There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. [DL-C] Smart Man Or Foolish Man
From: "Barbara Matthews" <carolyn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
2. [DL-D] Wash On, Wash Off (JP)
From: "Arlene" <wondermom@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 1
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 20:13:30 +0600
From: "Barbara Matthews" <carolyn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-C] Smart Man Or Foolish Man
Turner was quiet as Varie flew Kellie and himself back down to their
apartment
after their talk with Lenna. Memories from the past were flooding into
his mind
much like the flood water that had once covered the entire ground floor
of the
Warren several years ago during the great flood that had almost killed
both
he and Kellie.
As they arrived home and let the babysitter go on home after thanking
her for
coming so quickly, he had taken his son from her and went to have a
seat on
their sofa. As he cuddled his son against his wide strong chest he let
his mind
finally let in the memories that had been haunting him. The time of the
great
Cleft Flood.
That time came to mind for several reasons and must have been triggered
by Lenna's
problems tonight. It was during the time when Lenna had gone missing
after Geode,
and Kellie had nearly drown during the floods. As he sat beside Kellie
in the
med center just after being told they might have to operate on her to
save her
life. An operation that if they had gone through with it would have
killed the
baby growing inside of her.
Turner looked down and then kissed the top of his son's head. Something
he might
not have been able to do had Kellie not miraculously awoken from her
coma in
time. The sweet little boy now laying so peacefully in his father's
arms. His
son. Flesh of his flesh, blood of his blood. His dragon. For the bond
between
father and son surly was as strong for a non rider as the bond was for
a rider
and his/her dragon. Next to Kellie.. Turner had never loved any other
person
the way he loved his son My'kel.
He let his mind drift back in time again.
When he had first been told about the baby, Turner remembered thinking
of it
only as Kellie's baby. It wasn't until he'd remembered a talk he'd had
with
his sister Lenna months before, that he'd finally realized that the
baby Kellie
carried was *HIS* baby also. And how much he wanted to hold his own
child. The
child he could have lost that night had Kellie not awaken. Still
Lenna's words
from that night played across his mind as if hearing them for the first
time.
[[snip]] From Barb's post Nov. 1999
"Turner do you believe in miracles?" He remembered Lenna asking one
night when
the two of them had found themselves alone in the dining hall.
"It depends on what's at stake," he remembered answering at the time.
"Why?"
She'd looked at him with that lovely smile only she could get away
with. But
he remembered there had been a light in her eyes and a glow to her
cheek he'd
never seen before.
"B'rand and I are going to have a baby," she'd told him, her face
glowing with
a warmth and serenity he had never seen coming from her before. She had
looked...
well happy.
"A baby?" he asked, slightly dumbfounded. For her news was the last
thing he'd
ever expected from this sister of his. Thina yes... but then Thina was
the motherly
type.
"Oh Turner!! You can't believe how happy I am!" she went on. "I mean I
love
B'rand so much and having his baby will only make our love stronger.
I'll have
something of him and him me if... Well you know."
[end snip]
How well he did know. Only at the time he hadn't know what was to come.
Lenna had lost the baby when she'd been kidnapped, beaten up and nearly
raped,
by a rouge rider formerly of Daere Warren and a crazy man who tried to
pass
himself off as a wood be God of the Nomads. Lenna's mate B'rand had
killed the
former rider but Lenna had lost the baby before help could get there.
She'd
been devastated when she'd learned. Days later they'd got to emergency
call
to come help out in geode Warren.. and since the nomad healer had
*fixed* Lenna's
injuries, she had been allowed to join the battle. She disappeared when
the
Cleft riders had teleported back to the Cleft to restock their coal
supply when
the Geode bins had taken fire from the wraith creatures led by
Ash`chenon a
rider out of Telnor who'd been possessed by a hybrid form of smart
wraith.
Rook, the black dragon of Lenna's mate B'rand had taken ill and was
told to
stay in the cleft. Dan'yar, Lenna's older brother had noticed how tired
Lenna
looked and had ordered her to stay in Cleft to keep watch on B'rand and
Rook.
Only Blanchie, Lenna's dragon had been to tired to hear the order from
Dan'yar's
dragon Shinner and had teleported with the rest of the Cleft riders. To
tired
to even focus on a metal picture of Geode Warren.. Lenna and Blanchie
had teleported
into nothingness and had been lost for two and a half years before
finally finding
their way back to Cleft Warren. She hadn't arrived alone. With her was
a little
boy with red hair whom she called Rand and introduced him as her son.
The same
son B'rand refused to even meet or acknowledge.
My'kel began to fuss a bit and Turner stroked the little one's back
gently with
his big hand, to try and settle him down. But My'kel was having non of
it and
began to squirm around a bit as if looking for something.
"Here let me have him Sonny," Kellie smiled warmly as she reached for
her son.
"It's past his feeding time and he knows it."
He held his son up for her to take, and was happy when she sat next to
him and
pulled open the robe she'd changed into to expose her breast for their
son to
feed.
"You're quiet since we've been home," Kellie commented as her son
latched onto
her nipple and began to suck. "Are you okay?"
Turner smiled warmly and lifted his eyes from his son to his mate. "I
was thinking
of the past and how different my life is now." He told her.
"Is that a good thing?" she asked.
He turned slightly on the cushion so he could reach out and rub his
son's head.
"I was thinking what a fool B'rand is being by not coming to see his
son. I
look at our son and wondered how I got so blessed to have him and his
mother
in my life. I keep telling myself that I'm a very lucky man. The gods
were surely
smiling on me the day you came into my life Granny. I can't imagine how
I lived
day by day without you and now My'kel in it. You two are my heart and
soul.
You make me who I am and I pray every second of every day that I can be
a man
our son can look up to and be proud of."
Kellie reached out with her free hand and stroked back the hair growing
a little
long over her mates forehead. "You are a wonderful father and our son
will know
that and love you just as I do."
"I hope so," he sighed, turning his head to the side and placing his
lips in
Kellie's palm. "I've had your love to help me out. I was
remembering...the time
of the flood... when you were.. when Trevor and I had to try and make
the decision
about whether or not to let them.. operate on you.. It was thinking
about a
talk I had with Lenna that made me realize a few things that night. One
was
how much I loved you and didn't want to live without you in my life...
I kept
remembering the look on Lenna's face when she found out she had lost
her first
baby and I knew there was no way I could live if I was the reason we
lost My'kel.
I knew how much the baby meant to you.. It was remembering my talk with
Lenna
that I realized you were carrying *my* baby, and how much I wanted him.
How
much I wanted to be able to raise *our* baby with you. I prayed so hard
that
night that things would work out.. I knew I couldn't look at you and
see the
same look I saw in Lenna's eyes after she had lost her baby. It scared
me because
I knew she didn't want to go on.. If you had had to go through it
knowing I
let them take our baby..."
"We have our son and we have each other," Kelly's voice was full of
love.
Turner smiled. "Yes.. we do. And I love the both of you more then I
ever realized
I could love anyone. So that makes me a smart man... and B'rand is
still a fool."
***Submitted by: *******
Barbara Matthews
Aka: Turner- Mastersmith Cleft Warren
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 2
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 01:06:40 -0400
From: "Arlene" <wondermom@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-D] Wash On, Wash Off (JP)
Day 107
Late Morning
/Snip/
Zanne was stretched out on her belly, still clutching her rider and
Alden in her foreclaws. She opened first the one claw, releasing
Roxie,
and then gently opened the other to lay Alden down on the rocks beside
Weya and Alton.
/end snip/
"Ohmygod...ohmygod...." Alton blurted as he got to his knees, cradling
his injured wrist. "Alden?"
"We don't have time; we have to get out of here." Roxie said as she
looked over them.
"What the hell is going on here!"
Everyone turned around, even the dragons. There stood Dante, red in the
face. He walked over to Alton and pointed at his chest. "I know this is
your idea," He took a deep breath. "Oh how I wish I could be your wing
leader. I would work you day and night!"
Alton looked at him blank faced.
Weya placed a hand on Dante. "We have to get out of here... his brother
is hurt bad."
He turned to look at her. Seeing her down here didn't make his mood any
better. He turned to Alton again. "Now because of your being an
idiot...
your brother could die!"
Tears rolled down the young boy's face, as he stared at Dante.
Suddenly Nightbreed let out a howl that broke his attention on Alton.
"Is there a beast down there?"
"Yes, Jacks stopped it for now... but we need to get out." Roxie said
again as she walked over to them.
"What's that smell?"
She snorted. "You don't want to know...."
"All right help me pick the boy up." He and Roxie picked up Alden and
started to make their way back. Nightbreed led the way. The dragons
walked behind them. Jacks and Flerrion were walking half backwards to
watch for what could come.
In what seemed like forever they were at the cave entrance, and
standing
there was Akety her arms crossed. "Where ha.... Oh my god... what
happen?!"
She rushed over.
"Go tell the med-center that we are bringing Alden in." She nodded her
head and climbed out the hole.
The humans slowly got out first the dragons followed. Jacks and
Flerrion
let lose a fire breath, just for good measure, then turned to follow
the
riders.
Other riders started to run towards them as they exited the barracks.
Dante looked at Alton, who looked petrified.
When some of the other riders got to them Roxie and Dante handed Alden
off to them. Akety then came running back; she glanced at Alden as they
ran past
her. She ran to Alton. "You ok?"
He just stood there shaking.
"Honey?" She put her arm around his shoulder. "Alton... we need to get
you to the med-center." She started to lead him along.
"Wait Akety... I want to talk to him!"
She could see anger in his eyes. "No, Dante. He needs to go to the
med-center."
"His fine.... he needs to toughen up anyways." Dante stated.
She narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to toughen him up?"
He looked at her.
"Come on, Dante let's go home..." Weya pulled on his hand.
He didn't resist; he let her lead him away. "Trust me Alton you and me
are going to have a talk!"
Roxie watched them walk away, then ran up to Akety and Alton. "I think
his wrist is broke."
Akety looked at it. "I think you're right. What happen down there?"
Roxie walked over to her other side so she could talk to her and Alton
wouldn't hear.
"Oh my..." She turned her head away from Alton. "Did he look alive?"
She nodded. "He had a pretty good gash on his head....I didn't see
anything broken... but he landed in crap so there may be an infection."
"Where's my brother?"
Both of the girls looked at him. Akety looked to Roxie and then back at
him. "He is at the med-center." She turned to Roxie again. "I think he
is in shock."
"It's my fault..." He started to babble as they walked though the door.
"I wanted to help out... Weya, Roxie and the dragons could have died...
all because of me...."
"It's not your fault, Alton." Roxie said.
"So many lives could have been taken."
They sat him down in a chair. He face was blank.
"We'll go find a nurse." Akety patted his back. She and Roxie walked
off. "I think he's talking to himself. We can't let him think that
way."
"Let's let him cool down then well try to talk to him."
They found a nurse and headed back to where they sat Alton... but when
they got back he was not there. They called his name then heard someone
cry out. The three of them ran to where it came from. They found Alton
on the floor crying. Roxie bent down and pulled him up. He was near
limp.
"Roxie look."
Alden lay on the cot, nurses unwrapping the dressing that had been put
on him. The gash on his head was worse then they though. It shot
across
his face, from the middle of his forehead across his eyes to the middle
of his cheek. His shoulder looked oddly angled and so did his jaw.
"What's wrong with him!" Alton yelled.
"Get him out of here!" A nurse yelled.
He pulled against Roxie. "What are you doing to him!?"
"Akety get him out of here, now!" The nurse turned to her.
Akety grabbed Alton by the other arm; she and Roxie led him out and
shut
the door. They held him down in a chair until the nurse had his arm
wrapped up.
"I want to see my brother..."
"You can't right now; they need to work on him."
He started to fidget and shake. "I...I want to see him now."
Akety looked at Roxie. "I don't want to send him back to that mess of a
dinning hall... where can we put him?"
Roxie immediately spoke up, "I'll take him home with me!"
Akety looked surprised, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I've got room. He can stay on the couch in the living area. No
problem."
"Roxie," Akety whispered, knowing the woman's reputation, "Having a boy
staying on your couch might...um... you know... be a bit inconvenient
if
you have... uh... friends over?"
Roxie laughed, "Don't worry, Akety. I'm not about to invite a 'friend'
to spend the night with him there. He can help me clean up Zanne. It
might take his mind off of... Alden."
She sighed. "Alright, you take him. I'm going to go tell Thea.. or one
of the Wingleaders, who ever I run into first, about what happen."
Akety
rubbed her head. "Try to figure out how to keep everyone out of
trouble..."
Roxie took Alton by the arm. "Good luck with that."
Alton looked at the little women. "I'm so sorry Akety."
She waved her hand at him. "Don't worry about it...we'll figure
something out. Go, start making things better" She turned and headed
off.
Alton turned to Roxie and asked. "So... how bad is your dragon?"
Roxie smiled, "Well, let's just say... we might need a tooth brush to
get all of that muck out of her scales!" After stopping to get some
supplies, she led the boy along to the edge of the pool where the
dragon
waited, pathetically caked with the wyvern dung that she'd fallen into.
<Is that the same boy? He looks pretty good for falling so far.>
<*No, love, this is his brother. He's very worried about the one who
fell, so we're going to help him not think about it... and he's going
to
help to clean you off.*>
<Oh! Good! He can start with my nose. The smell is making me crazy!>
At that Zanne sneezed and mucous-y muck went splattering everywhere.
"Eww!" Alton jumped back.
Roxie grimaced, "OK, let's get to work!"
Early afternoon
Alton looked at the toothbrush then at the dragon, *I thought she was
kidding* he took the brush and dipped it in the soapy water Roxie had
put in a bucket. This was something very tedious, but it needed to be
done. He started where he could reach, not really wanting to do the
dragon's nose. Seeing on how much gunk was in there, and if she were to
sneeze again with him in front...oh boy. So the leg was his fist place
to start. Taking a rag he wiped off some of the scales then would clean
in between them with the toothbrush. He looked at Roxie who was
working
on the dragon's nose, he had thanked her for taking the worst part.
Which that had to be....he glanced up and saw Akety heading toward the
Warrenlady's office. *I'm going to be beat to death...or something of
that measure.* He pulled his gaze from her and went back to washing the
dragon. Wash on.... wash off... wash on.... then pick up the toothbrush
and get in-between. He didn't like the silence. "Roxie, how do you plan
on getting the stench out of her nose?" He turned to her as she pushed
off a large amount of crap off the dragon's nose.
"Good question, bright boy. Got any ideas?" Roxie stretched the kinks
out of her back and then looked his way.
Bright boy? "Ummm....I don't know...we could put flowers...in...no...we
could..." This was Alden's job, he always had the bright ideas. "Do you
or anyone have any incenses, we could let her breath those in for a
while?"
<Rider, you have to get my scales nice and clean! I have to go and
thank Flerrion for helping to save us.>
Roxie laughed, then saw Alton look at her in a funny way... "Zanne says
that we have to make sure she's really clean -- she's got a 'hot date'.
And I don't know about her breathing in incense... maybe we'll just let
her work that part out herself."
"I didn't know dragons could date..." He smiled, then continued to rub
the dragon's scales, he wanted to make up for what happen. He sighed.
"So you don't mind taking me in for a while?"
Roxie grinned, "Not at all kid! And I was only joking about the
date...
Zanne just wants to go over to thank Flerrion for helping us today."
"Ah...well she is pretty enough to go on a date..." He picked up the
toothbrush again and started to work on her foot. "After this... if you
are not too grossed out... you want to go get something to eat... that
is after you and I clean up?" He wondered if that was even a good idea.
Everything was falling apart around him, his brother is on his death
bed... Dante is wanting to wring his neck...he almost killed so many
people...how could he even think of food?
Roxie nodded, "Food is a necessity. Let me tell you something... even
during a battle, when your best friends are dropping like... flies..."
she smiled ruefully and swatted at some of the flies that were
attracted
to the smelly dragon. "You still have to eat. To be a good
dragonrider, you have to be fit and healthy. So, yes. Let's get some
food when we clean ourselves up. OK?"
He smiled at her, and laughed a bit when she swatted at the flies.
"That's wonderful." He sighed deeply. "Thanks Roxie."
Roxie felt sorry for Alton, the boy was really trying. But it was
obviously taking a bit too long, after all he could only use one hand!
So Roxie tried to work a bit faster, to cover more ground, or dragon,
as
it were. She was glad that Zanne had only gotten her snout and
forepaws
in the crap. She couldn't imagine how long it would be if they had to
do all of her. Getting a good amount of suds on her rag, Roxie began
to
work harder and faster. The result was that she was also less careful
of where the foam was going.
"Oh no!" Roxie stopped and looked up at Zanne as the dragon wiggled
her
nose and twitched. "Oh no!" She backed up as Zanne inhaled a few
times
and reached a forepaw around to rub at the tip of her nose. "Zanne!
No!" Roxie cried out, as Zanne let loose with another tremendous
sneeze. Roxie flew backward to land with a hard thump on her backside.
She rolled onto her back, her legs sticking up in the air. "Oh..
Zanne..."
Alton rushed over. "Ooooh..are you ok?!" He bent down, he looked over
at
the dragon. "I think she may have gotten all of it out her nose." He
helped Roxie sit up. "It may be dangerous to be in front of her, don't
you think?"
Roxie laughed, "Just a little. Good thing she didn't have any flame in
that sneeze!"
Zanne stretched her neck out to look down at her little rider, <I'm
very
sorry! Didn't mean to do that.>
<*Quite all right, love. No harm done!*>
<Maybe... now look at my back claws! I dug them into the dirt when I
sneezed and... well, now they're all full of mud!>
"Oh dear! Now she says her back claws are muddy!" Roxie pulled
herself
up and went to take a look, Alton following behind. True enough, Zanne
was now in a patch of mud, churned up from her claws and from the
spilled buckets of soapy water. <*What a mess you are.*>
<I can't go see Flerrion like this!> Zanne hung her head pathetically.
"She looks so sad...she's muddy and mucky... how are we ever going to
get her clean?" He picked up the rags, they seemed so much smaller now.
This is going to take forever, he thought. "Well we might as well get
started or it won't ever get done..." He looked at the toothbrush. "No
more detail, the muck will be dried by the time we, I mean me, get to
her hip."
Zanne looked down at the two small humans, <Really this is taking much
too long... Here let me get some of this stuff off....>
"Hold on, tiger!" Roxie grabbed Alton's shirt and pulled him away, as
with a strong leap, the small dragon plunged into the waterhole. When
she emerged, the true color of her scales was emerging from beneath the
filth. "And why didn't you do that to begin with!" Roxie shouted at
the violet dragon, laughing. She tossed the rag after her, and stood
with her hands on her hips and scolded, "Here you make us work up a
really good sweat, for what?"
Zanne came out of the pool, and looked down at her rider, <Are you mad
at me?>
<*Never, my love. This was good for Alton. Got his mind off his
troubles, and gave him something to do.*>
"Well, she looks fairly clean now... just a few places now that could
use a bit of attention." Roxie grinned at Alton.
"How much attention are you talking about.. rag or bush?" He put his
hand on his hip mockingly.
Roxie winked, "I think rag will do it, and then we can clean ourselves
up and go grab a bite to eat. Sound good?"
He smiled and moved a bit of his hair back. "Sounds great."
It still took them about three quarters of an hour to get Zanne
sparkling to her satisfaction. By then, both Roxie and Alton were
feeling exhausted, but rather proud of the job they'd done.
Zanne was kind enough to fly them up to Roxie's apartment and wait for
them to get cleaned before flying them down to the dining hall. Sadly
she learned that Flerrion had taken his rider out on a scouting mission
and they weren't due back in the warren until the morning. Zanne just
hoped that her scales would still be shiny enough the next day when she
saw him.
Roxie was glad that some of her 'friends' had left articles of clothing
behind in her apartment. She'd been able to find Alton some clean
clothes to put on while he showered.
Alton watched as blood ran from him down the drain... it wasn't his
blood it was Alden's. He washed his hair. The bottom of the shower was
a
mix of brown and black. The smell of work and everything else was going
down the drain. He felt a bit better after his shower. Though his mind
wasn't in the right place as he walked out, the only towel he had was
in
his hand. He glanced up and saw Roxie staring at him. She gave him an
appraising look and he was instantly red. He covered up and asked for
the clothes, and promptly went back to the bathroom. After a few
moments
he was dressed, his hair was combed back. "Thanks again for all this."
He handed her the towel as she walked past to take her own.
Alton sat on the couch his head resting on his hand, which were propped
up on his knees. He stared down at his broken wrist, the bandages
looked
brown and nasty... they needed to be changed.
Roxie was quick, and she emerged with her hair still dripping; she
didn't want to leave Alton alone too long, or he might start brooding.
She called to him to hurry, that Zanne was waiting. They rode the
violet dragon down to the green in front of the dining hall.
Their conversation consisted of mostly, "Pass the salt," and "Do you
want a biscuit," as Alton slipped into a brooding silence. Roxie knew
that the food would help, but she also knew that he wouldn't be able to
really relax until they went back to check on his brother. Seeing him
worrying with the bandage on his wrist, and noticing the awful
condition
it had gotten into, she knew just the suggestion to make.
"You need to have that bandage changed," Roxie stated,
matter-of-factly, "So, I'll have to take you over to the medical center
before we go back to my apartment for the night."
She instantly saw Alton's face light up, at the thought of seeing his
brother and finding out how he was doing. "Yes, we will."
They finished their meal, and Zanne flew them across the warren to the
medical center.
Alton followed Roxie into the med-center. His heart started to race as
they closed in on Alden's room. He wanted to see his brother, but he
didn't want to see his state. When they got to the door Roxie stopped
and Alton stopped and looked over her shoulder, scared of what he might
see. The room wasn't as chaotic as the last time he saw it, there was a
candle near his bed, his shoulder and jaw were wrapped and so was his
face. Half of it only, one eye was visible. Roxie pulled Alton from
behind her and pushed him toward his brother, it was a gentle push. He
walked over to him, he was asleep. He looked so much better then when
they were leaving the cave. He turned around to thank Roxie again for
all the help and...everything. She was gone... but not two seconds
later
she came back with Pandora, who was carrying some new bandages. She sat
next to him and took off the old and put on the new.
Alden was sleeping, his breath short, then sometimes long. Alton
watched
him, waiting for something to go wrong.
[TAG: Tree -- anything to say to Alton about Alden's condition?]
---
Summary:
Alton breaks down when he sees his brother's condition. Feeling sorry,
and a little responsible, Roxie suggests that Alton come with her.
Trying to distract him, she has him help her clean up Zanne. After
cleaning the muck off the dragon, they shower and then go to the dining
hall. Noticing how Alton is pining over his brother, Roxie takes him
back to the medical center to check on Alden, and to have his own
bandage changed.
---
Respectfully submitted by:
Katie Mae
Akety & Ishtar
Alton and Alden, searchlings
Arlene Jacobs
Roxie & Zanne
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
To Join World Weavers, visit: http://www.worldweavers.net/
Only members of WorldWeavers Worlds should post to this list. To post
messages to this group, send email to WeaversFiction@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
