There are 2 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. [DL-J] The Cavalry Arrives (JP)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
2. [DL-J] Kaleidoscope of Life
From: "Barbara A. Matthews" <carolyn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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Message: 1
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:04:04 -0800 (PST)
From: John Pepper <trissana@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-J] The Cavalry Arrives (JP)
Ansel
Afternoon, Day 1
/snip from Rachel's post "Saving Grace"/
Sazerac came bounding up from beneath Ryianne and bowled Shomashi
over.
<*You're alive! You're alive! You're alive!*>
Shomashi stared at the small green dragon and suddenly recalled what
had happened on the beach and the other Kataani soldiers attempting to
kill the small dragon, <As are you!>
Sazerac turned to Ryianne and told her, too, <*He's alive, and I'm
alive!*>
Eliase sank back onto the sand taking deep breaths. There was a
pounding pain coming from her shoulder that she was having a hard time
ignoring. She glanced over at the young Kataani through strands of wet
hair.
"You are not my prisoner." With a wince she pushed herself to her
feet. "But you are a newly bonded dragon rider." She attempted a small
smile and then suddenly sank down to her knees.
{Love please tell Khamorray that I need his rider, and soon. I think
we both need healers.}
Ryianne grudgingly agreed and sent a message off to Khamorray.
/end snip/
/snip from John's post "New Homes For Two and a New Job For One"/
Ansel had just begun to ask Nyna about where she had come from when
he received Khamorray's urgent summons. <Ryianne and her rider need
help!> the dragon said. <They have both been injured!>
*By the soldiers?* Ansel asked, suddenly on alert. *And how badly??
Better let Kethriss and Syngnath hear this too.*
<Okay,> said Khamorray. <Not too badly, but enough that they're
going to need help getting home. And not by the soldiers, exactly...by
one soldier, who is having a hard time coming to grips with the fact
that he's now one of us.>
*We'd better go,* he said to Khamorray. He turned to Nyna.
"Something's come up," he told her. "I need to go help Eliase. Balagon
here will..."
"Wait," said Tanami, hurrying in through the door. "Syngnath let the
other dragons hear what he was saying. What's this about a new rider?"
Anxiously, Ansel explained what had gone on. It slowly dawned on her
that they had *two* new riders, as she saw the newly-hatched SeaLandia
sitting patiently on the floor. "Go and help, then," she said, after a
moment.
"I would like to speak to Nynaeve here." She turned to Nyna. "I am
Tanami, the Wingsecond of Jasra Warren's Maritime Wing." She looked
closely at the girl. "There is something about you...I think we need
to talk."
/end snip/
* * * * *
Khamorray was waiting for Ansel when he hurried out of the med
center. To his surprise, so was Leviathan. <Syngnath said that we
might need some help getting Ryianne back here,> the dragon explained.
<So he asked Leviathan to accompany us.>
Ansel nodded as he watched Leviathan raise his massive head out of
the waters just offshore. Leviathan was probably 5 times the size of
Khamorray and Ryianne combined, so large that he had once given the
huge queen Varaenna herself a ride on his back. His flying abilities
were very limited, as was his ability to walk on land, due to his
enormous mass. But in the water, he was in a class by himself.
<I gave him the image,> Khamorray said as they took off. <He'll
follow us there.>
A moment later, using Ryianne's image of where she was, Ansel and
Khamorray teleported in. Leviathan appeared a moment later, his huge
form just above the water. As soon as he appeared, he splashed back
down, sending up a huge cascade of water.
Khamorray landed near Ryianne, and Ansel dismounted. He rushed over
to Eliase, while keeping a suspicious eye on the Kataani soldier. "Are
you all right?"
Eliase nodded and leaned against Ansel. "I think I just brusied my
arm. It hurts a lot. I am not sure I can ride Ryi back to the
Warren."
Eliase glances over to her dragon with a worried frown. "I am not
sure she can fly back either."
"That's what Leviathan is for," said Ansel, pointing to the gigantic
seadragon. "She can climb on his back and he can coast back down to
the warren with her aboard. But how are *you?*"
"I'm ok accept for my arm hurts." She winced slightly as she tried
to move it and then looked wearly to Ansel. "I need a vacation."
"You live right on the beach and you need a vacation?" he asked, then
looked at her arm. "We need to get you back to the warren to have that
lookied at, though." He glanced over at the kataani soldier, who kept
looking back and forth between them and the small seadragon who stood
next to him. "Um, I guess we'd better take them too," he said. "Do
you think you got through to them, or are we still going to have a
problem on our hands?" Eliase glanced to the young Kataani and smiled a
bit.
"No I think he's ok." She tugged on Ansel to pull herself up and
balanced against him. "You should come back with us to the warren," she
directed to the Kataani.
*Khamorray, does the little one understand that we're not enemies and
that we're trying to help his rider?* he asked.
<Yes, he does,> Khamorray said. <All three of us have talked to
him.>
Ansel put an arm around Eliase to support her, then beckoned the
soldier over to where they stood. As he watched Ryianne float herself
over the submerged Leviathan so that he could surface beneath her and
carry her, he helped Eliase up onto Khamorray's saddle. It took some
convincing, but with the help of the small dragon, they prevailed upon
him to mount.
Khamorray spread his wings, preparing for takeoff, but Ansel stopped
him. *Hold on,* he told the dragon. *I'm sure Eliase would like to
stay close to Ryianne, and I assume our passenger has never flown
before. It might not be such a good idea to have him take his first
flight when he's totally confused by all that's happened, and is trying
to hold onto a hatchling. Let's take the water route.*
<I think we should go in the water,> Khamorray announced, as though
it had been his own idea. He folded his wings again and trotted down
the beach, but then stopped. <Ansel, look!>
Ansel looked, and saw to his dismay that, out away from the shore,
the seadragon queen and her hatchlings had once again come to the
attention of a group of Kataani soldiers. A quick head count told him
it wasn't any of the group they'd already run into - they were still on
the beach. This must have been another patrol, who had seen the
seadragons and moved to attack what they considered to be a mortal
enemy. Probably, their orders were for them to avoid seadragons
carrying riders - but all others were fair game.
Eliase glanced in the same direction as Ansel. "We need to let
someone know what's going on," she said to him as if she was reading
his thoughts. "We can't go out there on our own. Not with me hurt and
Khamorray having to carry three."
Eliase glanced over her shoulder at Ansel. "You should let Corwin know.
He can come in with some others from the wing and organize this."
Ansel nodded worriedly. "You're right," he said. "Though we probably
don't have too many riders that he can bring along at the moment."
Since he was out of his own telepathy range for the warren, he told
Khamorray to call Syngnath and tell him that help was needed at once.
Then he turned and sent out a call to the seadragon queen. *Get away!
They'll try to kill you and your hatchlings!* She didn't respond
directly, but he felt a surge of anger from her - she was already aware
of the Kataani, and didn't mean to let them harm her offspring.
Eliase frowned as she watched the Kataani and the seadragons. She
hated sitting there and not being able to do anything about what was
happning. She began to fidget and after another moment she looked back
at Ansel. "They're coming right?"
"I hope so," Ansel replied, telling Khamorray to send out another
urgent summons to Syngnath. If need be, he'd transfer Eliase and the
Kataani over to Leviathan and go to help the queen himself. They
waited for several anxious monemts, until suddenly he saw Syngnath
appear overhead with two other dragons. Ansel breathed a sigh of
relief. "Okay, we can leave it to them," he told Eliase. "Now we
need to get you back to the warren."
Eliase nodded and leaned back against Ansel with a sigh. "Ok I could
seriously use some food and some sleep."
Ansel patted her on the arm. "We'll be at Jasra soon," he assured her,
telling Khamorray to move in closer to Leviathan so that Eliase could
better see Ryianne and assure herself that she was ok.
Eliase pulled Ansel's arm tightly around herself and glanced over at
Ryianne. {How are you doing love?}
Ryianne sounded weary {My side hurts. Can we go back now?}
{We are going right now. We just needed to make sure the new
hatchlings were ok before we left. Soon we'll be back and you'll be
all fixed up.}
Ryianne just laid her head down on Leviathan's back and waited to be
moved.
*Okay, Leviathan, lets go,* Ansel told the gigantic seadragon.
Leviathan acknowledged, and then with slow, ponderous movements, he
began to glide across the water's surface. Ansel knew that in the
water, he could move much faster than that, but was being careful so he
would not jar Ryianne. He reminded Khamorray to do likewise for
Eliase. The smaller seadragon slowly cruised alongside Leviathan as
they made their way south.
The movements of the water and Khamorray gliding along were enough to
lull Eliase to sleep. Within minutes of them leaving she was leaned
back against Ansel and her head was bent to the side, resting against
his chest. She didn't notice when the warren came into view.
Leviathan cruised in as close as he could to the beach without
grounding. He could have simply carried Ryianne onto the beach, but
knew it would be easier for her to float off than to have to get down
from his back if he were ashore. Ansel, seeing Leviathan come to a
stop, gently nudged Eliase. "We're here," he whispered. "Time to get
you and Ryianne to the med center. Can she walk?"
Eliase blinked and then with a quick check to Ryianne she nodded.
"She can. I really don't think it's much more than a scratch."
Ryianne nuzzled Leviathan and then floated off of him and made her way
to the shore. She seemed to be favoring the leg near where she was
hurt, but Eliase was sure that was more the little dragon being
dramatic than anything.
Ansel, picking up on this, smiled and put his arm on Eliase's
shoulder to get her attention. *Don't worry, Ryianne,* he said. *I
was going to suggest that the healer put some of that numbing salve on,
but since it looks like leg is REALLY hurting, the healer can give you
a nice shot that will make it feel much better!* He quickly whispered
what he'd just said to Eliase, so she'd be in on the joke.
He turned and saw the Kataani rider standing in a confused manner as
he looked up and saw the warren heights towering above them. "I need
to get him settled as soon as we get you two to the med center," he
told her.
Eliase smirked and then laughed as Ryianne began to quickly tell her
how her leg didn't hurt much at all. She was still giggling as she
glanced over at the new young rider.
"I'll be ok. You take him and go get him settled and I'll go over to
the med center." Ansel began to protest but Eliase leaned up and gave
him a quick kiss to silence him.
"Don't worry I will be fine. I will find you later, ok?"
"Okay," he said. "Or, I will come over to the med center if you're
still there. Don't let them rush you out too quickly."
She nodded and gave his hand a squeeze before turning and going over
to Ryianne. Together they moved off in the direction of the med
center.
Ansel walked back to the Kataani soldier, Shomashi. "Okay, I'm going
to take you to someplace where we can talk, and I can explain things to
you," he said. Then realizing that the man didn't understand him, he
had Khamorray transmit the message through the little seadragon. As he
motioned the soldier to follow him, he started sending out thoughts to
any of the seadragons who happened to have Kataani riders so that
hopefully one of them could come and help him out.
(Tag Arlene again!)
Submitted by:
John (Ansel & Khamorray, Tanami & Kethriss)
and
Rachel (Eliase & Ryianne)
Summary: Afternoon, Day 2: Hearing that Eliase is in trouble out on
the beach, Tanami stays with Nynaeve and sends Ansel off to help out.
He and Khamorray bring Leviathan with them, so that the giant seadragon
can being the wounded Ryianne back. Ansel and the others return after
calling Corwin to help defend the seadragon queen, who is again being
attacked by a Kataani patrol. Upon reaching the warren, Eliase and
Ryianne go to the med center, while Ansel tries to get Shomashi settled
in his new home.
[This message contained attachments]
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Message: 2
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 16:10:17 -0600 (CST)
From: "Barbara A. Matthews" <carolyn@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Subject: [DL-J] Kaleidoscope of Life
NRPG: This is just a short.... sort of back ground on Leigh.. not much
but.... She will only be in Jasra a short time... Just long enough for
a
story arch
............
Healer Lakota... or Koda to her friends, was awoken from her light nap
when the woman on the bed began to stir. She got up and went to check
on
her, smiling comfortably as the woman looked up at her.
"I thought I was dreaming," came the horse voice from the woman on the
bed. "I've dreamed so many times that someone came to find me... but
it's
true this time.. isn't it? I'm safe now..?"
"Yes M'lady. You are safe now," Koda assured her, reaching out to
softly
caress the side of the woman's face and smooth back an errant strand of
her black hair. "You are safe. You are in Jasra Warren in the lost
lands.
We brought you here where we have trusted people to help keep you safe
until Martyn can find out who wanted to harm you."
The ex-Warrenlady of Deere's face slowly melted from fear to a more
relaxed pose and Koda knew she was in contact with her queen.
"Troy said Wisp and his dragon Smoke were involved." Jayleigh said
slowly,
her violet-blue eyes half open as if it took great effort to even get
them
that far. She had known Wisp for years and even though she knew little
about him or where he came from.. His information had always proven to
be
good and she trusted him more then most people she knew. He had never
given her reason not to and plenty of reasons to..
"Yes Jayleigh as well as another who works with him and Martyn on
occasion," Koda answered. "But I must warn you... Wisp is known in
these
parts as Lord Darden. He is the Uncle of the Warrenlady and while *she*
knows what he does as Wisp... She does not know about Smoke. Very few
people know Wisp is a dragonrider... hell very few people know who Wisp
is
anyway... While people know who Lord Darden is... They do not know he
is
also Wisp... and he would like to keep it that way for his niece's, the
Warrenlady Tara here in Jasra's protection."
"Understood," Leigh nodded, and Koda reached for the water glass when
she
noticed the woman licking her lips.
"Here.. take a small sip first and let it sit in your mouth before you
swallow," she instructed and heard Leigh give a small chuckle.
"Yes mother."
They were both quiet for a moment while Leigh's thirst was taken care
of.
Then Koda told her she would be right back. "I'm just going out to the
speak with the duty nurse to see if I can order you some soup to drink.
I
don't want to start you on anything solid right now until we get the
drugs
they used out of your system."
While Koda was gone, Jayleigh dosed off her troubled mind slipping back
into the past. Flashes of her life came and went. She thought about how
it
all began... and the people she knew and loved... and she thought about
things she had done that had shaped her life.
Starting with the death of Velar, Senior Queenrider in Daere and her
Queen
Jennaladar... Leigh's mind remembered the events that happened upon
learning of her death.....
......
>"Velara is dead... Have the decency to cover yourself up," Jayleigh
snapped suddenly, as she hurried forward, picking up articles of
Velara's
clothes as she advanced toward them. "Others will be coming along any
minute and I'd prefer they not see the Warrenlady this way."
>Her words penetrated through his fog and he felt an immediate flash
of anger. "No!" he yelled, gathering Velara to himself. "You don't
touch her."
>"She's naked, Tair'n. Let's get her dressed quickly before
someone else arrives."
>"Why? Just so people won't think she actually had the temerity
to have sex at her age? You're not going to make what just
happened between us into something embarrassing and dirty."
>Jayleigh had been more that a little relieved when R'ven had
arrived to comfort the younger rider. She was thankful for the
help as there were other things that needed her attention. While
the two men stood there arm in arm taking what comfort they could
from each other, Jayleigh turned back towards the office door,
knowing there were people there who would want answers.
Answers she as the new warrenlady would have to give.
>A wave of doubt assaulted her as she reached for the door. How
she wished her brother Ja'ks was here. He would know what to say
to these people. If only she'd had more time to learn how to be
a warrenlady.....but she didn't and for a second she cursed
Velar and her stupid pride.
.......
But she did learn to be *THE* Warrenlady. She had had to, to keep the
Warren going. She had learned to accept help where she could and not to
try and do everything on her own. R'ven.. Oh how she had loved him ..
She
hadn't been in love with the tall raven haired man, but she had loved
him
for always standing by her, for teaching her how to do her job, and
most
of all for not letting her get to full of herself, and always...
telling
her when he thought she was wrong.. R'ven had been friend and father
figure all in one. She wondered if he was helping out the new
Queenrider
who had taken her place in the Warren since her disappearance?
Her brother Ja'ks would be going crazy. She knew he would have gone
looking for her when she didn't come back to the Warren. Had he given
up..
was that why he hadn't been with Martyn when he had rescued her.. or
did
something prevent him from coming when she had been found. She felt a
heaviness in her heart and knew something wasn't right. He had always
been
protective of her just as she would do anything to protect him, just as
she had all the years she had kept his secret. The secret that someone
now
knew about and had used to drawl her out of the Warren...
Her mind shifted again, and she remembered the men she had loved..
T'airn,
Gerald, Ari. Each man let her be herself and didn't try to change her.
Gerald she had loved the deepest, but he had died and then came back to
her at the battle of Geode. But he had not been the same man she had
fallen in love with. Then he was gone again. Ari had died during the
Geode
battle and Leigh had been left alone. Except for her children.
The best and most constant thing in her life were her children. She
missed
them terribly. Jadain, her son.. She wondered how he was taking her
disappearance. While she knew her parents and brother Ja'ks would be
watching over him and his sister... her sweet little baby girl Vena..
Leigh let out a sob as she twisted around in the bed... Would her
daughter
even remember her mother.. or had she been gone to long?
Had T'rell been keeping up with his lessons with Jadain dealing with
his
being a telepath? He had been trying to teach the boy how to 'Channel'
the
dragons thoughts so that they did not overwhelm him all at once. She
felt
pride now knowing that one day her son would join with his own dragon..
Troy had always sworn he would.. Had he joined while she was missing?
By the Gods how she missed her children... She couldn't wait to see
them
again... When it was safe. She wouldn't put them in any danger. So she
knew until she could find out who had sent her the message drawling her
out of the Warren.. she would not send for her children or go see them.
She would not put them in danger for any reason.
Running the Warren had not always been easy. There were times when she
had
just want to jump on Troy's back and fly away to where people didn't
know
her or constantly want something from her. Somewhere where she wasn't
expected to know all the answers and do the right thing.
There were times that she was so scared she was going to do the right
thing, but R'ven had always been there to keep her in line.
Duty prevail, and she had keep going.
She thought back to the Junior Queenriders she had known and lost.
There
had been to many.. most had been to weak to get by when life turned
sour.
One had killed herself... or nearly so when the man she had loved had
left
her.. Instead of killing herself by hand, she had willed herself to die
by
doing nothing. Not even the link to her Queen could prevent her death.
Another had been murdered and a third, Jayleigh could never understand
why
the new queen had picked the rider she had. Mari had been worthless at
best in the role of a Queenrider, and a complete victim of her own
fears
the rest of the time. Leigh had tried hard to get the girl involved in
the
everyday running of the Warren, but nothing had worked. The silly girl
had
just been to damn scared of every little thing to have been any use to
her
or the Warren. She couldn't even be trusted to complete even the
smallest
of jobs without falling apart. Leigh had hated to admit it even to
herself, but she had been glad when the girl had transferred to Telnor
and
decided not to come back to Daere.
Then there had been Pandora. Pandora and her little tyrant of a queen.
Though scared of her own short comings with a deep fear of flying, the
girl had at lease been able to pull herself together and act the way a
Queenrider should act in a crisis situation. She had been like two
different people in one body. And Leigh had liked her. She had liked
her
a lot and wondered now how Pandora was fairing.
A kaleidoscope of events flashed through her mind.... Joining with
Troy...
the birth of her son.. wraith attacks, tithe trains arriving and
traders
hawking their wares....dinner with her family.. Dan'tray and how evil
he
turned out to be... Dan'tray kidnapping his son... her son.. wanting to
send dragon against dragon to get her son back... Gerald telling her
she
had no right to do so.. R'ven smiling after dropping Dan'tray from the
back of his dragon in flight to make sure he was REALLY dead.. the
birth
of her daughter... betrayal by the Lord who supplied the Warren with
coal... She saw each face of the dead who had died when it was
discovered
during an attack that he had shipped them weak waste coal that did not
burn as the normal coal was suppose too.. C'nis had found the reason
and
had ended up saving the Warren with his sneaky con-man ways... and each
of
the men she had loved.. and lost.. Gerald... oh Sweet loving Gerald...
his
loss had hurt the most... her heart still cried for his loss... her
body
for his touch..
So many faces she knew, so many dragons gone... dead and gone...
Dragons
turned into Lord of the lands... Mud baths turned into treaty talks...
sunsets into rain storms... day to night and weeks to months and
then...
Through it all Troy had been there. Troy her queen and the other half
of
her soul. Troy who life would have no meaning if she were..
And then her mind moved to the note she has received. The note that she
had sworn was from him that made her leave the Warren unprotected...
The
note that had led her to her...
Jayleigh sat up in bed, and for a moment did not remember where she
was.
But then Troy's touch filled her, calming her. She worked hard to quit
the
racing of her heart and bring it back to normal.
In 20 years no one had ever found out their secret. Not even their
parents. So when the note had come to her using the nickname that only
he
had ever called her when they were alone... and signed the way he used
to
sign their secret notes to each other. The ones they used to leave in a
special spot away from the Warren proper. So she never thought the note
was a trap...
They had tried to get her to tell them what she knew. To confirm what
they
thought they already knew about it. Though how they had figured it out,
she would never know.
Only She and Ja'ks knew what happened that day so long ago and they had
never spoke of it after it happened.
So what did that mean?
Had he set her up? Pointed the blame on her.. Something had been
bothering
him before the note had been delivered to her.
She didn't want to believe her brother had thrown her to the wolves.
Not
Ja'ks.. but how else could they have known?
One thing she did know.. was that until Martyn had found out more about
the men who had taken her and held her in that dark room drugged up...
She
could not go back and put those she loved in danger.
For some reason they had kept her alive.. She wondered now if it was
because they were looking for Ja'ks... Maybe he was innocent of
betraying
her. Maybe they were keeping her live until they could track him down.
Maybe.. but she needed to know.
And as soon as she was well enough... She was going to find out and
make
those responsible pay.
The door of her room opened and Leigh tensed until she saw Koda enter.
"M'lady.. There's someone here to see you."
****Submitted by: *******
Barbara
AKA
Jayleigh & Viktroy
(Former Warrenlady of Daere Warren.. Missing in Action)
Lakota & Ribbon.. Master Healer
Jasra Warren
Summary: After being rescued by Martyn, Wisp and Trap and taken to the
Jasra Medical Center, The former Warrenlady of Deare, Jayleigh thinks
about her past after waking up from a drugged last year to find herself
safe again and back with her Queen Troy in the med center in Jasra
Warren.
|
