(Day Yasmine wakes in the med center)

Lakoda stood back watching in fascination as Arri took off her hands 
and touched the girl. She couldn't 'see' anything happening, but 
there was a different feel in the air. Arri had explained to her that 
this sometimes happened. 

"You won't notice the change or healing until the girl wakes up," she 
had said. "There's really nothing to see, but most people are 
uncomfortable to be in the same room with me when I heal this way. 
That's one reason I usually insist on clearing the room. Bad aura's 
can sometimes be harmful. They can distract me from what I'm trying 
to do. One think I will ask of you, is no matter what happens... do 
not touch me. Understood?"

There was a stir on the bed, and both women turned to see the young 
girls eyes opening. Koda was watching Arri sit back and begin putting 
her glove back on while greeting the girl.

>"Good morning, goldenrod!" A'Rillia greeted her, putting a hand up 
to her face in an odd gesture, and grimacing, "You remember Lakoda? 
She is the healer that saw you yesterday when you got here."

Yasmine nodded. She looked at A'Rillia curiously, "Are you all 
right?"

"Yes, fine. Are you hungry? I brought you some breakfast," A'Rillia continued.

Koda grinned as the girl's stomach rumbled in response. Almost as 
if on queue, but went on writing things down on the medical chart 
while Arri placed the breakfast tray before her. 

"Yes, ma'am," Yasmine replied.

"Sorry," she apologized sheepishly, and daintily nibbled on the 
remainder of the muffin she held in her hands. "These are better 
than the ones at home," Yasmine commented.

"Where is home?" Lakoda asked. She needed to fill in the blank 
spaces on the chart, but also wanted to know more about the young 
girl. 

>"Tressa." Yasmine started to panic, "You won't tell my father what 
he did, will you?"

"Who is your father, Yasmine?" Lakoda asked in response.

"Hiram Utha," Yasmine said quietly, embarrassed 

"Yasmine, do you know who did the this to you?" Lakoda asked, 
ignoring the angry look A'Rillia cast her way. These questions needed 
to be asked. Koda knew the girl had been through a rough time, but 
that was no reason to coddle her and she seemed willing and strong 
enough now to answer. If she saw any signs of the girl becoming to
distressed by the things she asked, she would stop. 

>Yasmine nodded, "Wilek. He used to work for my father. There were 
others there, too, they needed them for the eggs."

"Eggs?" Lakoda asked, her mind suddenly alert.

>"There were dragon eggs there, in the cave. The one man, I believe 
his name was Roland, was angry. Said that they would come looking 
for me. Said that they needed to get the eggs to the warren before 
they were found... something like that."

>"You are lucky we found you, but you were found out in the middle 
of nowhere. How did you get there?" Lakoda continued to question, 
despite the looks of consternation from A'Rillia. 

At the mention of the mans name Koda's heart jumped. Surly it 
couldn't be the same man.. Gods if it was and he was still alive... 
The healer didn't want to think about it. She'd have to let Waylene 
know as soon as possible. This could be bad trouble.

>"I heard them say that we were near Marrid. After he...." Yasmine 
took in a deep breath and shuddered, "Afterwards, well, he passed 
out and everyone was asleep, I ran away. I wanted to try to find 
Marrid." Tears were flowing freely down her face by the time she 
finished her tale, her violet eyes glistening like amethysts. 

>Yasmine looked down, embarrassed by having told what happened to 
her. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly, hugging herself tightly.

Koda came around to the far side of the bed and took the girls hand 
in her own. "Yasi, you have nothing to be sorry for. You *did not* 
ask for any of this to happen to you. You did not ask for that man 
to take you from your home and ... do what he did. It's *not* none 
of it your fault. I want you to remember that. Okay?"

Yasmine's head tilted upward just far enough for her eyes to meet 
Koda's. "Okay."

The healer searched the girl's face and could tell it would take 
some time for the girl to believe her. She would spend sometime 
first wondering what it was she had done to the man to make him 
want to do these things to her.

Koda and Arri job would not stop at healing the girl's injuries, 
but would continue on to healing her mind as well. Yasmine has to 
be made to see that she had been the victim of this crime. Not the 
cause.

"Now! As for telling your father," Koda saw the fear in Yasmine's 
eyes at the mention of the man and quickly tried to set her fears 
to rest. "We won't tell him what happened if you don't want us too. 
But I do think he should be told where you are."

"Will I have to go back," she asked. "Or if I want to can I stay 
here?"

"I don't see why not," Koda assured her gently squeezing her hand. 
"Do you Arri?" 

Even as she asked the queenrider the question, Koda could tell the 
older woman was still upset with her for her line of questioning. 
That couldn't be helped. She didn't know if Arri remembered anything 
about Roland or not, but if there was any chance... Later she would 
explain why she had done it. When Arri turned back to face the girl, 
her face didn't reflect her anger.  

"No I don't see any problem with you staying," Arri told her. "If 
that's what you really want to do?"

(Tag: Morgie :)

Koda left the two of them to talk, telling them that she still had 
to finish her rounds. On the way out of the door, she finally let 
the fear she'd been feeling at the mention of Roland's name come 
forth. If he was still alive...

<<Ribbon, will you find out from Aura where her rider is?>> she 
sent the request to her dragon. The sooner she told the Warrenlady, 
the quicker this could be checked out. If they moved fast enough... 
But it was probably already to late.
<Aura just dropped her rider off outside of the place you are in.>

The purple dragon returned with the answer a second later.

<<Thanks Sweetie,>>

<Sweetie??>

The young healer smiling when she looked up at the sound of her name 
being call. Her eyes fell on the woman walking down the hall towards 
her and her grin grew broader at seeing the Warrenlady looking so 
healthy after the ordeal she had just been through.

"How are you feeling?" she asked when the woman had stopped before 
her.

"Good, I'm here to see the girl."

"She's in here. Waylene, she's Lord Utha's daughter." Koda thought 
she'd better know before going in. She wanted Waylene to be prepared 
when the girl asked about staying.

"Yasmine?" Waylene frowned, as Lakoda nodded. "I wonder why Utha 
didn't mention she was missing." 

'Just wait until you hear the rest of it,' Koda couldn't help the 
shiver that ran through her body. "She's also got an interesting 
story about dragon eggs and a man named Roland."

Waylene looked at Lakoda sharply, "Roland?"

Lakoda nodded and watched as Waylene moved even quicker into the 
young girls room.

-----------------------------

Koda was waiting for the Warrenlady as she took her leave from the 
girl's room. She couldn't help but notice the frown still marring 
the woman's face. Stepping out into the hall just as she was about 
to pass by, Koda stopped her.

"You don't possibly think it could be him... do you?" she asked 
alerting the woman to the fact that she knew the story behind the 
man.

"I pray not," Waylene sighed. "But I'm sending a wing out to look 
around just to be on the safe side."

Koda nodded at the precaution.

"I don't like to think of him being so close to the Warren," the 
woman admitted. 

"What about the eggs Yasmine said she saw?" Koda asked. "Could it 
really be possible? And if so, where did he find them?"

"Hopefully we can find out," Waylene replied. Koda could hear the 
worry in her voice. "And maybe save those other women Yasmine they 
were holding as well."

-------------------

She was just putting away the last of her files when she looked up 
to see C'tain leaning against the door frame. 

"Your shifts over. Get out of here," he told her.

Grinning at his order, she stood up and walked around to the desk 
to stand before him. "I'm way ahead of you," she said motioning back 
to the clean desk top.

"I've just been sitting here waiting on you," she said coyly, 
tapping him on the chest as she pasted by him on her way out the 
door of her office. "Leaving before being ordered to do so...just 
isn't any fun."

After she'd all but worn herself out during the ordeal with Waylene 
and Z'lec, C'tain had started to keep an eye on her. She knew Arri 
must have filled him in on the little problem she occasionally had 
as a result of the Marsh fever, and at times wished he'd never 
learned of it. She hated being treated like an invalid because of it. 

Several times they'd had words over it, but for the most part Koda 
went along with his bossiness. And ate the meals that either he or 
Arri made sure were sent over to her from the dining hall during her 
shift. 

C'tain turned and followed her down the hall.

"So what big plans do you have for tonight?" he asked.

"Oh I thought I'd do something really exciting and go to the dining 
hall for dinner tonight instead of cooking for myself," her blue eyes 
held a twinkle as she teased him. "Maybe if I'm lucky, I'll find the 
man of my dreams and have someone other than you to argue with." She 
smiled and saw his lips curve into a grin.

"I doubt you'd listen to him anymore than you listen to me," he 
chuckled.

"You're probably right,' she laughed.

They'd come to the front door of the hall just then and Koda 
stepped back when the man reached out to open the door for her.

"Have a good night 'Tain."

"You too Bit."

As she walked towards her dragon, Koda remembered that she had 
forgotten to talk to C'tain about his father. She had found the 
older healer asleep in his office again this morning and was 
beginning to worry about him. 

Every since he'd collasped when the Warrenlady had first been 
brought in, Koda had begun to notice different things about him. 
She thought it strange than he was having her doing most of the 
surgical proceedtures 
they'd had come up lately. 

While she knew she was a good surgin,  most senior Healers tended 
to want to do the most difficult surgries themselves with a junior
assisting. D'ssarian was stepping aside in her favor. This in itself
wouldn't have worried her, but there were all these day time naps 
he was taking and the way his attention sometimes wondered.

Well it was to late to tell him today. He'd already be starting on 
his rounds and wouldn't be to thrilled to see her back. Tomorrow! 
She promised herself. She would mention it to C'tain. Maybe it was 
nothing, but then it never hurt to find out.

****Submitted by: *********
Barbara (a.k.a.

Lakoda & Ribbon
Marrid Warren Healer