, puncuating each word with a scratch and a peck until Rae releases him.

Rae hesitates. "What if it's the wrong red button? What if Ragnar was wrong?"

"Then we die a few years early. Big frellin' deal."

Rae grins and presses the button. And goes flying across the room. And hits a cabinet with a thud. *Won't be wearing shorts for a while.* she notes, crawling to her feet. "Did it work, though?"

Sweetie shrugs indifferently.

Rae races to the infirmary. "Sixth, you in there?"

Sixth's body jerks slightly away from her touch, which Rae takes as a good sign.

"Okay, then, let's get you into stasis." Rae finds a medical kit and works quickly. It's one of those techniques that every soldier learns, but never thinks she'll have to use.

Drum, apearantly asleep the whole time, wakes with a start. "What are you doing to her?!?!"

"Putting her into stasis until we find a cure."

"She's not breathing!" Drum protests.

"Well, duh!" Rae looks up at him. "Look, you want to do this?" she tosses a PK-issue syringe in his direction. "Be my guest."

"Finish." Drum glares at her. "But if she dies because of this..."

Rae rolls her eyes, hooks up the last monitor and leaves the room. Over her shoulder, she calls, "That light comes on, it means you should come get me."

Walking through the corridors, she runs into Mouse and Ragnar.

"You're bleeding?" Ragnar says, pointing to her arm. "What happened?"

"Just Sweetie's way of saying 'I missed you'."

Rae walks past them without another word and locks herself in her bedroom for a well-deserved nap.

Kaybe0 -- Still sitting at the table

in the galley, Kay felt normal again, kind of. Her sides ached a little from all the laughing. Peeking out to see if everything else looked normal, she proceeded to explore the boat, and make sure everyone was okay, including the dogs. The dogs seemed to be okay. After getting some attention and snacks, they settled down to friendly playing. Spyral, IQ, Artist, and Chryse, were leaning over the rail, looking out into the distance, while Ragnar, was once again studying his maps. Jilla, Drum, and Mouse, were talking quietly next to Sixth's bed. Rae, after taking care of her cuts, was laying in her bunk, trying to rest when Ghost came in to ask her about the spirit of 6th. Viridian and Kara were talking to Artic and Sun about the possibilities lying ahead of them in Fantasy Land. Well, all seemed to be calm again for the moment. Now, if only they could get help for Sixthy, and find some more homes for some of the dogs, without getting themselves into too much trouble, it would be good. Kay smiled at her thought. This group attracted trouble like a magnet. Who was she kidding, in thinking there would be no more close encounters.

JilaCosa -- Under way once more....

on tranquil seas, the tension of the day slips away with the water flowing past the Longboat. It has been a very long couple of days and the Scoobs are relaxed enough in mind and body to get a little sleep.

Ragnar, in the pilothouse, assures them that within a couple of hours they will be in Fantasy Land and he is planning on some sleep before one more thing happens.

As each Scoob heads for their respective cabin, they stop in the infirmary to check on 6th. The tubes and wires connecting her to the stasis machines look pretty intense but Rae has promised Drum that she will be fine and he hopes that telling everyone else this will make it so.

With everyone tucked into their beds, the rest of the night passes uneventfully.

Jila wakes with the dawn. The sun shines bright and clear through her porthole. As she lies in bedstretching and yawning she feels different. Not her body or her features but something intangible, just a feeling. What was it? What has happened to make her feel so different? By the Gods, why was everybodygathered outside her cabin this morning? She knows that everyone fears for 6th's health and well beingbut still.... Jila opens her door to ask why this meeting is starting without her and finds no one in the hall at all. Where were all these voices coming from? Jila walks quietly up the hallway trying to find the location of her friends voices. She peeks into a couple of her friend’s rooms and only finds sleeping bodies. Except in 6th's room, there she finds Drumheller sitting in a chair at 6th's bedside, staring at her sadly. Perhaps, he thinks, if he concentrates hard enough he will find her wandering the corridors of her mind.

*What have I done?* He tortures himself mercilessly for what has happened *They warned me not to do it. Said something like this would happen. But Nooooo, I couldn't listen. Why couldn't I just use the magics I have and not lean on her to make them better? Because your classmates are all full Mages now, that's why, and you had to be just as good as they are. Well I hope this teaches you a lesson.* Even Louie was quiet for once, laying across Drum's shoulders.

Finally Jila turns through the door of the galley. The only person there is Ragnar who is getting his first cup of coffee for the day.

"Ragnar, tell me you can hear people talking, please."

"What?" Ragnar says sleepily "People talking? No, I don't hear anybody talking." He takes the first sip of his freshly brewed coffee "Ahhhhhh. Why?"

"Because I'm hearing voices but everybody except you, me, and Drum seems to be sleeping." Jila sits down in the galley holding her forehead. She begins actually listening to the voices in her head and what they are talking about. *Oh wait a minute, this couldn't possibly be.* While she's been listening she heard things like 'going between', 'the clutch at Igen', and 'mating'.

"Ragnar," Jila begins slowly "where are we?"

"Don't you remember? We're at Fantasy Land today. Drum thinks there may be someone here that can help 6th"

"THAT'S IT!!!" Jila shouts, throwing her hands up in the air "What I'm hearing is Dragons. We must be near Pern!"

"What do you mean you’re hearing the dragons of Pern? Jila do you remember that the islands we’re visiting have only to do with movies and TV shows? There has never been a Pern movie or TV show. The only movie with dragons was Dragonheart and that dragon just….talked, no telepathy. Are you sure you’re hearing dragons?"

"Yes, I’m sure." Jila replies sarcastically "No I don’t know how it’s happening but I can tell you this, I have dragons talking in my head. I’ve got to try and talk to them."

Jila runs a full speed back to her room and dresses quickly. Running out of her room and down the hall again she nearly bangs into Rae just coming out of her own cabin seeking coffee.

"Whoa, sorry Rae! Didn't see you coming there! I'll be more careful next time! Promise!" She says nearly tripping over the others as they start from their rooms. "Sorry, sorry, in a hurry! I'll explain later!"

Reaching the stairs to the top deck she takes the stairs by twos to get topside even faster. She hurries to the bow and starts scanning the horizon. Would the Dragonriders come out over the sea? Jila clears her mind as well as she can and quietly says "Good morning all"

The air sings with a questioning roar.

* Who are you? * * Where are you? * Jila’s mind buzzes with questions. A single trumpeting dragon roar sounds above the rest and the dragons silence their thoughts.

*Who are you child? * Sounds in Jila’s mind. It is a soft, gentle, but definitely dragon voice/thought.

*Forgive me please, in my haste to communicate I forgot my manners. My name is JilaCosa and I am on a Longboat at sea. Could I please know who I am talking to? *

*I am Ramoth, Queen dragon to Lessa. *

Jila sits at the bow with a smile of contentment as she converses with the dragons.

Meanwhile back in the galley, her friends do not share her contentment. 6th has still not come out of her coma. How long will she last?

"What’s going on with Jila?" Rae asks making her way to the coffeepot

"Yeah, Ragnar, what’s her rush?" Artic seconds.

"Seems she’s hearing the dragons from Pern." Explains Ragnar.

Questioning expressions mingle with the looks of worry on the faces of those in the galley.

"How can she be doing that?" A baffled Mouse asks.

"I thought that we could only step into movies and TV shows?" This from KaraS

"Ragnar, you’ve been to all of these islands before." Starts Chryse. "Didn’t you know this might happen?"

"Well, no, not really." Ragnar explains "Yes, I have been to all of these Lands before. No, I didn’t know this would happen. Actually I didn’t know Pern was here at all. As I explained to Rae while we were in Classic Land, the Lands change with the popularity of movies and tv shows. Let’s take this topside, Jila needs to hear some of this too. That is if she can hear anything past all those voices." So up the stairs the group goes as Ragnar continues his explanation. "Anyway, as some movies come back and gain popularity their area gets bigger and as other areas lose popularity their area gets smaller. When new things comes along," the group pulls up chairs near the bow as Ragnar continues, "the geography changes to accommodate. My guess is that Pern is here because there is a tv series coming up and the books have a huge following, but if it wasn’t for Geradan she probably wouldn’t hear the dragons now. It’s probably just a small area and under construction." This explanation seems to satisfy everyone for the time being. Then the discussion takes a serious tone.

"What Can we do about 6th?"

"Does anybody know of any Fantasy movies, shows that have doctors or something?"

"What about magicians?"

"What about Merlin?"

"Chryse, how long will your magic last?"

"I may have found a solution." Drum says to the group. "Gandalf from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. I believe he can help. "

"Is he that good?" "Are you sure he'll help?" Like questions bombard Drum.

"Yes, he's that good, no I can't be absolutely positive that he'll help. I'll try contacting him right now." Drum goes to his cabin and in a short time rejoins the group looking only slightly less anxious. "Amazing. Yes, he said I’m to bring her to the Mage Council but he said we'd need to hurry. That's the part I Can't solve, how to get there quickly without using magic. Gandalf said not to use magic to get us there. He doesn't think 6th can survive any more spells where she is directly involved"

Having heard what Drum told the others, Jila thinks she has come up with an unmagic solution.

"Drum, do you think you can hold onto 6th while flying on a dragon?"

"I don’t think that’s going to work Jila." Drum said sadly. "Ragnar told us that you are in contact with the dragons of Pern but they can’t leave Pern for great lengths of time. Or I’ve never heard that it was possible."

"No, I don’t think they could do it either." Jila sighs "But I wasn’t thinking of them. I was thinking of Geradan. When he saw that we weren’t getting into trouble that we couldn’t handle he flew off by himself to scout around. That’s when he found Pern. He’s been there for a while now. I’m sure he’d do it." The roar of a dragon sounds close by. Jila chuckles and gives a small smile "He said anything for the little one."

Drum accepts the offer with much appreciation. He goes to back 6th’s room and picking 6th up ever so gently, carries her back topside. As Jila, Drum, and 6th start for the gangplank they hear footsteps that stop directly behind them.

"You are not leaving me behind." Artist says to Drum with an edge to his voice. "I have to know she's okay."

"And unfortunately," Chryse starts timidly "I'll have to go to. She'll deteriorate even faster without my magic to sustain her."

"Hey what about us???" The others say almost simultaneously

"I'm sorry guys," Jila says with sigh "I’m as worried about 6th as you are but Geradan can really only carry three people safely. But, because 6th is small he thinks he can take four. More than that is impossible."

The group grumbles amongst themselves but know it is the truth. Unwilling to part with 6th until the last possible moment the entire group leaves the longboat and walk to Jila’s dragon friend.

"How do I communicate with him?" Drum looks at the dragon with doubt in his mind. "I’m not linked to him like you are."

"Just talk to him, he’ll understand." Jila pats her friend’s flank. "Obviously he can’t answer any questions or carry on conversation but he knows what you’re telling him. Just sit there between his wings and hold on to those straps. You remember, don’t you, when I took you up for a ride in Kaldorre?"

Yes, it was coming back to Drum now. The take off would be rough but he could safeguard 6th from the initial roughness. It will work. Drum mounts the dragon, strapping the unconscious 6th to himself and the dragon. Jila straps Chryse in behind Drum with Artist behind her. Jila explains to Chryse and Artist how to hold themselves while the dragon gets airborne.

"It's going to be rough because he's carrying more than he should but it won't last long. Good Luck."

"Good Luck." is the quiet prayer from the others as they back away from the dragon and his passengers and then head back to the longboat

“Wait!” Rae turns back to the group on the dragon, remembering, and searches her pockets. “Here.” She says to Chryse “Take this, it’s one of the new comm devices. It will reach back to the Longboat and the other comms no matter where you are on the island. If you run into trouble use it! And let us know how things go with 6th.”

* Take it easy on ‘em, please. * Jila scratches Geradan’s nose ridge and heads back to the Longboat with Rae. A major gust of wind pushes Jila along telling her that her friends are airborne. It’s up to Gandalf and the Mage Council now and time for Jila's adventure to begin.

JilaCosa -- Off to Pern

“By the First Egg! This is amazing! This is truly AMAZING!” Jila turns to the group who has now turned en masse to look at her. “The Queen dragon who I have been talking to says that she and her rider, the female leader of the Weyr, have decided to send a dragon and rider for me and whoever else wants to go. It’s quiet and peaceful, absolutely basic living. Viridian, you might be interested in the Craft Hall. They have people who specialize in art. Not only do they teach the students about painting but they also teach about making canvases and paints from scratch, and only using materials that grow naturally. Rae, perhaps you could teach a thing or two to the Masterhealer.”

“And he could probably teach me a few things too.” Rae laughs “Yes, I’ll go.”

“I’ll go.” Viridian says “Just the kind of quiet place I could use after Classics Land.”

“Sounds great!” Kaybe piped in.

"And us too." Mouse speaks up pointing at SunAeryn, Spyral, and herself. "Who else is there?"

"Well....." Jila tilts back her head trying to think. Soon she is getting choices from the dragons themselves. Smiling, and picking thoughts at random, Jila tells the choices. "Ok, there's the MasterFisher, that one is obvious. The MasterHarper, he heads the HarperHall which has everything to do with music. The Mastersmith, The MasterFarmer, the Masterweaver, and the Masterglassmith..."

"MasterGlassmith? That's blowing glass, right?" Mouse's face lights up. "I've always wanted to know how that was done."

“Speaking of the MasterGlassmith,” Rae turned to look for Ragnar, who is standing on the other side of the group, “Ragnar, that would be someone for you to see. As I recall the Master’s name is Wanser and he’s also a Star-smith. I’m sure he could be a big help with your maps.”

“Quiet and peaceful, you say.” Ragnar sighs *Peace and quiet would be nice for a change. And help with the maps, that’s a plus * “I think I could join you.”

“I just don’t know.” Kaybe says with a frown “I don’t know where I want to go.”

“That’s okay, Kaybe.” Jila tells her, “You can stick with me. Perhaps you’ll find something interesting for you once we get to where we’re going.”

Knowing that this area of Fantasy Island was pretty basic, the group go to their rooms to gather things they might need. In her room, Jila finds a backpack in the closet and packs all the little things she will need for her trip. Matches, snacks, a canteen of water, an extra sweater, mittens (yes mittens, some of these Weyrs are in the high mountains and who knows what season they’re coming into), paper and pencil, a pocket knife, and lots of pairs of warm socks. The magic of these Lands helps you to dress like everyone else but if you didn't dress properly to begin with you could still freeze your butt off. Going through her supplies in her head and feeling like she hadn't forgotten anything, Jila goes topside and searches the skies. Nothing yet but that didn't mean anything. Nobody was sure just how far the longboat was from Pern. It could be on the other side of the island. Hoping they’ll not come and go without her, Jila hurries down to the cabins of the others to help them pack.

With everyone back topside, the group starts down the gangplank preparing for what could be a long hike. Just as they cross the clearing their clothes change to something more like Pernese dress, ankle length skirts with a Peasant blouse and warm, fur-lined vests and boots for Vi, Jila, Kaybe, and Mouse. Ragnar, Rae, Spyral, and SunAeryn are dressed in soft leather pants and jackets (Herd beast hide Rae guesses) with sturdy boots. Suddenly a dragon and rider appear overhead and spiral down to a safe landing spot. So close to the docks? How can that be? Jila stares in awe at the dragon. It is so BIG! She knew they would be big, she'd read Anne McCaffery's books so many times, But This! This was incredible! This dragon looks to be as tall as the Farscape Mansion itself. Recovering a bit from her initial shock Jila realizes that the dragon that has landed is a Bronze. The largest and most important of the male dragons. The only dragon bigger is the Gold Queen. Jila figuratively picks her bottom jaw off the ground and looks waaaaay up into the swirling eyes of the dragon. The rider dismounts and walks over to where the girls are standing.

"Good morning!" The rider looks directly at her. "You must be JilaCosa. My name is F'lar and this is Mnementh.” He points to the Bronze dragon. “I will be your ride to......."

"Benden???" Jila asks with total disbelief

"Yes, Benden." F'lar answers, chuckling. “You were expecting to go somewhere else?”

“Well, I……” Jila is still somewhat speechless. She is use to Geradan’s size but this dragon is So Big, and his rider is so at ease.

“The Queen dragon you have been speaking with is the dragon of Benden’s Weyrwoman, my wife.” Explained F’lar. “And they wouldn’t allow me to bring you elsewhere.”

“Please forgive me.” Jila gathers her wits finally “It’s really not that I’m surprised to go to Benden but, I wasn’t expecting to be greeted by a Bronze dragon. A blue, a green, a brown at the most but not a Bronze. I’m not that special.”

“You communicate with dragons that you have not impressed.” F’lar explains “To us, that is special. Will you do me the honor of coming to Benden on Mnementh?”

“I should be asking the honor of riding such a noble animal.” Jila says with awe. “Gods, I almost forgot. This is my friend Viridian. She’d like to come with me to visit the MasterCrafter. Viridian is a painter. And this is Rae, she’s a healer. She’d like to go to the Healer Hall. And these four are Ragnar, Mouse, Spyral, and SunAeryn. They'd like to visit the MasterGlassmith. And this is Kaybe, she’ll be with me, if that’s alright.

“Welcome All .” F’lar says with a smile. “A painter? Yes, Master Yanis would certainly love to discuss his Craft with you. And for you Rae, you would see Master Oldive. I hope you three have dressed warmly.” F'lar looks at how eveeryone is dressed. "Master Wanser lives in Telgar, up in the mountains. It is cool there this time of year. I guess I should call for more dragons."

Viridian looks at the huge Bronze dragon and suddenly turns pale.

“Ride? A dragon?” Vi looks at Jila “Like, up in the sky? I’m not sure that I can.” Jila notices that Viridian is starting to turn the tiniest bit green.

“Oh dear,” Jila sits her friend down quickly. “Vi, do you get air sick?”

“Oh yes.” Vi answers, inhaling and exhaling long breaths of air.

Jila turns to F’lar. “Where we come from we also travel though the air, but not dragonback. Some of our people don’t take it well. She happens to be one of those that don’t"

“Here,” Rae says handing Vi a capsule, “I always carry a little dramamine with me. You never know who’s going to need it. Anybody else?” Rae offers the pack around. Viridian quickly pops the capsule in her mouth and swallows. Rae and Jila then help her to her feet.

In a moment more dragons appear in the air and land beside the Bronze. They are Brown dragons.

“This is F’nor” F’lar introduces the new rider, clapping him on the shoulder.

* Wing Second * Jila thinks with awe. * Are we that special? *

“He will take Rae and Viridian on Canth.” F’lar tells F’nor to take Rae to Master Oldive at Fort Hold and Viridian to Master Yanis at Half-Circle Sea Hold. "This," F'lar introduces the two other riders who have joined them "is T'gran and B'irto. T'gran can take two of you on Branth and B'irto will take the other two on Cabenth."

“This is going to be a quick ride.” Jila smiles at the group. “These dragons can cut their travel time down to almost nothing. The have a teleportation process they call ‘going between’.”

“Oh dear,” says Viridian, the dramamine not quite through her system yet, sits down again quickly.

“She’ll be okay.” Rae winks, “If I have to I’ll knock her out cold.”

“But you can’t.” Jila says worrying “I think she has to be wide awake and somewhat focused so that she doesn’t lose contact with the dragon.”

“Don’t worry,” Rae looks straight into Jila’s eyes. “I remember riding Geradan. I’ll get all the particulars from F’nor before we take off.”

The group mount the waiting dragons. Jila and Kaybe with F'lar, Rae and Viridian with F'nor, Mouse and Ragnar with T'gran, and Spyral and Sunny with B'irto. Instructions are given on how to ride and "going between", and they get airborne. The dragons fly a short distance, then disappear from sight.

Raven-Kat -- WOW!

Rae exclaims as the great brown dragon lifts off. She tightens her grip on Vi and yells reassuringly in her ear. "EVERYTHING'S GOING TO BE FINE!!!"

Vi nods weakly, though it's clear that the dramimine has begun to work. She seems less worried (courtesy of Rae's personal addition to every capsule).

"Hang on!" F'nor yells.

"Count backwards from ten." Rae tells Vi, tightening her grip even more. "I'm here for ya'."

Then the great dragon goes Between. Blackness and bitter cold envelope them.