[Elswyth]

Blood.  Rivers of it... oceans...  From her boot tops to her chin, and
everywhere in between...  She waded through it, ignoring the shrieking
ghosts, knowing that just over the next rise she would find saftey... peace...

<Elswyth...>

The voice called to her from impossibly far away...  From a creature the
color of mourning, who loved her... who didn't care about the death she had
seen, or the death she had dealt.  Aedra... the other half of her being, her
soul...

The darkness within howled as she moved toward the voice... the red-stained
tides receded, revealing a silvery-white plain.

~The plains of sorrow.~  Something white and feathery brushed against her
skin, cold, almost burning... It was like snow, but it didn't melt...  it
swirled, cold, burning, crying out with the guilt and sorrow, lashing
against her again and again and again as she walked, and then ran, then
sprinted, tripping and falling as each flake danced around her, crying her
sins into the endless silence...

<Elswyth...>

Aedra's voice was stronger, pulling her away from the grief of the
mourning-flakes that swirled in dark fury.  The white receded, and a golden
light filled her, energizing and warm...  The color was brilliant,
burnished...  The deep, warm shade of the eyes of a playful wolf... or a dragon.

Elswyth's eyes opened as a wave of love and acceptance filled her.  <Aedra?>

<You're awake!!>  Aedra's jubilance made Elswyth laugh aloud as she sat up.
Unlike the day before, when fatigue had dogged her periodically, Elswyth
felt fresh and energetic, the way she normally was.  She wished that it was
practical to go for a run... the energy that filled her demanded something
physical...

<I'm awake and ready to take on the world.  Where are you, beloved?>

<I'm with Ceth and Te'Adara... but I don't think you'll be able to come
here...>  The disappointment in Aedra's voice was almost tangible.

<Why not?>

<A lot of the cold white stuff -- snow -- fell last night, and the Humans
seem to be having some trouble getting around.>

Elswyth glanced out a window and shuddered, remembering being on a march
through three feet of snow when she'd been very young.   <No doubt.  Will
they be able to care for you until I can get there?>

<Te'Adara says yes.  They can get me food.  Do not worry, my chosen.>

<I should be better able to care for you, beloved.>

<It is not your fault.  You had to save Wyndelie, and Zareth's Human.>

<Did I?>  Elswyth frowned slightly.  <I don't even know these people.  I
can't really understand why I reacted that way.>

<Wyndelie didn't deserve to die, chosen.  You have seen enough innocents
suffer...  You don't like it...>  Aedra sounded puzzled.

Thinking of Shatavari's Human, Elswyth wasn't sure that her actions had been
in anyone's best interests.  Still...  It was like someone had activated an
instict she hadn't known she'd posessed...  Once it had been the call to
battle, but now... it was different...  A simple distress call, and her body
started moving before she could think...

<Does it matter?>

Elswyth shook her head, silvery-white hair falling over her eyes before she
brushed it back.  <No, beloved.>

Aedra fell silent, and Elswyth looked around.  She was back in the Medical
Center.  She'd noticed that before, but now it really registered.  The last
thing she remembered was passing out in that room...  wherever that had been.

<Aedra?>

<Yes, chosen?>

<How did I end up here?>

<Sire-Darshan and his Human took you there.>

<Sire-Darshan?  Your father?>

<Is that your term for it?  He mated my mother...>

<Yes, beloved.  In any case, love, could you thank him and ask him to thank
his human?  I would do so, but my memory is very fuzzy, I doubt I would
recognize his human if I ran over him...  Can you ask someone how Zareth's
Human is doing?>

Respectfully Submitted,
Jill E. Flansburg
Elswyth and Aedra

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			Vasaris, the Fuzzy Dragon
Jill E. Flansburg		    |		vasaris@az.com
CS HMC 1994			    |		jflansbu@muddcs.cs.hmc.edu
History, WWU 199?		    |		vasaris@divcom.umop-ap.com
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