Disclaimer: I do not own any characters created by Tamora Pierce.
Although, it would be totally awesome if i did :)
Alanna paced back and forth in irritation. She could not get her damned mirror to show her anything of Daine's and Numair's whereabouts. She'd been scrying for days to no avail. Her worry that Daine and Numair had been killed had gotten steadily worse with every passing hour or every passing day. She was about to throw the mirror at a wall when she heard someone calling for her.
She stalked out of her rooms in the palace and into the hall. There she found Stefan and one of the younger stable hands. She looked at Stefan, confused. "What's going on?"
"This young'en's got good information for ya about Lady Daine and Master Salmalin."
Alanna gasped. "What? How?"
"This kid's been hiding his Gift for seeing things from the present. Seems he can see anythin' he wants if he thinks hard enough. As it turns out, the kid's a bit of a voyeur."
Alanna raised an eyebrow. "Why exactly are you telling me this?"
"Go on and tell her," he said to the boy, giving him a nudge forward.
"Er, well, my lady, I was looking for people who were, well…" the boy trailed off turning bright red.
Alanna looked at Stefan. "Would you care to elaborate on that lovely half sentence?"
"He was tryin' ter catch people in the act," he replied bluntly.
"Ah."
The kid stopped being tongue tied. "I wasn't lookin' for anything real improper, I swear. I was just lookin' for people as was kissin'."
Alanna sighed. "What does this have to do with Daine and Numair?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she froze, her violet eyes widening. "You s-saw them?"
The boy nodded. "I didn't recognize where they were, but there was a cliff and a river and Master Salmalin was covered in spidren blood."
"Well," Alanna said, struggling to pull herself out of shock. So that's what they've been doing all this time. "At least this means they're alive out there and probably not being held captive."
So, Daine and Numair. I don't know whether I should say are you serious? Or finally?
"Lady Alanna, Lady Alanna, you're needed in the throne room." Alanna turned to see a page running toward her.
"My, aren't I busy today?" she murmured to Stefan. "Is something wrong?"
"No, but there's a talking badger who says he has news to help us win the war."
Talking badger? Oh, Daine's friend, the badger God. Maybe he knows where Daine and Numair are.
"I'll see you later Stefan. See to it that that boy starts training his gift. It seems very powerful."
"Of course milady," he said smiling.
With that, Alanna nodded and headed off to the throne room.
I came up with this story about five years ago but I'm only just posting it now.
Please review and thanks for reading.