Disclaimer: I don't own anything that came from Tamora Pierce's head

Chapter 21 Secret Meeting

Daine awoke that morning feeling completely happy for the first time in a long time. She had all her friends back. She had Numair, her once teacher and now…something…she'd think about what he was later. The important part was that she had him. The best thing she had, though, was the beginning of a plan to rid herself, and the world of course, of Emperor Ozorne of Carthak. Speaking of which, she had better start on those letters.

Daine spent the whole morning writing the letters and having her bird friends send them out. Her mother had appeared when she sat down to write to tell her the basics of what to write. She was to tell them that she was leading a revolt against the emperor. She added that the revolt was ordained by the gods. The fight would occur the day of the wedding, two days from then, when she came out to go down the aisle. Her mother assured her that only those who would stay true to her would be able to read the letters.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Her only job after attracting the masses to fight, was to sit back and wait. Which, while it was something she rarely ever got to do, wasn't as easy as it sounded. She had all this nervous energy pent up inside her. It didn't help matters that she kept picturing everything that could go wrong. She ended up working in the garden to lessen her nerves, and the affect that they were having on Messa.

The others, however, had a lot of work to do. First, they had to pretend like they were still upset that Daine was Josephine. They had to pretend that they were pretending to cover up that they knew that she was Daine. There was just a whole lot of pretending going on. They felt like they ought to be paid entertainers for how well they were pulling it off. They also had to prepare for the battle. Alanna was sprucing up the few weapons that she had brought. Onua was learning some moves from her as well. Actually, all the girls were practicing their moves, under the guise of workouts. Numair, Lindhall, Kaddar, and Jonathon were constantly going to the university to learn new spells so that it wouldn't be suspicious. George was left to learn the terrain of the castle and the people as well.

Ozorne was suspicious of them the whole time; however, he never found any evidence of their treachery. He kept an eye on them. He had people tail them, but they never found or saw anything that would give away what they were planning. As long as he didn't find them around the cottage and Daine, he was okay with whatever it was they were doing. If he even for one second thought that they had found out the truth, he would have had them killed in their sleep or thrown in jail for treason.

They stayed away from Daine for the two days up to the wedding since they knew that Ozorne's reaction would not be good if he were to catch them. It took every bit of control they had to keep from going to their newly found, long lost friend. It took even more of their self control to prevent themselves from going after the emperor every time he went in the direction of Daine's cottage. They couldn't bear to think of what he could be doing to her every time he headed in that direction. They literally had to tie Numair down once to prevent him from doing what all of them wanted to do. Although, they had to admit, Numair would probably know the most painful way to go about torturing, they mean punishing Ozorne.

The night before the battle, Numair couldn't take it anymore. He decided to risk going over to see how she was. The thought of what she may have been through in the past two days made him want to rush out right then, but he resisted the urge and planned his escape from the palace. He waited until most of the palace was asleep. He got the others to agree to let him know if they saw anyone going up that path, especially Ozorne. However, it took a bit of arguing with them to get them to agree to help him. He did a spell to keep him hidden, just in case.

When he got to the cottage, Daine was outside sitting at the creek side, nervously swinging her feet to and fro. Numair got a mischievous and happy look on his face at the sight of her. He walked up as quietly as he could behind her. She was so distracted by her thoughts that she didn't realize he was there until he picked her up and spun her around while taking off the invisibility spell. When he finally put her back on the ground, she hit him while holding the other hand to her heart. She whispered loudly, "Numair! You 'bout scared me to death."

"Why are you whispering?" he questioned, still holding her close to him; still marveling that he could. He still couldn't get it through his head that his Daine was alive, and they could actually be together.

"Messa is already in bed, and I didn't want to wake her up because I was screaming at you." Daine looked down, "for a second there, I thought that you were him."

"Oh gods, Daine, I'm so sorry. I should have known better than to grab you like that." How could he be so stupid? Numair mentally berated himself. He knew the only man to touch her in any way was Ozorne, of course she would be scared with him suddenly showing up behind her and grabbing her. He was lucky there were no animals there to attack him.

"No, it's okay. I'm going to have to get used to people doing stuff like that meaning to be totally harmless again."

Numair looked at her sadly, "you shouldn't have to get use to anything. You should never have been forced into a life like this."

"If I hadn't lived like this, would I have ever been able to do this?" Daine asked before kissing him.

When they broke apart, he had a smile. "I don't know, maybe we would have gotten here eventually."

"Maybe? You would have thought that you were too old, or I would have thought I was too inexperienced to keep you. Our insecurities would have kept us apart."

"So, you think this time apart brought us together?"

"Yes."

"You're not afraid that maybe I am too old and you too young?" Numair asked, voicing a thought that had been bothering him.

"No, I haven't been young in a long time." She got such a sad look on her face that Numair couldn't resist kissing her in an attempt to make it leave. However, inside, he was mourning the fact that she was right. This combined with what happened in Snowsdale had practically ruined her youth. He just hoped that she wouldn't have to face such hardships in the future. She'd taken more than any one person should have to.

They sat together, her in his arms with her back to him, by the creek. "So, are you worried about tomorrow?"

"Yes. I've been under his thumb for so long that I almost can't grasp that I won't after tomorrow; that tomorrow I'll be free."

"And?"

"And, I'm afraid that we won't win."

"Don't worry about that. Everyone is ready for this fight. You have provided us with ample backup, I am sure. Besides, we have the gods on our side." Daine took in his assurances. When he said it, she felt like he was right. They remained in silence for the rest of their time together, just enjoying being close to one another. Every now and then, Numair would kiss the back of her head, as if to make sure she was really there. After about an hour, Numair got up to leave. He led her to her door and kissed her sweetly for a good bye. As they parted, he whispered, "Tomorrow." She returned the promise and parting word, before she entered the house to sleep and he left for the palace.