The One I Love

DG32173

Sarah: well, I've never posted a story under the book category before. I don't own the books of Tortall; Tamora Pierce owns them! Read and review. Try to give me some constructive criticism, or say something! I accept anonymous reviews, so that is no excuse whatsoever.

!!!WARNINGS!!!

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE! Okay, other than that, the fic is rated M for very adult content to come. You have been warned, so don't expect future warnings. I don't repeat warnings, new readers.

SUMMARY

Daine had always known she had more than just a knack for critters, but she didn't know what, exactly, it was she had. She lived in the countryside of Tortall with her mother, helping out and healing the local pets and wildlife. Her mother was the local hedge-witch, serving as a skilled healer and midwife. Then a mysterious mage showed up on their doorstep in search of a healer for his beloved horse and in need of a healer himself. During his stay with Daine and her mother while he and his horse heal, he realizes what her gift is: wild magic. Daine reluctantly accepts the offer to travel and train with him. What does fate have in mind for them? Numair/Daine

NOTE

(Authors note)

"Talking"

'Thinking'

Scene change

POV change

'Daine and animals talking to each other mind-to-mind'

Memory

Scene change in memory


Chapter 1

A Stranger in the Night

A young woman, about seventeen, sighs as she brushes her pony. The pony looks her in the eye. 'What is it?' she asks.

The woman has brown curls to her shoulders and soft blue-grey eyes. "I'm just wondering what is up with the wildlife, Cloud. They seem to think something bad is coming soon," she says softly.

Cloud is silent for a few minutes. 'I sense it too,' she admits at last. 'There's a change on the wind, and not a good one.'

The woman sighs. "Can't you do any better than that?" she asks.

Cloud snorts and stamps her hoof. 'I told you what I sense! I don't know what it is, but it's a very bad one.'

The woman chuckles slightly at her pony's outburst. "Okay, okay," she says.

"Are you talking to your pony again, Daine?" a laughing voice comes from behind her.

Daine smiles slightly, not even having to turn her head to know who it is. "Ma, the animals sense something bad coming," she says, sighing softly.

Her mother, Sarra, is silent except for her footsteps towards Daine. A comforting hand rests on Daine's shoulder. Daine looks up slightly at her mother. "The animals always know before us humans when a change is coming," she says. Sarra is a beautiful woman, and many men in the nearby village have tried courting her many times. But each and every one of them had been turned down time and time again. "Listen to them closely, sweet; they may be able to tell us about when this change comes."

"Okay, ma," Daine says. Daine spies someone in the doorway to the barn, and recognizes it as one of the few men still trying to court her mother. "You got a visitor, ma," she says softly.

Sarra looks up and sighs. "Not again," she murmurs as she heads to the door to greet the young man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes filled with hope and lust. Daine smothers a giggle as she watches the handsome man try to swoon her mother, only to be turned down for the gods-only-know-time. He seems to sigh in defeat and leaves.

Daine finishes grooming Cloud before leaving the barn to follow her mother into their nice, but small, ranch house to help with dinner.

Later that night

Daine is awakened by the sound of someone pounding weakly on the front door and a horse in pain trying to plaintively call for help. She leaps out of bed, grabs her bathrobe, and runs down the hall while putting on the bathrobe. She unlocks and swings open the door, only to catch a soaked man, enshrouded in a black cloak that is pulled down to show a tangle of long ebony hair and a handsome face, before he falls to the floor.

She helps him inside, noticing the blood pouring out of a wound that goes from his naval down around his side to end at his left hip and burns on his clothing on the left side along with his arms being burnt slightly. Calling for her mother, she carefully helps the man to a nearby couch.

When Sarra comes running in and takes charge of healing the stranger, she quickly runs out into the rain to check the man's mount, a beautiful spotted horse. The horse is also wounded, burns and cuts all over his left side. Talking softly to the horse, she sends peace from her mind to his and giving the horse the knowledge that she will take care of his wounds. She gently puts her hands on the horse's left side, between the burns and cuts, and focuses until she feels something in her start to heal the burns and cuts. She can't completely shut most of the cuts because most of her energy was drained from healing the burns and the major cuts.

While she heals the horse, the fact that she is now soaked to the bone is completely nonexistent. She slowly leads the horse into the barn to find the healing kit for animals she keeps there to stitch up the remaining cuts. 'Poor baby, what happened?' she asks him.

The horse stares at her in shock for a few minutes before replying. 'Master and I were in a mage battle. We killed the enemy but he had blown up after to hurt our left sides,' he explains.

'He's a mage? Can't he heal himself and you?'

'Yes. But he is nearly drained of his powers. I sensed one with the People in her and raced here as fast as I could without letting him fall,' he explains.

'That would be me, right?' she asks. He nods. 'Hold still, I have to stitch the rest of your cuts,' she says, having found the healing kit and retrieving some thread and a needle from it. She holds the needle to a candle in a lantern for a few minutes. Her mother has just enough of the Gift to enchant the lanterns to light when a human enters at nights; very helpful since Daine and her mother are awoken at all hours of the day and night to heal humans and animals that live near or pass through, or when a human or animal is birthing. She then quickly threads the sanitized needle and quickly, but carefully, stitches on the horse. If it hurts the horse, he shows no sign of it. 'What's your name?'

'Master calls me Spots,' he says.

Daine chuckles, she had noticed the gorgeous spotted pattern on the horse the moment she had led it into the barn. 'A very fitting name,' she replies. At last, Spots' remaining cuts are stitched close. She runs her hand over the length of the horse, checking to see if he has anymore wounds that have gone unnoticed. Finding none left, she leads Spots into one of the stalls and bids goodnight to him and Cloud, who had awoken when she led the horse into the barn.

Dousing the lanterns the normal way, as she has no Gift, she leaves the barn to race through the rain to the patio in front of the house. Upon reaching the covered patio, she quickly removes her muddy shoes, wrings her hair dry, and gets as much of the water out of her bathrobe as possible. Then she enters her house to see her mother is still healing the man. Her mother had removed his cloak and shirt so as to see the extent of the wound. Daine winces. The wounds that had seem mild with his cloak and shirt on are a whole lot worse than they had appeared. The cut she had noticed is much deeper than it had looked, he had first and second degree burns along his left side, and more wounds are turning his dark green pants a black from blood on his left leg. The man had fainted right after Daine had carefully helped him sit on the couch, thankfully. She'd doubt that, even with her mother's gentle touch, he'd be able to keep from moaning his pain at the very least.

"What happened to him? Did his horse say?" Sarra asks, not looking up from her patient; she has to keep her eyes on her patient so as not to mess up healing him.

"He's a mage, ma. He got in a fight with another mage and killed the mage. But the other mage blew himself up just before he died, catching him and the horse in the blast on their left sides," she says to her mother, repeating what the horse had told her.

Her mother shakes her head, never looking up from her task. "Too many fights these days," she murmurs. "I'm surprised there aren't any wars."

Daine shudders. "Don't say that, ma! Tha's a bad saying, brings bad happenings," Daine says, making a sign against darkness on her chest.

Sarra laughs. "Daine, I doubt there will be a war anytime soon," she assures her daughter.

Daine shrugs, noticing that Sarra had finished healing the stranger. "Where will he stay to rest?" she asks.

Sarra pauses in thought for a moment. "Well, we can clean up the room next to yours," she says at last.

Daine nods. "I'll get on it, you rest ma," she says. When Sarra moves to protest, Daine gives her a look. "You need to rest from that healing. You near drain yourself when you work on someone with that much injuries. His horse didn't have as many bad uns, so I'll do it." Before Sarra can reply, Daine has already disappeared down the hall to straighten up the bedroom next to hers.

It's the only guest room the small ranch house has, but they rarely get any guests so they use it as a miniature library, storing their books and scrolls in it. Daine opens the door and sighs upon seeing the mess. They only own four bookshelves total, each with about five shelves. They are crammed full and there are other books and scrolls lying all around the room. She quickly gets to work, moving the books and scrolls off and around the bed, putting them in a pile on the wall near the sole window.

She draws the curtains shut so their guest can rest without the sun waking him up. When she's done, she goes to the living room. She and Sarra sling the mysterious mage's arms around their shoulder and carry him down the hall to the room Daine had straightened. They carefully lay the man on the bed, cover him, and leave the room for their own beds.


Sarah: um, what do ya'll think? Did I keep Daine in character? Please review! As I said before, I DO accept anonymous reviews, so that's not an excuse you can use. Bye!