[DL] Waylene

Waylene watched Carie's eyes grow distant and she spoke to her queen. then
her eyes grew wide and she cried out, "What?"

"Carie, what's wrong?" Waylene asked not liking the sound of Carie's voice.

"I'm leaving.  If I'm needed, I will be at Keldarra." Carie responded to the
Warrenlady.

"What is wrong?"

"Someone tried to kill my brother.  They poisoned him."  Carie took off in a
run. Waylene watching her go.  

Z'lec came up behind her. "Where is she off to."

"Keldarra. Something's happened to her brother." Waylene said turning to
him. "How are you doing?"

Z'lec frowned, "Well, I'm not happy about this, but there's not a whole lot
I can do about it right now is there. You can be one stubborn woman, 'Lene."

"Don't think I haven't worried about what could happen if the Telnor healer
is wrong..." she sighed, "But there's more to this then that. He deserves a
chance to prove that it wasn't really his fault.

"I'm sure you're right. But why here when it puts you in danger."

Waylene chuckled. "I'm not anymore at risk then anyone else."

"I'm serious, 'Lene."

Their conversation was interrupted by D'nar. He handed a piece of paper to
Waylene, "I think you've been expecting this."

"Thank you, D'nar. How goes things at Telnor?"

"Pretty normal. Though Porthios caused quite a stir, I guess."

Waylene raised her eyes at him, "Why?"

"Some kinda rumors, I think. I don't listen to them because too often their
wrong. But ol' Porthios has a ball. He's quite a gossip." D'nar smiled, "Can
I do anything else for you?"

"No D'nar, thanks." The tall blonde man turned and left. Waylene watched him
go. She then turned her attention to the note from Telnor.  She smiled as
she read it.

"Good news?" Z'lec asked, "Are they taking him back?"

Waylene frowned at him, "Z'lec..."

"I'm sorry, 'Lene." Z'lec said, then quickly changed the subject, "What do
you think about that." He pointed at the skies where Yenal, with Touth on
his back was still circling the Warren, thought thier keening had died to a
barely audible moan.

Waylene, looked up, well aware that Z'lec was avoiding their pervious topic.
But she knew they wouldn't be able to avoid it forever.

****
That evening at dinner she approached Arri, who was sitting alone at a
table. It was late and most of the dinner crowd had already left, and the
dining room was pretty empty.

"Arri," she said taking a seat across from her. "I wanted to apologize for
yesterday. All I was thinking about was my job as Warrenlady and your job as
Queenrider. I didn't think about you as a person, and I'm sorry."

Arri nodded.

"Don't worry about your queen flying right now. I suppose Aura could fly
soon, and it's certainly not unheard of for queens as young as Fiera to fly.
I certainly don't want you to feel that that's the only thing you're here
for." She paused, "D'ssarian and C'tain tell me you are doing wonders to
help them out in the medical center."

****
The next morning Waylene headed out of her apartment early. Neither she nor
Z'lec had spoken much the night before. And she got up and left before he
woke. She was upset that this seemed to be taking such a toll on thier
relationship. But neither one of then seemed to be ready to give any on this
subject.

She walked though the empty dining hall and into the food storage area. She
noticed it almost looked completely back to normal. Everyone had been doing
a splendid job. She quickly grabbed an apple and headed to her office to
prepare herself for the meeting about Tr'etram this afternoon.

She worked for several hours until she heard a knock on the door. "Come in
please.", she called, expecting Z'lec.  She registered surprise when she saw
the young, dark-haired man in the blue and gray, looking very uncomfortable.
It had to be a new transfer as she did not recognize him.

>"I-I-I c-can l-leave if-if you're busy." Clearly very nervous.
>
>"Not at all.  Come in.  I'm afraid I don't recall your name ... " She smiled 
>apologetically.
>
>"I'm Sh-shard.  I transf-ferred here from N-Norwall.  I-I'm here to apologize."
>
>She remembered Z'lec saying something about a Shard who had proposed 
>capturing a Wraith at the Warren meeting.  "Apologize?  What for?" 
>
>"Y-yesterday, I w-went on a Wr-wraith scouting trip, against the orders of 
>T'rend, and dr-drug along two other r-riders with me, wh-who thought they 
>were pr-protecting me.  I am responsible, not Tr-T'rend."
>
>Waylene looked concerned.  "Yes.  I see.  And what do you have to say for 
>yourself?"
>
>Shard steeled himself and said, "N-nothing.  And I ac-accept any p-punishment 
>that you s-see fit." 

"Well, Shard. I cannot condone going out on such a mission alone. We don't
even send single patrols out. There is always at least a pair when anyone
goes out." She folded her hands in front of her.

"I... I understand."

"I'm not going to punish you any more then you already obviously have been.
However, be aware that if it happens again..." She began.

"It won't," he said earnestly.

"Good," she said.

Shard happily left the WarrenLady's office.

****
Great Hall - Just after lunch

Waylene was glad to see R'chein fly in. She knew they would need him to make
it through this meeting.

"R'chein, thank you so much for coming."

He nodded, "I was afraid this might happen at some point, so I was prepared."

They entered the Great Hall and R'chein took a seat next to Tr'etram.
Waylene stood before her friends and spoke.

"I want to thank you all for coming. As I'm sure you all know there has been
a horrible rumor floating around which is why I've called this meeting. The
rumor that has been going around about our new transfer from Telnor is true."

There was an instant rumbling from the crowd.  Waylene held up her hands to
quiet them down. "However, before any of you make any rash judgments you
must be allowed to hear the whole story. I have brought Telnor's healer,
R'chein here to tell you the entire story. Please allow him to speak."
Waylene sat down and R'chein stood to tell Tr'etram's story.

--Waylene & Aura
***
NRPG: I hope I haven't forgotten anything that I needed to get to :)  Feel
free to elaborate on any of the things I have going here.

Betty: Waylene really wants to talk to Arri about this, but is upset that
she was only thinking of the Warren's perdicament and not Arri's.

Lyn: Let's hear what R'chein has to say :)

Kristen
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Kristen and Scott Gant
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/gant.htm
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