(Date: March 14)

“Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream
I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been
To sit with elders of the gentle race, this world has seldom seen
They talk of days for which they sit and wait and all will be revealed…”

Ahmed’s bed drifted through the stars while the music surrounded him. He sensed he was right on the edge of discovering the secret for which he had been searching so long. But what secret was it? If he could understand that he felt he would understand everything…

“All I see turns to brown, as the sun burns the ground
And my eyes fill with sand, as I scan this wasted land
Trying to find, trying to find where I've been…”

He could see it all too clearly, this wasted land which had once been his home. Where he had laughed with his bride in the darkness of their room, where he had run through the orchards in pursuit of his shrieking, laughing children. Where he had stood with his father at sunrise on his eighteenth birthday, hearing a truth he had never known before…

"Oh pilot of the storm who leaves no trace
Like thoughts inside a dream
Who hid the path that led me to that place
Of yellow desert stream."

"My shangri-la beneath the summer moon
I will return again.
Sure as the dust that floats high in June
When movin' through Kashmir."

The pulsing beat of the music echoed the pounding in his head. “Let me take you there, let me take you there…” He woke up gradually, his bed spiraling down though the stars, back to the room where he lay. The music took a few seconds more to die away completely. It was a Muggle tune, one that had stuck in his mind when he first heard it because it was named for his homeland. The homeland which for him, no longer existed…

As the music faded away he realized  he had only been dreaming. In some ways that was a relief, but it was also a disappointment. He had been so close to discovering…what?

Sighing, he settled back on the pillow. And realized immediately that he’d moved too quickly, as the room spun round and round before his eyes. He closed them, and after a moment the spinning stopped. Cautiously, he opened his eyes again. So far, so good…

Several times during the night the Mediwitches had wakened him, then given him a potion to let him sleep again. So…most likely he’d gotten a concussion. But where had it happened? Ah yes..that trendy club in Diagon Alley, what was it called? Calaveras…yes that was it. The name meant Skulls, as he recalled. Oddly appropriate, in his present circumstances. Though he supposed things could be worse.

 So long as his head could still hurt this much, most likely he would live…

Clothes

What are the extent of your injuries? Have you experienced a fever? How about an unnatural longing for raw meat? Kia rolled a few of her interview questions around in her head as she deftly navigated the halls of the first floor, dodging green robed healers that were rushing from room to room. She knew this hall and the healers routines like the back of her hand. After all, she had spent quite a bit of time here over the years, some of which for her own wounds and occasionally her fathers, but mostly to visit her brother after his attack and now because of his job. Ironically, as well as she knew the place, she knew almost none of the people aside from her brothers boss, whom she only knew by name. They were just faceless limegreen blobs, which normally was perfectly fine with her. Except for today. Today she had to find one of the victims of the Direwolf attack and none of the blobs would talk to her. Where was Kale when you needed him?

"Whats with that getup? Doesn't seem very conducive to  Werewolf hunting..." A voice said loudly in her ear, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. Her fist snapped backwards instinctively and would have caught Kale in the nose had he not expected it and dodged at the last moment. She glared at him, more out of habit then out of anger, and he laughed as he fell into step with her. "So whats the ocassion? I haven't seen my big sis for... what... like 2 months now?" He asked, eying her folders "Something to do with those attacks I bet..."

"Yeah... Apparently a big part of my job is dealing with victims..." Kia said, a hint of irritation in her tone. He laughed "Who the hell thought that was a good idea?". She smirked and punched him lightly in the arm "Piss off... I am not that bad..." She hissed, but she knew that it was true. Paitent interaction had never been her strong suit, which was why she hadn't become a healer like Kale. Kale was good with people, Kia was good with animals. Animals didn't talk back to you or expect you to talk to them, and most importantly, they didn't make fun of you. If she was lucky, she could just ask the questions she had prepared and be done with it. Maybe the guy would be so drugged up that he would want the same. If only she was so lucky.

"So who is this victim?" Kale was saying as she came out of her thoughts. Glancing at the folder clutched in her arms she shrugged a little "Kabir... Ahmed... around 40 years... Middle Eastern..." She started to read off until Kale raised his hands with a chuckle "I just needed a name, not a life story... I know the guy though... he's down the hall..." He jerked his head towards the end of the hallway, indicating that Kia should follow him. They walked the rest of the way in silence, as was customary for the two of them, until he came to a stop at a door marked 'Ahmed, Kabir". "Here you go... Be nice." He said, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and planting a kiss on her temple. She swatted at him in annoyance "... I am always nice. It's other people that are mean..." She said with a small smile before she slowly opened the door and entered, leaving Kale in the hall.

"Mr. Ahmed?" She said softly as she approached the bed. The scene was frighteningly similar to the day she entered her brothers hospital room, with the exception that the man wrapped up in gauze was older, hairier and darker then Kale. He seemed a little out of it, so Kia quietly took a seat on the chair next to the bed and said just a little louder "... Mr. Ahmed? My name is Kiana Ferris... I am with the WCU... Do you feel up to speaking with me about the attacks?"

”Mr. Ahmed?” A soft voice murmured.

Ahmed winced. It was not that the newcomer spoke too loudly, nor that her presence was unwelcome. It was just that he had to turn his head to look at her, which hurt and made him dizzy all over again. The Healer had assured him that this would soon pass.  He said that in fact, had Ahmed not already suffered damage to his nervous system from the Runespoor attack, he would most likely have been released after a night’s observation in the hospital.

They also told him he had sustained a severe concussion and would most likely not be up to snuff for at least a week. Perhaps longer, the Healer made a point of adding, if there was a repeat performance of Ahmed’s last stay; when he left before he was sufficiently healed …

Ahmed scowled. Mild though it was, the reprimand did not sit well. Of course it didn’t help that he knew he deserved every word of it. He sighed.  Irritability, he reminded himself. One of the symptoms of a concussion...

“Mr. Ahmed? My name is Kiana Ferris... I am with the WCU... Do you feel up to speaking with me about the attacks?"

“The WCU?” Ahmed asked. “Isn’t that the outfit Bagnold runs?” If he sounded less than impressed with Kurby Bagnold it must be confessed that the feeling was entirely mutual. They had come close to taking their disagreement out of the Ministry and into the nearest alley.

On the other hand...if Kurby was this young lady's boss maybe he was smarter than Ahmed gave him credit for. Ahmed's vision was a little off...another effect of his injuries...but he could still see well enough to notice that her eyes were quite striking. And there was something subtly...different about her looks. As if perhaps she was of mixed ancestry. Like himself...

“Yes, Miss Ferris…of course. I’ll be glad to tell you what I can. I…don’t remember all that much though.  Everything happened so fast…”

Looking more closely, he noticed the necklace she was wearing. "Erm...excuse me. Is that some sort of...a tooth?"

“The WCU? Isn’t that the outfit Bagnold runs?”

She shouldn't have been surprised that was the first thing he asked, since Kurby, despite his attempts otherwise, was a quite well known public figure thanks to his... unconventional leadership. The irritation in his voice was also not surprising. A lot of people had less then stellar opinions of her boss, including herself. She barely contained the smirk and throaty chuckle that followed, bowing her head and looking off to the side. "That's... the one..." She said, a sigh in her voice.

When she looked back up at him, he was staring at her. Though it probably was because he was squinting to make out her face, his gaze was rather offputting. Something about the ferocity of those gold flecked eyes made her feel naked, but not necessarily the way she normally felt when being stared at. It actually made her flush a little and lose train of thought.

“Yes, Miss Ferris…of course. I’ll be glad to tell you what I can. I…don’t remember all that much though.  Everything happened so fast…”

"Oh...Oh yes, of course..." She muttered, snapping back to attention. She hastily begin to shuffle together her papers in an effort to find the question sheet she had conveniently misplaced, thankful for a reason not to look at him. She could feel his gaze still resting on her and she nervously begin to toy with the pendant around her neck. She finally located her question sheet and was prepared to ask him the required questions as quickly as possible when he suddenly changed the subject.

"Erm...excuse me. Is that some sort of...a tooth?"

"Mm?" She said, confused, before it dawned on her that he was speaking about the pendant she was fingering "Oh.. Oh this? Yes." She was prepared to just leave it at that, but something pushed her to go on despite herself. "A couple months ago, my father and I were hired to rid a village in Bolivia of a rogue dragon... And my father had this made as a reminder of it..." She looked down at the necklace with a small smile gracing her lips, running her thumb across the mirrorlike black surface "... It got him a job over there with the Brazilian Ministry... Which gave me a chance to join the WCU like I planned..." She realized she was letting on more than she should and quickly went stiff, her smile fading as she cleared her throat with a cough.

As a trained policeman, Ahmed could hardly fail to notice the smirk and chuckle that followed his mention of Kurby Bagnold. "That's... the one..." she said with a bit of a sigh. Ahmed could readily sympathize.

He was definitely staring at Ms. Kiana Ferris. True, this was partly because it was hard to focus his eyes; but it was equally true that Ms. Kiana Ferris was not at all hard on his eyes once he got them focused. Her eyes in particular drew his…they were such a striking blue, so light against her dark skin. And they were so amazingly expressive. Almost feral; as though she were as wild as the creatures she hunted. Thinking of that, he found his gaze drawn irresistibly to her lips. So full…so...so tempting.

When she looked away, flushing a little, he was thoroughly ashamed of himself. “You are twice her age,” he reminded himself,  “and you are probably frightening her.” When he used to look at his late wife with such thoughts in mind, she had laughed and said he was looking at her the way the Garuda would look at the Naga. Of course they were of an age, so that was different…

Forcing himself back on track, he agreed to answer her questions.

"Oh...Oh yes, of course..." Ms. Ferris said, shuffling her papers and toying nervously with the pendant around her neck. He asked about the pendant, not just out of idle curiosity but hoping to make her feel more at ease.

"Mm?" She sounded confused for a moment, then realized what he was asking about. "…Oh, this? Yes." She sounded for a moment as if she was not going to say any more, but it seemed to Ahmed that she wanted to.  And…he wanted her to.

"A couple months ago, my father and I were hired to rid a village in Bolivia of a rogue dragon... And my father had this made as a reminder of it..."  He smiled at the way her fingers lovingly ran over the surface. It was indeed a fine gift, the more precious because it came from her father. He felt a small pang at the thought, greatly missing his own father…

"... It got him a job over there with the Brazilian Ministry... Which gave me a chance to join the WCU like I planned..."

She suddenly seemed to feel that she was talking too much, coughing as if she was embarrassed. When her smile faded, half the light in the room went with it.

Ahmed didn’t consciously realize this, of course. He just thought he wanted to know more about the dragon. “Bolivia?” he asked. “So…that would be a Peruvian Vipertooth? That must have been a handful. Where I come from there aren’t that many dragons left. But in the mountains around my school…Shambala…there is a family of  Chinese Fireballs.” He smiled. “They look quite ferocious… but they are actually very gentle creatures. Chinese wizards revere them because of their golden eggs…they use the rinds in longevity potions. But no Chinese wizard would ever harm one, or steal the eggs. They wait for them to hatch…”

Now his eyes blazed with a feral light of their own, making him definitely resemble the Garuda. “Fireballs are on the Magical Endangered Species list, as you probably know. Because...smugglers have no such qualms as the Chinese wizards.”

This angered Ahmed because he had spent most of his time on the northern border tracking such smugglers. In the process he had seen far too much of human greed and cruelty, and he had deep feelings for all wild creatures, magical or not.

She was surprised when he mentioned the Peruvian Vipertooth. Most people in the European area didn't recognize many dragons outside the ones domestic to their areas, like the Welsh Green or the Norwegian Ridgeback. It required either a lot of traveling or a real love of Dragons to remember names let alone specific body parts. This brought the smidgen of a smile back to her face as she nodded lightly and murmured "That's right...". There was a hint of admiration in her tone, though one would have to be looking quite hard to find it.

He begin to talk about Chinese fireballs and Kia nodded along, listening intently. Normally she wasn't big on talkative people, but when it came to a subject she liked, she could listen all day. She, herself, had never had the pleasure of seeing a Chinese Fireball aside from the books her father had, so she found herself quite enthralled in what he was telling her. Her normally placid expression begin to form little signs of emotion, as it was apt to do when discussing her favorite topics, starting with a small smile as he described the dragons relationship with the Chinese Wizards and morphing into a frown of disgust when he started to talk about poachers. Poachers and rogue werewolves, the two things Kia hated the most in the world.

"Poachers should be ak'd" Kia said, her voice surprisingly vehemenant. When she did show anger, it was usually quite pronounced and this time was no exception. "... Dragons are amazing creatures... and they just chop them down like they are grass, like they grow a knut a dozen..." She fumed, her pale blue eyes stormy with a ferocity that matched his golden ones. Looking away, realizing that she was probably making a bad impression, she managed to put a bridle on her fury. "I'm sorry... It's a touchy subject for me... I hate people like that." She begin to play with the pendant again in an attempt to calm down.

"My father and I only took this one down because she was nested so close to a defenseless town and was attacking the villagers... and that is the only reason..." She said firmly, wanting to clarify that she wasn't one of those sorts of people "... We took its eggs to the reserve there and my father is helping raise them... Hopefully he can release them somewhere safe... though poaching is even worse in South America. Their venom is highly prized afterall..." At this she trailed off, her slowly waning anger leaving her uncertain of what else to say.

Colonel Kabir responded to Kia's faint smiles and to the admiration in her voice, though he didn't do this consciously. He needed very little encouragement when it came to talking about  dragons. As a student he used to see them floating on the wind above the Hidden City; and since this was rare even among the people of Shambala, the  monks who ran the school told him he had an affinity with magical creatures and was destined to be their advocate. And so it had come to be. Yet for all his years  of tracking poachers, Ahmed had never succeeded in catching them with any live animals. By the time he arrived it was always too late; though he'd had one memorable experience involving a Yeti who turned the tables on the poachers...

"Poachers should be ak'd,” said Kia, to probably the only person in wizarding Britain who would associate the letters AK not with an Unforgiveable Curse but with a firearm. But then as a military offier,  Colonel Kabir not only knew what an AK-47 was, he had earned a medal in marksmanship. "I'm sorry... It's a touchy subject for me... I hate people like that."

“Don’t apologize. I quite agree with you. Particularly since I’m certain it was people like that who tried to kill me when I first arrived in England.” He smiled faintly. “As for AK-ing poachers…I must confess I have sent a few of them running for the rocks, up in the border passes. Though personally I prefer a Kalashnikov…”

Ms. Ferris seemed worried he might take her for a poacher. She need not have worried. No matter how attractive he  found her, had he even remotely suspected her of poaching he would never have told her about the Chinese Dragons, nor mentioned Shambala. But far more important than her exotic looks was that in Kiana Ferris he recognized a kindred spirit.

“My father and I only took this one down because she was nested so close to a defenseless town and was attacking the villagers... and that is the only reason...We took its eggs to the reserve there and my father is helping raise them... Hopefully he can release them somewhere safe... though poaching is even worse in South America. Their venom is highly prized afterall..."

He scarcely even noticed her voice trailing  off, so excited he was at finding someone who shared his passion for untrammeled nature. “How in the name of Ganesh,”  he asked, “did you ever take down a Peruvian? From what I understand they are not all that large…but taking one on would be like attacking a buzz-saw with legs…”