>>Arri was taken aback by her tone of defeat and despair
>>
>>"You realise what this involves?"  she asked again  "This must be your 
choice, Araminta, freely given."
>>
>>"I want to help him, and if this will somehow do that then I have to at 
least try.  Please?"  she begged  "I'm ready and he needs help now."
>>
>No you aren't.. Arri thought, but kept it to herself in the face of such 
bravery.
>>
>>She turned her face from the bed, unable to look on his sleeping form and 
not touch him though her hands held their own desperate need.  She settled
>>into the chair that Arri indicated, and composed herself as much as 
possible for what was to come.  She was so frightened.....
>>
>>*I am here for you Minty.  No-one will ever harm you while I am here.  Do 
you not remember the promise I made you?*  Kirimith soothed her troubled 
thoughts  *I will stay with you.....*
>>
>**

"I'm ready now," Minty repeated, "Could we do this now please?"

Arri grinned with a levity she didn't feel, trying to force Minty to relax a 
bit... "Oh no, first we..(*snapping at junior healer in back of room for 
water*) get you cleaned up a bit and get you a glass of water.." She handed 
Minty a damp rag and some warm water, giving her a moment to wash her face 
and collect herself. Taking the rag back, she sighed and pushed her unruly 
hair out of her eyes.

"Breathe with me... in... out... That's it, nice and slow..."

Minty looked at Arri strangely, but followed the breathing patterns she 
asked her to. 

<Kiri, what does this have to do with anything>
<She is trying to make you stop hyperventilating because you're afraid>

"Okay, and out... there. Now i want you to make yourself as comfortable as 
possible, okay? That's it.." she continued soothingly as Minty settled into 
the chair... "Can we get you a pillow or anything?"

"No" replied Minty, "Could we just get on with this?"

"Not," said Arri with a more sober look, "if you cannot relax a little bit. 
I know you are concerned. What I want to do with you is not what i did with 
David. You have nothing to be afraid of. All I want to do at this point is 
put you into a light trance in order to lower your concious barriers, all 
right?"

"Okay..."

"D'ssarian, come here a moment, please.."

D'ssarian crossed the room to stand next to Arri... "Yes?"

"Well pull up a chair... now.. take Minty's right wrist ... here... "Arri 
demonstrated on D'ssarian's own wrists by cradling them palm up in her hands 
and pressing her thumb against the pulse point. "Okay?"

He took Minty's right wrist as requested, looking at Arri bemusedly.

"Can you feel that Minty or should he press harder?"

"That's fine."

"That sensation of his hand is your connection to the here and now, all 
right? Anytime you get too frightened to carry on, focus on the feel of his 
thums against yours and you can come back, okay? You will be concious 
through all of this."

Minty nodded, but the tension in her shoulders moved up a notch. Arri knew 
she was never going to go under unless she relaxed, and friendliness wasn't 
working.

"Minty, join with your dragon. Touch your mind to hers, but do not speak for 
now. Can you do that for me? Just nod."

Minty's eyes glassed over and she nodded almost imperceptibly, tension 
lessoning with every passing second. "Now stay with your dragon okay? And 
don't be afraid. You have nothing to fear. We will make sure you are safe..."

Arri began to sing softly.

"Where would you rather be
 Anywhere, anywhere but here
 When will the time be right
 Anytime but now
 Where would you rather be
 The doubt and the fear my love will all disappear
 Anywhere but here
 Wilderness of mirrors
 So easy to decieve
 So that which I imagine 
 Is that which I believe...."

"Araminta?"

"Yes." Her voice was a little cloudy, but she was present, and the tension 
had gone out of her shoulders, so Arri deemed it safe to begin working with her.

"Minty, I am taking your hand, okay? I want you to stay with your dragon 
while we talk.. she may remember something okay?" Arri reached out and took 
her wrist.

{<**Fear/Compassion/Concern/Wonder/Confusion**>}
***Minty?***
***(Yes. This is Kiriminth)***
***Greetings.*** 
***<Greetings, kestra-chaern>***
<:Arri:>
<Join us, dear.. four heads are better than three>
***This is Daetyn. I would like her to walk with us also.***
***<:Greetings:>***
***(Arri? What does kestra-chern mean?)***

A'Rillia considered long and hard how to answer that question while she 
looked out over the wraith caves that were at the top of Minty's memories. 
There was a sense of *otherness* about the place that she had never 
encountered before... no wait, she had.. it had the same burning metallic 
sensation of the entity in David's mind. Whatever else this place may be, it 
was definitely permeated with the collective entity that the Riders called 
wraiths.

***Kestra-chern is an old world phrase meaning roughly soul-healer. There is 
no perfect modern equivalent because I am sort of an oddity... a freak, if 
you will, and there has not been a lightweaver born at Falagand for three 
centuries.  .... This place, then, is what you call the wraith stronghold?***
***<Kestra-chern, may I make a comment before we begin?>***
***Certainly, Krirminth. What is it?***
***<You spoke to Minty of feeling two Davids. Kay spoke of it too. When we 
came here, I remembered Minty having strange dreams when I flew her back to 
the Warren.. dreams of hiding in one of the caves...>***
***Do you remember this, Araminta?***
***(Well, no, not exactly.)***
***Very well.. I will keep your comment in mind Kiriminth, and thank you for 
telling me of this... Are you ready to walk with me then?***
***(Yes... I am)***
***All right then, just relax a little more... that's it... trust in me and 
your dragon.***

A'Rillia pulled back for a moment and checked Minty's breathing. Satisfied 
that Minty was in a deep enough trance that her fears should be negligible, 
she turned to D'ssarian.

"Put your free hand around my left wrist in exactly the fashion that it is 
around Minty's right wrist..."

"You told everyone not to touch you."

"This is a necessary evil," she explained, holding out her hand, "becuse I 
cannot monitor myself and her and control what she remembers all at once. I 
need an external monitor otherwise I would not ask you to do this as it may 
be a bit uncomfortable for you."

Gingerly he took his hand in hers. 

"Good. Now then, if you sense ANY change in her pulse or sudden fluxuations 
in my pulse or breathing, I want you to press the ball of your thumb down on 
my wrist three times in rapid-fire succession... got it?"

Trusting in D'sarrian's experience, she did not wait for a reply but 
re-entered the surface turbulence of Minty's mind with a single thread of 
light as contact..

***Minty? Take me down to the cave mouth. I will walk with you.***

(*Insert, word-for-word, Minty's memory of the trip to the stronghold before 
she met up with me again here. I can't fit it all...*)

>**
>>
>>".... Araminta?  Hear me and return...."  faint and far away a voice called
>>"Hear me and return...."
>>
>>She fought the cobwebs that clung to her mind, trying to think, remember.....
>>
>>*Minty?*  <*that was Kirimith*>  *Kirimith.... what's happening?*
>>
>>She shook her head to clear the last of the confusion and looked into the
>>anxious face of the Healer/QueenRider/Arri.
>>
>>*Are you alright? Minty?*  Kirimith asked anxiously  *I couldn't follow you
>>all the way down....*
>>
>>*I'm fine Kiri.  Hush a while.*  Minty reassured mentally, then aloud she
>>asked   "David?  Did you find anything to help him?"

(**--- Stuff about remembering time-space discrepancy and resulting trip 
lovingly cuddled out--**)


>>*STAY ARAMINTA*  twinned voices calling her back

"Dammit... Why did you let her leave the Warren?" Arri said with a hiss, " I 
tried to warn you she might be unstable. I need some Dragon's Tooth and some 
swordleaf... Now, please... By injection..."

Araminta's thrashing slowed and her breathing began to even out a bit as 
C'Tain gave her the injection. Carrying Minty into the room and laying her 
out on the floor, she dropped to her knees and reached out with her mind 
into Minty's fading conciousness, touching her forehead to the sick girl's face.

**<Pain/Blackness/Confusion>**
**Minty?!**
**<*Kestra-chern? She is hurt... she made me teleport her back in time...*>**
**SHE WHAT!?! Oh Danu help me... Can you hear her at all?**
**<*Faintly*>**
**Cradle her conciousness inside your mind. Hold her mind within yours and 
keep reminding her of who she is... like you do when you teleport so that 
she can regain conciousness... do you understand?**
**<*Yes. I will do this. Will she be all right*>** 
**Just hold her steady, and tell Kiriminth to open David's mind to both of 
you so that she can sense him. Maybe that will help. If she doesn't come 
back...**

"Araminta...this is not where you belong. Come back to your body. Come back 
to now... Come back to those who love you..." Arri called soothingly in a 
sing-song.

>>*You can't leave me!....*  Kirimith cries in her mind  *You -must- stay 
with me.*
>>
>>Fighting the darkness, responding to the yearning she hears in Kirimith's 
voice, Minty struggles to focus.....
>>
>>*Who's leaving?.... *  Minty asks, the blackness receding further and
>>further from her grasp with each passing second  *I was just going to sleep.
>>I'm so very very tired that's all.......*

"GOT HER!" called Arri triumphantly to the waiting healers as she stood up 
with a stagger. "Remind me that I owe Kiriminth a haunch of something fresh, 
hand-delivered... And that *she* owes me an explanation. Time teleporting. 
*What* possessed her to risk herself like that!?"

>>A well-loved, panic-stricken voice, distant but recognisable 
<*David...heart singing*> 
>>
>>"Do something... don't let her die..."

"David," said Arri as she teetered over to stand beside him, totally 
exhausted from the strain, "She'll be okay now I think. She's lost a lot of 
blood, but she's back inside her body now. and they'll be able to physically 
stabilize her."

Arri collapsed into a chair and began sobbing in exhaustion and relief. They 
would make it. Both of them.

<:You did it kechara 'bredu. You did it. They are alive.:>
<They are Daetyn. They are alive. I feel so sick.>
<:You pushed yourself too hard. You need rest:>

>>*Who's dying Kiri?  Why is David so worried?*  puzzlement
>>
>>*You were dying.  I did not want you to die, so I held you.*  Kirimith 
said tenderly "the kestra'chern said to hold you and now you are safe."
>>
>>"..... hearbeat's getting stronger."  another familiar voice, D'ssarian. 
<*Healer?  Why would I need a healer?*>

Arri nodded dimly, fading away from exhaustion, lack of sleep and tension.

<But Dae... I couldn't ...save... the... baby...>

She fainted, slumping into the chair quietly as the room continued to move 
around her. She never heard Dae's reply.

<:But she is alive to have another one someday. They both are.:>

<<===========================>>

NRPG: (*g*) Just adding some stuff in about her thoughts and process. Next 
crisis?

Bets.

========================================
 "Learning that we're only Immortal for a limited Time..."  ---N. Peart (*Rush*)
 "What does my body have to do with my gratitude?"            ---A. Di Franco
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    Slainte'!    <Good Health...>           |          Shadowsinger@greatgig.com
          **Shadowsinger**                    |        
tlw663@winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca
 
<<<<<-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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                         ***Heart And Soul of A'Rillia and Daetyn***  
     ( **Periodic Bard of CuddleLand**     -<Will Sing For CheeseCake>- )
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