Disclaimer: Valdemar and concepts belong to Mercedes Lackey; this fic and original characters belong to Senashenta and/or Fireblade.

COME THE DAWN
Chapter Six: Misunderstandings
By Senashenta & Fireblade

Time hardly seemed to pass as Triveni gasped out his message, then restored itself as all five whirled to streak towards Healer's. The Companions easily outstripped their Chosen, who lingered a little for Tri—but only a little. Triveni seemed content to simply jog—

Keahi glanced behind her. Oh. Of course.

Tethys had come up behind Triveni, and waited a moment for him to mount before leaping into a thundering gallop, overtaking Makani and Keahi within seconds.

Out-of-breath, at last the Elementals converged at Healer's Collegium. Keahi, Tri, and Makani filed inside as the Companions headed over to Fen's first-floor window, where Nitesh stood, his head vanished inside the room.

Once they reached the door, however, the three paused. Fen wasn't likely to have enjoyed his experience at all, and now—well…

A Healer bustled out in their moment of indecision, recognizing Tri and giving them a jerk of her head for them to enter. Slowly, they came into the room. Triveni took the chair where he had obviously been sitting before, and Makani swiftly claimed the other one. Keahi, at a loss, slowly sat down at the very edge of Fen's bed.

Fen had resolutely turned to face the wall, and was pretending to be asleep. Keahi, from her vantage on the bed, could see that this wasn't so—his eyes were open the merest slit, his dark hair tousled. At seeing her reaction, Fen closed his eyes again—not defiantly, just slowly.

"Fen, we know you're awake," said Keahi, taking none of it. "Talk to us."

"Please," added Tri, giving Keahi a sharp glance.

:Chosen?: Nitesh's plea was heard by all in the room, as well as the Companions vying for a place at the window. Even Edana wasn't picking on Ciro, for once—one red eye looking in the window even with Ciro's head just above hers.

Fen sighed. I'll have to do this sometime, he thought to himself, and sat up, shifting pillows beneath him to rest against the headboard. He didn't meet anyone else's eyes, though, stubbornly looking at his feet instead of the other's faces.

:Fen?…: came Nitesh's mind-voice again.

"Are you all right?" said Makani, at last, no longer able to bear the silence.

"Fine," said Fen, eyes involuntarily flicking up to Makani. He blinked. "Who are you?"

Makani grinned. "I'm Makani Anila. And you're Fen—Ciro and the others have told me all about you!"

Fen flinched. All? That isn't—that's not—

:Not everything, Chosen. Just your name and such. We didn't tell him about—well, actually, I'm wondering what exactly that was,: said Nitesh, tentatively, waiting for his Chosen to either lash out or close himself in some more.

Seven sets of eyes watched Fennelle nervously. And something in Fen cracked.

"Quit staring at me!" he snapped sharply.

Sheepishly, most of the others in the room shifted their gaze away, but Keahi fixed Fen with a level green-eyed stare. I've had enough. "Fen, what was that?" she asked, looking straight into his eyes, her expression clear that she wasn't going to take any dancing around the subject.

Fen's eyes met hers levelly, his expression as clear that he had his secrets, and preferred to keep them that way.

Both sets of green eyes stared at each other, Fire's anger warring with Earth's patience. All the other six could do was wait. Tri sat back a little, knowing this would take a while, but Makani yawned and let his eyes wander around the room.

Edana and Nitesh were intent upon the staring contest, but Tethys stopped straining to see over Fire and Earth's heads and waited. Ciro shifted from foot to foot, much like his Chosen.

I'm not going to stop until he tells me, thought Keahi as she stared at Fen. Equally strong was his thought of, Over my dead body.

The silence in the room was only broken by Makani's idle finger-drumming on the arm of his chair as the two sets of eyes bored into each other.

At long last, a Healer-Trainee opened the door and edged into the room, burdened with a heavy tray. Triveni leaped up to hold the door as she turned and headed towards the bed, setting the tray down over Fen's lap.

"Out you go," she said, firmly, to the other three. Keahi glared at her, but the Trainee would not be moved. "He's been days without any food but broth," she said, firmly, "And you are going to give him some peace, Elemental or not."

"Come on, Keahi," said Tri, quietly, still holding the door as Makani stood.

This isn't finished, thought Keahi as she stood and stalked out the door, not looking back at Fen.

Phineas sighed as he trailed slowly after the Elementals. I didn't even get to finish my questioning, he thought ruefully as he wandered towards Healer's.

However, since a certain… incident he would neither confirm or deny, Phineas was no longer allowed into Healer's Wing unless—and this was a quote—"Unless you are bleeding from the eyes, ears, and the rest of your body, Bard."

He could see the four Companions clustered outside a window, but as he tried to edge closer, the blue-eyed one—the Water Companion—gave him a level look that said going nearer would be a very bad idea.

Phineas beat a hasty retreat to a bench and watched the door, pretending to enjoy the sunshine. Bringing out his charcoal and parchment again, he doodled a few lines of words and crossed them out in turn, at last settling on drawing a tree.

The door slammed. Phineas looked up, and saw the red-haired one—Keahi, wasn't it?—stalking down the path. She was muttering to herself, and Phineas decided, in self-preservation, to stay where he was. He might be a Bard… but he wasn't sure his immunity would hold around that one's temper.

He went back to drawing his tree.

A shadow fell over the paper. "Is that a…" said the owner of the shadow, scrutinizing the drawing—"a Brussels sprout on a stick? Who would want to roast a Brussels sprout?"

Phineas glared up at the Heraldic Trainee. "It's a tree," he said, icily—then realized who it was. This was Triveni, Chosen of the Water Companion. "Pardon my rudeness," Phineas said, switching to smooth politeness, "Will you answer a few questions for me?"

"As best I can," said Triveni, warily.

Phineas moved to a clean part of the parchment and began firing off questions as fast as Tri could answer them.

Triveni came out of the encounter with the Bard with the odd feeling that he had barely escaped with his skin. Does he stop at nothing? The earthquake to who the other Elementals were to who my family was?

:Bard Phineas is well-known as one of the nosiest Bards in the Circle,: came a chuckling voice into his mind. :I see you didn't know what you were getting into, and I was having too much fun watching your face to warn you.:

"Thanks," said Tri dryly to his Companion. Tethys' eyes sparkled with amusement as he fell into step beside her. "Did Nitesh manage to pry out what it was yet?"

:No… and somehow I think we should leave him his secret for now,: said Tethys. :We only need to know that it's a pain-loop and blood triggers it.:

"I don't know if that's enough," said Tri, thoughtfully.

Tethys head turned to look into the distance. :Not again,: she sighed as she listened.

"What?"

:Oh, Edana's just venting her spleen on Ciro again. Why, I will never know…: muttered Tethys. :Excuse me, Chosen, while I go prevent Ciro from being minced into tiny pieces by our fiery friend.:

She cantered off.

Tri wandered alone for a while, musing on nothing in particular. Balance, he suddenly thought, blinking. Tethys is water, and she is the only one who can shut Edana, fire, up.

He blinked again. That's interesting. Tri made a note to watch for further signs of this balance between them.

Tri continued to meander, at last emerging into Companion's Field, where he saw a rather interesting sight.

Ciro, a large Companion stallion, was doing his best to curl into a ball as a tiny Companion mare—hardly larger than a pony—advanced on him, but stopped as Tethys advanced on her. Ciro took the opportunity to make a sneaky escape into the trees, and Tri chuckled at the poor Air Companion.

"Hello," said a voice to his right. And above him.

Tri looked up. Makani was in a tree, at first glance comfortable, but on second look—

"Can you please help me down?" Implored the Trainee dangling from several choice branches.

"What happened?" asked Tri, scrambling into the tree to begin unhooking Makani.

"Keahi happened," sighed the Air Chosen, shifting his weight obligingly over to the right so Tri could work his tunic off a particularly knotted branch.

"What did you do?"

"Well… I tried to see why she was so angry and to calm her down, but she threw me into the tree," explained Makani as he dropped onto another branch. "Ow."

"Sorry," apologized Tri, thinking, She's got one hell of a temper, then. "Want me to see if I can smooth her down?"

"It's your neck," said Makani darkly as he lowered himself from the tree. "Thanks."

Tri watched the boy walking carefully away, shrugged, and dropped from the tree, looking around for Keahi.

Keahi, however, had no intention of being found. She was in the last place anyone would look unless they were mindlinked to her—in one of the lover's grottoes by the river. She paced back and forth, quiet as a cat as she fumed.

First he goes and collapses, has as all bloody worried for days, then doesn't even have the courtesy to tell us why! Who does he think he is?

She kicked fiercely at a stone, which ricocheted off the wall and into the river. Keahi watched it, darkly, then resumed her pacing.

:Chosen?:

"No, Nitesh," said Fen, staring at the wall. His head was really starting to hurt, but he was told by one of the Healers that more sleep would not be good for him at the moment, and so he had come to endure the last half-candlemark of questions.

First the others, then Nitesh's endless stream of questions, he thought, I'd bet my life that one of the Heralds—or maybe a Mindhealer—will be here within the next half-candlemark to question me.

Nitesh sighed, shifting his weight from hoof to hoof outside the window. He was worried about his Chosen; he would not lower the shields around his mind to even his Companion!

That was disconcerting, really; it gave Nitesh the impression that part of his mind was a blank wall. Tentatively, he probed at the barrier again, but found no breaks or breaches in the wall. Where did he learn to shield? He shouldn't be able to do that at this level! It isn't healthy…

Nitesh sighed again and peered at his Chosen, who stared resolutely at the wall. Time for another try… :Chosen,: he wheedled, :Please. If you can't tell me, at least just open to me. I might be able to help…: he finished, rather hopelessly, but trying to sound persuasive.

"I said no, Nitesh."

:Why?: asked Nitesh, plaintively. :You're not doing any good, locking it up inside you like that. Do you really want to lose control like that again? At least share the burden. :"Pain shared is pain halved…":

This got a reaction—a flash of guilt, and the image of the gash over Keahi's eye, before the barriers slammed shut again. Aha. A crack, thought Nitesh. :If you tell me, I will know what links you to your power, and I could block it so it wouldn't happen again.:

"No. No one can help me with this," stated Fen, flatly. There was no room for questions around it-just the flat statement that Nitesh's Chosen believed with all his heart.

Nitesh sighed yet again. This was really beginning to give him a headache—if he'd had hands, he would've rubbed his head. The flat sentences delivered by his Chosen made Nitesh even more worried than he had been before-there should be some emotion there.

Nitesh slowly withdrew his head from the window and let it fall towards the ground, sagging and letting his posture go. :Chosen…: he said, or rather whispered, without any real hope that it would be answered.

There was no answer. With hooves that felt more like lead than silver, Nitesh turned from the window and slowly headed back to Companion's Field. He didn't want to go, but he needed to eat eventually… and to not do so would invite lectures from not only Tethys, but Kyrith as well.