[Late afternoon, the day Pa'gan made his speech]

Aradia headed toward the hatchling barracks to tend to Futhark once she was
finished with shopping at the tailor shop. She liked the blond seamstress,
Shawnee. Aradia smiled happily as she recalled what a pleasant afternoon it
had been, picking out clothes and talking about warren life and dragons and
such. Aradia had almost forgot her troubles, she had such a good time.

Then she remembered Derry's comment to her as she was on her way to Barry's
shop to be measured.

"I don't think you're a freak, or that Pa'gan is an animal.  I just wanted you
to know..." he had said.

Aradia wished she would have had the time to stop and speak to the young
man. She resolved to try to talk to him later.

Well, at least there were two people who didn't think too badly of them,
Aradia thought. She felt a slim glimmer of hope.

As Aradia bathed and oiled Futhark she began to think on the conversation
with Trinale that she'd had at lunch.

******

[Earlier that day, in the dining hall]

"Please sit down if you have time, Aradia. I would like to talk with you"
Trinale said. She then lay the dagger and Pa'gan's braid on the table in
front of her and explained to Aradia what had occurred in her office
earlier that day.

Aradia was shocked, but not surprised. After all, by Bear Nomad ways
Trinale had effectively stripped Pa'gan of his honor earlier that day, when
she had thrown the dagger onto the ground.

"Please tell me what I did that was so wrong? And please tell me if he
will be alright."

Trinale looked imploringly at Aradia.

Aradia took a breath. Where to start? Slowly she began to explain.

"The dagger, the one you threw on the ground, is a sacred dagger. It is
called the Dagger of Eternal Honor. Normally conflicts surrounding a matter
of honor are decided in the battlefield. However, between loved ones this
matter is decided in the ceremony with the dagger that Pa'gan initiated
this morning. There are only two honorable choices," Aradia paused as she
collected herself before continuing. 

"By throwing the dagger to the ground, you stripped Pa'gan of his honor,
and therefore his manhood."

"I didn't know..." Trinale said.

Aradia continued, "The severing of his braid, and the removal of his armor,
and weapons, the breaking of the bow; by doing this he was effectively
stripping himself of his manhood. One cannot be a man without honor."

"I believe he will be fine. When it comes time for a boy's manmaking, the
youth goes out into the wastes alone and with nothing. By his wits, he must
forge forth and find the tribe at it's next known campsite. We never take
the same route twice, as a matter of survival, so he has no way to follow
along. I have never known a grown man to do this before, but I believe that
this is what Pa'gan is doing. He has gone on a quest to regain manhood.
When he has accomplished what he intends, then he will return."

"However," Aradia warned, "We must not go after him or that will do further
damage to his honor. We must pray, and trust in his safe return. But he
will not be the same man as left here. He will have a new name, and perhaps
an altered personality, at that time."

After listening to Aradia, Trinale grew thoughtful. "I will have to think,
then we can talk again, ok?"

Aradia nodded.

Trinale then added "I am sorry for what I did last night." She looked at
Aradia's face and hung her head.

"Look, I don't know why I ended up kissing you, something happened and I
don't understand it..." Trinale looked up at her, her eyes wide and
slightly frightened "But I was scared, scared at what I was feeling. All
these new feelings are hitting me and I don't know how to deal with them."
Trinale knew this was no excuse, but she had no other "Please forgive
me..."

"I forgive you. You acted out of fear and I can understand that. But we can
talk more about that later."

******

Aradia was thinking about what more could be said to set things right. They
were off to a good start, she hoped.

<Aradia!> the hatchling's voice shook her from her reverie.

<Futhark...> Slowly Aradia realized that she was not at lunch, but in the
hatchling barracks oiling her hatchling.

<Yes, you were thinking so hard you didn't hear me,> Futhark complained.

<What is it, my heart?> Aradia asked.

<I'm hungry!> Futhark complained. Aradia felt the hunger as well.

<I'm sorry, my heart, I was thinking about...>

<Trinale and Pa'gan and the warren,> Futhark finished for her. <Do humans
always spend time thinking about things that have already happened?>

<Do you read all my thoughts?> Aradia asked.

<Emotions, too,> Futhark added. 

******

Aradia finished feeding the hungry hatchling and then went on a walk to
think. She had decided to fast since Pa'gan was on his quest so she didn't
take time to stop at the dining hall. She needed to meditate and do ritual,
and she headed toward Trinale's garden.

"Oh Saul!" Trinale's voice rang out from the bushes. 

Aradia heard the warrenlady moan and the animalistic sounds from the male
dragonrider and stifled a somewhat shocked giggle.

<I wonder if these are *the* bushes,> Aradia wondered to herself, somewhat
amused at the irony. She would have to ask Trinale about this when they
talked privately, this was for sure. Aradia was confused by the presence of
the proper young warrenlady, sprawled in the shrubbery with Shawnee's Saul.

With these questions in her mind Aradia left the couple alone and continued
on her way. In the middle of the warren she found the sword and armor
displayed prominently. She wondered why Pa'gan had also left his circlet,
mounted atop the sword and leather.

Aradia knelt and prayed silently for Pa'gan's safe return. She felt foolish
as her hand drifted to her belly and she thought of the child she was
carrying inside her. Pa'gan's child.

She wiped the tears off her face as she rose from her knees and returned to
the hatchling barracks.

She fed Futhark again. Once the hatchling fell asleep, she went to the
place where she had hidden away the braid and the dagger within the
barracks after lunch. She held the dagger, still in it's skins, to her
breast and stroked the braid while thinking of her beloved Pa'gan.


 





                \=/,         _-===-_-====-_-===-_-==========-_-====-_
                |  @___oo   (    Submitted by:                        )
      /\  /\   / (___,,,}_--=    Jacqueline "Morgan" Allgood          )
     ) /^\) ^\/ _)        =__                                          )
     )   /^\/   _)          (_                                         )
     )   _ /  / _)            (      FaeRhee/Alustriel of Daere       )
 /\  )/\/ ||  | )_)            (_    Aradia/Futhark of Whiteriver     )
<  >      |(,,) )__)             (   Kattibrie/Calishandra of Telnor )
 ||      /    \)___)\             (_ Yasmine/Starlin of Marrid       )
 | \____(      )___) )___           -==-_____-=====-_____-=====-___==
  \______(_______;;; __;;;