Out of program….

Tallo's adventure (by Mabry Slemmons)

Let's face it: humans are stupid! And my mistress Mabry has got to be the dumbest of the lot! After being rolled around in a baby carriage half the morning_ yes, she's that bored_ I lost my temper and scratched her. Then she was foolish enough to zap me with a lightning bolt. I'd had it: I ran.

There are few places that I can go that are safe both from Mabry and the Thing_ Mabry dignifies the Thing by calling it a lapdog, but I know better. It is a Thing, a big mean furry ugly Thing. Anyway, one of these places is the dungeon. They don't like the dungeon, because it is to wet for the Thing and it's fur gets frizzy, and Mabry just doesn't like dungeons_ a phobia dating to when the Nasty Woman locked her in one. So I went to the dungeon. It was quiet and cool_ the quiet I like, but i can do with out the cool.

I was very suprised not to find any rats down there. The dungeon is usually full of rats_ fat tasty ones, that look kind of like the Thing but smaller. I should have known then that something was wrong, but I merely assumed they had better things to do.

I circled one of the cells, then caught an unfamiliar smell. Cats aren't called curious for nothing, so of course I made up my mind to find out what it was.

After all long drawn out search, I found the source of the aroma: a catman. I'm not talking about one of the ones who work at Tramontana. I had never seen this one before. He was large, black, and had thick long fur. I guessed he was from the Hellers. He had a funny accent.

"Hello, little brother," he said in the language of the catpeople.

I wondered how he had come to be in our dungeon, i was pleased when out of sheer loneliness he began to tell me his tail.

"You see, little brother, I am part of a trade delegation from my people to the humans. I did not know how ill-advised it would be to merely walk into Thendara. The people on the streets either ran or chased me. Then one female gestured to me, and showed me into one to the strange houses these folk live it. It was large and full of books. She said in the language of humans, "Well, I don't know what I'm going to do with you, but I couldn't just let them kill you. One of the major supporters of this library has soime friends who are catmen. I would hardly be repaying his kindness to let them kill you." Then she showed me a door in the wall, and told me to go threw it. It lead here."

He had started stroking my fur. Do you know where I am, little brother? I'm quite lost."

What could I do with this giant cousin? For lack of any other ideas, I decided to lead him out of Castle Aldaran. Where was that entrance Mabry had used to go to the front gate? There.

I walked over toward it, and rubbed against it purring. My new friend saw what I was doing and walked over.

"I see," he purred. "This is the way out, isn't it, little brother?" He turned the secret catch and we walked down the tunnel to the front gate.

There he left me, and I returned to Mabry and her doll carriage. She never even knew. As I said: humans are stupid. She never even noticed the smell of the dungeon on my fur, or saw the mud on my paws from the passage way. Stupid human.

Tallo

In the Meanwhile, at Castle Aldaran (by Mabry Slemmons)

Marco had just handed me the message. I took one glance at it and screamed to wake the dead (Been there, done that.) I proceeded to break three priceless vases and a stained glass window, before I turned my attention to the storm that was now building directly over Castle Aldaran. The hail was three inches in diameter. The rain was falling in sheets. Marco gave me a dirty look and fled to make sure the horses didn't kill themselves with fear. I concentrated wholely on the storm.

I felt something sharp in my ankle. "Ouch!" The pain jerked me out of my concentration and the storm diminished. "Tallo! That wasn't nice!"

I proceeded to give him a good shock on the nose so he would know that he is not supposed to scratch.

The storm had completely gone and didn't feel like starting over from. . .scratch. I turned to the vases again. Then stopped. There were much better things I could do with my anger than destroy vases.

Constructive things which had to be done. Like helping Liriel get ready for her wedding tomorrow. Not to mention telling Saydwen, who was busy helping Liriel, that she would need to set up a room for Dom Regis- as far from mine as possible.

With irritation, I went to go find Saydwen and Liriel. I would enjoy myself tomorrow, even if Rafe would return with Regis the day following. I might even manage to behave civilized. In my mind I rehearsed what I would say, discarded some ideas, tried new ones, and finally settled on one with only a few barbs in it. Then I tried to forget about it until they arrived.

Liriel's wedding (by Mabry Slemmons)

Liriel had told me not to dress up to much; it was to be a quiet affair with only her family and a few close friends like me. I put on my blue "little girl dress" and only the tiniest bit of make-up.

It was a very beautiful wedding, and Liriel looked very happy. She and her new husband, whose name I can never remember, looked radiant, and I was sure they were going to be very happy.

I had begged one of my Terran friends endlessly, until they had agreed to loan me her camera. I took pictures of them, some of which would be their wedding present from me, some of which I was planning to keep, and some of which I was going to send to Jorik. I knew he had wanted to be here, but since the Council had kept him busy, these pictures would be second best.

When I got home, I took the little roll of "film" out of the camera. I immediately put it somewhere I wouldn't forget it. Then I decided to write a letter to both of my regents.

I searched my desk for an hour before I found clean paper and a pen. I selected a piece of chocolate, then began to write.

I wrote the word with some sarcasm, which the paper could not show easily, but I knew Rafe would recognize it.

I couldn't help but giggle at that. Pot calling the kettle if I ever wrote it.

I read over it again and was quite pleased. I wrote a note which I attached to it, which said it must be given to them where most of the Comyn Council could see it. That it was addressed to both of my regents would show them that I was willing to co-operate with this nonsense, little as I liked it.

When I had finished with it, I stared out the window a second, then whispered, "I miss you, Rafe."

Still at the Council (various authors)

A few minutes after the last intervention about the Aldaran matter, Danvan called a pause, and people start to rise from

their seats, ready to go away.

Congratulatia hurriedly stood up and called out, singing: "Dom Lindiiir? Dear regeeeent?"

Rafe turned, feeling uneasy as ever before...

As soon as she was sure she had his attention, she went to him and smiling, she introduced herself: "(in her semi-solemn way of speaking) Dom Lindir, we have not yet been formerly introduced. I am sure you noticed me (of course you did!) when I made my 'entrée'. I am Congratulatia Elhalyn y Ridenow, first cousin of Clara Elhalyn, Head of the Elhalyn Domain. I find intriguing your rising to such a delicate position in so young an age and would very much like to have the chance to know you a bit better, if you do not mind (of course you do not!). It is for this precise reason I would like to invite you to dinner one of these nights, before you leave for Aldaran again."

"S'dia shaya, vai damisela. You really pay me honour, with your great esteem of my person.

As for your invitation, I'm afraid I have to dedicate almost all the time that's left, before I go back to Aldaran, to my co-regent, dom Regis di Asturien."

Saying this, he bowed on Congratulatia's wrist, laid a kiss on it, and he departed as quickly as he could.

Congratulatia smiled and replied: "I see, dear regent. As a future queen, I am painfully aware of what a regency entails. I wish you only the best."Then she gently took her leave and headed towards Jorik.

The council had ended (Finally!) and everybody were buzzing about the ball. Regis was surrounded by people whom he barely knew and who were congratulating him for the co-regency. However, for some reason Rafael wasn't among them.

"It certainly is a change to leave this city...but by no means unwelcome change", he was thinking. " Hmm, I wonder if there is more in this than meets the eye...perhaps Domna Myria or someone else wants me out of the city? Or maybe I am just tired to even have such thoughts."

Regis was having an immense headache. Maybe there was a storm building up...

Rafael was still trying to make his ideas clear about the just ended Council session, in the great Hall at Castle Comyn.

He looked for his co-regent, talked to him, and in a few minutes he had already found out that Regis was not at all that creepy as Mabry would have pictured him...or as he remembered from when he was a litlle child, and Regis came to pay visits to his sister Flora and to his friend Lerrys.

The two of them were discussing about the first problem to be solved in Aldaran, and particulary about Mabry's laran training, when a servant addressed to them respectfully.

"Vai domyn, I'm sorry to disturb you...there's a message for both of you, from lady Mabry of Aldaran"

Regis looked surprised, but Rafe just smiled: "Mabry.." he thought.

Regis lifted one of his eyebrows, as he read the words, but once again, Rafe smiled. He was sure that this was a secret message to him, from his bratty lady.

Maybe even more secret than Mabry would admit to herself. "I miss you, too, Mabry" he thought.

Regis was furious. "How on Darkover may she even think that she can play this way with weather, and with her laran!?!" he nearly shouted.

"Uncle...please, don't be too harsh to her. This is not the way to make her understand. Besides, I think she was joking, when she wrote that.."

"Oh, really? Only joking, eh?"

"Ehr...I'm pretty sure...anyway, weren't we talking about her laran training?"

Regis grunted. "Yes, Rafael. I'm calm now. Let's look for domna Myria. I think it's rather urgent to listen to her opinion on this matter."

Rafael then asked his uncle's permission to go for a walk in Thendara, before the Council started again.

Rafe used the little pause in the Council to go out of the suffocating Crystal Chamber. He needed badly a little break to analyse better the present situation.

Besides, Mabry had written to him to greet Leisha for her, and this was just the excuse he needed to justify his walk.

He soon reached the Shop, talked for a while with the brown haired Renunciate, and exited with a box of chocolates, a gift that Leisha had insisted to give him for Mabry.

But it was still to early. Rafe didn't really feel like going back to the Castle. No more politics, please!

Oh, well. _He_ had asked for this, hadn't he? Just a bit too late to give up, now. Besides, his uncle as a co-regent wasn't that bad at all, even if he had liked better to demonstrate that he was able to cope alone with the responsibility of the regency.

Too caught in his thought, he kept on walking, not minding much to where his feet were taking him.

In the meanwhile, in the surroundings (if you want to read what Eliadha and Derik were doing before this, follow this link):

While they were still in the back streets of Thendara, Derik and Eliadha kept their eye out for any possible assailants. But as soon as they reached the more respectable part of the city, Eliadha became quickly engrossed in her own thoughts.

Her mind sifted through the information they had managed to extract from the man. She was so absorbed in this, that she didn't really watch where she was going. Usually this wasn't really a problem, seeing as most people tended to avoid her, when they saw her walking towards them with such graceful, deadly strides. Today was different however.

A man came walking from the opposite direction. Like Eliadha, he was engrossed in his own thoughts. He didn't really watch where he was going and almost bumped into Derik and Daimary, but they both just managed to evade him. The man seemed oblivious to this near-collision, and promptly bumped head on into Eliadha.

Eliadha, not expecting this sudden obstruction, lost her balance and fell to the ground. Shocked into alertness, she heard a husky voice say:

"I'm so sorry, mestra. I didn't see you. I hope you haven't hurt yourself. Here let me help you up."

Eliadha felt gentle but strong hands lift her to her feet. She was going to shrug his hands of and give the man a piece of her mind, when she looked up and ... gazed into the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen.

Her breath caught, her heart starting pounding and blood rushed through her veins. She tried to look away, but couldn't. In fact, she couldn't even move.

The man was paralyzed as well. He held on to the womans arms, while normally he would have let go as soon as she was standing. All he could do was stare into those deep blue eyes, that seemed to be speaking in volumes to him.

Eliadha slowly became aware of someone calling her name. With regret she drew her eyes away and turned her head to see who was calling her.

A little further off, she saw Daimary (an amused smile on her face) and Derik, who seemed be gesturing her to hurry up and join them. It seemed that he was somehow annoyed with her.

She turned back to the stranger and said in a soft voice: "Will you please take your hands of me, Dom ..?!?"

The man immediately let go of her arms, took a step back and made a deep bow.

"May I be so forward as to introduce myself. Dom Rafael Lindir, z'par servu." he said. "I'm so sorry. I can be a big oaf sometimes. I should have been watching where I was going. Will you forgive me, mestra?"

"Next time watch where you're going," Eliadha said. She tried to sound gruff, but couldn't completely disguise the sigh that escaped her lips as she looked into his handsome face.

"Eliadha, come on. We have to get back to the Guildhouse," Eliadha heard Derik say. Was it her imagination or did he sound anxious or .. jealous? Without a word, Eliadha turned around and walked to her friends.

As she reached them, she quickly glanced over her shoulder. He was still standing there and looking at her intently. She quickly turned her head back and walked off. Daimary and Derik had to hurry to catch up with her.

"Who is that woman?" Rafe thought. "Will I ever meet her again?"

Rafael stood up, in the Aldaran compartment, looking shortly at his uncle Regis.

He decided that this was too important to wait for his approval (if it ever came) in this matter, so he spoke:

"I'm astonished that such things could happen right here, in Castle Comyn.

I want dom Eduin to know that I'm ready to help him in any way he thinks I can. I offer the Aldaran apartments for curing properly the poor man."

He sat again, calm, but sort of curious of what Regis could think of this hasty move.

Regis rose up. "Grave accusations have been thrown around, and I at least do not fully know what to trust. Torture is unacceptable, but so is seducing or robbing young maidens. I would like to know what really has happened. And Aldaran suite is in your use, Dom Eduin."

Then he sat down and whispered to Rafi: "Looks like council is not ending after all..." *Sigh*

Back in the Crystal Chamber again, after escorting the Drytowner, Rakhail in the Aldaran apartments, Rafe was really fed up.

All the noise, and all those stubborn people shouting at each other like crazy.

He decided he had had enough of the Council, and he wished that once for all it were really over, so that...

Uncle Regis nudged him, and stared at him disapprovingly.

"Oh my...at least leave me my fantasies" thought Rafael.

...so that he could go again for the street of Thendara, free to discover the large world out there....free to find his whay to the Renunciates Guildhouse...free to bounce again, "by chance", in that (words weren't enough to describe her: it would be an insult to her beauty and charm) wonderful woman.

Aldaran had never seemed so far.

"I suppose I should stop this" Rafe said to himself "She probably doesn't remember me at all. And if she does, she's probably cursing me for hitting her accidentaly. Not to mention that she may have enough reasons to hate me just because I'm Comyn...". He sighed.

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