If anyone gets a copy of this twice, sorry.  I got two bounces from
*somewhere*, but Mr. Mail Daemon won't tell me where.

*****

(A copy of this message has also been posted to the following newsgroups:
alt.shared-reality.sf-and-fantasy)


   Saul flung open the door with a flourish, obivously intended more for
Telaran's benefit than for Terau's.

   "Come in, come in. . ." she said, after hugging L'rian.  "Now, would
someone please care to explain to me what is going on?"

   "Well, we were flying patrol, and we saw this horse just standing
around . . ."  L'rian grinned at Saul as the younger rider elbowed him
gently in the ribs.

   >"Lady Trinale," Saul said, "I would like to introduce you to Terau and his
son, Telaran." Said Saul.

   Terau bowed gracefully, holding out his hand.  "It is a pleasure,
ma'am."  Telaran nodded silently.

   Trinale took his hand and blushed slightly as he raised it to his
lips.  "Thank you.  Please, have a seat."

   The three Warrenfolk were in their seats almost immediately.  Telaran,
however, made a small fuss, attempting to stack their packs in as
unobtrusive a pile as possible in the corner.  Terau unslung his cases and
waited patiently in the center of the room, hand resting on the larger of
the two.  "Here, Father," the lad said, taking his hand.

   Trinale glanced skeptically at Saul and her father.  They shrugged. 
"Where did you . . ?" she asked.
   "On the Tilharnon road, in the middle of someone's cow pasture."
   "We couldn't just leave them there," L'rian said quietly.  "Something
bad could have happened."  

   "Indeed, madam, something could have happened." Terau broke in, now
seated with the smaller case across his lap.  "The Baron's men could have
arrived, bent upon retrieving me for some dire purpose.  That farmer, my
unknowing host, could have taken to me with his pitchfork and cattle
goad.  The cattle themselves could have taken a disliking to my presence. 
Who knows?
   "I am quite impressed by your riders, madam, for untying me from that
horse.  Which, might I add, was the only thing that I asked.  Furthermore,
they not only offered to bring me back, but retrieved my son as well.  For
that, I am exceedingly grateful, and I commend you on their actions."

   Trinale smiled.  "Thank you, sir.  Now, since we already know what
brings you to the Warren,"  Telaran giggled, "What brought you to a
roadside cow pasture, if you don't mind telling?"

   Terau shook his head.  "I don't mind at all, my lady.  In fact, I
welcome the chance to tell my story, to spread the word of the injustices
done to me at the Baron's command!"  He half-rose out of his seat, one
hand clenched in a fist and the other grasping his case in a
white-knuckled grip.  "Tell the rest of the dragons!  Send messages to the
guild houses in Ralengarde, and Seign, and--!"

   Telaran grabbed his father's belt and hauled him back down, unwrapping
his fingers from the case's handle.  "It wasn't that bad, really," he
explained, blushing slightly.  "And we all knew the Baron's can get a
little bit touchy sometimes.  It was just a bad day, that's all.  Calm
down now!"

   "Well, ahem, yes, but he was rather nasty to me, don't you think?"

   "He was mad.  Tell the story."

   "So he was.  Hmmf.  Well then.  Yes.  As I was going to say before you
interrupted me, Telaran, we used to live in Ravenloch, until one fine
summer day I had the misfortune to be overheard by one Baroness Aethelton,
an aging doyenne of the country nobility.  Well! she decided to carry
Telaran and myself off to her husband's manor in Agesrun, to entertain the
female half of the household.  She did, might I add, offer me a pretty sum
for a salary, along with free room and board.
   "Would that I had turned her down!  I should have declined, and lived
poor and happy in my father-in-law's house rather than rich and bored in
Agesrun!  But, done was done and I was stuck playing lapdog to a gaggle of
simpering, giggling old women."

   "They weren't all old as she was.  Some were your age."

   "And some were younger, true.  And it was the old women who stifled me,
and the young ones who got me into trouble."

   "Just one, father.  You were forgiven for the rest."

   "Yes, so I was.  Well.  It happened one day that the Baron's son came
riding in with his family, to spend a little time with his parents and the
rest of the lunatics in the house.  And I, being almost a household
fixture by then, was naturally introduced to my hosts' granddaughter, a
laughing, intelligent young lady.  And so, my hostess and her ladies
having trained me quite well, I flattered the maid, and everyone was
happy.  And presently, her father took himself back to wherever it was he
came from, leaving the young lady to stay.
   "Well.  Now, the Baroness being fond of fripperies and excessiveness,
she had had the garden sculpted into some sort of tangled faerie woodland,
complete nooks and crannies and hidden glens and little stone walkways so
you could get everywhere easily.  On one of our walks earlier, Telaran and
I had found a nice little shady spot with a sitting-stone and smooth
grass, right by the side of the brook.  Did I mention the brook?  She had
a brook put into her garden.  With fish.
   "I liked to listen to the brook, and the birds.  And so I walked that
way with Telaran until I could find it myself, and I began hiding there
when I didn't feel like playing the same ancient lovesongs for the
Baroness and her freinds.  Repeatedly.  Over and over, endless repetitions
of 'My Lady's Eyes' or 'The Banks of Misty River.'  Understandably, that
little spot became my one refuge.
   "So there I was, one warm summer day--I'd only been with the Baron for
a year--in my little hideaway by the brook, when Mya showed up and asked
for a story.  So I laughed, and began to tell it, and that's when the
Baron came looking for the lass."

   "I don't understand.  You were telling her a story, what was so wrong
about that?" Trinale asked.

   Terau chuckled.  "It wasn't that he found us, it was how.  Mya, I'm
told, had hiked her skirt up around her waist, and had her shoes and
stockings on the grass.  She was, she said, going to go wading in the
brook.  As for the story, well, it was a rather saucy tale about a
princess who eloped with a stableboy.  But it was the one she'd asked for,
and I haven't ever been able to say no to ladies."

   "And she was only thirteen." Telaran added.

   Terau shrugged helplessly.  "I didn't know that at the time.  No one
had bothered to enlighten me."

   Trinale frowned.  "You didn't ask anyone?"

   "I consider it impolite to ask about a woman's age, dear lady.  If
she--or anyone--had thought it was important, they'd have told me.
   "In any case, the Baron was more than angry.  He was enraged.  He
roared at me and called me names, called me a lecher, a thief, and a spy,
and had me arrested on the spot.  Then, he had me tied to the horse and
led up the road, where they whipped the poor thing to run away from the
town.  I rode that horse for quite some time before it finally stopped and
your riders found me."

   "I didn't know," Telaran put in, "Until Mya came running back in tears,
and she told me the whole story.  And the Baron showed up with a bunch of
servants and told me to pack up our stuff and get out of his house.  So I
did, real quick.  Only the important stuff."

   "And so it was, and so we are here.  And so, my lady, we are in your
hands, to send on or keep as you choose."
***
   Telaran blushed, watching the dragons fall out of the sky together. 
His father stood a few feet away, his hands clasped behind him and face
turned slightly to the sky.  Eyes closed, hair ruffling in the breeze, his
lips moved silently as the dragons' voices echoed off the cliff face.

   Telaran remembered something, and turned to go.  "Stay, son." his
father said.  "Where were you going to go?"

   "I left something in the Warrenlady's office, I'd better go get it."

   "Leave it there for the while.  Nothing will happen."

   "But--"

   "Leave it.  Trust these people, Telaran, wether or not she lets us
stay.  Dragonriders are honorable people, they won't go poking about in
others' belongings.  Whatever it is you've left, it can stay there for the
time being.  Remember, trust people."

   "RIght.  Oh, Dad, about the Warrenlady . . . "

   "Yes?"

   "She's a kid, too."

   "I see," Terau chuckled, "Thank you for telling me this time."

   "No problem."
***

NRPG: Done!  Tag, everyone!

--mia

*********************************************************
Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.

seraph@wam.umd.edu
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~seraph/