Renata
(just after the dam breaks)
 
>>Bohoc's claw wrapped around him and the tips of trees whipped his back.  
The dragon lifted him to the upper green and dropped him off.  Renata jumped 
off Vega and ran to him.  "What the hell were you thinking!?"
 
>>"We would have never made it."  He looked at her, the rain matted her hair, 
but her eyes, wide with fear and anger, just looked deep into his.  He knew 
she could not deny it.  "I love you."
 
>>He leaned close and kissed her deeply.

     "I love you too!" she whispered hoarsely when their lips had parted.  
She hadn't even realized it fully until just now, when she'd thought he was 
about to die.

     They stood for a moment, embracing each other, not caring who might be 
watching.  She couldn't get the vision of him falling toward the river out of 
her mind, and she couldn't bring herself to let him go.  

     Finally, however, she felt the familiar mindtouch of Vega.  *What is 
it?* she asked.  

     [There is someone who would *really* like to see your friend,] the 
yellow dragon said testily.  Renata and C'aranth both turned to see little 
Jeratko standing in front of Vega.  Well, perhaps "standing" wasn't the right 
word.  The small dragon was trying excitedly to get to his rider, and was 
only kept from knocking both of them down by Vega's tail, which was blocking 
his way.  [Now, if you'll move aside, I'll let this little one go and see his 
rider.]

     Renata didn't want to release C'aranth, but knew she had to.  His bond 
with the dragon took precedence over all else, and she could well imagine 
that Jeratko had been frantic at his rider's near-loss.  She withdrew her 
arms from around him and stepped back.  "I'll be waiting here," she assured 
him, then told Vega to let Jeratko pass.

(Tag Darren - I'd say C'aranth's going to have one very happy little dragon 
on his hands in just a moment!)

*************************

Trissana
(upper green)

     The pearl dragon watched as Bohoc plucked Jeratko's rider from the air, 
stopping what would otherwise have probably been a fatal fall.  [Good catch!] 
she called out.

     Bohoc carefully set the human down, then hurried over to her.  [Are you 
all right?] he asked, concerned.

     [I've been better,] she replied, turning away to cough up a trickle of 
water.  Bohoc helpfully thumped her across the back with his tail.  
[Thanks...I think that's the last of it,] she said, settling down onto the 
ground and letting Bohoc drape a wing across her.  She nuzzled him in return, 
and then sniffed curiously.

     [Is something wrong?] he asked.

     She sniffed again.  [Bohoc...have you been with the new queen, Ayesha?  
I smell her on you...]

     [Well...] Bohoc began.

     [You weren't off cuddling with her while I was gone, were you?] she 
asked before he could finish.

     [I was very worried about you,] he assured her.  [When the other dragons 
could not find you or Syren, I did not know what to think!   I wanted to go 
and look for you, but...]

     The pearl dragon cocked her head.  [Bohoc, are you trying to tell me 
something?] she asked.

     The green dragon sighed, and began to fill her in on what had happened 
prior to her return.  Before he was finished, though, she stopped him again.  
[Let me get this straight,] she said.  [Ayesha rose to mate...and you *won* 
her...and then the two of you went off and *mated?*]

     Bohoc nodded.

     Trissana looked thoughtfully at him for a moment, and then nodded also.  
[Oh...well then, that is all right.  You had me worried for a moment though.  
I was afraid that you were off cuddling with other dragons while I was 
gone...!]

    Bohoc snuggled closer to her.  [I am just glad you are safe.  When my 
rider told me that you had been washed away in the flood, *I* was the one who 
was worried!]

     Her reply was cut off by a piercing mental scream.  Both dragons looked 
up in alarm.  [Varie!!] Triss cried.  Both dragons leaped up and all but dove 
over the cliffside in response to the distress call.  Triss saw the green 
dragon lying half in and half out of the water near the lower end of the 
river where it flowed out of the cleft.  She'd have been washed away entirely 
had it not been for the wall the humans had built on either side of the 
river.  

     Nearby, she saw a group of humans - she recognized Shinner's and 
Tergath's riders among them - pulling Varie's rider from the water.  She 
immediately passed what she'd seen on to her rider, and his response was 
immediate.  *Come get me!!* he said.

     [No!] Bohoc told her.  [The river continues to rise!  If the wall does 
not hold her, Varie will be washed out of the Cleft entirely!]

     Triss knew that he was right, and that it would take both of them to 
rescue her.  [I am sorry, my rider, but I am needed here!  I will pick you up 
as soon as I can!]   Not waiting for a reply, she dove alongside Bohoc.  They 
landed on the edge of the rapidly submerging riverbank, and together managed 
to drag Varie out of the rushing water.

     [Varie!  Are you all right?  Can you hear me?] Triss asked worriedly.

     Varie coughed out a mouthful of water, then lay panting heavily.  
[My...my rider...I can't hear her...!] she said, her mindvoice quivering with 
fear.  Although obviously injured, she rolled over onto her stomach and 
crawled painfully upstream to where, a few dragonlengths away, the other 
humans were trying to help her stricken rider.

     [I think you had better get your rider,] Bohoc said nervously.  [He 
should be here.]

     Triss agreed, and launched herself back up toward the upper green.  

     Varie, meanwhile, tried frantically to call her rider.  But in that 
place in her mind where her rider's presence had always been, there was now 
only a terrible blankness.  [No...my rider...!] she called softly, knowing 
there would be no answer.  She threw her head back and screamed, spreading 
her wings for what would be her final takeoff.

     Overhead, Triss saw what Varie was getting ready to do, and a cold dread 
settled onto her.  But she knew had no right to interfere, even had she been 
close enough to do so.  But then she heard Shinner's frantic cry.  

     [Varie, no!] the copper-green dragon mindshouted.  [My rider says your 
rider is alive!]

     But Varie was too distraught to hear.  She started to spring upward.

     [Bohoc!!] Triss screamed, seeing that the green dragon was the only one 
close enough to intervene.

(Tag Arlene) 

*************************
Trevor
(med center)

     Trevor paced the floor anxiously, every few seconds looking over to see 
if there'd been any movement, any change of expression that would indicate 
that she might be coming around.  He wished Cynthia could be in here with 
him, but S'lomon had been very clear that only one visitor was to be in here 
at a time.  The Warrenlady could have overruled him, of course, but they both 
knew that S'lomon wouldn't put on such a restriction without good reason.  

     He bit his lip, racked by indecision.  He was being selfish, he knew.  
Turner's parents would certainly want to come in and see their son, as would 
his brothers.  But he couldn't bring himself to leave, not just yet.  He sat 
down again in the chair that sat next to the bed, and took her hand.  It felt 
cold and clammy, sending a thrill of fear through him.

     "Mother, can you hear me?" he asked softly, leaning in close to her.  He 
sighed after a moment, having hoped for an answer even if he hadn't really 
expected one.  He clasped her hand more tightly.

     "I'm sorry," he said his voice quavering.  "I always thought...there'd 
be time."  He looked away, brushing a tear from his cheek.  "I wanted things 
to be...the way they should have been between us.  Gods, what a 
disappointment I must have been to you all those years..."  

     He stopped, looking down despondently.  His father had died without his 
son ever having told him that he loved him.  He tried to remember now if he'd 
ever told his mother that same thing.  He couldn't.

     "How many times did you try to reach out to me?" he whispered, as much 
to himself as to her.  "And I never reached back..."

>>She saw Trevor right away when she entered the room and went to him.
Wrapping her arms around him as she would have done to one of her own 
children. 

>>"She'll be okay. You keep believing that young man," she told him as she
drew his head down on her shoulder and stroked his hair.

(Insert the rest of Barb's post here)

     When Danki returned shortly afterward, Trevor was still sitting in the 
single chair that had been placed between the two beds.  He quickly stood up 
and motioned for her to sit.   She nodded and took the proffered seat.  
"Trevor, how are you holding up?" she asked.

     He quirked up a corner of his mouth in an attempt to smile.  "I'm 
holding up," he told her.

     Danki eyed him closely.  "That's good," she said.  "Because that's what 
she needs...for you to be strong for her."

     He shook his head ruefully.  "No, Danki, what she needed was for me to 
be a real son to her, instead of a stranger.  She tried....at Keldarra, and 
now here.  But I...I was always wary of being too close to others."

     "You've changed since you came here, though," Danki observed.  

     "Not enough," he said.  "She wanted us...all of us...to be a family.  I 
didn't...feel like I was ready, not yet.  And...we had all the time in the 
world.  There was always more time..."  He shook his head as he looked down 
at his mother, wondering if her time...and his...had run out.  He turned to 
Danki.  "She can't die...not without my having a chance make things right 
between us."

(Tag Barb)

* * * * * * * *

     S'lomon came in later to examine Kellie.  Though he allowed Danki to 
stay if she wished, he asked Trevor to go outside for a few minutes.  He 
walked out onto the upper green, raising his head to let the fine mist of 
rain cool his face.  Triss was out there with Varie, trying to comfort the 
older dragon, but lifted her head when her rider came into view.

     "Trevor?"

     He turned to see Cynthia hurrying up to him.  He took her into his arms 
and the two of them embraced silently for a moment.  "Trissana told Syren 
you'd come out," she said.  "How are they?"

     "I don't know," he told her.  "Turner will be all right, but mother..."  
He shook his head.  "S'lomon's looking at her now..he said that he hoped to 
be able to tell us something later.  I...really should be in there with 
her..."  He wanted to be with Cynthia too, needed her strength and certainty 
right now.  But he knew, too, that she had responsibilities to the warren as 
well.  For right now, though, it was good just to have her here with him.

Submitted by:

John

Trevor & Trissana
Kellie & Varie
Renata & Vega

Cleft Warren

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