From: Shadowsinger <shadowsinger@usa.net>

<<**Midday, day four, Marrid Warren**>>

Daetyn opened her eyes to look at her rider. A'Rillia's breathing was
steady, and she seemed to have moved from unconsciousness into sleep at
some point during the night, which was a relief.

Peering into the apartment, the dragon saw that there was a fairly thick
layer of dust coating everything. They had been gone for quite some time.
Nothing appeared to be missing except for the candles that were normally on
her dressing table. Considering, that wasn't too bad of a result.

At the very least, she knew her rider was going to need food and drink when
she woke, but she couldn't prepare anything that was in the apartment. It
would all make her sick.

Puzzled, Dae looked at her rider and tried to figure out how on earth she
was going to get her something to eat. Going to the Dining Hall to get it
herself wasn't an option, but she couldn't tell anyone they were here either.

There's always something you don't think of, she mused with a silent
draconic laugh.

**contentment, warmth, fulfillment, hunger**

The dragon's head snapped up. That was a ^human^ voice she heard. The last
time she had heard another human voice directly like that was when
Kaylin'sha's human could still talk to dragons. But it wasn't... Daetyn
fumbled for the Rider's name... it wasn't David. 

Maybe this was her answer.

<:Excuse me... I don't recognize you, but could I ask a favor?:>

**shock**

+Do I know you? Where are you?+

<:Umm, probably not, and that's not important. My rider is kind of sick and
not feeling up to cooking. Could I ask you to fetch them dinner from the
Dining Hall - since you seem to be going that way anyhow and I can't fit
very well through the door?:>

+I suppose I can. Why all the secrecy? Who are you?+

<:I can't really explain that right now, I made a promise. If you could
just pick up something light and bring it around to the entry to this
apartment...:>

Dae sent a mental image of her ledge and how to get there, praying that
this mind was new enough not to know where the "missing" Queen's apartments
were. 

<:...that would really help a lot. They need the rest and I don't want them
leaving here when they wake.:>

Silently, the dragon mumbled "Again" in her mind.

<:Don't come in, just leave it. They're quite contagious.:>

My, my, thought Dae to herself. First you go around directly countermanding
her desires, now you're lying... what next, cuddling with Wraiths?

+Sure. My name's Breeze... sure you don't want to tell me who you are? I
promise I won't tell... if they're sick I can get Healer Koda up here and
have someone look after the baby...+

<:NO!!:> Daetyn shouted, louder than she meant to. <:I can't. I don't dare
- I don't know if they'll make anyone else sick. But thank you for your
help Breeze. Just leave it on the ledge, walk away and forget about me for
a while, okay? Don't tell anyone we're here.:>

+Well that's hard if I don't know who you are...+

Daetyn chuckled and closed her mind off to the boy. She felt so bad about
lying to him. And what's this about Lakoda having a hatchling?

=====About an hour later=====

+Dragon?+ Breeze's tentative mental brush woke Daetyn out of her drowsing.
+I brought that meal, although Cook thinks I'm a little wierd for asking
for dinner twice.+

<:I appreciate your help. Just leave it on the ledge...:>

When she heard the sound of a tray being put down, Dae smiled.

<:Thanks. Run along and as soon as we get things straightened out, I'll
thank you in person... well, you know what I meant.:>

Dae listened until his footsteps died away and dragged the tray into the
apartment with one silver foreleg, sighing with relief when she saw that at
least the meal of the day wasn't fish.

Breeze watched the leg come out and take the tray back into the apartment
in mild confusion. Nobody had ever told him about a *silver* dragon at the
warren. He shrugged and went back to the Med Center to check on Tina. He'd
work it out.

<Oh my head. Wait, what the... I'm not dead... Unless your dragon can meet
you in Tir'nan'og. But I don't feel dead. As a matter of fact, I feel
cursed sore. And what's this about fish, anyway, Daetyn?>

<:Dinner isn't fish. I'm relieved because the last time we got you fish you
broke out in bumps. It was a terrible way to find out.:>

A'Rillia opened her eyes very slowly and slammed them shut again when the
late afternoon sunlight hit her pupils.

<Okay, next question. Why am I not dead?>

<:Ummm, well...:>

<You stopped me, didn't you?>

<:You weren't being rational, Arri. When you get like that, you come up
with solutions that are kind of permanent, you know.:>

<I wanted to die, Daetyn. I wanted you to be able to start over again with
someone who wasn't a killer, who wasn't a failure.>

The dragon snorted and nudged her rider. <:Get up and eat this before it
gets cold. If you are so determined to remove yourself from the gene pool
you stupid human, at least do it with a clear head and a full belly.:>

Arri rubbed her eyes and sat up, very slowly. <Where am I?>

<:I took you home.:>

<But I was home...?> Arri reached for the chicken sandwich on the tray in
front of her and looked up at her dragon, disoriented.

<:No, you were in your parents house. That is not home.:>

<I'm in the Warren? Oh gods Dae, I can't be here, Waylene's going to kill
me when she sees me, I'll be banished, oh my god what am I going to do...
Ihavetogetoutofhere...>

<:You are doing no such thing. Nobody knows we're here. Now eat your
sandwich, Rider, before I shove it into you.:>

<How can I eat when they're dead. I did everything I could and they died
anyway. I'm a failure as a healer. All I do is kill people.>

<:You're eating or I will sit on you!:> Dae waited until the wman took a
bite of the sandwich and natural instinct took over before continuing.
<:Humans die, Arri. Even dragons die. You can't prevent that - it would
make you a God.:> 

The dragon wrapped her mind around A'Rillia's in the gentlest of mental
hugs before continuing.

<:You did your best for them. You made their passing easier. And in the
end, your mother understood your choice and forgave you. In the end, she
loved you as an adult, not the child she never had.:> Arri almost choked on
her milk at that.

Shaking her head, the dragon continued softly, <:You cannot own their loss.
Perhaps your father never understood, but would you rather have had them
die without ever being able to say goodbye to them? They would have died
anyway. Remember that, and don't take it so personally.:> 

<:You didn't stab them or suffocate them in the night. They were ill before
you came,:> continued the silver as she swished her tail back and forth in
the doorway because there wasn't room to pace. <:And had they not been so
proud, you might have been there in time to do something. But they were
dying when you came - you knew that, you said it yourself.:>

Arri looked up at the purple eyes hanging above her head and sighed.

<Killing myself doesn't do much, does it?>, she said, ashamed and feeling
selfish for not thinking twice. What would she do without her dragon to
talk sense into her, she pondered.

<:Holy Danu,:> chimed the dragon, <:I think for once I got something
through that thick human skull of yours. No, it doesn't do much, except
maybe leave me with no option but to kill myself because I would miss you
so terribly. When are you going to figure out that I can't join with anyone
else?:>

Arri put the empty dishes down and stood up. <You're angry with me, aren't
you, Dae?>

The dragon pondered that for a moment and shrugged. <:Not angry. Frustrated
as all get out, because your solution to every little mistake seems to be
to throw yourself off the nearest cliff, but not angry. You need to let
stuff go. If you care so little about your own life, then care for mine.:>

The dragonhealer considered that as she walked into the apartment she
abandoned so long ago and sneezed.

<:And dust in here before I explode!:> The dragon sneezed too and let out a
slow rumbling chuckle. <:Kind of hard to conceal yourself when you keep
sneezing all the time.:>

<How long have I been asleep?> asked Arri as she ran water in the sink and
began wiping down the counters in the kitchen. The simple act of running
the rag over the counter calmed her enough to think.

<:Well, since about midday yesterday, I think,:> replied the dragon, <:I
was too worried about making sure I hadn't put you in a coma to pay much
attention.:>

Tossing the soiled rag in the garbage, Arri began on the kitchen table,
thinking that this was going to take all day. <What's all the noise out
there?> she asked, running a hand through the random tufts of hair on top
of her head.

<:A carnival of some sort...:> replied the dragon as the rider turned off
the sink and started dropping dishes into it. <:They're certainly making
enough noise, aren't they?:>

Arri nodded and grabbed a mop and pail. If she could at least get the
kitchen presentable before...

<Dae, what am I going to tell Waylene? Sooner or later she'll find out I'm
here, you know and I am going to be in for it. Maybe they'll banish me...>

<:If they see your apartment in the state it's in,:> huffed the dragon,
<:it would be just for them to banish you. Keep cleaning.:>

Soft laughter filled the aparment and she began swabbing the worst of the
grime off the kitchen floor. <Yes, ma'am. But really, what...>

<:The truth, you silly human. Waylene is only human. She may be angry
because you shirked your responsibilities, but I'm sure she's not so thick
as not to understand why you did it.:>

Dae dropped off to a well deserved nap while her Rider proceeeded to clean
a year and a half of staleness from their home. Maybe she finally
understood why killing herself was a bad idea. Maybe.

Common sense. That would be a first.

====Several hours later, early evening====

Dae awoke to see Arri sitting at the kitchen table, holding a picture of
her mother and crying softly. The apartment was clean again, a pile of
soiled rags and sheets, bags of stale food, and several buckets of dust and
grime-filled water stood by the door. 

The fireplace was stacked, but not lit, and a cup of tea sat on the table
beside the young woman. At some point, she had bathed and changed into a
set of deep purple leather pyjamas. 

Her favorite ratty slippers scuffed the floor under the chair as she wept.
The hair, however, while clean, was still a shambles, and no amount of
scrubbing could take away the dark circles under her eyes or her hollow
cheeks.

<:Arri?:> Daetyn was relieved to see that the activity had done a lot to
calm her rider down.

<Oh, just remembering...> she sniffed and rubbed at her eyes, gesturing
irritably at the heap by the door, <I can't get rid of that stuff unless I
leave here and I don't know if I dare.>

<:At least I'm not sneezing.:> quipped the dragon.

The rider's stomach rumbled loudly and she smiled, slightly embarrassed. <I
guess I've been kind of neglecting myself, haven't I?> she asked the dragon
softly. <Where did you get that sandwich from anyway?>

<:Gee, there's an understantement. And, um, from the Dining Hall, where
else?:> said the dragon innmocently.

<You can't go to the Dining Hall. You won't fit, and besides, people would
see you and know we were here. So how did you get that sandwich?> demanded
Arri. <You can't cook, and besides, everything in the kitchen has gone bad,
even the stuff in the icebox.>

<:I asked someone to get it for you... there is someone here like
Kaylin'sha's rider... someone who can hear me. I never told him my name and
he never saw me...:> said Dae apologetically, <:But I had to do something,
Arri.:>

The dragonhealer sighed and nodded. <You're sure he never saw you. You're
sure you never said names?>

<:I didn't even mention what gender you were. I told him you were
contagious. He wanted to send Lakoda and her hatchling to look at you but I
told him not to...:>

Arri blinked. <Hatchling?>

<:Umm, baby. I keep forgetting you call them babies.:>

Arri filed that and decided she'd be angry about Lakoda putting herself at
risk later. There were bigger issues at hand.

<So you know nobody knows we're here...?>

The dragon and her rider locked eyes when they heard the tap on the outside
of the apartment door.

"A'Rillia, I know you're in there. May I come in?"

< <:Sure they don't.:> > they said together with a sigh.

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

NRPG: Who is it?? I dunno, you guys argue it out and tell me. :)

Les/Justin - I'll let you handle how he gets food for two without blabbing
or what he thinks of this. But he doesn't say anything untoward at the
Dining Hall, leave the oopsie situation until evening. Hope I Played him
okay. :)

Need food. :) Later
=====================================================================
"This is who I am, what I do and what I say: If you like it let it be
      ...and if you don't please do the same"  -- Ani Di Franco
     <<=======================================================>>
            Slainte'   --- | ---   shadowsinger@usa.net
         *** The Heart And Soul of A'Rillia and Daetyn ***
  ** Voice of Torrance Graham Steele, Reluctant Prince of Amber **
=====================================================================

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