Nrpg: As this has to do with Darlea I'm sending it to Keldarra so you all
know what's going on with her... More of this story and Wisp's visit to Shae
will follow...

Keldarra.. the plot involves around Traplin rider of Diemis whow as asked to
check out a rumor about a plot against the Warrenlady of Jasra.. he agreed,
leaving his own Wareen of Telnor for good (personal reasons) to go check it
out and found out there was a plot.. so he made his way to Jasra to find
Saul (who he knew from trips to Whiteriver and card tables near and far) and
fill him in. Saul knowing Wisp's conection to Tara, involves him in the
talks.. and it turned out that Wisp and Trap were old friend of a sort..
they had both joined in Telnor at the same time.. and both had *died* in bad
telelports around the same time also.. this post starts after Trap has seen
Dar ( who he knew from seeing her in Keldarra and Telnor)  in Jasra and
wonders what a *dead* woman is doing there...

Barb

====================== 

The 411 On Darlea


"I always wondered what had become of you," Trap mused as the two men met on
the beach the next morning. "When I came back to Telnor I looked you up but
they told me you had died soon after I left the Warren... I'd been sorry to
hear about it."

"I thought it the right thing to do at the time," Wisp chuckled. "Word had
come to me that my folks had found out where I was and... as I didn't want
to end up like Dewall... or bring any trouble to the Warren, I felt it would
be prudent that I leave... So I left and died in the prossess."

"Wouldn't it have just been easier to have transferred to a different warren
and changed your name?"

Wisp turned walked over to a log that had somehow landed on the beach and
sat down. "You don't know my people," he frowned. "The only way they would
have stopped looking for me is if I had died... If they sent people to
Telnor... which I know they did... and found out I'd moved away...  someone
would have offered up the information... they would have come looking for me
until they had found me, and I couldn't take the chance of anyone getting
hurt because of me. So I had to die to keep them from looking to hard... It
was your own supposed death that gave me the idea how to go about it."

"My death..." Trap frowned remembering everything his *death* had caused him
lose. A stab of pain hit him so hard when Danielle's face came to mind that
he had to turn away less Wisp saw.

"Yeah... It was the only way that would work... As I didn't know to many of
the people in the Warren I didn't think they'd grieve for me too long... But
I had to be able to move around if I was going to protect Tara when the time
came... Wisp & Smoke, he's my dragon, came out of the need to survive... So
I became what I am today out of it... I'm known by as may names and
different faces as there are villages around here and through out both
lands. Though most people don't really think I exist. But it allows me to do
what I do, which is gather information and impart it unto those who have a
need to know."

"So what's your connection to this Warrenlady Tara," Trap took the chance to
ask, knowing full well the man might tell him to mind his own business.
After all they had only been friends for a few short weeks before he himself
had left Telnor Warren.

Wisp was silent for a while thinking over what he might tell the man, and
wondering if he could trust him. He could count the number of people alive
who knew the connection, not being a man who trusted easily, but something
about this man made him feel like he could be trusted.

He had sensed it the one night back in Telnor when he'd opened up after a
few mugs of ale. Trap had after all come to Jasra to tell them of the threat
against Tara... Something he didn't have to do even after he'd found out
about it, but then Trap was one of those rare breeds of men who believed in
justice.....
 
He'd proven that when he had brought down the thieves he had been sent
after. Some men would have fallen for the power and money that came with it,
and run to the dark side of the law. Trap hadn't done that. No he'd played
his part. Ran his raids for the thieves but through it all, he had remained
true to his own honor and the trust placed upon him by those who'd asked him
to do the job in the first place.

"There's only a few people who even suspect there is a connection," he said
finally. "Saul and his mate are the only ones who know it for fact and I can
trust them to keep my secret. I'm not one who can trust easily, but then I
think you and I are the same way in that... but I'm going to take a chance
that my feelings about you aren't going to get me killed. Tara is my niece.
Her father and I were brothers, though he's much older then I and the reason
I've been watching out over her and her brother, all these many years is
that they were the only ones of the family worst a damn."

He paused to gather his thoughts, then, "Ansel came along after I'd left
home, but with Tara you could see that she was different from the rest. She
had that special something going for her that the elders in our village
frowned on. That special something that told people she was destined for
great things. Even as a child it shown bright. I knew they would try to tame
her sprit if she'd stayed, so I sort of helped her get away from them even
then, though she has no idea of my involvement in her leaving the village. I
haven't been disappointed in her once in all the years I've watched over her."

"Family is important," Trap agreed. "You have to do what you can to see that
they're safe... I take it she doesn't know about you?"

Wisp shook his head, "No... Oh she knows me as Wisp... the man who appears
in her life from time to time with warnings or needing a place to grab a
meal once in a while... And she knows me as Dracon the Warren trader of rare
and unusual objects, but she has no idea that they are one in the same man.
She has no idea who I really am or why I visit her, and I want to keep it
that way for as long as I can."

Trap was puzzled by this. "Don't you think she'd feel better just by knowing
that she has a family member out there who cares about her and supports her?"

"Maybe at one time when this all first started I could have or should have
told her," Wisp agreed sadly. "But too much time as gone by and there are
too many people out there who wouldn't think twice about using her to get
back at me for the troubles I've caused them. No she's safer not knowing."

He looked down at the sand under his boot, reached for a soft pink colored
shell and played with it absentmindedly while he continued. "Like you Trap
... I fight for the people who can't defend themselves. I fight for the
weaker man so that he won't be stepped on by those who think to take from 
him those few things he worked hard to get. As I said, I'm known by many
names and faces in the towns I visit. I change my appearance on the off
chance that someday I'll run into someone who might remember me as the boy I
was... and pray this never happens because then who would watch over my
niece and protect her from them who would bring harm to her?"

"More then most I think you would understand this," Wisp looked up at him
then. "I think I sensed in you those same needs and feelings in the short
time we had known eachother in Telnor. We do it not because we want the
attention, but simply because someone has to do it."

"Others wouldn't be so quick to agree with you," the blond rider scoffed.
"Oh I did what I was asked to do like a good little Warren rider. I gave up
everything I knew and loved when they came to me and asked me to do the job
for them. But afterwards when I'd returned to the Warren, some accused me of
doing so for what personal glory they think I achieved when it was over.
Others think I'm a danger to the Warren because I'm to wild, to self
centered, not a team player. But then I was never given the chance to prove
myself to them. They all had their own ideas about who I was. My own mate
thought..."

He let the words trail off, not ready yet to talk about Danielle. Maybe he'd
tell his old friend about her someday... But not right now. The pain of
their good-bye was still to fresh in his mind. Still his voice held a note
of bitterness as he remembered his home coming back in the Warren.

"I got the brush off when I returned to the Warren. People who had been
friends before I joined were suddenly afraid of me, while others thought me
to full of myself. So yes I do understand why you've remained quiet about
who you are. I understand all to well. My life might have been a whole lot
better if the Shadow had never been. But he was and I am proud of the work I
did in bring off my assignment. Not that anyone will ever thank me for it
nor will I expect them too... But sometimes I wish like hell I hadn't gone
back to Telnor when it was over. I wish I could have let Traplin stay dead
and started over somewhere else... but for my sister and... someone else...
I might have. It's true what they say you know. You can never go back."

"Amen to that my friend," Wisp agreed. "So what are you going to do now?"

Trap's lips curved up in a smile, a twinkle lighted his green eyes as he
looked over at Wisp sitting on his log. "Why I thought I'd take a few
lessons from you and we could sort of become partners... No wait... before
you say I'm crazy think of it... we could cover twice the territory and help
out a whole lot more folks."

"It's an idea I'd be a fool not to consider," Wisp agreed with out pause. It
would also give him more time to spend with Darlea and get to know her
better. He still had to find out what it was in her past that frighten even
her dragon to the point where the beast refused to talk about it. 

Speaking of Dar, he suddenly remembered the funny looks Traplin had been
throwing her way when he had seen her up on the peak.

"This may sound a bit funny... but I got the feeling that you thought you
knew the young lady who gave me a lift yesterday to the peak?"

"Darlea?" Trap asked and saw Wisp nod his head, a question was easily read
in his eyes. "She reminded me of someone I saw in Telnor a few times."

"She... lived there?"

"No," Trap shook his head wondering what the man was getting at. "She was a
courier for the Warrenlady at Keldarra Warren... Or I should say a courier
for the Dragonlady herself. But I had heard she had died while on a trip to
the nomad lands with her mate and I was confused when I thought I saw her
here... So it can't be the same lady."

Once again Wisp made the decision to trust the man before him. "It could
be," he said slowly. "Let me tell you a little story then you can tell me
what you heard......."

"..... then we'd heard that they had arrived in the nomad lands and found
his family but the tribe was attacked by another and Darlea was killed
during the battle. Her son was found in the aftermath, and  it was believed
she and her dragon had died..... But she's not dead is she... she's been
living here in Jasra with no memory of who or what she was before she awoke
here?"

"She doesn't remember anything at all," Wisp confessed. "Only a few fleeting
glimpses of a dark skinned man who frightens her badly, and her dragon isn't
telling what she remembers. Dar's real upset about not remembering, but
scared of what she'll find out if she does... Maybe if she knows the truth
it'll help her get over the fear of it."

"So you planing on taking her back to Keldarra to see if it wakes up her
memory?" Trap inquired.

"No... she was in pretty bad shape when she'd arrived here. Someone had
beaten her up pretty badly. Almost killed her, so I don't want to expose her
to what might be danger if the party who did this to her finds out his handy
work failed. But I think I am going to go there and find out what I can
before I tell her about it."

"Maybe I can help you with that," Trap offered. "I mean I do know a few
riders there who I could make inquiries of."

That's when Wisp remembered a certain female rider he had helped out in the
past few months. 

Shae had been from Keldarra. 

She had spent a lot of time with Darlea here in Jasra... She must have known
who Darlea was, but why had she never said anything to anyone about it.
Surely she must have known there where others who might have been happy to
know the girl was alive... 

So why hadn't Shae said anything? Why had she kept Darlea's identity quiet
even from the girl herself... Was she protecting her or... Waiting until her
own troubles were over before turning the girl over into the hands of those
who had tried to harm her.

Wisp was damn sure gonna find out.

"I think I know the very person who could tell me everything I want to
know," Wisp said suddenly, and Trap wondered at the sudden coldness in the
mans tone. 

"Who?" Trap asked knowing he might be over estimating their friendship at
this point. He hadn't liked sound he'd heard in the mans voice. 

"A rider who'd gotten herself into trouble back in her home Warren...
someone I'd helped out of a tight fit when she'd been set up and about to be
arrested for the crimes against her..." Wisp told him without thinking.
"I've a funny feeling that when she was here she knew who Dar was and for
some reason she didn't bother to say anything about it to any one. I'm
wondering now why and I'm going to damn sure find out."

He got up from the log he'd been sitting on and started walking towards
Smoke who was enjoying the heated sand with Diemis.

"Find Saul and let him know I'll be gone for a bit but I'll be back this
afternoon to go over the final plans.." 

"Wait...!" Trap called running after him and grabbing onto his arm before
Wisp could mount the dragon. "Don't go off half cocked when you talk to this
girl. She might have had reasons for not saying anything. You said yourself
that she'd spent a lot of time here with Dar... Maybe she was protecting her
in some way. Maybe she knew what had happened and thought Dar better off
left here to start her life over."

"That's a lot of maybes my friend," Wisp countered, his expression changing
only slightly as he listen to the words of advice. "And I hate maybes. But
if I find out this rider had other reasons for not telling us that she knew
who Dar was....."

Trap suddenly broke out laughing. "You like this girl don't you. Darlea?
That's why you're so hot and bothered with this whole thing. You like her!
And you liked the other one too. the one who's name you won't tell me?"

Wisp shot him a dirty look, but then his expression soften. "Yeah I like
her. But it's more then that. I hate to see anyone going though what she's
going through. I hate to see the fright in her eyes when she thinks I'm not
looking. If she *knows* what happened then maybe I can give her something of
herself back. *Maybe* she can stop being scared and go on with her life."

"And what happens if what you find out sends her racing back home into the
arms of the man who was her mate?"

Wisp looked away. That thought had come to him but he hadn't wanted to deal
with it. Dar was becoming important to him in more ways then one. She was
someone he felt he could share his life with and finding her now only to
loose her...

"If it happens and she does leave once she knows the truth then I'll be
happy for her and wish her well." Wisp finally said. "It's her happiness I
do this for..... See you later."

Trap let the man go this time.


*****Submited by: ****

Traplin & Diemis (formerly of Telnor)
Wisp & Smoke (parts unknown)
Jasra Warren Domain

aka
Barbara