Thorin
***

There was a soft breeze tickling his body as he lay naked, his arm resting
gently around the woman lying spooned in front of him. The morning air was
cool as it blew over them. He woke as the fine hairs covering his body
began to stand on end as goosebumps rose on his skin. 

He didn't care as he enjoyed the scent of her skin, still with a hint of
the perfume he'd made for her. He heard her start to waken and he pulled
her tightly into him. "Chilly?" he whispered.

She chucked, "A bit .. but you're warm."

He hugged her and laughed lightly. "Are you getting hungry?"

"Ravenous .." she murmured.

"Me too." His  mouth nibbled on her ear and she giggled in delight. Then he
sighed heavily, "But I don't have time for that."

"Oh," she sighed unhappily.

"I know .. but I promised B'ril I'd work today. I've been taking a lot of
time off because of Areena .."

Merissa turned to him, "But Th'rin, you're a dragonrider now. You have
other responsibilities."

He shook his head, "No. Areena will never be a combat dragon. She'd only be
a bother to the wing." He sighed, "In that respect, my father is right."

"I'll never believe that," she spat. Then hugged him, "Please, let's not
talk about him. It only upsets me."

He wrapped his arms around him, "I'm sorry."

He kissed her gently on the top of the head and moved to sit up. "You know,
I have to say this .. I would never choose him over you .. if that's what
you're afraid of." He looked at her and said, "I mean it."

Saul
***

>"I do understand." Byrin said quietly, "Mama was right about you." Then he
turned and moved quickly away, leaving Saul to stare at his back.

Saul watched the lad turn and walked away, as his words cut into his very
soul. He knew Merybelle didn't have a very favorable opinion of him .. he
supposed he shouldn't expect much more for her son. Yet it hurt. Had he
become attached to the boy that quickly?

"Who was that?" Gwyna asked. "He's not very polite."

"He's .." Saul began, then paused. How was he to explain who Byrin was? He
didn't feel right calling him 'son', for he hadn't ever been a father to
him. Not that it looked much like Byrin wanted him to be a father at this
point anyway. "He's .."

"Saul!" he heard a voice calling him. He looked up to see L'rian headed
toward him. 

He smiled, glad to not have to deal with Gwyna's question. "L'rian. Am I
late?"

His friend shook his head, "No, but I thought we should get an early start
today."

Saul nodded, "Sure, no problem." He turned to the pretty woman beside him.
"I'll see you later, Sweet Gwyna."

She smiled winningly, "You better."

L'rian grabbed the man's arm and pulled him forcefully, yet subtly, toward
the exit. "What's the rush?" Saul asked.

"I want to talk to you!" L'rian hissed.

"If this is about last night .." he started.

"Not here."  Saul shrugged and walked toward the exit, with L'rian on his
heels.

Once they were away from the breakfast crowds, Saul stopped, "Now would you
mind spitting this out so we can get it over and done with."

"You and I have been friends for a long time, Saul. And I've always stuck
up for you .. no matter what."

"I know," Saul agreed, "And I appreciate it."

"But this is the lowest."

"What!"

"Shawnee is in real agony because of you."

Saul groaned. He had known this was going to be about Shawnee one way or
the other. "You've know me long enough to know how I feel about
relationships. I don't do them. Shawnee knew that from the beginning."

L'rian laughed, his disgust evident. "You can be so stupid sometimes."

Saul frowned, "I don't need this, L'rian."

"Unfortunately, you do. Because you can't even see what is directly in
front of your face. You're in love with her."

"How I feel doesn't matter." Saul sighed, "She wants more then I can give.
Gods know she deserves more .."

"Yes, she does. I can't figure out why she wants you." L'rian shrugged,
"Maybe she's just upset over this thing with K'leev. I mean you weren't
there when she needed you."

Saul's eyes closed and he groaned, "I'm sorry about that." He opened his
eyes and searched L'rian's face, "You haven't said anything about .. well
about the mating flight."

L'rian looked at him confused, "What do you mean?"

Saul frowned, "I mean .. it was .. Trinale. I .. I shouldn't .."

L'rian began to laugh. Saul looked at him, this time his face clouded in
confusion, at his friends laughter. Finally L'rian got himself under
control. "I can't believe you're worried about that! You who have kept the
company of many a pretty girl, are concerned about me, because Fayloth won
my daughter's queen?"

"Well, she is just a young girl .."

 L'rian shook his head and moved to put a hand on his partner's shoulder,
"I don't think you looked very close then. Trinale's all grown up now."

Saul nodded and groaned, "I know."

L'rian chuckled again, "It was a mating flight Saul. I'm not worried about
that. What I am concerned about is that you seem to be rubbing your break
up with Shawnee in the poor girls face. And she's not handling it well."

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, "She left me. I'm not going to be a
monk to make her happy."

"Talk to her. Tell her you love her, and patch things up." L'rian's voice
took on a pleading tone.

Saul just shook his head. "It's too late."

"It's never too late." L'rian's words echoed through his head, but he shook
them, off.

"Com'on, let's get going." Saul said, turning away and mentally calling
Fayloth to meet them on the green for patrol.

L'rian threw up his hands and sighed, "Okay, it's your miserable life. Not
mine."

***
<later that afternoon>

"Come in," he heard the young Warrenlady call. She sounded tired.. probably
stressed. He thought for a moment, wondering if perhaps he shouldn't bother
her. But he knew he'd have to face her eventually, so taking a deep breath
he stepped into her office.

"Good afternoon, Trinale," he said watching her closely.

She looked up at him and frowned. She *was* upset with him, "Trinale .." he
began, "I'm .. I'm sorry about the other night." He remembered her kiss
after the mating flight passions had subsided ..  and her remembered how
she'd easily been able to evoke those feelings from him. He hated to think
what might have happened had Lorilei not been found at that moment.

"There's no reason for you to be sorry, Saul."

"Yes, there is," he insisted. "I'm not really sure how comfortable I am
with you growing up .. I guess last night proved I'm not comfortable at
all." He looked at her pleading for understanding, "When I first came here,
you were only three. Your father made me a part of the family .. dinners,
picnics .. holidays. Most of the time when I look at you I still see you
running through the wild flowers with white daisys tangled in your hair,
from where you'd tried to make a  flower crown."

"But I'm not."

He nodded, "I know that .. I wish I'd known before .."

"It's not like I haven't tried to tell you," she said with a hint of
irritation.

"I know .. sometimes I guess I'm a bit slow."

Her green eyes flashed as she looked at him, "Yes in fact, you are. Do you
remember when you first brought Shawnee to see me .."

He nodded, wilting slightly at her name, "Yes."

"I told you to be careful with her and not to hurt her."

He groaned, "I really don't want to hear this."

"Saul, I can't believe you have been so awful to her!"

"Me!" he said, a bit perturbed that once again he was the bad guy in all of
this, "Trinale, she walked out on me. Not the other way around."

"You hurt her." 

Saul sighed, "You know I never wanted to hurt her. I told her from the
start about how I felt and who I was. She knew that."

"You had to know she was in love with you." Trinale accused, "You shouldn't
have let it go that far if you weren't serious."

Saul frowned, remembering he'd thought that himself several times. He knew
she wanted children .. he knew she wanted a home with a mate .. Yet he'd
pretended it didn't matter because he'd told her he didn't want those
things, and yet she stuck around. And he'd let her simply because he was
selfish and didn't want to let her go. Well now she was gone .. and hurt on
top if it all. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I made a mistake. But I can't
take it back now."

"You can admit that you love her. If the two of you would just talk things
out .."

Saul shook his head. "I can't, because I can't give her what she deserves.
It's better this way, anyway."

Trinale moved out from behind the desk, "I don't believe that, Saul."

"That's because you don't see the bad in people, little flower." He looked
sadly toward the window. 

"There are some people I see the bad in .. K'leev."

Saul looked at her sharply, "He deserves it!"

"Do you know what he's saying happened?" Trinale asked.

"What?" Saul wasn't sure he liked the sound of this.

"He says that Shawnee came on to him, because of the mating flight. Then
she lied and is trying to say he tried to rape her because T'jellan
'caught' them."

"That's not true!" Saul bellowed, "Shawnee would never be caught dead with
K'leev, let alone lie about it!"

"I don't believe him either .. but it's his word against hers," Trinale
said quietly.

"And T'jellan's."

"Well, there's a problem there too," Trinale sighed, "It seems K'leev says
that T'jellan has himself fallen in love with Shawnee and that he is
completely blinded to her charms."

"Oh Gods! The depths that man will sink to!"

"I don't know what to do, Saul." Trinale looked at him with sad eyes,
"K'leev's really put me in bind with his accusations of Shawnee's
character. Everyone knows that you and she were always together .. day and
night." She looked at him intently hoping he was getting her meaning, "..
that is until the mating flight. That gives his story credibility." 

"What? Is he trying to say that Shawnee's some  .. some king of a whore?"
Trinale nodded, and Saul's face went red with rage. "No, Trinale.
Absolutely not."

"We don't really have any proof."

"Shawnee was a virgin when I brought her to the warren, Trinale. She'd
never been with a man before. She was stealing to keep food on the table ..
not selling her body!"

<<NRPG: Kat, feel free to add, subtract, delete .. etc, anything you need
to <G>>>
***

Trinale sat looking at him, "Gods Saul. Don't you see it?"

"See what?" he said still huffing over the scam K'leev was trying to pull.

"You are in love with her." Trinale pleaded with him, "Please, please talk
to her."

He shook his head, "No, it's better this way. Trust me."

"I don't believe that."

Saul's face saddened, "It's true. And everyone .. even Byrin knows it."

"Byrin? Who's that?"

Saul sighed, "I'd have thought everyone knew by now. It seems that after
all these years I have son. He's 14 and his name is Byrin."

Trinale looked at him in shock, "What?"

Saul nodded, "Yes, a 'fling' I had back when I first joined with Fayloth.
He and his mother came to Whiteriver for the hatching .. and I suppose ..
to find me."

"And you never knew?"  she asked.

He shook his head. "He's a great kid .. thanks to his mother obviously. But
he saw through me in only a few days."

"'Saw through you'?" she asked.

Saul gave a bitter laugh, "Surely you've figured it out by now, little
flower. I'm a fake.."

She sighed, "You're not a fake." She moved over and wrapped her arms around
him, much as he'd done for her many times when she was in pain. "You are a
good person. You just have some funny ideas."

Saul hugged her tightly, "Thanks for your vote of confidence. But I've
messed up enough lives."

"No," she said gently, "I know my life is better because of you."

"How I love you, my little flower." 

Regards,
Saul & Fayloth
Thorin & Areena

------------------------------------
Kristen & Scott Gant
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/gant.htm