Darlea
****

Darlea headed to the medical center. She still had to make her report on
their trip to the wastes yesterday morning. And she had made a decision that
made her doing it right away necessary. She wanted to see her father. There
were things she could talk to him about that she wouldn't be able to talk to
her mother about or anyone else at Keldarra for that matter.

She entered the med center and was directed to M'ressan's room which was
where she was told Christalla was.

She looked in on the two as they smiled happily over their new baby girl.
She frowned. M'ressan and Christalla were a happily mated couple with a new
baby. Despite her feelings for M'ressan which seemed to be in constant
change as she grew older, she knew how much he loved Christalla. Perhaps
that was part of the charm which drew her to him. And what about that baby?
Would she be better off because her parents were together?

The scene in front of her only reaffirmed her need to see her father. She
was sure a trip to Marrid would help her clear her head.

Christalla looked up, "Darlea, come on in." M'ressan smiled at her, and she
gave him a faint smile back.

"Darlea," said M'ressan happily, "Have you seen my beautiful daughter?"

"No .." She said quietly, "I don't want to interrupt .. I just wanted to
tell you about our trip yesterday. I haven't had a chance until know."

"Well, I've already heard it was a success," smiled Christalla.

Darlea nodded, "Yes. We did run into three wild dragons, which was really
scary. But I was very proud of Makayla. She stood her ground to protect the
others while Mila gathered the flower and was taken to safety."

"I'm glad to hear that. And she none the worse for her experience?" asked
the DragonLady with concern.

Darlea shook her head, "No, she was a little shaken, but she's find now." 

"Good. Everything else went well.?"

Darlea thought briefly about Salinda, but decided not to mention it. She
still had to keep her promise, even though the main objective of keeping it
from Almiron had been a complete disaster, thanks to her overeager dragon.

Christalla must have noticed the tension in the young woman's face, "What
else? Did something else happen?"

"No," Darlea said quickly, "It doesn't have anything to do with the wastes."

"What is it?" the older woman asked concerned at Darlea's unusually somber
stance.

"I'd rather not talk about it .. it's not important," she said, "but I
would like to take a trip to Marrid to see my father, as long as I'm not
needed here for a while." She could feel the tears starting to well up
again, and she fiercely fought them back.

"Of course, go ahead." Christalla said. Darlea ran quickly from the room
before anything more could be said. M'ressan and Christalla looked at each
other, neither able to explain the girls unusual behavior.

****
Darlea and Makayla broke out into the skies over Marrid in the early
morning. Things seemed much calmer and more peaceful then the last time she
was there. Makayla trumpeted her hello as they circled down.

<Makayla some people might still be sleeping,> Darlea said sternly.

<Not anymore,> said Makayla happily. She wanted to see Porthios. <There he
is.> she said happily as the large brown dragon lumbered out of the
apartment and onto the ledge to meet the little green dragon.

As Makayla landed gracefully on the ledge, Darlea slid off running into her
fathers arms as he came out into the main room of his apartment. "Darlea?"
he asked, as she began to sob. "What's wrong?"

"Everything's just awful!" she sobbed melodramatically.

"Shhh, come on, let's sit down and you can tell me what's going on." He
helped her over to the couch where they sat.

"I can't, I promised." She moaned.

"Okay, you don't have to tell me anything."

Darlea turned her eyes to look into his identical ones, "Things are just so
complicated. I have to tell someone. Someone who isn't involved. And I can't
talk about this with mama." She sighed, only taking a moment to breathe
before she continued, "It's Almiron."

His eyes narrowed, "I see," D'nar was aware of the fact that Darlea and
Almiron had remained lovers long after Makayla's first mating flight that
had been won by the young man's dragon. The few visits he'd had with his
daughter confirmed that, but he was also well aware of the fact that Sheltie
was not happy about that, and had taken a serious dislike to the leatherworker. 

Now it appeared at least some of Sheltie's concern was founded. His daughter
was now very distraught over something and Almiron was at the heart of it.
"Perhaps you'd better tell me the whole story before I start jumping to
conclusions." Already his mind was racing thinking of what awful things the
young man might have done to his daughter.

Darlea sighed, "We broke up .. I mean .. well our relationship has changed.
He's .." she paused unable to say the words. She set her face resolutely
determined to get this out without anymore tears.

"What .." D'nar prodded.

"He's taking a mate," She said flatly. She quickly continued, "But it's more
then just that, daddy."

D'nar remained silent, allowing her to tell it at her own pace. He didn't
want to draw any conclusions about Almiron, who had seemed a nice enough
young man. At least not until he knew the whole story. 

"Darshan, Almiron's dragon flew, Dencia, my friend Salinda's dragon. Now
Salinda is pregnant with Almiron's baby. And he feel that he needs to become
mates for the baby."

"He's taking her for a mate because she's pregnant?"

Darlea nodded, "He feels it's best. Maybe he's right. Salinda is so unhappy
about this. She doesn't want to have a baby. I think maybe if she had
Almiron to support her, it might help. But .." She could feel the tears
forming again. ".. I feel so selfish."

"Oh Sweetie," D'nar whispered, "It's not selfish to want things to stay the
same. But they can't. No matter how hard you try." He was speaking from
experience.

Darlea nodded. She was about to speak again when the ground shook. D'nar
hugged her tight looking toward the entrance to the apartment. When the
ground finally stopped shaking there was a mournful keening.

"What was that?" Darlea asked.

"Earthquake. We had a smaller one several weeks ago. It certainly wasn't as
strong as that one."

<Porthios, what's going on?> he called to his dragon

<The hatching grounds have been sealed in the quake. Several eggs were
destroyed.> Came the dragon's mournful cry.

"Oh dear," he heard Darlea whisper as she spoke with Makayla, learning of
the loss of the eggs. It was just another blow to an already hurting warren.

"Darlea, I want you and Makayla to get back to Keldarra. I don't want to
have to worry about you too." D'nar ordered her.

"But I can help."

"No, you heard me .. Go. We can talk later. When I know it's safe I'll come
to Keldarra."

D'nar jumped quickly on Porthios and the two glided down toward the hatching
grounds. Darlea stepped to the edge of the ledge to watch. <We're not going
to leave are we, Darlea-pet.>

<No not yet, Makayla. I want to make sure everything is okay first.>

Darlea had to back away from the ledge when an aftershock hit almost making
her lose her footing. <Perhaps we should circle down to the ground, Makayla>
The little green dragon nodded her agreement and Darlea hopped up into her
saddle.

There was a lot of confusion near the hatching grounds, so Darlea stayed
back out of the way. She saw David helping out. She hadn't seen him in a
while, and under different circumstances, she would have liked to talk to
him. She wondered vaguely where Minty was as she watched the young man run
into a tunnel they had begun to dig out.

"He's in!" Someone called.

"Careful, how you  move those rocks!" came someone else's cry, "You wanna
bring down the ceiling in there!"

Darlea shuddered at the thought. She saw the large golden queen flitting
nervously overhead, <Makayla, is Waylene in there?>

<Yes, along with Carie and her queen, and another girl whose name is not
familiar to me.>

Then another aftershock hit and men began running out of the tunnel followed
by dust as more rock collapsed. There was some disagreement about continuing
to clear the rock, but Darlea was proud to see her father keeping them moving.

"The tunnel's blocked again."

"We've got to dig it open."

Darlea was so caught up in what was going on, she almost missed her father
coming toward her, "Darlea, I told you to go home."

"I .."

"Please, I can't be worrying about you right now along with everything
else." His eyes pleaded with her.

She sighed an nodded, "Alright, Daddy, I'll go .."

"I'm sorry, I can't be much help right now, Darlea .."

She nodded, "It's alright, we'll visit again later."

"I hope so," he smiled, and briefly touched her cheek. Then he turned to get
back to work. Darlea climbed up on her dragon, and the two lifted up into
the sky. This was a good example of why it ~was~ a good idea for parents to
be mated. Scheduling visits was so hard. 

Darlea had never doubted her father's love for an instant, but she had
missed his constant presence in her life. She wouldn't want that for
Salinda's child. She would make sure Salinda knew that she thought becoming
Almiron's mate was for the best. And Darlea was determined that it would
believe it as well. She put aside her selfish thoughts and set her mind for
what was best for Salinda.

--Darlea & Makayla
****
NRPG: Marrid, as this takes place there, I'm sending it to you as well :}

Keldarra, Darlea's thinking on the subject of mating is probably a little
warped under the emotional strain. She's still not going to be herself,
particularlly when Almiron is around, but she has made up her mind about
what is best.

I wasn't going to send this until I got Briana's next post, but it seems
that Interaccess and indy aren't talking so there's no telling when I get
it... so Could some kind soul please forward this to the five indy people
for me. 

lcowper@indy.net
mcowper@indy.net
per@indy.net
echo@indy.net
catwoman@indy.net

I would be most appreciative :)

Kristen
------------------------------------
Kris & Scott Gant
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/gant.htm