"Wren´s story" by Jenny Wren Moore

::grandfather!:: they had been flying. the young ones first time, learning to use the wings of her dragon form. her father couldn’t teach her... her father was one of the throwbacks that occasionally happpened among the changelings, son of a dragon changeling and a fire elemental dragon, he was denied the gift of Changing. she had silently promised herself that one day she would find a way for her father to fly. her grandfather had stopped to rest, but she had been having so much fun that she wouldn’t stop flying. Then a scream ripped through her mind. It was her grandfather; she flew back as fast as she could,clumbsy with inexperiance . she arrived just in time to find a man, in blood soaked armor, drenched in dragon’s blood and his sword dripping with it, prepare to take off her grandfather’s head as a trophy.; there was already a gaping hole in Brightwing’s chest. her form blurred to that of the more familiar elven one in shock, and she screamed.the man turned to her.

“ its alright, little one, the monster will nae harm thee,” he began, but she didnt hear him the three year old child wanted to know why, why this had been done to her beloved grandfather and she wanted to strike out against that which had caused her pain, a normal reaction in a child. in pain and ignorance she stripped his mind, taking the knowledge she so desired, and left it a bloody broken thing. his name was Fexian, he was a knight, a dragon slayer, his only purpose n life was to hunt down and kill dragons, he enjoyed killing them. he believed that he wasprotecting his people by doing this. he and his comrads-in-arms had been watching her family today when she let for flying lessons, some one had told them that there were dragons around here. she followed his thoughts to the other two, and entered their minds. she got there just in time to witness first hand what they were doing to her dying mother. she wrenched her mind away, rejecting all she had found with a forces that burst the hearts of the three men.

the young girl sat for hours after that next to her grandfather.

“ grandady? grandady... plese wake up? talk to me grandady..” the shock his limp shoulder. and withdrew her hand in shock at the lifeless chill of it. “ I’ll play with ye. we’ll play chase, and hide in the trees, and i’ll get mommy to make us some cookies..oh please..grandfather..Brightwing.. please..wake up..”

her grandmother, life-bonded to her grandfather died with him. the search parties didnt take long to find the boodies, beated and oviously used befor death, but they also founf the bodies of the attackers, without a mark on them. it took them a little while longer to find the young girl, curled up in a fetal position in the woods, sobbing, her mind and heart torn.

. . .



Kelan looked over at the little girl sitting in the corner, she hadn’t said anything, not since they had brought her to the children’s home three years ago. She just sat there and stared at the air in front of her, with those too old eyes of hers. She only ate when food was placed in front of her, and she never played. Nobody even knew her real name, just her family name. Kelan sighed, they would be getting another child today, another who had lost his family. Dammit Nexus was supposed to be a haven for these folks, not a convenient place for anyone with a grudge against the fae people to go and kill them at. By now every slayer and would-be hero, or knight, even magicians’ apprentices knew where Nexus was, and that it harbored supernatural beings who had been chased out of their homes. The children’s home currently had six elven children, counting the poor child in the corner, two selkies, three pixies, one nixie, a young centaur, and two of the bird-folk. The child coming today was a vampire. Poor thing, humans hated vampires even more than they hated dragons . . . Kelan sighed and went over to check on the child in the corner. Dragon slayers were the ones who had killed that one’s family. The mind healer who had looked at her when she first came here had said she was in shock, and he hadn’t been able to break her out of it. The girl had been in shock for three years now though . . . More disturbing was the fact that the girl disappeared every so often, for days and then reappeared just the same as always, mabe the new child could break her out of it, apparently his family had been murdered the same way hers had been, and Kelan thought that empathy might work where sympathy wouldn’t.

The young one arrived at noon, just as silent as the girl, but there was emotion on his face, not the blank mask she wore, that was promising. He was in shock, but his mind was still there. Kelan put him in the same room as the girl and made sure he was as comfortable as he could be.

. . .



From the corner of her mind where she was hiding from the memories, of her family’s death, the sick realization that she had killed thinking beings, and the thought that if she had just been a little faster . . . She could hear a boy sobbing, she could feel his pain. She had to help him she couldn’t not help him. She slowly let herself become aware of her surroundings. She saw the child, and shunted the painful memories to the back of her mind. Those memories had kept her locked in her own mind for three years. The pain of another had brought her to do something she would have never done for herself. She carefully merged her mind with his.

:My name is Wren, I am here for you: she told him, in the physical world she walked over to him and picked him up and held him. And the realization and release came for both of them: We are Not alone!

They had each other and their shared loss. Then Wren did something that she hadn’t thought she could anymore, she cried. They cried themselves to sleep in each other’s arms.

. . .



The young man who monitored the security cameras called Kelan.

”You had better come and see this“ he said excitedly. She ran up to the room, and he pointed to the monitor for the girl’s room. She watched the transformation of the silent staring girl to the active comforter and then a fellow griever avidly. When she turned back to the young man, he could see tears in her eyes.

”She’s going to be okay“ Kelan said joyfully ”thank the gods they’re both going to be all right.“ She pulled the young man up out of his chair and they danced for joy, laughing.

. . .



Wren woke up the next day feeling better than she had in a long time, she still hurt, but she was alive again, and the boy was fine. She felt him stir beside her and open his eyes, then squinch them shut against the sun light. She quickly handed him the sunglasses she saw nearby.

”Thank you“ he said, and with a shock she realized that he was a couple of years older than her, his vulnerability had made him seem a lot younger “My name is Vincent“ and he smiled a small sad smile that told her that he, too, still hurt but was ready to live. He had pail skin and black hair and eyes, his canines were a little longer than usual . . . but that was okay so were hers.

”Are you a vampire?“ she asked curiously. He nodded :ah, I’m sorry, I know the instincts must drive you crazy sometimes . . . I know mine do. I’m a cat/dragon changeling and the instincts of my other forms were the only thing that ever intruded upon my grief . . . :

:I understand, I know, it seems we are alike in more than just our grief, although my instinct is to go after blood and yours . . . :

:is to hunt and kill things, yes: Vincent shuddered.

:Are you able to control it?: he asked:it’s hard for me . . . :

:Yes I am, although if I don’t hunt, I go into a state similar to the human’s ‘Beserking’, in that state I am an animal, and nothing not even I can stop me, the need to go somewhere, where I wouldn’t hurt anyone is what intruded upon my grief, it’s the only thing that did: ”ah well the burden of being what we are“ she said aloud, and more cheerfully.

They ventured out of the room peeking out from behind the door at the other children. Wren sensed that the other children had also lost their families, several of them were elven. And a few were of her kind. She went to them shyly.

”Hello, I’m Wren“ she stuttered. One of the males turned around, his golden eyes widened meeting hers, and his breath caught. She thought she might fall into those eyes, and she knew, for all that she was only six years old, that she had found her life-bonded.

”Hello,“ wonder in his voice, ”my name is Jason. You’re the girl who always stares at the wall aren’t you?“

”Yes“ she said simply ”I was“ Jason for his part felt the same way about her as she did about him, and when their eyes met he thought he might drown in her liquid blue eyes, there was no doubt in his mind that they were life-bonded, for all that he was only seven years old. She reached out with her mind and he met her halfway. Their minds merged, with the certainty of love. He turned back to the group.

” This is Wren, she’s one of our kind, but unlearned and shy,“ he told them then he turned back to her “Wren, this is Sandy, Alean, and Lay. The selkie trying to hide behind Sandy is Anton.“ The toddler looked shyly out from behind Sandy, with his large black eyes.

. . .



The children all accepted Wren and Vince as one of their own, and Jason and Wren got married as soon as they reached the end of their growing periods, about six years later. Elves mature allot faster than humans, especially the changelings, although after they reach that point they stop aging at all till the end. Wren became a geneticist, remembering the promise she had made the day her family died. Jason and Lay became biologists, Sandy went into medical research, Anton became a chemist, and Vince became a botanist. Alean chose genetic manipulation.

One more person joined them before they graduated from the university her name was Julen she majored in micromacanics for the purpose of replacing organic parts lost. Julen was missing her right leg at the knee. They were all working on a project together, except Anton who usually dropped by just to watch. They were up late the night of the accident, because they felt they were coming close to their goal. Jason went home muttering about workaholics. There was an explosion. They were drenched in the chemicals we had been working with and the magic they had been using back-lashed over them as the spells broke. The explosion destroyed the notes and the computers, even the backup files were lost. They were rushed to the hospital, but by the time they got there they had already healed. The doctors kept them for observation, but there was no need. They discovered that their mind and magical abilities had been strengthened tenfold. And Wren could actually see DNA & RNA and manipulate it. She and Jason celebrated the discovery together. As you can imagine, their children were born early in their life times. They spent the rest of, at least Jason’s, life together.when he reached 400 years of age he died. That was the first time Wren ever tried to suicide, it didn’t work. The second time was after her children, Seline, a warrior, and Eric, a healer, died only a few years later, when that happened her mind completely snapped. She sought out an uninhabited world and took the first form she ever took that wasn’t one she was born with. She turned herself into an oak tree, and she slept. She awoke briefly to the sound of children’s laughter about 100 years later, but immediately went back to sleep. Then only 50 years later the sounds of battle woke her, and children screaming. Bandits were ransacking a small town that had come to be around her, she responded. She formed a rapier out of the elements around her and went into the battle. After she had run a few of the bandits through, she stepped back, and used the v

ice that had given her her name, she emitted a note that knocked everyone around her unconscious. She went through the town and killed the bandits and healed the innocents, she collapsed afterwards. When she awoke, she was in the healer’s cottage, and Vince was there standing over her.

”Feeling better song bird?“ he asked

”How did you find me?“

”It was easier than you would think,“ he said gently “you were crying in your sleep, one could hear you every night, this place is called ‘Lover’s End’ an appropriate name, I think. You comforted me once now it’s my turn to comfort you“ she pushed him away, Vince was in love with her, he always had been. It was, however, impossible for her to feel the same way about him, she had been life-bonded to Jason, and the memory of him, and the yerning to be with him, would haunt her forever.

. . .

It was raining, not a surprise, Wren thought, it was always raining here, what a horrid dimention. She had come here to see if the fighting force called the Silver Blades might let her become one of their number, but as she examined her mud spattered cloak and shoes inside a small inn, she thought she might as well stop looking for them, she’d been trying to find them for months now, and everyone one knew they were in this dimention....the problem was finding out where in this dimention.

”If ye don’ mind me sayin’ so miss,“ a voice to her right said, ”ye picked a bad time of the year ta be travelin’.“ She looked up at him, a water sprite, this place was absolutely run over with the fae folk associated with water. Anton’s parents probibly came from here.

”Don’t I know it,“ she said, shaking a bit of the water off her cloak. She wasmorbidly sure that a fire elemental, even one with only one fourth of that blood in her veins, should not be soaked through with water every day for three months strait. For that matter neither should cats.“ is it ever not raining here?“ she asked mornfully. The sprite chuckled.

”‘Tis what gives the place its charm, miss,“ he laughed, ”but truely what it ‘tis is that ye’ve come in the middle of the rainy season,“he laughed again when she made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. ”It only rains three days outa seven in the dry season,“ he added. She covered her face with her hands and made despairing noises. She thought I was not designed with this place in mind. The sprite took pity on her“what be your name miss?“

”Its Wren“ said another voice coming up behind her. She almost jumped out of her skin before she recongnized it.

”Anton! You shouldn’t sneak up on a person that way,“ she admonished him.

”Serves you right, disappearing on us that way, Wren. I see you’ve met my friend Joyn,“ he added nodding aprovingly.

”What are you doing here, Anton?“ he blinked.

”Don’t you know? I’m one of the Silvers“ it was her turn to blink.

”When did that happen?“

”Right after Jason died.“ at the look that came into her eyes, the absolute despair, the total lack of anything resembling hope, he whispered, ”Jason might not have been my lie-bonded, Wren, but he was one of my best friends....i know its nothing like what you’re going through, but his deathhurt all of us deeply.“ She looked away, Anton would never understand...none of them would. The bond hadn’t broken when Jason had died; she could still feel him, waiting for her on the other side, and the need to be with him was driving her mad. She turned back to Anton.

”Anton, where are the Silvers? I’ve traveled all over this wretched world and half drowned myself trying to find them,“ she looked at him defiantly daring him to contest her choice of profession, simply because she was female. He blinked.

” now how the Hell did you plan to get in without credentials, or at least someone to vouch for you?“

”Well I thought....“ she floundered with the whole idea. She reflected that 500 years certainly changed a person..the wild-eyed little boy she had met so long ago would never have said that to her back then. She recalled that he had taken a human wife ...but that had been decades ago.

”Oh come on,“ he growled. He took her arm and led her back out into the rain and through the muddy streets. She was soaked through again and dripping. The place he brought her too was a modest little building..which is probibly why she overlooked it before. It was made of grayish sandstone and had a rickety old sign above the door and she could barely make out the crossed swords in faded paint that announced what the purpose of the building was. He ushered her inside. The inside of the building was just as modist as the outside. ”This is just HQ,“ Anton explained, ”the men are housed elsewhere.“ He led her to a moderately large room. There was a man in there sitting behind a desk reading reports. He was human, old but not out of his prime and his whole body was criss-crossed in hairline scars, and his muscles were as hard as stone.. A credit to the conditioning he put himself through. ”Milord,“ Anton bowed. The man didn’t even look up from the report he was reading.

”What do you want Anton?“