Siebel was nibbling at the sand between her toes absently, her bond busy with his family, when she caught sight of something unusual on Atu: a spot of green. Even more unusual, it was moving, and moving towards her. It came close enough, at last, that she could make out her sister, Ardeshiri, loping slowly in her direction. Ardeshiri visited just about every time she sensed Siebel on the planet, and had, in fact, already visited once this trip home. Which was why Siebel hadn't been expecting her.

::Weren't you supposed to be with whatsisname?:: she sent, since her little sister wasn't close enough for anything less than a full-throated bellow, and she didn't want to disturb her bond's family at dinner.

::Ohkah,:: Ardeshiri sent back her bond's name, picking up her pace a bit. ::And I was... but....::

Her tone said it all. ::But he went off again, early.::

::Yes.::

Ardeshiri slowed to a trot as she approached, then a walk, and finally she eased herself down onto the sand beside Siebel, kelly green contrasting with bright red as she leaned against her slightly-smaller sister. Siebel nuzzled her crest. "I'm sorry, sis," she said softly. "I know you were looking forward to seeing him."

"He got called away, he said," Ardeshiri murmured, resting her chin on Siebel's forepaws and sighing a little. "Some big sale he could make if he left immediately...."

"It's only been three days!" Siebel exclaimed indignantly. "He was supposed to stay a whole week! Can't he think about anything other than money??"

"Of course he can," Ardeshiri protested, lifting her head to nudge and then nuzzle her sister's chin. "He's just... preoccupied. He has so much on his mind, and he just... doesn't have much time."

"Not having time for his own bond," Siebel snorted, still indignant about that, after all this time. She couldn't understand how someone could not love Ardeshiri; even as restless as she was, she never ignored Ardeshiri, when her sister needed her!

"He never really wanted me, anyway," Ardeshiri whispered, the same thing she always said.

Knowing she needed to change the subject before she ran out of comforting things to say, or before Ardeshiri actually got depressed instead of just down-- it didn't happen often, as Arde' wasn't really prone to depression, but when it, she fell hard-- Siebel wracked her brain for something else to talk about. Her thoughts alighted on, predictably, the biggest bit of on-planet news at the moment. "Hey, I bet this'll make ya laugh," she chuckled. "You've heard of frenzies, right? Those big dragon-orgies they have on other worlds?"

"Yes," Ardeshiri answered, curious despite her mood.

"Well, you'll never believe this. They're having one here."

"Here?" Ardeshiri repeated, blinking purple eyes at Siebel.

"Well, not here, here, but on Atu. Up by Driolo. Isn't it wild?"

"I don't think they've ever had one of those before. Where will they put all the dragons? In a warehouse? There isn't anything else at Driolo, is there?"

"There will be, by the time clutching time comes around," Siebel grinned. "They've started building already. Big enough for fifty dragons, they say it'll be!"

"That's impressive," her sister agreed. "When is it?"

"I forget. Not too far off, though. That boor of a bond of yours will probably still be long gone, though, I expect."

"He's not a boor. He's just... busy."

"Well, whatever, he won't be here. Hey, if I'm around then, maybe we can amuse ourselves watching the dragons all chase each other around. It oughta be a sight, really; most everybody's gonna be, like, aliens."

"Aliens?" Ardeshiri sounded amused. "Like every species out there?"

"No, these are gonna be really weird ones. It's run by an Avengaean dragon, I bet you've never even heard of one."

"I haven't," the green dragoness admitted.

"They're all fluffy-- even furrier than we are! Everybody at the frenzy will be. Well, that or feathery. They're only letting in furred or feathered dragons, isn't that weird?"

"Siebel," Ardeshiri said slowly, and Siebel blinked at her, "we're furred."

"Yeah, so?" Siebel answered, a little warily. What had she gotten into her head now....

It was as bad as she'd thought. "We could sign up."

"Aw, Arde'...."

"It's not like you've ever had children before, Siebel, and neither have I."

"And I like it that way! I don't even think about that kind of stuff!"

"Well, I don't much, either," she admitted, "But I've heard about frenzies. There's so much scent in the air, and hormones going every which way, that it really doesn't matter."

"That's gross," Siebel muttered. "Why would you want to do something like that, anyway? You never have, before."

"I'm not quite as sexless as you are, sister, I just tend to ignore what-- um, urges, I do get."

"So why not ignore them now?"

"Because...." Here, Ardeshiri wore an expression Siebel had never seen on face before, like guilty maliciousness, or anxious mischievousness, or something else equally incongruous. "Because Ohkah won't be here for it."

Siebel blinked at her sister blankly for a moment before she slowly started to grin. "Ohoho. I like it. I do indeed like it."

From the way her scent changed, Ardeshiri blushed hotly under her green fur. "So you'll come with me? To-- to keep me company?"

"Yeah, I will," Siebel promised. "If just to make sure you do it. That damn elf has been asking for this for a long, long time, and I'm not letting you back out. No matter what."

" .... No matter what."

Chapter Two

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