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20 Truths About Daine the Wildmage
1. She wanted to be a boy for the longest time, so she could work and support her mother. Then, the bandits came and all she wanted to do was be strong enough to track them down and destroy them. Later, when she does have that power, Daine remembers that feeling and forces herself to be a bit slower about reaching for her magic.
2. Her favorite shape-shifting form is still as an eagle. Call her impractical and vain, but she loves soaring through the air and then dropping at breakneck speeds.
3. Cows are surprisingly intelligent. So are spiders. Ouna looks strangely at her when Daine informs the woman of this, but lets it go. After all, just because it's called, "wild magic" doesn't mean it's confined to the animals of the wild.
4. As much as she'd like to deny it, she does possess a feral side more animalistic than most. Usually, she suppresses it, but occasionally, when certain times of the year come around, the call is almost irresistible. Numair finds this out during mating season, when his sweet little pupil is literally a bitch in heat.
5. She's contemplated cutting her hair short—it really is impractical—but Numair is ridiculously protective of her hair, so she keeps it long and soft and bundled in curls.
6. For the first month after Kally's marriage to Kaddar, she flies to Carthak every week to make sure the little girl who brought her the dying animal at Pirate's Cove so long ago is being taken care of.
7. Archery is her preferred weapon—there's something about the way people's mouths drop open when she manages a weapon bigger than she is that's extremely satisfying—but at times, she's had to resort to using claws and fangs. Daine hates it. It's too feral, too animalistic—too natural.
8. Whenever she fights as an animal, she spends the next day soaking in the hottest spring-water she can find, trying to wash the blood from her body. Numair doesn't say anything when she comes home with burned skin and red eyes, but he the way he holds her afterwards says everything she needs to hear.
9. She has a bit of a crush on the king—he's the handsomest man ever to look at her twice—but the feelings evaporate as soon as she meets Thayet. The woman's beautiful, kind, and has given her so much. There's no way Daine can hold onto feelings for her husband.
10. She has a silver scar under her right breast, where an arrow almost killed her when she was in swan form. She hasn't tried the shape since.
11. The fact that she transforms naked is extremely inconvenient. The fact that she can't speak human in her animal even more so. The most embarrassing moment in her life was when she had to shift in front of Scanran ambassadors to prevent the Tortallan embassy from shooting them. At least the gesture ended up helping to end the war.
12. She had a brief relationship with Evin, but it was obvious that he had feelings for Miri and they broke it off after a couple days. Daine never lets on that he took her first kiss. It's a small price to pay for their friendship.
13. She does more than kiss with Vaile, a stable-boy with a wicked smile and even wickeder hands. They both know it won't end with marriage, but Daine's sick and tired of hearing about Numair's conquests and he likes her even though she's the Wildmage and there are rumors about her being half-badger swirling around the kingdom. When it ends, they end it in friendship.
14. She misses Kitten more than she lets on. Luckily, the dragonet misses her just as much, and often, at strange places and in stranger situations, she'll hear a little chirp and see a silver-scaled, fire-breathing dragon hurtling out of the sky towards her.
15.Trousers come easier to her than dresses. After all, she's still a peasant at heart, and all the balls and jewels and gold won't change that she's never more natural than in a simple shirt and pants.
16.She owes Ouna everything, and never forgets it. The older woman soon finds out that whenever she gets into a pinch, there's always a pack of wolves ready to savage her attackers, or a flock of birds ready to lead her to food, or a bear ready to keep her warm. It's disconcerting, but the woman soon gets used to being friendly with more than just her horses.
17. A couple years back, Daine had a bad habit of shifting into animals without studying them beforehand. She learns, after a particularly embarrassing mishap, that trying to shift based on sight can result in scenarios such as accidentally burning down a building because she doesn't know that the red-bellied squirrel is called that for its ability to breath fire.
18. By the time she's pregnant with her firstborn, she's had enough experience with children to feel confidant. After all, whatever child she gave birth to couldn't possible be as mischievous as Alanna's twins, right?
19. Sarralyn Salmalín turns out to be the most powerful mage in the history of Tortall. Her brother, Rikash, might just knock her out of that position. Their toddlerhoods are punctuated with kidnapping attempts. Luckily, as powerful as these two children are, their parents, when angered and fearful for their children's lives, are far more fearsome.
20. A night decades later, when their children are off having their own adventures and Tortall isn't embroiled in any wars, Daine finally takes a break and cuddles with her husband, just taking in the quiet and looking up at the stars. Numair's arms are warm around her waist, and she smiles, because it's nights like these that remind her that giving up immortality was really a small price to pay.