Author's note: This takes place after the 4th book, however it has an alternate ending. In this story, Daine and Numair never confessed thier love for each other! That happens later in this story!

Daine yawned, this is the third time in the last 10mins, this party was dragging on forever! She knew it was to celebrate the end of the war and everything, but it was getting to the point of rediculous. She was still tired from the major battle that just ended, if she had her way, she would be sleeping right now, but King Jonathan and Queen Thayet had insisted she attend, but at least they hadn't insisted she wear one of those aweful dresses everyone else was in. Even Alanna was forced into a dress for this occasion. Numair was forced to wear his black mage robe, which he actually looked impressive in, if it weren't for the peevish look on his face, like a petulant child forced into his sunday best. She herself was wearing a robe similar to Numair's, but this one was special commisioned just for her. With her being the only wild magic mage around they had made a robe special for her, it was startlingly similar in color to the color of her wild magic when she looked into her wellspring of copper fire, she suspected Numair had a hand in that. But she had to admit she loved it. However when they gave it to her she had no idea that it was for this party. If it weren't for the fact that she loved it so much, she would have felt tricked.

Luckily for her, the party seemed to be drawing to a close, with just small chit-chat left, she was relieved that she would soon be able to go to bed! She was just edging toward the door, when she noticed that she would have to pass Numair, Alanna, and Ouna, in order to get out, and they were less than likely to let her pass without calling out to her. But she had to try. So, sticking close to the wall, she slowly edged out of the room. On her way out, she heard a snippet of conversation, it was Numair talking to a busty blond about their time in the relm of the gods.

"Yes, it was truly like nothing else. It was particularly difficult after we left Daine's mother's house. Both of our magic didn't seem to do much."

"Oh, how aweful! I bet you did most of the work, seeing how strong you are! Must have been so difficult having to protect your student as well, especially since her magic is her only good point, with her magic not working she must have dragged you down so much! But with you being so strong and all, you made it through so easily!"

"Not at all, it was by us working together that we made it out!"

Alanna soon cut in, "I thought it was Daine's mother and father that saved you, and set you on the right course."

"Well, yes-"

Ouna then but in, "And Daine's connection with Kitten that allowed you to ask the dragons for help."

"Yes, but-"

Ouna and Alanna turned to the blonde, Alanna spoke first, "It was Daine that was able to use her connection with animals to harrass the enemy armies, making them unfit for battle, giving our forces a distinct advantage!"

Ouna spoke next, "And it was Daine herself who managed to single handedly defeat the enemy Orzone, who was acting as Chaos' pawn. And it was mostly because of Daine, that some of the Stormwings decided to fight with us."

The blonde at this point was starting to back away slowly muttering,"Oh, I see, I didn't know... Well I'd best be going now..."

As soon as she was gone, Numair spoke,"I'm perfectly well aware of all that Daine has done for us. You didn't have to point it out like that, and remind me so perfectly as to how useless I was during that time."

"Oh Numair, don't get so depressed, we know you contributed alot too! She was just talking so bad about Daine, and the fact that you let it slide without rebuking her just made us mad."

"I was going to correct her..."

"Before or after?"

Numair seeming to have gotten the hint blushed red. He started looking around while looking for something to say. He happened to meet Daine's eyes as she was inching toward the exit. His eyes widened in panic as he realized she must have heard everything. Alanna and Ouna also happened to notice her nearby and both smiled at her.

"Well look, it's the devil herself, come on over here Daine!"

Daine sighed inwardly, she got caught, and to make it worse, they had just been talking about her and her role in ending the war. She herself didn't think it was such a big deal, but everyone else thought so. She went over and stood in the circle of friends, Numair still slightly red from the earlier comment, kept silent. Alanna and Ouna both proceded to compliment her on her apearence, and then went on to talk about her deeds in the war. Daine tried and failed to make her actions seem like not such a big deal. Numair, still silent decided to go get a drink. What he didn't know was that Perrin, the Clerk, had added alot of pure alcohol to the punch in hopes of getting some poor girl drunk and getting lucky. So, when Numair went to get a drink, he gulped down a big drink quickly becoming snockered. Then, he just stood there brewing, still upset over the eariler comments. While he loved a big show and all, he also knew how to give others credit. However, when reminded in such a blantant way, how useless he was... It kind of made him upset, and when he was drunk, he lacked the skill needed to keep quiet about it.

He quickly marched back over to the small group of friends. His face slightly flushed from the amount of alcohol he had in his system. As Alanna and Ouna continued to praise Daine, Numair slowly became more and more angry. Finally, he exploded in rage.

"Oh yeah?! Well she wouldn't be capable of anything without me! Both because I trained her and because of the barrier I put over her magic to keep her from going mad! She would be nothing but a WILD ANIMAL without me!"

Both Ouna and Daine gasped, Ouna looked pissed, while Daine looked on the verge of tears. Alanna just looked confused, but she knew that judging from her friends reactions, he had just crossed a HUGE line. Daine quickly ran out of the room, and after a word to Alanna, Ouna quickly followed. The phrase that Ouna passed on to Alanna told her enough.

"Knock him out."

That is precisly what Alanna did, and none too gently. Luckily, they were near the door and made a quick exit without too much drama.

Ouna had caught up to Daine as she was leaving her room with a pack over her shoulder, and her father's bow in her hands.

"Where are you going?", Ouna asked, worried.

Daine's looked very cold as she replied,"I'm going out for awhile."

"Are you sure? I'm sure he didn't mean to! He almost never drinks cause he knows he has a loose tongue when he is drunk."

"How do you know he was drunk?"

"A couple of reasons, mainly, I saw some kid spike the punch earlier, I didn't know it was that strong, or I would have stopped him. I'm gonna be honest we were kinda goading him on, to humble him a bit. I swear I had no idea he would lose it!"

"It's not your fault, but that doesn't change the fact that I need to go for awhile. I'm not taking Cloud or Kitten, so could you please keep an eye on them for me? I already explained what's going on to them already."

"Sure, if that's what you feel is best."

Daine started to walk away when she thought of something.

"If she would like to know, you can tell Alanna about it. I trust her as much as I trust you. I know she is probably a bit curious. And you guys trusted me with plenty."

"Alright, I'll let her know you said so... Be safe, okay?"

Daine smiled,"Okay. Thanks for understanding, Ouna."

With that Daine left, and headed toward the forest, once she had gone far enough in, she undressed and put her clothes into her pack, at her silent request, the magic bow given to her by her father, shrank to a size that would easily fit into her pack as well. Then, last of all she put a cap on her quiver and tied it to her pack. With all that taken care of, she quickly transformed into one of her favorite animals, the hyena. She choose that animal for its strong jaw capable of holding her pack, and for the strong legs that could take her long distances with little to no effort. Grabbing her pack in her jaws, she quickly set off.

After traveling far enough, she quickly changed back, got dressed, and proceded to set up camp. That night, some of the animal gods visited her, the badger leading them. They told her it was time to continue her training as a wild magic mage, only this time, they would be the ones training her.

The end of chapter 1! Finally!