Belle nodded and started walking, D'Alerian going ahead to make sure there would be no unexpected obstacles, and Eclipse staying with her. She continued walking and chatting with Andy until about noon, when she stopped.

"Okay, I think I'm ready for a break. What about you?"

Andy nodded.

"A break sounds good," she said. "Anything to put this bag down." She grinned "It's like I'm back in high school again, except I'm not hauling around text books anymore."

"Ha! I know, right? Instead of textbooks it's living supplies." Belle dropped her bag and stretched out, rolling her shoulders again. "Ah well. Luckily we can always foist them off on someone else for a few hours if we get too tired."

After cracking her back and her neck, Belle looked around. "I'm gonna go find D'Alerian. I'll be back in a few." She started through the woods as quickly as she dared to go find the dream god. At least until she was intercepted, and then she didn't do anything but pass out.

Minutes passed, and Andy started to get uneasy. Where was Belle? Picking up Belle's bag, Andy started into the woods to look for her. She couldn't have gotten too far, right? It had only been a few minutes, after all... That was the last thought to cross her mind before she passed out.

When Belle woke she was on a cot on the floor of a 15 by 10 by 10 room she was sharing with Andy. All she had were her clothes; her bishiballs and her pack were gone, and no amount of searching found them.

Moving over to Andy, she shook the elder's shoulder lightly. "Andy? Hey, Andy. Wake up!"

Andy woke slowly, blinking in the light.

"What happened?" she asked, sitting up. Her hands automatically went to her belt, looking for her bishiballs. She sat up, panicking a bit when she didn't find them. Quickly, she patted down her pockets. All of her stuff was gone.

"I don't know," Belle said softly, worried. "I mean, I was just walking and trying to find D'Alerian and next thing I know I'm here." She was silent for a few moments.

"I guess someone kidnapped us and took our stuff. Why, I don't know, and I don't think I'll find out. But it's kinda frustrating." She frowned and looked around the room, testing the only door to find it was securely locked.

"We would know if they were too far away, I guess," Andy replied, her mind whirling. "But our bishies have to be in their bishiballs, otherwise the walls would have been knocked down by now, at least by Temeraire or Lien... I mean, how many powerhouses do we have between us? A lot?" Andy knew she was babbling, but she couldn't help it. She was worried and panicking.

"Yeah. I guess they must be stuck," Belle said softly, looking around. "Well, we know they're not more than three miles away, right? Otherwise we'd feel it. So they have to be somewhere pretty close." She sighed and shook her head. "I just don't know where. I can't tell how far away they are."

"God, my boys must be worried sick," Andy murmured. Her hands kept going to her belt, trying to find bishiballs that weren't there. She wasn't used to being so alone anymore. She'd always had at least Sess with her since she was sixteen, although it seemed like longer. Her brain kept throwing bits of information at her from what she knew about hers and Belle's bishies, but none of it really seemed relevant or even really coherent.

Belle looked up when she heard footsteps in the corridor beyond the door. She froze in place, motioning for Andy to be quiet too. The door opened a few moments later and a young man with plain brown hair and bright blue eyes entered, lab coat swirling around his knees.

"Oh good, you're both awake," he said with a pleasant smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Who are you?" Belle demanded. "Why are we here? What happened?"

"Definitely awake," the man muttered, nodding to himself. "And in a bit of a snit, too. My, my."

"Well, forgive us for being a bit touchy," Andy retorted as she stood up. "Our day kind of tanked when we woke up here." She knew it probably wasn't a good idea to fall back on dry sarcasm, but she couldn't help it. It was her default setting with she was upset, and this definitely qualified.

"Hmm, yes, I suppose so," the man murmured. "Well, fear not. Your bishis are safe, and you two won't really be harmed. We just need some blood, maybe a few little tissue samples..."

"For what?" Belle put her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you that."

"Because THAT doesn't sound suspicious at all..." Andy muttered. "And in every sci-fi movie I've ever watched, blood and tissue samples were used in some sort of cloning experiment or something..." She watched the man carefully. "And on the off chance we happen to refuse?"

"Then we will still get what we want but it will not be nearly so pleasant for you," the man said, raising his eyebrows at her.

"So basically cooperate and it goes smoothly, or don't cooperate and you force us?"

"To put it quite bluntly, yes." The man blinked at them both once. "Oh, and we do have your bishis. Sorry, but we can't have you escaping."

Andy sighed.

"Right," she said. She wasn't going to put up much more of an argument; she could tell when she'd lost. She didn't want him to do anything to her bishies, and she wasn't about to try and call his bluff.

"Excellent!" The man beamed. "We'll just take a few little blood samples and then we'll get some lunch for you ladies."

Belle sighed heavily and held out her arm, holding still as he inserted the needle and started to draw blood from her. He even put a little cotton ball over the spot.

"Stay seated for a few moments, and tell me if you get nautious." He turned to Andy. "Your turn, dear."

Andy eyed the needle nervously. She hated needles. She barely even tolerated getting her blood drawn for her bishiballs, and that's when she knew what it was for. Slowly, she held out her arm, trying to keep herself from trembling. She shut her eyes tightly and looked away, trying not to think about the needle.

"So how long have you been here?" Belle asked Andy to help distract her. "I mean, I know that Sesshy is your first, so how long have you two been together?"

The scientist took Andy's blood without a word, covering the little mark with a cotton ball when he was done. Then he got up and left silently to go get them food.

"I arrived just after I turned sixteen," Andy replied, trying not to think about the needle in her arm. "I'm about to turn twenty. Sess was my first catch, and for a while it was just him and I." Andy watched as the scientist left the room. "I nicknamed him Sess instead of Fluffy or anything, because I was never in the habit of stupid nicknames."

"I bet he appreciates that." Belle smiled a little. "I know that, for Ash, there's this one nickname that he's called in the book series by this one character, and it drives him nuts. So sometimes, just to annoy him, I'll call him by it."

"I try to annoy Lucivar, sometimes, because he's got the sense of humor for it," Andy replied. "He's like the fun older brother I never had, which is pretty much how he's portrayed in the books." Andy sat down and settled herself against a wall. "Temeraire is fun to talk to, until he gets to the point of out-smarting me in math. I never should have taught him how to calculate circles, because I have no idea why pi is what it is."

"Math in general is just evil. Evil evil evil." Belle moved over and sat next to Andy. "Lucivar sounds like fun. So does Temeraire. What about, um, Lawrence?"

"Lawrence is Temeraire's captain, aviator, partner, what-have-you," Andy replied. "They literally come as a pair. I actually had to catch Lawrence to catch Temeraire, because it takes one to convince the other of anything. Lien is the same breed as Temmy, but she's albino. Her partner was a Chinese prince who was killed, at least in the books. She's still mad at Temmy about it, because it was indirectly Temmy's fault." Andy shrugged. "She's still my favorite character, though."

A few hours later, after they'd both eaten, Belle laid down on her cot, one arm over her eyes.

"I dunno about you but I don't feel so good," she muttered. "And this headache is getting kinda bad." She opened one eye to look up at Andy.