[The day of the battles]

She awoke the next morning.  The day was crisp but beautiful outside her 
window.  While the emptiness inside her still ached, there was a certain 
lightness that hadn't been there before.  There was some place that needed her.

She arose and dressed in her plain, heavy brown dress and well-worn shoes.  
There was a knock on the door while she was brushing her hair out and she 
called to invite whoever it was in.

C'tain stepped in, looking surprised.  "You're up and dressed already?"

She smiled at him.  It was not a large smile, but it was a smile, and his 
heart leapt at the sight.  "I... I was thinking of maybe taking a little 
walk.  If that's okay?"

He smiled back, his eyes sparkling.  "That would be more than okay.  Did you 
want company?"

"Well, I don't know my way around here at all..."

"Well, I was just going off duty.  I could go get my son, D'tass, and we 
could do some exploring this morning."

"Your son?"

"Yes.  He's six.  His mother died in the big wraith attack on Marrid this 
past spring."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she offered, wondering at the referrence to 'his 
mother' rather than 'my mate'.

C'tain shrugged.  It had been a struggle for him, because he had loved 
Nyessa deeply.  He just hadn't been able to live with her in the same 
apartment.  It wasn't something he was comfortable discussing.  "Would you 
like to have breakfast in the Dining Hall this morning?"

She nodded, as she pulled her hair back into a barrette.  "I'm ready."

The two walked out and passed Sina on the way.  When they had passed, Sina 
stopped to watch them, a look of concern on her face.

******

They spent the morning wandering the warren grounds, skipping stones, 
watching the herds, and other utterly unimportant things, then C'tain 
excused himself to go home and go to bed.

Brisse accompanied D'tass to his aunt Miri's, where she cared for many of 
the warren children, teaching them to read and write.  Brisse watched with 
interest.  Her parents had been much too busy to ever teach her such things 
and too poor to pay someone else to teach her.  Her elder siblings had shown 
her some, but Brisse had never learned more than her name and a few, simple 
words.  At six, D'tass was much more accomplished in reading and writing 
than Brisse was.

Brisse was a little taken aback when Miri offered her a book to read, and 
mortified when she opened if up and stared at the mysterious runes there.

"You can't read, can you?" the woman asked.

Brisse blushed and shook her head.

"It's all right, Brisse.  You can't be blamed for lack of opportunity.  
Here, I'll show you."

******

The trumpetting of the dragons interrupted her lessons.  They all stepped 
out to watch the wing form and disappear.

"What's happening?" Brisse asked.

"There's a wraith attack," Miri answered.

A girl started crying suddenly and then another child joined her and a 
third.  Brisse looked at Miri in confusion.

"Their parents are combat riders," Miri explained.

Brisse nodded and took the first girl into her arms.

Miri watched in surprise as the Brisse calmed one, then another, then 
another child.  At times like these, the children were usually inconsolable. 
 Even Miri felt better with the young woman's gentle presence.  What was it 
about her?

******

[The next morning]

"Thank you, D'zall," she said, as she slid off grey Rainy's back onto the 
ledge of Mukale's apartment.

"No problem," D'zall said.  "I'll come check on you in a bit."

Tarranx looked up briefly, then lay his head back down, looking very 
forlorn.  Brisse leaned down and patted him briefly.  The dragon seemed to 
perk up a bit at her touch.

She then stepped into the human half of the apartment.  "Mukale?"

The apartment was dark and there was no movement.  She found him in the 
bedroom, awake, in bed, staring at the ceiling.  Tears were coursing down 
his cheeks in the silence.  She stepped quickly to the bedside, sat gingerly 
on the edge and took his hand.

"Mukale, I heard about Sky.  Are you going to be all right?"

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Brisse

NRPG: Cleft, I'll be there soon, really.  I figure probably next post.

---
|   Lynette R. F. Cowper  *  Official INWO Rules NetRep & Goddess    |
| http://www.io.com/~lcowper  *  lcowper@io.com  *  lcowper@indy.net |
|  "If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever |
|                   get done."  -- L. Wittgenstein                   |