Gruesome Discovery 

Koda shook her head after listening to the girls words.  "Don't do this 
for me Ail.  You don't owe me anything.  I'm touched that you want to 
help but, you need to do this  for you.

She sighed.  "I know.  I don't know how to describe it.  I just want to.
When Trak first mentioned the idea I wanted to do it.  It just reached 
out to me.  I... I'm not sure why I want to Koda, I just do..." She 
paused struggling to find the right words.  "Why did you want to be a healer?"

Koda didn't even have to think about her answer.

"I never wanted to be anything else for as long as I can remember. 
Because my parents were and because I idolizes them for their beliefs 
and the good they did for others," she said. "I used to sit around the
Healer hall and listen to the healers talking about this case or that, 
and they never turned away or treated me like a child whenever I'd bring
something up. I just seemed to be a natural at it. I always knew that 
one day I would be a healer and work hard to save lives like my parents 
and the other healers did."

"I guess it's something like that Koda, but it's something different 
too."  She looked up, meeting the healers eyes. "If you don't want to 
teach me, or your too busy.  I'll understand Koda.  It's just, well..."

Koda looked hard at the girl across the desk, trying to gage how truthful
she was being. If she found out Trak had put her up to this simply to get
himself a Wing healer.... 

But all she read in the girls eyes was the truth of her answers. 

"Okay... I'll train you on basic first aid and a few other things...But!"
she held up her hand when Ailill went to thank her.

"There are a few conditions that even Trak will have to abide by."

"What are those?" Ailill asked.

"One.. you will meet me here in the med center every morning for four 
hours. No excuse. During those four hours you will follow me around and
learn from me the things you'll need to know to help you saves lives."

"All right," the girl agreed readily.

"Two.. Your dragon will have to be fitted with a saddle like Ribbons. 
One that will enable you to carry a stretcher and a few other things 
you'll be needing to have."

"All right again," Ailill agreed.

"Now I know you'll have to clear those two things with Trak..." Koda 
barely got out the man's name without showing some of the animosity she 
held for him. But this girl didn't need to be involved with that. "But I
want you to be sure to tell him that if you are allowed to follow those 
two things, I will teach you. If you can not put in the time because you
have to train with the wing all day, then it would be a waist of your 
time and mine to even begin the training."

"Oh Koda.. I'm sure he'll agree. I'll make him see how important it is."
Ailill promised. "In fact I'll go see him now."

Koda got up and followed her to the door. She watched the scene before 
her, staying where she was even tough she wanted to interfere, until it 
got to heated and she saw Ailill pick up the scalpel off of the tray. 

Koda started forward then, but the girl seemed to realize what she was 
doing and shouted at Kendal before dropping the scalpel and running off.
When Kendal turned to chase after Ailill, she stopped him.

"Kendal wait."

"I have to go Koda, please forgive me for this scene."

"What did you do to her." She wondered if he'd tell her, but knew him to 
be a private man. Sometimes even people like that needed to talk to 
someone. 

Something she'd found out herself recently.

"I did what I always seem to do, betray the ones that trust me."

Koda grabbed hold of Kendal's arm.  She held on quite a grip for someone 
of her size.

"Don't go Kendal, give her time to think."

"I don't know what else to do Koda."

"Give her time. Let her settle down a bit and I'm sure she'll see things
differently. Just give her the time to work it out on her own."

Kendal stood silent for a moment.  He was confused and frustrated, upset 
and tired.	

"What happened to your hands." Koda exclaimed.  She looked down to see his
knuckles bruised deeply and small cuts all over his arms and hands.

"Its nothing."  Kendal pulled his arm away and walked off. "Nothing at 
all."

She caught up with him before he could take more then a few steps and
grabbed his arm spinning him back around to face her.

"Look you don't have to tell me how this happened if you don't want to, 
but you are not leaving here until I'm seen to them. Got that!" her eyes 
met his challenging him.

"Find.. see to them then so I can get out of here," he said heatedly, 
but she knew his anger wasn't really directed at her.

She led him into one of the examining rooms and proceeded to clean the
wounds on his fist before wrapping them in a light bandage. 

"You should try ... to keep these as clear as possible so infection won't
have a chance to set it," she told him when she finished. "And Kendal
please... don't worry. I'm sure once Ailill calms down and thinks about 
it, she'll be in a bretter frame of mind. In the mean time... get her some
flowers or something and leave then in her room."

"That's kind of sappy isn't it healer?" the man asked eyeing her like 
she'd suggested he start spouting poetry to the girl.

"Take it from one who knows," she winked at him. "Some of us girls like sappy."

"If you say so," he commented before leaving the room.

Koda was grinning as she turned and started cleaning up the unused 
portion of the medical supplies. Then was leaving the room when she 
heard the sounds of a very frighten female screaming. 

She turned along with everyone else in the hall and started in the 
direction she thought the sounds were coming from, and was nearly 
knocked down by one of the felame orderlies as she came racing down 
the hall.

"What it is Kasmire!" Koda had to raise her voice and finally slap the 
woman to get her to calm down enough to tell them what was going on.

"Back there...." the woman cried as she pointed back the way she had come. 

Koda knew the hall she was pointing at ended back in the old unused hall
ways that wound thought out the Warren cliffs. No one went back in there 
as far as she knew. 

So what had happened that had sent Kasmire into the panic she was in now?
She got up and motioned for another of the nurses to stay with the woman,
then pointed at two of the male orderlies to accompany her down the hall.

"Hang on a second Koda," the taller of the two told her and disappeared 
into a room for a second before returning with two candle holders. He 
handed one to her and kept the other for himself.

"We'll need some light if we're going into the old part of the hall," he
told her. "It's darker then the inside of a newly laid egg back there."

He led the way, wanting the tiny healer to stay behind him in case they 
ran into any trouble. But even he wasn't prepared for what they found.

"Healer maybe you should go back..." he started to say, but she pushed 
past him to see what he had found. 

And nearly threw up.

The mutilated body of a child laid sprawled on the floor where one cave 
led into another. The side of his face they could see looked unmarred and 
as if the child had just laid down to sleep, but the crimson coloring 
around the neckline of the shirt he wore told the whole ghastly story. 

Chalin... she recognized the boy right off and nearly panicked herself, 
but her training kicked in and she moved to do what she'd been trained to
do. Later she would think about how he'd come to be here... and who cold
have done this to him. But for now....

Koda moved quickly, kneeling beside him in seconds. Her hand coming out,
fingers searching for any sign of life. Hoping against hope that by some
miracle the boy still lived.

But her hopes were dashed. His skin was cold to the touch, and she 
figured he'd been here for a few hours at lease. 

Someone showed up with a blanket, but before he could move to cover the
body, Koda stopped him.

"No.. it'll mess up any clues we might be able to find," her voice 
sounded still and unemotional even to her. She knew she had to distant
herself from the pain for now if they were to find the reason for this 
sick act.

<<Ribbon...please call Aura. Tell her, her rider's presence is needed
urgently in the med center. There's been a murder.>>

She slumped back then when she brought her hand away and the boys head
tilted to face her. 

"Gods!" she heard someone cry out.

Koda had to turn away quickly, but not quick enough that the sight of the
repeated knife slashes marring the left side of his face, would forever
remind her of the horrors the boy had been put through in the last moments
of life.

Someone had wanted something from him. Wanted it bad enough to torture him.
In the end they had killed him so that the secret would go with him to his
grave.

Koda's head snapped up in a new panic as a thought hit her. If Chalin was
here... where were Marika and Lemek?

She turned quickly to the person behind her and grabbed onto their shirt
front so they would listen to her.

"Do you know where the nursery watcher lives?" she asked and saw the man 
nod his head. "I need you to go there now and find out if his... brother 
and sister are still there. If they are, stay there and don't let them 
out of your sight."

"You don't think..." the man began to ask but she cut him off.

"I don't know what to think," she snapped, just wishing he would go! "Just GO!"

Her energy and the wall she ad built around her heart seem to fade as she
watched him go. Tears filled her eyes now and a cold ache settled inside
her, causing her to shake when she turned back to glance at the boy.

She moved to him. knelt and began to smooth back the un-matted hair on the
clean side of his face. That's where Waylene found her some minutes later. 

"Koda?" the woman's voice was soft and gentle when she called out to get 
the healers attentions. "Koda... come. Let's go into your office while the
others look around to see if they can find anything."

"No... I need to be here." Koda stood and wiped the tears from here eyes. 
"I need to be here to help if they need me."

"There's nothing more you can do for him Koda," Waylene told her, and 
while Koda knew she was telling the truth, she didn't want to leave, but
found herself following Waylene back down the hall. 

She saw but didn't comment on Trak being there. This was more his field 
then hers, and she just hoped he'd find something to tell them who had 
done this.

"Someone told me it was one of your orphans?" the Warrenlady asked as 
they re-entered the newer part of the med center.

"Chalin." 

"Where are his brother and sister?"

"I've no idea," Koda told her. Then felt bad because she hadn't spent 
much time with the kids lately with everything else that had been going 
on. "I sent someone to the nursery workers house where they're living to
check on them, but he hasn't returned or sent any word yet."

"So you don't have any idea why he would be back in the old halls? Did 
the children play there... or..." Koda could tell the woman was thinking 
of something else, but didn't enlighten her on what those thoughts were. 

She wanted to ask when she saw the woman frown, but knew she'd tell her 
when the time was right. Still it didn't keep her from wondering if it 
was about the three kids... maybe something Waylene had heard in passing 
or someone had brought to her attention.

"Don't you worry yourself about it Koda... we'll find out who did this....
and why."

They talked for a bit longer. Waylene asking questions, and Koda answering
them the best that she could. Then Waylene asked her to describe the cause
of death, and Koda.. after taking a few deep breathes to calm herself,
related things as she had first come across them. Now to her theory about
the cause of the knife cuts on the side of Chalin's face.

"Someone wanted to make sure the boy wouldn't be able to tell anyone 
what had happened."

"Well we'll just have to work at uncovering those reasons." Waylene 
replied. "We'll find his killer, Koda.. somehow."

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

[Kris.. he'd dead too ....FYI :) ]

****Submitted gruesomely by: ******

Marrid Head Healer
Lakoda & Ribbon
Marrid Warren

aka
Barbara