Of Love and Midsummer

Summary: "Really, I'm lucky, since I barely knew Yuki. Neal knows you fairly well, and I've discovered," Numair smiled wryly, "he even used to have a crush on you." Midsummer brings unexpected love to Tortall.

Author's Note: This is a collaboration story that started with my insane urge to write the opening scene. My sister kindly wrote quite a bit to help me out and then we worked on it together! Can you tell where the writing style changes?

Enjoy!

"Arghh! I can't believe this! Does she want me to go insane?" Nealan Queenscove pulled his short black hair, making it stand in comic disarray. He paced quickly back and forth across the floor of his best friend's bedroom.

"Neal," Keladry, the aforementioned best friend lounged on her bed and regarded her friend with amused eyes. "Pacing a rut into my floor isn't going to get her to be any safer or come back any sooner."

"Does she even know what she's doing? She could be going into a trap, attacked by bandits, anything!" Neal's voice was taking on a squeakiness that made the woman on the bed wince slightly.

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Kel's voice was calm and even. "After all, she's got a lot of experience doing this sort of thing."

"Yeah, and have you heard the stories? They don't exactly inspire confidence! Do you know how many times she's actually, literally, DIED?" Neal's breathing came in short bursts and Keladry suddenly was afraid that her friend was about to pass out.

"Come sit down, Neal. You don't look so good." Crossing the room, Kel grabbed the man's shoulders and led him back to the bed, sitting him down firmly. "You have got to calm down."

Neal leaned forward on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. "It's just so hard not to be with her. Kel, I want more than anything in the world just to be beside her, for her to be safe, happy, and, above all, here."

Kel rubbed her friend's back absently, knowing that nothing she could say would help to quell the tide of foreign emotions running through her friend. She just hoped that a solution would be found soon.

King Jonathan of Conté knocked quietly on the heavy wooden door before him. A muffled "come in" issued from the room beyond and the man let himself in. "Numair," he said to the tall, thin, sleep-deprived man bent over the desk before him. "How are you holding up?"

The man looked up, startled, then gave a half smile, "Better than Neal is, according to the noise I hear coming from downstairs."

"Alanna said that he's easily excitable, I don't think anyone was expecting it to this extent, though," Jonathan sat on the edge of the desk, still managing to look regal in the process. "Any luck figuring out how to reverse this?"

"Very little," Numair muttered looking forlornly back at his notes. "I've searched through every text on the subject and no one seems to have experienced anything like it."

"Could it have anything to do with Midsummer?" Jonathan asked, leaning over to glance at the other man's notes.

"Who knows," said Numair leaning back in his chair. "Anything is a possibility now."

"Well, Alanna is almost done setting up a safe room for experimentation and we are all at your disposal if you think of anything else you need," Jonathan stood up to leave then turned around suddenly half-way to the door. "By the way, I heard that Daine is coming home tomorrow. Have you been able to get her word of the problem?"

Numair shook his head. "Wish I could. As it is, we'll have to explain once she gets here."

"And Yuki's still on her visit to the Yamani Islands and won't be back for at least a week. I'm guessing we're going to try to leave her in the dark until we get a better handle on it?" Alanna had entered while Numair was talking and was leaning against the doorframe.

Jonathan looked at Numair. "I think it would make it easier on everyone. What do you think?"

"Agreed," Numair turned back to his notes. "I've been fine so far—don't really know the woman. No point worrying her when it could be fixed by the time she returns."

Jonathan nodded and exited while Alanna went to take his place on the edge of the desk. "So how 'fine' have you really been?"

Numair looked up, a mixture of lovesickness and humor echoed in his eyes. "I've never wanted to write poetry so much in my life."

Daine led Cloud into the palace stables to remove the tack. It had been an interesting couple of days but she was looking forward to settling back into some semblance of a routine and seeing Numair. Definitely seeing Numair.

Thunder Temper is here. Cloud suddenly said as Daine lifted her heavy saddle off of her horse. Daine turned to see Alanna leaning against one of the stalls, watching Daine work.

It's not nice to call her that. Daine said absentmindedly to the horse before addressing the redhead before her. "Alanna! I didn't expect to see you here."

The woman gave a half smile. "I can haunt the stables with the best of them. How was your visit with your parents?"

Daine shrugged picking out a horse brush, "Too short."

"And the trip?"

"Fairly uneventful," Daine said as she began to brush Cloud with smooth, even strokes. "Only ran into one spidren."

Alanna shuddered. "I hate those things. I think we'd better start sending someone with you for these holiday trips to see your parents."

"I'm really fine," Daine protested. "My friends keep me safe."

Alanna looked like she was about to argue, then reconsidered. "Daine," she said slowly. "Something's happened that you should know about."

Daine's eyebrows wrinkled as she sensed the sudden tension from the other woman. "What's the matter?"

"Well… it's something like…" Alanna bit her lip and stared at the stable wall. She had been told to break it to Daine gently and Alanna was not good at being anything but direct. She gave it a try. "Uhm… You wouldn't marry a panther, would you? …No, that's no good. You see, magic is really unpredictable sometimes which makes it difficult to control and sometimes things happen that no one intended to happen and well… you wouldn't want to eat mincemeat pie for the rest of your days—would you?" Alanna looked into Daine's face, hoping that some of her words made sense.

"Alanna," Daine looked suddenly disappointed. "I never thought you one to speak in riddles."

Alanna sighed, "You're right. And you deserve it straight. You know how Neal and Numair were working on the cure for madness?"

Daine nodded. "Mental healing. Numair thought that if he combined his magic with a healer's, they might come up with a way to straighten out a brain that's off its rocker. He was in the middle of an experiment when I headed out."

"Right. It's a really new field and neither really knew what they were doing—no one really could know—and there were some problems."

"What sort of problems?" Daine asked suspiciously when Alanna stopped to take a deep breath.

"Emotional problems," Alanna winced then went on, slowly. "During the melding of Numair's gift and Neal's gift. It might have had something to do with their focus on mental healing but while they were melding some things got a little… mixed up. Emotionally."

"Like how?" Daine's eyes flashed for a moment and she put her hand on Cloud to steady herself.

"We're not sure as to the full extent but what we do know is that at least many of their stronger feelings have been switched. And each of their strongest feelings had a lot to do with their partner." Alanna swallowed. "To put it very simply, Neal feels for you what Numair did, and Numair feels for Yuki what Neal did."

Daine looked like she had been kicked in the stomach. "You mean… Numair doesn't—he doesn't—he's—he's in love with Yuki?"

"It's not like that," Alanna said, quickly taking a step toward Daine. "The feelings that Numair feels rightly belong to Neal and the feelings that Neal feels rightly belong to Numair. Numair still feels the same it's just that—Neal is feeling it right now."

"Can it be fixed?"

"Numair's been working day and night—as have I and anyone else available. I've just finished setting up a warded room for safe experimentation. We have to be cautious though—we don't want to mess things up more than they already are."

It was a lot for Daine to process all at once. For a long time she stared at the stable floor, her hand still on Cloud's side. Finally she said a little uncertainly, "I want to see him. I want to talk to Numair."

"Are you sure?" Alanna asked.

Daine took a deep breath. "No. But I have to see him."

Alanna finally sighed and nodded. "Okay, but you'd better take the back way around. Neal has been prowling like a panther lately, waiting for your return. I will say this, Numair has had an astounding amount of control in the past, considering what his feelings have done to Neal. I've never seen the boy so wound up and worried as he is about you."

This brought a tiny smile to Daine's lips. She certainly had given Numair enough reason in the past to worry about her. That, coupled with Neal's nature to worry and get overexcited, probably would be funny if the whole situation wasn't so horrible at the same time.

Numair set aside the cold cup of tea he had been sipping and stood to stretch his long legs. They were almost ready for their first experiment. A long conversation with Neal had pinpointed the moment they thought the switch took place. If they could get back to that state they might be able to find a path for the switch back. The problem was that Neal's gift was so different from Numair's that there shouldn't have been a path for any switching to begin with. Somehow they had created one with all their mingling and the trick would be to create one again.

A knock startled the man out of his reverie. Numair looked up as Daine entered, the tension evident on his face.

"Why is it things never happen with men my own age? You always go on about how you're too old for me, and Neal is definitely too young for me." Daine smiled at Numair, only slightly forced.

"Daine, um…I-" Numair looked at Daine in a way he never had before, in a way that made Daine feel like she was the older one for once.

"Don't worry, Alanna already told me the basics. I know your emotions got switched with Neal's, including how you feel for me. What I want to know is…are you still Numair?"

Numair had a concerned look on his face, but Daine was disturbed at the lack of…something. "I'm still Numair, my personality, knowledge, memories, abilities are all the same. It's just the emotional part that's mixed up. It's like someone cut off that appendage and switched it with Neal's. I can remember how I used to feel, but I don't actually feel it." Daine flinched slightly as she considered that, and he smiled sadly. "Really, I'm lucky, since I barely knew Yuki. Neal knows you fairly well, and I've discovered," he smiled wryly, "he even used to have a crush on you."

Daine blinked. "Oh. Erm, maybe I should avoid him for a while. That could be awkward."

Numair leaned forward and looked intensely into Daine's eyes. "No, Daine, don't decide that right away. He loves you now, every bit as much as I…did." He swallowed and said that last bit uncomfortably. "He's been crazy with worry about you." Numair caught Daine's eyes resolutely. "I want you to know, you are completely free to…be with Neal until this whole thing's resolved. I'm sure he'd feel a whole lot better if you did, and you should really be with the one who loves you. I currently," Numair sighed, "love someone else."

Daine shook her head. "Well, you're certainly still Numair. Only you would come up with an idea as daft as that."

Numair frowned. "Daine, I'm being serious. I… I no longer feel the same way, and I can't control that right now."

Daine smiled, with a ghost of a twinkle in her eye. "Hey, at least you still feel like a person. I doubt feeling like a younger guy is quite as odd as my feeling like a horse or a wolf. That didn't change anything for you, did it?"

"Daine, you don't understand-"

"No, really, I do. You just somehow don't understand, after all these years. I fell in love with you, not with your feelings for me. I'm not a child anymore, and I'm not with you just to be adored. If that was all I wanted, I could get it somewhere less complicated. Even if you're missing your emotions for me for the moment, the person who formed those emotions is still there. I would never have fallen in love with Neal, however nice of a boy he may be. I fell in love with Numair, my strong, noble, rambling stork-man, the one who was always there for me, long before we got involved romantically. It's Numair who I'd do anything for, level a palace or return from death or defy the gods for. Even if you're missing a piece of you, you're not going to be missing me. Whatever you feel, I still love you, and that's not going to change. We're going to get through this together."

Numair looked overwhelmed, and Daine gently took and squeezed his hand.

"Where is she?" A shout from the hallway startled Numair and Daine apart.

Daine ducked behind Numair, grabbing his hand again. "Here we go."

A second later Neal burst through the door followed closely by Keladry at a trot. "Daine!" Neal started towards the girl but caught himself when he spied Numair giving him a very dirty look. Instead he gave a grand bow and said, "I'm so, so glad you're safe, Daine. Is there anything I can do for you? Get for you?" His eyes took on an overwhelmingly desperate look as he squeaked. "Anything?"

"I wouldn't speak too soon, Nealan of Queenscove," It was the king and he had caught the tail end of the discussion. Everyone looked over, startled and began the quick series of bows and curtsies due his station. Jonathan took little notice and continued, "Yuki's cut her trip short. She arrives tomorrow."