The air was clearer than she had ever felt it as she soared over the pine trees below. Nothing could put her at ease like flying, but despite the relaxing state she felt a nagging sensation at the back of her mind. The letter had been so cold, so short that she almost crumpled up the letter in despair. What was going on back home? Why didn't Numair give her any more information than the few sentences he gave her? Was he so busy and Tortall so in need of his expertise that he only had a few moments to pen that short response before rushing off into another dangerous situation?
Daine dived suddenly down into the camp before, actively shutting off the list of unanswerable and frightening questions. She missed Numair; she missed the security of his knowledge to answer all these difficult questions; she missed how he made every input she had seem as important as all these learned adults' ideas; and she especially missed how he could brighten her day with a bit of simple optimism and encouragement.
Daine shifted from hawk form into human form and quickly dressed. She debated between writing a similar short and uninformative note to make him worry, or to press him further for more details about what was happening in Corus. She hurried into her tent and found a piece of parchment and pen. Buttons greeted her and Daine bid the carrier pigeon a polite good morning and then returned to the task at hand. What was she going to say?
Dear Numair
All is good here, we should be able to finish getting the ponies to Corus in another week or so. We've had a few problems with immortals, but nothing too bad. With my and the People's help, Alanna was able to finish the job that Jon had for her. Please tell me that Corus is not in danger, and that you're not in danger. I don't like to be so far away from you. I hope you're doing all right. Take care to eat and sleep or I'll get one of the palace mice to look over you.
Daine
That seemed like a sufficient letter. She read it over, and was pleased to discover that it did both of the things she wanted it to do, which made her guilty. She didn't want Numair to be worried, but she didn't know what else to say. She accepted that Numair would probably worry about her no matter what, whether there was a need or not.
Buttons flew over to Daine and she attached the letter to the bird's outstretched leg. They chatted about bird gossip for a bit before Buttons bid Daine farewell, explaining she had better go if she wanted to arrive before dark.
"All right then. Safe journey!" And please find Numair and my home safe.
