The Wildmage toured the grounds of Mindelan, in her form of an eagle. She was so high up that the forests and castles looked only like smears of greens, grays, and browns. Then she saw a bright glint followed by another. Curious, she flew down to investigate, and landed on the ground in front of the Stormwing.

"Now what are you doing in Mindelan?" she asked the Stormwing suspiciously. The only thing that was special about the fief was that the second female knight of the realm, Keladry of Mindelan, was from there.

"But what is an eagle such as yourself doing here? Spying for the King, I suppose?" The Stormwing teased.

Daine Sarrasri winced. Even though she had come to realize that Stormwings weren't all that bad, she still very much disliked them. Stormwings were immortals who could not be killed by death or old age, part-humans with glinting metal feathers, and not to mention a horrible odor, who preyed upon fear of battle, and the aftermath of it.

"The Scanran war's over; what do you want from Mindelan?" Daine voiced her thoughts.

"Em…uh…We're…just looking for some battle."

Daine finally understood. "But don't you know where the battles always take place?"

The Stormwing's human face flinched. That confirmed Daine's thoughts. Something unusual was taking place here, for the easy going Stormwings to be so anxious.

"What do you know, you're just a mortal!" At that the Stormwing started flying away.

Quickly Daine shape-shifted back into normal form, strung her bow, took an arrow, and loosed. She had carried her gear in a pack, just to be ready, if anything like this did happen. But she wasn't quick enough. Though she had trained herself to be very fast at shape-shifting, she wasn't that fast so that she could beat a Stormwing who was already in air, and well beyond her range.

The Stormwing jeered at her. Turning beet red, she gazed down her length and winced yet again. After she shape-shifted, she never quite knew how to get her clothes back on fast enough to not be embarrassed. She got them out and went behind a bush to dress. When she emerged, the Stormwing was still there, waiting for her. Now Daine's suspicions increased.

Judging her look correctly, the Stormwing said, "Oh, don't be surprised! I knew you'd come chasing after me if I didn't answer you, so I decided to spare my energy!"

Daine grinned. The Stormwings had learned to know her well, from all her encounters with them. "So…" she trailed off, inviting him to tell her what the immortals were doing in Mindelan.

The Stormwing sighed. He seemed to contemplate which way he should start explaining. Finally he said, "We Stormwings are tired of people – and gods – treating us like all we are are battle haunters, and we want to be better understood as who we really are. As you yourself have come to realize, it is our nature to be who we are."

"But why are you in Mindelan?" Daine interrupted. Her mind calculated all through this, but she didn't understand where the Stormwing was leading with his talk.

The Stormwing looked down. "We have decided to kidnap Keladry of Mindelan."

"What!" Daine shrieked. "How are you going to be understood if you kidnap Keladry!"

"We will be noticed," the Stormwing said gravely.

"But you will be noticed in the wrong way!" Daine understood none of the Stormwing's plans.

"Maybe the gods and mortals will come to realize…" he trailed off. Daine saw a tear on the human face. Her eyes bulged. Stormwings never cried!

"No. You should make another plan because Keladry will not be harmed." Daine had taken a liking to Kel during the Scanran war. The girl had commanded a refugee camp, and Daine had helped her. Kel never wanted to harm anyone. The only reason the Stormwings wanted her as their prey was because she was important to the realm.

No. Something was wrong here. If they wanted to take an important person, why hadn't they taken Alanna, the King's Champion, also known as the Lioness, or Daine herself? She had to tell King Jonathan of this strange occurrence.

"Excuse me," Daine said to the Stormwing, and went back behind the bush to shape-shift back into an eagle. When she got back to her landing spot, the Stormwing was gone.

Shaking her head, the Wildmage flapped her wings and flew back to Corus, where King Jonathan sat at his desk, reading reports from the Scanran border.