Nrpg: This stretches over two days... I tried to put the times in it and
hope they work..... since it's mostly Lonnie it should...

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



*** Seeing Through The Eyes Of A Brother ***

[ *** night time day before attack on the babies *** ]

"But she's still Lenna," said Trevor. "Yet...it's almost like...well, like
she's not..."

"Other than the fact that you still *look* like the same person who rode in
here on that skinny nag a little over a year ago, a person who hadn't been
around you during that time might have trouble believing that *you* were the
same person."

"Yeah but we're not talking about me. We're talking about Lenna... I can't
explain it," Trevor told him. "Cynthia thought she's just tired, and I guess
that could be it. It's just that I get this odd feeling around here...like
she's Lenna, and she's not. Does that make any sense?"

"Maybe..." Lonnie said slowly. "I know she's been having a hard time since
coming back... and I know something's bothering her about B'rand... I wish
he'd been here when she returned, but he wasn't. That could be it....."

"Lonnie... you know her better then anyone... I know there's this twin thing
between you that makes you two very close... But don't let that get in your
way when you think about her right now. Look I'm as thrilled as you are to
have her back... But if something is wrong with her... something we don't
know about, then you and I are the ones who will be ale to figure it out."

"What are you saying Trevor?" Lonnie looked at him. "I mean what are you
really saying?"

Trevor sat back in his chair and ran his figures through his hair as he gave
out with a big sigh. "I'm not really sure... But there's something just *not
right* about her. If you could forget this twin thing for a moment and look
at her as just another dragonrider I think you might see what I mean."

"Okay... I'm not really convinced you're right," Lonnie said after thinking
it over for a few minutes. "But I'll go see her and have a look for myself."

"Look Lonnie, you know how much I like your sister... So you know I won't do
anything to hurt her, right?" He saw Lonnie nod his head. "I'm praying as
much as you are that I'm wrong here."

Lonnie didn't answer. There was none. Only questions.

Trevor had brought something up that Lonnie had been starting to only
realize, but didn't want to admit. Lenna had changed. She wasn't the same
feisty sister he had grown up with, and at first he had attributed the
change to everything that had happen to her over the last year. Anyone would
have changed if they had suffered though a kidnapping and loss of a child
the way she had.. Then to be missing for over a year without remembering
most of what happened to her while she was gone... It was enough to change
anyone... But this was different. 

Trevor had hit it right on the head. Lenna WAS the same.. but different. And
not all of it could be blamed on the past. He wished B`rand were here. If
anyone knew Lenna better then he himself did, it was the red headed mate of
his sister. B`rand would have been able to tell right away if there was a
problem. But he wasn't there. He was still in Telnor with their parents, and
wasn't expected back until later that same night.

Wouldn't they be surprised when they saw her.

<<Meri.. can you ask Blanchie if her rider can see me now?>>

He exited the dining hall and cut across the dusty green. His long legs
eating up ground that would have taken a shorter man twice as long to cover
as he made his way to where Meritanth, his dragon was waiting to convey him
up to his sisters apartment.

<Blanchie and her rider are not here..>  Meri came back to him a second or
two later. That brought Lonnie up short.

<<Well where are they?>>

<Blanchie said her rider wanted to go for a ride, so she packed up the
hatchling and they left...>

<<Where'd she go?>> Lonnie asked, meaning to mount Meri and follow after them. 

<Blanchie won't tell me,> Meri replied a bit put out. <But she sounds sad.>

<<Sad?>>

<I can't explain it any better then that, but sad is how she sounds my
rider... She said they will be coming home soon... her rider just came back.>

<<Back from *where!*>> Lonnie asked, even though he knew he wouldn't get an
answer. <<Hell just take us up to their apartment... I'll meet her there
when she comes home.>>

He didn't have long to wait. Lenna and Blanchie arrived moments after they
did and as soon as Lenna dismounted and reached for her son, Blanchie moved
over to cuddle with Meri. 

Lenna looked at the blue dragon for a moment, to tired to even wonder what
her brother was doing there, or even ask Meri for an explanation. She just
took Rand and went inside where she found her twin waiting.

"What are you doing here?" she finally asked, but kept walking back towards
the room she had made into Rand's room. 

He waited for her to come back out and then waited again while she settled
down on the couch.

"Waiting for you sister dear," he said, trying to put some lightness in his
tone. "Haven't seen much of you in the last few days and was wondering how
you were doing. You look tired."

"I am tired," she said as she stretch out on her side and drew a big pillow
under her head to prop it up so she could look at him. "I heard from Farr'in
that mother and father are staying in Telnor an extra day."

"So I heard," he said trying not to appear to be watching her so closely. "I
offered to go get them and bring them back..."

"But you found out I told him that wasn't necessary," Lenna said. "It'll
give me another day to rest up and look more myself when they do arrive."

"The thing is sis..... you don't look any more rested then when you appeared
here..." he said, trying not to sound to picky. "If anything you look worse."

"I just haven't been sleeping to well with so much time on my hands, but as
soon as Dani puts me back in a wing things'll get back to normal and I'll be
fine."

He wasn't convinced and could sort of see now what Trevor had been talking
about. "You know how Dani is... always was a worry wort... He just wants to
make sure you're up to it before he let's you loose on the unsuspecting
population again," Lonnie joked.

"Always the considerate one," Lenna snorted. "I see he still sees his gold
in life it to mother me. Well he doesn't have to any more... I'm a big girl
now."

"He cares about you Lenna," Lonnie said, a bit more sternly then he wanted
to. "Just like we all do and if something is wrong with you we want you to
share it with us... that's what family is for. To worry about eachother and
try to help out when one of us is hurting. Something you haven't seemed to
care about since you've been home."

"Gees Lonnie! Give me a break will you. I've only been home a day and a
half!" he voice now was filled with anger, but not at all like the Lenna of
old. There was something different about her tone. Something Lonnie noticed
but couldn't identify. "You try being gone for over a year without
remembering who you are or where you're from and then come back to a place
where everyone has gone on living that year and you don't know what even
went on!"

"Maybe if you tell me about the time you were gone," he said calmly as if
she hadn't just exploded in his face. "Maybe telling me something about that
time will help me get an idea what you went through."

As he was watching her closely, he couldn't help but notice the look of pure
fear that came over her face, but held back by shear will instead of rushing
forward and taking her in his arms to try and protect her from things he
knew nothing about.
Lenna had always been one who wold talk about things when she felt like it.
She just needed time... He just hoped she didn't take to long this time. E
just needed to give her that time.

He might have changed his mind had he known about the demons floating around
in her head. Dreams that now even haunted her when she was awake. Nightmares
that were coming more and more frequently as of late.

Perhaps it was good that he didn't for the images floating around in her
head at the moment, inserted there by Xaxan... were of him. Pictures of
Lonnie changing from his handsome self into a gray mass of ugliness.
Pictures of him and Rand... and the knife he held at the boys throat. As if
in warning.

Xaxan knew the human male posed a threat to him and his Queens victory over
these pathetic invaders of their lands. A threat that had to be dealt with.
Inside her mind he flashed pictures of the human first in human form, then
as a monster set on her destruction... a monster she would have to kill if
he got to close. A monster already threatening her son.

It might have scared the hell out of Lonnie could he see into his sister's
mind, and he did try, but she had closed off her mind to him, and nothing he
tried could break through the mental blocks.

"Look Lonnie... I'm really tired," Lenna said finally, knowing she had to
get him away from there, but not knowing why. Just an overwhelming need to
get him away. Even though Xaxan's suggestions were wanting her to go one
way, what was left of the real Lenna buried deep inside was fighting it. She
didn't know why but it was important she get him away from there. "Why don't
we plan on meeting for dinner tomorrow night and we'll talk them.....
Besides I'm sure your ah... girl friend will be wondering where you are
about now. It is late you know."

Fat chance of that, Lonnie though to himself at the mention of Maddy. She
won't care where he was just then so long as it was away from her and out of
her sight. But he said nothing of this to his sister. Just got up and headed
for the door. He needed to find Trevor.

But that proved to be harder then he thought. It wasn't until the next day
that he ran into the man again.

[ *** The next day.. Sometime after Reain tried to kill the babies ***]

"Lonnie look," Trevor said finally. "I know you don't want to believe
anything bad about your sister. I've seen how you two work together with
this *twin* thing you have going between you and nine times out of ten you'd
be the first to see something was wrong but I think this is that one out of
ten time and something inside you refuses to see that something is wrong."

"But she didn't seem different," Lonnie protested, but not as hard as he
would have the day before. Not after seeing Lenna last night. For some
reason he didn't tell Trevor about the look of fear Lenna's face had shown
just before he had left her. "Just tired.. But then she has the right don't
you think.. I mean with everything that happened.. and.."

"Yes she has the right," Trevor nodded is head in agreement. "Believe me I
wish that was all it was my friend, but something else is going on here and
I believe Lenna could shed some light on it.. Think about it for a moment.
She comes back just when all these weird things start happening around
ere.... Now I'm *not* saying Lenna is causing them.. I can't because some of
the things started before she came back."

Lonnie saw his friend frown and knew he was remembering something, but when
Trevor didn't offer to share the thought, Lonnie didn't ask.

"But  I can feel something is wrong with her.. Let's look at what's happened
in the last week or so... Look at the way Andahar has been acting.. Or
Reain.. Now I know she's in love with Andahar and isn't to tickled about
another woman having his babies, but I never would have thought she could
cold bloodily go off and try to kill two innocent babies."

"No.. you're right," Lonnie said slowly, remembering something that had
happened when he and the others had come upon Reain in the med center with
the babies a short time ago. "She claims she didn't remember doing it.
Didn't remember why she was there and couldn't understand at first why
Andahar beat the crap out of her... She also has no idea why her Uncle and
his people are coming here with their war paint on... But what shocked me
the most I think was the way Andahar did go after Reain.. I was there and
witnessed it all and he looked like a man trying to kill someone until we
all stopped him. I mean how can someone who claims to love someone the way
he loved her do that? The three of us were just barely able to pull him off
of her before he killed her."

"How could someone who loves someone the way Lady Maddy loves you sign a
piece of paper transferring you away from here?" Trevor asked and saw
Lonnie's shoulders so slack when his zinger hit home. "See what I mean... To
many strange things going on.. and then there's this bit with Triss being
able to find both Lenna and Andahar with her sonar ping... With Lenna I
could put it off to her bring a telepath.. if a limited one since the only
other dragon she can hear is Meri.. But that doesn't explain why she could
hear Andahar. He's not a telepath at all. Nor does it explain why Triss
can't *hear* Arle and Leyean except faintly and they *ARE* full telepath's. 

"Since when?" Lonnie asked, slightly stunned by the news. "I mean I know
they can hear all of the family's dragons but.. Full telepath's?"

"Where have you been lately?" Trevor chuckled, slightly amused by the
confusion on the other mans face. "They've been able to do that little trick
every since they joined with their own dragons. The twin effect I'd imagine.
The twins twins' act as sort of an amplifier. But that's beside the point."

"So what is the point?" Lonnie asked, remembering what they had been talking
about. Could this be the reason Maddy claims not to have remembered filling
out the forms for his transfer?  "Do you think whatever affected the others
is somehow linked back to Lenna?"

"The point is... if Triss could hear Lenna... why couldn't she hear you...
You have the same ability to hear Blanchie that Lenna does to hear
Meritanth.....and then there's..."

[[ tag John.. explain it to the man... ]]

"Okay.. you've half convinced me," Lonnie reluctantly admitted after
listening to Trevor's reasoning. "So how do I get her to admit.. or confide
in me.."

"You don't," the other rider told him. "She might get suspicious if you go
in there asking questions that don't have anything to do with you're
family... But the old Lenna was used to me asking all kinds of questions
just to get on her nerves. If I say.. go see her with a bottle of wine...
She won't think to much of it... and after a few glasses.. She might even
open up a bit."

"What.. Just wine? Why not truth serum? Wouldn't that work better," Lonnie
asked frowning. He had turned away and was looking out at the cloud of dust
that was getting bigger the closer the Nomad horsemen got to the Warren, so
he didn't see the wince that came over Trevor's features before he could
help it."

"I'm sure the wine will work just as well," Trevor lied, not wanting to tell
the man about the drug he had made a quick trip to Telnor to get. He hoped
his suspicions would prove to be unfounded, but just in case he wanted to be
prepared. He'd first heard of the drug from a visiting dragonrider from
Telnor one night after they'd had a rush of Hellspawns out breaks. The drug
originally had been discovered by a Healer out of Marrid, by the name of
Lakoda, who had discovered quite by accident that Hellspawns injected with a
serum made from the root of the Tejax plant (a sleeping aid for terminal
patience's) would go into a deep coma like trance and thus render them
helpless. In smaller doses the drug would act as a relaxer and was mild
enough to give to pregnant women going through early labor. Sometimes the
relaxing effect of it made people appear to be drunk and happy.

Trevor hoped he was wrong, but just in case...

"When will you do it?" Lonnie asked, wondering if he was crazy for allowing
it. wondering if maybe he might want to let one of his brothers know about
it. Wondering if maybe there really was something happening around the
place.. and if that something was the cause of Maddy filling out the papers
for his transfer... Then he wondered why? Did he pose as some kind of threat...

"Tonight.. I was going to try it last night," he admitted sheepishly. "But
she wasn't there until way to late... and then I noticed you were already
there so I decided to wait." He also hadn't had the drug at the time. "But
tonight I'll be waiting for her when she comes home. I'll also have Triss
keep in contact with Meri so you'll know if anything goes wrong... Which I'm
not counting on happening..."

"See that it doesn't," Lonnie warned in soft tone.. "She's more to me then
just my sister.. she's like my other half. I lost her once and I can't lose
her again. She may be a pain in the ass most of the time, but she's a big
part of me."

"I know Lonnie believe me," Trevor did know. "I care about her too.

They were both silent for a moment and then Lonnie spoke up. Something had
been worrying his mind every since Trevor explained to him what they thought
was going on. 

"Trev... could this thing really have affected Maddy... I mean could she
have filled out the transfer papers while this thing was inside her? I mean
she said she doesn't know why she did it, or even remember doing it... But
the paper proved she did."

"It's possible. We don't know what all trouble this *thing* has done around
here."

"If that's true then I own Maddy a big apology," Lonnie sighed. "I said some
pretty mean things to her when I found out about the transfer..... I wonder
if she'll even listen to me if I try to apologize to her."

"One way to find out," Trevor grinned. "Just make sure you have extra
padding in your knees when you go crawling to her."

"Is that the best idea you can come up with?"

"For now," the other man chuckled and then sobered up quickly. "Right now I
just need to find out what I can from Lenna and see if there isn't some way
we can use that information to stop a war from happening."

======================= 
Nrpg:
I have this set up so that the Nomad tribe doesn't show up until the NEXT
day..... I wanted to give Trevor time to figure out something with Lenna...
which will be in the other post I'm working on now......... Then I'll get
back to Rainen's tribe showing up.....

***Submitted by: ****

Lonnie & Meritanth
Cleft Warren

Aka
Barbara