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It was the day after Isabel had locked Daerin in the closet. She felt that every thing was back to normal, except for a very small thing that she had noticed.

Isabel sat in front of her mirror in the closet, where Daerin was braiding her hair. They did this some times when Isabel was expecting to do a lot of work that day, or when she wanted the excuse of his company but not the warmth of his body. "Daerin?" she asked him warmly. She often spoke to him that way, as if he were the sunshine of her days. "I knew you liked braiding my hair, but I didn't think you'd take to braiding your own," she said with a smile. She was probing, but treating it as if it were no big deal. She thought it was just her imagination telling her the braid in his hair was part of a change in him.

Isabel saw his hands stop when he looked at her. She liked having that affect on people. "You're playing games with me," she pouted playfully. Even if it wasn't true, she liked the sound of it now. "Tell me what it means." She looked like she might twist in her seat and mess up his work if he gave her the wrong answer, so that she could look at him more directly.

She let him finish talking in peace.

Then: "Oh, darling," she said, instead of calling him pet. "That's a good promise. I just want you to know that I'm not mad at you any more, and you don't have to be afraid, ok? Come here where I can see you." She could see him just fine in the mirror, but it wasn't the same as facing him.

Isabel was allowed to break regality. Being the one with authority, that was part of her job. She leaned over to kiss the top of his head and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you are ever upset like that again, you might try biting your tongue," she told him with a wink.

Some one knocked on the door to her room, so Isabel stood up. The braids in her hair had been the last thing she needed before being presentable. Still, she checked in the mirror to make sure before signaling to Daerin to get the door.

It was a woman, one of pretty low ranking compared to Isabel. She was wide-eyed and flailing her arms nervously. "There's a wild animal loose!"

Isabel grabbed the small half-moon sword she kept hanging on her wall. It was made to look impressive, but it was also usable in both offense and defense even for some one with less than perfect training or talent. "Where? What is it? Who else have you told?"

"N-no one, Ma'am. I came straight to you."

Isabel sighed. "Then tell my mother. Where is the animal?"

"Well, I-- I didn't rightly see the animal. But one of the rooms is torn to hell! It had to be a big one-- with claws--"

"For goodness sake, woman, just tell me where!" Isabel yelled at her. It probably wasn't an emergency, she knew, but she was mad because in an emergency this woman would get them all killed by panicking.

"The medic tent in the north visitor's quater."

"Go." Isabel glared after the woman as she ran off wringing her hands. "Daerin, if you're up to it, I'd like to go see this myself," she told him. She still wasn't sure if her pet was feeling well, and she would need him at his best to put herself in danger. The animal, whatever it was, could still be around.

Isabel grinned. "Maybe it is a feral pet. Maybe the tigers at Gerade Estates got loose," she laughed as she led the way into the hall. "We'll see when we see the room."

They walked across the House. The only sign of commotion had to do with people; people who looked nervous or whispered as they walked by. When they got to the room adjoining the medic tent, where one of the medic assistants stayed, they finally saw what every one was up in arms about. Such rooms were adorned simply, not like Daerin's room; a bed with sheets and a pillow, a small set of drawers for work clothing.

The bed's legs were broken at the foot. The sheets were torn, and there were shallow claw marks in both the dressor and the floor where the bed had broke. Carpenter's dust lay where the dragon's large claws had scraped into wood, but there was no blood any where. It did look very much as if a large tiger had been trapped in there, but there were no claw marks on the frame of the door, the only way out of the room.

Isabel shut them in and began looking at the sheets. She expected Daerin to check the dressor. When Daerin opened one of the drawers, some of the wood dust was already inside. Had it been opened once already, since the incident? Perhaps the maid had done it?

Isabel touched his shoulder as she came near. "What is it?" she asked. She wasn't stupid, but she wasn't trained the way he was, either. "What kind of animal could do this?"