From: Shadowsinger <shadowsinger@usa.net>

(*From Possibilities*)

David stood outside the door to A'Rillia's old apartment, and he was sure
now that someone was inside.  He heard movement, and someone had
been crying.  Knocking on the door, he spoke out. 

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

No answer.

"It's David.  I need t'talk with ye, about Minty and something that has
happened.  I haven't told anybody else ye be here... but we need yer help,
if ye can..."  David proceeded to explain everything to the door,
about the time differences and his missing son, hoping that she would
answer and help him.  But he wasn't going to barge into the apartment to
force her... he wasn't that desperate, yet.

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

Arri sighed softly and opened the door to let David in, struggling to keep
from being seen by anyone outside. "Not a word of this to anyone,
blademaster," she growled as he walked in, "Guild's honour, David. You have
to promise me..."

He'd stopped in the doorway to stare at her. "Ye gods woman, what happened
to ye? Yer hair is... I'd never ha known ye, you look awful...."

"Get in here..." she hissed irritably. "It's a long story."

<:We got busted, didn't we?:>

<Well, we got something anama-fach. Could you maybe make yourself scarce
for a while? You are sort of conspicuous.>

<:I guess I could go get lunch... I didn't think word would travel so fast
around here if I didn't tell the dragons.:>

<No matter.> The healer sighed. <David here owes me one or three or fifteen
and I think I can trust him to stay quiet for a while if I tell him to.>

<:And Kaylin'sha>:>

As David finally came in through the door so Arri could close it, mouth
agape, she turned to him with a hunted look in her eyes. "David... Kaylin
can't say anythimg either - I can't have anyone know I'm here right now.
Who would your dragon take the order from better - Dae or you?"

David shrugged. "I'll tell 'im, but..."

"No buts," she said with a sigh, walking back into the kitchen, "Come in
here and let me make you a cup of tea and I'll explain as best I can."

*Kaylin? Ye canna tell anyone the Queen's here. Ye hafta promise me.*

David received a sniff of concern and grudging agreement from his dragon
before it winked out into teleport. Dragons loved to gossip, and anything
or anyone who prevented tham from doing that tended to make them irritable.

Sliding into a chair at the table, he looked up at her while she made the
tea, slowly taking in her raggedly hacked off hair, her thinness, the
circles under her eyes, the slowness of her step, the wincing, the gaunt
cheeks. Finally he thought he was going to burst.

"Arri, ye've got to tell me what's wrong. Ye looks like death on two legs."

The healer burst out into teary laughter at that as she carried the tea
back to the table and set it down. "And so it seems, David, that I am."

"I don't know how much I should tell you," she said as she rooted around in
the kitchen drawers for an extra pair of kidskin gloves, "Because you sound
like you need my help more, and I don't like chewing my cabbage twice."

"Why on earth do ye be wearing those?" David looked at her hands. "I
thought ye didna need 'em anymore."

She remembered the hours and hours and hours of mental training she had
gone through with him to learn to confine her mind and sighed. "I don't
think I have the energy to keep from exploding right now, anana-fach and
dammit if I just want to err on the side of caution, okay?"

He nodded, worried by the broken sound of her voice. "Wha'happened little
one? Ye can tell me - it's waited this long, it can wait a bit more."

Arri ran a hand through her tufts of hair and sat down at the kitchen table
and looked at David for a long moment. When he saw it in her eyes, she
nodded and stared into her tea resignedly. "They're dead, David. I did
absolutely everything I could and then some and they're dead. He never did
forgive me you know. Even as he died and I sat there trying to hold him
together, he spat in my face." Silently, she began to cry.

David's jaw dropped again and he whispered "No wonder..." completely
unnoticed by her.

"I don't even know what they died of. When I finally lost her, I couldn't
take it - I'd killed them both and I'd betrayed the only family I had to
boot, here at the Warren. I tried to throw myself in after her, but Daetyn
knocked me out and teleported me back. I've actually been here almost a day
and a half but she's been trying to protect me." 

The healer smiled sadly, "Please don't yell at me, David. She's yelled at
me enough for everyone. But I'm afraid of what Waylene's going to think - I
never got a chance to tell her and I'd never meant to stay, but they were
DYING David... nobody else could have helped..."

The two of them sat at the table for a long moment while Arri scrubbed at
her eyes and struggled to regain control. Finally, David got up and came
around to hug her. At the inevitable flinch, he explained, "It's okay. I
canna talk to all the dragons anymore, remember? You won't hurt me."

With that, she melted and started to cry uncontrollably. There was
something different about being held by human arms, even if they were those
of a friend, and she finally let go of all the pent up grief and anger of
the past eighteen months.

David just held her until she stopped and then went to sit down while she
composed herself at the kitchen sink, drinking his cooling tes.

"Now what's this about Minty and your son and the damned amulet and people
being places they should be when they shouldn't be, and the world going mad
as a hatter with wastelands on the stoop?" the woman asked as she came back
to the table.

David backed up and explained it again, knowing from experience that this
was her way of changing the subject. The more he talked, the more
crestfallen she looked until he stopped. "We-ell," she drawled, "I may be
able to help with some of your questions, but I promised Minty I wouldn't
tell anyone. I'm not sure what I should do here."

David looked beaten, and frustrated, "Arri, you canna do that to me."

The healer couldn't tell David about Araminta timing it back to steal the
amulet. She'd made a promise. But maybe she could make up a story to tell
him what he needed to know about it.

Arri sighed. "I'll fill in what I can then, based on what you already know."

"Araminta had the amulet at the point I broke the bond between you and the
Wraith mind. How she got it is part of what I can't tell you and it's the
reason she lost the baby. When she got back, I could barely save her as it
was," Arri singsonged dejectedly.

Closing her eyes, she continued, "The amulet is a physical way of
controlling someone's mind for the wraiths, sort of like an enchantment.
They can conduit to the mind of anyone who's wearing it. When she... you...
umm, when you weren't wearing it anymore, I could help you."

"That's why the wraiths want it back. They need it to, um, configure a
human mind to act as their liason, which is what they were priming you to
do, but it drove you, well, insane." Arri paused to sip her tea.

David chuckled softly as she continued, "Now as for the being places /when/
one shouldn't, there have been stories of people who have gone to examine
the Wastes and teleported back weeks earlier. It's entirely possible, I
suppose, that she may have flown too close to a packet in teleport and
ended up at her parents three days to *her* but a month to *them* earlier."

"It would also explain, maybe, why she was so sick when she came back,"
thought the healer aloud, "Since when that happens, a part of who you are
is always left in that time instead of following you - the spiritual
equivalent of losing an arm. It takes time to recover from that. Some
people never really manage to."

"Believe your wife. She needs that more than anything right now. If you
can't believe her, believe me that it can happen and sometimes does.
There's a reason timestreaming is forbidden - not only does it induce
paradox, but it makes the riders very sick and can have very unexpected
consequences." Arri stopped for a moment. "I can guarantee you this one
wasn't her fault and unequivocally tell you she isn't lying."

Astonishment flickered a cross David's face. "Ya mean to tell me that she
ported across time and space? But dragons canna DO that."

"Ask yours. They can, but they don't. Usually when it happens, it's
accidental, and it's very very hurtful for both the dragon and the rider to
do so. 99% of the time, everyone involved dies." Arri shook her head. "You
have to believe me, David. You've got to, for the sake of your partner."

He nodded and sighed. "Okay, if ye say it can happen, lass."

"I've seen it happen. I've healed the timesick and it's a very very ugly
thing. Even accidental timestreaming has probably made her irrational and
sick and very short-tempered. Combine that with the fact that her son is
gone, and she's probably hysterical." David burst into nervous laughter at
that and nodded.

Arri had her own thoughts on the son based on events since her return, but
kept them to herself until she could talk to Araminta and a few other
people. She certainly didn't know what to make of it right now.

"I don't think I can help on your son," she added aloud, "I can try to talk
to Araminta in the morning, maybe, after I've talked to Waylene and seen if
she's going to throw mw out on my ears."

David shook his head. "Warrenlady Waylene isn't here right now. Her baby
came too soon and she's with healers elsewhere right now. Lady Carie is in
charge while she's away."

"Carie it is, then. Baby came too soon... good thing 'Lene isn't here or I
might box her ears for getting pregnant. I know I'm gonna box Koda's when I
find her... what was she THINKING?" The healer shook her head and laughed.
"No matter. You'd best get home and chew on some of what I said, before
someone finds you here."

The swordsman stood, knowing a dismissal, however gentle, when he heard
one. "Yer right lass, I've a lot to think on. Thankee for your help."

Arri shook her head and walked him to the door. "I only hope I have helped.
Let me talk to Carie in the morning and see what I can arrange."

As David snuck off and jogged down the stairs, Arri sagged against the
wall, relieved. Nobody had seen him come or go, although she had forgotten
to ask how he knew she was here.

Exhausted, she staggered back to bed and collapsed, crying herself to
sleep. Everything else could wait until morning when she talked to Carie.
For now she needed rest.

====================================
NRPG: Les/Justin - I have some suspicions about where Zael is, but would
like to see if I'm right in private. If anyone else shows up in the middle
of the night, short of opening the door and crawling into bed with her,
she's not going to hear them. Chris; I'll try to catch you online to figure
out how much of a slagging she's going to get from Carie, if any.

Blessed be - sorry it took so long, but I had to go back and reread all the
amulet posts to remember what happened. :) I tried to be careful not to out
Aramints as timing to get the amulet, but David may figure it out on his
own eventually.


=====================================================================
"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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