Date:  Sat Apr 20, 2002  2:38
am




Day 7, Morning

Hatching sands, Whiteriver Warren...



>> When she finally stopped to inhale, a faint haze remained above the

heated area. [See, that's how you do it... nice and even.] She 

watched as Daetyn attempted to emulate Crysthal's actions. <<



Feeling completely helpless and confused, Daetyn tried to create the 

same steady jet of flame, but it took several tries. Exasperated, she 

stopped to rest, settling her great head on the warm sand in front of 

her.



<I just... I don't understand any of this... my body knows what I 

*should* do but I'm so confused...> Daetyn looked at Crysthal 

pleadingly. <Who is Abby and why hasn't she talked to me or my rider? 

Why is Arri so angry? Why does she hate me? Why does she not come to 

see me?>



If a dragon could cry helplessly, that's what the low keening cry of

frustration Daetyn released before standing to try and finish the

incredibly awkward task of heating the sands to glass might have 

been. She wanted to get the eggs over with - her excitement was 

deteriorating into depression because her rider was so upset about 

them.



<I wish they would die...>



[[[[NRPG: TAG ARLE... *VBAEG!*]]]]



Day 7, Dinnertime

Dining Hall



A'Rillia looked up from her meal with Sarah and saw Latnem at a nearby

table... probably the last person she felt like seeing right now 

besides maybe N'lin or that damned gloating dragon of hers. She'd 

taken the herbal mix to prevent carrying a baby, but she still felt 

betrayed. 



"Sorry, Sarah, but we'll have to pick this up another time. Keep the 

herbal primer and I'll catch up with you soon, okay?" The redhead 

stood up, touching her protege's hand lightly. The young woman was a 

quick study, and they'd been doing a lot of research into mercury 

poisoning and what caused it.



The young brunette smiled shyly. "Certainly, Arri. Are you all right? 

You look a bit upset."



"I'll be fine," the healer replied distractedly. She turned and 

managed to not *quite* run from the hall. Th'rin had been avoiding 

her almost as much as she'd been avoiding Latnem. Ir was beginning to 

feel like a giant game of dodgeball.



Latnem watched Arri get out of the dining hall just before he could 

catch her. Smiling, he turned his attention to Sarah. "Do you happen 

to know where she's going?"



"I've got no idea, sir," the teacher replied respectfully, "But 

between you and me, she's been pretty antisocial lately. Everyone in 

the Warren seems to think I know where she is. You're about the sixth 

person to ask me that today."



Caught out, the mind-healer gathered his good graces and smiled. "I 

didn't mean to intrude. Who else is looking for her?"



"Xanthia, Eleanora, Abigail, Merissa, N'lin..." Sarah said 

softly. "Either she's really popular or she's in a heap of trouble. I 

didn't ask."



Latnem rested one hand gently, reassuringly on the teacher's 

shoulder. "She is neither. We're all just a little concerned because 

this is her first clutch." Latnem, ever the soul of diplomacy, left 

all the other, more painful firsts out of his explanation.



Not quite understanding the enormity of this statement, Sarah merely

nodded.



Frustrated, Latnem headed outside into the early morning sun with a 

sigh. Sooner or later, she was going to have to talk with him.



Day 7, evening

Medical Center



"Lorelei? Are you in there?" Arri stood quietly outside the young 

girl's door waiting for a response. Hearing nothing, she sighed 

softly. After having gone through a very similar sort of week, she 

thought she might be able to offer some confort to the girl. 



Turning to go, she almost walked right into Th'rin. Before she even 

got a chance to apologize, he brushed past her, not meeting her eyes, 

and scurried away. He hadn't gone quite so far as to ignore her 

overtly, but he sure had a bee in his bonnet about something. Having 

absolutely no idea what on earth sehe might have done to offend him, 

she walked home alone, moving from pool of faint light to pool of 

faint light in the darkening valley.



From her seat on top of a large rock near the forge, Sarah watched 

A'Rillia walk home. Something weighed heavily on the other woman's 

soul, but she wasn't volunteering anything. Sarah had learned not to 

go where she wasn't wanted. Regretfully, she kicked at the soil under 

her feet and stared at the lamps glowing in the twilight. 



Tinker had never come back from Windtide. She had no idea if he was 

alive or dead, and nobody else seemed to care. The fire in the forge 

lay untended, the coals cold, the smell of copper dark and poigniant 

in the approaching darkness. A breeze tossed her hair around her 

face, and she pulled her knees close to her chest to ward against the 

cold.



Her days had been fairly simple since he left, spent between teaching

little Oberon and working with the rest of her kindergardteners. He 

tended to progress well as long as he spent little time with Xanthia. 

His aunt had a tendency to encourage him to think at her, which made 

it hard to enforce speaking aloud. Time spent working with Xanthia 

and helping her practise the signing language had helped, a little.



But she missed Tinker terribly. 



Finally, she had decided it was necessary to accept one of two

possibilities; either he was dead, or he wasn't coming back for other

reasons. And as hard as it was to accept it, her attraction to him 

seemed like a very probale reason. 



Sarah Anderson slid down from the rock and stepped into the darkness 

of the forge, pulling something from the folds of her cloak and 

standing in a moment of reverent silence before the anvil. She could 

almost imagine the smell of him, of his work, the heat of the coals, 

the sound of Narshada sleeping outside... with a shake of her head, 

she bit back tears. If he didn't want her, there was no point 

mourning over it. 



It didn't make the fact that she loved him dearly any easier to bear. 



Unfolding her fingers, she laid the small wood carving she had made of

Tinker and Narshada on the anvil. It had taken forever, but the 

detail was so fine that you could almost see his laugh wrinkles and 

Nar's scales. The whole thing was all of three inches tall, him 

standing in front of her with her neck coiled around his shoulders.



She had planned to give it to him when he got back.



He wasn't coming.



In the silence, safety and darkness of the forge, she dropped to her 

knees in front of the anvil, leaning against it for support, and 

finally collapsed into broken sobbing for his loss, no matter how it 

came about, wrapping her memories around her like a shroud.



[[[NRPG: ANYONE??]]]



Day 8, Early Morning

A'Rillia's apartment



<:Mrpgh?:>



<Arri, Merissa needs to see you...>



Finally, the junior queenrider rolled over and stuck her head under 

the pillow in protest. Nothing could cut out the cold bitterness of 

Daetyn's mental voice, or the pain and sorrow it hid, but she didn't 

have the time or energy to try to explain it again.



<:Yes. Thank you.:> As gently as possible, Arri tied her mind tightly

around her again and sighed. There was nothing to be done for it now, 

so she got up and washed her face, choosing clothes for the day. She 

had finally managed to fill out enough that a few of her old clothes 

fit again, so she chose a favorite pair of black leather leggings and 

a purple silk shirt. If Merissa wanted her enough to get Dae 

involved, it wasn't a social call.



...

>>>"This is from the caravan that arrived yesterday. Lord Fowler is

credited with two loads of grain, one of coal and some medical 

supplies, listed here. Is this clear?"<<<



"As rainwater my lady," replied Arri with a gentle smile. "I have a 

decent head for figures, so I can take care of that for you." 

Finally, the junior queen broke into amused laughter. 



Merissa's raised eyebrow made her laugh even harder.



"Oh bother," the healer explained as she wiped tears from her eyes, 

trying to ignore the scathing look Oldreth was giving her. "I'm 

sorry - the irony of this is just impossible."



"Meaning?" Merissa's tone lightened, but she looked no less confused. 



"Oh, the long and short of it is that part of the reason I left 

Marrid was because the Warrenlady had issues with me not wanting to 

mate, and assumed I was too stupid to do basic figures," she said 

with a grin, "And yet what do I end up doing here?" The laughter that 

followed as she picked up the sheaf of papers was slightly panicked, 

but not quite hysterical. 



The look Oldreth gave her could have melted diamonds.



With a nod, Merissa smiled. "Ah, I see. But you can handle this?"



"Until I Joined, I was in Bardic training. I can do simple accounting 

for you," the healer reassured her gently.



...

>>>"I'm also rather concerned about J'red. He took this rather 

personally, since not only was Loralie a guest of her father's, but 

it appears the men responsible were loyal to his family as well."<<<



Tapping her lower lip thoughtfully, A'Rillia sighed and looked at her

Warrenlady.



"As much as it galls me, this is not our fight. Loralie was taken 

from a held settlement by paid couriers of the master," she said 

slowly. "According to the law, the fact that she was found by a 

dragonrider, is related to a dragonrider, was on the property of a 

dragonrider's parent at her abduction, or was even found on Warren 

grounds, is not sufficient to demand a Council tribunal on the 

matter."



One hand snaked through her hair and Arri grimaced. "We can hold them 

until J'red's father finds suitable incarceration space, but after 

that, I don't know what else we can do." Merissa looked stricken at 

the news, but nodded. 



"Merissa, I know. I know exactly what will happen to her. She will be 

put on the stand, and when they find out she was trying to run away 

and asked for a ride, the prosecutor will argue that she accepted the 

danger with the responsibility," the junior queenrider said, shaking 

her head. "We can provide her with asylum here with her brother and 

J'red... but unless she Joins on one of the clutches, we have no say 

in this one."



[[[NRPG: TAG ARLE... *heh*]]]



Day 9, Midmorning

Latnem's office



"You sent for me?" Arri said.



"Have a seat," Latnem offered congenially. "Please," he added, 

sensing her hesitance.



The junior queenrider took a seat and then looked at him quizzically.



"I just wanted to touch base with you. I heard that Oldreth left, and 

was wondering how you were adjusting to the work? And how you and 

Daetyn are doing over all, what with her being "with egg" or whatever 

you dragonriders call it."



"That's it?"



"That and anything else you wish to talk about. I have as much time 

as you need," Latnem reassured.



The healer stares at her protege mistrustfully and 

shrugged. "Oldreth's disappearance doesn't affect me that much. He 

seemed to have no head for organization, so I was doing all the 

paperwork while he made the rounds any way. I've just delegated the 

report writing to the Wing leaders so I just have to summarize them." 

Shrugging, Arri couldn't help but smile. "They don't like it, and 

they griped vociferously about it, but finally accepted that it was 

better to sink or swim by their own testimony than my guesses, I 

think."



Latnem nodded, returning her smile. "That sounds iminently practical 

of you. Besides, it keeps them out of trouble and off the streets."



The two of them lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Arri wanted to 

talk to him, to anyone, but was so terrified of what they would think 

of her for feeling this way, of what would happen if she allowed 

herself to break down and feel anything, that she could not speak. 

Her smile slowly disappeared.



Her eyes fell to the floor, and one foot began to scuffle back and 

forth nervously. Her hands twisted in the fabric of the skirt and she 

rubbed the fabric in her fingers, punctuating the silence with soft 

rustling.



The fear and confusion and anger coming off of the queenrider was 

almost choking for Latnem, but he did his best to wait her out. In 

the silence, he merely watched.



Her eyes closed and a tear fell to land on her hands, unnoticed. 



Still, Latnem waited. He couldn't make her talk, it was a place she 

had to come to herself.



Her mouth opened and moved, but no sound came out. Frowning and 

clutching at her skirt, eyes squeezed tightly closed in 

concentration, she tried again, but all that she managed was an 

uncomfortable sort of squeak. 



And with the infinite patience of truly gifted healers, Latnem sat and

waited.



Another tear fell to meet the first one, and she shook her head 

irritably. Inside her mind a billion thoughts and self-hatreds and 

snipes were roiling, but she couldn't seem to voice any of them.



"Daetyn," she finally whimpered, feeling like he would cast her out 

at any moment. "N'lin, Daetyn, Th'rin, all the well wishers," she 

said in a soft, frightened voice. "I am so angry, I hate myself..."



"Why is that?" he prodded patiently. 



"I ...she ...he..." the woman staggered to a stop and looked up at 

him, eyes flaring. "Dammit, I got raped and all you crazy fuckers 

expect me to be dancing in the streets for joy..."



Snarling irritably, she laughed, a cold hard sound. "Loralei gets 

raped and we're all protective and worried and mothering her. I get 

raped and you all cheer. What the hell is wrong around here?"



Latnem sat back, mildly stunned by the outburst. She had tried to 

explain how she felt before, but this was a lot more raw emotion than 

he'd seen thus far.



With tears pouring down her face, she continued, "Everyone's so 

excited about Daetyn clutching, and I just want to die. I can't 

support her, it hurts too much to be reminded all the time, so I have 

to hide from her - and everyone else. N'lin's avoiding me, Th'rin is 

treating me like I am a live carrier of plague... I know it hurts her 

to cut her out, but what else am I supposed to do?"



Composure gone, she dropped her face into her hands and began to cry.



[[[NRPG: TAG MORGIE... *VBEG*]]]



===========================

NRPG: Sorry I've been gone so long... it's been that kind of a year. 

Also, for some reason, Yahoogroups rejected this e-mail from every 

one of my addresses so I had to set it manually.



-Bets-



A'Rillia and Daetyn

Sarah Anderson