>Yasmine walked into the tent by the med center and looked sorrowfully at
>her amber hatchling. She bathed and oiled her the best she could, ever
>careful not to disturb Starlin too much.
>
><Oh, Starlin! I wish there was something I could do for you!> Yasmine told
>her hatchling.
>
><Just stay with me a while, please.>
>
>Yasmine lay her head against the feverish hatchling and calmingly stroked
>her scales. She did not know how long she'd been there when Arri came in
>and started examining the hatchlings.
>
>"Yasmine, what are you doing here?" Arri asked.
>
>"I... I came to see if there was anything I could do to help. And I wanted
>to check on Starlin. She wanted me to stay with her."
>
>"I see..." Arri replied.
>
>"Are the dragons going to get better soon?" Yasmine asked.
>
>"I don't know, Goldenrod. Waylene said she's sent off for some wild dragon
>healer who might know something. I'm doing all I can."
>
>"I hope he gets here soon," Yasi said, stroking the neck of her hatchling
>sadly.

"So do I, Goldenrod," Arri mumbled. "Just between you and me, I'm running
out of ideas." Arri laughed bitterly. "Look hon, why don't you help me bathe
and oil them all. It will give us something to do."

Yasmine nodded eagerly, glad for something to occupy her mind.

As they were working, Arri sang softly under her breath to each of the
dragons, struggling to provide them with a reinforcement she didn't feel.
She couldn't *see* what was wrong, there didn't seem to be any anomolies in
the blood samples... maybe she should run them again.

"You have a pretty voice," observed Yasmine, startling the healer slightly. 

Arri paused in oiling Grall's hide to look at the young woman and nod. "I'm
trained as a bard and a healer... being a Queenrider destroyed my chances to
get my credentials. Daetyn was a very hard won gain."

"Do you ever miss it?" 

The healer pushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes and shrugged,
sliding into her childhood speech patterns. "Aye, lassie I do, but tha'
Warren needs me more in here greasin' down dragons than they need a flightly
little songstress..." She couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of her
voice, "Although lately I'm wonderin' if I'm any use at all, since I canna
figure out what's the matter..."

Yasmine could hear the frustration in her voice. "You're trying. We're all
worried about you. You'll figure it out..."

If only I had that confidence, Arri said to herself with a sigh.

"Arri," said Yasmine softly, finally getting to what was really on her mind,
"Why does Lakoda hate Trey so much? He's always been nice to me but she
snaps at him all the time like she thinks I shouldn't trust him..."

<Oh dear Goddess... of all the people to ask!?>

<:Patience, Rider... you *wanted* her to confide in you...:>

"Yasmine, I am going to ask you to hold that thought until we get this done,
and then we can go inside." Arri said with as much gentleness as she could
muster, "I would rather discuss this out of the sun..."

"You're hiding something from me," accused Yasmine, "Why does everyone treat
me like a child?"

Arri couldn't help but laugh. "Yasmine, I can't afford to get heatstroke.
That's all it boils down to. If I'm standing out here explaining life to you
I'm going to get sick. It's not that you're a child, it's that I'm too old
for pan-fried noggin," the healer said with a chuckle.

There was a semi-hurt silence from the girl who shrugged and said, "Promise?
You're not going to back out on me?"

"No Yasmine. Now oil, before I cook to death."

---
*About half an hour later in the lab*

Arri examined the slides for what felt like the million and seventh time as
Yasmine came back with two glasses of iced tea. Still nothing. No virii,
nothing she could pin the sense of wrongness on, no fungi, no spores, no
real aberrations in the blood... Which dragons WEREN'T sick? Maybe that was
the key? Daetyn, Raynod, Porthios, Fiera, Ribbon... was there anything they
had in common between them? She'd have to think about that, she mused as she
stepped away from the microscope and sat down next to Yasmine.

"Okay, you promised," said Yasmine with a hint of sullenness.

"Well, I did. And I don't think you'll like it Goldenrod, but first you have
to promise to have an open heart. I have had to and while I still have a
sore spot about it, he has proven his value to the Warren," began Arri
quietly, fixing her green eyes on the young woman.

"Making a long story very short, as a result of a brain tumor, Tre'tram
raped his little girl at knifepoint, who was about your age at the time,"
began Arri. Waiting for the shock to leave Yasi's eyes, the woman continued,
"Shortly after I first came here I discovered that fact in the most painful
way possible, by sharing memories with him. That's an even longer story."

Yasmine looked confused at her choice of words.

Arri ignored the unspoken question for now and sipped her tea, "Tre'tram
came here to be given a second chance and I have tried my best to do that.
It hasn't always been easy. Lakoda knows about what he did while he was sick
and feels she needs to protect you from him. While I agree that since he's
not taking his medication we need to watch him carefully, C'tain and I know
a bit more about his condition and it certainly doesn't mean she has the
right to outright antagonize him. Stress doesn't help."

"However I have promised not to interfere in any way with the operations of
the Medical Center and that includes pointing that out to her," the healer
concluded sadly. "Just let it slide, and if you need someone to talk to or
if he ever scares you, let me know."

Yasmine sat stunned. Raped his daughter? No wonder Lakoda was upset.

But Arri was right, he had never hurt her and she couldn't hold a past she
didn't know against him, she thought grimly. At least now she knew what the
problem was. "Thanks Arri."

Cocking an eyebrow, the healer chuckled. "I was expecting a lot of things,
but thanks wasn't one of them. How are you doing?"

The girl shrugged. "I'm okay I guess. I met my da' today."

Guardedly, the healer nodded. "How did that go?" Arri watched her carefully
for signs of upset or flashbacks, and as the young woman talked animatedly
about her newly discovered father, she concluded that the girl was in fine
health physically. 

She just hoped that when puberty arrived things would go as smoothly.

<<NRPG: Kind of lame, but I didn't quite know what to do with it...>>
----------------=======================-----------------
<<**Day Three... late morning*>>

"DAMN YOU!!" screamed Arri in frustration as she pulled herself away from
the microscope - this wasn't getting her anywhere. Three days now she had
been loking for an answer and didn't know what was wrong. There didn't seem
to be any rhyme or reason to it; some got sick who had been in contact with
the eggs and some didn't. It didn't seem to be passing from dragon to dragon
at least, so that was something, she thought bitterly.

<:You have been focusing on the sick, Arri. Maybe the answer is in the
healthy ones instead,:> pointed out Daetyn quietly. The dragon had not been
sick at all and was beginning to wonder who was suffering more - the charges
or the healer.

Arri conceded that the dragon might have a point. "How do you feel about
blood tests, beautiful...?" she mused aloud.

"That depends what they're for, and how you're taking them," drawled T'rend
from behind her. Grall's illness had left him with a lot of free time on his
hands and his research with the wraith, while occupying his mind, was going
just as fruitlessly as Arri's work on the dragons was. As much as Grall
disliked the healer and dragon, he had to concede a sort of grudging respect
for her care and tenerity.

Arri shrieked. "Wha... when did you come in here?" 

"Just now. Whether it's bad timing or not depends on how you look at it." he
winked. "You look like you could use dinner."

Arri slumped into a chair. "I feel like I could use a one-way trip to bed.
I'm running out of ideas. There's nothing I can see in the samples that
links them together, and while I can keep them from going too far with
these," she held up her hands in frustration, "I can't seem to make them
better."

"I've tried every combination of herbs, healing, cleansing and antibiotic I
can think of and I still can't seem to do anything more than keep them in
stasis," she moaned irritably, "I feel so damned useless."

"They've gone to get help for you, you know," he said quietly, perching
himself on the edge of the chair, "We know you're doing the best you can."

"But it's not *enough*" she wailed softly, laying her head on his thigh and
struggling not to cry, "And if I wasn't failing, they wouldn't have to."

T'rend stroked her hair gently and listened to her voice crack, "Jindalie
would be dead if it weren't for you. Most of the others probably would be
too. You have to stop being so hard on yourself."

Arri choked back a sob. He couldn't possibly understand. She was proving
Lakoda right all by herself with no help from anyone else; she really was
incompetent and the only way she could do anything was riding on her
protˇge's coattails. She thought about trying to explain to him, then
thought better of it.

"Have you asked Lakoda?" he suggested softly. When the healer stiffened, his
eyebrows went up in surprise. What had happened...?

"Lakoda... is not speaking to me at the moment..." replied the healer
tonelessly. Was he beginning to read her mind now too?

T'rend bent down to kiss her ear tenderly. "Arri, come on and join me for
lunch... please?"

The healer sat up and conceded defeat with a sigh. "All right."

<<Dining hall>>

"So, you see," she added between mouthfuls of soup, "It doesn't seem to be
bacterial at all, but if it's viral, it's mutating too fast for me to do
anything about. Daetyn has suggested I blood-test some of the healthy
dragons as well and run comparisons. I suppose it can't hurt."

T'rend nodded. "No, I guess it can't. Who isn't sick?"

"Well, there's Raynod and Porthios, and Daetyn and Ribbon, and Fiera. I
haven't seen Minty's dragon or Diana's ...at least not that I've noticed, so
I think they're okay..." she conceded.  "It might be a start, anyway."

"Well," T'rend mumbled, "Ribbon and Lakoda are gone..."

The healer pushed a strand of hair out of her face and nibbled at a biscuit.
"Since when? And where did they go?"

"Word has it that they went off to the wastes to bring back samples of the
eggshells from that cave. She figured since they had not been sick yet, it
might be a good idea to have samples." explained T'rend.

Arri nodded, "Two points: she never told me about this little jaunt and I'm
not even sure if she told Waylene, also, just because she hasn't BEEN sick
doesn't mean that tralumping out there and being in extended contact with
the shells won't MAKE her sick. And if those things are what made these
dragons sick, is it really such a wise idea to bring them back to the Warren?"

The healer paused and shrugged. "Oh well, far be it from me to tell her what
to do. She's made that pretty clear." Shaking her head, she added "I guess
I'll have to start with the others."

"I understand Waylene's sent off for some help for you as well, a
dragonhealer from the Wastes who might have a better idea of what's causing
the illness... he may have seen it before." T'rend looked into her eyes with
concern, "It will take some of the pressure off of you."

Arri got up and came around to his side of the table, sneaking her arms
around him. He responded by holding her tightly. "It will all work out,
Arri. You'll see. It..."

She silenced him by pressing her lips to his gently. Startled, he responded
slowly at first, but as she nibbled at his lips, he finally kissed her the
way she was meant to be kissed. When she pulled away and noticed the stunned
look on his face, she touched her fingers gently to his mouth, "Shhh."

Arri didn't want to hear about how okay it was, she just wanted him to hold
her for a moment. For this minute, being hidden in the protective circle of
his arms, where there were no sick dragons crying for her attention, no
antibiotics, no slides... just the soft sound of his beating heart and the
smell of sweat and leather filling her nose.

She sat with her head on his chest and her legs curled over his lap like a
small child for a long and sweet moment while he stroked her hair tenderly.
At some point she began to cry in silent frustration, tears creeping down
her cheeks into the soft leather of his vest. When she regained her
composure, she sat up and let him wipe her eyes with a napkin from the table.

"I'm... I'm sorry," she whispered quietly."

"Don't be," he said as he kissed her eyelids, "You're under a lot of strain
right now. I can understand. You have nothing to be sorry for."

The healer nodded and sat up. "But I really should start getting those blood
samples, or at least assigning someone to them." She paused thoughtfully.
"Maybe it would be good to give Gael something to do while I make the rounds
and do what little I can to make them more comfortable."

T'rend nodded and hugged her gently. "Probably. You're stretching yourself
kind of thin anyway. Can I walk you back...?" 

Arri shook her head and laughed. "Probably shouldn't or I may just haul you
away into the bushes and have a nap on you."

T'rend tried not to let how he felt about that idea show on his face, or
anywhere else for that matter, as she walked away.

<<Med Center>>

"Gael?" Arri called as she came in.

The young woman who had been unofficially adopted as Arri's understudy in
the past three days turned to look up at her.

"I need you to do something for me while I'm in the compound... could you
get blood samples for me from as many of the healthy dragons as you can?"
asked the healer, "I'd like to test them too and see if there's anything
notably different in the white blood cells."

The young woman nodded, "Yes, m'la... Arri."

"Thanks... I'll see if I can get you an afternoon off later in the summer
for having to be my gopher." When the woman smiled, Arri nodded. "Done. I'll
see you when you get back."

Arri wandered into the compound and pulled off her gloves with a sigh of
resignation. "You know, guys," she announced to the dragons who looked up
with varying levels of interest at her arrival, "If I could do anything else
about this I would. I hate feeling helpless as much as you hate being sick.
They say that help is on the way though, maybe by tonight."

Stepping up to the first dragon on her left, she smiled as she laid her
hands on Aura's hide. "Hello M'lady. Tell her I'm doing the best I can..."

<<Lab, evening>>

Gael had faithfully brought in half a dozen blood samples, labeled by letter
so that Arri wouldn't treat them any differently from each other based on
whose they were. Daetyn had relayed the woman's request for the sample and
Arri realized that she had thought to do that on her own... maybe it wasn't
such a bad idea sending her. At least she understood professional courtesy.

Arri laid the first one on the microscope and set a tainted sample in next
to it. Just as she was setting her eye to the scope, Sina called her name
from the doorway. Arri looked up, glad to hear the young woman's voice
sounding something like back to normal.

"Yes, m'dear?" the dragonhealer asked quietly, resting one gloved hand on
the table. Jindalie had shown glimmers of awareness today and so she had
pushed herself a little too hard... her lack of balance was showing it.

"There's someone in the lobby for you. A Kai-Ho??"

The healer turned a baffled look on Sina. "Who?"

"He says Kendal and Ainu brought him from the wastes..." Sina barely had
time to finish her sentence before Arri loped past her, samples, dragons,
dizziness forgotten, and skidded to a rather ungraceful halt in front of the
little stranger from the wastes. 

"My name is A'Rillia Maeglin-Sage," she explained with a little bow,
offering a hand to shake, "And I'm what passes for a dragonhealer around
here, although lately I haven't been doing too well. And I understand you
are Kai-Ho, come to pull my proverbial fat out of the fire?"

The man laughed and shook her hand, nodding. "Well, I'll try to help, at any
rate. Kendal explained some of it."

"Come, let me grab you some tea or something and we'll discuss this in my
office where it's a bit less crowded." she said, waving around her at the
bustle that was the Medical Center lobby.

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

NRPG:
TAG! Norman....
Kris: Any comments on my sudden hug attack?
Barb: When is Lakoda actually coming back? 

everyone.... could you let me know privately if your dragon(s) are sick or
not? I got kind of busy and have lost track... was waiting for everyone else
- turns out everyone was waiting for me. I hate that... 

I hope the timing kind of makes sense.