Daine awoke three days later tucked in bed in a cozy room in the best of Port Legann's inns. At first, she fought a haziness that obscured the entire past four years, thinking at once she was back in her room in Snowsdale. Slowly, as she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, she remembered. She was Daine, the Wildmage. She alone possessed the ability to speak to animals telepathically; she alone could transform into any animal she wished. Well, without the gift. There were others who could transform, only a few of the best mages in the realm. One of those mages, her teacher, came back to her in a rush of pulsing memories and Daine remembered suddenly everything she was, simply by remembering his face.
Numair. For three years, she had been at his side, on a multitude of adventures that took them all over Tortall, and further. Of all her friends, Numair treated her with the most respect…and love. When the fresher memories of their love repositioned themselves at the front of her mind, her knees felt weak and her heart pounded, air strangely constricting in her lungs. The lack of air made her head swim with a familiar heady rush. She remembered their first kiss, the first time she had felt that unhinging heat. If thinking of kissing her teacher occurred to her before that kiss, it would have made her ashamed and embarrassed to admit, but now, after it had happened, it felt natural. She knew instantly that the new feelings taking over were easy to fix: she just needed to kiss him again.
Daine rose from her stuffy sheets and quickly dressed, thankful for the clean blue tunic and leggings set out for her on the bedside table. Opening the door to the hallway, she speculated on where they would have put Numair. He should be up by now, even though the fight with Inar Hadensra had drained him. Her drainage of power often led to several days of sleeping; he could usually recover in one or two.
Obeying a grumbling in her stomach, Daine decided first to head downstairs and get a bite to eat. If she had her preference of how to spend her first hours with Numair, she would need some nourishment.
As she rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, she ran smack into a short, taught body topped with flaming red hair and a smiling face.
"Alanna, sorry. I didn't see you there!" Daine was happy to see her friend looking so well. The effects of the recent war seemed to have fled the warrior woman's face with her few days of rest. There of course was cleanup, but the major players could afford to rest for a few days.
"It's good to see you up, Daine. I expect you were coming down for food? Or was it something else?" The tone of her voice gave something away, but Daine couldn't imagine what it was. The older woman's violet eyes sparkled impishly.
"You were right the first time, I'm starving." Daine felt rather tall as she followed Alanna to a table in the corner of the inn's common room. A kind lady took their order and had their food on the table within minutes. Daine ate quietly, quelling the protests of her empty stomach. When they finished, Alanna was the first to speak.
"So, how did Numair fare against Inar Hadensra? I knew you were worried about him." Daine swallowed hard, remembering the horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach as she looked for her friend after the great mage duel. If there was even a possibility that Inar won, it would wrench her dreams from her in a terrifying instant.
"He said it was the hardest yet, and he looked rather ashen, but I'm sure he'll be all right. Have you seen him?" She asked, a little too anxiously. Her friend smiled.
"I have. He's been up for about a day now." Daine chewed her lip, not liking that Alanna had the advantage over her. The wide purple eyes looked at her innocently, almost daring her to ask where he was. Suddenly, she didn't care if her friend knew of the growing attraction between teacher and student. Throwing caution to the wind, she plunged in.
"Can you take me to him? I'd very much like to see him."
A satisfied look passed over Alanna's face. She was right—there was something going on between these two. Onua told her of how she found them, hidden under a weeping willow with Daine supporting Numair. Onua also told her of their ride back to Port Legann, where both mages rode on Daine's horse Cloud, and how she glanced back more than once to find the older man's arms clasped a little too familiarly around his student's waist; how Daine kept twisting around in the saddle to lift her face towards his, murmuring below Onua's range of hearing.
In any case, Numair's strange behavior since he had woken was enough to confirm Onua's sightings. The tall man refused to leave his room, and worse yet, refused to let anyone—specifically Daine, come to see him. Alanna, not being one to take such orders from friends when she knew something was fishy, barged into his room just that morning to pry it out of him.
After a good amount of protest, the lanky, dark-haired man relented and told her his worst fears—that Daine thought herself in love with him; that he couldn't risk losing their friendship if a relationship didn't work out. The look on his face was so heartwrenching in that moment that Alanna knew before she asked that his feelings towards his young student were more than friendly.
"You love her, Numair?" She'd asked, gently.
"Please don't tell anyone. I'd die if they all knew I was pining for her even as she romped off with boys her own age. Before…we…kissed, and she said she loved me, but…she's so young, and she probably doesn't even know any better, I mean, I certainly didn't, I really didn't love anybody like this…" He trailed off, rambling. His voice cracked with torment; Alanna could tell this had been weighing heavily on his mind.
"Numair, she's a fair bright girl, you should give her more credit than that. If she loves you, she loves you. Don't question it. Just because you're older—"she scoffed, "there's snot much difference it makes."
"You're a good friend, Alanna. Please, do me a favor though. Don't let her see me…not until I'm ready. I need to get her out from under my skin."
Alanna looked at his pleading eyes. She was about to slap him, he was so daft. What if Daine didn't want to get out from under his skin? The King's Champion recognized a mess when she saw one. For the moment, there was nothing she could do but agree—but soon enough she'd be playing a part in bringing the two together, assuming of course Daine was as tormented as Numair over the whole subject.
The whole conversation played over in Alanna's mind in a matter of seconds, and she turned back to Daine's pleading face, mirroring that of her teacher's. Alanna cleared her throat.
"Er…lass, Numair told me he doesn't want to see you—" the young girl's face fell, breaking Alanna's heart. This was exactly what she was afraid of. Numair certainly knew how to shoot himself in the foot. "But it's not for the reasons you're imagining." Daine looked at her helplessly, then that steely stubbornness returned.
"If you don't tell me where he is, it's not as if I can't find him myself. I can talk to mice, you know." She closed her eyes in preparation to seek out a suitable friend to help her find Numair, but a cool hand on her arm distracted her.
"Daine, he doesn't want to see you because he's afraid you won't love him."
The stunned look on the girl's face told Alanna that she indeed still did love him, as much as a girl of sixteen could, in any case. Thinking that, she remembered herself at sixteen and decided that if anyone could love as wholly and consciously as herself, it would be Daine.
"Look, I'd hate to have either of your hearts broken; you're my friends. So I'll take you to the silly man, if I have to knock the door down for you myself. Does that sound good?" Daine looked at her with appreciation and nodded sniffily.
"Can we go now? I think I'm ready."
Moments later, the two women stood outside Numair's door. Without announcing themselves, Alanna tried the doorknob, finding it expectedly locked. Using her purple magic she unwound the black and silver threads binding the door to it's frame, then with a great heave, she flung her muscled body against it as she twisted the knob.
"Mithros, Mynoss, and Shakith!! Alanna, I told you never to do that again!!" A tall, slender man sprung off of his bed in an instant, still fully clothed, as if he had been staring at the ceiling. Ha, thought Alanna, in self-pity, I'll bet. The dark, handsome face was framed with shoulder-length black hair, and Numair turned from the door, gathering it into his usual horsetail. He had obviously not seen Daine behind the King's Champion.
"Whatever you're here to lecture me about, make it quick." Alanna pushed Daine into the room, then slipped quietly out behind her, closing the door with a whisper. He finished grumbling and when he heard no response, he asked in a torn voice, "How is Daine? Is she up yet?"
Daine took a deep breath, already feeling giddy at being so close to Numair's taut frame, the spicy scent of him filling her muddled mind with longing.
"I'm fine, and I'm awake. Although I can't imagine why you'd tell Alanna not to let me see you. Sometimes you really are a dolt."
There was an awkward moment as the mage's shoulders fell, his fingers still. Then he turned, a trace of fear in his deep, apologetic eyes.
"I'm sorry, Daine. There's just, things we need to talk about, and Goddess forgive me, I don't know if I'm ready." He saw the closed door after he wrenched his eyes from her beautiful form.
"Daine—we can't be in here, together, with the door closed!"
"Shush, you ridiculous man. No one saw, and if you keep your voice down, no one will. Sit down."
Numair didn't even hand her a witty comment about being bossed, he merely folded gracefully into a perch on the edge of the bed, with his face in his hands. Not knowing whether she should go to him or not, Daine shifted awkwardly on her feet.
Numair looked up, his dark brown eyes penetrating her own blue-gray ones. Between their eyes, more conversation took place than either of them could really verbalize. Slowly, he reached a hand out.
Needing no further invitation, Daine went to him, almost so relieved she could cry. Their hands met, her small one in his large, rough one.
"Daine, I don't want to pressure you into thinking one thing, if it's not what you want." He looked up at her, hands warmly wrapped around hers.
She removed one gently, then laid it on his face, testing the feel of his skin under hers. It still sent electricity through her, making her ache for things she didn't quite understand. Along with the ache was a satisfaction, a knowing that if she were the only one allowed to touch him like this; to look at him like this, it would make her happy for the rest of her life.
"Numair," she whispered, voice choked half with tears and half with desire, "you're not pressuring me. I want this too. And I want you to stop bossing me around and telling me what I do and don't want. I want you."
The heat between them built until it made the air crack. Numair took his free hand and wound it around her, pulling her close to him, laying his face against her stomach. She looked down at his black hair, pressing and holding him there with her own free hand. Both of them had tears in their eyes, tears of fear that the other would not love them. Daine broke the silence.
"So when you kissed me after the spidren attack, and all the other times…you still feel that way?" She tilted his face to her.
"Goddess help me, I still do. And I don't think I can stop, magelet. It hurts, but I can't stop."
"Well, that's good, because I don't want you to stop. But I think I can make it hurt less." With that brazen comment, she leaned down and kissed him, a lingering, hot kiss that held all her love, all her strength. He ate it up, returning it with just as much force. The reciprocation fueled her boldness, and she used her body, pressed so close to him, to bear him back onto the bed. He didn't fight it, instead he wrapped his arms tighter around her, helping her to nestle on his chest even as he explored her mouth lovingly.
For a few moments, the kissing was sweet, but soon Daine found herself uncontrollably shaking, and a new passion entered their kiss, an almost animalistic fire. She could not get close enough to him, nor he her. She wanted something, but she could not pinpoint it, having none of the experience he had.
Before he lost control, Numair pulled his lips away from hers, leaving a hazy, pink girl in his vision. His voice was coarse and breathy as he spoke his next words, seemingly reading her mind.
"Daine, I know what your body wants, even if you don't. It's this kind of problem we're going to run into."
Thinking it not such a bad problem to have, Daine settled her head into the nook of his shoulder and waited until his breathing leveled a bit. The evidence of his attraction to her did not fade, however.
"Numair?" She asked timidly. "Can you teach me?"
The innocence in her voice made his muscles tighten again with longing. She was so beautiful, mature enough to match him in wit and stubbornness and bravery, but naïve enough to be positively unhinging. She was undeniably loveable, and he wanted more than anything to teach her, show her, how much he loved her.
"Magelet, I'll teach you anything you want. But not here. What do you say we take a little vacation?"
Nervously, she grinned, knowing that she had gotten her way yet again. He never had been good at disappointing her, after all.