<He says that they have been on their own in the wastes since young 
children,> Amadith informed Tair'n.

<Find out how they came to be on their own,> Tair'n asked the dragon.

Nrocinu became visibly upset at the question posed by Amadith.  Tears 
started forming in his eyes.  He clung to his dagger and rocked back and 
forth slowly.

<What is wrong with him?  Can you calm him down?> Tair'n asked, somewhat
alarmed.

Amadith replied, <Well, the details are few and scattered, but from what I
can piece together these two are the lone survivors of a wraith attack.>

<But the last attack was 21 years ago!>

Suddenly Nrocinu broke the silence with a howl of grief and despair.

"Nrocinu," Tair'n said quietly, trying to calm the man.

The door opened and R'ven stepped in.  "Hi, lover.  How you feeling?"

Startled by the intrusion, the red haired man drew his dagger.

"NO!" Tair'n yelled, but it was too late.

Nrocinu dived for the door, bowling over R'ven who was in the way.  He 
pinned R'ven to the floor.

"Amadith get him to stop.  Tell him R'ven is a friend," Tair'n said aloud 
as well as thinking it to his dragon.

<He is frightened.  He thinks R'ven is goin to hurt him.>

<I don't care what he thinks, get him to stop!>

Amadith managed to get through to the frightened man.  Looking from one to 
the other he picked himself up and fled out the door.

"Give my thanks to Amadith, Tai," R'ven said as he pulled himself up from 
the floor.

"Thanks, R'ven," the younger man said sarcastically.  He had just been 
about to learn something of the man.

"Hey, what have I done?" he said as he brushed dust from his leather trousers.

"I was just about getting through to him and you have to put your size nines 
into it."

"All I was concerned about was seeing how you were.  I didn't expect one of 
your visitors to try and kill me.  Who the hell was he anyway?"

"He name is Nrocinu.  He was the one who attacked  me," Tair'n breathed 
deeply as he tried to sit up.

R'ven was next to him, helping his lover into a more comfortable position.

"Does it hurt?"

"What the hell do you think, R'ven?"

"I think you're in a very foul mood and I don't deserve this."

Tair'n stopped in surprise, then lowered his eyes from his lover abashedly. 
"Sorry.  I guess I'm just anxious to get out of here."

R'ven kissed him.  Tair'n opened his mouth, letting his lover's tongue 
explore as his arms slipped around him.  R'ven broke the kiss and smiled at 
him.  "Feeling a little amourous, I see."  His eyes sparkled.

"What can I say?  It's the closest I've come to dying."

"Well, the doctor's orders are *no* strenuous exercise... including 
that..."

"Oh, that's okay.  I'll just let you do all the work."  Tair'n smiled 
mischievously.

R'ven let out a groan.  "You'll wear me out, lover."

"I can think of worse ways to go."

R'ven kissed him again, then drew back and looked at him seriously.  "I 
talked to Jayleigh."  He sighed.  "Tai, you've got to learn to get along 
with her."

Tair'n let out an exasperated sigh.  "I'm sorry, R'ven.  She just... gods!  
Her whole attitude just gets my dander up."

R'ven took his hand.  "I know, Tai, but you've got to let it go and learn 
to work with her."

"I'll try."

"Good.  Now is there anything you need?"

Tair'n considered.  "I'm a little cold.  Think the doctor would mind a 
little cuddling?"

******

[W'roan]

The young man raised his hand for the sixth time, took a deep breath and 
knocked.

"Come in!" a voice called.

He stepped in nervously.  "Warrenlady Jayleigh?"

"Yes, W'roan, what is it?"

Her eyes looked puffy and her words were shorter than normal, as if she 
were trying not to snap at him.

"I... I wanted to talk to you... about Tair'n..."

She sighed.  "What about him?"

"I... don't know if you know this, warrenlady, but... but he took on those 
wild people rather than back off and let Gossimor handle it because he 
wanted you to see how dedicated he was."  His hands twisted nervously in 
his lap.  "I'm... afraid he might get himself killed trying to impress you. 
I... I don't know what's going on between the two of you, but... could you, 
*please* try to patch thing up?  He really... cares for you a lot.  And I 
don't... I don't want to lose a good friend like Tai to some... idiot 
scheme to get himself into your good graces."

The young man looked into her face expectantly, concern and worry and 
pleading evident in his eyes.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Tair'n and Amadith

NRPG: Tag, Barb!... ;>

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |