– Chapter Two —

"No, the seat goes there. If you put it where you were going to put it, then that would be putting way too much strain on her wing muscles. Then she for sure wouldn't be able to fly," Tavin explained to Kivessa. He left to help the others with their gear.

Charmiaz put out a leg for her to climb up. Her dragon was the biggest of them all, and Fanth was only half the size of her! She had finally stopped growing now, and she had a wingspan of exactly 116 feet! It was ironic that the smallest person had gotten the largest dragon. She scrambled into the seat. It was kind of like riding a horse except bigger, she thought.

The riding straps themselves were kind of awkward. Two straps crisscrossed and went over her shoulders, and were belted down tightly. Her back was forced to be arched slightly forward, and her legs were strapped down in a strange position on Charmiaz's sides. She knew that she'd be completely sore afterwards, but that didn't stop the exhilaration she felt.

"Okay, I think everyone's ready to go now," Tavin yelled, fully knowing that no one around them would know what they were up to. Tavin got on his dragon.

Ondran says that we should crouch down low but without over-extending our legs. That way we can get more thrust for takeoff, Charmiaz spoke in Kivessa's mind. If we plunged like we're used to, then you probably wouldn't be able to breathe.

Okay. I think we should go over there. That ledge looks pretty clean. And the drop-off will prevent us from hitting the wall if something goes wrong. I hope that things won't go wrong, Kivessa replied.

Charmiaz walked slowly across the room and onto the ledge. She crouched down, her belly almost scraping the floor. Kivessa braced herself. She had heard of people who had snapped their necks their first try. But hopefully that wouldn't happen today.

There was a sudden jerk as Charmiaz bolted off the ledge. She opened her wings as Ondran had instructed her to do, and the air caught them quite suddenly. Usually Kivessa didn't get motion sickness, but since this motion was definitely not out of the ordinary, she felt like she was going to puke. She knew that it wouldn't be as smooth as she wished, but she didn't think that it would be that jerky.

She had never experienced flying before, except on a commercial airline. And on that day that she flew it was clear skies all the way, and there was no turbulence whatsoever. Now, riding Charmiaz, she was subject to jerking motions and pain writhing its way up her neck sharply. She hoped that this was only because this was the first time Charmiaz had flown with her extra weight. Kivessa had heard that it took a little adjusting to get used to even a few extra pounds. Charmiaz had to fly up and down from their lair (which was at the very top of the cliff) to feed every day. But now she had to adjust the way of flying so Kivessa wouldn't fall off.

Charmiaz had flown successfully to the next landing spot. Rynn was the last one there, seeming to have troubles with her dragon Myz.

"So, where do we go from here?" Kivessa asked when they all had gathered in t he middle of the vast field.

"Well, I was thinking that we could fly to Lapdin Ocean. Not too far, don't worry," Tavin explained. "And, if you were wondering, we can also go cave hunting over there. The seaside is notorious for extensive caves."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," Rynn said enthusiastically.

"Well, lets get going then," Ekyla answered. "It's getting kind of late already."

Kivessa got back on her dragon, and braced for the leap. This time, her head almost snapped right off, but she caught herself and moved in the opposite direction. The rest of the people took of with a good start, but things soon turned bad. They had flown right into a storm cloud with violent winds. No one had even seen it coming, and they realized it was there just a few minutes too late.

Kivessa flounced around in her seat, grasping the straps as hard as she could. If she fell off… she didn't want to know what would happen to her if she did. All she knew was that it wouldn't be a good death. Charmiaz was struggling to keep airborne in the ferocious winds, twisting and turning violently. She quickly looked around at the others. Tavin was managing, his dragon having more experience than the rest. Kaya was struggling, too, as were the rest of the others. Rynn was having the hardest time of all. Her dragon was flapping around wildly, while she was trying to do up her riding strap. Kivessa figured that it had come loose from Myz flapping her wings so hard.

Charmiaz, is she okay? Kivessa asked her dragon.

I suppose, but if she doesn't hurry up and get that strap done up, she's going to fall off, and that would be bad. One of us would have to risk ourselves to go rescue her, Charmiaz replied.

All of a sudden, Kivessa heard a horrifying "snap" as she saw Rynn fall, screaming as loud as she could. Kivessa sat perfectly still in her seat, paralyzed by her horror. Myz, too, fell, her wings refusing to function.

It all occurred so quickly that it was a blur. First, she saw a blue streak down almost directly in front of her, then heard Charmiaz tell her that Ondran had said to go west. Charmiaz slowly turned around and headed out of the storm, worrying about Rynn and Myz. When she was out of the clouds, she turned and looked back. Emerging from the clouds was a struggling lump of gold and blue, the blue firmly holding the gold's forearms in his claws, Rynn behind Tavin on Ondran's back. Kivessa couldn't help but be slightly jealous of Rynn's position. At least she is okay, Kivessa thought.

Rynn was shaking in fear. She had just fallen off her dragon in mid-flight, about ten thousand feet above the ground. It was pure luck that had saved her life. Tavin had been watching her, probably because her strap had come loose. It wasn't that strap that had been her problem, though; it had been the other one. It had been frayed with use, for they had used someone else's equipment. Myz had not been ready to fly yet, she thought.

She looked over at the others. Kivessa was staring at her with a jealous glare. Rynn could see in her expression that she was happy that she was saved, but her eyes said that she was envious of something. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Rynn was happy for the change in subject, and continued to delay her other thoughts.

Does her jealousy indicate an interest? Rynn thought excitedly. She could set them up! Rynn had noticed that Tavin had taken a liking to Kivessa the first day she had met him. It was very fairly obvious by the way he merely looked at her.

Ondran says that we have to land near that large cliff face, Myz told her.

Okay. Are you going to be able to fly home? Rynn replied.

Yeah, but not with you on my back. I should have listened to the others. I got lazy and teleported my meals to me. It was so easy. But now, I guess that wasn't a good thing. Ah, good old dragon wisdom, Rynn thought.

They were nearing the cliff face. Kivessa could see that there was a big gaping hole at the bottom. A potential Citadel! She thought. And she hoped that Ondran would already be checking things out and making sure that it was okay to go into.

Charmiaz landed roughly. Kivessa slowly got off the dragon, her limbs stiff from the position that she was forced to sit on her dragon. She was happy to stand and stretch out her legs for a while, but she had to go to the bathroom really bad. She told Kaya to tell anyone if they headed in her direction not to come any closer, and walked off. She found a nice clove of bushes, did her business, and walked away. She hated going to the bathroom without a toilet, and she always had.

She was almost to the meadow where they had landed when something caught her eye. Usually, she would have kept walking, because it looked like animal bones. But this time, something intrigued her to pick it up.

She grabbed the tiny bone structure out of the ground. It looked like a necklace! No animal could have made this, she decided, except maybe dragons.

It was almost all black, having three rows of beads across for the part that went around the neck, and long tough cord to tie it up with. The amulet was made of the bones, looking as if they were wrapped around something, but that something wasn't there. On top of the bones was a stone, jet black and not shiny, even in the sunlight. She put it in her pocket and walked over to the rest of the people.

"This cavern is perfect!" Ekyla yelled as she looked up.

"I know what you mean," Kivessa said. They had just stepped in, and were awed by its beauty. This cavern had been there for many centuries, she decided. The stalactites and stalagmites were huge; some almost reaching each other top to bottom. She forgot all about her necklace. They explored some more.

"There is a river over there!" Kaya exclaimed. "You're right, this is perfect. Only I don't see how this could be a Citadel."

"Let's go in further," Atlan said.

"Actually, I wouldn't do that. Here, just a sec, I'll fix that," Tavin said, and went silent for a moment. Kivessa saw the rock formation change in shape slightly.

"I'm going to go outside. I think I noticed something. I'm just going to go check," Ekyla said, and started making her way back to the entrance.

"I'll go with you," Kivessa said, and ran after Ekyla.

When they reached the outdoors, Ekyla walked fifty feet away from the entrance and looked straight up. She looked kind of silly just standing there gaping. Kivessa looked up after a while, wondering what Ekyla was staring at.

"You know, I think that moon is directly above this place," Ekyla speculated, turning her head to look at Kivessa. "I saw it when we first came here, and it hasn't moved since." Kivessa had looked at the moon. It was abnormally large, and she couldn't believe that she hadn't even noticed it before when they were flying.

"Weird," Kivessa replied. "I can't believe you actually noticed that."

"Yeah, me either. Okay, okay, it was Mellekey who brought it to my attention first. She was bothering me, telling me that I took all the credit," she laughed.

"Yeah. I think that we should name this place, seeing as we found it," Kivessa said as they walked back into the cavern.

"What would we name it, though? Some weird name like 'Telleka'? Or words, as in English?"

"I wonder if they'll go for that?"

"Maybe, you never know."

"Never know what?" Atlan had come up behind them, scaring them out of their wits.

"Oh it's just you… never mind," Ekyla said.

"Hey everybody, we have decided to name this… place. So, any ideas?" Kivessa yelled.

"The land of the… Earthlings!" Rynn shouted. "No, I'm just kidding."

"Well, the moon is directly above here, so how about something with "moon" in it?"

"The land of the mooners," Atlan suggested, cracking up laughing.

"I don't think so. How about Dragon Moon?" Kaya suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds okay. Dragon Moon it is then," Kivessa said.

"Are we going to tell anyone about this?" Tavin spoke up for the first time for a while.

"Um, I don't think we should," Kivessa replied. "Let's just see what happens first." She had a sudden intuition that keeping this place a secret was going to pay off in the long run.

They returned to South Telleka, Myz flying alone and Rynn behind Tavin on Ondran's back. They went around the storm this time; instead of through it. The group had a relatively smooth flight, and no one fell off their dragon.

When they finally reached the Citadel, they found that Skytris and Crel were both waiting there, with not-so-nice expressions on their faces.

"What do you think you were doing?" yelled Skytris.

"We were…" Kaya started.

"You were flying. I know," Skytris lectured, "But you never even got permission, you never told us, and you have never done it before! And to make matters worse, we saw Myz flying without Rynn, which means that she was having trouble. You young people don't even know what to do in a situation like that. And you went way past your limits, straining your dragons' wings. Tavin, how could you do this? You are all confined to your rooms until I can think of something to do about you. I have other matters to attend to."

"But it was you who made us do this!" Atlan protested.

"No, it was your decision. Now go!" Skytris pointed down the hallway. The six teens slowly sulked down the hallway, giving dirty looks to Skytris and Crel. They knew that they would be expelled from South Telleka if they fought back any more.

Kivessa sat on her couch in her living room, staring at nothing. She was so bored; they had been confined to their rooms for a few hours now. She threw her book down on the ground, and walked over to her window. Suddenly, an idea struck her.

Charmiaz, can you get a hold of Xelevan for me? Maybe he can mold me a passageway to Kaya's lair if I ask nicely enough. She thought maybe she could go visit Kaya and chat with her instead of sitting in her lair doing nothing.

He says okay, but you have to give him something. And he says something good, Charmiaz replied after a few moments.

Hmm, something good, hey? How about my golden necklace? I'm sure he'd like that. He can mold something real nice out of it. Kivessa didn't really want to give away her family heirloom, but she no longer lived with her family; not even in the same dimension.

He says sure, but you have to give it to him later, he's busy, Charmiaz replied. He also says that it'll be in your closet.

Thanks, Charmie, Kivessa said and ran up the stairs adjacent to the hallway, and from there she proceeded into her bedroom. Kivessa ran past her dresser, picking up the bone necklace and stuffing it in her pocket as she went. She might want to show it to the others later. She flung open her closet door, and began rummaging around, looking for a door, or even just a hole. She found it behind her dresses, and threw them aside and walked through.

Kivessa clambered down the steep path towards Kaya's room. It was pitch black, so she had to feel her way along with outstretched arms. She felt the solid rock wall to her left, then reached in front of her. She felt a warm clothing brush against her fingers.

"Aah!" she heard a masculine voice yell. The voice and presence of another human being startled her, and she screamed.

Kivessa moved to run back to her lair, but as she ran she tripped on a rock and landed hard on her stomach. Luckily the path didn't have sharp rocks, or she'd have punctured her skin. Not knowing who the male was or what his intentions were, the only thing she felt like doing was getting away from here. Shoving the pain to the edge of her mind, she stood back up, seeing the faint light of her open doorway. She ran towards it, gaining better vision as she went.

"Hey, wait!" she heard the man yell. "Wait! It's me, Tavin!" With that she stopped dead in her tracks. She twirled around, her long golden hair continuing the motion when the rest of her body stopped.

Sure enough, it was Tavin. Even with the odd lighting in the tunnel was he by no means ugly. His short hair was, as always, standing on end, and his earth brown eyes were full of intensity. He was wearing his favorite brown jacket, and his dark blue jeans.

Kivessa didn't know why, but she was compelled to talk to him.

"Why are you in this tunnel?" she asked him, arms folded across her chest.

"I… uh… came to see how you were. I can mold passageways myself, you know," Tavin said, stalling and smiling.

"Oh. Right, I forgot that you had a blue." Kivessa hadn't actually forgotten that Ondran was a blue, but said it anyway. "How come you didn't visit someone more convenient, like… P'zaz or someone?"

"Um… I like going up instead of down? I don't know, just felt like it." He kept smiling and looking at her.

"Okay… well then, now what?" Kivessa asked.

He shrugged. "So, how are you?"

She laughed slightly. "I'm okay, but don't get me started on the confined bit, I'll go mad. I've heard so much about it from Kaya and Atlan that I'm about to burst!"

"Okay," he said, and looked past her. "Is that your lair?"

"Yeah, do you want to come in?" she asked him. "I'm really bored."

"Me too. That's why I came to visit you, needed to escape from boredom." Kivessa couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't visited any of his other friends, the ones that were supposedly popular. "Sure, I'll come in."

"Okay, come on then," Kivessa walked back up to her room. She had forgotten momentarily that it opened into her closet, and as Tavin stepped in, she covered her face in embarrassment.

"Nice clothing you got here…" he picked up one of her bras. "What is this? I've never seen anyone wear something like this…"

"Oh, that's something from earth." Kivessa said and tried to grab it from his hands, but he pulled it away. "How is someone supposed to wear this?"

"Here, give it to me, I'll show you," Kivessa said, laughing as he draped it over his head. He was so silly. She threw the straps over her arms, but did not do it up in the back. "This is how it goes. But only on females."

"Oh, that looks really uncomfortable. Do you always wear one?" he looked at her funnily.

"Uh, yeah. I don't like to… never mind, I can't believe I'm talking to you about this," she said, then flushed with mortification. She suddenly remembered about Xelevan's passageway, and that Kaya was expecting her. "Oh, I forgot, I was in that corridor for a reason, Kaya is expecting me. I hate to kick you out, but I have to go." She smiled at him, then re-entered the back of her closet.

"How are you going to do that? Do you want me to make a passageway for you?" he asked, following her closely.

"Uh, no that's okay. I just got Xelevan to, although he asked for something in return," Kivessa frowned.

"All I would ask for in return was your company," Tavin said in a flirtatious gesture, and walked down the hall back to his lair.

Hmm, I wonder if there's a common interest between us, Kivessa thought to herself. She hoped so, he was definitely the best she could ever possibly find.

She looked for another opening in her closet, and this time found a door with a handle and hinges. She flung open the door and walked in.

She walked down the pitch-black corridor, feeling the walls for they turned, ascended, and descended a lot. She fell suddenly, sliding down a few steps quite roughly, until she braced herself against the wall. She hadn't noticed the sharp drop-off of the steps until it was too late. Finally she reached the end, and knocked on Kaya's door furiously. She had cut her knee on the sharp stone, and was bleeding. Her knee stung as she kicked the door. The door opened, and Kivessa almost kicked her friend Kaya.

"Well, hello to you, too!" said the always sarcastic Kaya.

"You took too long. Do you have a bandage or something? I cut my knee. Xelevan didn't round the edges enough," Kivessa explained.

"Yeah, sure, I'll go get one," she grins then turns angry, "Don't you think it was mean of them to 'confine us to our rooms'? That just really pisses me off. They cancelled on us at the last minute, and they expect us not to do something like that? Well, I'm just… argh!" she said as she and Kivessa walked into her kitchen. Kaya reached up into one of her cupboards and pulled out a band-aid.

"I know what you mean. That is kind of going overboard. Except for the fact that Myz was having some trouble. We shouldn't have taken them along, because they weren't ready. Did you see the sick green look on Rynn's face when we landed back here?"

"Yeah. Well, let's go visit someone else. Who's next on our list?"

"Well, first of all, how are we going to get there?" Kivessa said as she put the bandage on her knee.

"How did you get here?" Kaya asked.

"Um… I got Xelevan to mold a passageway. I also ran into Tavin on the way to where I thought was your lair, but that's another story." She grinned, remembering the bra on Tavin's head.

"Well, then, we'll have to talk to Xelevan, won't we?" Kaya said, not even bothering to ask her about the Tavin encounter.

"He'll ask you for something, so be prepared." Kivessa walked over to Kaya's couch and sat down. "So, shall we go visit Ekyla?" she said as Kaya walked back into the room and said that it would be alright that Xelevan would mold a passageway to somewhere.

"Yeah. Also, I got us a passageway to Rynn's lair too." Kaya led the way to her closet, where the new passageway would be located.

They burst into Ekyla's lair right in the middle of her bedroom. She was just sitting on her bed writing furiously on a notepad.

As soon as they entered, she screamed and, when she realized who they were, said, "How did you…"

"Xelevan," Kaya said, cutting her off.

"Oh. Well, I was just working on one of my stories, but come in! I thought we were confined to our rooms."

"Well, we got mad and decided to go visit people. Hey, did you do something to your hair? It looks good," Kivessa said. Ekyla's hair was near black and frizzy, and she usually had it down and damp, but today she had somehow straightened it and it looked silky and smooth.

"Oh, well, I just… I don't really know. I think it was the moisture in the clouds up there. It did something funky to my hair," she explained.

"Well, it looks good," Kaya added.

"Thanks. Oh yeah, so, what are we going to do now?" she asked.

"Well… hey! I just remembered! I brought this to show you." Kivessa reached into the pocket on her pants and pulled out the necklace. "I found this near Dragon Moon. Isn't it… odd? It looks like it's made of bones."

"Well," Ekyla paused. "I can tell that the bones are hollow, so that means that the animal this was made of was a flying animal," Ekyla figured, studying the amulet. "But what kind of flying animal has black scales?"

"A Black Eagle," Kaya said. "You know, our mortal enemy?"

"Right. Well, this does look like Black Eagle scales, although I haven't really seen one, I have seen pictures of them," Kivessa said.

"Can I take this over to Eli'akim? He can analyze it and make sure that it really is what we say it is," Ekyla asked.

"Sure," Kivessa said. "Just don't lose it. That jewel in the middle is kind of nifty."

"Yeah, it only has one little dot of shininess," Kaya interjected.

"It looks creepy. Void of life," Ekyla said.

They all looked at the amulet, awed by its oddness. "Well, let's do something," Kivessa said, breaking the silence.

Rynn looked out of her window. She tried to think of anything else other than her and Myz's accident, but with her current boredom, her thoughts kept tapering to that event. She couldn't believe that Myz could have been so lazy. Myz had embarrassed herself and Rynn in the process. But it was partly her fault. She hadn't pushed Myz to go out and do something; she just let her sit idle. She needed to do something to brighten up her day. Falling off her dragon was not a good thing. She suddenly remembered what she had planned to do.

Myz, she said to her dragon, could you get a hold of Ondran who can get a hold of Tavin? I need to talk to them.

Um, I'll try. Just a sec, she replied. After a while, she said, He says you can talk anytime and he will hear you through me. Well, you know, the way you are talking now is fine.

Okay. So, can Tavin hear me too? She asked Ondran.

Um, yes. A voice deeper than Myz's in more ways than one. He seemed to have an unfathomable voice. She supposed that was Ondran. What? Rynn guessed that that was Tavin.

Well, I know this may sound a little strange, but I just thought that you were the perfect guy to go with this one girl, and I was wondering if you'd be up to going on a blind date with her, Rynn explained.

What is a 'blind date'? Tavin asked.

Oh my gosh, you don't know? Rynn replied. It's when you go out with somebody, except you don't know who that somebody is until you get to the place you're going to.

Oh, well then maybe. But I want to know who the person is, he said.

I can't tell you, but I'll talk to you later about the where, when, and how part later, she said. Goodbye!

'Bye.

As soon as Rynn had said goodbye, she heard a crash coming from her closet. Then she heard voices saying that "this wasn't a good idea". She ran into her closet. What she found was a door, the handle rattling.

"Who's there?" she yelled through the door.

"Um, Kaya, Kivessa, and Ekyla," someone yelled, muffled by the solid rock.

"Oh. Okay," Rynn said and tried to turn the handle. "It's stuck!" she yelled back. The next few words were muffled, and she hadn't taken her hand off the door. All of a sudden, the doorknob suddenly started to melt away, and the door became much thinner, reaching almost transparency. Then, with a bang, the rock suddenly disappeared completely. Now standing in the place where the door was were Kivessa, Kaya, and Ekyla.

"Hello," Ekyla said cheerfully.

"Hello," Rynn replied. She looked at Kivessa and remembered her plan. "I have something to tell you," she said to her. She was going to tell her about the blind date thing. She didn't care much about the hole in her wall, or the fact that they had just came down from Ekyla's room.

"How come you can't tell me?" Kaya complained.

"Because it has nothing to do with you," Rynn told her. "Come with me for a sec," she said to Kivessa.

"Okay, I have set you up," Rynn said when they were out of earshot from Kaya and Ekyla.

"What do you mean? Like, with a guy?" Kivessa asked.

"Yeah. On a blind date."

"Oh no, not this again. This is not some sick joke, is it?"

"No, this time its for real. But I don't know where to send him. I don't really know when we're allowed out of our lairs yet. But an answer to 'where' would be nice."

"I don't really know," Kivessa pondered. "Maybe… above ground at the top of the cliff? By the waterfall? Jeez, I'm no good at this."

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of going to see a play or something. You know, that weird one is in the Citadel. The one about… Arila and Telleka? Yeah. Maybe you could meet him there."

"Okay, but I've already seen that play. It was kind of boring," Kivessa replied.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll tell him to meet you there. Don't worry, I'll think you'll know who he is when you get there," Rynn said, and then wished she hadn't. She had given Kivessa a hint about who she was meeting there, she said that it was someone they knew. "That's all I really wanted to say," Rynn said, and they started to walk back to Ekyla and Kaya. Rynn had decided against telling her about her plans to get Atlan to take her back to see Jeremy. They would probably try to stop her.

Kivessa might have looked calm, cool, and collected on the outside, but inside her mind was buzzing with excitement.

I wonder, she thought. Atlan? No, she has already tried that, and it didn't work. Oh gosh, I hope its not Renyx. He's such a… hmm. No, Orz couldn't be him either. He's with Alxra. Tavin? Oh, I wish. But how could Rynn talk to him? Ha, if it was P'zaz, now that would just be funny. Kaya would be sooo jealous. Hmmm, I don't think so. Eli'akim? No, he's Ekyla's. K'zaz? Now that would be just nasty!

She evaluated each and every guy she knew, and came to no conclusion.

She had no idea about was going to happen. She had already seen the play, it was about Amy Telleka and her troubles following the founding of the Black Eagles.

Hey, Tavin asks how you're doing, Charmiaz said in her mind. Ondran says he's fine. As she said Ondran, a bright yellow scene burst into her mind. They had color-coded their emotions. Yellow was happy, blue was sad or tired, black was angry or depressed, and so on.

I'm fine. How's Tavin? Kivessa replied.

Fine. He has something to tell you but he's not going to tell you until it happens or something like that.

Okay, that's just odd, Kivessa said. I wonder what it is.

Well, I guess you'll just have to find that out tonight, now won't you. Myz informs me that we have been let out of our rooms, and Skytris is coming around to tell us that. And you're supposed to meet whoever it is in the front of the theater, she explained.

I hate not being able to talk to everybody at once. That's not fair. Well, what time? She sighed.

Um, I don't know… Oh. Okay, approximately seven o'clock

Okay, thanks, Kivessa said and broke the connection. Seven o'clock, she thought, at the theater. What should I wear?

Kivessa walked casually down the corridor. She was on the main floor, and she was trying to remember where the theater was in this place. It was so big that it took up the whole mountain. South Telleka was one of the major cities of Kellaria, so it was generally larger than the rest.

She had decided to wear her blue flared jeans and a shiny silver top. She had realized the first time she went to see the play that it was informal, so she decided against wearing her dress pants or a skirt. She also wore her funky black shoes that made her look two inches taller because of the height of the heels. She had brought these from Earth, and she was the only person in all of Kellaria who had them.

Was it left there, she pondered, or was it straight?

Kivessa decided to go left, and came eventually to a dead end. She consulted Charmiaz. It was ten minutes to 7:00. She had to hurry if she were to make it on time. She ran down the hall, slipping slightly whenever she had to turn in a direction. As she started to hear noise, she slowed to a walk, and made sure she looked okay. The hall opened into a vast amphitheater, and people where gathered inside, sitting in rows of carved granite. Luckily, the show hadn't started yet, so there was still time to find her date.

She looked around her. She had entered into the main foyer, and there were a few people there that she knew, but they were female (or so she thought). Among them, hidden behind their tight group, was Tavin, and he was looking around every now and then. He never looked at her. He was always watching the entrance. She wondered if it was him. Her face flushed as he looked directly at her. She quickly looked away, as she realized that she had been staring at him. She looked the other way. There, standing by himself, was Eli'akim. The blood drained from Kivessa's face.

Oh no, she thought dismayed. Not him. Anything but this. Eli is Ekyla's guy, and she'll kill me. Oh great. Well, I think I'll try Tavin first, just because he is actually looking for someone.

But she was too nervous to actually go over to where Tavin was standing. She didn't know why. She had lost her shyness as she matured, but she was suddenly coy for some unknown reason. She went and stood by a wall, quickly thinking of what she should do. She could go to Eli'akim first, but then she might end up with him, and she didn't like him. Besides, he's taken, she remembered. She looked up at Tavin. He was dressed in his usual clothes, not too tight but not too baggy either. His hair was a mess, however, looking like he didn't even comb it. She stood up and boldly walked over to him.

"Hello," she said in a fake cheerful voice, trying not to let her tone waver. "I didn't think I'd see you here!" the group of girls snickered at her and left to go sit.

"Well, I'm waiting for someone," he replied, looking at the entrance hastily.

"Who?" Kivessa asked. "I might have already seen them."

"Well, its not that simple. You see, someone set me up, and I have no idea who the person is."

"Who set you up?" Kivessa asked. Please say Rynn, please say Rynn, she thought over repeatedly.

"Why, are you here for the same reason?" he smiled.

"Um, kind of," Kivessa said and looked up, radically changing and becoming shy suddenly.

"Rynn set me up. How about you? Isn't she your friend?" he asked.

Inside Kivessa was smiling her heart away. She calmly smiled on the outside, and said, "I think we have a match."

"Oh. Did you know about this?"

"No. Well, not about the person who I was going with. She refused to tell me," Kivessa replied. They started walking towards the seats. As she walked by Eli'akim, she noticed Ekyla coming out of the washrooms. Eli had been waiting for her! She was suddenly glad that she hadn't approached him first. That would have been embarrassing, although like she wasn't embarrassed already, she thought.

"So, this is interesting," Kivessa said. "I've already seen this."

"Oh really?" he looked surprised. "Well, then we should've gone to Necromea. They have a different play in town… right. We're banned from flying for the next week. Well, then I guess let's enjoy what we have."

"Yeah," Kivessa mumbled, the show starting quite suddenly.