Xander nodded and let her lead the way. But she felt rather uneasy about the whole thing, glancing around a few times to look at everyone they passed. She wasn't sure what was making her feel uneasy, but Calypso picked up on it too.

Get back here. Now. Calypso didn't sound pleased, and she growled, making several fish swim away from her, and startling a few deer as she started to haul herself out of the lake. I want you back here now.

I can't, Xander said. It would take us at least twenty minutes to get back to Lapis, and then a little longer to get back to the lake.

Something is wrong. You feel it. I feel it. I do not wish for you to be there.

I'll come back soon, okay? We just need to talk to some people Faith knows and then we'll come back, I promise.

Faith was uneasy, as well. She couldn't help but feel like they were being watched, and every so often she would glance back over her shoulder to see if anyone was following them.

Faith, something is wrong, Lapis suddenly said. She sounded worried.

What do you mean? Faith asked, concerned. Maybe it wasn't just her.

I don't know, Lapis admitted. But something doesn't feel right. I want you to come back, I want to go home.

I need a little more time, sweetie, Faith said. I need to talk to some people, and then we'll be back and we can go home.

Hurry, Lapis said. She sounded just as uneasy as Faith felt.

I will, Faith promised.

Xander glanced over at Faith, seeing the concern there, and nodded. "Yeah. Something's definitely not right here. How far to the library?"

Little did they know, but they weren't going to make it to the library. Government people had other plans for them.

"Not far," Faith said. "A couple more streets over." She started to walk a little faster. She would feel a bit better once they got inside.

Xander nodded and followed her, walking faster and keeping pace with her, looking around almost nervously. Now she was anxious to get back to the weyr, too.

Faith was looking around nervously, too.

Faith!

Lapis? Faith stopped walking, motioning for Xander to wait. Lapis, is everything okay?

There are people, they keep getting closer, they keep wanting to know where you are-- Lapis sounded panicked.

Lapis, sweetheart, calm down. We're coming back. Take off, go somewhere else, I'll let you know when we get outside the city again. She turned around and looked at Xander. "We have to go back, there are people harassing Lapis, something's really wrong."

Xander tensed, watching two men approaching them, dressed unobtrusively. "Too late," she murmured, turning slowly to find four more men approaching them, each of them wearing sunglasses, looking very serious.

Calypso, get some of the other dragons, tell them what's going on. Then Xander let Calypso see what she was seeing, a neat trick they'd come up with while they were traveling.

"We need you two to come with us," one man said, stopping right in front of them. He was a good six inches taller than both of them.

"I'm sorry," Faith said, "we're kind of in a hurry to get somewhere..." She trailed off, slightly distracted, as she moved to try to get around him. All she wanted to to was get back to her dragon. Lapis hadn't said anything else to her, but Faith could very clearly feel her partner's anxiety and stress.

"We insist." The man pulled out his government ID badge and showed it to the two of them. "Now, please. Or we will have to escort you by force."

Xander's eyes narrowed but she didn't protest. She knew they were serious about the escorting by force thing. She'd had it happen before, and it was not very fun.

Faith hesitated. She desperately wanted to get back to Lapis, to make sure her dragon was safe and sound and out of danger.

"Why us?" she asked. "What's going on?" Even as she spoke, she kept glancing in the direction of where she left Lapis.

"Because," the man said calmly. "Dragonriders are no longer allowed in the city."

Xander paled a little at that but glared fiercely at the men around them, already debating their chances of getting away if they ran for it.

Faith paled as well. She didn't know how the men were able to tell that she and Xander were dragonriders, but there was no sense in denying it, not when they could easily have something horrible done to Lapis.

"What do you want with us?" she asked. "We're not causing any trouble."

"We want you to come with us," the man said, still very calm. "Or we will have to force you."

Xander glared at him, unwilling to go. But she didn't want Lapis to get hurt, either.

Faith hesitated a moment longer.

"As long as you can promise nothing will happen to Lapis, I'll go with you," she said after a moment.

"Of course." Two men flanked them, one behind them, and steered them towards a car. The back door was opened and the girls ushered inside.

Xander sat as far away from them as she could get, glaring at them all (except Faith) and resisting the urge to run like hell.

Faith kept looking out the car window, as if trying to see her dragon.

Are you okay, my lovely? she asked Lapis.

There are people around me, Lapis replied. She definitely still sounded scared, and Faith couldn't blame her.

I told you to fly away, Faith said.

I was going to! But then they surrounded me and threw ropes over me, and I can't get free. That worried Faith. She didn't know what else they had planned to do to Lapis.

Don't cause any trouble for them, alright? she said. I'm doing my best to get you out of there so we can go home again.

Alright, Lapis said. Please hurry.

I will, I promise.

They drove out to the very edge of town, where no one lived and it was all warehouses and empty buildings. They parked inside one of these buildings, ushering the girls out.

"This way," the leader said, walking briskly towards a trap door in the center of the building. Xander started looking for other ways out, suddenly a whole lot more nervous.

Faith bit her lip and looked around the warehouse. It seemed empty, but that didn't mean anything, and she would feel so much better if Lapis was with her. Even if the dragon wasn't full-grown, it still took a lot of backbone to want to tangle with a creature that size. Logically, she knew there were more things than she cared to think about that could happen to Lapis, even if she was there, but Faith would still feel more comfortable if they weren't separated. She glanced at Xander, nervous.

The leader went down the staircase leading down underground, and the others tried to herd them towards the door.

Xander bolted, making a mad dash for the other end of the warehouse. One of the men grabbed Faith so she couldn't follow while the others ran after Xander, yelling at her to stop.

She made it half-way up to the window set near the roof before one of them got a taser and used it on her. She jerked and fell onto one of the men.

That was when Calypso started screeching.

Faith winced when her arms were grabbed, but she didn't struggle. She knew she couldn't break free, not with someone so much bigger than her holding on to her. She couldn't help but gasp when Xander was tased.

"No!" she yelled. "Let her go! It's my dragon out there, I'm the one you want! Let Xander go!"

"This is an experiment," the leader said, as Xander was carried down underground. "Now come along. Before I am forced to use this on you as well." He held up the taser threateningly.

Corey jerked in the middle of a game of chess when he heard Calypso screeching and screaming. "The hell...?" he muttered, getting up. All the other riders looked uneasy too, some of the dragons around the weyr taking to the sky and becoming distressed.

Faith hesitated, and then went down the stairs. She was scared, she didn't know what was about to happen, and she didn't want anything to happen to Lapis or Xander.

Ryan jumped as well when he heard Calypso.

"That's not a good sound," he said, getting up from the table. "Maybe we should go see what's going on."

The man led them down a plain hallway to a plain room, white walls with bunk beds, a sink and toilet in one corner, and a one-way mirror. Xander was dumped on the bottom bed, and Faith ushered in after her before the door slammed shut.

Corey nodded and headed outside, along with most of the rest of the weyr. Calypso had started keening, having gotten out of the lake and moved to the weyr. She had some bloody scales from moving too quickly out of water, and she was clearly distraught, swinging her head around, her tail lashing as she looked for her rider.

Corey looked over at Ryan, his eyes wide. "Please tell me you have some idea what to do, because I've got nothing."

Faith had a pretty good idea that the mirror was a one-way window. It wasn't hanging on the wall like a normal mirror would be; it was embedded in the wall instead. She ignored it for the moment, going over to check on Xander. She wanted to make sure her friend was okay.

Lapis was keening softly, out where she was tethered to the ground. She was scared, and worried about her rider, and she had no idea if anything bad was about to happen to either of them. She tugged on the ropes, trying to see if any would give or even break. It was worth trying, but the ropes seemed unusually strong, and didn't give at all.

"I might have some idea," Ryan replied. He carefully stayed out of range of Calypso, and glanced over when Yue came out of her eyrie to see what was going on. Good, I was just about to call you.

What is wrong? Yue asked.

We don't know, Ryan replied. Could you see if you can get through to her and find out?

She is clearly distressed, Yue stated. Ryan sent her a feeling of 'yeah, no kidding.' Yue didn't respond to that, instead going a bit closer to Calypso without getting within range of the lashing tail. Calypso, tell me what is wrong or the humans cannot fix it, she said. She stated it outright, not wasting any time on dancing about the subject.

My Xander, Calypso said, turning her focus to Yue. They hurt my rider. They knocked her unconscious. Now she's somewhere I can't get her, and I can no longer see her. She keened, low and sad and so pained many of the humans around them winced.

Corey looked over at Vyren, and the dragon carefully moved over closer to Calypso. When she didn't try to bite his head off immediately, he moved closer to offer comfort, or support. She didn't turn him away.

Meanwhile, the government people were observing Lapis and Faith separately, already thinking of ways to test the bond.