Eleanora leaned back against the wall outside Sandor's room, still clutching 
the breakfast tray. Silently she berated herself for such an outburst.  

An older man, a dragon rider and far your superior, she chided, and you snap 
at him like he was an unruly child.  Scolding herself all the way, she
placed the tray on the shelves where it belonged and wandered toward Abby's 
office. The sudden taste of salt from the slow-rolling tears stopped her in 
her tracks.

Wiping the tears dry, she mentally ran over what she had said to Sandor and 
stood aghast at how far she had gone.  I've never talked to anyone about the 
nightmares, she thought. Why would I lose such control?  Still puzzling she 
ran smack into Abby.

*Are you all right?  You look awful.*  Her friend signed, looking worried.

*No.* Eleanora struggled with words to express half-formed thoughts. *I just 
snapped at Sandor and completely lost control. I haven't had a tantrum 
like that since I was 10!*

*Is something bothering you?*

*No. Yes. I don't know. I feel.....*  Her hands flailed, as if to grasp the
right sign out of thin air.  *Jangled?*

*Maybe you are upset by last night?* Abby asked as gently as she could, her 
own tension seeping through.

*Maybe.*  Eleanora shrugged. *Is there anything I can do to help here? *

*Well how are you at writing?* the healer asked hopefully. *It's my turn to 
do the inventory this month and it goes a lot quicker if there are two
people doing it. One to write and one to look at all the stuff we have and
need.*

*My mom always said I had neat hand writing.* the girl grinned, happy to be 
able to help with something.

*Good then you just got drafted to write what I read off,* Abby grinned back 
at her. *That should cut this job in half.*

It did. What normally took 3-4 hours, if no interruptions happened, only
took two hours, and after Abby looked over the list Eleanora had written out 
and approved it, they arranged to meet for lunch and Eleanora headed off to 
the shops Abby had told her about.

{Later, Dining Hall}

Eleanora pushed through the crush to find her friend at a table already, but
not alone. She had half-expected Marcus to be there, but this was a stranger 
to her.  Somehow, he looked familiar.  She sighed, unable to 
remember all the new faces from the past few days.

*Eleanora, this is my brother, Ben'sar.* Abby spoke along with the signs.
*He signs a bit and can understand if you go slowly. But maybe we can get
him up to speed if we work on him.*

"Its a pleasure to meet you, Ben'sar," Eleanora murmured, taking her place
at the table.

Ben'sar made a few moves with his hands in the gestures he hoped were the 
right ones and when both Abby and the girl started to giggle, he looked
quickly at his sister.

"What? did I say something funny?"

Abby chuckled. "Well I know what you were trying to say, but when you
dropped your right hand down this far and turned it to the right instead of
the left you told her that you were a beast, instead of *pleased*.

The male rider rolled his eyes, a slow charming smile spread across his lips 
as he lowered his head and leered at the girl playfully.

"I can assure you my dear Ellie that I am no beast. No matter what the girls 
may tell you. I'm a very nice man."

"No one calls me Ellie," the girl frowned slightly.

"Why not? You look like an Ellie to me," he winked and felt his sister slap
his arm.

*He can be a real charmer when he wants to be,* Abby signed quickly. *But
don't worry about him. He's just a terrible tease. But he's had all of his
shots. So he's harmless.*

"Hey!" Ben'sar exclaimed. "The next thing you'll be telling her is that I
sleep with the herds."

"Now brother dear, you were the one who told her you were a beast."

Eleanora watched as the two teased each other. She could tell they were
close, then nearly jumped when she felt him take her hand and bring it up to 
his lips for a brief kiss.

"Forget her.... I, Ben'sar am very *pleased* to meet you Ellie, and hope you
enjoy your stay here in the Warren. If you need anything I hope you will
feel that you can come to me. I promise I won't put you to work like my
sister likely does... and would be *pleased* to show you what counts for fun 
around here.ä

"Oh gees," Abby groaned. "Laying on the charm a little deep brother dear?
Just wait until mother hears you."

"Hears him what?"  a warm friendly and familiar voice said coming up behind 
them. Eleanora didn't hear it but she saw the blush on the dragonriders face 
and the knowing grin on Abby's and turned to see what it was causing it.

She smiled when she saw Sarrine. Recognizing her from the med center, but the 
older man with her was a stranger.

She felt someone touch her hand and turned to see Abby signing something to 
her.

*You've met my mother... and this is Gabben, my father... he's the... well
the Warren Bard,* she said this slowly not knowing how the girl would react.

She nodded and said she was pleased to meet them, then frowned slightly and 
looked back at Abby when her father said something Eleanora didn't catch.

*Father...* Eleanora saw the healers hands moving at the same time she spoke 
the words aloud. * Eleanora can talk, but a illness took away her hearing. 
She can sign and understand you just like Kay does."

As it turned out, Eleanora found out during the meal, which she stayed and 
ate with the family, that Gabben knew her father. The two had met several 
times in the past

...........

*Abby, can I talk to you?*

The healer, who hadn't been expecting anyone to be out this way, nearly had 
heart failure, but pulled herself together when she saw it was only
Eleanora. Something about the girl made her wonder why her young friend was 
looking so tense. *Sure, what is it?*

*What is a hellspawn?*

Again panic filled the healers eyes. Briefly she turned to look back the way 
she had come and then turned back to ask, *Where did you hear about 
Hellspawns?*

*I've been hearing them mentioned all day and someone said one took over a 
man? How can this be?*

Abby nodded. *It's true. We don't know yet how they are able to do this, but
somehow they have found a away to get inside a person and slowly take them 
over as they... eat away the person from the inside out... It's not a pretty 
sight... but we now know what to look for, and can do something about it if 
we caught it early enough.*

Eleanora looked thoughtful for a moment, digesting the information.  *OK,
this Ash person - is he coming back here? A lot of the riders are talking -
and they're pretty upset.*

Abby noticed her friend's distress and decided not to add to the worries. *I
shouldn't worry about it.  Laria knows what to do.*

*Laria?*  Eleanora looked puzzled, and then unhappy as the realization sunk 
in.  *Then, you...you did have to ....um...with Beryth - *

Abby nodded sadly.  *Its better this way.  Otherwise, she'd go through agony 
with each clutch - and eventually it would kill her.*

Eleanora nodded.  *I guess so.  It just seems unfair, somehow.  Life's not
really any easier in the Warren, is it?*

*No... we have the same problems here as everyone else.* Abby told her. Then 
looked around again. 

*But what will happen if this Ash person returns?*

*That's not something you need to worry yourself about,* Abby told her a
little sharper then she intended. *I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at
you... it's just been a long day and I have to go back to the med center and
run some more tests.*

The healer reached out and patted her arm. *Keelin tells me Ben'sar is going 
to take you for a ride this evening before it gets to late.*

Eleanora's face lit up in a wide smile as she nodded her head. *He asked me
this afternoon after you left the hall to go back to work. I can't wait* 

Then Eleanora though of something. 

*You have no dragon but you said Keelin told you... How can that be?*

*Remember when I told you the dragons spoke to me? Well some do it only whenI 
heal them but others will talk to me at all times. Ben'sar's dragon Keelin is 
one of them.*

*Oh.*

*Well you had better go find him before he takes off without you!*

Eleanora didn't need to be told twice. She went in search of the male rider
and his dragon.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Katrina 
aka Eleanora

Enjoy! 

There should be some free time in there if anyone wants to bump into her - 
feel free.