*When Daddy Doesn't See What's Before His Eyes*


"But dad.....!" Arly started and Leyean picked up and finished for her in
the way the twins always seem to speak.

".....It's not fair! Cynthia thinks we could do the job!"

Dan'yar wasn't in that great a mood, Training had been going well, until
Arly had over heard Seth telling another rider about Cynthia's offer and
mentioned that she and her sister were also going to be asked to fill the
same roll.

Then the twins attention seem to wonder and they began to fidget until the
end of the class. Once it was over and they were home, the two of them
confronted him with the news and now were angry with him when he told them
he had decided they were not going to be able to do act as couriers

"I thought we discussed things in this family!" Arly reminded him with a bit
more anger in her tone then she had ever used to speak to her father before.
But since finding out that he had refused to let the two of them fill the
courier job the Warrenlady had wanted to offer them, she was to mad to care.

"Yeah... discuss things," Leyean snorted. "It doesn't seem like he means
when it's about us... only if it's something he wants to do."

Dan'yar hated to see his daughters so angry but he wasn't about to give in.
He knew what was best for them and he meant to stand firm on his decision.
The way they were reacting to the news only made him believe more that he
had been right to refuse to allow them to become couriers for the Warren. 

Surely if Cynthia could hear them now she would agree with him. 

"You're treating us like we were still babies!" Arly cried, her sweet little
face was devoid of it's usual charm. 

"Yea dad... we're thirteen now and not babies anymore! You can't do this to
us! We deserve to be treated like any other dragonrider!" her twin shouted
with more heat then the placid follower usually used. Lylean 

"Why can't we do it?" Arly asked.

"After all we do have dragons now," Leyean took her turn. "And what else can
we do with them since you won't let us in a fighting wing... because ...
*we're too young*," she whined.

"Keep up that kind of attitude and it'll be a long time before I let the
pair of you do more then fly around the Warren!" Dan'yar said sternly. "I'll
do what I think is best for the two of you and until you can prove to me
that you can handle the responsibility that comes with being a rider of a
dragon!"

"That's NOT FAIR!" Arly shouted trying to top her sister in volume if not
anger. "Seth gets to do it! Why are you letting him if you won't let us?
We're the same age he is!"

"I said no!" he snapped harsher then he'd ever spoken to either of them
before. Even that time when they'd been caught cheating on their school
exams by switching places. 

"If mama was here she's let us do it!" Lylean threw at him and then stormed
out of the living room. 

"Yeah mom wouldn't think we were still babies!" was Arly's parting shot as
she followed her sister out the door.

"Get back here. Both of you. We're not finished talking about this," their
father called after their retreating backs. That crack about Laya had hit a
little to close to home. "I said..." he said again but all he heard was the
slamming of the front door. Then their was silence in the room.

"Damn!" he swore wanting more then anything to pick up something and throw
it across the room. Instead he stood there in the middle of the room
counting to ten, trying to calm down a bit before remembering that the two
of them had dragons waiting outside.

Dragons that they had already learned to fly and teleport on.

<<SHINNER!!>> he called and began to run towards the door.

<To late... They're gone. And no I can't follow them. They were too quick
off the ground and teleported away. You really stirred them up this time,>
his dragon said with disapproval in his mental tone. <Maybe if you had kept
your temper...>

<<Who asked you!>> Dan'yar snapped as he advanced on the Copper-green dragon
and mounted. <<Get going. We've got to find them before they get into trouble.>>

<They're more likely to run a cropper if you go charging after them while
you're in this state!> Shinner warned him. <Their dragons won't let them get
in harms way, but if they knew you were after them hell bent for leather
then they might try something stupid to get away and could become injured or
worse! Calm down and let them come back when they have thought it over!>

Dan'yar wanted to argue but he knew he wasn't thinking right at the moment
and Shinner's words about the twins trying to teleport away scared him
enough so that he listened to his dragons advice. He'd give them some time
and then try to have another talk with them when they had all cooled down some.

He dismounted and stood there for a few minutes wondering what he *could*
do. He knew he couldn't walk back inside and wait for his daughters to
return. Sitting there stewing might bring back the hat anger he had felt a
little bit ago, and that wouldn't do any of them any good.

Instead he left his apartment and with quick steps headed off to see his
brother. Maybe Farr'in would have a few idea's about how to handle this
situation.

Arly & Leyean
************** 

"It's NOT fair!" Arly shouted as she paced back and forth on the banks of
the sandy beach when the dragon's had landed them. "It's just not fair!"

"Papa is being so mean!" Leyean grumbled as she paced the opposite way.
"We're dragonrider's now! When is he going to see that!"

"Maybe never," her twin grumbled back and flopped down on the sand and
wrapped her arms around her pulled up legs. "We could be 30 and he'd still
think we were babies!"

"Yeah. Babies," Leyean mimicked. "We have to do something that'll make him
see that we've grown up. Something to make him see how unfair he's being."

"But what?" her twin muttered as she began trying to come up with something.
"How can we prove it if he keeps trying us like babies?"

"I don't know right now," Leyean frowned getting up and headed back towards
her dragon. "But I think better when I'm flying."

"Me too."

.........................

<<What's that down there?>> Leyean sent the telepathic thought across the
void to her sister as the two of them were flying over a deserted part of
the lands some ways from The Cleft.

Arly looked down and saw the woman waving up at them. She turned her head
away and continued on. <<Some nomad waving hi to us,>> she sent back, but
something nagged at her even as they over flew the woman. She was still to
mad at her father to listen to the nag and kept going as her thoughts turned
back to the fight they'd had with him before leaving.

Both girls were quiet after that. Their dragons flying them away and keeping
quiet as they knew their riders were dealing with a *human* thing. One of
the older dragons had warned them about times like these so they let it go
and hoped their riders would work it out somehow.

A little while later they came upon a scene that brought horror to their
young eyes. Both girls were very glad they had thought to tighten their
riding straps when they had taken off the first time, or else they might
have fallen when they came upon the burnt out ruins of what had once looked
to have been a large encampment of nomads. 

They both knew the signs well after having been taught what to look for and
having seen the injuries on returning rider's and dragons after a fight.

Wraiths... 

This tribe had had no chance when the gray masses has attacked them. The
twins both felt the need to throw up but somehow held it back as they had
their dragons fly down low over the encampment to see if they could find
anyone living... while at the same time keeping alert for any signs of the
wraiths still being in the area.

Then something nagged at Arly and the blood drained from her face as she
remembered the young nomad woman they had seen in the desert before.

<<Ly!! That woman we saw in the desert! We have to go back for the woman!!>>
she screamed in her mind even as she gave the order to her dragon to turn back.

<<Oh Gods Arly!! I hope it's not to late!>>

...................

Sweat dripped into her eyes as she ran wildly, clutching at the bundle
strapped to her chest. Her heart beat so hard and fast, she was sure it
would jump out of her chest. But she couldn't stop. Blinded and running on
terror she just ran .. not ever sure where her feet were taking her.

Her body ached both from the exertion .. and from the places where the
things had touched her, burning away her skin. She knew she was going to die
.. but she had to save the tiny bundle she carried. She couldn't let the
evil things get him too ...

She wiped at her eyes, trying to clear her blurring vision, and had to pull
up suddenly as one of the vile smoky things circled around in front of her.
"NO!" She screamed, "Not for YOU!" She tried to avoid the thing and stumbled
on a patch of lose gravel loose gravel.

"NO!" she screamed again fighting as best she could to keep the things away
from the bundle on her chest. Even as they burned away the cloth of her
shift .. and then the flesh on her arms she tried to push away at the
insubstantial smoke .. She began to feel despair .. she began to see her own
failure ..and then she just saw black ...

...................

It took the twins and their dragon's a little while to find the spot where
they had last seen the nomad woman, but soon enough the dragon's spotted her
running across the sands as if still being chased by a horde of wraiths.....

Maybe not a horde ... but at the same time, both girls saw the reason the
woman had kept running. Three... no four gray blobs were drawing in close
for the kill. Several times they saw the woman swerve and feared that they
would be to late to do anything. Still they knew they had to try. The woman
was defenseless and would die if something wasn't done.

<<Should we call for Papa?>> Leyean sent to her sister only to hear Arly
tell her there wasn't enough time.

<<Papa and Alpha Wing would never get here in time!>> Arly reminded her. She
knew her sister was scared. So was she but the woman below them was counting
on them to save her..... Even if she didn't know it yet.

Then they saw the woman stumble and fall and knew time had run out. It was
now or never... If they weren't to late already. The woman wasn't moving,
and the wraiths were moving in for the kill. 

Fayona, Arly's dragon let out with a wild roar, followed seconds later by
Leyean's, Kayrana who wasn't going to be out done by her own twin.

The sound was enough to drawl the wraiths attentions away from the woman who
laid unmoving on the dry sands where she had fallen.

<<We'll take the two on the left!>> Arly sent to her sister even as her
dragon dove down to meet the on coming gray masses. 

<<Papa's gonna kill us when he finds out!>> Leyean sent back, but never
hesitated as her own dragon angled to the right and went after the two that
were left over. 

Down they flew. Down flames breathing from the snouts of the twin dragons as
they came upon their worst enemy.

Fayona's first burst caught one of her pair but the second one circled
around out of the path of the red hot flame and then came back after the
pair as they banked to make a second pass.

Kayrana got both, and let out another roar as the gray masses burnt up and
turned to a dark ash that blew away in the wind of her wings passing.

<<We'll take care of this last one,>> Arly warned her sister as she and
Fayona turned to follow the wraith that was trying to escape. They knew they
couldn't let even one of them get away, for they might return later with
more. <<You and Rana go check on the woman!>>

Leyean had Fayona land and was off over the side of her just as soon as she
could get her riding straps undone. Fayona stayed as close to her rider as
she could without getting in the way, to act as protection in case others of
the gray things showed up.

The young girl fell to her knees as soon as she was beside the woman and
nearly lost what little was in her stomach when she saw the signs of burns
where the wraiths had touched gotten to her. 

Blood spilled from the wounds and Leyean was afraid to touch her for fear of
causing her more pain, but then she knew if she didn't the woman might die
of her injuries.

She tore off her riding jacket and wadded folded it into a pillow which she
placed under the woman's head as she grabbed her arm gently to turn her over
onto her back.

That was when she first noticed the bundle strapped to the woman's chest.

"Oh Gods... a baby!" Arly cried as she came up behind her sister. The wraith
burnt to hell and beyond by the flames of the dragon. "What is she doing out
here with a baby!"

"It doesn't matter," Leyean told her as she gently reached out and unhooked
the blanket used to tie the child in place. "Here... Hold her while I look
the woman over."

Arly reached out and took the tiny baby from her sisters hands it began to
scream.

"Shush... sweetie," the girl began to croon, trying to calm the infant down.
"It's gonna be all right... We're here and we won't let anything happen to
you or your mommy."

She began to rock her slowly the way she had seen other mothers do to their
children when they were fussy. "What's wrong with her?" she asked between
shushes... "She is alive isn't she?"

"She's alive but badly hurt," Leyean told her as she looked the woman over.
Then she stood up. "I've got to get the first aid kit from my saddle bag.

She was back in moments and Arly having rocked the tired infant back into 
a semi sleep, laid her down in a bed made of her own fighting jacket in 
the shade made from her dragon, turned to help.

<<Rana... move a little closer to give us some shade here,>> Leyean sent 
to her dragon, and the beast moved a bit closer, but still keep an eye 
out for the return of any of their enemy.

"We've got to undress her so we can see where she's been hurt," Leyean
continued in her mind to her sister.

As one the two of them worked together and finally had the woman as
comfortable as they could on a bed made from a blanket Arly had retrieve 
from her own saddle bag. They had positioned her on her stomach since most 
of the burns had been inflicted on her back as she had protected the baby
strapped to her chest. Then they began to remove the things they'd need 
from the first-aid kit and began to clean away the blood from the woman's
body to get at the burns so they could apply the healing salve all riders
carried.

The sun was just making it's way over the mountain top by the time they 
had finished. They finished by wrapping the woman loosely in the blanket 
from Arly's saddle bag. Arly turned to her twin. 

"We'll never be able to get her up on either dragon for the flight home," 
she commented frowning. 

"No... but we can't stay out here with Wraiths still in the area," Ley
agreed. "I think it's time to call in papa and the others so we can have 
some help. I'll have Rana try and call Shinner."

And try the young dragon did, but to no avail. Arly had Fayona try also and
then the pair of them tried together but they discovered the distant to the
Warren was to far for either young dragon to make.

"So what do we do? I don't want to leave you out here alone and go back
myself," Arly wailed, for the first time letting her fight seep into her
mind. "What if the wraiths come back while we're gone! You will all be
defenseless."

"We'll wait until morning when we can see better."

Her fear transferred itself to her twin and both realized the danger they
were in. Just then the woman muttered and began to move. 

Arly was the first to her side and was talking to try and sooth the woman 
who was trying to get up.

"No. Lay still..." the young girl said. "You're safe now... We're here to help."

"Girah... Garien..." the woman muttered, and at first the girls hadn't
understood. But the baby took that moment to begin to wail and Arly Leyean
moved quickly to pick up the baby.

"Jasa ...Garien... benno," the woman muttered again and Arly had to hold her
down when she tired to get up.

"No... Teo ...sicha," Arly searched for the words in the Nomad dialect to
say what she wanted to get through to the woman. "You're hurt... Be still...
You're safe with us."

The woman seemed to be calming down a bit but then she turned her head back
to look at the person speaking and saw the dragons face bending down to look
at them.....

And she panicked.

The twins instantly knew what was wrong.

"Dragon heht tao sicha." Arly told her. Motioning her sister closer with the
baby. "Dragon heht tao sicha." (The dragon will not hurt you) She repeated
and took the infant from her sister's arms, before bring him down to lay it
by it's mothers side. 

The woman instantly pulled the child to her and began to look him over for
signs of injuries. But when Arly moved closer the woman scampered back a bit
and looked past the girl to the dragon still standing there. 

"Dragon heht tao sicha." She repeated softly. "Dragon heht Arly o sitta.
Arly dragonraidah ba. OH!!" She turned back to her sister... "How do I make
her understand!"

((The dragon won't hurt you... Arly is a dragonrider.

"Just keep talking softly to her," Leyean told her using the same soft tone
her sister had. "Maybe she's thirsty. She didn't have any supplies with her
and she looks like she was out here a long time... Maybe if we give her some
water she'll see we mean her no harm."

"Arly dragonraidah ba?" The woman said then softly in a harsh voice that
spoke of thirst. She pointed at the girl.

"Ah!" Arly replied, thankful to have understood that much. "Ah "Arly
dragonraidah ba. Leyean dragonraidah ba. You are safe with us for now. We
won't let anything happen to you or your son. Here... drink...Slowly..."
Arly soothed as the woman allowed her to tilt the water bottle up to her
lips. "That's it... small sips... Better?"

"Ah."

Then the woman somewhat assured that they were for now safe. Wrapped her arm
protectively around her son and drifted back to sleep.

"Boy do I wish Reain or Andahar were here now," Arly turned back to her
twin. "OR that I had paid better attention to the classes on Nomad speak."

"Maybe she's from a tribe that doesn't speak the way our nomads do," Leyean
commented thoughtfully. "That rider who came from Keldarra speaks
differently then some of ours do."

"Could be," her sister replied. "I wish papa was here."

With the sun having gone down, a chill was seeping into the air. They had
given their jackets to mother and child to use to keep them safe, knowing
that it might be what it took to keep them alive for the night until help
arrived, and both girls were starting to feel a bit cold. They'd found the
makings for a fire earlier but both knew that it wasn't going to last until
morning.

"Me too. Even if I know he's going to yell at us for leaving the way we did
and then not coming back..."

"Well we couldn't leave her out here!" Arly muttered. "He'll have to see that!"

But they almost had. They had flown over her and on past when they had first
saw her earlier that day. If they hadn't of come upon the remains of the
burnt out village, they both knew they never would have given the woman a
second thought.

She might have died out here all along with no one to help her. She and her
baby both.

Guilt filled them both as they drifted off into a light sleep.

.................

"I'm sorry to be disturbing you both this late," Dan'yar said after Trevor
had invited him inside the apartment he shared with Cynthia. Her he hadn't 
so much as looked at after the first nod of hello. 

The Alpha Wingleader had come to speak with Trevor and to ask for his and
Trissana's help in finding the girls who had yet to come home.

"The girl's and I got into a sort of fight earlier today," he admitted, but
did not go into the details. "They left on their dragons and I thought to
give them time to cool off and come back so I didn't follow... But it's been
too long and they should have been back before the sun went down... I think
something is wrong because Shinner can't reach Fayona or Kayrana..."

"Are you sure it's not just because they're still mad and aren't answering?"
Trevor hated to ask, but knew he must.

"No..." Dan'yar shook his head. "Shinner's always been able to *feel* them
before even if he wasn't talking to them. The copper top keeps an eye on the
twins and their dragons just as he always did for the twins before they
joined. He says he can't *feel* them right now and it's starting to worry
him as much as I am."

"So what can I do to help?"

"I hate to ask... I mean I know Trissana was out flying you around mapping
all day... But if she could use her..."

"You would like her to try and find them?"

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't for the girls being out there all alone... but
yes. I am asking. As their father."

[[Tag John... Will Triss be able to help find the girls and the woman they
found?]]

=============== 

My thanks go out to Kris for this idea! As well as a tag for her to continue
it going....... 

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

Dan'yar & Shinner, Alpha Wingleader
Arly & Fayona
Leyean & Kayrana
Cleft Warren

Aka
Barbar


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