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Slave Threen's Den

Name - Threen age/gender - born 10334, female Rank - Slave (and daughter) of Rachael Physical - see image, Threen is a slender, long limbed girl. She eventually grows to be quite tall though not nearly as tall as her father. She has weak eyesight, but she makes up for that in other ways. Mental/Emotional - A stable, curious and often over-serious girl. History - Created for Rachael by Vanya, does not know at this time that she is her Owner's daughter. Goals - See her story!

Threen stood with her back to the wall of the building, and panted. Her narrow chest heaved, and her lower arms twitched with pain. The fire would spread, surely. But at the moment, there were still people inside the building. Threen didn't bother to glance at her hands, she knew they'd been blistered by the metal doors when she tried to open them. Her Lady would be frantic - that much she knew already from the way everyone was acting. Rachael always adopted the dominant sort of mood around her, and this would be a disaster. The fact that Threen had come forward during an important meeting in the ranch house, something that a Slave ought not to ever do, might have saved them all. The ranch house was already burnt to the ground. The sharp and half-melted glass edges and the steaming metal beams which supported the main hallway's arching doors was all that was left, but it was hard to see with the glowing embers all around it and the dark sky brightened by the fire on the ground. The steeds inside the breeding dorm were screaming, and so was Rachael. Threen finally decided that this perhaps would be the last straw. Rachael was more important than the steeds. She would be able to breed more of them. If Threen lost Rachael... who knew what might happen to her. A Slave without her Owner? That never went well. So Threen stepped around the corner of the steed building and saw her Lady pounding with all four of her own slender two-colored arms on the fused doors. Threen ran up, with her injured hands pulling at Rachael's clothing and her upper arms grasping at the Beast Lady's own arms, Threen aimed a careful thought toward her owner. *It is gone. There is nothing to do but save ourselves... Please!* Threen sent, knowing that while neither of them were openly telepathic, Rachael would be able to feel the intensity and the gist of the thought. Rachael paused in her screaming, and then turned her grime and tear stained face down to her Slave. Her daughter. Pulling on her arms begging her to leave this place - Rachael's heart skipped a beat and then they ran away from the doomed metal building. *** The meteor was not the first, and it would not be the last, to hit Zekiran soil. But they were often burnt up by the time they hit the ground, and very small. Or over the wide oceans. This one... This one was something far worse. As the reports began coming in, Rachael and Threen were tended by the local Breeder for their blisters and burns, smoke inhalation and bruises. The other ranch hands, mostly Bonds or Free Workers hired by Rachael to tend the grounds and steeds, sat around in the Breeder's office or paced, or lay groaning on what few padded couches were available. This miserable lot was all that was left of Rachael's prized breeding facility. Everyone knew that she was going to have a hard time rebuilding - but there was the insurance. No one could say that this was anything more than an accident, there had been several witnesses out in the town nearby who saw the streaking of the meteor overhead, and then Threen's account... Her slight precognition was enough to have saved every Zekiran life. It was a shame of course that it hadn't come just a little earlier so they might have scattered the steeds, but ... but the people survived, and they would have to come to terms with everything. Eventually. For now, they watched the viewer and saw the news vehicles and the fire bombers dumping tons of water over the now-deserted ruins. "Decades of work..." Whispered Rachael. She was overtaken by the desperation of those around her, but Threen wanted it another way. She stood up. Threen cleared her throat and attracted the attention of those in the waiting room with them. "Our Lady's ranch has been ... destroyed. But we are here. And we all have our hands and our backs to support ourselves." She turned to her Lady, her mother, her greatest worry. "It will be hard, but we can rebuild anywhere. The scouts always have good reviews of nearby lands, and the talent agents you have are always complaining about how you never visit the stud farms they like so much. Now is the time for you to do that, BeastLady Rachael. And we will help you." Stirred by her words, and the bravery of the little barely-teen girl, the others in the room, Free Workers, Bonds and the rest, chimed in with their pledges to help. One or two remained silent, grudgingly sneering at the girl and her Lady - they were in this mess because they were Bonded, not because they wanted to help out. To the sea with them, Threen thought. The mood cleared into a more positive one, and Rachael as predicted went with it. "I cannot thank you enough, Threen," Rachael said, cuddling the Slave near her. "This has been a hellish night. But... you're right, we'll get through it. Everyone came out okay. I can't say what the insurance people will do, but I know they'll cover for those that need it. You were all so very brave." She announced to the room, and got some coughing and shy thank yous. Threen spent the rest of the night curled by her Lady's side, oblivious to her own value to the violet and yellow shaded woman.

Seven years later, Rachael had only just put down roots again in a new locale. Going back to the old place hurt her immensely, but Threen convinced her Lady that keeping the land was still a good idea. "Perhaps some day we should build something else there?" Threen asked, as Rachael mulled over a set of maps of the area. The BeastLady buried herself in a pile of paperwork but at Threen's suggestion she knew that by holding on to the ravaged LandHold it would indeed regrow. That was only one year after the meteor struck. Now, they were looking at opening a park for teaching Steed riding to young children. Rachael thought it was a wonderful thing, but couldn't bring herself to do the teaching. Instead, she allowed Threen to begin choosing the young folks who would get the chance to ride for the first time. Several years into this venture, was when the aliens attacked. Several important people learned how to defeat - or at least how to defend against - them, but that still left a lot of stress in the world. Rachael was affected even by distant groups of nervous people who glanced up to the sky wondering and worried - when would the next attack come? And it was three years later, when Threen was twenty six, that her precognition power was suddenly superceeded by another one. She'd become Dragon Tuned. Her mind was open, not only to the dragons, but to many animals. Rachael seemed inordinately pleased about this - her daughter had such talents! It was ... well, it was a shame that her eyesight was as poor as it was. Rachael Raised her daughter openly, at a Steed race, while her father was there up somewhere in the stands with Mirage and her people - so he could see her too. He'd be very proud, any Breeder was proud when their creation did well. Now, what to do with her talents? Threen wanted desperately to continue working with the steeds, with Rachael - who had not yet told her of their true relationship, to work with the children. Threen was sterile, unable to breed except perhaps by her father's genetic engineering devices. She loved seeing the looks on their faces as the kids got their first taste of the speed and grace... "I could breed them, couldn't I?" Threen asked Rachael, watching the small nest of Swamp dragon eggs hatching. "Dragons, I mean?" Rachael nodded. "You might, there are other ways of helping our efforts. Those riders are so very brave. But so are you." Threen blushed, her orange-shaded skin turning a brilliant saffron. "Thank you my Lady..." Her habit of calling Rachael by the title she'd grown up with had never gone away, and Rachael loved her even more for it. "There are other ways of helping too," said someone from behind them. The Breeder of the hatchery they visited nodded toward a foreign dragon - one which had hatched on another world. "Ryslen weyr has a very good record with our people. Bonding is an important matter - and they take it quite seriously." "Ryslen?" Threen asked, and suddenly felt the mind of a dragon touch her own. It wasn't the same as their own Zekiran dragons, it was a totally sentient being. We need people like you, and dragons from Ryslen as I am could stand a few... Partners. Our kind would flourish here. If given the chance. The dragon was a beautiful brown shade, one of two who stood on the edge of the watery Breeding farm. Threen detected his name of Wimkukith, his twin brown brother Wavkokuth. Threen nodded to them, and felt thrilled. She had never felt such a mind, and wanted more. "Where is it?" Threen asked, knowing that her words would either be heard, or felt, by the dragons. Our home is beyond the stars we see here. You ... would need a new way of locating yourself in time and space. We orient on the star patterns, but you would be able to do it another way. Your bonds to your family are quite strong. They would become your anchors. Threen tilted her head, but the dragon did not elaborate. Instead, one of the riders arrived, those Dragon Masters who rode the big-crested Ryslen browns. He bowed to Threen, noticed her new Status pin (he had forgotten his own, more as a matter of course, than of forgetfulness). "You're welcome to come with us, we're going to head back there soon. There are several beautiful nests full of eggs." "Like your dragons?" Threen asked, happily, "I'll go!" She - still on old impulses since she was only Raised less than a year before - turned to her mother/Lady Rachael for approval. Even though Rachael was no longer her Owner, she offered a nod which made Threen blissful. Gathering her gear and getting off Zekira took only another day. O'sh and H'sh helped the slender woman onto the back of one twin dragon. "You'll be cold for a bit, so make sure your flight jacket is snug." H'sh said, as his brother and Wimkukith took to the air. Wavkokuth pushed his own wings open, and Threen laughed because apparently H'sh didn't know that she was used to riding Steeds, even with her poor eyes. The animals knew where to fly, obviously. But dragons are not animals! Cried the dragon, and Threen laughed even more.

It was a fantastic day at Ryslen. The candidates had been shuffled around in their classes, and Threen had excelled in all but those which required strong eyesight. However, her bond with animals and dragons made her quite popular when the time came to find a flitter egg or a lost colt. The groups of eggs on the sands were laid by several different mothers, and Threen kept track of an egg which had been calling to her in particular for a while. But then, others began to shake and split open. The first laid were now hatching! Everyone came down, many viewers were quite tired since it was early in the morning. Many beautiful dragons hatched, but none of them came to Threen as a bond. But she wasn't disappointed. In fact, she was somewhat relieved, because the egg she considered 'hers' had not come open yet. While everyone was prepairing for the feasting which should accompany the hatching, the second batch of eggs began to tremble. The thirteenth such hatching at the Ryslen sands, and some locals muttered something about unlucky numbers. However the odd Ainchisth called everyone down to the sands again and her eggs were hatching. A single egg hatched, showing of a lovely purple dragonet with sunset colored wings, and she bonded to the solo dragon who was waiting with the other candidates. A duo-winged green came next, and the excitement of the area was overpowering. Another green hatched, and danced away to her bond. Threen wished that Rachael could have been there, all these beautiful dragons... Another purple - this time a duo wing, hatched and bonded. A sunset brown dragon found his bond among the candidates, and then a duo-winged blue got pounced upon by an over-eager candidate. A light-green hatched, and bonded. Then the egg which Threen had been watching for weeks started to tremble, and opened to reveal a cream colored duo-wing. She looked over everyone, just to be sure, and then came to Threen with confidence. The four-winged dragon sat before her four-armed bond and thought, some things are meant to be. "Niylkezth," she said, and hugged the dragoness. Had he been there to see this bonding, Kalkin - Vanya, whatever he was called these days and on this world - would have been so very proud. Threen and Niylkezth left the sands comfortable with one another, the small dragoness guiding her bond with better eyesight, and Threen answering any questions that the young dragon had for her.

Threen pushed herself to excell, and her cream went right along with that plan. I will fly higher than any steed! She cried, and rocketed into the air with all four of her wings pumping. She was a quick study, but it seemed that the two-winged dragons were a bit put off because these four-winged upstarts didn't behave the same ways they did. After all, they were... well, they were mutants to say the least. Four wings. Threen grinned broadly at the normal human people around her every time it seemed they noticed that she had four arms. Her coloration allowed her to blend in otherwise, and she felt rather at home in the weyr. But for her arms, and perhaps her upbringing as a slave, she was quite typical. Niylkezth didn't think of herself as typical in the slightest, however. I am fine. I am more than fine, I am perfect. Not a gold could be as perfect as I am!! "You're a perfect pain!" Threen yelled to her dragon as she flew circles around the other weyrlings.

And later in their stay at Ryslen? Adults!