[NRPG: I'm going to do a bit of a timejump, so that we can get Christine
her dragon soon.  So, be aware that you need to be wrapping stuff up and
NOT starting anything.]

[Day 9]

[R'chein]

Fluttering her eyes downwards, Tahlaya mumbled, "I owe you an apology. I was
hostile to your suggestion and wasn't prepared to listen to you. I now
realise that I had no right to act like a hysterical child. I didn't take
your feelings into consideration and I acted unjustly."

Tahlaya looked up and saw the tears in the healer's eyes.

"R'chein, we'd like to help look after and, if L'sein is willing, bring up
your grandchild."

"Thank you, Tahlaya.  That means a lot to me.  But, I owe you an apology,
too.  I was just so desperate..."

"I understand."

He considered for a moment.  "I'm... I'm not really sure that L'sein would
make a good father, even if he were willing...  But, I'd like to give him
one more chance."

Tahlaya nodded.

R'chein continued, "Prania's condition is deteriorating rapidly, so we're
going to have to deliver today.  I would... appreciate it if you could..."

"Yes, of course."

"Thank you."

******

[Ophelia]

B'rin was weak, but awake when she arrived in his room at Whiteriver.  The
prognosis that the healer, Th'rin, had given her was good, however.
They'd caught the Hellspawn early.

Th'rin told her his theory and the proof that he was correct.  Ophelia 
started to take issue with it until she recalled the incident with the
mushrooms at Telnor.

With the mushrooms, it would be difficult to trace the hellspawn back to
any source.

"So, Beryth tells me Kalon won a mating flight?"

B'rin blushed.  "I guess so.  I don't really remember very much."

Ophelia chuckled and shook her head.

"It's okay," B'rin said.  "I don't mind."

The two talked for a while longer before Ophelia stepped out to check on
lunch.  As she stepped out into the hall to head back to B'rin's room, a
body collided with her.  She reached out and caught the young woman. 

"Sorry," the person she recognised as the junior queenrider, Merissa,
said.

Ophelia took in the tears.  "Are you all right?"

"Yeah...  I'm fine...  I'm just... I'm just being silly."

Ophelia hesitated to pry, but decided the woman could refuse to answer if
she wanted.  "It's not that someone you care about is in here, is it?"

"Oh.  No.  It's... well, it's Th'rin.  We're just not... getting along
well right now."

"Ah.  I see."  Ophelia considered the queenrider.  "I'm afraid I can't
offer much in the way of advice.  But I will assure you that if it doesn't
work out, you will survive it."

******

[Evening]

She had returned to Telnor and was almost immediately greeted by bad news.

"So I've asked Dinnan to keep him up there in their apartment for a few
days to give him a chance to dry out," Trap told the woman after
explaining about finding him passed out drunk when he didn't show up for
Wing training.

"I figure by then he'll be hurting enough to need to talk about things,
and maybe without the liquor dulling his senses, he'll see that talking
about it can only help." 

Ophelia looked back at him across the top of her desk. A slight frown
marred her otherwise lovely features. 

"You took this upon yourself with out asking anyone I take it?" she asked
him. 

"I had to," he replied defensively. "Someone had to do something and the
man was once my best friend. I couldn't very well let him kill himself
without trying to do something for him. Now could I?" 

"No.. I can see your point Trap. I really can. But Sandor is a
Wingleader..." 

"And others have to know they can count on him to do his job," Trap
countered before she could go on. "Who would trust a drunk to lead them? 
He'd end up getting someone killed if he's allowed to go on." 

"I heard what happened between him and Danielle, Trap," she informed him. 
"This wouldn't have any thing to do with that would it?" 

"It has everything to do with that, but not for the reasons you're
implying.  As I said, the man was once my best friend, and if I had been
open to him when I came back, I might have seen the trouble he was in and
been able to help. I might have been able to prevent this from happening." 
The last said in a soft tone, that she barely heard.  "Sandor is a good
man at heart and the Warren needs him in top shape. I failed him as a
friend, by not noticing what he was going through, so I have to do this
now. I have to help him. don't you see?" 

"But, Trap, by locking him up in his apartment, you're cutting him off
from other support.  And, very frankly, I don't consider it too likely
that he's going to unburden to you with everything that's between you
right now.  Not to mention that he has a concussion and a shoulder injury
and needs to check in with the Medical Center on a regular basis.  No,
Trap, I'm sorry, but I just can't approve cutting him off from all his
other friends to have to rely on someone with whom he's estranged.  If
it's that bad, he needs checked into the Medical Center, where he can be
watched."

"I removed any sharp objects."

"And did you remove anything he could use to hang himself?  What about
poisons?  Wood alcohol?"

"He's not suicidal."

Ophelia shook her head.  "So you say, but a few days ago, you would have
said he was just fine, wouldn't you?"

Trap flinched at that.  "Other friends can visit him at his apartment."

"Only if they're dragonriders.  Some of us have landbound friends here in
the warren.  As a matter of fact, I know a certain med center staffer that
would be very put out if she couldn't see him."

Trap looked puzzled.

Ophelia smiled and shook her head.  "You really have been rather wrapped
up, haven't you?  Not that it matters.  Just suffice it to say that I'd
rather he not be separated from those people whom he might still consider
unburdening himself to.  I think it would be best if we just checked him
into the Med Center."

******

[Day 10]

[R'chein]

He walked alongside the stretcher as B'rin was brought in.  The boy looked
up at him and smiled sheepishly.  "I guess Mom's going to have to find
another courier for a few days," he said weakly.

R'chein grinned.  "We'll get you back and flying in no time, son.  Don't
you worry.

They arrived at the room and the boy was quickly transferred to a bed.
R'chein quickly set about examining him as he checked over the records
that had been sent from Whiteriver, chatting as he went, mostly ignorning
B'rin's responses.

He paused as an item in the records caught his eye.  "Passed on to
Clarissa, eh?  Kalon won a mating flight?"

B'rin coloured and nodded.

"Are you okay about that?"

B'rin shrugged.

"You want to talk?"

The boy sighed, glanced around the room to see that they were alone, then
met the healer's eyes.  "I don't need to, really.  I don't remember it."

R'chein's eyebrows shot up.  "Don't remember it?"

"The... the wraith had already pretty much taken over, I think.  I
remember the heat and then waking up at Whiteriver Medical Center."

"I see."

"You can laugh, I don't mind.  It is pretty funny."

"I wasn't laughing, B'rin."

"No, but you're sure working hard not to."

R'chein's face grew serious.  "Sorry, B'rin.  Look, you understand that
since Kalon's won a flight, he's of the opinion that you're ready to grow
up."

B'rin nodded.

"And hopefully, this will be the last time you will find yourself under
the influence of a wraith or mushroom.  You have to come to terms with the
fact that you're a dragonrider, and an adult, by warren standards."

"I know."

"D'you want to talk about it?"

B'rin shook his head.

<Lofflossit, get hold of Dalanth and see if his rider would be willing to
talk to young B'rin at some point.>

Lofflossit didn't reply, but R'chein could feel the dragon's attention
turn from him and knew he was calling Dalanth.

"How's L'sein?"

The healer looked at the boy in surprise.  He knew B'rin and L'sein hadn't
been on speaking terms for quite some time now.

"Very weak and been run through the ringer with Prania's baby and all."

B'rin nodded.  "He's going to be okay, though, right?"

R'chein sighed.  "Depends on your definition of okay.  L'sein's health has
been pretty much destroyed by this."

B'rin was quiet, contemplative.

"Eliana's doing pretty well, though," R'chein pursued.  "Her father's
actually of more concern than she is in some ways."

B'rin nodded.

R'chein went back to work, the two silent for a while.

"B'rin..."

"Hm?"

"I'm sure he'd appreciate the friendship right now, if you could see your
way clear..."

B'rin nodded.  "When I get better, I'll go see him."

******

His next stop was Etain's room.  The lord of Raisa worried him mightily.
Since the night of Eliana's attack, Etain had gone through a series of
medical emergencies and now was developing a bad case of pneumonia,
despite the antibiotics he'd been on.

R'chein sighed as he observed no signs of improvement.

"How is he?" a voice asked behind him.

He jumped and spun, nearly dropping his chart.  Ophelia stood in the
doorway, looking more hesitant than he'd seen her in years.

"I... uh... he's... not well.  Raisa wants us to transport him back there,
but I'm worried that he may be too weak for it."

She nodded.  "And L'sein?"

"He's... going to make it.  Probably still has a few days before he can be
released."

She nodded again, taking a tentative step into the room.  "Sandor?
Eliana?"

"Sandor's drying out.  Libby's keeping a close eye on him.  Eliana's doing
fairly well."

Another nod.  "Thomas?"

"Recovering."

"Blaze?"

"Likewise."

"The baby?"

"Tahlaya's taking care of her.  L'sein's held her for a bit, but... he's
just so overwhelmed right now."

"I see."

The two stood there silently, uncomfortable, both feeling the horrible
gulf between them.

"Well... I guess I'll go check in on B'rin."

He nodded and turned back to Etain.  He wrote on Etain's chart, trying to
summon the courage.

"Ophelia--"  He turned, but she was gone.

******

The days flowed together much the same after that.  Ophelia would stop by
the Medical Center to visit the huge quantity of folks there and check
with him on their condition.  Lord Etain seemed to be fighting off the
pneumonia, only to fall sick again to the same disease.

R'chein knew relations with Raisa were beginning to strain at this.  The
Lord of Raisa had been injured while in the warren's jurisdiction, and now
it seemed the medical staff couldn't get him well.

L'sein spent some time with his daughter, but seemed content to turn the
tiny infant over to the healers or to Tahlaya when the time came.  R'chein
fought the urge to shake some sense into his son.

Sandor got caught a couple of times with liquor in his room.  It remained
a mystery who was bringing it in.  R'chein finally had to restrict his
visitors to being accompanied by a trusted staffer at all times.

A slew of patients got released to go home.  No more Hellspawn were found.
The warren seemed to be breathing a collective sigh of relief.

But R'chein was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

******

Kerra sat next to the tiny passage that headed into the hatching cavern
from her apartment.  It wasn't large enough for her to go through, but the
wraith growing inside her was a different story.

She listened closely, hearing the soft whuff of a sleeping dragon and no
other sounds.

Clutching the amulet that joined her mind to that of the wraith's, she
relaxed, feeling the slither of the ghostly creature along her throat.

She sat up, still clutching the amulet and watched the grey mass slip down
the passage.

Respectfully submitted,
 Lynette R. F. Cowper
  Ophelia and Beryth
  And a whole slew of others

 # Lynette R. F. Cowper        o       INWO Line Editor & Goddess      #
 # lcowper@indy.net             <><     Circle of Janus Secretary      #
 # lcowper@io.com                  o       Captain, USS CALYPSO        #
 # http://www.io.com/~lcowper/  ><>     Warrenlady, Telnor Warren      #