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1. [DL-W] Taking One's Destiny In One's Own Hands
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 22:43:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-W] Taking One's Destiny In One's Own Hands
Nerika
Afternoon, day 16
/snip from /
"How could I not?" Faylen gushed, "She owns my heart and soul and I own
hers."
"Isn't that a tad dramatic?" Nerika asked.
"No, indeed. It's the truth! Think about it. We each share each other's
thoughts, we feel what the other feels. And if one of us were to die,
likely the other would too."
"But clearly you have a gift with singing. I heard you and saw you up
there, you love it. Wouldn't you rather be doing that?"
Faylen smiled warmly, "I do. And have a gift with animals, too and love
working with them. And I can do both to my heart's content when time
permits. But you can't choose your destiny; your destiny chooses you.
And
when Shyla hatched from her egg and chose me to join with her, that was
destiny."
/end snip/
Nerika thought that over. "I didn't think it possible a person could
have *two* gifts,* she said hesitantly.
"Why not?" Latnem asked. "I do, after all...I have the gift of
mindhealing, and also of dragon affinity. Whereas you..."
But before he could go on, Nerika was leaning across the table eagerly
questioning Faylen. "Do you find that when you use one of your
talents, it interferes with the other?" she wanted to know.
Faylen blinked, clearly not expecting such a question. "Well...yes, I
suppose when you consider how much time I spend having to read and sign
papers - and I'm just a beginner at that, Merissa tells me it will get
much worse as time goes on - then, I suppose you could say that it
doesn't help my singing because I'm not able to practice."
"Interesting," said Nerika. Perhaps the key was in being more
singlemindedly devoted to her goal?
Latnem could see, just from her question to Faylen and from the look on
her face, what direction her thoughts were taking. "Nerika, don't
confuse gifts and talents with duties. Of course a person can't pursue
two different careers and devote their full time to each - anymore than
one can give a mate and a child their full attention simultaneously.
But I don't believe that exercising dragon affinity would have any
effect on any other...gift...a person had. Warrenlady Merissa herself
is proof of that!"
"Yes," Nerika agreed, "but you just heard Faylen say that doing all
that paperwork can't help but interfere with her real duties..."
"Well, that's not exactly what I said..." Faylen began, raising a
finger as though to make a point.
"She said that she had a lot of paperwork," said Latnem. "I suppose
some would agree, Nerika, that doing paperwork all the time is a
'talent' in itself..."
"So Merissa has *three* gifts?" Nerika asked, her eyes widening.
"I'm sure she would say that her greatest gift is being joined to
Chrysthal," Latnem assured her. "All else is secondary. Now, in your
case..."
"Yes, it's the same thing," Nerika said eagerly, seemingly determined
not to let Latnem finish a sentence. Then she seemed to deflate a bit,
and looked down at the table. "But even though I've tried to make
everything else secondary to my becoming a full Bard, there's something
missing. And I don't know what it is."
"Perhaps your dragon," Latnem suggested softly.
Nerika pursed her lips. "I don't know..Lyraene would be good at taking
me on my performing rounds, but she doesn't seem to have any aptitude
for music. Most dragons don't, though I understand Cali's Lute does.
Now, the queen at Jasra, Varaenna...that one can actually sing! Some
sort of magical ability, everyone thinks, she can hum so beautifully
that when she sang up on the ramparts overlooking the sea, the sailors
would sometimes say they thought it was the magical sirens whose
singing would lure them and their ****ps up onto the rocks..."
Latnem put a hand to his forehead, exchanging glances with Faylen.
"Your dragon is more than just trans****tation, you know. Perhaps if
you would talk to her once in awhile, you would find that she could
help you in ways you can't imagine at this point."
Nerika sighed. "Latnem, I know what you're trying to tell me...I've
heard it from Merissa, from Analise, from J'red....but the fact is,
that even if I *weren't* cut out to be a Bard, that still wouldn't mean
I was cut out to be a dragonrider. Because I'm not, and never will
be."
* * * * *
Next morning
Day 17
Nerika spent a largely sleepless night, thinking about what had
happened at the performance yesterday, and about what Latnem and Faylen
had said to her. That talk in the afternoon, right after her onstage
debacle, had bothered her, and she'd been afraid that she'd ended it on
a rather bad note. But she had encountered Latnem and Faylen (and even
a no-longer-soaked Analise) again in the evening, and despite the
strange goings on, things had seemed to flow well between them. And,
by the time she'd risen in the morning, she had an idea.
Lyraene was waiting for her in the outer chamber, eagerly waiting to be
saddled. Nerika took care of it in a quick, businesslike manner, and
in moments the two were gliding downward in the direction of the green.
[You know, it is such a nice morning for flying,] Lyraene suggested.
[It would be fun if we could go to the lake for a little bit, wouldn't
it? We could...]
Nerika nodded absently. *Sure, go ahead,* she said. *I'll unsaddle
you as soon as we land, and you can go have a swim or whatever.*
[Um...I thought perhaps you might like to come,] Lyraene said. [It
really is a nice morning, and...]
*Perhaps some other time,* said Nerika, as they alighted. *I have to
go and talk to Latnem.*
[Oh...well, okay,] said the disappointed Lyraene as Nerika removed the
saddle and set it down on the ground. She watched Nerika hurry off
toward the dining hall, and then decided that she didn't really feel
like going to the lake after all. Instead, she simply walked to a
shaded corner of the green and lay down, staring glumly at the sky.
Nerika, meanwhile, had spotted Latnem at a table by himself and took
the op****tunity to approach him. "Good morning," she told him.
Latnem looked up, clearly a bit surprised to see her. "Good morning to
you as well," he said. "No wing training this morning?"
"Um, I think there might be some later," she said, remembering that she
hadn't checked her schedule. Well, she could do that later. This took
precedence. "Do you have a moment?"
Latnem nodded. "What can I do for you?" he asked.
"I was thinking about what you said yesterday, and I believe you're
right!" she told him.
Latnem blinked. "You do?" he asked.
"Yes, the part about gifts and talents," she said. "And how other
things - like Faylen's paperwork or my wing training - distract from
them. But that's where I was hoping you could help."
"Perhaps you'd better enlighten me on this," Latnem said with a small
shake of his head. "I don't know what I can do to help you with the
wing training, that's J'red's area of responsibility."
"You're a mindhealer, though," she reminded him. "The Bardic 'gift' is
a mind talent, isn't it? So, I thought perhaps you could use your power
to get my 'gift' fully functioning. Once that's done, I'm sure the
other stuff will work itself out!"
Tag Morgie - well, as you can see, Nerika hears what she wants to hear!
Note, she's already been told at Jasra (perhaps too tactfully) that she
doesn't actually possess the Bardic Gift in the first place.
Submitted by:
John
Nerika & Lyraene
Whiteriver Warren
Summary:
Afternoon, Day 16 - Latnem and Faylen talk to Nerika during the
luncheon, where they discuss singing and dragonriding.
Morning, Day 17 - Nerika goes to the dining hall, where she sees Latnem
and asks him if he can use his mindhealing talent to awaken her Bardic
"gift"
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