[DL-C] Two Steps Short (part 2 of 4)
by
Barbara A. Matthews <carolyn@prismnet.com>
Post # two of four to come
===================================
Reain
******
[[ Morning after the Pua was brought into the Warren]]
<Are you awake my rider?> Sylois asked Reain after receiving a request from
the Queen who ran this place they lived in now. The blue knew such a message
shouldn't be ignored, but her rider had been up most of the night since they
had come back from finding that other woman like her, and Sy knew she was tired.
<Am awake. Something wrong?>> Reain muttered hoarsely and rubbed her fist
over her eyes to clear the sleep from them. Then she bolted upright and went
to check to see if the strange nomad woman had awaken.
No... her eyes were still closed and the baby still laid quietly in the
basket beside the bed.
<Nothing is wrong... I don't think it is at lease, but I may be wrong...>
Sylois sighed. <The Queen said her rider wishes to talk to you this morning
as soon as you have finished your breakfast... I think it's about what
happened yesterday when that... when you fought.">
Reain's lips turned up in a sneer. One of the other nomad women had told her
upon their return last night that that spawn of a camel's dun had been lying
and told everyone who would listen that she, Reain had attacked her.
That hussy was going to try any lie to get her out of the Warren and away
from Andahar... But Reain wasn't about to let her get away with it.
<<Please tell queen I will be there soon,>> Reain told her dragon. <<Have to
let medical man know I am leaving here so he can get another to watch for
woman to wake.>>
Reain went in search of the healer and he send one of his nurses who was
fluent in the nomad speak in to take her place until she returned. Then she
had Sylois pick her up and take her where Cynthia was waiting.
She was scared as she entered the office complex, but hoped the truth would
be on her side as she continued on to the door where she had been once
before after her Uncle had given her to Andahar.
"Enter..." she heard a voice call out after she had knocked on the wooden door.
"Ah Reain," the woman behind the desk frowned slightly as she entered the
room and took the seat she was told to sit in.
"Sylois said you ask to speak to me."
"Yes I did," Cynthia told her and stood up to begin pacing behind her desk.
"I heard about the fight you were involved in yesterday. And don't tell me
you don't know what I'm talking about. I can see the bruise under your eye,
and I must say I was a bit disappointed to hear that you had attacked
another. And a pregnant woman at that. I'd like to hear your side of it and
find out why."
"Did *not* attack her," Reain said firmly. "Was defending my honor when she
attacked me."
"Now Reain... Up till now you've been a good rider and I've had no problems
with you. But fighting isn't something that we condone around here."
Reain looked up at her, and repeated, "Would not have been fighting if she
had not come out of dining hall and attacked me. I was defending myself. I
left dining hall to go get daughter then was hit from behind."
"The rider who took her to the medical center said he saw you both rolling
around on the ground fighting. Why would she attack you Reain?" Cynthia
asked. "Did it have something to do with the fight between Andahar and Feysal?"
Reain said nothing. She knew that Andahar would be in trouble if it was told
he had been fighting.
She saw Cynthia frown. "So you're not going to say anything about it either,
huh?"
Reain just looked back at her, knowing this could also get her into trouble,
but she would not be the one to say anything about the man she loved.
"You should ask her...She started fight. Maybe she has reason."
"She said you attacked her, because you were jealous that Andahar picked her
over you to marry," the Warrenlady bated her hoping for a reaction.
But Reain wasn't about to fall for it.
"Andahar is honorable man who does duty to child of his blood," she replied
with a slight grin. "If anyone jealous it is her for she knows Andahar only
care about child... Not her. Knows his heart belongs to me and will never be
hers."
"I do not pretend to know the customs of your people all that well Reain...
But I will not allow any more fighting in this Warren. Do you understand?"
Cynthia stated. "I'm only going to give you a warning this time, but if I
heard any more about you fighting again, we'll have to have another talk.
"Understand," Reain nodded. She felt utter relief that she was not going to
be banished from this stone place. Saleh had failed. This time, but Reain
would be more wary around her in the future. "May I leave now... Supposed to
be in med center waiting for nomad woman who was brought in last night to
awake..... tell her she and her son are safe here."
"Yes. Please assure her they can both stay here as long as they need to and
that we'll be glad to help her find her people and return her to them when
she's up to it."
At that Reain shook her head sadly. "Her tribe gone... The two who look
alike said they saw village burnt to grown by gray things and all dead.
Colors they described are same as those worn by woman found."
Cynthia closed her eyes and sighed. Reain knew she was fighting her own
sadness at the news.
A moment went by before she opened them again. "She can stay here until she
decides what she wants to do."
"Will tell her... only... Not her place to say..." Reain hesitated, unsure
if it was her place to tell this woman of the custom of the nomad tribe when
a man rescues a woman with no male relatives, and brings her in to his home.
She wondered if Dan'yar knew about it and though she had better mention it
to him before he got a surprise he may not want.
"And why wouldn't it be her place to say?" Cynthia asked.
"Woman alone now," Reain told her. "Saved by male and brought here to this
place where he live... It is the custom of some Nomad tribes that man now
owns woman... Has to provide and protect her. With no male of family to say
what happens to her now... She belongs to man who save her."
"That's crazy," Cynthia scoffed. "No one owns anyone in this Warren and
we're not about to start now, besides which Dan'yar would never agree to
anything so... so..."
Reain shrugged as she got up, "As I said... is custom in some Nomad
tribes... May not be in tribe of woman found... Dan'yar is honorable man who
will do what is right when time comes."
"Damn right he will!"
[[ Med center; Late morning after talking with Cynthia ]]
Reain nodded her head to the nurse when she returned to the Nomad woman's
room and gave her a warm smile of thanks for helping out.
"Any change?" she asked as she took the chair beside the bed as the nurse
vacated it for her.
"No. None," the nurse replied sadly. "Such a lovely thing too, poor dear.
Her son did wake, and I gave him a bottle of warm milk a little while ago.
Then he drifted right back to sleep."
"Sleep is good for him right now," Reain commented. "Good that he is so
young and won't remember what happened."
"Too true," the nurse agreed. "Well since you're back to watch over her, I'd
better be getting back to my other duties. See you later."
Reain was tired after the woman had left the room, but she knew she couldn't
fall asleep just yet.
She had slept fitfully most of the night in the chair beside the nomad
woman's bed. Several times during the night she had moved over to stand
beside the bed and held onto the hand of the woman, whispering soothing
thoughts of reassurance and safety when the woman began to thrash around and
whimper.
"Lo bienta," Reain had whispered over and over in her native tongue, her
hand a soft caress against the woman's cheek as if hoping the touch would
settle her if words alone didn't. ... "You're safe... you're safe now. So is
your son. Sleep."
Each time the door had opened, Reain had looked up hopeful in that it would
be Andahar who entered the room, having come to find her, but in each case
it had been the healer coming in to check on the woman.
She knew Andi had been gone yesterday while on a assignment for the Warren,
but she hadn't known he was going to be gone all night long. She had wanted
to talk to him about Saleh and tell him what had really happened dealing
with their fight. Not what she had heard others... including that hussy were
telling every one.
Surely Andi wouldn't believe that she herself had started the fight. Even if
that lying hussy told everyone else she had.
About an hour after she had returned from talking to the woman chief who ran
this Warren, the door opened and she saw the blond heads of the two girls
who looked the same.
"Can we come in for a second Reain," one of them asked, smiling. We wanted
to come by and see how she was doing, and we brought along someone who was
wanting to see her mommy."
Jasi poked her head out from behind Arly where she was hiding and walked
quietly across the room to climb into her mothers lap. She was trying to
behave cause the twins had told her when they picked her up from their Aunt
Thina's home, why her mommy had to be here in this place.
"Is it okay if she stays here for a little while with you?" Leyean asked.
"She was missing you."
"She may stay for a little while only," Reain agreed with a warm smile, then
hugged her daughter to her breast. "I have missed her too. My thanks for
bring her to me."
"That's okay," one of the girl's said, and the other picked up where the
first had left off. "We understand... We miss our dad too when he's out on
patrol all night. Look we'll leave you two alone for a while and come back
and get her in a bit. Okay?"
Reain nodded and the twins left.
"We must speak in whispers," Reain told Jasi as the two of them began to
catch each other up on the last day. Reain told her about the rescue of the
woman, but left out the part dealing with the woman's tribe being killed
off. She just didn't think Jasi needed to be told such bloody details.
Then Jasi told her that *Aunt* Thina had been teaching her how to stitch
pretty patterns on some material and someday she would sew her mommy
something pretty to wear.
Time went by a little too quickly and soon the twins were back for Jasi. On
there way out of the Med center they were nearly run over by a wild man
shouting that he had to see the Warrenlady.
While the twins were able to get out of the way, little Jasi wasn't so lucky
and she was bolded over by him as he darted to the side to get away from the
attendant trying to catch him.
They ended up on the flood in a tangle of arms and legs and others moved to
help them up, O'tis collapsed in a dead heap while Jasi held her head and
cried as a wave of dizziness over took her.
"Jasi are you okay?" Arly asked the little girl after they had picked her up.
"Are you hurt at all" Leyean asked, showing her own concern for the little girl.
<<No I'M NOT ALL RIGHT!>> Screamed Amar, barely keeping from shouting it
aloud, after he found himself passed from the drunk into the body of the
child when they had touched.
"Jasi..." Arly called her name again.
"I'm okay... Let's go play," Amar/Jasi said, then began walking towards the
door. The others followed her frowning as they did and hurried to catch up
to her to make sure she really was okay.
Damn damn damn... Amar swore with the new word he had learned from one of
his human host. He'd been so close yesterday when he'd been in the body of
the Junior Queenrider... only to be foiled again by the human with the weird
thoughts...
Something must have surely been wrong with the human male for that was the
only reason he'd been tricked so easily when the Queenrider had lied about
bring him to see the Warrenlady in the Med Center.....
As soon as they had arrive, she had gone off to talk to someone and then two
human males had came and got him, telling him they were taking him to see
the Warrenlady... Only they had taken him into a room with a bed in it and
then gave him something to make him sleep...
He'd only just come to and was making his escape when he'd tripped over the
little girl. Now he was stuck in her body for the next few hours and no
where closer to his pray then he was before.
There had to be someway!! Something he could do.
"So what do you want to play?" Arly asked the little girl when they'd
assured themselves that she had taken no harm from her encounter with O'tis.
"I don't want to play," Amar/Jasi said shortly. Pouting in the way small
children do at being foiled again.
"You just said you wanted to play," Leyean reminded her.
"Oh yea... Let's play."
"Okay we'll play..." Arly said, shooting her twin a look over the little
girls head and rolled her eyes. "What do you want to play."
'Anything that gets me away from you two,' Amar thought, and he searched the
little girls mind until he came up with a game that would do the trick.
"How 'bout hide and you seek?" Amar/Jasi said with a smile, liking the plan
more and more as the rules came into his mind. "You two go hide. I count
then find you."
"Well okay if you think you can. But no peeking," one of the older girls
said and they took off running.
Amar/Jasi gave them just enough time to go around a corner then he/she took
off in the opposite direction looking for a place near the Warrenlady's
office to hide out in, so that when the time came ..... the trick now was to
stay out of sight while others searched for the brat he was in until then.
He/she found a place just in time as the two human girls came running back
into view calling out the brat's name and others joined in to help them search.
The time was all most up before he could transfer again when he finally saw
the Warrenlady exit her office to go who knows where and Amar/Jasi stepped
out of their hiding place and started purposely towards her.
He could taste the excitement in his mind at finally being able to achieve
what he had been sent here to do. Only a few more steps was all it was going
to take. Just a few more.....
"Jasi... there you are. Where have you been? Haven't you heard us calling
for you?"
A hand reached out and touched the brat's shoulder when they were only two
steps from their goal. Only two damn steps.
"NO!!!" Amar screamed in rage as he felt himself sliding into the body of.....
===================
Nrpg: Okay who gets to have fun next????
*****Submitted by: ****
Reain & Sylois
Arly & Fayona
Leyean & Kayrana
O'tis (the drunk)
Jasmine
Return to Posts for Jun 2000