A Dragon’s Tale

Alana made her way away from the party and toward the ladder to the Argo. The wedding feast had wound down a few hours after the bride and groom had slipped out. However, the raucous laughter and inebriated merrymaking told her some would be celebrating into the wee hours of the morning. She sighed, Raklan was sure to be among them so they wouldn't be leaving until at least mid-morning.

She climbed up the ladder thinking about her earlier conversation with Rachel. She wished she could get across how happy she was for Ethan and Taloni. She'd be lying if she said there wasn't a twinge of jealousy for what the Fey girl had experienced earlier that night.

Judging from the noises she'd made -- which were loud enough that several people in the camp had glanced toward the Argo -- Taloni had enjoyed her wedding night immensely. She remembered her own wedding night as quite possibly the single happiest moment of her life.

Well, later that same night waking up to realize she was carrying Ethan's child was also a serious contender for best moment ever. She reached the top of the ladder and rested her hand over her womb.

She sighed.

She could feel the tiny little life pulling minuscule amounts of mana through the Ether. Being able to feel her baby growing inside of her was just... there were no words. The dream she'd had where she was nursing her daughter came to mind and she felt her heart melt.

Okay, there were three contenders for 'best moment ever'.

In the back of her mind, she had another moment in mind for a possible future fourth contender for that title. Sadly, that didn't seem like it would ever happen; Rachel was just too opposed to the idea of sharing a husband.

The wood elf made her way below decks to the forward area where the crew's hammocks were. She passed Serif's unnervingly clean personal space and Raklan's chaotic mess of personal space and ducked through the blanket Anthiel had hung to give the girls some privacy.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone was up here." She said as she saw a mess of red hair that faded to blond at the tips hanging down from one of the hammocks. It almost looked like that part of the hammock was on fire.

"Don't mind me, I only got here a few minutes ago. I'm just..." Rachel yawned as she glanced at the newcomer. "...just tired; it's been a long day."

"Yes it has." She nodded fervently, then looked around. "Is my old hammock still free?"

"Um, I may have put some clothes there for storage, but you can just dump them on the floor; I'm too tired to get up right now."

"Thank you." Alana said, and then carefully lifted all of Rachel's clothes out of the hammock that she'd slept in before marrying Ethan. She carefully set the clothes on the floor, making sure not to wrinkle them, and then climbed into the hammock.

"I take it Ethan asked you to let him and Taloni have the captain's cabin tonight?" Rachel asked.

"He didn't ask, I volunteered to sleep down here." She replied. "I thought it would be easier on Taloni. It would be a lot having me there when it's already a little nerve-wracking being naked around your husband for the first time, you know?"

"Actually I don't, but I can imagine." Rachel mused. She made a thoughtful sound. "Have you thought much about the sleeping arrangements after tonight?"

Alana felt her cheeks grow warm and was incredibly grateful that the hammock was deep enough and large enough to hide her face from her friend. They were large enough to comfortably fit someone of Raklan's size, so it was easy to sink down into it. Her brain had flashed back to that dream where she'd woken up in bed with Ethan and a few other women, one of whom had been Rachel.

She felt a strange combination of pleasant nostalgia and guilt for the dream. She was absolutely certain that Rachel would be horrified to know that she'd dreamed about kissing her.

"Alana? Are you asleep already?" Rachel whispered.

"No, I'm just thinking. I'm not sure what we're going to do." She thought about sleeping away from Ethan and hated the idea. Like, really hated it. She hadn't been married a whole week yet and was already so used to sleeping next to Ethan that she felt his absence acutely.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rachel asked as Alana heard her shifting in her hammock.

The wood elf peaked up to see the redhead looking at her with concern. She couldn't help but notice that Rachel had beautiful eyes.

"I know I've only been married a few days, but I don't like sleeping alone." Alana admitted. "Is that silly?"

Rachel smiled and shook her head. "Not at all. If I had a husband, I'd want to sleep next to him too."

Alana nodded and they both laid back down.

They both lay there in the dark for some time. Alana could tell by Rachel's breathing that she wasn't asleep either, though the redhead wasn't tossing and turning the way she was. It seemed like no matter what she did and no matter how she adjusted, she couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep.

"You too huh?" Rachel said after quite a while.

"Yeah."

They were both silent for a minute before the wood elf spoke again. "I miss him."

"I know." Rachel replied. "I don't fault Ethan for how things turned out with Taloni, but I don't like how it hurt you." Alana noticed there was a slight hint of protectiveness in her tone which made her feel quite loved.

"I'm not hurt." Alana said leaning up again.

"Really?" The redhead frowned. "You just seem so... well, hurt right now."

"I love that he took Taloni to bed." Alana smiled, then added at the other girl's quizzical look: "Really, I do."

"Then what's wrong?" The stunning redhead asked.

"I don't like not sleeping next to him." She admitted. "I'm not hurt, just a bit lonely tonight."

Rachel nodded and then leaned back into her hammock where the wood elf couldn't see her. The wood elf couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard Rachel whisper something in reply. It was so quiet that a human probably wouldn't have heard it, but her elf ears did. It sounded like the redhead said "Me too".

The wood elf felt her heart ache.

Ethan and Rachel had undeniable chemistry and they seemed to like each other well enough. She didn't think it would take much for that little spark to be fanned into a wonderful flame that would bring light and warmth to them both.

Sadly, that didn't seem likely.

Her friend was too opposed to sharing a husband. It would be nice if she would change her mind, but that would take a near miracle. She was glad their earlier conversation had gone well but doubted it would make much difference in the long run.

"I wish I could help." Alana eventually said.

"Thank you." Rachel said, and it sounded like her voice had cracked just slightly. Several seconds passed and it sounded like Rachel had sniffled softly, again quietly enough that most humans wouldn't have heard it.

"I'm sure you'll get to sleep next to Ethan tomorrow." Rachel said after a minute. "Then you won't have to sleep alone."

Alana wouldn't have been surprised if Rachel had silently added "like me" at the end of that sentence too.

"Yeah, I hate sleeping alone." Alana agreed.

For almost a whole minute, Rachel was unnaturally still based on the sound of her hammock. Finally, there was the unmistakable creaking sound of someone crawling out of a hammock and then two soft barefoot steps on the deck before a redhead appeared above Alana's head.

"Is there room for one more?" She asked, and the wood elf's heart melted when she saw the teen's face. Her eyes were very sad and she looked far more world-weary than her nineteen-year-old face would have normally suggested.

"Of course." She carefully rolled in the hammock and Rachel awkwardly climbed in next to her. The hammocks were all one size, and since they would comfortably fit someone even larger than Raklan, there was plenty of room for the two petite young women.

They lay in the hammock awkwardly for a moment until they almost naturally fell into a spooning position, with Rachel being the big spoon. There was nothing sexual, sensual, or provocative about it, and Alana was glad of that. It felt more like what she imagined having a sister in bed with her would feel like.

Rachel's body was warm, and the tiny wood elf snuggled closer to her. The redhead put her arm around the chocolate-haired elf in a comforting, almost protective fashion.

"Thank you." Alana said, as she felt drowsiness begin to weave the restful threads of sleep through her head for the first time that night.

"No, thank you." Rachel replied sleepily.

The redhead made the most adorable little sigh as she seemed to cross the threshold between the waking world and the dream world. The wood elf was fast following suit, but had enough time to relish the simple joy of falling asleep next to her best friend; the girl who was closer to a sister than anyone else ever had been.

She let loose a sigh of contentment.

Ethan seemed very happy from what she could tell through their bond. Taloni certainly was happy judging from the wedding earlier and noises from the captain's cabin. A beautiful baby girl was growing in her womb, and they would get Beth back soon. Rachel was lying in the hammock next to her, the rhythm of her breathing relaxing the wood elf as she reached the edge of sleep. She half mumbled a word of thanks to Illuminar as she drifted off.

Right now, all was right with the world.

* * *

~~EPILOGUE for Chapter 15

"You can wait there, Agent Dawson." The receptionist said absent-mindedly as she waved toward the seats in the corner of the room and continued typing away on her computer.

Selene sighed, nodded, and then headed towards one of the chairs and sat down. She took a deep breath and told herself it would be fine for the hundredth time that day.

"It's okay, there's no need to be nervous." She reminded herself under her breath. "Everything will be fine. You'll do great."

She looked around the room, more to distract herself than anything else. There was no TV, but several potted plants brightened up the place. They were probably fake, but it was a nice effort. It was a typical FBI field office; nothing more, nothing less.

"Agent Dawson, the Special Agent in Charge will see you now." The receptionist said a few minutes later.

"Thank you." Selene replied before taking a deep breath, exhaling slowly and standing up. She smoothed the non-existent wrinkles on her pencil skirt and walked to the door.

She took another deep breath, then opened it and walked in.

The office of the Special Agent in Charge looked much like she had expected it to look. There were several windows that gave it a slightly airy feeling, at least as far as possible in a corner office. There were a couple of plants, most of which looked fake. The one that didn't look fake was clearly not long for this world. The Agent's desk was slightly less cluttered than most and the man himself was on the phone.

He waved her in and indicated a seat as he listened to whoever he was talking to. He was a slightly short, slightly overweight, slightly balding man who nevertheless didn't look sloppy. He looked professional, though his suit clearly wasn't high-end and his watch was probably bought at the local Wal-Mart. He reminded her of a shorter, balder version of J. Jonah Jameson from the Spiderman movies.

Selene sat down in the chair and waited for him to finish his conversation, which was seconds later. He hung up, took one look at her, smiled, and shook his head jovially.

"Relax." He said. "You look more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs."

"Yes sir." She replied formally.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Sorry sir."

"Nothing to apologize for." He said kindly. "I remember walking into the boss's office on my first day. You could've powered half the city with the nervous energy I was giving off." He shrugged, then grabbed a file and started looking through it.

"I see you scored in the top ten percent of your class." He mused.

"Yes sir." She replied proudly.

"Don't get all excited, grades don't mean shit."

"Sir?"

He closed the file and looked at her. "Good grades are just that; good grades in a classroom. I've seen agents at the top of their class fail spectacularly. I've also seen one dumb idiot who scored at the bottom, but did so well they made him the Special Agent in Charge of a field office."

He nodded toward his own diploma on the wall as if to drive the point home. "There's a lot more to what we do than grades. Passing your field agent exam is like finishing middle school; you know enough to not completely fail, but you're far from 'there', if you catch my drift.

"I do sir."

"Good, then welcome to the office Agent Dawson. As it turns out, you leave on assignment in one hour."

Selene sat up straighter in her chair. "I do sir?"

"Yup, that's what that call was about." He gestured to the phone. "Got a sheriff downstate who wants to loop us in on a local kidnapping. Seems there were a few over the last several years with the same MO."

He looked at another file in front of him. "One of the early cases was a Hailey Oswald several years back. Her boyfriend Jason Stiles and best friend Melinda Estelo reported that she went missing while jogging in the local state park. There've been a few others, but this most recent one crossed a serious line."

"What line sir?" Selene asked.

"They got half a class that was on a field trip." He sighed wearily. "Two teachers and half a dozen kids are missing and all the evidence points to an abduction."

"In a State Park sir? Can't the local law enforcement track them with dogs?"

"Didn't need to." He replied. "They left plenty of footprints since it rained the night before. But the footprints completely stop in the middle of a clearing without a trace of where they went. It's like they vanished off the earth... or were loaded into a helicopter more likely."

He picked up the file and handed it to her. She took it and mostly succeeded in preventing her hand from shaking in excitement and nervousness.

"Grades may not count, but knowing the case does." He said as he sat back down. "You should have that file half-memorized by the time you get down there. Agent Mason will be here soon and you'll drive down with him, so get a car from the lot. He'll be your supervising officer, and you're on a tight leash since it's your first assignment."

"Yes sir."

"Then good luck, Godspeed, and bring those kids home."

"I will sir." Selene replied.

He shook his head. "Never make promises you can't keep Agent Dawson; never. Victims will hate you for it and you'll end up hating yourself. Tell them you'll do your best and make good on that promise."

"Yes sir." Selene said a little more cautiously this time. He was entirely right of course, and she internally vowed to remember that.

"Then you're dismissed."

"Thank you sir." Selene stood up and left the room. She looked at the file after she arrived at the vehicle lot and signed out a vehicle. It wasn't the biggest file she'd seen, but there were half a dozen reported missing persons cases that were suspected to be kidnappings, all fitting the same MO. They were taken near the State Park and dragged to the same clearing where their tracks would disappear abruptly as if they'd simply walked off the earth.

The pictures of the footprints were so incredible that she couldn't wait to see them in person. She couldn't help but wonder what could've possibly made the tracks stop so abruptly.

She couldn't wait to find out.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she sat in the FBI SUV waiting for Agent Mason to arrive. She had made it, she was here, and she had just been given the kind of case she'd been hoping for: one that would really make a difference...

...If she could only figure out where the kidnapped kids had gone.

(End of chapter 15)

Note: This chapter began and ended on day 51 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms.