Cercery, who had been sleeping, suddenly jolted out of her sleep, pulling her blankets around her as snow swirled in through the open door. "What are you *thinking*, 'Ness?", she found herself sputtering, eyes wide as thoughts that she didn' want to think about lingered in her mind.

((I think it's time. The snow should conceal me well, I think.)), Tegwenessa replied in an almost distracted manner, her wings flared in the whipping winds. ((Don't worry. Only one knows and he is the only one worthy of me.))

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped dead for a moment. "No. No, no, no. You won't rise now, and certainly not with the door wide open like that! Get back in here and close that door. I don't care if you think Haust is the most beautiful thing in the universe, I don't want Oeri roasted alive by my brother!", her voice steadily lifted into a squeal, even as she tried to burrow deeper in the blankets. "You'll end up killing them both!"

((Your brother and his bonds aren't here,)) was all the cream would say before being thoughtful enough to pull the door shut. Tegwenessa winged through the snow, gliding out into a momentary reprieve; the pens that held the animals were shielded from the selfsame Majyck that kept the storms going around the Aerd, so the animals were never cold nor snowed upon. They were, however, frequently preyed upon, and that was what the cream female set herself to do. Distantly, she sensed Cercery's mind demanding that she blood and blood only, half-remembering the lessons that they were taught. Were she able to, the cream would have smirked; she knew that already.

Haust was already there, his autumnal hue vibrant, his pride evident in his puffed out chest and half-flared wings. He'd already blooded two beasts and was well onto his third; Tegwenessa, however, finished only one before surging upward and back into the ever-present blizzard.

Theirs was a long and intense flight; most males had already gone to other worlds to chase females and the few that remained weren't even aware of a female's flight. The cream was able to hide her moods from everyone, including her own bond, so it wasn't surprising that it was only the male she had summoned that would catch her.

They'd reached high into the air above the Aerd, beyond the reach of the storms and clouds and there, where they could see sunlight casting a warm peachy glow over the clouds, that Haust made his move and made Tegwenessa his own.

Far below, Oeri'kinau had found his way into Cercery's room and, despite her initial attempts to keep him away -- for his own sake, of course -- she finally gave in, her emotions divided between her dragon's sweet bliss and her own desires. Thus did Tegwenessa's first flight end ... and her search for a new place to lay her clutch began.

The cream crept forward, one talon outstretched, but not touching the stone. It was a flat wall of alabaster whiteness, one where images cycled through and information scrolled along the right side; were she of a more modern time, she would have understood that the Touchstone worked rather like a computer, displaying images and information worlds. As she focused on one that seemed surrounded in stars, she discovered it wasn't a world she wanted, but the space station. ((There,)) she decided and turned to look at Drakiera. ((That place, it's so odd. I want to go there.))

"And give me a headache, apparently,", Cercery rolled her eyes, hands on her hips. "Why can't you be an easier dragon, huh? Aslitarmath clutched over at Calyeni ... and that's where you were hatched. It's a good enough place, isn't it?"

((She's made her decision,)) Haust abruptly intruded, stepping forward to his creamy mate. ((To this Star City we go.))

Drakiera couldn't have been more pleased.

"You picked it.", Cercery seemed smug. "Told you that you should have clutched somewhere else. This 'space station' is just too weird for the likes of us."

Haust, meanwhile, was busy rolling around in the moss, warbling with glee. Oeri wasn't much better, laughing as he played in the strange stuff. The women looked to their men with matching scowls and then went back to work to try and make a deep enough bed of the stuff so the cream could finally lay her eggs.

She finally settled to the long and strenuous process of popping those eggs out and, when she was done, she unfurled her wings, covering the lot of them up.

"So ... how many?" Cercery tapped a foot.

((I'm not telling,)) came the smug cream's reply.

((That's because she forgot to take count and won't look under her wings,)) Haust seemed just as smug as his mate. Oeri glanced at the fireamber and smacked his forehead. "You're going to get us in trouble again, Haust."

((It's too late for that,)) the cream's mindvoice was low and dangerous. ((Fine. The eggs will probably need about ten bonders-to-be. Maybe less, but I know it's not more than ten.)) She paused. ((I think.))

Riser	Chasers	Winner
Tegwenessa Female Cream Calyeni	Haust Male Fireamber Moirean	Haust Male Fireamber Moirean

Written by Drakiera