It looked as if it was going to be a nice, quiet evening. Furbaide had spent dinner coaxing speech out of a taciturn rural Equita, learning his story about human Researchers harrying his herd and why he was at the Aerd. The Vulpyr who had traveled with him-- the young lady who'd become a Dragon Master at the recent hatching-- sat opposite him, keeping herself busy with her hatchlings, one vibrantly purple and the other iridescent white, who had followed her to the dining hall. She added her own comments now and then, and Furbaide was determined to get her story from her, another night, but tonight he had enough to write about with the Equita's tale.

At least, he thought it looked as if it was going to be a nice, quiet evening. He'd just settled himself down at the desk in the generic room he inhabited at the Aerd, set out his inks and papers, taken a pen in hand, and written down the first few words-- the date and title for the short chapter-- when someone pounded on his door. Surprised, since he wasn't expecting company, he set down the quill and padded to the door to see who it was. Whoever it was pounded on the door again before he had even reached it, apparently impatient.

As soon as the door opened Furbaide found himself nearly bowled over as several stone of black horseflesh surged into the room, topped by a tight-lipped, irate-looking young woman who kicked the door shut behind her with a hoof.

"Cypress!" he managed through bewilderment; what had he done to offend her? Or had someone else offended her, and she came here to get her thundering out? "What a surprise!"

"You're going," she said without preamble and without room for argument.

"Going where?" he asked, confused.

"With Lucan, of course!"

"I am?"

"And you're leaving first thing tomorrow morning, so you'd better get packing."

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, holding up his hands. "Why am I going with Lucan?"

"To make sure he doesn't get into trouble, why do you think you're going?"

"I didn't think I was going, at all, until you barged in here saying I was," he pointed out evenly. "Cypress, Luke is a big boy, he can take care of himself."

"I don't care, you're going." The look she gave him was not the least bit flexible.

"Cypress--"

"Think of it as a vacation with a friend, if you have to," she suggested. "No chores, for a week or two, and tons of new people to interview. New kinds of dragons, too, Geperna must get awfully boring, after all."

"I really don't care all that much about the dragons, Cypress." But the rest.... Well, he had plenty of people to talk to at the Aerd, but they would still be here when he got back, or most of them would, and the opportunity to investigate a new world, if only for a couple weeks, might well be worth the trip. How often would he get the chance for something like that, after all?

"You'd care if you bonded one," Cypress added, calming from her hard-faced stubbornness into something closer to cajoling. "You could stand, too, you know."

"Oh, I doubt that," he said with a smile. "I'm not responsible enough for a dragon. I'll go to watch out for Luke, and to find more to write about, not for a dragon."

Apparently she read his acceptance in that-- he never could turn down a new experience, after all, and he wasn't one for arguing-- for she fairly leaped forward and tossed her arms around his neck. Since she was 'taur-formed, as usual, and even though he was tall, that put his face about the level of her breasts, and he backed off quickly. "Hey, hey, no hugging unless you're two-footed or sitting down, remember?" If she had been at all interested in men, it might be a different story, but since she wasn't, it was a good idea not to tempt him. She was, after all, wonderfully shaped, and even if she forgot it sometimes, he rarely did.

"Oh, oops," she said, turning a darker and redder shade and stepping back once. "Sorry. But-- thank you, Fur! I was afraid you'd say no, but I would be horribly worried about Lucan if all he had to keep an eye on him was Ageon."

"He's a grown man, Cypress," he reminded her. "He'll probably be fine."

"It's the probably that worries me," she said grimly. "For all we know, he'll spot some dangerous beast, decide Drakiera would like him more if he brought it home, and go chasing after it. He's not exactly the most clever human out there, and he is only nineteen. That's young, for humans."

"But he's not stupid, either," he protested weakly, trying to defend their friend. "And nineteen isn't that young."

"About some things, he is, and for some people, it is."

Since she was right, he could only sigh. "So we're leaving tomorrow morning. Bright and early?"

"Bright and early," she agreed, not without sympathy. Morning was not Furbaide's favorite time of day.

"Damn... well, I hope I'm awake enough to not fall off into the Abyss, or something."

"Ageon won't let you. And besides, even if you do, he'll chase you down and haul you out again." Her cheerful reassurance wasn't very reassuring. "Lucan will probably be in worse shape; morning person or not, he's human, and humans take the Abyss even worse than shifters do, and trust me, it's bad enough for us."

"I'll take your word for it," he said wryly. "Now, if I'm suppose to be up and about at the crack of dawn, perhaps you should let me get my sleep so I don't roar and bite when you or whoever comes to get me."

"You'd never bite anybody," she grinned.

"Wanna make a bet?" Formed like a bipedal tiger today, he smiled with all of his teeth.

"All right, all right, I'm going!" she laughed, trotting to the door. "Sleep well, Fur!"

"I sure hope so," he said ruefully, wondering if the trip would be worth the loss of sleep. He hoped it would be.