From: Dianne <marialla@rockriver.net>

>"I do." Came the reply from the sullen hunter. She couldn't see his mouth
move in the dark and the words seemed to float out of nowhere. "I am new
here at Norwall and I've already managed to anger the Warrenlady and nearly
alienate my wing leader. I can't afford to drive anyone else away? and?" He
stopped. Clearly, K'Tarr was a man of few words. Opening up like this was
to bare a part of himself that he rarely shared. He struggled with what he
wanted to say next. "You know, Antwin is much better at this romantic
stuff. You'd think after travelling with him for so long, that I'd have
picked up some myself."

>From the shadows, Kalena could see the whites of the hunter's eyes fixed on
her again. That same stare that cut her to the quick. Her breath caught in
her lungs. She bit her lip and took a drink of the leftover wine before
replying.

"K'Tarr," she paused, "I really do enjoy spending time with you...but we
really don't know each other very well yet.  I would like to have the
chance to get to know you better.  Will you give me that chance?"

"I think I would like that very much." he replied.

"Let's start by getting out of here.  I wasn't nearly this hungry and it's
way to noisy in here to talk."

"I agree with you there.  But maybe Uncle can wrap this up for you.  You
may be hungry later."  he said.

"What is it with the men around here, thinking I have to eat all the time."
she smiled at the man across from her.  "But you're right, I'd hate to have
all this food go to waste and that's what will happen to it if I don't take
it with me."

She took the food to Uncle and he soon gave it back to her tied up in a
bundle.  "Try to eat a little of that before you go to sleep tonight."
Uncle said as he handed it back to Kalena.  She smiled and nodded.

The two riders left the dining hall and Kalena headed to Donjanth.  "I'm
going to take this food back to my apartment.  If you and Qualis want to
meet me up on the ledge in front of my apartment, we can decide what we
want to do."

He nodded to her as she climbed upon Donjanth's back and was soon on the
ledge.  She quickly went inside and put the food away and when she returned
to the ledge, K'Tarr and Qualis were there.

She looked out over the warren.  It was beautiful here at night.  She had
never taken the time to do this since she arrived at Norwall.  "It's
beautiful." she said, not really meaning to say anything aloud.

K'Tarr look off over the warren.  "Yes it is." he replied.

"Would you mind if we just sat here and talked.  I know very little about
you, and I think you even know less about me.  It would be a good way to
get to know each other."

"I think I'd like that very much." K'Tarr said quietly.  "But considering I
know less about you, maybe you should start."

Kalena sighed.  She knew she had set herself up for that response.  She sat
down on the ledge and leaned back onto her arms as K'Tarr sat down next to
her.

"Well, I don't remember much before I was 5.  I had been moved around a
lot, and never made any attachments.  All I know is that when I was 5, I
was with the circus.  I was only 25 inches tall then.  Not much taller than
most newborns are long.  A little but not much.  I was in the freak show.
Of course at the time, I didn't understand it, but I learned over time.
Antwin joined us for a season when I was 9 and was there until I was 10.
He watched out for me.  He had be the only person to treat me like a normal
person.  I was quite big then, nearly 48 inches.  He always called me
"Little One".  He still does.  He convinced the owners to let me train with
the acrobats.  I was quite good, but after Antwin left, nothing came of it.
 I had become too big for the freak show and there was really nothing else
for me to do, so one day I just decided to stay behind.  It was hard, but
then T'rell from Daere warren found me and I was searched and during the
last hatching I joined with Doni."

"Why did you choose to come to Norwall?" K'Tarr asked.

"Oh, well.  I guess I was running away.  Marialla, our Jr. Queenrider and I
were great friends, and one day as we were walking and we were attacked by
one of the unjoined searchlings.  I got away and ran, Mari wasn't so
lucky."  a tear trickled down her cheek, "He raped her.  If I would of
stayed, I might have been able to help her, but I ran..."

K'Tarr wiped the tear from her face. "Some things aren't stopable." he
said.  "The best thing you can do is run, but only if you can be sure to
get away.  If the animal can outrun you, finding a place to hide is what
you should do.  If the animal is stronger than you, and you're unarmed,
fighting is the last thing you should try."

"But that's what Mari did for me.  She tried to fight him...."

"And look what happened to her." 

"But, I should of helped her, there had to be something I could have done."
 she said, tears still trickling from her eyes.

"Kalena, I don't think you could and I'm glad you didn't.  You would have
ended up just like your friend...one of the hunted." he said, looking deep
into her eyes.  

She knew that he meant that he was glad she hadn't tried to help Mari.  She
wondered, but only for a second, if he wasn't concerned for her, but then
realized that he didn't know her, but yes he thought what had happened to
her as tragic.

"Anyway, after that, I just felt like I needed to be somewhere else.  And
Hilda came to Daere, asking for help and now I'm here.  I'm happy I am.
I've been reunited with Antwin and I've gotten to meet a lot of new people.
 Everyone here is so very nice."  she smiled.  "And if I wasn't here, I
would never have met you, and that would have been tragic."  She looked up
into his eyes, gazing for a moment before she quickly turned away.

"Now that you know all about me,  it's your turn. "  she smiled.

(Tag Wil)

****************************
Respectfully Submitted,
Kalena and Donjanth

     All original creative content in this document is 
Copyright © 1999, Dianne L. Eberle, Rockford, Illinois, USA.

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