"My Lady." The sibilant, hissing voice rolled up from twenty-seven elongated throats, bounced off the high, domed walls and echoed into oblivion in twenty-seven vary tones of submissiveness. Each one was another gnat gnawing on the hydra queen's already frayed nerves.

"Diamis." Vienna hissed back, her voice holding nothing but disdain for her marked daughter. Her voice was accompanied by the heavy scraping of her thick claws across the blackened earth. Four tails swept across the ground, beating an irregular, deep rhythm into Sistarrist Drakan's poisoned floor. Her constant, restless movement made it possible to clear the air of the vile, green smog that clung to everything. If only for a moment.

Diamis bent her heads to the queen, the Hellish fire of her eyes smothered under her black lids. Black torchlight licked over the dull metal of her three crowns and handful of cracked jewels. The queen enjoyed having the throne room well lit, but there was only so much the black mages could provide. No natural fire would burn here.

"Diamis, my child, I have a task for you." The queen stated without preamble. How she despised being in the company of a demoted beast. Her eyes were continually drawn back to the ugly, scarred stub on Diamis' shoulder. A remnant of her twenty-eighth head. "Gather your Joined and go to the Abstract Destiny. Give them your blood to do with as they will. No matter what it is mixed with, it will provide us with future contacts throughout the Nexus. The Goddess knows your dirtied blood cannot be shamed anymore."

Diamis twitched. As usual, she was being reminded of her failure. Yet who had been the one to send her to the Healing Den in the first place? Who had asked her to spawn? It seemed that producing more bastard offspring was her only purpose in life these days. That and snapping at the mages who worked daily on rebuilding the Lair's lost portals. The faster they worked, the less reason Vienna would have to breath down her neck. At least this most recent request for offspring would get her away from the jeers and taunts of her peers for a few days.

"Of course, my Lady." The Majestic hydra said with silken sweetness in her voice.

To say that Lanix hated travelling was an understatement. He had been born in the foothills of the mountain, raised there, then took a grand total of five days to reach the Warren fifty years later. He liked the Warren. It was safe, secluded and organized. He wasn't required to go on long voyages to find food; his bond was easy to find when he got lost; and his pack was happy with their new den location. Life was good most days.

That particular day, however, was not good. Lanix had been forced to travel outside his nice, quiet home for one reason alone. He was, at that point, glaring at that reason with the force a hundred angry wolverines.

"So where do you wanna go first?" Loki chirped happily as he skipped down the steely pathways of the Abstract Destiny. His thick boots made echoing thuds on each strike, made louder by his uncomprehensible need to skip. One foot would touch tip to floor in a brief, gentle brush, then plant its full weight down to give his body enough lift to get a few inches off the ground, then the other foot would repeat the process. With his hands shoved into his pockets and his long, blue hair swinging freely behind his back, he made quite the odd sight. Even for the Destiny. However, people only really began to stare when they saw the glowering, snarling red dragon snaking after him. A slow, humorous game of cat and mouse.

~I want to go home.~ The red dragon growled into his bonded's mind. ~Now.~

"Oh pfah! That's no fun at all! How about that jewellery place? Draconic Designs or whatever it's called."

~No. I want to go home.~ Lanix sighed, a disgruntled rumbling rolling over in his throat. ~I don't even know why we're still here! You left me a note to pick you up here. Why? I don't know. How did you get here? It's anyone's guess. Now I'm here, I have you, and I want to go home. Understand?~

"But we can't go just yet! I don't know who you're going to be synthed with!" The elf whined, turning a full circle to stare up at his red bond. He thrust out his lower lip and put a watery gleam in his eyes. If he had a tail to tuck between his legs, he would have.

Lanix stopped dead for a moment, an unhealthy chill running through his blood. He lowered his head to Loki's eye-level, fierce green eyes narrowing suspiciously.

~What do you mean "who I'm going to be synthed with"?~ The red dragon whispered dangerously.

"Well..." Loki drew out the single word, scuffing his foot against the hard, metal ground. "You remember when you got scratched up on that one doorway? And I made you go see Dr. Schroeder to make it all better? When I first got here, I asked him if he could add you to the next draconic synthing. I thought it'd be cool!" Loki looked up, a guileless smile plastered onto his face.

Lanix drew back his head, his lips curling up to reveal rows of sharp, white teeth. A growl vibrated low in his chest and his tail boomed against the walls.

~You- me- my blood- and he- you- ~ The dragon sputtered endlessly. He didn't know which he wanted to do first. Eat Dr. Schroeder, or tear his bond into tiny little Loki-shaped pieces.

"Aw, com'on, Lannie!" Loki pleaded, using the red's pet name. "They need some real Hathian blood in this thing! And besides, Ani's been saying that she wants more babies."

~WITH ME!~ The red roared. ~She wants to have more babies WITH ME! Not by some unnamed Nexus floozy! I can't believe you would do this!~

"Oh look! Isn't that Diamis?" Loki pointed down the corridor to the three-pronged tip of a dark crimson tail. Lanix's fury was not only effectively diverted by the unexpected exclamation, but also pushed far to the back of his mind. He could feel the hackles rising on the back of his neck as he watched the back end of the hydra moving further down the corridor.

Instead of mindlessly attacking the hydra, as he was usually wont to do, the red Hathian began to wonder why she was there at all. Not to mention how she'd gotten off Sistarrist Drakan. That place was all but dead now that its portals had been destroyed. So why then was there a hydra on the loose? And why here? She was clearly not around to destroy anything, as she was taking great pains to avoid anyone who came her way. She was not hunting, seeing as all her heads were held high and not a single eye followed the tempting human morsels that passed right under her feet. That uneasy feeling that had begun in his blood spread to the rest of his body within seconds. Something was not right here.

~Come on.~ Lanix growled as he lowered his shoulder to the ground. Not once did his eyes leave the massive, lumbering form of his long-time nemesis. ~We have to go home and tell Mystic about this.~

"Yay!" Loki cried with altogether too much glee. He hopped lightly to his bond's back and wriggled himself into a comfortable position. Such a feat was not easy when the Hathian's spine was rigid with hackles.

The pair made a tight turn in the enclosed hallways of the Abstract Destiny and hastened to get back to Tris'Hath. The synthing was, for the time being, forgotten.

Later on, Doctor Schroeder stood in one of his labs, stroking his chin as he pondered the two samples before him: one vial of fresh-drawn hydra blood, and another, smaller vial of blood "salvaged" from an open, accidental wound--one belonging to the next donor in line to be synthed, who had no care at all what other genetics were added to her offspring, and one with the request to be added to the next immediate synth, regardless of what it was.

Schroeder had been tense from the moment he'd sensed the hydra Diamis aboard his ship, but had refrained from setting security on her as much out of curiosity as the fact that she had not made any threatening gestures towards the crew. (But oh, how the yautjadragons had been frothing at the mandibles!) And now, now he had a fresh sample of pure hydra blood to add to his collection, and free reign to work it in.

He looked at the Hathian sample. Hathians were generally good, noble creatures. Could he possibly temper the hydra demeanor with Hathian input?

Well, Diamis hadn't given him any restrictions or guidelines…. It was worth a shot.