Hello, this is my first fanfic, so please review! No flames, but constructive criticism is appreciated. I was planning to start where they enter the stonemaze, but I ended up here. R&R

Disclaimer: Honestly, if I owned these characters, I would be a millionaire. They belong to TP.

"Who knew that the Divine Realms was so big?" Daine demanded.

Numair was abruptly startled out of his thoughts. "Magelet, all of the gods live here. Did you expect it to be small?"

"Smaller."

Numair laughed and went back to his thoughts. He shouldn't be thinking these things, but he was. His hand reached unconsciously to his wrist and felt the locket nobody knew he had. And nobody will, he thought firmly. It would undoubtedly end his friendship with his student. She couldn't possibly love him in return. She was too young, merely 16, to even know what love was. No, he thought, it is best if I keep my feelings to myself.

"Numair, what's wrong?" Daine inquired. "Did I do something?"

"What? No Magelet, you didn't do anything. Why would you say that?"

"You haven't said anything since lunch."

"Sorry Daine, just thinking. It's getting dark. Let's find a place to make camp. How about over there?" he said, pointing to a large clearing surrounded by trees. There was a river that cut through the far end and winding its way behind the trees.

"Perfect."

They said little as they set up camp. Leaf and Jelly sat on a rock, which would be part of the soon to be fireplace, watching. Or more precisely, watching Numair. It amazed them that somebody could be so tall. Daine, seeing the focus of their attention, laughed.

Numair whirled around and glared at Daine. "What are you laughing at?" he growled.

She nodded at the two darkings. "They're fascinated by you" she told him. "Why?" This time she spoke to the darkings.

Leaf stretched up til he was about a foot tall and said something. Unable to hear, Daine bent down to his level. "Repeat that?" she asked.

Leaf repeated. This time she understood. "He's so tall. You're not. Can you become that tall?"

Daine laughed. "No, humans can't change their height like you guys can."

Numair looked at her. "What?"

"They wanted to know if I could become as tall as you."

He snorted.

"Hey, I'm not that short."

"No, you're just the right height for a woman. Men are naturally taller." he said, smirking.

"Well then maybe I should take you down a notch."

"Is that a threat?"

In reply, she tackled him. Barely missing their packs, Daine landed on top of him. "Who's taller now?" she smirked. Her breath stopped as she saw an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes.

He twisted so he was sitting up and held her down. "Me. Honestly Magelet, you should know by now I always win."

"Oh yeah?" She grinned at the shocked expression on his face when she twisted and flipped him over. "I win" she said, smiling sweetly at him, and preceded to their packs to start on their supper.

Laughing, he got up and went over to the packs with her. "If you're going to cook, then I'm going to go wash up" he said, getting into his packs.

"Ok" she said, giving him a smile that made his heart soar. He smiled and went down to the river.

The soup was finished by the time she saw Numair heading up from the river. Changing swiftly into a wolf, she raced towards the river slowing slightly to nip lightly at the legs of his pants, turned around, and raced back towards camp. Numair laughed at her antics. She came trotting back, this time with her pack in her mouth. Numair reached down, grabbed the bag from her and, with the help of his Gift, hung it up on a tree. She looked at him for a moment, clearly trying to figure out something. And then she spoke. "Very funny," she said, "now do you think I can go wash?"

She smiled a wolfish smile as Numair's face grew white and he dropped his things. "D-d-d-Daine?"

"Who else?"

"How long have you been able to do that?"

"Just now."

"I wasn't planning on teaching you that until after the war."

She snorted. Looking at her pack, she changed to a eagle and flew up to free her pack from the tree. Having achieved this, she landed on the ground, changed back to a wolf, and preceded to the river. Stopping she turned around. "The food will be ready in a moment."

As Numair sat down by the fire, he barely remembered to take the soup off the flames before he became lost in his thoughts. Who am I ever going to keep my feelings for her a secret? he thought, burying his head in his hands.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't hear Daine returning from her wash. "Hungry?" she asked, as she sat down beside him. He jumped and she smiled at his reaction. "Jumpy, are we?"

"You surprised me" he answered as he dished out a three bowls of cup, sitting one down on the ground for the darkings and giving her another.

They ate in companionable silence, watching the darkings slowly finish off their bowl. When they finished, Numair started to clean up while Daine laid out their bedrolls.

"Do you need to leave camp? I'm about to set up the guards."

"No," she replied getting into her bedroll. When he turned back to her after finishing, he saw that she was already asleep. Smiling, he got into his bedroll and quickly fell asleep.

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