**Aeryin**

"I... see," he said softly.  "Your husband...  You're from the train 
that left this morning, I take it?"

She caught a sob on a painful inhalation, nodding slowly.

"Oh.  Do you want to talk about it?"  Derry looked down at her, willing 
her to turn around.  "I'm not WarrenBorn...  and I'll do what I can to 
help."

"C-can we get on the ground first?" she managed, meeting his eyes for an 
instant before turning away.

"Fair enough," he said simply, understanding her disadvantage.  "Hang on 
to me if you'd like."

Aeryin lightly rested her hands on his waist and felt the dragon beneath 
her thighs tense before surging into the air.  In far to short a time, 
they were on the ground once more.  In barely an instant, she had swung 
on leg over and slide off the beast to the ground.  

She moved a distance away from the dragon, instictivly putting space 
between herself and the large dragon.  Restless, she began to pace with 
a fury that bellied the growing dark circles under her eyes, wringing 
her hands that longed for a piece of wood to fiddle with, her whole body 
taunt with nervous energy.

She stopped suddenly, though her hands still twisted around each other, 
aware that the dragonrider was watching her as he leaned against his 
beast.  "Who are you?" she asked tersly, sick of not knowing who she was 
talking to.

"Derry Vaddon," he said easily.  "Yours?"

"Aeryin Bochaz," she said absently, crossing her arms and tapping her 
finger on her bicep.  Her mind focusing intently on his last name, 
seeking distraction, as she wondered where she had heard it before.

"My father is Lord Jerlyn Vaddon," Derry said helpfully, noticing her 
preocupation.

"Oh."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he repeated softly after a long silence.

Aeryin forced out a bitter, humorless laugh.  "There isn't much to it.  
My husband strongly disapproves of warren ways, and I'm not overly crazy 
about them either.  He never wanted to come here in the first place, he 
didn't want A-amiya and Ra-Rajar getting bad ideas."

"Amiya and Rajar?" Derry interupted quietly.

"Ou-our children," she managed to force out, every reference to them a 
stab in her heart.

She shook herself and continued.  "When I joined, he couldn't stay here, 
not with the children..."  The ground was suddenly amazingly 
fascinating.

"So he took them away," Derry said sympathetically, laying a comforting 
hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't even get to say good bye," she whispered.  "And its all that 
damn dragon's fault," she finished bitterly.

His hand tightened spasmingly on her shoulder, "Don't say that.  You 
were chosen... Can't you feel how much this is hurting your dragon?  
It's not just you anymore!"  He spun her around so she was looking him 
in the eye.

"It stopped being just me over eight years ago, Lord Vaddon!" she 
hissed, moving closer.  "That's what it means to be a mother, a wife.  I 
have a responsibility to my children and my husband, and that creature 
who chose me, is not only screwing up my life, but my family's!"  She 
emphasized each point with a finger in his chest, making him back up 
until he was against his dragon and she was so close they could be 
breathing the same air.  "So don't you dare talk to me about how much 
this is hurting that damned monster!  What about how much this is 
hurting my children, who won't ever see their mother again?"  

Derry's mouth opened up to say something, as he gazed down into her 
blazing blue eyes.  He never got that far.

"Derry?" a horrified voice whispered into the silence.

Aeryin turned around, her eyes lighting on the pretty red headed 
warrenlady.

"Trinale!" he yelled, but too late.  The girl was already gone.

"Damn it!" Derry said, pushing Aeryin out of the way and running after 
the warrenlady.

Aeryin watched him and his dragon go, making sure they were out of 
hearing range before she started to curse.  She picked a direction and 
started to walk, still damning the fact that she seemed to be cursed and 
contageous.

She didn't notice the shadows of the sleeping dragons and the human 
figure nestled between them.  She gave a muffled shriek of startlement 
as a huge dragon head suddenly lifted up from its forelegs.  

"What is it 'Tinka?" a sleepy female voice said softly.

"I'm sor-" she started to apologize before she froze as a voice intruded 
into her mind.

<Aeryin!> a still sleep muffled voice exclaimed happily.

She backed up, mumbling incoherant protests.  Her foot caught on a rock 
and she fell hard on her butt, trembling all over as her dragon 
detatched itself from the bigger dragon and human and started to come 
towards her.  

Liquid grey eyes reflecting with moonlight considered her sorrowfully, 
stopping as he sensed her fear.

"Why did you choose me?" she asked out loud, but knew the creature 
understood her anyway.

<Who else would I choose?  There could be no other choice.>

Aeryin stared blankly at the dragon, unable to come up with an arguement 
to that rather straight forward logic, at least not tonight.  "Gods, I'm 
not gonna deal with this now," she moaned, rubbing her face with her 
long fingers.

She noticed the slim figure that was leaning against the other dragon.  
To tired to care about being polite she got right to the point, more so 
then she usually did.

"Who are you and can you tell me where I can find a bed or do I have to 
crawl under a bush?"
***************************
NRPG: Hope you don't mind Kat and Jill *sheepish grin*


                            .  ,   
                            . ,`o--Y  
    ____.....------.'      .,' ,,~''   `,------.....____   
''''`    `---.:: ,':       ; ,'         ;`. ;;.---'    '```` 
            `   `:__`-._   `.`.,    _,-'__;'   '         
                 `  `---`---'`'`---'---'  ' 
      ____________________ \`--'/`____________________
       Bridget Olson aka  ```  '''  badei@hotmail.com 
       Dyanisa & Sienra             Daere Warren
       Inagua & Myacura          "  Geode Warren
       N'lin &Trefoil           ''  Whiteriver Warren
       Chelea & Nebavri         ''  Xylian Warren
       N'dovra Leriamtiq       ' '  Ralengarde City
       Lt. <jg> Sirosa Badei   ' '  USS FARADAY
      __________________________' '____________________
                                 -
   "The limits of life are the limits of your imagination."
   
               I am the God of my own universe          
                     What is moral or not             
                           I decide                         
                     What is to be or not             
                           I decide                             
                       What was or not
                           I decide
                  Your are your own God too
                   Make your own descisions
                              -me


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