Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I'm so glad that people are still reading this. Not much action in this chapter (that will be coming next) but we do have some bonding between Daine and Numair. Thank you again!

Jon fell into an armchair, weariness making his eyelids heavy. The spell required to find someone using a focus was draining, although not quite as exhausting as trying to explain to a frightened Daine why she couldn't leave her current position until Numair arrived. She had been eager to continue her journey into Scanra and dispose of Ranulf as soon as possible, and being ordered to wait with no explanation as to why it was necessary clearly rankled her. Eventually Jon had extracted a promise from her that she wouldn't travel any further without Numair, although, as the mage had suggested, it had taken a royal order before such a promise was forthcoming.

The various search parties assembled by Alanna and Onua had left while he was looking for Daine and, drained and tired as he was, there was no chance that Jon would be able to catch up to them now. There was little he could do but wait for them to return and look in on Rikash from time to time. The stunned little boy was being watched over by four palace guards, both to prevent him being kidnapped and to foil any plans he may have to go after his sister.

The agonising wait for news that Jon had imagined turned out to last only a few minutes. Alanna strode into his sitting room without knocking, her mouth set in a grim line. "Have you found something?" Jon asked, jerking out of his seat.

"We've found something," Alanna said, dropping into a seat and gesturing for Jon to do the same. "It's not good."

For a moment Jon's mind presented him with a stream of horrifying images: Sarra bloody and bruised in the Royal Forest, Sarra's lifeless body being carried into the palace. Then reality came back, logic soothed his worries. If Sarra had been gravely injured then Alanna would be trying to heal her along with anyone else who had a healing Gift; if she had been found murdered then Alanna would look far more upset. "What is it?" he asked.

"One of the Rider trainees came forward with some information. He paid a late night trip to the girls' barracks and saw something rather interesting."

"Did he see who might have taken her?"

Alanna shook her head. "No. But he did see a hurrok taking flight from the Royal Forest – and this hurrok had a rider."

"You think it was Sarralyn's kidnapper?"

"We're going to keep searching the ground, but I'd wager the Swoop that it was."

Jon found that he now had no other choice but to sit. If Sarralyn's kidnapper was not only flying but flying by hurrok, that complicated matters considerably. People travelling by foot or horse could be tracked; people travelling through the air could not. If they had someone who could sense Immortals then they would stand a chance of finding this hurrok, but the only person who could do that was Daine. And hurroks were fast: the kidnapper would probably arrive in Scanra before Daine and Numair.

"This changes things. Should we get in touch with Numair?" asked Alanna.

"Not yet. He'll be flying at the moment and after that he'll need to rest. You know what he's like – if we tell him about the hurrok he'll fly all the way to Scanra without a break. No," Jon shook his head. "We won't tell him just yet. He said he would get in touch when they make camp for the night; we'll tell him then."

When Numair finally caught up to Daine she was waiting for him with a thick blanket. He landed and resumed his human form, spluttering and gasping for breath. It had been several months since he had taken his hawk form and his body had been unprepared for such a long flight. Daine came swiftly to kneel at his side, wrapping the coarse blanket around his shoulders. "It's the best I could find," she said apologetically. "There were no clothes nearby, and I didn't want to risk wandering too far away in case you missed me."

As soon as he had recovered enough of his breath to stand, Daine wrapped an arm around his waist and led him to a bedroll. He vaguely registered that the bedroll was out of place as Daine couldn't have transported it, but that thought quickly deserted him as she thrust a canteen of icy water into his hands. As he gulped greedily, Daine began to cook strips of what looked like rabbit over a small fire. "I thought you didn't eat game," he said between swallows.

Daine's smile was bitter. "Things have been difficult recently. We couldn't afford the luxury of being picky with our food. But never mind that," she said, leaving the rabbit to cook in a tiny, battered pot and turning to face Numair. "What are you doing here?"

Numair lowered the canteen and carefully replaced the stopper, all the while avoiding Daine's eye. How could he tell her what had happened? For seven years she had cared for their children. She had entrusted them to him for no more than a month and he had failed within the first couple of hours. "Please try to remain calm," he said, then regretted it immediately as he saw her tense. "When I tell you what has happened you will want to leave immediately, but I must ask that you wait for an hour while I recover my Gift."

"Whatever it is, just tell me." When Numair still hesitated she added, "You're frightening me."

"Sarra has been taken."

For a moment Numair thought that she hadn't heard. She stared at him blankly, as if waiting for him to speak. Then she seemed to crumple: her legs gave way beneath her and she began to fall. Numair jerked to his feet, not caring that his own legs were still weak and that the blanket slipped from his shoulders, and caught Daine before she could hit the ground. "Daine?" he said urgently, guiding her to the bedroll and setting her down carefully on the thin cloth. It wasn't much, but it was more comfortable than the hard ground. "Daine, please, say something."

"How?" she asked, her voice so faint that it was barely there.

"It happened in the early hours of the morning. The guard keeping watch over them was murdered, and we found an empty phial of wakeflower near the bed. Rikash and Kitten didn't hear or see anything."

"We have to leave," said Daine, although she showed no signs of moving.

"In an hour. I just need some time to recover my Gift."

"I can go on alone. I've looked after them on my own for a long time."

This stung, but he couldn't deny that it was true. "I believe, and Jon agrees, that Sarra is being taken to Scanra. If that is the case, you stand a much better chance of finding her with me there to help. And if they plan to manipulate you using her then you need help. You can't fight them and protect Sarra."

Daine stared blankly forwards, offering no protest at having to wait. This lack of reaction worried Numair. Daine's first instinct was always to jump into action, to fight and defend those she cared about. Without warning, she buried her face in her hands and burst into tears. He had seen her cry a lot over the last few days, but not like this. She sounded more like a wounded animal than a person. Not knowing what to do, not even knowing whether his comfort would be welcome, he wrapped an arm tentatively around her shoulders. There was an uncomfortable moment when she stiffened before she was leaning into him, sobbing into his shoulder.

Eventually she quietened down and pulled away, drying her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. "I'm sorry," she murmured. "It's just with everything that's happened recently..."

"It's a lot to take in," Numair finished for her. "Don't be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for."

Daine rose and went to the place where Numair's blanket had fallen. "We'll leave soon?" she asked as she wrapped it around him.

"An hour at the most."

About to pull away, Daine paused as she noticed the locket around his neck. She brushed her fingers over it gently. "You weren't wearing this last night," she murmured. Numair opened the catch to let her see the curl of hair inside. He didn't hesitate as he had done with Jon: Daine must have known what he would do with it when she left it. "It's a focus?" she asked. When he nodded she said, "You didn't waste any time."

"I didn't want to lose you again."

Daine winced and pulled away from the locket as if burned, guilt flooding her features. She turned her attention back to the rabbit meat, prodding it rather uselessly with a wooden fork. "I didn't mean to leave forever," she said softly.

"Pardon?"

"When I left all those years ago – I didn't mean to leave forever."

"Then why didn't you come back until now?"

Daine sighed. "It's a long story."

"We have time."

For a moment Daine looked reluctant and Numair thought that she would refuse. Then she sighed again, this time in defeat, and forked the strips of rabbit meat from the pot onto a tiny plate. Thrusting the plate into Numair's hands, she took a seat next to him. "Is it so hard to begin?" Numair asked, and for a moment he was transported back eleven years to the day when Daine shared the secret of her 'madness' with him and Onua. From the wry grin on her face, he surmised that Daine was thinking of the same thing.

"I just needed time," she began. "It hurt to think about you with another woman, it hurt a lot. Especially as I was carrying your children at the time. I suppose I thought if I had enough time I would get used to the idea, although looking back that seems fair stupid. After eight years it still hurt. I made my way north, helping at villages that had been damaged during the war. When my bump started to get big I decided it was time to go home. That's when it went wrong," she drew a shaky breath, running her fingers through her short hair.

Numair wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged her to him. "What happened?" he asked gently.

"Bandits," Daine said grimly, wincing as Numair's grip tightened around her automatically. "A Scanran raiding party. I couldn't shape shift because of the babies, and you know my bow is no good at close range. As bandits go, they weren't too bad. They fed me and didn't hurt me too much. It was because of the babies, you see. They planned to take them from me and sell them as slaves in Scanra."

Shuddering, Numair said, "If this is too painful-"

Daine shook her head. "No. I've never talked about this before. I think it's about time."

"How did you get free?"

"The People helped me. It was hard – there weren't many of them and they were terrified of the bandits. But once they heard the bandits planned to steal my young they were angry enough to fight them. By the time I escaped we were already deep in Scanra and I had no idea how to get home. Food was scarce and I couldn't shift to find a village. I think I was half mad when Luka found me, or at least more People than two-legger.

"Giving birth nearly killed me. I would have died if ma hadn't been able to come. For a year after the twins came I was too weak to travel, and after that..." she shrugged uncomfortably. "I thought you'd probably married the woman you were in love with. I couldn't see where we would fit in your life, thought I'd only be ruining things for you if I appeared out of the blue."

"I never stopped loving you, or wishing you would come back," said Numair, his voice thick. When Daine looked up she glimpsed unshed tears in his eyes. Wincing, he added, "I did have other lovers, I won't lie to you about that. But I never loved any of them."

Daine rubbed her eyes, sore from days of weeping. "What are we going to do?" she asked quietly. "When we have Sarra back and I've dealt with Ranulf and we're back home?"

Numair hesitated but, encouraged by her description of Tortall as home, said, "I know it's a lot to ask and I know it would take a long time to build, but I want a life with you and the children. I couldn't ask for anything more."