I had it thought silly when I packed it, but was now suddenly very glad I had it. I appraised myself in the mirror and realized that my bra straps wou...d not hide under the dress straps, and it showed under the arms, and was visible in the back. Oh well. The bra would have to go, I thought with a little giggle, and shimmed out of it. I considered my damp panties, and decided the thong I’d thrown in the bottom of the bag would leave less panty lines. As I pulled the clean panties on, I slid one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~XerathalasiaThrumming notes and Chaun's voice stirred me out of my grief. His music sounded the alarm. It reverberated almost like a trumpet in my thoughts. I sniffed, my ears wiggling, as I looked up and saw through bloodstained eyes.The dragon.She towered over us, a moving fortress. So immense, filling her cave. Her tail swung, battering through the piled wealth at the back as her claws and jaws tore at Angela. The knight looked so tiny before the dragon, holding. Tina looked at him, realizing that there was something he knew that he wasn't telling."Okay, what is it?" she asked."What's what?" asked Ken, with a completely innocent look on his face.Cindy and her father slipped into the (for once) light traffic around LAX, heading to their house. They chatted about various things -- her dad asking how she was doing in school and her asking about how work was. He didn't give her any hint about the news he had to give her, and Cindy kept wishing he'd tell. Madison was waiting for me; I'd called ahead to let her know when I was down the road a piece. When I pulled up, I have to confess I sat and stared at her for a minute. She looked tall, though just how tall was hard to tell because of the expensive looking western straw hat she had on (I later found out she was a couple of inches under my six foot). Long curls of strawberry blonde hair leaked out of the hat swirling down around her shoulders (some months after that I found out she wasn't dying.