>"Oh," she said as an afterthought, "My name is Ceth, I'm sorry, but I
>didn't catch your name..?" Ceth reached out to shake hands.
> 
>	Mila looked at the hand for a minute, pale and slender-fingered. 
>Then she forced her own out to meet it.  Orcs?  Dark Elves?  Evil
>children?  This girl was strange, very strange.  But she needed help, and
>Mila wasn't going to hesitate.  "Call me Mila," she said.  I'm second in
>command here at Keldarra Medical, temporarily in charge while Kyven
>recovers." 


Ceth noticed the pause before Mila took her hand.  Surely there aren't 
more pople like her step-father in the world.
>
>	"Nice to meet you," Ceth replied politely.  "Thanks for the drink. 
>I'm feeling much better now.  In return, I don't suppose I could be any
>help?  I have a lot of skills that you would find useful, especially my 
>magic." 
Ceth wished the ringing in her ears would go away, and that her ribs 
would stop hurting, but these people had been so nice to her, and Mila 
reminded her of her mother on a bad day. No, that isn't true, she thought 
to herself; Mila reminded her of her mother on a good day, she just 
looked extremely frazzled. She smiled to herself, thinking of all variety of 
adventure she could have in this new land.  Who knew if there were very many 
>magic-users at all?  So many possiblities. *NO!* she said to herself 
sternly, not after that fire incident, not to mention that demon; but, maybe 
they needed some scrolls translated.  Ceth spared a minute to idly 
wonder what kind of demon it was--she'd never heard of a furry demon 
before; well, not a LAVENDER furry demon.
 
	 Focusing back on reality, Mila's perplexed look wasn't exactly
 what she'd been hoping for.  Ceth had a feeling she would be here for a 
while, and she would need some way of earning her keep.
  
>"I'm glad you're feeling better," she said slowly.  "I think we'd do best 
>to bring you to talk to the DragonLady now."
>
>	"Excuse me," came a gruff voice.  Ceth looked up to see the 
>strong orderly who had retrieved her from the lake.  "I think Mila and I 
>should have a talk for a moment.  Excuse me."  He took Mila by the arm 
>and pulled her out of the room.
>
>	"Take her to see the DragonLady?" he hissed once he'd gotten her 
>alone.  "Didn't you hear what she said?  Her people are ASSASSINS!"
>
>	"She said her father was an assasin," Mila replied stubbornly.  
>"The DragonLady will know best what to do with her.  I don't think she 
>means to do anyone any harm.  She seems like a sweet girl, even if she is 
>strange."
>
>	"Too strange to risk the DragonLady's life," he replied darkly.  
>"But you're in charge, Healer.  Do what you like."
>
>	Mila smiled at him.  "Thank you," she said, and turned back into 
>the room.  "Ceth, if you'd come with me, the DragonLady's room is this 
>way." 
>
>	<DragonLady,> Ceth thought.  <I wonder what she looks like.  
>Maybe she's a Dragon, or part-Dragon.>  She followed Mila out of the room 
>and through a few bland coridoors.  When they reached the center of the 
>building, Mila had a conversation with a couple of strong-looking guards 
>before leading Ceth through into another room much like the original, 
>only this one had no windows.
>
>	Inside, a 30ish-aged pregnant woman sat up in a medical bed,
>talking animatedly with a girl not much older than Ceth.  On the other
>side, a red-haired woman slept soundly in another bed.  "Mila!" the woman
>greeted as they entered, then her eyes fell on Ceth.  "Who...  what...  is
>your companion?" 
>
>	"Hello, DragonLady," Mila said respectfully.  "This is Ceth.  We 
>rescued her from the Medical Lake not long ago.  I thought you and the 
>Warrenlady would best know how to help her."  Then she turned to Ceth.  
>"Ceth, this is Christalla, our DragonLady, and this is Evelle, our 
>Warrenlady.  They're both wonderful people."

The guards watched intently as Ceth started to speak.

Ceth felt vaguely put out.  You'd think she went around killing people.  
Well, she had, technically, but she hadn't met a single person wo cared 
about the orcs she had killed.  Oh, well.

Ceth started to tell Evelle and Christalla about her wonderful heritage 
when a thought suddenly came to her; several, actually.

"Hello! I'm a Ceth, and you are an Evelle and a Christalla,"  feeling 
this was enough of an answer, Ceth bounced over to the bed and sat down 
on the corner.  Mila frowned in disapproval, but Ceth didn't notice; the 
ringing in her ears was growing louder, making it difficult to understand 
what people were saying.

Barely stopping for breath, Ceth continued, "Mila says you are wonderful 
people, and I know Mila and I are both wonderful people, and the orderly 
who fished me out of the lake must be a wonderful person," (the orderly 
in question scowled at that comment, unsure of how to take a compliment 
by the enemy) "So, who ISN"T a wonderful person?"  Ceth looked intently 
at Christalla.

One of the guards at the door growled, " damn assassins."

"That is enough," Cristalla informed the errant guard, "my dear, you 
still haven't told us what you are."

"Oh," Ceth said, "I'm a half-elf...half dark elf, actually," she 
hesitated for a moment, then continued, "dark elves are evil elves, they make
great assassins," Ceth smiled for a moment, "aren't assassins INTERESTING?"

Evelle murmured, "that would be one way of describing them."

Ceth barely heard this as she slid to the floor, the circumstances of the 
last few days overcoming her desire to learn more about this fascinating 
world she found herself in.

"I think she could be a candidate, her aura is a bit strange, though," 
Christalla said to Evelle as Mila sent for an orderly to take Ceth away.

NRPG: Ceth is mostly exhausted, but she has a mild concussion.  It 
sounded as if Mila didn't really have time to examine her, and Ceth was 
too interested in what was going on (well, actually talking about 
herself) to complain.

My word, you people are PROLIFIC!  I had no idea it would take me this 
long to read the back posts (and I still haven't finished.)