[DL-T]
Tears for a Brother



[DL-T]
Tears for a brother

Tera was still grinning when she arrived at the Warrenlady's 
office. The smiling face of handsome rider Ga'brin still 
utmost in her mind as she raised her hand to knock.

"Come in," she heard a voice call out, and pushed the door 
open and walked inside. Ophelia was sitting behind her desk 
and motioned Tera to sit in a vacant chair in front of her.

Tera walked in.  "We were going to discuss my brother,
warrenlady?" She wanted it understood right off why she 
was here. This time she didn't want to be put off.

"Yes, come in and sit down, Tera.  How is Sundellath this
morning?"

"She's fine.  Everything's been such a whirlwind, I'm still 
getting my bearings."

Ophelia smiled.  "It comes with time."

Tera nodded, then seemed to brace herself.  "So, about my
brother...?"

Ophelia sighed, opened the drawer and pulled out the picture,
handing it to Tera.  "Is this him?"

She watched Tera's eyes widen in surprise.  "Yes, this is him. 
Where did you get this picture?"

"B'larin drew it shortly after Traplin joined... shortly 
before he died."

"What?"

"Your brother joined a dragon, Diemas, here at the warren.  
On a teleport attempt... something went wrong.  They 
teleported to nowhere and were lost. We didn't really have 
much of a chance to know him.  I'm sorry, Tera."

"There has to be some mistake," Tera's voice was devoid of 
any emotion as she stared back at Ophelia. Her manner 
appearing calm until Ophelia noticed Tera's hand's clenched 
into fist, tiny drops of blood beginning to form where her 
nails cut into her skin.

"It has to be..he can't be gone. Trap was all I had left," 
her voice so low the Warrenlady could barely hear her.

"Tera if there is anything I can do," she hated lieing to 
the girl, but it couldn't be helped. "If you need someone 
to talk to...." she paused not knowing what she could say 
to ease the pain she had caused. But it was for the girls 
own safety as well as other's. "If you would like to put 
off your first lesson today...I'm sure H'nry will 
understand, once he's made aware of the circumstances."

"Thank you Warrenlady, but I need to deal with this on 
my own," Anger why did she suddenly feel such anger. "If 
my brother died in a teleporting accident, don't you think 
I'd better be there to learn everything I can to make sure 
it doesn't kill both of us?" Tera snapped. She had to get 
out of this office before she broke down compleatly. The 
Warrenlady didn't deserve her anger. Without another word 
Tera turned and was out the door not even slowing down when 
Ophelia called after her.

She didn't know or care how long she had been running when 
she came upon the small lake. Without stopping to take her 
clothes off, she dove into the cooling water and began to 
swim away from the shore. With each stroke the anger seemed 
to slowly drain away, leaving in it's place a hurt so bad 
she didn't know how to deal with it. Spent and exhausted 
she climbed back onto the shore and falling to her knee's 
she finally allowed her tears to fall. 

"Oh Trap, you can't be gone," she cried softly "Not now 
when I need you so much." 

<you still have me> the sadness in Sundee's soft quiet 
thought echoed her humans. <I will always be here for 
you as you will be here for me>

Tera felt something give her a slight nudge and turned 
to find the little blue standing next to her on the shore, 
it had followed after her. 

>>Oh Sundee!<< Tera's tears started all over again as she 
wrapped her arms around her dragon's neck. >>How ever did 
you know ?<< 

<I felt your sadness my human, so I came. you needed me to 
be with you so you would know that you are not alone. Not 
as long as we have each other>

>>Sundee, I love you more that anything in this world, 
but Trap was my brother. When he left, I knew why he was 
leaving home but I was so mad at him for not taking me with 
him, that I refused to tell him good-bye. I told him that I 
hated him.<<  Tera choked back another sob.  >>I didn't mean 
it, and I think he knew...but now I'll never be able to tell 
him. I didn't get to tell him I loved him andnow he's gone<<

**********************************************

It wasn't until Tera and Sundellath were walking back 
towards the main warren that Tera took any notice of the 
small cuts and bruise that covered her body. They must have 
happened when she was running through the woods earlier, she 
thought. Well she had better get them cleaned up and taken 
care of before they could become infected. 

Sarrine was sitting at the front desk catching up on some 
paper work when the door to the med center opened up and a 
girl walked in. It took her a moment to reconize the tall 
blond as the woman her son Ga'brin had pointed out at the 
hatching. This girl looked as if someone had taken a switch 
to her and beat her. Her clothes were torn and the blond
hair that had been braided back so neatly at the hatching 
was a mess. 

"Child are you okay?" she asked coming around to stand next 
to her. "Come with me and we'll take a look at your injuries." 
she said and taking Tera's arm she led the quiet girl into an 
examining room. Helping her onto a stool, Serrine spoke softly 
to her while she collected the things she would need to clean
the cuts.

"Your Tera, right?" Serrine asked and then went on after the 
girl nodded her head. "I thought so. I heard you sing the other 
night at the party. I hope you will sing again soon."

Sarrine had half a mind to have someone call for her son. 
Something had happened to this girl that he cared for. Maybe 
he would be able to get her to open up and tell what it was. 
The cuts and scrapes weren't all that bad, and as she cleaned 
them up Tera just sat there quietly, giving Serrine a good 
chance to look her over. She could tell by the red swollen 
eyes that the girl had been crying.  Finally unable to keep 
her nose out of the girls buisness any longer, she sat down 
on a stool across from her.

"People have told me that I make a good listener," she said 
softly offering Tera a wet rag to clean her face with. "My 
son Ga'brin, has always come to me when he has a problem...." 
Serrine had mentioned his name on purpose, changing the 
subject until the girl wanted to talk about it on her own.

"You're Ga'brin's mother?" Tera asked thankfull for anything 
to take her mine off Trap for the moment.  "We met this 
morning at breakfast. We made plans for later tonight to meet 
and practice music together.

"Yup! That tall good looking black haired devil is all mine," 
she winked. "He's almost as good looking as that smooth 
talking father of his."

Tera blushed.

"OH, oh!! so you already noticed." Serrine laughed. " Well I 
knew the moment I saw you two eatting together at breakfast 
this morning that you were a girl with good taste. And don't 
think I didn't see the way you watched after him when he left 
to go on patrols. I used to look after his father the very 
same way. Still do!!"

It was good to see Tera remembered how to smile, Serrine 
didn't want to see it dissapair but if something had happened 
it would be better for Tera to talk about it. She reached 
across and took the younger girls hands in hers. Happy to 
notice that she allowed the contact.

"Child won't you tell me what's wrong. It might make you 
feel better to talk about it."  her tone concerned.

Tera was quiet for a moment, she liked this woman who 
reminded her of her own mother. She was Ga'brin's, and 
he had been so nice that his mother couldn't be any 
different.  

"I left home about two months ago. I sent out to find my 
older brother Trap." she began. " It had been about three 
years since I'd seen him. When I came here I thought I was 
getting close to finding him," she stopped trying to fight 
back the tears threatening once again to fall. "I found out 
this morning from the Warrenlady that Trap had been here 
at one time......and that he had died soon after joining 
with a green dragon named Diemas. They were killed when 
they had tried to teleport."

Serrine felt her heart go out to the girl, she leaned f
orward and wrapped her arms around her. "Child I'm so sorry. 
I can only guess at what you must be feeling."

They sat that way for a few moments, the older woman giving 
what motherly support she could, and the younger girl 
accepting it. Finally Tera pulled herself together. When 
she looked into Serrine's eyes and saw the warmth and 
kindness, she knew she had made a friend.

"Thank you," she said, her smile shy. "I guess I needed 
that hug."

"Any time Child, anytime."
*********************************************

She was only a few minutes late by the time she got to the 
training green. She could see the questioning look in 
H'nry's eyes when he saw her. 

<Dalanth's rider wants to know if you're feeling better. 
He said to tell you if you want to wait until tomorrow to 
start training it'll be okay> Sundellath told her.

Tera asked Sundee to tell Dalanth to tell his rider that 
she was fine and would go on with todays class. Her eye's 
met his and shaking her head she told H'nry,  with that one 
movement everything she was feeling. She had to go on. She 
owed it to her brother.

*********************************************
*********************************************
>From the woods a hiden figure watched as the girl and the 
small blue dragon made their way to where the other 
trainies stood. He had almost caught her out in the woods 
by the lake. He would have if the blue hatching hadn't 
shown up. No one had bothered to inform him that she had 
joined with the blue at the last hatching. It would mean 
a slight chage of plans. 

He took one last look back before sliding back into the woods 
the way he had come. There would be another time.

*****submitted by***********

Barbara
Tera and Sundellath
Ga'brin and Preston