*Day after convo in Phaedra's office and the rogue warren deal*
**Inagua**

Inagua groaned as the horrible ache in her muscles pulled her from the 
oblivion of a alcohol induced sleep.  Swearing and moaning she rolled 
onto her stomach and groped under her bed for her morning tonic.  Her 
fingertips touched the smooth glass surface and sent the bottle rolling.  
Swearing, she tried to reached for it, lost her balance and landed hard 
on the floor.  

She nearly blacked out as her swollen knee connected painfully with the 
floor, but she held on and managed to grab her bottle of cure all.  With 
trembling hands, she opened the bottle and took a long deep swallow of 
wine.

<Naga?> Mya asked sleepily.

*<I'm fine Mya.. just sore.  Nothing some hot water won't cure.>*

She lay there with her wine for a few moments, wishing that it was some 
of that brandy V'dar had given her last night.  Last night.. she didn't 
remember much it was all a vague blur.  She hoped to all the gods she 
hadn't told him anything she shouldn't have.

Sighing with resignation, Inagua took one last swallow before capping 
the bottle and returning it to its hiding place.  She was up so she 
might as well move and get it over with.  Moaning at the general 
unfairness of it all, she managed to lever herself up, though her knee 
had about as much flexibility as an oak branch, and made her way to the 
pile of clothes still scattered all over her floor.

She clumsily picked out something that looked clean and headed for a 
long shower.  About a half an hour later she was headed for the dining 
hall, her wet hair freezing slightly in the cold.

Inagua put a few items on her plate, and added a few more items that she 
couldn't eat at the disaproving stare from one of the kitchen women.  
She was not in the mood to be harrassed by well meaning women determined 
to fatten her up.

Breakfast was quickly over with, but she waited until no one was looking 
before throwing her half eaten food away and putting her plate in the 
bin.  For some reason, she didn't think it was a good idea to get the 
kitchen women on her back.

Inagua didn't really want to go see her siblings when she could barely 
move, but what better way to loosen up then to oil Myacura.  Yes, that 
was the first thing on her agenda for today, she'd neglected her dragon 
a bit of late.  

She wasn't all that sure if Phaedra wanted her to do anything today... 
She wasn't completely sure the warrenlady even knew she was back.  Oh 
well, if Phaedra wanted to see her, it wouldn't take much looking to 
find her.

She walked as quickly to her room as her still stiff muscles would 
allow.  Inagua had to kick a couple piles of clothes aside to find the 
oil, but it gave her a nice chance to enjoy a few swallows from her 
bottle before getting to work.

<...>

Inagua was feeling much more limber, and perhaps a bit less inhibited, 
when she made her way to the Med Center to go check up Yelia and Yechur.  
The cold was invigorating, a pleasant slap in the face that cleared the 
sinuses and the mind.

She hummed quietly to herself, giving herself a beat to walk to so she 
wouldn't slow down.  She disliked medical facilities on general terms, 
and having her sister as a regular resident was not improving her 
opinions of them.

Inagua quietly snuck into the Med Center, making sure no one saw her as 
she went to her sister's room.  There was probably no need for sneaking 
around, but old habits die hard and it was good practice besides.

She silently opened the door and sat down on the edge of the bed, taking 
her sister's limp hand in her own.  For a moment she couldn't speak... 
she merely looked, fighting her dispair.  It just wasn't fair.

"You don't have to worry about those men anymore," Inagua whispered as 
she gently brushed a strand of curly hair away from her sister's face.  
"I took care of them... They won't hurt anybody ever again, I 
promise..."

For a brief moment despair won, and she watched nearly hypnotised as her 
tears splashed onto the sheets and her sister's hand.  The tiny light of 
hope that she stubbornly clung to was the only thing that kept her from 
breaking down right then and there.  Instead she wiped her nose and 
started to sing.

Her smooth, lovely voice flowed from melody to melody, following a 
fragment of a song to another fragment, sometimes adding words as she 
remembered them, but usually only pure liquid notes, as if she could 
bring her sister back by singing all the songs they knew, and all the 
ones she still needed to create.  Her voice rose higher, louder then she 
intended, in a wordless appeal to someone, something, to help her, to 
help Yelia.

Inagua did not hear the door quietly crack open as her brother walked 
in, but she knew he was there.  She held out a hand, her eyes still 
closed, and he took it, giving it a squeeze before taking up a possition 
on the other side of the bed.

She settled for a moment on a long familiar song, and smiled as for the 
barest of instants his sweet boys soprano was perfectly in unison with 
hers.  But another melody tugged at her memory and she followed it, 
while he went after a different one.  Their discords and harmonies 
forming a heart felt plea of such intricate, pure beauty, that they knew 
they would never sing such a song again.

She was not sure how long they sang as such, it could have been hours or 
moments for all she knew. Yet, someone must have heard them, maybe 
Yelia, maybe one of the numerous dieties that Inagua held no faith in, 
but she nearly choked on her own tongue as a third, soft, sweet voice 
joined them; though it was muffed, as if the singer was still asleep.

Her freakish eyes flew open, though, after the initial pause of suprise, 
she kept singing.  She focused on her sister's pale face.  Her heart 
skipped a beat as she saw what she had dared not hope for.  Yelia was 
singing softly, her eyes fluttering as if she were dreaming.  

Inagua and Yechur exchanged a brief glance, to make sure that they 
weren't the only one seeing this, before turning back to their sibling.  

She squeezed her sister's hand gently, the small smark of hope 
flickering in her breast fanning into a raoring blaze as she felt a 
squeeze in return.  Still she sang, afraid that if she stopped she might 
loose her sister forever.

Inagua watched, everything but her voice frozen as her sister's 
beautiful brown eyes opened.  Yelia's hazy smile abruptly turned into a 
grimace of pain, and Inagua gasped as the bones in her hand grinded 
together in her sister's grasp.

"My head hurt!" Lia whimpered softly, tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Sshh, Lia," Inagua said, trying to pry her hand out of Yelia's vise 
grip.  "I'll go get a healer-"

"No!" the girl cried, fear entering your eyes.  "Igua stay, scary 
place!"

"Then I'll go-" Yechur tried to say.

"No! Cur stay!" she sobbed.

Inagua shivered with a cold horror, unable to take her eyes off Lia's 
tear streaked face.  This couldn't be happening...

"Inagua..." Yechur cried out.

She could hear the growing panic in his voice, but she couldn't move, 
couldn't breath.  It was too awful a thought to contemplate and she was 
frozen with a denial that was quickly turning into dispair.  Her breathe 
came in short, desperate gulps, her vision darkening.  It was only the 
timely entry of Dellanie that kept her from fainting from 
hyperventilation right then and there.

"Inagua?" the woman cried, confused concern evident in her voice.

"Get a healer," Inagua said, her self control returning, but only be a 
finger hold.  She would not let these strangers see her weakness.

Kelley came in, took one look at her sobbing patient, and rushed out 
again.  Before Inagua could voice a protest, the healer had returned, 
this time armed with a syringe.

Moments later, Yelia was no longer crying, though she did have a nasty 
case of the hiccups.

"What happened?" Kelley asked as Dellanie stuck her head in once more.

Inagua shrugged as she pried her bruised hand from her sister's relaxed 
grip. "She woke up and said her head hurt.  She was frightened and 
didn't want us to leave.  Then Dellanie came in."

She said no more, as if speaking the words would some how keep it from 
being real.

"Could you please leave us alone with her now?" she asked on impulse.  
She wasn't sure if her legs would carry her out of the room at the 
moment.  Kelley and Dellanie nodded and quietly left the room.

She looked over at her brother; he looked so lost, it tore at her 
already shredded heart.

"Come here," she whispered softly, holding out her arms.

He got up and walked solemnly into them, burried his face into her shirt 
and started to sob.

She rocked him back and forth, gently stroking his back, chanting 
soothing, meaningless reasurances, and let him cry.  

"Igua," Yelia said sleepily from the bed.  "Sigme... Sigme A'Night."

For a moment Inagua could do nothing but stare at her sister, wishing 
she had not asked that of her.  But she could not deny the request, not 
after so much silence from Lia for so long.  Softly, her voice wavering 
with unshed tears, she sang once more.

                 "Sleep, fair child, and peace attend thee,
                          All through the night;
                    Guardians the Gods will send thee,                                                                                                             
All through the night;
                   Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
                   Hill and vale in slumber sleeping, 
                    Sister dear her watch is keeping,
                          All through the night.

                  Gods are here, thou'lt not be lonely
                          All through the night
                   'Tis not I who guards thee only
                          All through the night.
                 Night's dark shades will soon be over,
                   Still my watchful care shall hover.
                   Gods with me our watch is keeping,
                          All through the night."

She knew then, for certain, that Yelia would never be the same.  Her 
little sister had not called her and Yechur, Igua and Cur since she was 
five, when she vowed never to again.  A'Night had always been her 
favorite lullaby, while sigme her pet phrase for 'sing me.'

She knew, and Yechur knew that Lia had forgotten.. had gone back to the 
idyllic world of a four year old.  She sat there, holding her brother, 
for an endless moment of resigned despair.

Her brother quieted, and she realized that he had fallen asleep.  
Gently, she rolled him off her lap, and lay him next to his twin.  They 
both deserved each others comfort for now.

She nearly broke down, looking at them together, but a soft knock 
sounded on the door before it was opened.

"Inagua?" Kelley asked softly.

Inagua turned around, and opened the door wider.

"Please don't wake him," was all she said as she strode swiftly by.

Perhaps Kelley called after her, but Inagua did not hear, her ears deaf 
to everything, her vision only focusing on the door in her need to leave 
this cursed place.

Inagua nearly ran out the door, into the cold.  Gasping, she leaned 
against the outside wall of the Med Center, her head spinning and her 
heart beating wildly, like a wild beast suddenly let out of a cage.

A sob, welling up from the very depth of her soul, suddenly rose and 
broke through the flimsy remains of her self control.  Not here, she 
thought vaguely, but it was too late.

She barely managed to muffle the sounds of her despair in her arms and 
her whole body shook as if it would fall apart.

<Inagua, come to me,> Myacura said, and Inagua could do nothing less 
then obey, her thoughts flittering away against the power of her tears.

She ran across the Green, heedless of looks others gave her, heedless of 
anything but the burning tears  running down her face like liquid fire.

She raced into the space between Mya's fore legs, collapsed against her, 
and cried the awful, unstoppable tears of true despair that wouldn't 
stop.
************************
NRPG: The lullaby is a minorly mangled version of 'All Through the 
Night.'  And at the moment Inagua is very hysterical.  Like you have to 
punch her, not slap her kind of hysterical.

Submitted by,
Bridget Olson
Inagua and Myacura,
Yelia and Yechur.

                            .  ,   
                            . ,`o--Y  
    ____.....------.'      .,' ,,~''   `,------.....____   
''''`    `---.:: ,':       ; ,'         ;`. ;;.---'    '```` 
            `   `:__`-._   `.`.,    _,-'__;'   '         
                 `  `---`---'`'`---'---'  ' 
      ____________________ \`--'/`____________________
       Bridget Olson aka  ```  '''  badei@hotmail.com 
       Dyanisa & Sienra             Daere Warren
       Inagua & Myacura          "  Geode Warren
       N'lin &Trefoil           ''  Whiteriver Warren
       Chelea & Nebavri         ''  Xylian Warren
       N'dovra Leriamtiq       ' '  Ralengarde City
       Lt. <jg> Sirosa Badei   ' '  USS FARADAY
      __________________________' '____________________
                                 -
   "The limits of life are the limits of your imagination."
   
               I am the God of my own universe          
                     What is moral or not             
                           I decide                         
                     What is to be or not             
                           I decide                             
                       What was or not
                           I decide
                  Your are your own God too
                   Make your own descisions
                              -me


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