Cleft Warren #73
03/29/98

Someone To Listen

B`rand was already gone when she came awake hours later, but had left 
a light burning so the bedroom wasn't totally dark.

He remembered, she thought as she scooted to the side of the bed and 
moved so that she was sitting on the edge.

With her left hand she smoothed back the tangles of blond hair that 
hung down in her face, and made a note to herself to see about having 
it trimmed. Just a bit, as B`rand liked her hair long... and so did she.

She got up and wondered around the room, stopping in front of the 
mirror and there her eyes came up to take a look at herself. 

But she didn't really see herself standing there. Her mind was on the 
events that happened earlier... when she had attacked the rogue rider
 ....

<My rider, Syren said her rider wishes to speak to you.>

<<Now?>> Lenna asked knowing full well Blanchie wouldn't have told her 
about the meeting if it hadn't been now.

<No...next week should be fine,> the purple replied dryly. <Should I 
pencil in an appointment say a week from today?>

<<Not funny.>> Lenna replied as she turned away from the mirror and 
walked to the closet. 

Minutes later, dressed and at lease partially awake, she mounted 
Blanchie and asked her to take them down to the green.

She was hesitant as she walked towards her old friends office. No... 
the Warrenlady's office. This time she wouldn't be going there as a 
friend. This time she'd screwed up and was about to be called on the 
carpet for it. 

She knew Cynthia would have to punish her for her behavior earlier, 
but felt she'd been punished enough lately with being stuck on the 
milk run for the last few months, and not allowed to do the duties 
she had sworn to do when she joined with her dragon. 

But then she didn't think Cynthia would see it that way.

"Come in," Cynthia called.

"You wanted to see me?" Lenna asked as she stepped through the door. 
She already knew darn well why she had been called in here. But wasn't 
going to bring it up herself. 

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you about H'riol."

Lenna looked at the floor for a moment.  "Everyone thinks that I can't
possibly be sure that he was there. I couldn't see his face in the Med
Center, but I'm sure that wasn't the first time I'd been near him.  He
was involved, somehow."

"I know that you want to believe that, but I, too, have a hard time
convincing myself that you're right. Even if he was there, your behavior is
still inexcusable. To attack him like that..."

"And how do you think I felt!  Alone in that cold, damp cave waiting to 
die or be rescued.  Do you think that's okay to subject someone to?" 
Lenna shouted. 

Didn't any one care to understand how she had felt? Didn't they care 
that what had happened to her had left her with the nightmares that 
still haunted her to this day? 

Cynthia stood and walked around her desk to put her arm around Lenna. 
Lenna let her without moving away. 

"Lenna, what happened to you was terrible, but you have to get over it. 
Have you ever talked to anyone about it?"

"B'rand and I have talked about it," Lenna replied. But didn't tell her 
how B`rand had laughed at her when she had told him. 

"That's a start, but I want you to talk to S'lomon.  He may be able to 
offer you some suggestions for dealing with it."

"Fine...whatever," she said slowly just to get it over with. There was no
way in hell she was going to talk to the healer about this. Not with the
treat of being taken off patrols until he thought she was *cured*. 

That was the *last* thing she needed right now. No she knew what she did
need and it was getting *off* the milk run and back into action. Once she
was flying again things would get back to normal.

It hit her just then that maybe this was WHY she had been put on this
assignment. Not because she had done anything wrong... but because someone
had *mistakenly* thought she needed some time away from her duties to get
over the events that had taken place when she'd been kidnapped. 

It made some sense... but instead of helping her get over it.... it had 
only severed to keep reminding her of it. She NEEDED to get back out on
patrols before she lost what little nerve she had left.

After leaving the Warrenlady's office... who had become Cynthia again...
Lenna has Blanchie talk to Azure and see if her rider was free.

When she arrived at the dining hall, she spotted her friend sitting at a
table with her twin. 

Having second thoughts about interrupting them she was about to go when
Lonnie looked up and saw her. She saw him turn to Katrina and then the 
girl turned towards her and waved her over.

"How you doing sis?" Lonnie asked when she had taken a seat and placed her
plate on the table before her. 

"Just got chewed out my Cynthia over what I did today," she smiled weakly 
at them both and took a sip of her tea.

"Oh and what sort of punishment did she come up with for you to." Lonnie
grinned.

"And how will I be involved this time?" Kat's face took on a woebegone
expression, almost afraid to ask.

"She hasn't decided yet," Lenna shrugged. "But if I keep my nose clean 
for a while maybe she'll forget."

"She may... but I don't know if D'arcon will," Katrina told her. "I've 
heard from a few people he's been asking questions about you. Trying to 
find some dirt I think. You be careful of him."

"I'm not worried about him," Lenna lied with a wave of her hand. "There's
nothing out there for him to find to use against me. But it might be a 
good thing if it takes up some of his time on the wild gooses chase."

"Just be careful Lenna," Lonnie picked up on Kat's warning. "There's
something I don't like about that man even if he is a rider, and he 
could cause you some problems."

"We'll see," she told them. "But what I wanted to ask you is if you could
talk to Dani for me and see about getting me...us.." she include Kat with
another wave of er hand. "Back on a patrol schedule. I'm going crazy with
nothing to do but ferry Trevor around to new places and then having to sit
there while he measures out the area and draws another one of the endless
pictures he does for each new place. I'm beginning to feel like an old
Auntie who's been put out to pasture."

"I don't know Len... Maybe you should give it some time," her twin said
slowly, letting her see his concern.

"I don't need *time*," she told him in a somewhat heated tone. "I need to
get back out there doing what I was trained to do! I'm NOT some little
hothouse flower who needs to be pampered and patted on the head because I
got an ouchie."

"Nope... she's definitely not a hothouse flower," Kat chuckled to ease 
some of the tension forming. "I tend to agree with her too."

"See!" Lenna turned back to look at her brother. "Kat agrees with me. 
Damnit Lonnie... the longer I'm kept on this nice *safe* little milk 
run the harder it will be for me to get my confidences back on patrol! 
Who ever thought they were doing me a favor by giving me time to deal 
with what happened, missed the mark all together."

"All right... All right... I'll talk to Dani and see what he has to say."

Lenna's eyes lit up and she leaned over to give her twin a hug. "Oh thank
you Bro... I knew you'd help."

"You had better save that hug until we see if my talking to him does any
good," he warned her. 

"It couldn't hurt," Katrina piped up. "Remember to tell him it just might
keep her out of trouble for a while too."

"Oh you're a big help," Lenna laughed. She was already feeling better 
then she had when she'd walked in the hall. "Besides... If they let me 
go back on patrol's then you get out of the milk run too."

"I Know," Kat grinned. "Why do you think I'm agreeing with you."

"Because you're getting tired of having to hear her complain all the 
time." Lonnie quipped and they all laughed.

"Lenna... what happened today?" Lonnie asked a few minutes later. 

She looked up at him and shrugged. "I really don't know. One minute
everything was fine...and the next I was walking into the rogue riders 
room and it was like ...like... well all I kept seeing was the darkness 
from the caves, and .. I just don't know."

"The dreams are back again, aren't they?" Katrina asked and reached for 
her hand. 

Lenna didn't say anything, just nodded her head. 

"When did they come back?"

"Right after Dani brought him in to the med center after we fought off the
wraiths," she told them, t tired to joke about it. "I was doing so good...
hadn't had a dream for sometime and then recently they started up again."

"Does B`rand know?"

She shook her head. 

"I haven't said anything to him about it. He'd only laugh."

"Lenna.. I think you're doing him wrong," Lonnie said soothingly. "I know 
he was worried about you after you told him abut the dreams, but then you
stopped having them and he thought everything was okay."

"Things were for a while."

"You know..."Kat spoke up suddenly as if just coming up with an idea. 
"Maybe we're going about this all wrong."

"What do you mean," the twins turned to look at her and asked, at the 
same time.

The girl blinked and smiled at the twins trick, then went on.

"Maybe the best thing would be to have you go back to the caves and make
yourself go inside and retrace your steps."

Both Katrina and Lonnie saw the blood drain from the blonde's face, but
 Kat went on before she could protest.

"Think about it will you,"  she told them. "What is the scariest part of
your dreams... being in the cave right? Right. So you go back to the scene
of the crime and you face it."

"She may have something there," Lonnie said slowly as he thought about it.
"It's sort of like facing up to your fears and seeing if you're strong
enough to beat them."

She never knew later how she let them talk her into their crazy idea... but
the trip back to the was to tale place in the next few days. 

"The sooner you try... the sooner you can start to really deal with it."
Katrina had remarked after she'd given in and agreed to try. 

------------  

"Hey look I'd love to sit her longer and talk.. but I have to get over to
Thina's house to meet with her and Brisse about mom and pop's joining
party," she turned to her friend. "You're planning on coming too aren't you?
Maybe you can get his brother of mine to clean up for once and join you."

Dan'yar & The (other) Twins
***************************

Diner had gone off without a problem. 

The girl's had felt proud as they showed Brisse the room they had decorated
for the baby and they beamed with pride when she had made a big to-do over
everything they had found to put in it.

"Papa even let us go thought our old baby cloths and I found a little dress
I used to wear to give her," Arly told her, then got it out to show her. 

"And these were my first pair of shoes," Leyean spoke up softly, not wanting
to be left out. "Papa said I could give them to our new baby if I wanted
to.... and I do."

Dan'yar saw the tears welling up in his loves beautiful eyes as she stood
there taking in all the girls were showing her. 

More than anything he wanted this to be for good. To have her living here
with them would make everything in his life complete. 

His daughters... his love... What more could a man ask for out of life. He
wanted to get down on one knee and ask... no beg her to come live with
them.. to be his mate...

But only the though of her needs kept him from acting on his own. He knew
she wasn't ready for that yet and had asked him for some time. He loved her
enough to give her the time she needed. 

"Well be the best big sister any baby could ever have," both girls promised
as they each took one of her hands, and led her back out into the living
area of the apartment.

"Oh I've no doubts about that," Brisse told them and was rewarded by their
smiles. 

They sat and talked for some time until Brisse remembered she was suppose to
meet up with Lenna and Thina to talk about Dan'yar's parents joining day party. 

"Will you be back after you girls finish plotting?" he asked her as he
walked her out to where Tymor was waiting for her. 

[tag Lyn]

----------------  

End of part one.... part two with turner and Kellie about to be started.... 

I'm making you wait John...but not to long...,,,, Turn about is fair game :)
he he he he

****Submitted by: *******

Barbara (a.k.a.

Lenna & Blanchie
Dan'yar & Shinner
Arly & Leyean (The twins)
Lonnie and Meritanth 
Cleft Warren