There was a note up on the main bulletin board of the hatchling 
barracks when Shae let herself in after leaving Ceth. Looking up 
she noticed that all of the of the newly joined were being put on 
snow shoveling duties, her crew was suppost to be meeting in just 
a little while to get started.

Shoveling snow, coal... what next? She wondered as she made her 
way down the wide hall to her room. What else is there for them 
to make us shovel? Dirt for the spring plantings? 

Well she'd have to put on another layer of clothing before she when 
to join the others. What she had on now under her coat wouldn't hold 
back the cold for long once it got wet.

She was almost prepared for the sight that greeted her when she 
pushed open the door to her room and found all of her things thrown 
around the room again. Almost, but she was also getting pretty tired 
of it. She would be so happy when she was finally allowed to find her 
own apartment and get away from these kinds of pranks.

Didn't the others get tired of these games? Well nothing to do but 
pick things up again. It would give her something to do while waiting 
for Ceth to come back and tell her what she'd found out. Hopefully it 
would be good news, but with the way her luck had gone since coming 
here to Keldarra... she didn't think so.

Still in the process of picking up her things for the third time in 
as may days, at first Shae didn't hear her name being called out. 

"Shae.  Shaelesta... What happened in here?"

She jumped, startled, and glanced up to see, D'neor standing in the 
open door way...  "I, ah, someone came in while I was gone and had a 
lot of fun, apparently.  I'm used to it, though."

He frowned.  "I see.  Come on out, I need to talk to you for a bit."

Shae's eyes went wide.  "I--I can't.  I have to be on snow crew in a 
few minutes--" She didn't want to go anywhere with him. Visions of 
the inside of the jail cell in the Sword Guide Hall came to mind. Was 
he here to take her back there. Gods!! She hoped not but knew he had 
the power to do so if he chose. 

"No you don't, I'm exempting you from it. Don't worry, I'm not 
trying to lure you away so they can trash your room again.  
Besides," he cast a disparaging eye at the mess, "There's not much 
more that anyone can do, honestly."

'Nice of you to point that out!' she thought bitterly. Then asked 
herself why he would want to talk to her if it wasn't to send her 
back to the cell.

"Hey," he continued, seeing her confused and slightly hurt look, 
"If you really want to, you can stay at my mother's until you get 
your own apartment.  She's mostly harmless, and she likes people.  
I'm sure she won't mind."

Shae looked at him skeptically.  "Mostly harmless?" 

'I'm sure she is,' she thought to herself ,still not trusting him. 
'And quiet willing to keep an eye on me, and report back everything 
I do or say to you. No thank you!!'

"She can't be quiet, that's her only fault.  Look, girl, I'm trying 
to help you, all right?  M'ressan says you're a good kid, S'brogh 
says you're good, and even Evelle's on your side." I hope. "I just 
need to ask you some questions, so I can find out who's really to 
blame.  Okay?  Good.  Get your coat."

D'neor strode towards the outside, Shae trotting beside him to keep 
up. "Oh, I almost forgot," he said as they neared the entrance. "I 
got these back from the Sword Guild for you.  Here."  D'neor reached 
into his pocket and pulled out a pair of small blue gloves, handing 
them to the girl. "It's getting too cold to be without now."

Shae slipped them on and smiled, wiggling her fingers comfortably 
inside." Thanks, these were a present from my brothers so I'm glad 
to get them back. What did you want to talk to me about?"

"I need to know what happened on the day that the apartments were 
first ransacked.  You know the day I mean, right?  Good.  Tell me everything
you remember, from the time you woke up until the time 
you went to sleep."

She started out by telling him about being called to work in the 
coal bins
during the wraith attack, and then being invited inside for a cup 
of coffee afterwards before going back outside. Then told him how 
she had gone back to the barracks and had a long bath to remove the 
coal dust from her body because it was making her itch. After feeding
Kaaren, she had made her way over to the dining hall for dinner....

"...And then you showed up, and I spent the rest of the night in a 
Sword Guild cell." she hid the bitterness that she was feeling for 
his part in that nightmarish trial from him, not wanting to 
antagonize him if he really was trying to help her.

"Hmm.  Is there anyone who can vouch for you during those times?"

Shae shrugged.  "The miners, the rest of the trainees who were there. 
 But there's an equal number of people who saw 'me' crossing the 
Green towards Lori and Michel's place and back again.  With that, I 
really don't think I have a very good alibi.  It's useless--I might 
as well just confess so they'll leave me alone."

"I'm not asking you to do that.  Did you notice anything strange at anytime?"

'Could of fooled me...' came the though.

She shook her head sadly.  "No.  Oh, wait--" she went on to tell him 
about the thing that had happen the night before when someone had run 
into her while she was trying to find her way back to the barracks... 
and how she had found the leather mask on the ground when she got up. 
She went on to tell him about the other two riders who'd shown up and 
after seeing her holding the mask had taken her to see the Dragonlady 
and M'ressan, where the Beta Wingleader had given her an alibi. 

"I really don't remember much more, though." she said when she was finished.
Except that I didn't really find myself trusting the two who 
took me in. 

D'neor frowned.  "That's all right.  I need to talk to some other 
people also.  You come find me, though, if you remember anything else, 
ok?  Good. You'd best get back to work now."  Shoving his hands in his
pockets, D'neor turned and walked away through the snow, heading back
towards the Warren.

She stood there frowning at him after he had turned and walked away. 
Something told her she wasn't out of the woods yet. He hadn't given anything
away, so Shae had no way of knowing if he believed her or 
not. 

"Well I guess if he doesn't send anyone to escort you back to the 
Sword Guide for the night, then I know," she muttered to herself as 
she turned back towards the hatchling barracks. Before she headed 
off to work she was going to put on that extra layer of clothes. No 
use getting a cold on top of everything else.

As she walked she thought back over the things she had told D'neor 
as they talked. Though he had been trying his best to put her at 
ease, something about him still frightened her. 

Especially after the last confrontation she had had with him. The 
one that had left her sitting in a dark jail cell overnight. Right 
now she wasn't sure if he was trying to prove her innocent... 
or guilty. 

He didn't trust her. No matter how nice he was acting towards her 
now... she could tell.  She might as well just confess for all the 
good telling them she was innocent was doing her. Only the thought 
of spending anymore time in that cell, locked away from the Fireball 
kept her from doing so. She take Kaaren and flee the Warren before 
that could happen....

She entered the barracks and wondered down the hall until she came 
to her room. Again she thought of the talk she'd just had with 
D'neor. Was there anything... anything at all that she may have 
forgotten to tell him? She couldn't think of anything.

Pushing the door of her room open, she stepped inside and that was 
the last thing she remembered as pain exploded in her mind.

*****

She never knew how much later it was that she was awaken by hands 
roughly shaking her as they pulled her into a sitting position.

"That's her, I'm sure of it," a voice was saying. See I told you I 
hit her hard enough to give her that black eye she's beginning to 
sport, when I caught her sneaking around the back hall at the medical
center. I got in one good hit before she attacked me with that 
martial arts stuff."

"So what about it girl?" she heard a familiar voice asking as the 
shaking started up again. "Who's going to alibi you this time?"

"Please..." she cried, wanting who ever was shaking her to stop. 
Her head was killing her and she felt as if she was about to get 
violently ill.

"Search the room, If anyone finds one of those leather masks, let 
me know." she thought she heard someone say and felt  herself being 
pushed roughly back across the bed. Then everything 
went black.

******

"Did you have to hit her so hard?" an angry female voice questioned 
as she rounded on the man with her. "You could have killed her when 
her head hit the edge of that window sill. Then where would we have 
been?"

"Relax," the man said, his lips turned up in an evil grin. "I didn't 
hit that hard. Just enough to pay her back for the other night."

"Well in the future you had better learn to keep that temper of yours 
under control," she told him. "They aren't paying me enough to have 
you screw everything up. Not when we're this close."

"Hey...don't get me wrong.. but wasn't it MY idea to have D'nil say 
she was snooping around the med center," he reminded her. "Have him  
plant the though in their minds that maybe she was there to try to 
kill Lori to keep her mouth shut about everything. He'll keep saying 
it until they believe him too."

"That's the one thing you did do right," the tiny woman admitted
reluctantly. "And this time there isn't anyone who can say they saw 
her somewhere else. We won't have to keep trashing her room any more 
to make her think her fellow hatchmates were doing it."

"Yeah..." the man laughed. "After this none of the others will want 
to be seen with her, much less talk to her."

"Well I'll leave you to tell *him* that the girl is taken care of 
for now. I have other things to do until later." With that said the 
short dark-headed woman faded into the evening air and disappeared.

-----------------
Mia :) Tag

Or anyone else who might want to confront her. She'll be out of it for a
while though because of the blow to the head that she took when she fell
after being hit.... but she'll be okay....

*****Submitted by: **********
 Barbara (a.k.a.
Shaelesta & Kaaren (the Fireball)
Keldarra Warren