Andy slid off of Temeraire's back easily right after Sess, who caught her as she slid down. She blushed slightly, but didn't say anything. She did grin when Seth stumbled a bit, though, and held out a hand to help him up.

"You'll get your land-legs back in a minute or so," she said. "The first flight is always the worst. It gets easier from here."

Seth grumbled a bit as he stumbled along with them, shaking just the tiniest bit. "That was cool, but if this happens every time I'd rather ride a horse every time," he grumbled.

Belle couldn't help but snicker. "It gets better, I would think," she said. "The more practice you get."

Andy nodded.

"It gets easier with practice," she agreed. "Think of it this way: Lawrence can get up and walk around and pretty much participate in armed combat on Temmy's back during a flight. So just sitting there is much easier."

Seth shook his head in incredulity. "That is..."

"Rather insane? Hilarious? so far beyond what you think you can do that you can't quite imagine it?" Belle suggested helpfully.


'Pretty much."

"You get used to it," Andy added. "Give it time, you'll eventually get to the point where it's normal."

Seth shook his head a little, taking her word for it, and started walking. "So what do we tell them when we get there?"

"The truth," Belle said quietly. "We haven't done anything wrong, so we just tell them what happened."

"We just need to hope they'll believe us," Andy said. "I mean, it is a fairly far-fetched story, even for here. And considering we already escaped once and didn't say anything..."

Belle nodded. "Well, we can always show them where it is," she said slowly. "Show them the effects. You can't fake something like this. Not really."

"Speaking of," Andy said. "I don't know about you two, but I got dosed again. I don't know how far my distance limit is anymore, and I'm really not keen on finding out."

"Same here," Belle said with a shiver.

"Yeah, I got dosed," Seth said.

"You probably have about two miles left," Belle said, glancing over at him. "That seems to be what happens the first time; you lose about a mile, give or take."

"You're lucky you didn't get tested," Andy added. "So let's try to keep it that way."

Seth nodded, all too eager to agree to that.

"There's the guard. We can ask him," Belle said, walking over to the guard swiftly once she'd spotted him. "Excuse me, do you know where we can find the nearest police or other, ah, authority figure?"

Andy stood with Seth and Sess, willing to let Belle do the talking. The other girl seemed to be doing well enough, and Andy didn't want to end up getting them in trouble or something. With her luck, that's what would happen.

"Thanks," Belle murmured once she had the directions. She showed her bishidex, too, and headed through the gate, waiting for the other two. "Sounded like we could get there fairly quickly," she said. "Should be hard to miss. Big building, red brick, white trim."

"Like that one?" Seth pointed farther down the road.

"Yes. Let's get this over with."

Andy nodded and followed them. She felt a bit apprehensive, but she shook it off. She had to be confident that the police or whoever would actually be able to help them. She felt Sess wrap an arm around her shoulders and relaxed a bit, though she'd relax more once the group was able to set up camp for the night, or to find a hotel room.

Belle started talking to the receptionist quietly, gesturing to herself, Seth, and Andy, and saying they needed to speak to a police officer. The receptionist eyed them for a few moments before nodding and leading them through a hallway toward a set of offices and knocked on one door before opening it.

"Come in," a deep voice told them. "Take a seat. What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Andy hesitated for a moment. She had no idea where to start, or how to explain what was going on.

"Someone's running experiments on trainers again," she finally said.

"Explain." The man leaned forward in his seat, his eyes narrowed.

"Andy and I have been taken once before this," Belle said softly after a few moments. "The scientist drugged us with something that made the limit distance for our bishis shorter. Seth is new here, arrived less than a week ago. A few days ago we were all three kidnapped and injected with this drug again."

"I see." He leaned back slowly. "I would be hard-pressed to believe you, normally, but you are not the first people to come with a story such as this."

"We're not the only ones?" Andy asked. Somehow, that wasn't comforting. "Did any of the others say anything about being forced to test their distance limits with their bishies?"

"Yes, they did mention that," he said, watching them. "Said he took notes, like a scientist would, seemed very cold."

Belle nodded. "Yeah, that's him."

"Anything else you would care to tell me?"

"He said something about wanting to shrink the distance limit to... six yards? Somewhere around there," Andy said. "Just because he could."

The officer nodded. "I see." He frowned, looking thoughtful. "Any chance you lot know where his place is?"

"Yes," Belle said, glancing at the other two.

"Good." The officer rose. "We may have to go investigate this man further."

"It took us half an hour to get here from there, by dragon," Andy piped up. When the officer looked at her, she added, "I have a pair of dragons in my group."

The officer nodded. "Well, you three get some rest," he said. "I'll need to file some reports and such. Come back here tomorrow, early as you can manage, and we'll go find this guy, alright?"

Belle nodded. "Thanks," she muttered, backing out of the office with the others before she left.

"Should we get a couple of rooms tonight, or should we camp out?" Andy asked. "Camping out is free, but a hotel room seems a bit safer, all things considered."