He awoke to M'tan's voice, "Aleta!" as M'tan drew away from him suddenly. 

He opened his eyes to see the red-head leaning over the bed, M'tan looking 
guilty.  "Aleta!" he echoed, eyes wide.  "I am sorry.  This is not..." 

"It's all right."  Aleta almost laughed, raising a hand to calm them.  "I'm 
sorry to wake you.  I just needed to talk to you, before anything else has 
a chance to happen.  I tried to come last night when Melianth told me, but 
the storm was so severe..."

"How is Benna?" M'tan asked suddenly.  His face was pale from the loss of 
blood, but his eyes were intent.

"She's fine.  Aylin was keeping her when the storm hit.  Melianth checked 
with Shatavari this morning, and she's pretty sure everything is fine."

"Pretty *sure*?"

Aleta grimaced.  "Shatavari isn't the easiest Dragon to communicate with, 
but Melianth is fairly sure."

M'tan pulled away from Almiron and tried to sit up.  "Aleta, I-"

"No, M'tan, please," she pleaded.  "Please hear me out this once.  I have a 
lot to say, and I don't know how much time I have to say it."

M'tan seemed to deflate.  "All right," he said quietly.  "I'm listening."

Almiron squirmed the rest of the way from M'tan and started to stand up.  
He had interfered in their relationship enough.  "You two need privacy," he 
said uncomfortably.  "I will leave you now."

"No, I want you here," Aleta said firmly.  "This concerns you too.  I don't 
want *any* more confusion or misunderstanding."  Her voice was fierce, even 
a little bitter.  Caught by the force of her emotion, Almiron sank to a 
sitting position on the cot beside M'tan.

Aleta took a deep breath and then turned and paced across the room, not 
quite looking at either of them.  "M'tan," she said, "you asked in 
Autumn... when you left me... why we had become mates in the first place.  
You thought that if some other Dragon had won Melianth, our relationship 
would never have happened."

She looked back to them, her eyes suddenly vulnerable and very feminine.  
Almiron wanted to reach out and comfort her, but remained where he was.  
"You have it all wrong, and I guess it's all my fault that you thought that 
way.  M'tan... I watched you training on the Green with the hatchling when 
I was 16.  I loved you then, but I barely dared to speak to you.  I didn't 
know how to make you notice me or how to express my feelings.  You don't 
know how many evenings I was at the Dining Hall one table away, just 
watching you.  When I finally joined and they gave me my choice of Wings, I 
requested Alpha not for Res, but because you were there.  Then we somehow 
managed to end up as wingmen and I knew you cared for me, but it was only 
as a friend."

She stopped, taking a breath.  Her eyes rimmed red with suddenly suppressed 
tears.  "When Zareth won Melianth, it was the first chance I had to make 
you see me as a woman.  I didn't know how to do it.  I kept expecting you 
to turn me away, but you didn't.  I couldn't believe you really agreed to 
be my mate.  M'tan, I didn't want you because of the mating flight.  I 
thought you could want *me* because of it!"

She met his eyes then, and turned away quickly, fighting emotion.  M'tan 
just stared in numb astonishment.  "Aleta..." he whispered, "I never knew..."

Almiron's heart was beating with anxiety.  Please, Hehran, he thought, let 
it work out.  I have caused enough pain.

Aleta recovered her composure and pushed on as if she hadn't heard him.  "I 
was a fool," she said viciously, turning the knife of her words against 
herself.  "I was afraid to say anything, and assumed that if you were 
concerned about anything, you'd ask me....  I don't know how you feel about 
me now, but if there's any chance you love me still, I want to make good on 
all the things I didn't tell you."

Almiron shivered uncomfortably.  He didn't belong here.  This should be 
between the two of them.  "Are you sure you want me here to listen to 
this?" he asked.

Aleta nodded solemnly.  "There's more," she replied.  "Ever since Darshan 
won Melianth, I've been watching you.  You're a wonderful, geniune person.  
I think that's why I never saw the feelings growing between you and M'tan 
all this time.  I was too busy wrestling with my own attraction toward you, 
one that wouldn't go away."

Flabbergasted, Almiron opened his mouth to say something, but she waved him 
to silence.  "I'm only a woman," she said, her mouth twisted with self- 
deprecating irony.  "I can't satisfy any desires M'tan has for another man. 
If M'tan for any reason is willing to take me back, I won't stand in the 
way of his relationship with you.

"And, if both of you will have me, I would rather it be a triad." 

Almiron sat in shock.  Triad?  He looked at M'tan, but the older man seemed 
more shocked than he was.  "Triad?"

Aleta nodded.  "The three of us together, as mates or lovers or whatever 
you want to call it."

"Are... are you serious?" M'tan asked.

Aleta sat down in the chair beside the bed.  "Yes.  Think, M'tan.  You love 
Almiron and I... well, I love Almiron, too.  And Benna adores him.  He'd be 
good for all of us.  Why not do it?"

Was Aleta really serious about this?  "I..."  If this had happened one day 
sooner, Almiron would have jumped at this.  But Darlea...  Perhaps he could 
talk to her and something could be worked out.  But before he did, he 
wanted to know that Aleta was serious and that M'tan could accept it as 
well.  "Have you... really thought about this, Aleta?"

"I've thought about it a lot," she answered honestly.  "Other people have 
done it and it just seemed... an ideal solution to our problem."

Almiron turned to M'tan.  "And you?"

M'tan shook his head.  "I...  This is all going too fast."

Almiron looked at the two of them looking at him.  He had doubts that 
Aleta was truly considering all the implications.  He had grown up in a 
culture where such arrangements weren't too uncommon, and he knew the sorts 
of jealousy that could flare up.  "But have you truly thought about it?  
Not just as solution to problem, but what your life will be like?  There is 
whole household arrangement, of course, but there is more than that.  Are 
you ready to deal with what people will think?  Will you be comfortable 
with sexual arrangement or will it cause discomfort, embarrassment or 
jealousy?  It will not always be all three.  Sometime it will be just two.  
Will it bother you, M'tan, to watch Aleta and I make love?  Will it bother 
you, Aleta, to watch M'tan and I make love?  Will it bother you two for me 
to watch you?"

"I... I think I could learn to like it," Aleta said, trying to hide her doubts.

The two ex-mates looked at each other.  M'tan still looked lost.  Aleta 
looked willing, anxious, though he could see the doubt there.  She wasn't 
sure.  Almiron reached out and took Aleta's hand, pulling her close to the 
bed.  Keeping ahold of Aleta's hand, Almiron leaned over, letting his lips 
meet M'tan's.  He felt Aleta stiffen and squeezed her hand reassuringly.  
The kiss grew deeper.

"Oh... my... GOD!"  Almiron jerked back and three sets of eyes turned to 
the doorway where M'ressan stood, green eyes flashing fire.  "You 
insensitive bastards!" the wingleader yelled as he strode through the doorway.

Behind him, Christalla reached out and tried to stop him, but he was too 
angry to be controlled.

"Res, wait," Aleta said.

Almiron rolled out of the bed quickly.  "M'ressan, it is not--"

He stopped as M'ressan's fist flew at him.  His eyes snapped closed 
automatically, then he felt a body against his own and heard the thud of a 
fist driving home.  The body crashed back into him and, instinctively, he 
caught it.  He looked to see Aleta sagging in his arms, her hands covering 
her face, blood running through the fingers, as M'ressan stared in horror.

"Aleta... I..."

M'tan was struggling out of the bed, reaching out to Aleta even as he 
yelled at M'ressan, "You hit her!  Damn you, you bastard!"

"She... she stepped in the way.  Aleta, are you all right?"

Almiron helped her into a chair and coaxed her hands away from her face.  
Her nose was bleeding profusely.

"It is okay," Almiron whispered to her calmingly, then leaned forward and 
kissed her gently, letting the healing power flow into her easily.  Her 
bloody hands slipped around him and tangled in his hair and the two became 
momentarily oblivious to the world.

"What the hell is going on here?!" M'ressan demanded.

"None of your damned business!" M'tan shot back.

"You--"

"Stop it!" Christalla's words cut into her mate's response.  She turned to 
look at Aleta as Almiron untangled himself from her.  "Aleta, are you all 
right?"

The Alpha Wingleader nodded breathlessly, her eyes wide with surprise as 
she looked at Almiron.

Christalla nodded, then turned to M'tan.  "What we came here for, before my 
mate flew off the handle, was to inform you that you are under arrest, for 
the attempted murders of Lori and Wyndelie."

"What?" Almiron and Aleta both said in unison, then turned to M'tan as he 
sank back onto the bad.  He swallowed hard and nodded.

"Now, if you two would leave, I need to ask M'tan a few questions," 
Christalla said to Almiron and Aleta.

Almiron reached out to Aleta.  "Come on.  We will find some place for you 
to get cleaned up."

She accepted his hand and got unsteadily to her feet.

"Aleta?" M'ressan said quietly.

She met her brother's eyes, then turned away and let Almiron lead her out.  
They went to a nearby room and Almiron wet a cloth and helped to clean the 
blood off her face.

"Are you truly serious?" he asked her again, trying to get her mind off the 
accusation against M'tan.

She nodded.

"I will think about it, but I must tell you something.  Yesterday, I asked 
Darlea to be my mate, and she accepted."  Her eyes widened in surprise, but 
he continued.  "I will not go back on my word to her, but something might 
be arranged.  I must talk to her... if you are truly serious... and M'tan, 
too.  But, if she cannot accept relationship outside of two of us, I will 
not pursue relationship with either you or M'tan.  I do not wish to hurt 
her."  He studied her face and smiled.  "I think I caught it before damage 
was done.  There will be no bruise."

"Thank you, Almiron," she murmurred.

There was a silence for a moment, then their eyes met.

"What if M'tan--"

He put his finger to her mouth.  "Thing will work out.  Do not borrow trouble."

Her eyes began tearing up.  "It can't be true, can it?  Oh, Almiron..."

He drew her into his arms, hugging her comfortingly.  In a world turned 
upside-down, he offered her reassurances even as he doubted them himself.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Almiron and Darshan

NRPG: Well, things just get more and more interesting...

---
|   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                   |