Waylene
***

Waylene left med center, rolling her eyes slightly when she spotted Z'lec
still waiting outside for her. He moved quickly toward her, "So, what'd she
say?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Waylene stopped and looked at him. "Z'lec, there is nothing wrong with me.
Just like the three other times." She didn't want to admit that Lakoda had
given her a tiny bit of hope as she'd said only positive things during the
exam. Everything was progressing as it should for this early in the
pregnancy. Of course, she reminded herself, she'd been told that before.
And perhaps with things they way they were for herself and Z'lec right now,
it was for the best anyway. She just hated having to go through it all again.

"Do you want to go to the dining hall and get something to eat?"

"No, as long as I'm here I might as well get some work done." She said
heading toward her office.

"'Lene, you have two junior queenriders now. Take some time for yourself
and let them have a go at running the warren."

"Later," she continued on her path back to her office. However, once there,
she found she couldn't concentrate, and her mind kept flitting back to the
baby. What if Koda could do something for her this time? It was almost too
much to hope for.

Treena
***
<In the kitchens>

"Treena!" Cook called out, "Come here, girl, and stir this chocolate for me!"

The young girl jumped at the deep voice of Marrid's head cook. She'd been
peeking out into the dining hall, watching the handsome dragonrider. Gods,
if only he would notice her once in a while.

"Ya need ta be thinkin' about your job." Cook told her harshly. "Not the
tight butt of some dragonrider or other!"

"Yes, Cook. I'm sorry," the girl mumbled, her face flashing beet red.

As cook stormed out of the kitchen, heading toward the storage rooms,
Treena felt a gentle hand on her shoulder, "It's all right, Treena. Cook
wouldn't understand about a longing like that."

The pretty young woman turned her light brown eyes to the smiling face of
her friend. "I know, Amblee." She looked back at the chocolate she was
stirring to keep from burning. "Sometimes it seems so silly. He'll never
notice me anyway."

"Never give up on love." The dark-haired woman said. 

Treena smiled sadly and nodded, "I don't think I can."

The two women were startled by a voice in the doorway of the kitchen.
"Amblee?"

They looked up to see Z'lec standing there. Amblee smiled, "Interrupted by
the Wingleader once again, I see."

He smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry, but I have a favor to ask you."

"Sure. What can I do for you."

"Waylene's in her office and she refuses to come to the dining hall to get
something to eat. Do you suppose you could get someone to take her a
sandwich or something." He asked.

"Well," the woman chuckled, "Since you asked, I think I can do that for you."

Z'lec grinned, "Thanks, I knew I could count on you."

"Of course, what are friends for."  As the wingleader stepped out of the
room, Amblee's friendly smile faded, and her eyes narrowed.

"Amblee?" Treena asked, worried about her friends sudden change in
demeanor. Amblee was shaken out of whatever it was that had come over her
and her face softened as she looked back at her friend.

"I just wish the Warrenlady would start taking care of herself, don't you?"

Treena nodded, "Yes, she definitely works too hard. And it's so sweet of
Z'lec to still be worried about her now that they've split up. He's quite a
man."

"Z'lec? Yes, I suppose he is." Amblee said absently.

Treena chuckled, "Oh you wouldn't think so, Amblee. I mean, you grew up
with him. You probably still see him as a rotten boy running around pulling
pigtails."

"Yes, he definitely did his share of pigtail pulling," she laughed.

T'rend
***
<Meanwhile, in the dining hall.>

T'rend walked into the dining hall with a smile on his face as he happily
led A'Rillia to a table. "I'm so glad you agreed to have dinner with me,
Arri."

"As if you didn't see enough of me all day," she teased him.

"I never see enough of you." He grinned. The two of them and Mukale had
been working in the lab with the captured wraith. So far they'd learned
very little about it, but hopefully they would make a breakthrough soon.

T'rend waved at D'nar who was just finishing his dinner and had picked up
his plate to take back to the dishwashers.  "Good evening, T'rend." The
tall blonde dragonrider turned and bowed slightly to Arri, "Lady A'Rillia."

"On your way out already?" T'rend said.

"Oh yes, I'm on patrol in about 10 minutes. Sorry I can't join you for
dinner." D'nar joked, knowing full well, that it was unlikely T'rend wanted
to share his time with Arri.

"Quite a shame, D'nar." T'rend told his friend, his brown eyes twinkling.

"See you later," D'nar said heading out.

T'rend sat down across from Arri and gently took her hand. "Now we are alone."

Arri laughed, "In this crowded room?"

"I don't know about them," he teased, "But I see only you."

T'rend looked up as he heard a throat clear behind him. "Sorry, to
interrupt, but I wanted to return your book to you, Lady A'Rillia."

T'rend smiled at Amblee as she held out the book for Arri. The junior
queenrider took it and said, "Thank you, Amblee."

With that the woman was gone. T'rend turned his attention back to Arri and
frowned at the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know .. it's just something about that woman .."

T'rend laughed, "Yes, I think it's her eyes. They are very black aren't
they. A bit disconcerting." 

Arri nodded absently, "I suppose."

"You'll get used them. I'm not surprised she's borrowing books from you.
She's always had a great interest in gardening." He smiled at the lovely
vision in front of him.

Arri's attention was drawn back from the dark-haired woman to the handsome
dragonrider lavishing his attention on her. She smiled and pushed the book,
entitled 'Using Rare Herbs', off to the side, as she focused her attention
back on him.

Waylene
***

"Come in," Waylene called at the knock on the door.

She smiled at the dark-haired woman, as she saw the tray of food, "Amblee
.. you didn't have to do this, you know."

"I know, but I want to make sure you're eating right. We can't have our
Warrenlady getting sick."

"You are so thoughtful," she said.

Amblee set the tray down, "It's not much just a turkey sandwich, but it'll
fill an empty belly."

"Thank you. I'll return the tray before I head back to Aura's cave."

"No rush, really." Amblee smiled once more and ducked out of the
Warrenlady's office. Closing the door behind her, she thought, 'And so it
begins.'

***
<An hour later>

Waylene was disturbed once again by a knock at her door, "Come in."

This time it was Z'lec. "Hey," he said softly, "Are you about done?"

She looked at the paper stacked on her desk, then back at him. She should
probably finish this, but she was beginning to feel a bit nauseous. Well,
at least that was a good sign. It was when the nausea suddenly vanished
that she knew she was in trouble.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

Z'lec frowned as he looked at the tray on her desk, "You didn't eat much."

She looked at the sandwich with only a couple of bites taken from it, "No,
I'm feeling a bit queasy. I was afraid it would just come back up." She
looked at his worried face and sighed, "Don't worry, I did eat the salad
Amblee brought with it, so I'm not starving myself."

He looked at her and nodded, "All right, as long as you ate something."

Regards,
Waylene & Aura
***
NRPG: Bets, hope you don't mind the use of Arri. But it served two purposes
:} One to give T'rend a chance to spend some time with her. I also figured
Arri would pick up something odd about Amblee, though she will probably not
think to much of it .. especially not with T'rend there :}:}

Here is a little about Amblee (just the basics) as she's been in the Warren
for a long time.

Name: Amblee Cochar
Age : 24
Ht: 5'5"
Wt: 130
Hair: black/red streaks
Eyes: Black (souless)

She lived in the Warren with her mother and father.  She spends a lot of
time reading books. Asks a lot of queston. She's always helpful.

Kristen
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Kristen Gant
(AKA: Darlea & Makayla,  Waylene & Aura, Meena & Vonn, 
Kalewyn & Sabbith, Saul & Fayloth, Merybelle Barman)
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/Kris/kris.htm