FWOOSH! The sound of Thread being flamed was one that the young bronze rider Heero never got tired of hearing. There was something so satisfying on a primitive level about watching the little parasites get charred to ash-dust in mid-air.

-N'ged, your dragon is getting a little weak in the wing, take him back to the weyr for a refresher,- Heero ordered. It might be satisfying to flame the Thread along with Zeroth, but his primary obligation was to the health and safety of his Wing. He prided himself on having the least amount of injuries Fall after Fall, and he did not reward foolish bravado. He was more likely to dress a rider down for doing something stupid than he was to say they did something brave. Heero valued the riders under his command and did his best to ensure their safety. That was not to sat that there weren't injuriesthere always were, and as long as dragons flew Thread, there always would be simply because no Human was perfect. Flying Thread was treacherous and dangerous. He tried to keep the injuries minimal and the body count down. The injuries resulting from foolish maneuvers during Threadfall always dropped dramatically after a death and Heero had seen enough Riders, enough comrades, buried to wish that the necessity of flying Thread were not so urgent. Some of them had died so young...

-S'cul I want two more people out here to fly firestone sacks, D'zel's group is getting low. Also, while you're back there, have your own dragon have a bite and a drink then get back here,- Heero ordered the blue rider. ­Nereth, watch your twelve!- The dragon and rider he'd called to swiftly managed to barrel roll out of the way of a cluster of Thread, then crane around to flame it for it's temerity.

-B'mil, F'kol, A'sim, You're loosing formation, switch out with the next three,- Heero told them. Those three green riders continued to test the limits of their Wingleader's sanity. They had this fool-headed notion that they could last as long as any bronze rider in the...

-NO! B'mil, not that....!!-

But it was too late. Heero dimly sensed the sharp sting of pain that echoed through the link as the young Green Rider took a hitsensed the young green rider's tiny spark of light grow dim and then snuff out. Echoes of surprise and anguish refracted throughout the wing as they all felt the pain of B'mil's passing reverberating through the loose link that interconnected them all through a Fall. The dragons roared as one in agony as one of their own number made the final jump Between bearing its beloved cargo on its back.

<Dammit! Shards and Shells, why!? Why?>

Anguish and self-recrimination ripped through Heero's soul. He should have ordered the green out sooner, could have waned him quick enough to avoid the Thread cluster that has stolen the rider's life. If only he'd been faster, on his guard better. He could have saved...

-No, Heero,- said Zeroth, his dragon and closest companion. -There is no sense in what if. That girl from the cliffside...that girl Relena, once said a quote at me while we talked. She said 'Could have, would have, should have...but didn't.' You cannot go back and change thing...she's gone. B'mil and Vereth are gone, and you must concentrate on saving those other lives that you can.-

-Roger,- said Heero. He grimly turned his attention away from his inner anguish to concentrate on keeping all of the rest of his wing alive. He had a task to complete and people to save, he wouldn't fail so miserably again. He was a dragonrider, and dragonriders saved lives. Whether it was conducting Thread rescues, or flaming Thread from the sky, or patrolling the lands for danger...dragonmen would fly when Thread was in the sky.

In saving the lands they also in turn saved lives. Those who lived in the Holds were dependent on the crops and livestock they raised to sustain them. If Thread were given free rein to fall unchecked then the crops and livestock would die and the people would soon join them. They would starve. That was one of the reasons dragons and their dragonriders risked their lives Fall after Fall. They had lives to protect, lands to protect and people who needed them.

But, it was still a hard current to fly.

-Y'jom, switch out with Z'dum,- Heero ordered. ­Let's keep the formation tight riders! O'mon, you're getting to close to H'van's range, pull back a little.-

He still had a mission to complete. He had lives to save.

* * *

The fire lizards did not understand the sudden almost overwhealming feeling of panic that swept over their mistress. They didn't understand it, but they certainly did react to it! Clinging to the side of the cliff they creeled in an ever increasing pitch and volume that set Relena's teeth on edge. She would have covered her ears if she weren't so tired and using her hands to tread water.

<I've got to calm down,> she realized dimly through a haze of cold fear and weariness. <I've got to calm down and think, for their sakes. For my own sake. Panic won't do me any good. I only have limited time left before>

She didn't wan to think about that, she really didn't.

"Shhh, sh sh sh, babies, it's alright," she told them. "Well, actually it's not alright...I think I'm going to die here if I don't figure out a way out of this soon."

This, of course, only set then off again. Relena tried to project calming and soothing thoughts and feelings, but she was having a very difficult time masking her own fear.

"It's too bad you guys can't compound together and turn into a dragon," she muttered.

<Wait a minute,> she thought an idea struck her. Hope surged in her heart. <A dragon! That's it!>

She would just have one of her little dears blink off Between with a message or something that would tell Zeroth and his rider Heero that she was in dire need of a rescue and quickly. It didn't matter where they were, Jewel would know. Fire lizards had a sixth sense concerning their cousins, she could tell. She'd find Heero.

"Jewel...come here baby. Come here," said Relena gently. Her teeth were still chattering from the cold of the water and her chest was tight making it difficult to form the words. The golden queen glided down into the water, seeming completely unbothered by the cold temperatures. Floating on her back looking up at her mistresses chin, Jewel let out an inquisitive cheep. And blinked one of her sets of eyelids.

"Yes love, I need you to do something for me," Relena's tone an expression signaled extreme urgency, but the queen apparently could already sense the imperativeness of what Relena was trying to tell her through the empathic link they shared. Jewel paid close attention.

"I need you to take a message to someone, I need you to show him the way back here"

Relena realized that she didn't have any form of ink-and-stick or hide in her possession and couldn't have written on them even if she had. Something else would have to do. Cloth from her dress could easily belong to anybody, she needed something distinctive, something unique to her...

One of the long, wet strands of her hair floated from around her shoulders.

<Perfect,> she decided. Although she really hated the though of cutting any of her long, carefully grown-out hair, Relena would have shaved her head bald (well, maybe) if it would have gotten her out of the horrible situation she was in.

<Just a small lock of hair,> she decided, and reached behind her head for the longer strands growing near the nape of he neck, back where no one would really notice if she cut out a lock. She twisted one of the long deep golden tresses around her finger and pulled it taut from her head. Grabbing her belt-knife from her belt Relena sawed off the chosen lock and held it up for inspection.

Suspended between her thumb and forefinger hung a limp, sodden lock of her own golden hair, saturated with salt water and dripping little droplets back into the waves in front of her. She called up the image of the bronze rider in detail on the canvas of her mind, with Zeroth in the background.

"Jewel," said Relena handing the little fire lizard the lock of hair to grasp in her foreclaw. "You have to take this to Heero. Take it to him, right now!"

The queen immediately blinked in Between with the lock in her foreclaw to go to the person whose image she had received in Relena's mind, and the dragon whose voice she'd heard second hand.

<Well what do you know...it worked,> thought Relena. She hadn't been able to get any of her fair to carry messages for her before. Maybe it was because there was a sense of urgency behind it this time, that she really wanted it. Emotions seemed to count for a lot with the little creatures. It was definitely something to tuck away for later. Wearily Relena went back to treading in the cold sea water again. If she ever got out of this she'd never go down to the ocean by herself again!

* * *

Another clump of Thread was arrowing down from above, Zeroth carefully targeted it and belched forth a great gout of fire to burn it to cinders.

-I flame well today. No Thread will get by me,- said Zeroth. Angling down to aim for a cluster below them.

-Yes, I'm sure this will save many lives and a lot of livestock. But we should get you some more firestone for your fires,- said Heero.-P'tem watch the cluster falling at highwing seven, and move in a little closer to your unit, you're getting out of range. T'ron swich out with the next available blue. Duo, I want your unit to handle the clumps up top. Your bronzes have good staying power and I'm counting on those skills.-

-Well, that's satisfying to hear wingleader,- said the bronze rider amiably. ­But as your second, I gotta insist that you take a break from the action for a few minutes at least. You've been here from the beginning.-

-Not right now, Zeroth and I are fine we can....-

Heero suddenly cut off what he was going to say, surprised (to say the least) by something that appeared before his eyes out of nowhere.

-Heero?- asked Duo, concerned. He hadn't sensed anything wrong with the wingleader, but one never knew in a Fall. ­Heero, You alright buddy?-

Heero suddenly found himself nose to nose with a creature out of legend. Hovering there, staring him directly in the face, was a-a miniature golden queen.

"What the-" he wondered aloud, bliknking in surprise. Maybe Duo was right, maybe he should switch out for a while.

<A fire lizard,> he realized. <Jays! A real, by the shards of my dragons egg, a real fire lizard! I always thought those things were nothing but stories told to holder children. I guess not then. It really does look like a tiny dragon.>

The little queen looked exact in every detail like a queen dragon, right down to the miniature jeweled eyes and multiple eyelids. She hovered there, staring at him for a moment or two, then alighted on the neck ridge in front of Heero with delicacy and proffered a foreclaw. Shaking himself out of his daze with difficulty Heero took the object that she offered up to him.

-Zeroth, see if you can tell what it wants,- Heero thought numbly as he tried to figure out just what he was looking at.

-She,- corrected Zeroth imperturbedly.

Heero ignored the bronze dragon in favor of studying the object offered up by the fire lizard. It was cold, of course, and stiff...hard even. Heero tried to bend it, and the end snapped off. Covered in frost and

<Hair! It's a lock of hair,> he realized. The little queen was carrying a wet lock of hair that had frozen solid in the extreme chill of Between.

-She's very frightened,-Zeroth reported to his rider. ­All I'm getting now is a jumble of images. Something about water, and thread and fear. There's a lot of fear involved. I got a face from the queen, it's... It's that girl!-

-Relena?!- questioned Heero, his thoughts flitting to the girl he'd met on the cliffside.

-Yes, and she's in an awful lot of trouble. She needs immediate rescue,- said Zeroth.

-Right. Tell Duo he's in charge until I get back. I have to go make a Thread rescue.-

A pause.

-Done,- said Zeroth. ­I've gotten the place from the queen's mind. Let's go.-

With that Zeroth, bearing Heero on his back, blinked into the cold dark nothingness of Between. In the space of time that it takes for a person to cough thrice they emerged back out into daylight. They were caught by surprise with the battering winds and stinging rains. The water beneath them churned and crashed, thunder roared overhead and lightning lit the clouds from the inside making them look purple and white while tiny jagged spiderlegs looked like the touched the water a distance off creating blazing paths on the horizon between earth and sky. Zeroth quickly adjusted his flying tempo to deal with the winds that buffeted them this way and that, and closed his inner eyelids to protect against the stinging rain.

-Can you see her?- Asked Heero. He couldn't make out anything in the storm besides the rain slapping his face and the lightning flashes in the clouds above him. Suddenly a little golden streak plummeted past him and Zeroth, winging towards a spine of rocks cresting up out of the water was the little queen who'd led them there.

-Jewel told me that she's under that outcropping of rock,-said Zeroth.

-Clever girl,- Heero mentally applauded.

-She also indicated that Relena is very tired and can't hold out much longer, and that the tide will soon rush in and fill up the hollow that she is using to shelter herself from Thread She'l drown if she doesn't get out of there. And until now, Thread was her other major concern.-

-Zeroth, Thread!- thought Heero, looking at the little clusters of menace falling from the sky. ­Cover us and land in the water beside the ledge.-

Zeroth happily flamed the Thread that came within their vicinity as the two made their way down to rescue the young woman hiding from the Thread in the cold waters below them. Zeroth landed like a sea-bird and was promptly swamped by one of the waves before her could adjust to floating on water. Nothing daunted he continued to belch forth gouts of flame to char the Thread from the sky before it could even think (if indeed Thread could think) of coming down to harm them or anyone under their protection.

Heero finally caught sight of the lady under the ledge of the cliff. She looked pale, so very pale, treading water there in the water that he now knew was indeed quite cold. Her face looked like it had been carved from the whitestone cliffs near High Reaches and wore a look compounded of exhaustion, worry and sheer terror. She was scared, and Heero couldn't blame her. He couldn't imagine well bred holder-girl reacting to a situation like this with anything else than fear. In fact, he thought she was holding together rather well. Jays, even his own mother probably wouldn't have been able to keep her cool like this girl was doing.

<Part of it's probably due to shock,> Heero realized. She did look a little dazed there.

-Come on Zeroth let's get her out of here!- he sent.

"Hey! Relena, what are you waiting for? Let's get going!" he called from his dragons back. The call was unnecessary, Relena was already making her way over to him. Her movements in the water were made clumsy by weariness and cold and her head kept getting ducked under by the waves. The few feet to Zeroth's back probably felt like miles to her.

*

Relena had never been so glad to see anyone in her entire life than she was happy to see the bronze form of Zeroth angling in from the sky and flaming Thread as he went. At last, she was going to get out of the water, away from the Tread and to someplace warm and safe and dry! That was, if she could get her exhausted body to cooperate long enough to get on the dragon's back. Her limbs felt wooden and her muscles were stiff with cold, her hands were so cold they were painful. She was having enough troubles just keeping her head above water, how was she ever going to make it those few feet to Zeroth?

<It's only a little ways, I can make it. I have to...>

And with the rest of her fire lizards chirruping encouragement at her from under the ledge, Relena forced her already exhausted muscles into a clumsy front crawl and concentrated her entire being on making it to her goal.

Somehow she found the strength to make it over to the dragon, but trying to climb on was too much. She couldn't haul her weight out of the water. Oh she tried she managed to fumble her stiff hands around a neckridge and haul with the last bit of her strength, but only lifted herself out of the water as far as the ends of her breasts before slumping back in exhaustion. She went to try it again when she felt two strong arms wrap themselves around her waist.

"Here, let me help," said a deep voice by her ear. Relena felt a small shiver run down her spineit must have been the chill of the water.

Relena found herself being hauled out of the icy cold water and sat on the dragons back. Two arms secured her there and she leaned back against a strong chest, happy for once to let someone support her weight foor her, she was too tired to do anything else. A cloak was wrapped around her and secured there by the arms that held her. She felt warmer already.

"Thank you," she said around her exhaustion. She closed her eyes, she was sitting diagonally across Heero's lap, her back braced against his chest and her head resting on his shoulder.

"All part of the service," he said dryly, despite his now sodden condition. He tried to ignore the way her wet clothes were clinging to her body tightly. "Come on, I'll take you back to the Weyr. It's closer and we can't go Between with you in this condition, you'd freeze and then easily catch pneumonia. Zeroth and I will have to fly you back."

Heero noted that Relena was too exhausted to do more than nod as he told Zeroth to take off and wing it back to the weyr, he was unwilling to risk further injury to Relena by going Between and having her sodden garments freeze to her skin. She'd been through enough.

Zeroth laboriously flapped his great wings to gain altitude from the water and wheeled around to head back to the Weyr, fighting winds that tried to blow them this way and that and flaming whatever Thread dared cross their path. Navigating the intense storm while flaming Thread was a challenge, but one almost easily overcome for the pair. Soon, they were out of the reach of the storm and gliding over the land towards the Weyr. The wind whipped around them making Relena shiver anew, in response Heero pulled her closer against him and wrapped her up in the leather riding cloak a little more tightly.

Relena was practically feinting with relief when she spotted the oblong bowl and cliff ledges of Bendan Weyr. The shining blue lake took up nearly a fourth of the second bowl's bottom and the cliff ledges carved out of the cavern walls for dragons to sun out on was the most welcome sight.

Zeroth glided down in for a graceful landing. They landed in the middle of chaos... People were running back and forth on missions of their own making, shouting orders and requests that went unheard by the recipients.

"Hey! What's going on here?" asked Heero from his dragon's back, still cradling the exhausted Relena against his chest.

One of the spare riders from his wing responded by giving him a brief run-down of recent events. The Weyrleader's condition had just worsened, and his Weyrwoman was now next to useless with worry. Following this the temporary headwoman, Catherine of Fort Hold, had fallen from a ladder in the cold storage rooms and was now unconscious. The Healer had also been called away earlier to visit a sudden outbreak of the whooping cough in one of the nearby cots and couldn't be called back any time soon. In short, things were a mess!

At this, Relena stiffened in his arms and hauled herself up to a sitting position on Zeroth's back.

"I can help you, I was trained in Ruatha Hold to lead. I can offer you the leadership you lack right now." She addressed the group gathered around her and the dragon with his rider. "First of all I want all everyone with any experience in medicine, whether it's setting a bone or just general triage to assemble themselves over near the lake. We'll be setting up a triage medicinal camp. I need what Fellis and Numbweed you have already prepared dragged over there to be used on the wounded as well."

Relena pointed to different individuals in the crowd as she gave each assignment and signaled that they should go and attend to her orders immediately. She had an air of dignity, of gentle authority and quiet strength that most would have been hard-put not to obey her.

"Are you certain you should be doing this? Zeroth says you're practically asleep on your feet from exhaustion, you should be in bed sleeping right now," said Heero. He was feeling no small amount of concern for his unexpected new charge, while at the same time marveling at the efficient way she just waltzed in and took over the running of things.

"It's the least I can do to thank you for saving my life. Please, don't worry about me," she said. "You have Thread to fly and other lives to save. But you should get something to eat while you're here. I don't need you feinting from hunger while you're on your dragons back."

Heero looked at her in some small surprise once more, the girl was constantly catching him off guard with her actions and her words. She wasn't really a lot like all the other Hold girls he'd met. Most of those were either snobbish and full of their own importance or too afraid of his dragon to do anything other than make the barest of greetings and scamper away. None of them had ever dared to try ordering him about, and certainly not with the air of "expecting to be obeyed" that this woman did.

"And firestone your dragon while you're at it," she said as an after thought. "he looks like he needs it."

"And how exactly would you know that?" he questioned, testing her. It would be nice to see if she had a backbone as well.

"I just know," she said forthrightly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to "just know."

"Now, if you would please help me down, we'll just see if my legs are strong enough to support me," she said. The recent hour upon your of treading water had sapped her body of most of its strength, but she was not so tired that she couldn't help out a little around here, at least until things were back under control and running properly again.

-Zeroth, have one in my wing ask one of the people in the lower caverns to hunt her up some drier clothes and a warm blanket. If she's really going to persist in this "leading our weyr into healing" I don't want her catching pneumonia.- Heero felt he could at least do that much for her.

-You're really going to let her go through with this? Is that wise? She's been through enough already, I can feel her shaking in exhaustion on my back. We should make her go to bed instead.-

-I'd like to see what she can do,- said Heero. ­She's already shown strength and intelligence under pressure, let's see how she manages people in an emergency situation. Besides, look at her face, can you honestly tell me that you think we can talk her out of whatever it is she set her mind to?-

Zeroth looked the mental image that Heero sent him of Relena's facial expression and mentally shook his head. She was wearing a look of intense determination, like a dragon that had sighted the next clump of Thread he was going to flame.

Relena was already climbing off Zeroths back without Heero's help but when her feet touched the ground her legs gave out from beneath her. Heero was already beside her to catch her before she fell. For the first time he allowed himself to think about how good it felt to hold her

<Mind off the female,> he chastised himself, setting her on her feet after only the briefest of moments spent simply holding her in his arms. He had other things to worry about, like how his wing was flying Threadfall without him.

"Hey, you with the firestone sack, P'mel" he called, remembering the name of that weyrling carrying a sack. "My dragon could use some firestone."

"Yessir," mumbled the youth. Obediently trotting over with his sack while Heero helped the girl.

Heero turned his attention back to the woman he was still embracing (to keep her steady until she could regain her footing of course).

"Are you going to be okay here, I have to get back out there with my wing," he said with unnecessary gentleness. He couldn't help treating this lady with gentleness, there was something about her that calmed and soothed him.

"Yes. I'll be fine. I'll take care of things here for you. This place needs a good leader during times like these, but since all of the best people are already out there with you I guess I'll just have to do."

With sheer strength of will, Relena forced her already weary muscles to hold her body up and keep herself steady. She signaled to a passing wyerling, noting absently that Zeroth was getting the exact amount of firestone he needed to.

"Bring this man something to eat and some fresh water, please," she instructed. She was about to head over to the lake to oversee things there when a young boy ran up to her with a change of clothes.

"There's a privacy alcove over there," said Heero pointing, then taking the sandwich from a weyrling who had run off to get him some food. "Emergency changes of clothing are not entirely uncommon in this place so there are places built to accommodate. Go get changed before you catch your death in those wet things. I didn't spend all this effort rescuing you from Fall and storm to have you die of pneumonia in the weyr."

"You'd better get changed too," she said. "After all you still have to go out and-"

Her sentence was cut off by the arrival of her fair of fire lizards. Two bronzes, a green, a blue and a queen all blinked in to being beside her and swarmed around her body cheeping and creeling loudly. Jewel latched onto her right shoulder, tail wrapped round her neck as she buried her head into Relena's wet hair, crooning in reaction. Yin and yang settled on Heero, who was still standing behind Relena with his arms about her. Bronzes on a bronze rider, fitting. Rekka and Skie perched on the dragon's neck ridge behind them, cheeping their happiness that they and their mistress were safe.

Heero stood stock still in surprise. The golden queen had been shock enough, but here were four others!

"How many of these creatures look to you Relena?" he asked gazing in dazed amazement at the perfection of two miniature bronzes perching their weight on his shoulders. They were sleek, smooth and loudly proclaiming their approval of their new surroundings.

"Five," said Relena readily. "The green is Rekka, the blue is Skie. The darker of the two bronzes is Yang, the lighter one is named Yin. The queen here is Jewel. I believe you two have already met. I'd wager they're hungry after all of this we've been through. I'll need to feed them all very soon, but not until after I've made sure the emergency medical facility is up and running well. And I need to change out of these wet things. I won't be a moment."

Relena moved off sluggishly on still-weak and trembling legs to the privacy alcove that already had dry towels waiting there for her and shed her sodden garments with a feeling of relief. She'd thought she'd never feel warm or dry again! Her body still insisted on shivering after she'd changed out of her clothes and she was sooo hungry!

<I'll see to all of this after I have taken care of this weyr, I owe them for my rescue so it is my obligation to help them as I can,> thought Relena. Her sense of responsibility would allow her to take no other course of action. She had been raised into a noble holding and with that came a great sense of responsibility that not only demanded that all debts be repaid by her own labors and the balances redressed, but also demanded that she help "her people" to the best of her abilities. And since Relena was staying over at the Hold, these people were, for the time "her people" so that meant that providing them with leadership and instruction was her duty. Duty came above all else, including her own needs.

Right then her body was screaming at her to and find someplace warm to curl up in with a warm blanket wrapped around her and sleep for a week, but she had an obligation to these people and she would not ignore that no matter how tired she was.

Relena emerged from the chamber, dry, but still shivering, to find Heero waiting for her. He had a blanket suspended from one hand and a steaming cup of klah in the other. Relena shot him a look of undying gratitude as he settled the blanket about her shoulders and gave her the hot cup of klah. She sipped on the cup as she hurried over to the emergency medical camp to attend to matters there, followed by her fair.

Heero reluctantly hopped on Zeroths back and took off to head back to Threadfall. He was going to have to "Time it" back so that he could continue with his proper duties and not feel guilty for sneaking off to rescue a damsel. Well, he hadn't actually snuck off, Thread rescue was one of the dragonrider's duties, but that was what it felt like. Even though Timing it drained a rider of energy (something about existing in two different places at the same time) and was only allowed with the permission of the Weyrleader, Heero felt justified in this case sneaking one past. Duo wouldn't say anything but he probably would inquire as to why Heero had suddenly felt the need to go haring off to rescue the girl personally instead of just sending one of his team off to do it.

He'd rather die of Threadscore than admit out loud that a small, quiet, carefully hidden part of him (a part that he'd gone to great lengths to excorsize from his existence but had remained there through everything,) had wanted to rescue the girl, had wanted her to see him as her rescuer, strong and brave and fall instantly and totally in love with him. After all, she was beautiful, and capable (she had demonstrated that a hundred times over already). She was verifiably intelligent and she didn't panic in life threatening situationsshe was all of this and a Lady of Ruathan Blood as well, and she could hear dragons! What a Weyrwoman she'd make!

Yes, that was it! He'd found Bendan's next Weyrwoman! As soon as he got back from Threadfall, he'd ask her to stay there at the Weyr, if not as a candidate, then at least stay to witness the Hatching. He was never more certain of anything than he was certain that she'd be the one to Impress the queen egg. After that it would only be a short eighteen months before her dragon reached full maturity and would fly mating flight. Then

<Whoa, now....hold on there. That's putting the wagon before the hauler-beasts. A little premature don't you think?> he mentally chided himself. There was no guaruntee that his Dragon would be the one to fly hers in the mating flight that would decide who the next Weyrleader would be. Still, he felt more hopeful now than he had in a good long while. Bendan Weyr would, one way or another, be put back under sound and capable leadership again. Even if it wasn't him (and he tried to ignore the painful wave of dark emotions at the thought of Relena with anyone else) Relena knew what to do and how to run things. She'd have things back in order and running well in no time.

*

Relena wobbled her way over to the lake and started in working right alongside the others. Numbweed and fellis were brought from the stores they had on hand and prepared. Bandages and wrappings were sanitized and awaited those that were threadscored from the Fall. There was a separate facility set up for the dragons to be tended to nearby. Those riders that had already been seen to were moved off their own beds within the weyr to clear away space for new patients. Fresh bedrolls were laid out and the already used ones were toted off to be laundered. Within and hour Relena had a fairly efficient system set up, and in the thankfully long waits between patients she helped the people in the kitchens with preparations for the hatching that would be taking place in about three days. Relena had only attended one hatching, (aside of her fire lizard eggs) but she had found it to be such a magical event to witness. So full of wonder and beauty.

A lot of the hopeful candidates for the dragons eggs were down there as well, and were absolutely enchanted by her little fair of fire lizards. Then again, Relena hadn't met any people who had not been enchanted by the little darlings. Taking advantage of their enthusiasm, Relena had had them feeding her fair while she stood nearby, attending to one of the sauces simmering on the hearth.

Getting the kitchens running efficiently helped pass the time between the riders and dragons coming in to the emergency medical clinic she'd set up. The duties in the kitchens reminded her a lot of the work she'd done for her brother shortly before he'd finally married Lady Noin. It felt good to be useful. The people of the Lower Caverns knew their stuff, they just needed someone knowledgeable to coordinate everything. Perhaps she could investigate staying on as an assistant Headwoman or some such. It would give her a purpose, something useful to do with her heretofore mostly useless skills. That and she could be around that handsome bronze rider, Heero and maybe get to know him a little better. He had rescued her and she would never forget the sight of him sitting proud and tall on his Bronze's back as they flamed Thread from the sky and rescued her from the chill waters where she'd languished in fear for what seemed like eternities. She knew that something in her would certainly never forget what it felt like to be pulled against his well muscled chest. Before she could pursue that particular train of thought for too long her reverie was interrupted by the sound of running feet pelting towards her.

"Miss Relena! We've got a new patient!" called one of the weyrlings, whom she had instructed to come and get her whenever some one new had landed. It wasn't really necessary, Relena had heard the panicked calls of the rider's dragon all the way in the kitchens. She was already on her way when she'd heard the weyrling calling for her.

"He's scored up pretty bad," said the weyrling, looking worried.

Relena ignored the small talk in favor of hurrying to her destination. She was at his side in no time, crouched next to the pallet he lay out on, writhing in pain. She looked at the wound carefully. It was a long scorched mark, there were other such marks, scars, on his skin. From what she had heard Threadscore never healed cleanly, the red, swelling and inflamed skin bore out the veracity of the tidings. From her own experience in helping the old Hold Healer before Sally came Relena could see that there was no way this was going to heal cleanly.

Still, she'd do what she could. She took a liberal amount of numbweed and slathered it all over and around the wound. That would deaden the pain, then dosed him with a cup of Fellis laced wine. It was not unfamiliar for her to be helping with the wounded and ill, and such actions were routine for her. Fortunately for him, the score was a relatively small one. She had treated others in the past hour or so that had been a lot larger, one she was almost certain that the person wouldn't live through. That one was being guarded by one of the women of the Lower Caverns, a dowdy old washer woman who was strict as a rule, but who knew her stuff.

"Nella, how's the blue rider I put under your care doing?" she called over to one of the Weyr-born girls who had first volunteered her assistance when Relena started getting the triage sickbay in order. She'd sort of become Relena's temporary second in command, someone other looked to for guidance when Relena herself was busy.

"He's still in a lot of pain, even despite the numbweed I keep putting on his arm," she reported, trying to hold her hands steady as she poured him another cup of hot spiced wine. "He keeps asking about his dragon."

Nella was a nice girl with dark reddish-brown locks and soft light brown eyes with a dreamy quality to them. She worked hard and had a ready smile and a caring manner even as she was brisk and efficient with her patients. Her brisk and bustle did not entirely cover the warmth in her eyes even if she did not suffer fools gladly. She was young, but capable enough.

"Tell him thatTemith's fine, but worried about him. That should put him at ease," said Relena gently.

"How can you know that? You haven't even seen his dragon," said Nella, looking puzzled.

"I can hear them," said Relena simply. "All of them. The dragons still in the Weyr, that is. That's how I'm keeping those dragons with Threadscore from panicking. I can talk to them."

"Incredible, and here I thought that the only ones who could hear and speak to dragons were the riders themselves," said Nella. "I thought that the wounded dragons were being unusually quiet today. You must be one of the candidates for the queen egg."

"Nope, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

And Relena went on to give a shortened version of how she got to be here in the first place as the two of them made their rounds in the little sickbay, slathering discomfitted riders with more numbweed and changing those bandages that needed it.

"Oh wow! Rescued by that gorgeous bronze rider from certain death, how romantic!" said Nella, looking dreamy eyed.

"Romantic," Relena snorted. "That's hardly what I'd call it. I've never been so terrified in all of my life! Not since the Raider attack on my family at least. I'm still so very exhausted, all I want to do is >>yawn<< curl up in a nice warm bed and sleep for a month."

"And that's exactly what you should be doing!" said Nella, dismayed that her Weyr had recently shown such poor hospitality to a rescue victim. This would never have gone over looked if their headwoman weren't so sick! "You can sleep in one of the guest rooms Relena. I'll handle things from here, you look worn to the woof and I insist on behalf of my Weyr that you find your bed immediately and sleep yourself out."

"But if I leave now, there won't be anyone who is able to talk to the dragons to keep them calm and in control while the teams spread fellis on their threadscores," Relena pointed out logically. She didn't mentoin her other reason for staying uplong past the point of good sense, she wanted to see the Rider again, the one who had rescued her. She wanted to know that he'd made it through alright. Relena was wise enough in the ways of the world to know that not all Dragonriders made it back from Threadfall every time. She wanted to see for herself that Heero was going to be alright.

"Never you mind that. You should be sleeping yourself out. Why you're practically shaking with weariness."

"Oh I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Please, it's the duty of a well bred lady of the holds to help and comfort those in need," protested Relena.

"None of this would have been allowed to happen if the headwoman and her assisstant hadn't fallen ill! She'd've seen you bundled off to bed as soon as you were off the dragons back! Ooooh, Heero really should have known better, then again, he's a man, they don't really think about these things."

"Now that's hardly fair. Heero is a wingleader, he spends a good deal of his time worrying about others," Relena chastised gently. "Besides, you all obviously need my help. It is an honor to help and serve others and to save others from suffering. That and, this is the first time that I've felt needed by other people. Up until now, my fire lizards seemed to be the only ones who have needed me, and even with taking care of them I've never gotten to use the full extent of my skills."

"I've never been this close to a real fire lizard before," said Nella. Relena had noticed that she'd been glancing surreptitiously at Jewel, who was perched on her mistress' shoulder while the others of her fair went to sun themselves out on the cliff face ledges, all afternoon. Well, she wasn't the only one. "What's it like? Having fire lizards I mean."

"It's a lot of work. You have to keep them fed and amused and out of trouble as well as train them and oil their hides regularly. But I will say this, it's worth it. They return all the affection you give them a hundred fold, ad there's always something new to discover about them."

"Wow, I wish I could have one. But you've already Impressed."

"I'll tell you what. When Jewel grows to maturity and if she ever finds a bronze to mate with, I'll give you one of her eggs."

"Will you really?! Oh! That'd be wonderful!" Nella went on, but Relena wasn't listening. She felt a strange nagging at the back of her skull, that usually signaled that a dragon was about to arrive from out of Between. A draconic voice shouted into her mind.

-Relena! Relana come quick! He's hurt! Hurt bad!-

She knew that voice!

* * *

Heero emerged back out into the Fall about two seconds after he'd left it. He was tired and feeling the drain from existing in two places at once, but he and Zeroth could last out the fall no problem, and the drain wouldn't be going on for very long anyway.

-Heero buddy, that was quick...you didn't...?- said Duo.

-Yes duo, I rescued the girl, and yes Duo, I timed it back here,- said Heero bluntly as Zeroth flamed another clump of Thread.

-Heero, you know that Timing it's not alloed without permission from the Weyrleader,- cautioned Duo. Heero could sense the straining in the background as Duo fought the inertial g-forces whn his dragon maneuvered them out of the path of a clump of Thread.

-I'm well aware of that Duo. The weyrleader was in no condition to give permission at the time so I simply took it.-

-Okay, it's you're skin, buddy. If anyone asks me though, I'll say I didn't know anything about it.-

-Thank-you,- said Heero.

His attention switched from his silent conversation with his second to the sight of one of the greens in the second level nearly sideslipping into a clump of thread, then jumping into Bewteen and coming out upside down to flame it on its decent. The rolling in midair, narrowly avoiding another dragons flame path and flame two clumps of thread with one shot. Heero about saw red. <Stupid-!> he cut off the long string of what he wanted to call the young green rider who had just risked his own life, that of his dragon and the lives of at least one other dragon pair. <Didn't he even see what happened to B'mer earlier today?!>

­M'RIS AND KURINTH, HEAD BACK TO THE WYER!- Heero thundered via Zeroth, his anger at the two and their hijinxs practically palpable. -You two are out of here and if I see another stunt like that you two will be grounded for the duration of the next four falls, if not for good!-

Heero was never known for thundering, although there was no question that he was dangerous when roused. It was a quiet kind of danger the kind that attacks without warning from the shadows. There was a sort of coiling threat hidden just under the surface. He was usually so calm about everything, never losing that dangerous edge to his voice, but never outright yelling at anyone either. He never needed to one look from him was enough to send a cold shiver through even he most Threadfall hardened individual.

M'ris and Kurinth immediately blinked out...only to emerge right beside the wingleader! Were they crazy, stupid, or just plain suicidal?!

-Kurinth and I want to apolo- came the voice of the bronze rider via his dragon.

-Dammit! Get the hell out of!-

But it was too late. A side wind buffeted at Kurinths wings and caused the dragon to automatically sideslip, right into the bronze he was flying wingtip to wingtip with. Zeroth had been about to flame a fair-sized clump of thread from the air. Kurinth collided with Zeroth knocking his aim off, and not only that the wind buffeted the Thread right into the path they had been flying. The bronze and his rider manuvered themselves to protect the young pair from the clump of thread. Before Zeroth or Kurinth could blink into Between safely the Thread clump had already scored on Heero.

The entire wing heard their wingleader scream in agony as the Thread seared his flesh with such excruciating pain that he nearly blacked-out for the first time in his life. His dragon bellowed shortly after him and blinked off into between.

<Shards and shells,> thought Duo. <There's the Following Edge. Threadfall was almost over. Talk about irony.>

He was temporary wingleader while Heero was being healed from his threadscore. He only hoped that the emergency medical facilities were running with efficiency, he couldn't be sure about that because the headwoman and her assistant were bound in their beds with sickness. <The Dragonhealer should still be there though. Old K'mim has been grounded ever since his dragon's wing got shredded in a Fall, but he knows everything there is to know about healing dragons. Maybe he took over.>

-Okay people, let's mop this up- said Duo half-heartedly. ­The Following Edge is almost here, then we can let the Holders take care of the rest.-

The wing took care of the Thread with ruthless efficiency. They were careful to be precise, no wasted movements, as if they were determined to show their absent wingleader that they were worthy of flying with him. There was none of the usual cheering and merrymaking that usually followed a successful Fall. Everyone just quietly blinked off in Between and went back to the Weyr.

* * *

"Heero!" she cried in alarm as she rushed over to the place where Zeroth was landing. The only thing holding Heero in place on Zeroth's back was the riding straps. Relena scrambled onto Zeroths back as soon as the great bronze dragon was safely on the ground and fumbled with the straps, anxious to get the young man to one of the waiting bedrolls.

When she'd finally gotten him loose, he lolled to the side and she had to catch him quickly before he simply fell of Zeroth. While Relena dragged the wounded and near-unconscious-with-pain Heero over to a bedroll, Zeroth filled her in on what happened to his rider. Relena promised herself she'd find this M'ris and give him the tongue-lashing he so richly deserved. Later. After she'd made sure Heero was going to be alright.

Once she'd gotten him lying prone in a place where she could examine him she quickly grabbed one of the sharp knives handed to her by the waiting "assistant" Nella and proceeded to cut away the riding leathers around the wound before they could begin to stick to the skin. The sight wasn't pretty, not in the least.

The skin on the ragged edges of the open area were blackened and charred, the open part of the wound was oozing with fresh hot blood, its metallic coppery smell pervading her senses. Oh, how she hated the smell of fresh blood! The flesh on the outsides of the car marks was reddened and blistering badly. Relena felt a sympathetic pain in her own side just looking at it. It had to hurt like hell!

"Nella, tell all able hands that I want all of the patients moved to their own beds in the weyr," Relena ordered when she noticed that the landing pad was filling up with the forms of landing dragons and loved ones greeting their riders who made it back safely from another fall. "If they can walk, fine, if they can't, have them assisted."

"Yes, miss."

While Nella was busy carrying out Relena's orders, Relena cleaned out the wound with an antiseptic wash of redwort. The characteristic red stain that it left behind on the skin wouldn't even be recognizable from the swelling, blistered reddened skin that was the body's natural reaction to burns and other injuries. After she was certain that the wound was absolutely clean, Relena grabbed a big handful of Numbweed and slathered it all over and around the wounded area. She heard a sigh on relief from Heero as the Numbweed deadened the incredible waves of pain that had been throbbing through him up until that point.

<That should hold him until I can get him into his bed, then I can give him some Fellis and let him sleep it off.> she thought.

"Heero, I'm going to have to move you. I don't want to pull on the wound, so you're going to have to help me," she said softly.

"Re-le-na," he murmured.

"Yes, that's right, it's me. You're too heavy for me to lift all by myself," she said. "I'll see if I can get someone to help me."

But the arms that had clamped themselves around her waist weren't letting go, they were as implacable as if they were two bands of iron. Relena noted absently that though he was very strong, he also had great control over his strength. He wasn't hurting her, he just wasn't letting her go away from him. Heero, with her assistance, somehow managed to climb to his feet and together with her supporting his weight, they staggered to his bower. It was up several flights of steps, and Relena, who was already near exhaustion from all of her earlier work almost collapsed into bed right along with him!

She probably would have if she hadn't heard him groan in pain, reminding her that she had a duty to the person who'd rescued her. She took up a position by his bedside to monitor his condition. She thought about allowing herself a light doze, but knew that she'd have been asleep as soon as she closed her eyes so she determinedly stayed awake. Every now and then she had to unwrap his bandages and smear the wound with numbweed again, but even with the help of the miraculous pain-deadening plant a little of the flaming discomfort of the wound still persisted. Her fire lizards were very acutely attuned to emotions and they also responded to his pain, the room was filled with their low crooning and his own occasional whimper as the numbweed wore off.

He was in pain, but it wasn't as great as it would have been without the numbweed deadening his senses. Even so, there was only so much the numbing could do. Relena realized that she'd have to dose him with fellis if he was going to get any kind of restful sleep, even if it was drug-induced sleep. She quickly poured him a cup of the warm spiced wine laced with fellis to lull him into the arms of bleesed oblivion. The pain would not be able to follow him there.

Within an hour the fellis wore off and the pain had made him delirious. He was calling out in his sleep, suffering terrible nightmares. Some non sensible nonsense about his parents and the good of Pern. He clearly had to be delirious, talking about a massive takeover of all the Holds on Pern using Raiders of all things! Relena kept in contact with Zeroth as she tried to soothe him into tranquillity again. Zeroth was not being of any help on that score, simply saying cryptic things about Heero's mysterious parentage. Next he'd be telling her that the bronze rider was the son of a noble.

<None of this is Helping him. There must be something I can do, some way to get him calm enough to sleep. He needs to sleep if he's going to heal.> An idead occurred to her, but it was nothing any properly raised lady of the Holds would ever contemplate. It was no at all proper. <Propriety be flamed! This man is sick and he needs my help. I can't just give up on a possible way to help him because it's "not proper"> That decided her, she'd do it!

She climbed into bed next to him, pulling his head onto her lap. When his night mares seemed to get really intense she smoothed his hair back, singing a soft lullaby that her mother had sung to her when she was little and had suffered nightmares. Eventually he quieted and settled into a deeper sleep, his breathing evened out, the steady rhythm reminding Relena of her own exhaustion.

She took a moment when he was sleeping quietly once more to study him. It was said that when a person slept all of their masks ell away and revealed their true soul for those who cared to see it. He looked so peaceful, his face wasn't as unrelentlessly emotionless or as forbidding, instead, his features were actually rather soft, even kind. He was actually quite beautiful, in the only way a man could be described as beautiful. His face and features were refined, his wiry frame was well-muscled beneath his clothes. He chocolate brown hair was wind-tousled, but Relena wondered privately if he'd ever seen the good side of a hairbrush before.

The bed where he lay sleeping looked oh so inviting. She had passed the threshhold of exhaustion long ago and was running on her reserves of strength. She really really wanted to go to sleep, but she just didn't have the energy to move from her spot. It would take so much effort to try clamboring to her feet, than she'd have to go find a room for herself before she could lay down and rest. There was enough room here She could just move him a little and then just take a little nap. She'd be gone before anyone noticed she was there. She was so tired. So very tired. She didn't even have the strength to think about trying to find a place to sleep, really why bother, no one knew where she was, they wouldn't know she was sleeping with a man she wasn't married to. And really, she wasn't going to do anything with him, for one thing he was wounded and for another she was to tired for such activities. <humph, and well bred holder woman would be scandalized by the thought of me sleeping in another man's bed whom I'm not married to. All the old aunties are gossiping old busybodies anyway. They'd probably have him trussed up and leg shackled to me before he could blink if they ever found me lying beside him unsupervised. Oh well, they aren't here and I'll only take a short nap. Just a little nap to get my strength and then I'll leave.>

<I'll just rest my head and close my eyes for a moment,> she thought, curling up in the place vacated beside him.

No well-bred holder girl would ever dare consider what she was about to do unless they were already married to the fellow, but Relena was too tired to care, besides, it was only for a few minutes

* * *

Relena awoke to the sound of crooning in her ear. The familiar croon of her pet fire lizard, Jewel telling her that it was Time To Eat! The second thing she noticed in her rather foggy state of half-awareness was that the place in which she was sleeping was not Hers. This wasn't her childhood room, there was no comfy quilt on her bed, no shel with her precious things arranged neatly on them. Neither was it her sleeping chambers at Bendan, there was no light summer blanket, and the light that came in from the window was coming in from the wrong direction. As an addendum to the realization that she was not in a place familiar to her, came the rather shocking awareness that she was waking up beside someone else! The was another person sleeping beside her in a bed that was supposed to be occupied only by herself and more recently by the fire lizards.

She gasped and hurriedly scrambled from the bed, noting thankfully that she was still fully clothed. What had happened yesterday that she would be waking up in such a state? Oh yes, it all came flooding back to her. The hours under the ledge, the heroic rescue, the time spent leading a emergency clinic, the large snout sticking in from around the privacy curtain...

Wait a minute... Large snout?

"Zeroth? Is that you?" she asked of the dragon, peeking in on them from his dragon-alcove that gave free access to the ledge.

-Yes of course. Is Heero alright?- asked the bronze in concern. ­You were sleeping so deeply that I could not get through to you to ask sooner, but now that you are awake....-

"Yes Zeroth, Heero will be perfectly fine. There will be a scar of course, but he'll heal up and be back on his feet in no time.- Relena bit her lip hesitantly, but decided to go ahead and ask. "Zeroth? There wasn't anyone else who happened to walk in on us while I was sleeping here, was there?"

-No, is it of some concern to you?-

"Well, yes. A properly bred and raised young Lady of the Holds would never be caught in such a compromising position with a man who is not her husband. It could lead to a certain amount of speculation that I might be ofloose virtue. I cannot afford such damage to my reputation," She replied.

-Ah. I wouldn't worry about that. For all that many around here are a hedonistic lot, most are discrete enough to not say anything to anyone else about what they might have seen or not seen in someone else's private bed chambers. Besides. Anyone could see that you were dead on your feet yesterday, no one with any sense could say that anything else went on here besides sleeping. And Heero might be as randy as the next dragonrider, but as far as I know he isn't in to pain.-

Relena could sense the draconic equivalent to a chuckle in Zeroth's mind-voice.

"Well, that's a relief anyways. And by the by, how long was I sleeping in here?"

-Since yesterday and it's mid-morning now. You were very tired.-

"Yes, and my babies are very hungry now too, I'd imagine. Would you be a dear and watch over Heero while I go and feed them?"

-I can do better than that,- said Zeroth with great dignity. His rider had discussed some small amount of his upbringing and what was considered proper decorum in certain situations. ­I have already called to another rider to ask one of the weyrlings to bring a bowl of chopped raw meat up here to you, as well as more dressings and bandages and some numbweed salve.-

"Thank-you Zeroth, that was gentlemanly of you to take the initiative like that," said Relena.

-Oh, that's interesting, Armyth has just landed so that his rider Trowa can come and take his sister home. Trowa' isn't happy with the wyeyr for allowing harm to come to his sister. Oh, look, he's on his way up here to have a little talk with Heero...-

"We'll just see about that," said Relena, straightening her clothing and putting on all of her authority. "I have a patient to attend to and I intend to see that Heero continues to get some rest. It isn't his fault that this man's sister was hurt while in the weyr and it's best to let foolish men know when they are being foolish."

There came a knocking at the door.

-That's him,- said Zeroth.

"Come in," Relena called.

The door opened to reveal a tall and lanky individual with forest green eyes and copper-brown hair dressed in riding leathers. Heero stirred on the bed from where he slept and cracked open an eye to glare at his visitor.

"What do you want?" or at least that's what Relena thought Heero was supposed to have been saying. It came out sounding more like "Wha' wanm..."

"I leave my sister in your care for one afternoon and she manages to break her arm and knock herself unconcious," said Trowa, getting strait to the point. "Now what's Fort Hold supposed to do while she recovers?"

"Use 'er assistants, tha's what they're there for," said Heero, his voice flat with weariness. Relena glared at the intruder from the stool she sat on next to Heero's bed.

"Excuse me young man," she said, her tone brisk and severe. "But this rider has just been wounded fighting Threadfall and he needs his rest. If you wish to be a bother, I suggest you go and do it elsewhereaway from here. Off with you now so my patient can get some rest," her voice took on a timbre of authority that the bravest would have been hard pressed not to obey. Trowa looked at her appraisingly.

"Or perhaps we could just borrow yours old boy," he said grinning at Heero who in turn glared feircely back at him from where he lay.

"I don't think so," Heero said bluntly. Trowa thought he caught just the faintest edge of warning in his voice. Jealousy? In Herro? Nah!

"My apologies," he said with a small, almost mocking, bow. "I didn't know he had a protector. And your name is?"

"None of your concern," she said saucily. "But if you must know, I am Relena of Ruatha Hold."

Suddenly Jewel blinked in from in between and alighted on Relena shoulder, chittering at Trowa who had the temerity to reach out for a handshake. Trowa looked at the little creature with a feeling akin to amazement. His eyes widened as he saw four other forms blink into the room as the door was quietly rapped upon.

"Ah!" said Relena. "That must be their breakfast. Would you get the door please Trowa?"

"How did you-? Nevermind. They do exist!" Trowa went to let the wyerlad in with the food and bandages, who was followed by another woman of the wyer carrying a tray full of properly cooked food for the guests and the injured rider.

 Relena went about feeding her fair, who were by this point quite hungry as trowa and Heero both watched on in mute facination, but soon drew each other into a discussion about whether or not the little critters could possibly be related to their own dragons. Relena kept her opinions to herself as she set the food tray on a stand near the bed.

"I take it then that these two are old friends?" she said aloud to Heero's dragon Zeroth.

-Yes, quite old,- said Zeroth.

Trowa turned to look at her in questioningly.

"Were you talking to me?" he asked her as she sat down at the stool to make sure Heero ate all that he was given. Her little dragonrider friend could be quite stubborn, and she knew instinctively that he hated feeling like an invalid.

"No, I was talking to Zeroth," said Relena casually. Trowa looked to Heero, who grinned smugly and said

"Oh, did I forget to mention that Relena can Hear all dragons within her vicinity?" he said.

"No, you didn't," said Trowa. "Just as you also didn't mention that she has five young fire lizards as well."

"I only just found out about them," said Heero. "And believe me, I was just as surprised as you are."

"Would you two mind not talking about me as if I weren't in the same room as you?"

"Sorry," said Trowa readily. "I'm not as adept at manners as are some of my friends. As soon as Heero is well, he'll have to introduce you to the rest of our company. Until then, I've got a sister to attend to."

"Bye," said Relena absently as he walked out the door. He attention was already soley upon Heero again. Those bandages of his needed to be changed again and she should get another look at the wound the ensure that it was healing properly and allow it to breathe some. She bent over the side of his bed and started removing his shirt.

"What are you doing?" inquired Heero, looking up at her rather like a tunnel snake in a rope-trap.

"I'm removing your shirt," she said as if it should be obvious. When he moved to stop her she looked at him severly and said "I have to get a look at your threadscore and to do that I have to take your shirt off. You don't have anything I haven't seen before." It was a boldfaced lie, but she wasn't about to let him know that. He had a lot that she hadn't seen before.

Heero stopped resisting and Relena removed the shirt as gently as she could. There was a small intake of breath on her parthe had an amazing chest! Washboard stomach, there wasn't a single ounce of fat on his muscled frame. She hid her blush by turning to go and get the bandages lying on the table.

"That bad huh?" his deep voice rumbled behind her, sending chills up her spine which she quickly supressed.

"Oh...no. It's just, um, sympathy pain," she lied. Were she have been looking at him right at that moment, she would have seen him smile knowingly to himself.

"Of course," was all he said.

The silence drew out as Relena deftly unwrapped his bandages so she could examine his threadscore wound's healing progress. Then as gently as she could she applied more numbweed salve to the wound and wrapped it back up with fresh bandages. She offered him another dose of fellis which he declined.

"I'm keeping you from your rest," he said.

"Oh, that's alright. I'll just stay here until you fall asleep, then I'll go find somewhere for me to get some sleep."

"I insist. You've been through a lot and there are still dark circles under your eyes,"he said.

"Alright then, I will do so if you promise to stay in bed and get some more rest."

"You have my word," he said. Relena nodded, and with a final look at him turned and left the room to go seek her own bed. As soon as she was gone, Heero closed his eyes, intending to get some more sleepuntil his dragon suddenly said

-She slept here with you, you know.-

Heero put a pillow over his head to block out the tantalizing images that little tid-bit brought up in his mind.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *