It was ridiculous how quickly the news spread. Thayet summoned as many people as possible. They joked and gaped as they tripped into the mages' room and found an edge of the enormous dress. After that first group grabbed armfuls of the fabric they found that they were trapped in the room. So many more people had crowded into the corridor that the route was quite blocked.

"Oh, for pity's sake!" Thayet called out. "We're taking it to the jousting field. You can all see it there. Let us past!"

Laughing, the company began to make a cheerful beeline down the stairs and out into the grounds. The people carrying the fabric puffed and groaned at its weight until they were clear of the narrow corridors of the living quarters. Then, in the larger space of the atrium, so many helpful hands seized stitches that the dress seemed almost weightless. Thayet, who had a button to wrestle with, gently coaxed them along with instructions, and in a few minutes they were out in the fresh air.

"Daine," The queen overheard Numair saying, "You know you're not supposed to do anything strenuous..."

"Leave my poor button alone. I could carry the whole thing by myself a few hours ago," A tart voice replied, and Thayet hid a smile.

They heaped the dress down in the centre of the field and stood around it, trying to work out what to do next. Thayet suggested that it might stop growing and become useful, but by that time the fabric had become thick, coarse stitches in a heavy mass. They would never be able to use it for anything, and it was still growing. The buttons seemed to amble along with slow indifference towards the staring crowd.

Thayet was turning to ask Numair what to do next when she realised the man had vanished. Daine smiled and pointed to where the man was drawing a circle with his boot in the dirt around the mound of fabric. Once the protection circle was in place the cloth kept growing, but pressed up against the edge of the spell as if it were in a jar. Numair pointed at the fabric and whispered a word, and it burst in to flame. Several people in the crowd gasped and applauded. Daine rolled her eyes.

"That's only impressive if you don't know he can't use a flint without burning himself."

"Then don't tell them." Thayet offered. "And maybe they'll stop teasing him about the floor."

"He deserves to be teased about the floor," Daine laughed, remembering the gaping faces of the crowd looking up from the floor below as the fabric was dragged away. Those same people were now cheerfully gathering around Numair, laughing and joking, and soon the mage was joining in. With such a large bonfire and the evening drawing in, a few people brought musical instruments and started a makeshift party around the warm blaze. Thayet, always two steps ahead of any social event, sent her servants to the kitchens. Soon the air was thick with the smell of roasting meat, kegs of beer and cider, and slightly greasy smoke. The wooden buttons burned so well that several people hooked them from the warded blaze to make smaller fires of their own.

"It's like Beltane." Numair said, finally finding Daine and sitting beside her. The prospect of sitting on the ground had been too daunting, so instead she had perched on one of the platforms they put chairs on for jousting matches. Seeing her shiver, Numair summoned their own button with his gift and drew her closer, wrapping his arm warmly around her shoulders. They watched the fire for a long while, and the people enjoying themselves, and the remains of the ruined dress going up in flames.

Numair said, "I think this turned out well."

"All this makes me feel better." Daine replied in a peaceful way. "I'm glad it happened."

Numair ruffled her hair playfully.

"We've got a lot of cleaning up to do when we get home." He remarked. She wrinkled her nose at him.

"Not that, dolt! I reckon... I reckon..." She bit her lip and then shook her head. Her husband smiled encouragingly at her, and she finally thought of how to speak her mind. Her words were unapologetically blunt. "Numair, it's fair nice to see you getting something wrong once in a while. I've been thinking I'm the only one who doesn't have a clue what she's doing."

"Really?" He looked amazed. "I thought... well, because your mother..."

"Oh, that." She waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine with all that. As long as you let me squeeze your hand and you promise to forget all the swear words I've gotten saved up I'm ready enough for that."

Numair promised without a moment's hesitation, made a hedge-sign against broken vows with one elaborate player's gesture, and then kissed her temple when she laughed. "I'm being serious, Numair."

"How do you know that I'm not, magelet? Lack of sleep is a strange thing. Next you'll be thinking you can turn into animals or something."

"For that comment I'll be crushing your hand whether you want me to or not."

He laughed and shifted a little. When he was comfortable again, he asked in a soft voice, "Are you scared, Daine?"

"No. Yes. A little." She looked at the burning dress for a moment, and the firelight lit up her face. It made her look strangely young, which made her next words even stranger in contrast. "Before we fight a battle I don't get scared, because I know what to expect. Before this... I'm not scared about if it'll hurt or how it might go badly, because I know how to fix those things. But I'm scared of suddenly having a baby, of suddenly changing and not being just myself any more, but being something's ma. Gods, Numair, I have to say 'something' because we don't even know if it's a boy or a girl!"

"Someone." He corrected her gently, and she shook her head.

"It's almost as bad. That's the word we use for strangers. People we know nothing about. That's exactly what the baby is to us right now. Doesn't that scare you?"

"Yes, but it excites me too." He held her a little closer. "We can look forward to seeing them find out about the world. We get to show them everything that's soft and bright and beautiful, answer all their questions... what's their name, why is their hair curly, why is our home always full of cats..."

"...why is the floor made of glass?" Daine finished with a sly grin. Numair tweaked her nose.

"You know I can fix that."

"Get some sleep first," She suggested, and yawned. "Don't want you turning my walls into soup."

"Your walls?" He laid heavy emphasis on the first word, and Daine grinned lazily.

"I heard Thayet sayin' she'd kick most people out for good if they wrecked up the castle that badly. Since it was only you who destroyed the floor, I reckon I'll be waving you goodbye from my lovely new rooms. Unless I invited you to share them, of course."

"I still contend it was your fault." He returned in an aloof tone. Daine raised an eyebrow at him.

"All I said was 'I don't think it will work.'"

"Exactly! With no evidence to support that (frankly insulting) assertion..."

"Oh, bother your long words. I was right. It didn't work."

"Only because you undermined my confidence."

"Your precious confidence should take a lot more punishment than that before you sulk off and destroy our home, love."

"Let's just say we're both equally culpable, shall we?"

"No!" Daine glared at him, and then saw that he was teasing her and relaxed. Slowly linking her fingers through his, she thought about being scared, and meeting their tiny new stranger, and living in a house with a glass floor. The thoughts circled in her mind in a sleepy, confused kind of way. For once she let them whirl for as long as they needed to. Neither she nor Numair really wanted to move away from this warm seat near the peculiar fire, and it was so peaceful that they could easily drift off to sleep here, even with the people drinking and dancing neaby.

It seemed a shame to spoil it, really.

"Numair," she said quietly, feeling his fingers moving gently through her hair. "Are you awake?"

"Just about. You're the one who told me to get some sleep."

"Mm." She yawned and then shifted a little uncomfortably. "Before you do, can you just... count for me? Like meditating but keep going."

"One," he started with a smile. "Two, three..."

When he reached seventy three she asked him to stop. He looked intrigued.

"Is this some new experiment, magelet?"

"Not really," she returned with a short laugh. "I just speed up when I count, and you're like a metronome. I'll ask you to do it again in half an hour or so, maybe."

"I'm so good at counting you have to hear me twice! Your ears won't believe their eyes!" Numair announced in his player's voice. Daine laughed aloud at that, and then stopped with a sudden choked sound. Numair caught her fingers and ran his thumb over them soothingly. "Are you well, sweetling?"

"I'm fine," she caught her breath. "Well, I think it's too early, so it's just false pains, but I've been having them all day and... and if we can only count as high as sixty next time, we should probably go home."

Numair couldn't find the words for a long moment. Daine broke the silence in the end, yanking her hand away from his grasp. "Gods damn it, Numair! I'm allowed to crush your hand, not the other way around!"

"All day?" He asked her finally. "You've been going through that all day and you didn't say anything?"

"I liked being distracted." She admitted with a smile. "If I'd said anything I'd never have gotten to see my lovely new magic dress."

"So you might not have even gotten a chance to wear it, even if it had worked." Numair sounded dazed. Daine kissed his cheek.

"That's not the important thing. If it had worked, I wouldn't have been so wondrously occupied thia afternoon."

"Would you believe me if I said I absolutely planned that? Naturally, a black robe would only ever ruin a spell for an exceptional reason... or an exceptional young lady..."

"Nice try."

"Actually..." He casually waved a hand at the massive fire. A button had been writhing and swelling against the circle, but at his signal it stopped and shrank back. It almost looked sheepish as it grew smaller, and smaller. He waved a hand again and it stopped. "Let them have their bonfire," he said with a superior expression, and then he faced down his wife's look of absolute incredulity. "As if I would mess up a simple growing spell, Daine!"

She gaped at him. All she could think of to say was, "If this turns out to be a false alarm, how many of my clothes are you going to burn to distract me?"

He laughed, absolutely unrepentant. "I didn't know you were having pains, love. This was mainly to cheer you up. I figured even if you were furious at me you'd still enjoy seeing that dress go up in flames."

She rested her head on her hand, smiling irresistably. Easing herself further away, she tugged his hand for him to stand up, and when he was standing in front of her she bowed her head in a queenly manner.

"You fooled every single one of us. Gods help me for being married to a player!" She announced with a grin. He laughed and bowed, making the gesture ridiculously elegant and miming a large hat for good measure. Daine clapped and joined in with his laughter until ther were tears in both of their eyes.