[Derry]

"Okay, follow my finger with your eyes..."  Th'rin's voice was mildly
strained as Derry walked into the room.  Katla glanced over at him
and smiled slightly.

"Derry, what are you *doing* here?  Trinale needs you..."

"I wanted to be sure you're all right."  He looked at Th'rin and back
to his sister.

"I'm fine."

"True.  I wish everyone who gets a pop to the chin came out so well."
Th'rin said.  "No sign of concussion, though you're going to have a
beautiful bruise."

"I knocked her out."  God, the guilt he felt for that...  After their
brother, Kel, had beaten her that one time...  Derry couldn't even
begin to describe the agony that tore through him, it was almost as
strong as the fear and fury that held him about what had happened to
Trinale.

"Could've been worse.  You could have hit N'lin, who hasn't come to
yet."  Katla's voice was worried.

"I can --"

"Derry, it wasn't his fault."  She stared at him, dark eyes serious. 
"It was a mating flight.  It isn't N'lin's fault that Trinale
couldn't feel Cricket!"

Derry shrugged.  His mind knew that it was true, but his heart -- the
sight of Trinale fighting him, screaming...  He wasn't ever going to
forget that.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah.  Go back to my little sister, Derry, and tell her that I'm
fine."

Derry blinked and then grinned.  "Sister?"

"Trinale is your mate, which makes her my baby sister -- you treat
her good, or I'll beat you up."  She grinned back at him and then
winced slightly against the pain.


-----
[Katla]

She watched her brother walk out and shook her head.

"Th'rin, are all brothers like that, or is it just mine?"

Th'rin blinked at her and then she laughed.

"Never mind.  Derry is one-of-a-kind -- thank god -- though Allin is
almost as bad..."  Her eyes shadowed for a second.  "Kel wasn't so
bad either..."

Chance shook herself.  "Oh, well.  Am I okay?"

"Yeah.  Your regular pain-killers should be more than enough to deal
with whatever headache you have.  If you have any nausea, double
vision, anything like that..."

"'Tinka would tell you before I had a chance... but I promise to come
in."

Katla made her way out of her room, managing to get to Trinale's
without incident, though her head was throbbing.  She visited for a
bit to reassure them both that she was fine before deciding to head
home.

<< Shawnee would like to see you... >> 'Tinka told her.  << Doshy
says that you haven't been to visit her or the baby...  Which is
true. >>

Why now? -- Katla sighed and sat down in one of the private rooms for
a second, her legs beginning to tell her that she was pushing it a
bit.

<< She knows that Derry hit you and you were knocked out.  She's also
worried about Trinale... >>

Well, hell.  Surely she had enough on her mind with that bitch,
Gwyna...  But then, Chance had to admit that if *she* had that nasty
piece of work hanging around, it would be a relief to worry about
something else for a change.

< Tell her I'm still in the med center....  I'm in...>  Katla checked
the door, < Room four. >

Katla worked on massaging her muscles, loosening the tightness the
presaged a sleepless night of pain.  She'd managed to relieve the
tension in most of her right leg before Shawnee came in, carrying an
adorable little one who slept against her shoulder.

"Are you all right?" Shawnee asked worriedly and Katla forced herself
to smile, trying to keep T'jellan's voice out of her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine.  Derry's aim at N'lin just wasn't quite up to par,
is all."

"How terrible for Trinale..."

Katla nodded.  "She seems to be doing okay now, though.  Derry's with
her."

"I bet."

Smiling, Chance shrugged.  "Well, he is a good hugger and comforter,
when he puts his mind to it...  So is this the beautiful Lynnie that
Doshy and Fayloth keep bragging about?"

"Yes..."  Shawnee's lovely face softened as she brought her daughter
forward and Chance admired the baby.

"How nice to have a niece..."

"What?"

"Well, the last of the paperwork hasn't come through yet, but Papa
felt the best way to protect you and Ojee and Fawna was to adopt
you...  Pretty soon you'll be Lady Shawnee Vaddon, and nobody will
ever be able to challenge your right to your siblings..."  Katla
grinned at her.  "Papa is nothing, if not thorough.  I imagine that
he'll want to meet his son-in-law... and his first grandchild."

[Tag, Barb]

They chatted for a bit before the door to the room opened again,
revealing T'jellan.  Katla's voice cut off instantly as she stared at
the Wingleader.  Her mind had forgiven him for what had happened
during the mating flight, but her heart...  Something inside of her
weakened, threatening to shatter under the weight of having him and
Shawnee in the same room...

She took a closer look and a terrible realization dawned on her... 
This was the same room they had been in when she'd -- he'd...

"Hi T'jellan!"  Shawnee's voice was bright and friendly, apparently
unaware of the thick tension that had sprung into existence.  "How
are you?  How's Ashelle?"

Katla blinked, hearing the comment from a huge distance away... 
Ashelle?  What was this about T'jellan and Ashelle?

<< He and Ashelle have mated.  She apparently enjoyed it more 
than... >>

< Shut UP, 'Tinka! >

"Ashelle?  Ashelle?  That little girl?"  The words spilled from her
in an angry hiss before she could think.  "Are you so desperate for
Shawnee that you'd use any situation -- any *person,* even a child --
to relieve yourself?  Wasn't what you did to me enough, T'jellan?!?! 
Was it her first time too?  Do you have some sort of fantasy about
what you could never have had that you have to live out with other
young women, children?  How *could* you?!"

Shawnee choked and T'jellan's mouth fell open in shock.

[Tag Barb, Kris]


-----
[Derry, morning]

Trinale was definitely feeling better.

Derry had no doubt of that at all as she argued with Clarissa about
leaving the Med Center.  They'd woken early that morning, and he had
set out to remind her that what had happened had nothing to do with
love and pleasure, forgetting for a moment that they were most
definitely not in their own apartment...

Fortunately, they hadn't gotten particularly far -- though they were
both hot and bothered -- when Clarissa had walked in without
knocking.  Derry had just about seen the decision click in his
beloved's head.  He dressed in the patrol clothes from the previous
day while they argued.

"But I want to go home! There is no reason I need to stay here."

"But I want you here until B'ril comes back from Tinobal." Clarrisa
said.

"I can come back in. There are things I need to do. Merissa has too
much to do what with Oberon and taking care of things around the
warren." 
There was more to it than just the fact that they could fool around
at home.  There was a desperation in Trinale's eyes that went beyond
that.  "Besides, maybe if I am closer to Cricket the bond will come
back." Tears appeared in Trinale's eyes and Clarrisa looked
helplessly at him.

"I will watch out for her, Clarrisa" Derry said, putting his arms
around
her, rocking her gently just as dragons trumpeted around the Warren.

< Wraiths!  Wraiths in the Warren! >

"What is it?" Trinale looked up at him as he chilled.

"Wraiths! Wraiths are attacking the warren!"

She held him tight for an instant and he kissed her.

"I will always come back to you, beloved, as long as I breathe..."

He ran out of the Med Center, somehow unsurprised to find Levka
already saddled and waiting.

<~ How? ~> he leapt into the saddle, strapping in quickly.

<* Your clutchmate... *> and then they were in the air.

Wing discipline had been shot straight to hell by a direct attack on
the Warren.  He could see Katla holding escape lines to the caves of
the Warren open as terrified non-riders tried to get from outdoor
tasks to safety.  Merissa stood under the overhang, calling to those
outside and giving them a focus for escape.  A child stumbled,
falling to the ground as a Wraith got past Saul and his partner as
they and many of the older, more experienced riders tried to get
everyone into formation, but the holes where the younger riders
should be --

'Tinka teleported into the space between the child and the Wraith,
her brilliant flame charring it to corrosive ash as Chance called
encouragement to the little one, covering his -- her? -- escape to
the confines of the Warren.

Derry concentrated, trying to identify which riders needed to fill
which holes in the wing, even as he tried to make his way to his own
place through the pale-gray death that left destruction wherever it
touched.  He relayed information and images to the riders who were
missing, trying to clear the air around him of Wraiths before joining
the Wing...

And was driven back.  He and Levka were surrounded and he suddenly
realized that short of teleporting out, there was no way for him to
break out and get to the Wing...  And if he teleported out, the
unJoined beneath him, who were hauling out the coal that the dragons
needed to sustain their flame, would surely die.

And if he remained where he was, alone in a closing hemisphere of
Wraiths, he would too.

^...I am so sorry, Trinale...^  His love for his lady was warm in his
chest, but this was for her, for the people she cared for, and there
was no choice at all...


-----
[Katla]

The child made it into the Warren and she heard the heavy doors close
as a message from Merissa relayed itself to her.

<< That's the last one, Chance! >>  'Tinka's exhilaration was
contagious as the two climbed into the sky, shooting past slower
Wraiths as the Wing finally formed into a cohesively fighting whole,
raining destruction on the horde of raveners.

< Where's Derry? >

<< At the coal... >>

'Tinka dove down, flaming, and Katla took in her brother's danger
instantly.  They needed the coal, though -- 'Tinka had expended a
great deal of flame covering the escape of the unJoined...

< Is there enough room? >

<< I don't have to fill up completely -- >>

They blinked in and landed.  'Tinka chomped down on two mouthfuls of
coal in the tiny free space that the Wraiths had not gotten to yet. 
There wasn't time for more as they launched again, Chance calling to
unJoined to get to the flame-throwers as she and 'Tinka covered them
back to the Warren.  Derry's tight flight path changed, accommodating
them without question.  They pushed the Wraiths back and Katla
relayed the image of dragons landing and fueling with coal to Grunth
as she and Derry fought to keep the area clear, expanding the space
inch by frustrating inch.

Flames erupted beneath them as the unJoined got into the act, forcing
the Wraiths back with bravery and honor.

Screams echoed throughout the Warren as dragons, riders, and fighting
unJoined were injured -- killed --

Chance closed her ears to it.

And the battle for Whiteriver went on.


-----
[Derry]

He knew the instant that she came in, guarding his back, taking over
for just long enough for him to get Levka some coal and to try and
formulate some kind of plan...  Katla kept the path back into the
Warren open and he saw young men and women running out with
flame-throwers in their hands and determination in their faces.  With
a few words, he managed to indicate the best places for the
flame-throwers to be deployed and launched back into the air.  One
dragon, then another, and another, blinked into the safe flight path
and loaded up on coal, only to return to the fight.  Working with his
sister, the two almost thinking as one as they pushed against the
mindless greed and destruction of the Wraiths, they pushed back.  A
third dragon joined them in the expanding hemisphere -- Cali and Lute
-- and they relayed their flight paths and tactics with a minimum of
fuss.  He kept an eye on the Wing, calling more and more riders in as
flames flickered and died, relaying choices to T'jellan through
Grunth matter-of-factly when one wasn't sent to him.

He heard his sister cry out briefly, but 'Tinka's short reply was
enough to convince him that Chance was hurt, but not enough to
matter, and focused his concentration on the fight.

When it ended, it was almost anticlimactic.  The last Wraith was
charred to ashes -- Oaklah, he thought, though he was so exhausted
that he wasn't certain -- and the Warren was filled with the
unnatural silence that follows frenetic activity.  The rush of wings,
the moans and whimpers and broken screams of the wounded -- it all
drifted past him as he and Levka landed beside the delicate Satinka.

Chance slumped forward against 'Tinka's neck, trembling, as he
dismounted and walked toward her.  Her shoulders were shaking, her
hands moving slowly along the fasteners that kept her legs along her
dragon's sides, and he saw the blood and char against her arm that
indicated that she and 'Tinka hadn't rolled away from a burning
Wraith quickly enough.

A crystal tear hit the back of her hand, then another, before she
wrapped her hands in the straps, choking on sobs that she didn't want
to release.

"Chance?"

He said it softly, quietly, and she looked over at him, her dark eyes
glittering with pain and something else -- something much like the
shattered innocence the night that Keltian had beaten her, calling
her a whore.

"I don't think...  I don't think I can get out."

Her voice was steady, even though her hands weren't, and he pulled
her from the saddle, holding her as she collapsed physically.  He
looked past her, seeing suddenly what she had seen.  A young man with
a flame-thrower, burned and consumed by a Wraith that was little more
than ashes by his side.  The boy was quite dead, and on the side that
Katla had fought so valiantly to protect.  Derry closed his eyes as
she broke down, murmuring things that even he couldn't hear as she
cried.  The dragons were keening -- though who had been lost was a
mystery to him -- and the non-combatants began coming out as more and
more dragons landed with riders who were weary.  Coming out to pick
up the pieces.

"C'mon.  Let's go..."

She shook her head, still unable to stand but the wracking sobs
fading.  "No.  There are others who are more badly hurt than me --"

"Chance --"

"No.  It's not serious.  I can take care of it myself, if you can get
me someplace I can sit down..."

<~ Levka, tell Clarissa that I'm taking Chance to her apartment and
if she can, to please tell Trinale...  I've got some first aid
training so I'll be there to help out as soon as I can... ~>

He bullied her into her pain killers and muscle relaxants, holding a
hand as she fell asleep.  His sister, brilliant, brave, reckless --
the chances she had taken, calculated as they had been, made his
blood run cold even as pride warmed his heart.

Placing a kiss on her forehead, he rose and went to the Med Center. 
There were still things that needed to be done.  Chance wasn't the
only one who was wounded.

Respectfully Submitted,
Jill E. Flansburg
Katla, Derry, Satinka and Levka
Whiteriver Warren
DragonLands
             X-FILES                         DRAGONLANDS
 Assistant Director                   Rhiannon, WarrenLady  *Xylian*
 Sterling Kincaid, TL, ECHO           Elswyth and Aedra   *Keldarra*
 Damien Cunningham, UD DELTA          Katla and Satinka *Whiteriver*
 Xan X. Xavier, Trainer,              Zera and Mazel       *Norwall*

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			      Vasaris, the Fuzzy Dragon
 Jill E. Flansburg	          |		            vasaris@az.com
 CS HMC 1994	                |		jflansbu@muddcs.cs.hmc.edu
 History, WWU 199?                |		vasaris@divcom.umop-ap.com
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