Leisha & mabry's adventures

A strange dream(by Laura Lulli)

The day had been terrible...

First that unbearably haughty Comynara, who didn't anything but mourn all the time she was in the Sweetshop (and I had to be kind to her!)...and once at the Guildhouse, not a moment to rest.

Auntie Val was still at Neskaya, in her coma, and the sisters (and me too!) seemed to have always tons of problems.

Of course Jana's little baby, born only a few days before, had chosen just that evening to have temperature, and so I had managed to retire in my room only at a very late hour.

There was a strange atmosphere, that I'm not able to explain..a sort of electricity in the air, an undetermined tension.

Anyway, I had told myself: "Come on, stop searching for ghosts in the shadows", and I collapsed under the blankets, in my room.

I tossed in my sleep for long, and I seem to remember that I also called Jorik's name, maybe because just before falling asleep I had felt the big matrix he had given me pulsating.

A sudden icy gust forced me to wake up, and to cuddle up under the blankets, around the middle of the night, and cast a chill over my mind....

A flight of black ravens passed in front of me, and the training I had received at Arilinn told me that the greyness surrounding me was the overworld, and I was suddenly aware that this wasn't a normal dream.

The ravens settled, and following them with my eyes, I saw that they had stopped at the feet of a tall figure, wrapped up in black robe.

"My Lady Avarra" I thought, remebering the times I had unwillingly listened to the reunions of the sisterhood, held at the Guildhouse.

"No, chiya" said the apparition, "I'm not the Goddess, only one of Her messengers"

"What is your name my Lady?" I asked, on my knees.

"This you're not given to know, and anyway it's better for you, Leisha. I visited your dreams, because your time has come to serve the Goddess"

"Tell me the way...I'll be her instrument"

"The Black Lady has seen there'll be need of Her, soon. You've got to leave immediately, and head for Hali..."

These were the last word I heard, while the vision faded, and I woke up, sweating copiously.

I didn't remember much of the strange dream (or was that a vision?), that morning, but I felt a grat urge to turn my steps toward Hali....

I had been awake for only a few minutes, and I was already packing my htings, under the astonished eyes of my sisters. Noone of them could understand why I was so suddenly in such a hurry.

The chill that still pervaded me didn't allow me to explain them what was happening to me, or to tell them about my dream. Though, the memory was getting more and more clear, and I resembled to hear the ravens croack.

I saddled my black horse, and I quickly went away from the Guildhouse, after recommending the shop to Lynira.

Threatening clouds were gathering on the horizon, and made me expect nothing fair....I was risking to be caught in a storm, and I cursed once again my hastiness, and the anxiety that had prevented me from asking someone to come with me, on my way to Hali.

In the meanwhile, at Hali…(by Jurij Gosso)

<From Jorik Hastur's diary>

I was tired. Looking for Marisela with laran was not easy. I had a headhache. Were was she now?

Suddenly I realized that even Mabry has disappeared! Noone seemed to be aware, but she was not with the rest of party. I said that I was going to the river (the lake was back to its normal appearance now) to take a little of water.

I did know where she could be. We spoked about this project and we were still in a little contact.

It was not fault of Damien this time and there was no need to speak with other

[Now the pages are unreadables]

"Mabry, it will be dangerous."

"Yes. But we need to try. Would not you try if I were in the same situation?"

"You are right. I'm with you. I hope Avarra will forgive us!"

A strange dream, part II: The trip to Hali (by Laura Lulli)

Luckily, I knew the road, for travelling months before, with Valentina, and the way from Thendara to Hali wasn't that longer.

The urge that woke me up that morning kept annoying me, and I was feeling compelled, unwillingly, to go to the ruins of the ancient tower.

"Well then" I thought "if it has to be like this, let it be. Who am I to opppose to the call of Avarra?"

The horizon cleared, as if the sky had been pleased by my resolution, and I was finally able to relax, and to keep a slower pace (and my horse was quite happy, too).

I got even in a good mood, and I started to enjoy the travel. Opening the shop had prevented me from following my sisters in the expedition, but, you know, riding is like walking: you never forget out to do, once you learned how.

The ruins of the imposing Tower of Hali were just showing in the distance, when I saw some smoke on my left.

Urged by my curiosity, I left the main road, and I followed the smoke, getting in a small glade.

There was a little camp, there, and some horses were pasturing nearby. I was asking myself who ever they might belong, when I heard a familiar voice.

"Jorik?!" I called, rather incredulous...but the guy that was coming toward me was undoubtedly him!

"Domna Leisha!"

"Please, Jorik...I told you a thousand times that I left that title behind me!" I snorted with exasperation ...the guy was courtesy embodied, but I had forgotten how tiresome he could be.

"Jorik? Jorik!!" a peevish voice hurted my ears "where have you gone? And who, on Darkover, is that chit of a dusty girl, who is evidently lacking of any style?"

The blondie was definetely irritating me. "Listen, chiya, I'm coming from Thendara. If you know any way to travel that doesn't cover you with dust...", I began, growling.

Jorik interrupted me. "Stop it, Mabry! This lady -sorry, Leisha!- <incredible! he winked to me!> this beautiful Renunciate <I lifted my eyes to the heavens> is one of my dearest friends, and the two of you would better stop fighting immediately, and make good friends"

Not much of a success, poor Jorik...in the glade there were now two unhappy young womens, staring at each other with hate....

"This is going to be another hard day..." I thought to myself, sighing...

What Leisha and Mabry where doing in the meanwhile (by Laura Lulli)

I still didn't know what I was doing there. Avarra -her priestess, I remembered to myself- hadn't talked to me anymore, and I assumed I had to wait patiently.

Not exactly a simple task, for an impatient girl like me.

Anyway, Jorik and the other members of the party were having troubles with the Ghost Tower (that inexplicably I didn't see when I had arrived), so he left Mabry and me alone with each other.

Against my will, I had to admit that I was begininning to like her, and the first negative impact had been generated by our being too similar to each other.

She was a bright girl, quick to learn, and she hanged around me all the time, anything I had been doing.

I love to cook, and she appreciated the meal I prepared for the two of us....but she couldn't keep from saying "Hmm...quite good indeed...But, you know, Diego is far a better cook than you"

Which of course made me mad at her.

And feeling stupid immediately after...

It came to my mind that she might have needed an elder sister, and I tried to make her communicating with me.

At first she was a little suspicious, but suddenly she decided she could trust me, and after that, I wasn't able to shut her up for a time too long for my ears...

She told me about her Domain, about her Regent and the strange way he was behaving at the moment (I remembered that I found him a bit strange, when I met him on my way back to Thendara, while coming back from a visit to my parents at castle Delleray)...

And the revolution at Aldaran! Diego had sent to her a delirious message, in which he was saying something ridiculous about a Constitutional Monarchy...

"What is exactly, a Costitutive Monarchy?" "Constitutional, Mabry. It means that you'd be merely a leading figure, and he'd detain all the power. I bet he wants you to be a puppet for him, like he had been for you"

Her face was astonished. She stamped her feet, and claimed "I'll NEVER consent to this!"

Then she took again control of herself, and continued "Anyway, I have a sort of project...and I like to know your opinion. Jorik says that we could do that, but that your help is needed. I admit, at first I thought he was joking, and that he was saying that reish just because he was in love with you..."

"WHAT?" I opened my eyes wide. "Oh, come on, Leisha! You don't want me to believe that nothing had passed between the two of you! Everyone knows about that big matrix he gave you, and, after all, we all know the womanizer Jorik is!"

"Wait, Mabry...It's a long story..." but as I was beginning, it came to my mind that I was hopeless: I couldn't succeed in having tha stubborn girl to change her opinion.

And she was maybe too young to understand the whole story.

"Right, then" I sighed "You didn't trusted Jorik when he first told you about me...but you changed your mind, why?"

"I didn't know you, Leisha" her long eyebrows shaded her changeable coloured eyes, while she stared at a suddenly interesting little stone on the ground. "I've begun to like you, and you made me think that I could make a pretty good Amazon, too."

"Wow" I thought, grinning inside "she's smarter than I believed"

"So, tell me more...hurry up!" I said aloud.

But my hilarious attitude soon vanished, as I listened to what the girl had to tell me.

To worsen the situation, I heard noises in the woods behind the camp, and soon the glade was full of people in a haste, and the faces of them all were reslly worried.

I searched for Jorik, eager to speak to him, to ask him how he dared to consent to Mabry's plan, how he dared to think that _I_ would have consented too...but I couldn't find him.

My mind was feverishly working: what I was doing there? what was happening, exactly? and I suddenly remembered the Goddess.

Just like my thought had reached Her, a raven croacked high in the sky, and a black feather slowly landed on my shoulder.

Probably, just because I had stopped looking for him, Jorik appeared. His face was very pale, and his expression was that of a broken man.

"What happened?" I asked, worried.

"Leisha...I have to go. We all have to go."

"No! Please, we need you..." I was not going to let him go away. He had started that damned thing together with Mabry, and he wouldn't leave me alone to bear all the weigh of the situation.

"My cousin...poor Marisela..." He hadn't listened to a single word I said. I shook him, and shouted "Jorik!! You can't do this to me!". A few Guardsmen stopped and stared at the strange scene of a furious Renunciate shaking the Heir to Hastur...

Mabry's point of view (by Mabry Slemmons)

When I saw Leisha shaking Jorik like she wanted to break his neck, I immediately revised my opinions. If they had ever been closer than friends, she would have been shaking him much harder. As it was, I couldn't help giggling at the sight of that puppy of a Hastur getting shaken by my new friend.

"Please, Leisha," he said. "Stop it. This is important."

She didn't stop shaking, and I couldn't stop laughing.

Five minutes later it started to get a little boring, so I did what I always do when my cat Tallo starts fighting with another cat: I dumped a bucket of water on them.

That was a mistake. Leisha stopped shaking Jorik, but then they both attacked me.

"Little brat!" "Harpy!"

What could I do? I ran as fast as I could, but they are both much taller than me and they soon caught up.

Finally dripping wet all three of us mounted our horses. I was still giggling.

Leaving Hali: Leisha's perspective (by Laura Lulli)

The cold water had cleared my mind...and my ego was feeling much better, after the little lesson Jorik and I had given to the brat.

When we both had recovered the breath, I asked Jorik what he was going to do...actually what we all were going to do.

Everyone seemed to be ready to leave the camp, and Jorik too (in spite of his damp clothes...).

He told Mabry and me that we'd better pack our things soon, if we didn't wanted to be left there.

As I looked at him angrily, he decided that the time was come for him to be less mysterious.

"We need a matrix, to do that work, and it should be a big one. Mabry and I thought that we were going to find it here, in the rhu fead"

I stared at him as he was mad...but his weary look kept me from being too rough. "And how do you plan to find it, and, which is almost better, take it, for Aldones' sake?"

"Mabry is going to do this, now" I began to worry.

"We'll leave with the others, and she'll reach us as soon as she can" I was definetely worried.

"Jorik" I said, trying to keep my voice calm "I don't understand you. She's a girl! She's clever, I'll give you this, but still a girl! How do you expect her to make it on her own?!"

"She's the only one that can do that. She's got a strong laran, and she's small enough to slip away without being noticed"

"But the matrix..." I started "Leisha, stop please. I'm too tired to discuss with you. You can't go with her, that's all. Two persons would drew too much attention. I trust Mabry, she will do good"

Reluctantly, I had to agree with him.

But, as we were saddling, I glanced at Mabry, that looked sort of excited by the adventure that waited for her.

I tried not to look at her while she was silently going away, heading for the rhu fead.

Leaving Hali: Mabry's perspective (by Mabry Slemmons)

No one ever seems to notice me on the rare occasions when I don't say anything. Now, though, I wanted it that way. Jorik had suggested that he and Leisha would stay with the others and keep them going slowly, while I got the matrix from Hali Chapel. Then I'd do my best to catch up.

Eduin and the guardsmen did not notice me quietly riding my horse away. I tethered it outside the chapel, and entered.

This would be easier than I thought! Whoever had fixed the veil on Hali Chapel had been in a hurry and had left the anti-comyn one down. Now which matrix would I get?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something black fluttering like wings. I turned. There was nothing! Nothing but a huge eighth level matrix. This one wopuld do, I decided.

I quickly wrapped it in the silk I had brought for that express purpose.

After leaving the chapel and stashing it in my saddlebags, I mounted and did my bes to catch up with Jorik and the others.

As soon as I made it back I slipped in beside Leisha. "I got it!" I whispered excitedly.

She nodded casting a nervous glance at the nearest guardsman. "Can I see it?"

"Wait till we camp for the night," I replied. "There's something weird about that matrix, Leisha."

"What?"

"When I found it, I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. But when I looked, all there was was a matrix. And when I looked at it close, I had this really strange feeling."

"Do you think it's safe?" She asked.

"No, it isn't evil or frightening, just very strange. I've never felt anything like it before."

Leaving Hali: Leisha's perspective (by Laura Lulli)

Too long a time has passed for my mental health, before I finally saw Mabry slipping in by my side.

"I got it!" she whispered excitedly.

I wanted to see the matrix, but she said it was too great a risk to take, and I agreed, looking at all the Guardsmen that surrounded us.

Then she briefly told me how she could take the big starstone form the Chapel.

I was feeling as nervous as a cat, when we stopped for the night...soon I'd see the matrix.

When Mabry put the silk wrapped gem in my hands, the first thing I thought was that it was far lighter than I imagined.

Forcing my self, I opened the silk and took a closer look to the stone.

A cold shiver ran through my back, and my eyes were captured by the blue deepnesses of the gem.

Deep in my mind, a raven croaked, and a tall woman, wrapped in a black robe appeared me.

Her stare pierced trough me, and drops of cold sweat beaded my forehead.

A gentle touch on my wrist took me back to reality, but my look should have been frightening, because Mabry's voice was full of genuine anxiety, when she asked me "Leisha? Are you all right? You suddenly got so pale...you frightened me!"

But I was deadly calm, now. I finally knew what my task was, and why the Goddess had imposed me the trip to Hali.

"Leisha? Leisha please..look at me! what's happening to you? what did you see?"

A message from the Regent to Aldaran (by Mabry Slemmons)

I stared at the message. "Yes!"

I jumped off my horse, and danced for joy like a Terran mad-woman pursued by a banshee. "It's mine! Thank you, Avarra!"

Jorik seated on his huge white horse looked down at me strangely.

"Mabry?"

"Diego, has given me Aldaran. On Tuesday at nine-thirty-six at night, I will be Lady of Aldaran!" I smiled. "I have so much to do! I have to arrange for the Terrans to fly me up there. You'll come with me, won't you? And I have to arrange for an appropriate dress! Maybe the one I had made for my potential joining of the Council would work? Yes, I think it will!"

Leisha turned. "What about our project. With the matrix. If we wait to long, she'll be totally disintegrated and we won't be able to do a thing."

I pursed my lips. "We'll have to do it immediately. We'll arrive at Thendara tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow night. It will be perfect. Two of the moons will be full and the other two will be dark. Neatly balanced, don't you think? Have you contacted the priestesses, like you said you would?"

Before Leisha could reply, a guardsmanrode to close, and we had to shut

up. No one must know our plan.

In the Aldaran Apartments: Mabry's perspective (by Mabry Slemmons)

Having returned to Thendara, Jorik, Leisha, and I gathered in the Aldaran suite at Comyn Castle_ since Diego had left there was no one else there and we would be undisturbed.

Jorik had laid the remains on the bed where they had last rested, before their sojourn in the Comyn graveyard. The room was dimly lit by candles. I had tied to curtains open, so the moonlight could enter the room. We would need light.

"Where have you put the matrix?" Jorik asked me.

I grinned. I love hiding things, the more clever the place the better! I pulled the secret drawer out of my cat's litter box. "I hope it doesn't smell too much. I hoped the silk would keep the smell out."

Jorik gave in an experimental sniff. "Fine." He handed it to Leisha.

"What exactly do we do?" He asked me.

"Well, I don't really know. I just know that it can be done. Don't ask me how," I replied blushing. "I only read about it in a text in Tramontana about the ages of chaos. Diego said it was probably accurate. It didn't give any details."

Jorik glared at me. "You mean I dug this up for nothing? If there was a bucket in here, you would be soaked!"

"I'm sor.. ."

Then the door opened, and in walked a strange woman I had never seen before.

In the Aldaran Apartments: Leisha's perspective (by Laura Lulli)

Mabry and I were in the Aldaran suite, with Jorik, when the young woman came for him.

Jorik hardly listened to her words, then fled to the Hastur apartments...and left us alone, with the astonished girl.

Despite her Hastur livery, and of her flamish hair, that put Lenisia at least in the minor nobility, the girl had very few reserve: she openly stared at us, to judge what kind of women we were. I was a bit embarassed by my dusty clothes, but my eyes dared her to say anything, while Mabry after a few recognized Lenisia, having met her during her last stay at Castle Comyn.

After this, Lenisia suddenly decided she could trust us...and a few question by Mabry convinced her to tell us every single gossip she knew about the Comyn Lords.

I was rather worried about Dorylis, and I couldn't believe that Mabry could behave as if she wasn't bothered at all by the situation. I whispered her "Don't you think that it's better to send her away?", but Mabry answered, whispering too "Don't be silly! How do you think I usually get all the information!"...so I shut up.

I was beginning to have fun, when Lenisia told us about the pregnancy of the Lady of Aillard. I had met Cristilyn a few times, when I worked in the tower, and I was happy for her...but I was shocked when I heard who have fathered her heir.

Marcello...was he the same fascinating bright man I used to know?

I thought back of the time when we were still friends, and also something more.

Mmh...lots of fun, really. If only he could accept my choice of becoming an Amazon! We could have easily gone on. Well, regrets are seldom useful.

But I couldn't keep me from remembering the theatrical scene he did when he discovered that I was about to take the Oath.

I was so caught in my thoughts, that I hadn't realized that Lenisia had gone away.

Mabry lightly shook me "Leisha? Come on! We have a job to do!"

In the Aldaran Apartments: Mabry's perspective (by Mabry Slemmons)

"Maybe we should ask Domna Myria to help," I said nervously. "Since we don't have the help of the priestesses yet."

Then the door opened yet again. This time an elderly woman entered the room. Something about her reminded me of the matrix I had but recently borrowed from Hali (I'm going to put it back when we're through. Honest!). Her hair was short like a renunciate's. She was dressed in black, and her cold grey eyes made me nervous in way that I have never felt before, except on the occasion that I had met Ashara. There was no doubt that this was a dangerous woman_not evil, but dangerous.

She did not seem to notice me at all. Her attention was focused solely on Leisha, who held the matrix. "So you are the one who has taken the Avarra matrix from Hali. Why? No one would do such a thing without reason."

Leisha paled. "Well. . ." She turned to me. "You were the one who took it. And you were the one who woke her up in the first place. You tell."

The woman's gaze shifted to me. I took a deep breath then turned back the sheet that covered Dorilys so the woman could see her. "Behold the corpse of Dorilys Rockraven, who I foolishly woke." (I have a leaning towards the melodramatic.) "She was murdered. It is my duty to see that she is returned to her original condition and returned to Hali."

The woman nodded. "Give me the matrix."

Unquestioningly, Leisha handed it to her. "We must proceed quickly, before the body rots past any chance of resurrection, in spite of the stasis field Hastur put around it."

I gave Leisha a helpless look. Where was Jorik?

In the Aldaran Apartments: Leisha's perspective (by Laura Lulli)

While I was staring at Dorilys' body, laid on the sumptuos bed in the Aldaran apartments, the canopy red veils semi-hiding her, I wondered for the thousendth time what evil I should had done in the past, for the Goddess to put me in this situation.

Jorik had put a stasis field over the rests, to prevent decomposition, and I caught myself thinking how beautiful was still the Stormqueen, despite the various injuries she had undergone.

I couldn't believe that she had been so dangerous indeed, and that still nowadays she was so feared that the murderer wasn't contented with poisoning her, but that he also have stabbed her (and several times), and broken her head.

And...why did Mabry want to bring her back to life? I realized that neither Jorik, nor Mabry hadn't told me yet the reason, and their purposes.

I was lost in my thoughts (again!...^_^;), and I wasn't listening to what Mabry was telling me (something about Myria, if I recall correctly..), when I was roughly taken back to reality by the vision of a person I knew.

Daniella opened the door, and her grey eyes pierced through me, while she asked why I had dared to take Avarra matrix from the rhu fead.

I was astonished, and I let Mabry explain Daniella her reasons, while my confused mind was trying to connect the latest events one to another.

I realized suddenly that I had had the intention to go to the Guildhouse to search for Daniella, actually the only member of the Black Sorority I knew enough, and I looked at her even more surprised.

Then she asked me to gave her the matrix, and said:"We must proceed quickly, before the body rots past any chance of resurrection, in spite of the stasis field Hastur put around it".

Mabry looked very worried, but I had to knew at least one thing: "What are we going to do, now?" I asked Daniella.

She looked at me, this time friendly, and answered: "I need your laran, sister. No, don't be surprised. I know you can make it, Avarra trusts you. But you won't be alone. We need also the help of six sisters. And the Hastur"

I stammered "Bbut...he's not here, at the moment...he ran away a few minutes ago...aand Llenisia said that tomorrow the Council will gather...I don't know what's going on, but I think he may not come back for days..."

"Nothing can be done, if we don't have the Heir to Hastur with us. We will wait"

Dorilys' resurrection (by Laura Lulli)

"But we CAN'T wait!" cried out Mabry (boy, she was REALLY impatient...).

She breathed deeply, and then went on explaining: "There's the Council tomorrow, and I want them all to see her back! How did they dare to kill her! She is going to tell everybody who really killed her..."

She had run out of breath...she rested for a few moments, and Daniella and I were thinking that our ears would have been able to rest too, she started again, more quietly: "And then I'm going to tale her back where she belongs: to Hali"

The idea of a Renunciate walking in the Council Chamber horrified the Comyn in me...but at least the whole thing would finally end. I throw a look on Daniella, and I saw her concentrating on her matrix.

A few minutes later, she told us that she agreed with Mabry's idea, and that she had called her sisters to help us.

"What about Jorik?" I asked.

"He's coming" I was surprised...but the door opened once again (why anyone in Comyn Castle had anymore the habit to knock at the doors?), and there was my oldest friend. He looked tired, and a bit upset also...so I thought that he would explain everything to me later (if he ever would).

"How is Marisela?" inquired Mabry.

"She's...fine..." Jorik wasn't going to tell us more.

Daniella interrupted our conversation, insisting that all should be done as soon as possible. Mabry would monitor us all, we decided (Daniella was firmly convinced that she could make it), while we were waiting for the other priestesses to come, but I still couldn't understand what I had to do, and which was Jorik's role.

Daniella pointed at my matrix, and told me "You will be the pole, and Jorik will gather all the power to transfer it to you"

I was astonished "Daniella! I haven't been doing this for ages, and I did this only once! Don't you remember how long ago I left Arilinn for the Guildhouse?"

"Shut up, chiya! You're the only one we have, and the only one that Jorik would trust entirely. Or do you really think that he would do this for anyone else?"

Jorik nodded, and I sighed. I was stuck, once again...but what was going to happen if one of us failed?

Suddenly there wasn't time enough to think again..the sisters had arrived, and overbearingly Daniella attracted us all in the multiple link the Avarra matrix was the center of.

The Goddess appeared to us, and her black robe covered everything. I dared to look her face, and I was astonished when I saw that she resembled Daniella...but also Mabry, and myself. A distant voice spoke in my mind "All women are the Goddess, chiya...didn't you know?" and I felt a cold hand on my cheek.

Daniella was lending her body to the Goddess, and I was going to lend her my strenght.

The priestesses addressed their spirits to Daniella, and the power flow through Jorik in me, and I knew what I had to do.

I didn't remember that I had stepped near Dorilys corpse, but I was there, and I began to heal her injuries. I was about to call her soul back, when someone, whose voice contained a shadow of brattiness, said "I'm not going to do this! No one ever succeed in getting me do something I don't want!"

A soft laughter was heard in the overworld, and Daniella (Avarra?) spoke:

"Dorilys, you'll have to respect the will of Gods...But you're right, you're not coming back for ever"

I understood that we weren't about to truly bringing her back to life. Her healed body would make only a temporarily envelope for her spirit to speak to the Council.

Dorilys quietly agreed, and I felt the weariness in her thoughts...the impudence of a few moments before had been only a way to mask her real feelings.

Dorilys was wishing to sleep now and forever.

"I'll help you, little sister" I promised silently.

And everything was finished.

The long eyelashes of the Stormqueen beated, and I saw her breast lifting in a breath...Mabry broke the enchantment, crying : "We did it!"

I wondered if she knew that it was a sort of illusion...but I was too tired to explain.

Jorik was even worse, and Daniella and the priestesses had nearly fainted on the sofas in the room, and I whispered: "Mabry...we've got to eat something as soon as possible..."

She exited the room, in search of a servant, and I asked myself how long had passed. The heavy red curtains at the windows let a few light pass. I shifted them: it was the dawn! I couldn't believe that the whole thing had taken so little time.

Mabry came back with lots of sweet things that she had managed to find somehow, and we wolfed them all.

Jorik headed to the Hasturs quarters, to prepare for the Council, and I began to worry about our entrance to the Council Chambers....

Comyn to Council (by Mabry Slemmons)

(the other postings about the Council are missing)

Then yet another unexpected group of guests showed up. The Comyn of the council were unsure over which to stare at: the Aldaran, the renunciates (one of whom was surely a Priestess), or the woman who was supposed to be dead.

Mabry Aldaran smiled. "I know that it has not yet been decided whether my domain will join the Council, but I feel that I must bring to your attention, some of the events of last night, of which you have no knowledge. I can not stay long, I have to return to Aldaran, and make a

quick side trip to the chapel at Hali."

The comyn made up there minds and stared at her.

"Last night the impossible occured. Most of you, have seen Dorilys Rockraven for yourselves, since I foolishly woke her. And you will recognize her as she stands beside me here. And she will now tell you who it was who murdered her."

The shocked Council murmered among themselves. Looking back and forth from the Lady of Aldaran to her distant ancestor.

Comyn's reaction to Dorilys entrance (by Marnee Evans)

Lord Hastur pounded his gavel to silence the crowd. "Mabry of Aldaran, how dare you burst into the Council like an unruly child! You have no Council right, and therefore no right to address this body without permission."

"But this is vital business!" Mabry protested. "We have resurrected Dorilys from the dead!"

"Nonsense," a smooth baritone voice cut in. Heads turned to see the strange man in Keeper's robes standing up. He bowed deeply to Lord Hastur before continuing.

"Forgive my own impertinence at addressing this august body without right, but I believe I can explain this occurence, with your permission."

Danvan looked coldly at Allain, not trusting him for a moment, but curious to hear what he had to say. At last he nodded.

"Proceed, sir."

Allain stepped forward and strolled at a leisurely pace over to where Mabry stood with the expressionless Dorilys and the strange Renunciates.

"You see, my lords and ladies, it is quite impossible to resurrect a dead human, even with the strongest of laran power, especially after they have been dead for quite some time, as I understand this young lady has. Therefore there must be another explanation."

The priestess suddenly looked at him with fury and started to back away, taking Dorilys with her, but Guards blocked her path. Allain continued forward, still speaking in his powerful voice. "And indeed there is anexplanation, which I, perhaps, can see more clearly than you because I am intimately familiar with the cause behind it. For the moment these people entered the chamber, I sensed what they carried with them -- a poweful matrix from the chapel of Hali!"

A gasp followed his words as the assembled Comyn lords and ladies assimilated this new information. Mabry and the Renunciates had stolen a matrix from Hali? Such sacrilege and sheer idiocy had not been known for centuries -- everyone knew that the relics at Hali were dangerous and not to be tampered with.

Allain took the final step that closed the distance between him and the intruding party, and reached out to lay his hand on Dorilys' shoulder.

The hand passed right through her. The Comyn burst into a cacophony of outraged shouts as Allain backed away with a smug smile and the Aldaran party looked at him with fury. "Chiya, did you really think you could get away with this ridiculous scheme? Even had I not been here, someone would have seen through your ruse sooner or later."

"But by then the true murderer would have revealed themselves!" the priestless hissed at him.

Allain merely shrugged and turned his back on them. "Then you shall have to find another way to find this person out."

As Allain returned to his seat, Lord Hastur called furiously for order.

"This is an outrage such as I have never before seen in all my years! Lady Mabry, I am shocked that you would seek to perpetrate such a deception on the Council. Obviously your judgement and maturity have not improved as much as we had hoped, and this bodes very poorly for the future of your Domain." Jorik stepped forward from his place behind Danvan to whisper something to his grandfather, but Danvan brushed him off. "Lord Eduin, if you would kindly have all of these miscreants removed from the Chamber at once!"

Eduin Alton nodded to his Guards, who approached the group of women and began to shepherd them toward the door. Mabry protested vocally, but Hastur merely glared at her. "You may come back when we have concluded the more important Council business and are ready to hear your case for Aldaran's readmission to the Council. I suggest you take the time to come up with a very convincing argument as to why we should even consider such an action after recent events."

With that, the door slammed shut behind the Aldaran delegation, leaving an extremely agitated Council behind.

Mabry's exit (by Mabry Slemmons)

I tripped as the guard piushed me out of the door. Leisha landed on my foot, pinioning me to the ground. "Ouch!"

Then I completely lost it. All the maturity that I had assured myself I had acquired over the past few weeks_ though I realize now that I certainly hadn't_ broke lose. "I want to go home!I don't want to be the Lady of Aldaran! I want a regent! I don't want any power! I just want to

go home!"

I broke down into tears. "Someone killed Dorilys, and now they might kill me, and there's all those creepy people from the Ages of Chaos and they scare me! I want to go home!"

After I had cried as much as I could cry, I felt much better. I might be in heaps of trouble, but there was no way these people could stop me from going home.

Jorik's greeting (by Jurij Gosso)

I got up. I was not able to bear this, Mabry was too hardly tried by latest events. But I did know she had had good intentions: she was not really the harpy that everyone seemed to consider her.

I walked to her crying and I lift her. She hugged me by saying: "I want to go home!"

"Oh yes - I said - you deserve some day off!"

I began to take her out of the room. I was aware that my grandfather and the other Comyns were not enjoying such behaviour. But I had to do it.

When we were out of the room I greeted her.

"Adelandeyo, damis... Domna. It was nice to stay in castle Aldaran!"

While saying this, I had a lump in my throat, as I realized that a period of my life was over. Next time I'd meet Mabry, she would be a Lady. I saw it so clearly that came to my mind the suspect that telepathic dampers didn't work, out of the Crystal Chamber.

Then I turned toward Leisha.

"Adelandeyo, Leisha. I have to return in the council. Once you were one of us... Did you know what you renounced to?"

"Yes, - said Leisha - and do you know what *you* are renouncing to?"

I smiled slightly and I nodded. I had to re-enter the Crystal Chamber.

Being a Hastur did make the choice for me.

Jorik's greeting & back to the Guildhouse (by Laura Lulli)

Jorik followed us out of the Cristal Chamber, and greeted us in his usual kind and tender way.

Daniella and her sisters had vanished just as quickly as they had appeared, and I was feeling like I was going to have a nervous breakdown, dued to the weigh of the situation...

First that terrible effort with the Avarra matrix, then the humiliation in the Council Chamber. And Marcello's staring at me in that dreadful way. The same eyes had once looked at me just as I were the only girl on Darkover, the only one able to understand him truly...and he made me feel beautiful, inside and outside. Why he was staring at me with such a malice?

The only thing that kept me from collapse was the fact that Mabry was soaking my shirt, clinging to me just as I were the only sure thing that had remained to her.

Then, with the typical speed that I had learned to attribute to her as a peculiar characteristic, the crysis passed, and Mabry was again the resolute girl I used to know.

We went back in the Aldaran apartments, and while I was taking a long restorative bath, Mabry had packed her travel equipment.

With my hair still damp, I glanced at her inquiringly, but the only laconic answer I got was:

"I'm jumping at Hali"

A moment later the door was slamming, and I found myself with a dull expression on my face, asking to myself if it was advisable for me to remain at Castle Comyn, in the Aldaran quarters.

Once I had recovered the look of a human being, I collected my things and thought with relief at my room in the Guildhouse...where my bed was waiting for me.

I wrote a message to Mabry, telling her to come and visit me at the Guildhouse, before leaving for Aldaran.

A few days later, I saw Mabry showing herself in the door of the Sweetshop, and I was surprised when I realized that, in spite of myself, I had really missed the brat...

The same should had happened to her also, but neither she, nor I were going to tell this. We limited ourself to a dry goodbye.

"Good luck, Leisha" "Good luck, Mabry."

But we were both moved, when we embraced each other for the last time.

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