nny | I have finally lost my mind.

The Narcissus rode low in the emerald water of the port, made ungainly by the unaccustomed weight. Her crew had been forced to moor her farther out than was usual; the harbour was more used to trading ships than to dragon transports and was awkwardly shallow throughout, even for such a delicate ship as this. Transport she may be, but she was a smaller vessel than was usual for the sort, built - as far as such a ship could be - for speed. The deck was wide enough only for one Regal Copper at best, and was more used to lighter weight dragons; now it was more than half filled with the young Kazilik, curled tightly in on herself as she was. The dragon, perhaps, was another reason that they were moored so far from the dock; the workers were unused to dragons and she was a particularly fearsome specimen, made the more terrible by her current temper.

"She will be all right, won't she?"

Mallard, the ship's surgeon, had been with Captain Gibbs long enough to have grown used to how quietly the Captain's ward moved; he barely jumped at all, and was able to recover his composure in short order, laying a hand gently on her arm.

"Ziva has had a tough time of it, Miss Abigail, and I fear it will take her a good while to recover. That she is with us at all is a testament to her strength of character; most dragons cannot be controlled after the loss of a rider, and in her particular circumstances..."

"She should not have seen him hanged," Abigail said angrily, folding her black silk parasol with sharp and decisive motions. "Ari was a - "

Her language, as it often did, made Mallard wonder if a ship was the best place for this young woman to have been brought up. He admonished her gently, and she sent a barely chastened frown his way.

"Well he was. But Ziva did nothing wrong, she should not have been punished for it."

"She asked."

This time the both of them jumped; Anthony DiNozzo, the Captain's first mate, moved on quieter feet than any but the Captain's.

"She did?" Mallard's voice was astonished.

"It was her condition for allowing us to transport her to the breeding grounds after." He shrugged eloquently. "Dragons are crazy."

"Which would be why you followed the Captain to this commission?"

"Dragons aren't the only ones," DiNozzo said with a grin. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to go check on our esteemed guest."

"Oh dear," Mallard said, recalled back to his duty with a start. "And has our Mr McGee managed to settle his stomach at all?"

The face Abigail pulled answered his question adequately.

"It's going to be a long trip," DiNozzo said.