this is not the end! i repeat, this is not the end!!!!
~~~~~~~~
"What is going on?" Daine yelped, blue eyes angry.
Kaddar sighed. "Please, Daine? May I talk to you for a second?"
"Fine, I'm here."
"I meant, alone. Birdhouse?"
Numair grimaced. "Can't I protect my student?" he growled.
The prince glared at him. "Depends on how, Teacher." To Daine he murmured, "Let's go, now, sweet."
"Numair? Would you excuse me?" Daine attempted to twist her fingers out of his. "Are you all right? You seem fair strange today."
The mage gritted his teeth. Let her go...let her go. With a deep breath, he released her hand and she walked away with the prince. His fingers creaked as his fingers slowly relaxed, and the effort itself shattered his heart to pieces.
~~~~~~~
"Daine?" Kaddar said as they sped through the halls and into the new bird-chamber.
"What? Kaddar, what is it?" she exclaimed. The multicolored birds fluttered around their heads until she asked them to settle quietly. Please? Sit?
"Daine! I have to tell you something, but before Numair tells you his part! I think I'm in love with you, and I want...I want to ask you something very important! But I have no idea what to do and-"
"Kaddar!"
He stopped for breath. "I..." His voice was strangely wistful. "Do you love him?"
"Love him?" she repeated incredulously.
"Numair, that is. Because I know he loves you, but I love you and..."
"Numair? But he's my teacher...he's just my teacher, Kaddar. And I'm here, here, instead of with him." Daine smiled at the astonished young man. Leaning over, she kissed him, feeling the emotional rush brought by the press of lips.
~~~~~~~~`
And six months later, a representative of the nation of Tortall and the royal Crown, Daine Sarrasri the Gallan peasant married the emperor of Carthak, the gala event of the summer. Walking past the parade of watching citizens, the newlyweds clasped hands happily and decended the great staircase to the carriage.
In turn Daine hugged each of her bridesmaids, Onua, Miri, Thayet, Alanna, Kit, and Cloud. No one had objected to the horse, who wore a pretty ribboned wreath of flowers on her neck, or even to the tiny dragon who hated to be garland-covered and tore little petals and blossoms off onto the green grass as the procession followed.
"I love you all," she whispered, wondering what would happen to her magic lessons now that...she forced the though out of her mind. For now, the honeymoon across the Southern Deserts to the Nemorn mountains were enough to focus her concentration on her husband and her new crown.
Her thoughts, flitting from the earrings on Kaddar's left ear to the wonderful gaity of the music, were far from reminiscing on a mage who sat alone in his tower, staring at the blank and empty wall.
~~~~~~~~~~~