A/N: I haven't written a story in an amazingly long time so please forgive me if it starts out rocky. The summary stands as basically some unseen problems immediately after RotG. Oh, and I promise tons of plot…but tons of fluff too.
Soft grey curls clung to the chest of the tall man, as Daine slowly tried to move away from him. The task was not difficult because of her feelings for him; she kept those hidden for over a year. No, it was difficult because of the sheer fatigue that had laid itself inside her body. Numair seemed to be having the same difficulties. Onua was nearing, so Daine began attempting to mount her grey mountain pony. It seemed that unlike Daine, Cloud was full of energy and life. How can you be so happy and frisky right now? Daine asked her pony. Because, Cloud replied, I didn't just kill a mage and then turn around and face the great gods themselves. Daine laughed, she had never told her pony what exactly had happened, but she was so exhausted that she had forgotten to protect her mind. Put short, every animal within her range knew every thought and memory in her mind from the last thirty minutes.
As she laughed, the weary horse mistress who had brought her to the beauty of Tortall walked up and looked to her two friends.
"I see you've found your dear, dimwitted, teacher Daine" She began. Numair scoffed and pushed himself off the tree.
"You may call me dimwitted, but I just destroyed the mage who threatened to destroy the castle. Actually I think thanks are in order" He said with an overly pompous air that caused all three to laugh.
"Well the good news is, Numair, I brought you a horse to ride back to the castle you just saved."
"Thanks Onua, I don't believe I could walk that far. So where is the hors—Oh Mithros! That is no horse! That's a BEAST!" Numair had just caught sight of the war horse Onua had brought him. It stood with its shoulder even to his head. Snorting the horse nosed the great mage, causing him to fall over. Onua just laughed and started to ride off. Kitten and the massive basilisk, who had been silent until now as they were receiving the wandering brain waves of Daine, now turned and followed Onua's tracks. Daine looked at her love, who was struggling to get up off the ground, and told his mount to help him. The beast was rather dumb, but complied by biting Numair's shirt and hoisting him to his feet.
The ride back was lazy and quiet. Daine slumped over Cloud's neck and fell asleep. Numair slept sitting up on his mount. Onua seemed to be deep in thought. She had not actually seen anything happen between her two tired friends, but something was there. Something she had never seen before. Perhaps the change occurred while they were away. Rumors were circling that they had stayed in the divine realms. It seemed plausible as there were massive dragons fighting with them, but those could have been brought by Kitten just as easily as if Daine and Numair had traveled to the divine realms. She could find out when they woke up, she had a feeling that they would be out for weeks.
When they reached the healer's tents, Onua had to go and fetch some men to get Daine and Numair off their horses and into beds. She purposefully made sure they had a room together. Even before the change they preferred to be together. She closed the door to the small room they were to stay in. Once the door was shut, something happened. Normally when a mage is healing after massive exertion, magic flows into their bodies. Mages that poses mass amounts of power, such as Daine and Numair, can sometimes have so much magic flowing into them; people can see the magic in the room. This could be seen now. Black and copper rivulets of power swirled about the room. The only problem was, it was flowing out of the two mage's bodies.
A/N: I'm mean, I know. You have to review though. It may only be a short chapter but still...please, please, please review! It will make me more prone to update evil grin