**Late afternoon, day 9**


It was a quite afternoon so far, and the med center staffers, those
joined to male dragons, had finally returned from the mating flight,
most displaying the usual post-flight irritability born of frustration. 

Xanthia finished the last crease in the newest paper creation she was
making when one of the nurses came running after her with T'jellan in
tow.

"Come quick, it's Ashelle!" the young nurse, barely more than a child,
began.

"She's having some sort of seizure... Please help her!" T'jellan
pleaded.

Even with her limited ability reading other people's tone and body
language, Xanthia had no trouble detecting the young nurse's panic,
which indeed it was actually closer to sheer terror, and the T'jellan's
frantic worry so she wasted no time as she turned and ran toward
Ashelle's room.

She found the tall female thrashing violently about, her eyes rolled
back in her head and her back arched rigidly. "Damn!" Xanthia spat, and
began rummaging through the nearby vials. "Where's the Tyroli Root
extract?"

"I... I..." the nurse nervously stammered, then she spotted the bottle.
She grabbed it and thrust it into the redheaded healer's hands.

Xanthia had no sooner drawn the yellow fluid into the syringe when
Ashelle stopped moving. She capped the needle and set down the syringe,
and went over to examine the young woman, first feeling for a pulse.

"Is she???" the nurse asked, too scared to finish the sentence.

"She's alive," Xanthia confirmed on feeling a weak pulse. She peeled
open each of Ashelle's eyelids, and shook her head sadly. This was not
good.

<Maxima, send for Trinale. Tell her it's important.> She then walked out
to break the news to T'jellan, since they'd been very close.

***

"She's no longer seizing, but..." Xanthia paused.

"It's not good, is it?" T'jellan asked.

"No, it's not," Xanthia could not lie. "I'm afraid that Ashelle has gone
into a coma."

"Coma..." T'jellan rolled the word around on his tongue in shock and
disbelief, "So... what now? How do we help her?"

"Trinale is on her way over. We'll talk about it when she gets here."

"Can I see Ashelle? Maybe if I talk to her..." 

"I don't know how much she is aware of, but feel free to try." Xanthia
shrugged, she watched sadly as the tall rider entered Ashelle's room.

***

After Xanthia spoke with Trinale and T'jellan, she went about arranging
transport for the young woman to Tinobal. She hated to do this, but knew
that few people usually wake from such a deep slumber. The brain was
such a complicated thing, and few healers had much concept of how to
heal a brain injury, and those few that knew anything at all were at
Tinobal.

That done, she went back to Ashelle's room to finish getting her ready
for her journey.

She looked up as the door opened, "Tevel, I'm sorry," Xanthia
apologized.

"Why are you moving her away from here?"

"Tevel, didn't your father explain that to you?" Xanthia asked.

"Yes but..."

"But we don't have healers who know about the brain here. At Tinobal
they do."

"But it's so far... shouldn't she be here with those who love her!"
Tevel pleaded.

Xanthia stared straight at Tevel, her crystal blue eyes piercing in
their intensity as she explained so there would be no mistaking her
meaning, "She had a major seizure and nearly died. Here at the warren we
do not have the staff to give her the 24 hour car she'll need right now.
She could die if she doesn't go to Tinobal."

She cringed at the bluntness of her own words, but she had to make the
young man understand the seriousness of the situation.

The door opened again and T'jellan entered the room, she begged him with
her eyes to please help her explain the situation.

***

She was relieved when word came a few minutes later that transport was
ready. She wrote out her full report and handed it to one of the
transport riders to give to the healers who would take over at Tinobal.

It was so hard, it felt like giving up. But Xanthia couldn't think about
that, she was doing the best she could for Ashelle, her friend. Yes, she
was her friend. But why did everyone else feel so torn up over it, and
she couldn't feel anything. If anything bothered and perplexed Xanthia,
this was it. She wished she could feel as others felt, but it just
didn't happen... It was either too much or nothing at all, hot or cold,
no middle ground and always out of step with the rest of the world.

***

That was the beginning of a very hectic evening. From there it just went
from bad to worse. Everyone and their uncle was getting sick, giving
birth or injured tonight, with no help from the mysterious cult
people.Was it something in the air???

"Beautiful baby, Yani," Xanthia said with a smile as she left her
obstetrics patient with her newborn son, "Perfectly healthy and all his
fingers and toes!"

Her smile faded as she got news from Chrysthal that Merissa was bringing
N'lin in for treatment.

<Suicide?>

<Yes, he tried to cut himself,> the metallic purple confirmed.

<DAMN!!!!> Xanthia cursed.

***

It didn't take long for the queen to arrive with the injured young man.
Xanthia didn't waste time in tending to the wounds, and informed the
staff to remove all sharp items and keep a close watch on him.

She stepped out of room to question the junior queenrider.

"What happened here?" she asked, not knowing any more delicate means of
phrasing the question.

***

>"Xanthia, do you have a few minutes? I wanted to ask you 
>something." Moira asked as the healer was putting together a tray of 
>medicines.  
>
>"Not yet, soon maybe." Xanthia replied, pausing to push her hair 
>from her face. "Here," she said, shoving a glass of water and a 
>small cup containing a pill. "You take this to that room over there and 
>have N'lin take it. He may not be awake right now but he'll wake up 
>soon."  
>
>"N'lin? Who is N'lin?" Moira asked.  

"Rides Trefoil. Been gone a while, but came back. Trefoil won 
Chrysthal. N'lin had a bad dream and tried to kill himself after the 
mating flight." Xanthia frowned. "So many things happening. 
Ashelle's seizures..." Xanthia trailed on with a list of warren
happenings, quickly becoming annoyed with herself for wasting time on
chit chat when there was so much to be done. Her mind and body ached to
stop though.

<Just a little while longer, you can do it,> Maxima cheered her on.

>"What???" Moira stared at Xanthia. " What are you talking about?"  
>
>"Have Vasra find out from Maxima, gotta go!" Xanthia said as she 
>grabbed up the tray of medicines and darted off down the hall.

***

Xanthia's shift was over and she was on her way out to the green to ride
Maxima home when Moira caught up to her once more. "Hold out your hand,
I have something for you," the tall woman told her.

Xanthia looked at Moira with curiosity. It wasn't her birthday, or any
other giving holiday that she knew of. Still, she did as told and held
out her hand.

>"My hematite! You found it!" Xanthia cried out, doing a little dance 
>and holding the hematite close to her. "Where'd you find it and how 
>did you know it was mine?"  
>
>"You dropped it on the green when you left Trinale's office earlier 
>today. I knew it was yours because when I picked it up it told me." 
>Moira grinned, then became sober. "It also told me you're kind of 
>upset about something, I didn't read to much because I didn't want 
>to pry, but if you want to talk I'll be glad to listen."

"It's private stuff..." Xanthia looked down shyly, "Though all the
dragons are talking about it, too."

"Then it's not a secret." Moira smiled at her. "But if you like, we can
find somewhere more private to talk."

Xanthia nodded, "Home, lets go to my home. No one comes there."

***

The two women dismounted their dragons and Xanthia picked up her clothes
that were strewn across the floor as she led the way in. "No one comes
here," she said in explanation of the clutter, her cheeks flushing
slightly. She'd never quite gotten the hang of house cleaning without
having someone there to tell what to do when.

"Don't worry about it," Moira pushed aside some of the books that were
stacked on the sofa and took a seat. She patted next to her for Xanthia
to sit down. "Come, talk to me. I won't bite."

Xanthia sat and looked down uncomfortably. "Not used to this," she
confessed. 

"You can trust me, and I can tell you need to talk."

"It's Oldreth. He and Merissa... they... they mated!" she whispered the
last, her cheeks burning bright crimson.

"Mated?"

"M... made love." Xanthia explained, tears brimming. 

"I see..."

"Why???" Xanthia raged, the floodgates now opened, "Merissa is mated to
Th'rin. It's not fair! Does she need to have Oldreth, too!?!"
  
***

NRPG: Well, that catches me up on Day 9, will probably post Day 10
sometime later this week or next, not quite sure how Xanthia will find
out the news of Oldreth leaving. Anyone want to break the news to her?
Kris? Arlene? She'll be crushed regardless who tells her. Tags to Arlene
and Rhi!


                \=/,         _-===-_-===-_-===-_-=======-_-===-_
                |  @___oo   (    Submitted by:                  )
      /\  /\   / (___,,,}_--=    Jacqueline "Morgan" Allgood    )
     ) /^\) ^\/ _)        =__    morgie@iquest.net               )
     )   /^\/   _)          (_                                   )
     )   _ /  / _)            (   The heart and soul of:          )
 /\  )/\/ ||  | )_)            (_  Xanthia/Maxima of Whiteriver   )
<  >      |(,,) )__)             ( Kattibrie/Calishandra of Telnor )
 ||      /    \)___)\             (_                              )
 | \____(      )___) )___           -==-_____-====-_____-===-___==
  \______(_______;;; __;;;

Morgan's World http://members.xoom.com/Morgie/

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