[Zera]

<... in the Med Center ...>

Zera walked into the children's examination room and managed a brilliant
smile for Demee.  She nodded to Farr'in, who sat in the chair beside the
bed and got to work.

"Good morning, Demee, how are you?"

"I'm fine!"

The little boy smiled up at her and she heard Mazel giggling in the back of
her mind.

< What? >

<< I like Demee!  He's fun! >>  Mazel returned to giggling and exchanging
who-knew-what stories with the little boy, causing him to giggle a little
too.

"Demee, I'm going to ask you a few questions and check you out, okay?"

"Why?"  Little-boy earnestness filled the word and she almost laughed,
smiling much more easily at the little boy.

"Because there's something going around and I want to be sure that you
don't get sick...  You're Mazel's favorite little boy, and she told me she
wanted to be sure you're okay."  Farr'in looked at her, but she kept
earnest eyes on the child, letting the fact that she cared about him show
in her eyes.

<< I did not! >>

< So lie about it. >

"Is it what made Greta sick?"

The boy looked sad and Zera nodded slowly, not wanting to lie to him about
that.  "Yes.  And we don't want you to get sick...  So how do you feel?"

Zera led him through a series of gentle questions and did what she could to
make taking blood as painless as possible.

"Ow!"  Demee stared at his finger and she smiled at him reassuringly.

"You're a very brave little boy, Demee.  You've done wonderfully well!" 
Zera hugged the little boy and gave him the requisite sweet for being so
patient and so good.  She looked at Farr'in.  "We're done here, for the
moment.  It will take a while for the blood tests to come back."

He nodded and she smiled as he swung the boy up into his arms.

< Mazel, tell Vonn that Demee is ready.  I'll be on call this evening to
check the other children, or Lilliana could do it this afternoon...>


<... On the Picnic ...>

"My turn to listen.  How are you doing with Greta's death?"  She looked up
into his eyes and a wry twist of smile touched her lips.

"I'm doing."  Zera curled up against a nearby tree, resting her chin on her
knees as a faint breeze flirted with baby-fine strands of hair.  She stared
into the middle distance, losing herself there for a moment as she bit her
lip.  "I'm reminded of why I didn't come in from the Wastes on my own
after...  after my parents...  died."  Greta's pale, beautiful face seemed
to hover before her.  "So... helpless...  Once the interaction began... 
There wasn't much anyone could have done."

Spinning abruptly to her feet, Zera hit the unoffending young tree, the
helpless rage, shame and horror of the night before spilling over.

"It's not fair!  They were so happy...  And someone saw fit to end that!"

"What?"  Galen grabbed her hands before she could do it again.  Zera
struggled against him for a moment, needing the physical outlet for the
impotent rage that filled her at the thought of the poisoning, but he had
her trapped against him and the fight drained out of her abruptly.  She
wrapped her arms around his waist, needing the comfort and safety she found
in his embrace, but not questioning why it should be so.

"Haven't you heard...?"  She tilted her head up slowly.  "Greta was
poisoned.  Murdered."

"Why?"

Simple question, complex answer... and Zera didn't have all the puzzle
pieces.  "I think it has something to do with the Lord of Whitebarrow, if I
understand the rumors correctly.  Greta is -- *was* -- the mother of the
heir to the manor, before he remarried and got his new wife pregnant.  That
would be reason enough to kill her, in some circles..."

Her voice trailed off as she looked up into Galen's eyes, her train of
thought derailing and tumbling off a mountainside somewhere.  Pink tinted
her cheeks for a moment, throwing the white of her scars into sharp relief
for an endless instant.  Mouth suddenly dry, she licked her lips and tried
to make her voice work.

"Galen...?"

[Tag, Ben]

-----
NRPG --
So does he want to kiss the girl, or what? <eg>  Just seemed appropriate,
somehow... ;)

Respectfully Submitted,
Jill E. Flansburg
Zera and Mazel
Norwall
DragonLands

                 X-FILES                         DRAGONLANDS

  Assistant Director                     Rhiannon, WarrenLady  *Xylian*
  Sterling Kincaid, Team Leader, ECHO    Elswyth and Aedra   *Keldarra*
  Damien Cunningham, UD DELTA            Katla and Satinka *Whiteriver*
  Xan X. Xavier, Trainer, Classroom A    Zera and Mazel       *Norwall*

 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
			      Vasaris, the Fuzzy Dragon
       Jill E. Flansburg	    |		            vasaris@az.com
       CS HMC 1994	          |		jflansbu@muddcs.cs.hmc.edu
       History, WWU 199?          |		vasaris@divcom.umop-ap.com
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