Title: Of Gods and a Man

Summary: Weiryn and Sarra do not approve of Numair, but they let him go free and take their daughter with him. Why? Numair's POV.

AN: This was partially inspired by Loten's fic Lost & Found, which is a rewrite of The Realms of the Gods from Numair's perspective.

I knew immediately after waking and seeing the looks on their faces that they could read my thoughts and feelings as easily as the badger god could. I was embarassed and ashamed for all of about thirty seconds, before it was overcome by pure anger and righteous indignation—they were making me the villain here?

I couldn't show my anger before Daine, and I wasn't about to say anything aloud, but Weiryn and Sarra were looking into my mind anyway, so I allowed them to see exactly what I thought of them. They didn't approve of me? Well, that was just fine, because I didn't approve of them either.

When I realized that they were trying to keep me away from her, to conspire to keep her with them, I found my anger turning cold and dark. What right did they have, after all that she has been through without them, to dictate her life?

Maybe for a god things are different, maybe it's not unusual to birth someone and then allow them to fend for themselves. But for mortals, giving someone life, even more than once, is pointless if you give them nothing to live for. And what did her father ever do for her? He knocked Sarra up and then went on his way, leaving his child and her mother to face the scorn and ignorance of their village. Sarra was apparently used to it, and anyway she knew the truth. But where was he when Daine was called a bastard by her neighbors? Where was he when Daine saw her only living family murdered and her home burned to the ground?

Where was Weiryn, God of the Hunt, when his own petitioners were hunting her? Where was he when Daine was losing her sanity piece by piece? Settling his mate in her new home, apparently, quite literally abandoning his daughter to the wolves. And why? The dead have all the time in the world. Daine was still alive, and has only a pony to thank for remaining that way.

When Sarra announced her own position in the pantheon, the irony hit me like a ton of bricks. I nearly burst out laughing, and made sure she knew it. Daine is treated like an animal for slaughter, is run out of her village by people she knew her whole life, is truly damaged by their bigotry, and her mother goes back and gives the wives and children of those self-same hunters advice to live and prosper. I'm sure the Trickster was laughing at her along with me, and I enjoyed her pain at the revelation. Now, I told her silently, now you know a fraction of what Daine has felt this entire time.

Briefly my disdain was lost in the absolute fury of finding that Ozorne had dared to send a tauros to rape her. But it returned quickly at seeing Weiryn's face, and inside I grinned at him maliciously. Fatherhood harder than you thought? Too bad you were here, in the Divine Realms, when your help would have made a difference. Daine has learned to rely on herself, and when she needed someone else in those years after Sarra died, she turned to me. I am not a good man, I told him, and I know it, but I was there for her when you were not.

I found myself uncaring of reactions. I know Daine, better than they even care to know her, and I knew how she would react. It didn't matter what they wanted to do to me, because deliberately harming me would isolate Daine from them forever. And she would never even consider remaining here, safe and passive, when her friends were in danger. And when they tried to humiliate and insult me, I continued laughing at them, because again it would be me staying by Daine's side and making her happy, and they would be left behind.

And as we set off for the Dragonlands, I didn't look back, but I gave them a parting thought: You are so, so lucky that circumstances have left Daine with an appreciation for love wherever she can get it, that she is pure enough and good enough not to hate you for what you have done to her.

Against all odds, Daine has turned into a wonderful, caring person—no thanks to you.

And I knew that they would never try to interfere in Daine's choices after that. It is, after all, the least they can do.