Hey everyone who was crazy enough to read this, me and my friend wrote this to cure the boredom of many ….classes. You may notice the different styles of writing well that's because it was an add on story. Like I would write something and then she would have to write something on and off, back and forth you get the picture. So, the different font shows the thoughts or words of the two different authors. I hope you enjoy it cause making it was defiantly a blast.

Disclaimer: We do not own any of the characters that are in any of Tamora's books……….unfortunately.

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Falling

It was a beautiful summer day; the sun was shining bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the beauty of the day was wasted on a young woman who was sitting next to a pond thinking about how feelings change over the years. (Guess Who) Something was wrong, but she didn't know what it was. Even the squirrel, who was idly chatting with Veralidaine Sarrasri, noticed, but neither could say by name the problem. Daine looked into the pool. Something was coming, not necessarily a bad thing, but something that she wouldn't like. Numair knew it too, he'd been nervous ever since he got a letter from Kaddar in Carthak, and Daine had a feeling Numair wasn't telling her something. (Hint: Who would make Numair nervous with Daine around and is from Carthak…Dun dun dun)

Hmm, Daine thought, I'd better go back to the room and talk to him. Daine stood up and dusted off her breeches and started walking back to the castle. She ran through the halls, down the corridors, and finally to the room she and Numair Salmalín, famous black robed mage, shared. She quietly opened the door and saw that Numair was nowhere to be seen. But Kitten, the dragon formerly known as Skysong, informed the Wild Mage that Numair was in their bedchambers

The door was closed so Daine crept up to the door and put her ear to it. She heard moaning inside and frowned. She put her hand on the door handle and prepare herself for what was inside the room (he he he). She lost her nerve. She wanted to turn the handle, but couldn't make herself do it. She asked Kit, finally, if anyone was in there with him. Kit, in reply, hid under the chair. Daine was mad and she now had anger to fuel her to open the door. When it was open, Daine gasped and stood in the doorway as Numair looked up at her

Anger welled up in her for what she saw made her want to cut off his head slowly and painfully. There were clothes everywhere and Daine knew the pink dress that was lying at the doorway too well. Numair's robe was lying next to the pink dress, and Daine knew she had to say something. "You… you… AAAHHH!" Kel's sparrow's flew through the window and, at Daine's command, started pecking at and pooping all over Numair's black hair. "My hair, my hair!" he started screaming. Varice, terrified of birds, ran through the halls, with only a sheet covering her, mind you, screaming like a banshee.

Daine glared long and hard at Numair and he turned his head and gulped. "Daine, you know how much my hair means to me… he he." His joke failed miserably, and he was most definitely going to feel her wrath now. All of a sudden animals all over the country went on a rampage. (Poor Numair he he) Numair, being the big fat coward of a mage that he was, used a transportation spell and was relocated to Carthak. Daine was happy that he was gone and decided to write him a letter informing him that she was keeping their room in the palace and that he better stay in Carthak. (A/N: I don't know how she could tell he was in Carthak, but she could.)

Now it was time to find Varice hehehe. Daine ran down the hall when she saw a sheet sticking out of a door. Daine smiled evilly and went up to the door. The door was already open and Daine walked to the doorframe, casually leaning against it. " 'Lo there Miss Varice." The blonde woman spun around and looked at her with terror. "D-Daine, how are you today?" "Oh, I've been better… but to carry on the small talk, I learned something interesting today." "Is that so?" Varice asked with a gulp. She heard a shriek from down the halls and watched as an eagle, a hawk, and a falcon alighted on the young woman's shoulder and arms.

"May I ask you a question, Varice, woman to woman?" Varice barely nodded her head. "You knew Numair and I were together, so, why did you do it?" Her eyes flashed angrily, "So what if he was with you, its obvious that he had a better time with me," Varice said as she slapped Daine. As soon as Varice's hand touched Daine's face, the birds started screeching then flew off Daine's shoulders. Circling overhead, Varice feared they would attack and, too busy watching her winged predators forgot about Daine.

Daine ran up to her and punched her squarely in the face. Varice was shocked at the power and form behind Daine's attack; where she came from, girls were weak and didn't know how to fight, but here was obviously different. Little did she know that Daine often joined the pages, squires, Riders, and the Own in their practicing and could fight quite well

Varice touched her eyes where Daine's punch had landed. Suddenly she reached for Daine, grabbing a handful of the thick, brown curls and pulling with all her might. Daine twisted around, grabbed her thumbs, and twisted them hard. Varice then flailed around, succeeding in scratching Daine once in the eye and several more times on the rest of her face. A child who worked in the stables walked by and saw what was going on in the room turned and yelled, "CAT FIGHT!"

A stampede of feet was heard and soon, a large crowd of pages and squires watched in awe as the two women fought. Varice's sheet started to drop, the boys consequently started gaping even more, and Daine used the opportunity to strike her twice in the face and one hard blow to the stomach, making the blonde double over in pain. A tall man walked in and put his hand on the head of the child who declared what was going on. His green eyes (No, he's not Neal) looked from Varice to Daine to Varice again. Then he came up with a logical answer to what the fight was about based on gossip. He glared at Varice and turned around. "Nothing to see here, move along, move along." All the squires and pages groaned but listened and went back to lunch. The man turned around and smiled mouthing, "Good luck, Daine," and walked out with the child, who happened to be his younger sibling.

Daine smiled for the first time today. Leave it to her young friend Ron, commander of the Thirteenth group in the Own, to cheer her up. Then she turned back to Varice who was pinned, her anger returning. (Phew that was a lot) Daine looked her over. Wow, she thought, I can do some serious damage! Her blonde hair was matted with the blood spilling from her nose, her eyes were swelling largely, and her right cheek was an inch farther out than it was before. On closer inspection though, she could see an ample amount of her own blood and skin under Varice's nails. She spun around to look at the mirror and saw the four long scratches down her face, each with a trail of blood to follow it, and saw the corner of her eye bleeding. Turning to look at Varice, she tried not to get too angry.

She socked Varice over and over again and so her face would look more distorted she scratched her. Then she broke down and cried. Daine got up and ran, running into Neal and Ron. She kept running until she got to her old room. Keladry of Mindelan saw her running and went to comfort her. "Daine, I heard about the fight. Sounds like you kicked ass! Why are you sad, then?"

"I feel so rejected, am I that ugly?" Daine asked. "Daine, you're being daft. You know Varice can't even compare, right? I thought you were smart!" Daine laughed thought tears were still falling down her face. "I have enough common sense to know that she's prettier than me, though," she said with a sad smile.

Kel's eyes almost popped out of her head. "Are you mad? You're much prettier than her," Kel said, " especially now since you messed up her face." Daine laughed heartily, "I guess I did mess her up pretty bad, huh?"

"That you did. Lots of people have crushes on you. I mean even Ne-" Kel put her hand over her mouth. Daine kept laughing and then stopped abruptly. "Neal? Nealan of Queenscove, your best friend Neal? Me? How did I not notice?" she wondered aloudKel said quickly, "OK, OK yes he does like you. Actually, he's liked you since we were pages, but you didn't hear it from me."

For once, the Wild Mage was speechless. She sat there staring out the window thinking about this knight. How could she not know this? She heard tons of gossip, so how is it possible she hadn't heard? Kel looked at her friend and sighed. She didn't know if what she said had helped or hurt the matter. She only said that so that Daine would take her mind off Numair, but she saw that her plan hadn't worked very well. Kel sighed again and tried to think up another solution. Then it hit her, she smiled evilly. She'd be a matchmaker and put Neal and Daine together. (Wa ha ha :cough: wah ha :cough: Oh, Dang it all)

"Well, I guess it's a good thing," Daine thought aloud. "Huh?" said Kel. "Well, I was starting to worry that only creepy old guys would ever like me. And it's very flattering, Neal has good taste so I guess that's saying something good about me!" Kel chuckled; this might be easier than she thought! "Yeah, that's about the only thing he has good taste in," Kel said while laughing.

Daine shook her friend's hand and pulled her into a hug. "It's about time I was happy again." Kel smiled, "Well, at least I get to see your smile again." "Thanks Kel… I gotta go, though. Need to set fire to all of Numair's stuff," she said with the evilest of all smirks. "This will be fun." Kel chuckled as Daine went out the door, "Yes it will, Daine, yes it will." She ran down the halls again and, in repetition of prior events, ran into Neal again, only this time he was alone.

"Oh, Mithros! I'm so sorry! I need to start watching where I'm going," she said sitting up and trying to get her eyes into focus. Neal shook his hair out of his face. "That's OK. I've become quite accustomed to this position anyway," he said. Daine laughed, then stopped. He was… No, no way was he flirting with her. "I dunno… for knowing animals so well, you'd think I'd be more graceful or something," she said, laughing. Neal laughed at that. "Well, you'd think that since I'm a knight I'd pay more attention."

She laughed again and tried to analyze the situation. Before she could really think about it anymore, she looked up into his green eyes and all thoughts stoppedDaine thought, Oh man, I'm in big shit now. "Daine… uh… do you know where Kel went?" She could tell this wasn't what he was going to say, but she was just glad he was talking to her. A commander (:cough, Ron, cough:) snapped his fingers. "Damnit," he said. He was almost positive something would've happened. "Kel went that way, so I guess I'll see you later.," Daine said pointing in the opposite direction. Neal could hear the disappointment in her voice, even though she tried to hide it. "Yeah, I'll see you later," Neal said sadly.

Daine turned and walked away, disappointed that the encounter was so short. Wow, she thought, he has really nice eyes… and arms, too, and… "Oh my gods!" she screamed once she had gotten outside. I shouldn't be thinking these things! And how is it possible that I forgot about Numair so fast. A couple of minutes ago, all I could think about was what I had done wrong to him and his gruesome torture. Now all I want is to be standing next to Neal again, being with him and looking into those eyes… This can't be good! How can I be thinking these thoughts when I never thought about anyone this way… not even Numair! Frustrated with her own head, she turned into a bird, a hawk like the one she had summoned earlier, and flew above the trees. The air hitting her wings helped, kind of, but she couldn't stop thinking about him

Meanwhile, Neal walked down the opposite hall that Daine had, thinking about how shallow he must be. I just broke up with Yuki after her parents said that we couldn't be together and I'm acting as if it's no big deal and flirting with Daine, Neal thought to himself. But I did like her before, so I guess it's not that bad. But I'm not supposed to forget Yuki that fast! Maybe her parents put a spell on me… Yeah! Sure, that's it! Neal went around the corner and kept walking.

Suddenly a knife was held up to his neck. Neal froze; he hadn't even heard this person slip up behind him. His captor whispered in his ear, "And you call yourself a knight." Neal elbowed the man in the stomach and turned around to see the man doubled over. He had reddish-goldish hair, which looked like copper. Neal looked closer and saw that the man wasn't doubled over from pain but from laughing too much. Neal paled, "Ron?" he squeaked. "In the flesh," Ron said while laughing.

"Why the hell did you do that?" yelped Neal, "Trying to test my reflexes or something?" "How'd you guess, I mean, your reflexes are slower than mine when I'm asleep," Ron said with a smirk. "Ha ha ha, very funny," Neal said. Everyone in the Own knew that Ron had faster reflexes than every man in the Own put together.

"Not really, just sadly true. I mean, for being a knight you're not very quick. Prone to assassination. But that, my little friend, is what I, the Great Ron, am here for," he said, standing tall and puffing his chest out. Neal laughed and play punched him in the arm. "Ha ha ha, yeah, pick on poor little Ron, no big," Ron said with a mock sadness in his voice. Neal smiled slightly but his mind was somewhere else.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked. "Huh? Oh, nothing," Neal said. Ron side glanced at him, "Uh-huh, sure. Come on man, how long have I known you, you can't pull one past me." Ron, though he was 5 years younger than Neal, had known him since he was 11. They had met when Neal was at the University and Ron had a small job as a runner since he had no mom or dad and was raising his kid sister. Ron grew up on the street, so he knew the quickest way to get somewhere. They had met when Ron was assigned to take every letter Neal wrote to his teacher. "Are you going to tell me yet, or do you want me to guess about it? It can't be that bad. Come on, man, please? You know you can trust me," he said with a grin. Neal snorted then sighed, "Ron if I truly knew what was wrong, I'd tell you but I don't." "Yeah, sure," Ron, seeing that he wouldn't get anything out of him, said. "But if you need me, you know where I'll be," he said, charging down the hall. Yeah, I just don't know if you can help, Neal thought with a sigh.

It was night by the time Daine returned. She was just thinking about how she needed to talk to someone when she ran into another person. Not again, she thought. She opened her eyes to see that she did not knock Kel down, but her tall friend was still standing. She squatted down and said, "You okay? You look kind of frazzled. Everything alright?" "Umm yeah, I'm fine," Daine mumbled. "Great Mother Goddess, you're a horrible liar! You know, I can help. You need to beat something up? I'll take you to the practice courts. You know, beating things with sticdks can really make you feel better. Or, you can just tel me what's buggin you, and then we can figure out a way to make it better. Daine thought about it then shook her head. "Maybe tomorrow. Right now I'm tired." "Okay, but don't seem so down. It is very out of character." Daine waved goodbye, making sure she watched where she was going very carefully.

Well that's all for now. Hope you liked it, give us opinions. Te te a fend tat a for now.