From: Stana Hierspiel <darkannex@yahoo.com>
Date:Sun, 25 Jul 1999 23:53:45 -0400 (EDT)           
Subject:[FARPG] Stana's awakenings.

Sorry about this all-this post is WAAAAYYYY out of sequence. This
should take place after the second part of the banquet finale, and
right before Stana appears to tend Audion's wounds. Again I can only
apologize for such a perplexing piece to come out so disjointly.

Stana
_______________________-
Stana lay against the ground, turning her cheek into the cool grass to
dim the warmth that was burning there.  She was numb to the hands
oulling back her hair, as well as the silly, nonsensical words that
were coming from Teri's lips. All she was aware of was the earth
beneath her, and the rich, rank scent of blood in the air.

There was a few moments of bustle as Clip shoved aside the gathering
crowd and stopped short at the scene before him. Clear startlement was
on his expression, before he bent over to gather Stana in his arms.

"I can walk." she murmurred, making a brief attempt to get free.

"Be still." he ordered tersely. "It will be me or someone else to take
you to a Healer."

She clutched at his jerkin and buried her face against the tattered
clothing as he took off after Shinji. Clip felt the touch but steeled
himself against it, mouth tightening.  His eyes rested once more on the
slaughtered army, and at the still feebly moving mass of roots and he
suppressed a shudder.  The soldiers f Steel were working carefully
through that tangled mess, and Clip wanted to be gone when they found
flesh underneath.

He deposited the mortal off at the Healers' hut, declining any offers
of help for his own sake, and set watch outside the doors.

Inside Stana didnt protest as they washed her off gently and put her to
a cot. She ignored the felicitous looks of the assistants and turned
her head into her arms.

It didn't help, she still couldn't get the horrific images out of her
mind of what she had done.
 Murderer, deceiver.
She pushed her face further into the darkness of her grasp and tried to
block it out. She didnt want to think right now. What a horrible person
she was. Evil, tainted, as unclean as a leper, but rotting inside.

She was crying quietly as sleep fell on her...

When she woke, Stana was in her own bed, the sun streaming against her
covers. She rose tentaatvely, puzzling out that she must have dozed off
and was delivered to her room after being treated.

It was odd that she did not wake up as tehy carried her... she was a
notoriously light sleeper.

The girl threw off her spread and padded across the room, throwing open
the balcony window and stepping outside into the fresh air. The signs
of last nights battle were cleared away, leaving the courtyard virginal
in teh golden light.

As she looked, a sudden wind tangled its fingers in her hair, whipping
the dressing gown about her body with violent gusts. Stana dug her
fingers into the marble of the railing and leaned into the wind.

Thunder rolled distantly, and then crashed into her ears with the force
of a shattering star. She gasped as jagged strips of lightening snapped
across the clouding sky, and she fled indoors against the pummeling
rain.

Dripping and shaken, she stood in the middle of the room, hugging
herself warm, when there was a knock at her door.

She started, nearly tripping herself, before taking some modicrum of
control. Her breath was sounding harshly in her hearing, and her heart
pounded against the walls of her chest, struggling to break free.

The knock came again.

"Who is it?" she asked, wishing Clip were here. "Who's there?"

Another flash of lightning and thunder may have drowned out the answer
as her feet carried the girl to the oaken entrance. She threw back the
lock and opened the door.

The door opened out to the storm, and a small figure stood smilingly
dry in the drenching rain.

It was Ramdek.

___________

Stana's eyes snapped wide, and her body contained within itself a leap
of pure startlement. For a moment she was still in her room staring at
the Nachtmerian boy...then it began to fade as the smells of the
infirmary infiltrated upon her.

She began to distinguish voices.

"Tell the General we have noone to spare. More wounded have yet to be
brought in, and all our Healers are engaged in emergency cases. Surely
the prisoners' minor wounds will wait against such a need as our own
hurt."

"Of course..." began the other "yet it is such a small injury. It can
but take a moment for a skilled one to attend. And this prisoner may
have information of a sort that we need."

"excuse me?"

Both turned with expressions of polite suprise at the girl sitting up
straight in her cot.

"I've a little experience with minor wounds." she said. "I can go."
She was getting up as she offered, eager to shake the last of that
dream from memory. "I'd like to go. Please?"

The Healer frowned, weighing the chances of her ability. He had heard
the Earth Chosen dabbled in some primitive herbology, and the gaurd did
claim the injury of little consequence.

She was not injured, other than shock and exhaustion. Surely she could
divert a few minutes...

"I'll get you some salve for the wound, but you must hearken my
instructions closely..."

"yes." she answered eagerly. "of course."

_________________
enter as to how Stana got to the room with Lyr and Audion. Yay.

Stana