Neave woke very early the next morning. He pulled the knife from the sheath still strapped to his thigh, peering around the room in a panic.

:Chosen. You're dreaming: Kyldathar called to him.

"Dream." he gasped "Right." his hand shook as he sheathed his knife. His chest was tight and his face wet. He thought he'd been crying in his sleep. He couldn't remember what the dream had been about.

The light was grey outside his window. He gathered up some clean clothes and went to get a bath. This early, there'd be no competition. A hot bath was often helpful to shake off the nightmares. Especially the ones he couldn't remember. :Did you happen to see what I was dreaming about?: he asked Kyldathar as he ran the hot water.

:No Chosen.: she sounded troubled. Since the mage barrier had fallen, his dreams were worse than they had ever been, but he couldn't remember them at all. Nor had Kyldathar been able to catch them. They lasted only a moment before he woke up, drenched in sweat more often than not.

He probably wasn't the only one suffering from bad dreams, but these felt somehow different from the ones he'd always had before. He was glad Talia could make time to see him. He no longer felt awkward about asking her for help when the dreams bothered him.

Before he went to find breakfast, he glanced through his messages. A few letters from various friends in the field--he noted with pleasure that Destria's handwriting was on one. He opened that first. She was well and would be back in Haven in a few days--and hoped to see him when she got back

A note from Kyril asking him when he could meet to talk about his next assignment. They needed a another Special Courier, and they had an assignment that required someone with his skill set. That usually meant something covert. Kyril suggested that he take a day or two to get his bearings back--it was not a time sensitive assignment.

That sounded ideal to Neave. He'd wondered what he was going to do now that there was a general standing down of war postings. Riding circuit was a young Herald's job and not one Neave had a tremendous amount of experience with. The Courts needed Heralds, of course, but he'd hate to be stuck in one place all the time.

He wrote a reply to Kyril to that he'd like to meet day after tomorrow at Kyril's convenience, put the message aside to give to a page on his way to breakfast.

There was one with handwriting Neave didn't recognize, as he was opening it, someone knocked at his door.

When he opened the door, Elspeth stood there grinning. A much changed Elspeth. Her hair had streaks of white a thumblength wide at the temples and her soft brown eyes had lightened to a hazel. She was dressed in Whites that were barely recognizable as such. She wore a long tunic--longer than most of the women Heralds wore. A V-neck emphasized the length of her neck and slightly belled sleeves made her broad shoulders take on a more graceful proportion. Always lean from sparring and riding, the clothes had the effect of making her look softer but not any less impressive.

Behind her was a white haired, blue eyed man with a falcon sitting on his shoulder. He was dressed in green, but his clothes looked like they'd been designed by the same hand.

Before Neave could do more than stutter out a greeting, Elspeth caught Neave in a hug, "It is so good to see you!" she said, "Talia just told me you were here," she let go of him and turned to the man behind her, "Neave this is Darkwind, my..." she hesitated over the word. Neave guessed that they were still trying to work out the logistics of their relationship. Plus introducing one's current lover to one's former lover could always be a little awkward, no matter the circumstances.

Neave raised an eyebrow and supplied, "Your, 'long term sparring partner'?" he grinned at her.

She covered her mouth and giggled, nodding. The man look amused and extended his hand which Neave took.

"Well, don't stand in the corridor," said Neave, "Come in."

"We only have a few minutes, but I'm so glad to see you." said Elspeth stepping in and taking a seat at the desk. Darkwind sat at her feet, since there was only one other chair, which Neave took, "I'd heard you'd been sent to herd civilians around on the southern border. I'm glad you made it home. We lost so many down there."

Neave nodded soberly, "It was bad for a while. Lost a lot of good people."

Darkwind was looking curiously at Neave. He had very intense eyes, Neave thought. Here was someone else Neave needed to draw. Then the man looked around, taking in the room that was decorated mostly with Neave's pinned up drawings. "You're the artist?" he asked.

Neave shrugged and nodded grinning, "Just an amateur. It's good to have something to do when you're on duty in some Goddess forsaken corner of the kingdom."

The corner of Darkwind's mouth quirked up, "Are there many of those?" his accent was similiar to Nyara's.

"No, but they keep sending me there." Neave replied lightly, returning the smile. "So what have they got you doing now that you're no longer the Heir?" Neaves asked.

"Mostly identifying and teaching our new crop of Herald-mages." replied Elspeth.

"And I think we'll have a new student soon." said Darkwind.

Elspeth looked down at Darkwind then up at Neave, "Oh." she looked surprised, then smiled, "Neave, you've got the mage gift."

Neave felt like someone had poured cold water over his head. His breath caught for a moment. "I-I beg your pardon?" he stuttered.

Elspeth smiled some more, "Its hard to take in, I know." she said understandingly, "But don't you have a little Farsight?"

"N-not enough to be useful. It helps me see in the dark but..." he trailed away.

"That's because it's not Farsight, it's Magesight." Elspeth told him patiently, "Living things glow, yes?"

He nodded, not trusting his voice.

"That's Magesight," said Darkwind, "And you can learn to use that energy if you can See it."

The first bell of the day rang. Elspeth and Darkwind stood quickly, "Hell, we'll be late if we don't go now." said Elspeth, she bent over Neave as he still sat thunderstruck. She kissed his cheek, "We'll talk later, I know its an awful shock."

He grasped her wrist for a moment as she bent over him, "Don't...don't mention it to anyone just yet." he said softly, "I need to think about this."

She smiled understanding and they were gone.

Neave noticed that his hands were shaking. He clenched them, then relaxed them.

:Chosen?: said Kyldathar very softly,

:I suppose it's too early in the day to start drinking?: asked Neave rhetorically. He felt like he was back in one of his nightmares. He sat for another moment willing his stomach to calm down.

:Would you ask Rolan to tell Talia I need to talk?: He asked Kyldathar. He pulled on his riding boots, picked up the note to Kyril. The longer he sat, the more the room felt as if it were closing in on him. :Tell her to find us out in the Field whenever she gets free.: