T'rell
(The courtroom, immediately following the trial)

/snip from Dianne's post/
    "Of course I do," she replied.  "but there are a lot of people that I 
care 
a great deal about and it does include you T'rell.  Please say we can still 
be friends.  It's very important to me."

    "I know." he said, "And how could I say we couldn't be friends."

    Mari thought she detected pain in his voice.  She didn't pursue it. She 
thought that if T'rell wanted to talk to her about what was bothering him, 
he would.

    "I'll let you enjoy your coffee." she said turning to leave the room.  
She 
turned back quickly giving T'rell a hug and whispering, "Thank you for being 
my friend." and she again headed for the door.
/end snip/

     "Mari..." he said softly.  

     She stopped just short of the door, and turned back to look at him.  

     T'rell cleared his throat.  He really did want to talk to her, and at 
the same time he didn't...he really didn't understand just what he was 
feeling, to tell the truth.  But he couldn't just let her leave without his 
saying anything.

     "I know that...a moment ago I made it sound like I didn't want us to be 
friends," he said, almost but not quite meeting her eyes with his own.  "I 
do...but I also...wanted us to be something more.  Being just friends 
now...it hurts, you know?  But our *not* being friends would hurt more.  Does 
that make sense?"

     She nodded slowly.  "I didn't mean to hurt you," she said.  "But I know 
I have.  I'm sorry."

     He waved her apology off, shaking his head.  "Obviously I hurt you too, 
otherwise you'd never have decided to stay with...with Jason.  I still don't 
understand how it happened...but that's just sort of the way I am.  Maybe 
I've been around that dimwitted dragon of mine too long...I miss seeing 
things that are right in front of me, just like he does.  Anyway...I know now 
that, whatever I *meant* to do at the time, I've put you through a lot of 
pain.  I didn't want that to happen, and I'm sorry.  Whatever happens, you 
need to know that I care about you.  And if that Jason doesn't treat you 
right, I'll...by the way, he *is* treating you right, isn't he??"

     He saw Mari's face pale a bit, just as he'd expected.  So, his suspicion 
was right....there *was* something wrong between her and Jason!  

     "He's...different than you," she said, hedging around his question.  

     "That can be good or bad," he pointed out, wondering if this would cause 
her to elaborate more on what was happening between her and Jason.  It 
didn't, nor had he really expected it to - and that was about as far as he 
was willing to go in terms of prying.  It was hard for him to do even that, 
really...just being this close to her again, while remembering what it had 
once been like for them...was like reaching out toward a blazing fire; even 
though it provided warmth, it could burn as well.  And right now, he could 
feel the burning in his heart.  

     "Don't give up," he said, folding his hands before him on the bench and 
dropping his gaze to rest on its top.  "Nothing good comes without pain, or 
without risk.  If you truly feel for Jason what you once told me you did, 
then don't give up on him without trying to set right whatever's going on 
between you.  It's going to take a strong person to do that...but I think you 
have it in you."

(Tag Dianne)

* * * * * * * *

(Jayleigh's office, shortly afterward)

/snip from Barb's post/
After Mari had left her office to go back to her own, another knock sounded
at the door and Leigh looked up to see a wary looking T'rell enter at her
bidding. His ever present mug of coffee filled his right hand.

"I was going to have Troy as Flerrion to see if you were available," she
grinned as he took the chair Mari had just vacated. "But as you are here now
I won't have too."

"You wanted to see me?" he asked, frowning slightly while wondering what she
was about to lay on him this time.

"Yes I did," she nodded. "I wanted to thank you for filling in as the judge
in the trial. I know it wasn't an easy thing for you to do."
/end snip/

     T'rell sighed.  "I did what I had to do," he told her.  

     "But you'd rather not have," she continued for him.

     He sat down in a chair and gazed over at her.  "Jayleigh, I'm just a 
simple dragonrider.  I had a man's life in my hands, with the power to have 
him banished from the civilized lands forever.  I don't know if I like having 
that kind of responsibility.  What if I chose wrong?"

     The warrenlady smiled.  "But you didn't, so the matter's settled."

     "I hope so," he asked.  "Ah, hell...there's no point in wondering at 
this point, is there?  There was no way that I or anyone else would ever have 
found Tair'n guilty based on the evidence against him...no matter how well 
Someyn presented it.  But if there's *another* attack..."

     "Then it still wouldn't mean Tair'n did it," she pointed out.  "You said 
it yourself...had it entered into the official record, in fact.  If Tair'n 
didn't attack Cal'an, someone else did.  That someone could still be in the 
vicinity.  Make sure you tell every rider in your wing to report anything 
suspicious."

     "Of course," he said.  "Well, in any case, I'm glad this is over...at 
least for now.  This sort of thing isn't what I was cut out for."

     Jayleigh smiled.  "T'rell, it's a good thing you aren't a queenrider!  
Even if you have the aptitude for the job, you'd never admit it!"

     T'rell's eyes widened.  "Jayleigh, if I were a queenrider, that'd make 
Flerrion a queen!  Gods, can you imagine where we'd be if the warren were 
populated with his offspring?"

     Jayleigh's eyes widened in surprise until she caught the sly grin on 
T'rell's face.  "Oh, get out of here and back to your wing!" she said, 
laughing.  "If I know you, you left your coffee brewing back there anyway, 
and it's probably strong enough by now to ooze itself out of the pot and 
devour some hapless passerby just like a wraith!"

     "Oh, good one!" T'rell laughed in return, as he headed for the door.  
"The Black Coffee Squadron...I like that!"

/snip from Barb's post/
As T'rell was leaving he nearly knocked into the man entering the office
with a basket in one hand and a harp in the other.

"Oops sorry I should have looked where I was going," the man said with a 
smile.

"T'rell have you met D'Altar?" Leigh asked. "He new to the Warren and Ja'ks
has just asked him to fill in as his Wingsecond now that D'aivy has
transferred out of Daere. He's ... ah... kindly offered to see that I don't
starve tonight while I'm here slaving over paper work."
/end snip/

     "Wingleader T'rell of Gamma," T'rell said, reaching out to shake 
D'Altar's hand.  "Hm, so you're going to Beta?  I'm sure you'll like it 
there.  Ja'ks is an excellent Wingleader."

     D'Altar nodded.  "Yes, I'm honored that he chose me to be his 
wingsecond."

     "He wouldn't do it without good reason," T'rell assured the man.  He 
peered past D'Altar, back toward Jayleigh.  "By the way, Gamma does still 
need more riders, Warrenlady.  We're a bit below strength..."

     Jayleigh smiled.  "Of course you are!" she told him, then looked at 
D'Altar.  "This is a talk T'rell and I have had before," she explained, 
chuckling.  "T'rell trains all of our new riders, and every time he graduates 
a new group, he writes me a reminder that he needs more riders...and submits 
it along with a list of riders he says he *doesn't* like, and who shouldn't 
be assigned to his wing.  Typically, this list includes the entire graduating 
class, so..."

     "All right, all right," T'rell said, laughing as he leaned back against 
the doorframe.  "If we keep this up, poor D'Altar here will think this warren 
is run by crazy people."  He turned back to D'Altar.  "Actually, I've only 
graduated one class here so far, and there was only *one* rider's name on the 
list.  But anyway, I'd better let you two get to your dinner.  And 
D'Altar...let me know if I can be of any help to you in settling in here."

     He bent down to peer closely at D'Altar's basket.  "Then again, that's 
an awfully *big* basket!  Maybe you two need help eating it...and then, 
afterward, when we're done eating, we can all three sit around here and you 
can listen to my old war stories...!"

     "T'rell!" Jayleigh said, her eyes widening.

     "Gotcha!" the wingleader chuckled, making a hasty exit.  He had few 
doubts about how Daere's warrenlady would be spending her evening...whether 
she herself realized it or not.  Well, that was good....she needed such a 
distraction.

     So did T'rell, but he knew he wasn't likely to get it in the foreseeable 
future.

     The trial was over, and he was glad of that.  But as to other 
things...he shook his head.  He enjoyed these little mock-fights with 
Jayleigh, as they always tended to take his mind off of other things.  He 
sighed, wondering where *he* got off giving advice to Marialla, when his own 
life was such a mess?  His love-life was up in smoke, probably for good...he 
was barely on speaking terms with his dragon...his wing's last significant 
action had been the shameful debacle that had resulted in the death of a 
queen and her rider, and the loss of almost two full clutches of eggs.

     He was hardly looking where he was going, and so almost bumped into the 
woman who was coming the other way.  "Sorry," he told her, reaching out a 
hand to steady her.  "I wasn't looking...."

     "Perfectly all right," she assured him.  "You're Wingleader T'rell, 
aren't you?"

     "Yes," he said.  "Are you...Aislynn?  The mindhealer?"

(Tag Cozette - will Aislynn want to talk to T'rell about Mari?)

Submitted by:

John

Wingleader T'rell and Flerrion
Daere Warren