Chapter four is finally out!!!! Yay!!! I have decided that this is going to be a ten chapter fanfic, so enjoy!! I don't know how many more chapters I will be able to get out before school starts :o( (grrr), but I'll see.
Daine and Numair awoke refreshed and decided that they had better go to the palace tailors and get some clothes for the formal event that would be this evening. Directly after they had been woken up they received two notes from a palace runner. One note informed them that there would be a formal event tonight to honor (but not introduce) the Tyran guests and that they should go to the palace tailor for clothes. The other note simply said that a time and place had been arranged for Daine to give her demonstration. The time would be the second bell of the next morning and the place would be the practice courts for pages and squires.
Daine and Numair walked deliberately to the palace tailor. Neither was very interested in being poked, measured, and prodded. As they neared the tailors the giggling of girls could be heard as clearly as if they stood next to them. That could only mean one thing: there were girls trying on dresses for the ball, lots of them. Daine and Numair both sighed, they were not in the mood to deal with buffle-brained, giggling monsters with prying eyes and whispering mouths. But they did not exactly have a choice, so they grudgingly entered the tailors. Eyes of all shapes and colors flew to them. Immediately afterwards the whispering began.
Daine blushed as she caught bits of the conversations. "…why'd they come in together…" "…she's probably no better than she ought to be…" "…tall, dark, and handsome…" "Maybe I can get a dance with …" And the most common conversation bit she heard "…breeches? Who does she think she is?" Daine and Numair held their heads high as they walked past the whispering, giggling ladies. They walked straight to the tailor herself and told her what they wanted.
The tailor was a willowy woman, with creases on her faces that gave her a serious look. She eyed them with her gray eyes looking them both up and down as she placed her hand on her hip. Her other hand strayed absently over the pincushion on the desk behind her.
At first Daine thought that her stares were stares of disbelief or stares of superiority, but the tailor revealed the meaning of her stares when she finally spoke.
"I'm thinking a short black tunic for you with a pale blue shirt, almost white, and black flowing breeches, instead of hose. I think black suits you and the blue will show off the blue flame pattern on your mages robe." She said with authority. She then turned to Daine and with the same authority told Daine what she would be wearing. "A blue gray dress, sleeveless, with a charcoal/dark blue shawl and…beaded embroidery. No breeches for a ball, miss" she said, waggling her finger at Daine and smiling. Her smile made her appear much less serious.
Daine was rushed off to a fitting room filled with other girls and Numair was rushed into another room with a door that said 'MALE' on it. The girls in the room got suddenly quiet as Daine entered, following the tailor. Daine knew the reason for this sudden and awkward silence. They had been talking about her. Daine could feel the eyes on her as well as she could feel the red rising up into her face--partly from anger, partly from embarrassment.
"Because of the lateness of this request you will have to have a dress already made, but, amazingly, we have a blue-gray dress at ready. The shawl will be made today. You will need to try it on because it surely will not fit you." The tailor spoke quickly as she handed Daine the beautiful dress, a pearly white shift, and stockings. Daine went to a dressing closet and put on the shift and stockings, leaving the dress off as she was instructed to. She walked out of the changing closet, feeling completely nude. Eyes flashed to her, seeing if she was as lovely as one person or another had said, seeing if she could be sleeping with all the men, as another person had mumbled. The rumors about Daine and Numair were flying already and the ladies were gossipmongers. They wanted to see if what they had heard was true.
What they saw could be considered good or bad for Daine. They saw that she had a nice body, so they couldn't say she was ugly and that no man would want her, and so on and so forth. But they could use the state of her body as proof she was sleeping around. Plus they could see the scars across her arms, shoulders, and chest, so no doubt more rumors were already developing.
Daine just sighed telling herself to get used to it. The ladies eventually ignored as her dress was fitted, but she did not like where their conversations went to: Numair. She tried not to clench her jaw too hard as one group of ladies discussed what it would take to get Numair with one of them. She tried not to yell at another group of ladies who were discussing marrying him as one of their new fantasies. She tried not to glare fiercely at, and sic animals on the biggest group of ladies who were discussing Numair's body: good points and bad.
Finally the fitting was done and Daine was told she could pick up her dress in one hour. Daine walked out of the fitting room to find Numair waiting for her, in plain view of the ladies.
"Numair they were all talking about you in there, and I hate it!"
"Well then let's dispel ugly rumors and create ones more to our liking." Numair replied as he pulled her into her arms, dipped her back, and kissed her. The ladies were shocked.
"I love you, sweet." Numair commented loud enough for the ladies to hear.
"I love you, too." Daine retorted, smiling.
Daine and Numair exited the fitting room leaving shocked ladies, whispering frantically, fantasies disappearing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening found Daine in her dress and Numair in his outfit, both looking ready for a ball. They entered the ballroom with Raoul and Gary. "Alan" was already there along with, Douglass, Sacherell, and Jonathan.
As more people gathered, music began and couples danced. Daine and Numair were not in much of a mood to dance so they stood to the side of the room with an unhappy Raoul.
"I formal events!" Raoul said with a passion, frowning. Daine and Numair just smiled, already well aware of this.
Soon Raoul left to dance with a lady and Jonathan came over to the two, another man in tow. The man was clearly a relation to the prince. He had black hair and blue eyes, but his eyes were less sapphire and his hair was less coal-like.
"Daine, Numair I would like to introduce to you, Duke Roger of Conte, my cousin. Roger this is, as you know, Veralidaine Sarrasri and Numair Salmalin." Jonathan introduced the trio to each other, completely oblivious to the hard, cold look in Numair's eyes he only got when he was angry. The Duke didn't notice, his attention was focused on Daine and he lifter her hand to his lips. Daine blushed, not accustomed to this, while the look in Numair's eyes got colder as he stiffly bowed and muttered, "Your Grace" through gritted teeth.
Roger's attention shifted to Numair and a look of jealous surprise appeared, then was quickly replaced by a false charming look.
"A pleasure to meet you both. And lady Veralidaine, I'm looking forward to seeing your Wild Magic demonstration. If you'll excuse me I have things to attend to." The duke said, false charm put on a little too heavily.
"But Roger you—," Jonathan began, but he was cut short.
"Things to do cousin, things to do." Was Roger's only reply as he walked off.
"I don't know why he left so hurriedly, he was very anxious to meet you…well I hope this evening is finding you well?" Jonathan asked, using small talk to get over his confusion about Roger's actions. Just then a group of ladies began to inch closer and closer to the Prince, eyes fluttering and giggles escaping. Jon sighed quietly to Daine and Numair and rolled his eyes. He put on a polite smile and asked one of the ladies to dance.
Numair looked over at Daine, she was frowning. "Are you frowning because of buffle-brained ladies, or falsely charming dukes?" He questioned lightly.
Daine looked up, startled, she had been deep in thought. "More the latter than the former, but a bit of both." She answered, "I always frown at ladies like that, ladies with no thoughts in their heads, just flirting and hoping they'll be chosen for a bride so they can breed and die. But I always frown at them. I'm more frowning at the Duke, for some reason I him. My animal friends don't like him either. He makes me want to growl and bite him, then run to my burrow."
"I don't like him either, he reminds me of …Ozorne." Numair remarked, getting a disgusted look on his face. Daine just shuddered at the thought of another Ozorne.
Soon some young men came up to Daine, asking for a dance, and the ladies inched closer and closer to Numair, until he could hear them breathing. Good manners dictated that Daine had to dance with at least one of these men and Numair had to ask a lady to dance. Both deciding that they would rather not get in trouble for being rude, they obliged to the rules of good manners.
After Daine had danced with a few young men, she claimed that she was dizzy and needed some fresh air. In truth she just wanted to get away from everybody and shape shift. She looked for Numair and found him being passed around from lady to lady. Someone who didn't know Numair very well might have mistaken the look on his face for one of happiness and pleasure. Daine knew better. She could see the flashing bits of disdain and displeasure appearing on his face from time to time, albeit he hid it well. Knowing that Numair would be stuck for a while, Daine snuck into the garden.
As soon as she entered the beautiful place, bats flocked to her. They landed everywhere asking her questions and wondering what she was doing. Daine looked around to make sure no one was watching. The garden appeared to be empty. Daine got up from the bench she had been sitting on and moved to a bush. Quickly she thought of bats and her clothes dropped into a pile as she changed shape.
Daine the bat flew out of the bush with the other bats, feeling the wind beneath her wings and the sounds in her ears. She continued to fly, until her sensitive ears picked up a sound she knew. A man, a tall man, 6'5. In breeches, a shirt, and a robe. Walking quickly into the garden.
Daine knew she would be in trouble if Numair found her in bat shape so she flew to her clothes and, checking to make sure no one was looking, shape shifted back into them. She walked from out behind the bush just as Numair noticed her.
"Magelet! Where were you? Some people are beginning to question your disappearance."
"I told them I was going into the garden for some fresh air."
"Well I think its time you went back in. By the way, how are the bats?" Numair asked the question so casually that Daine had no time to reflect on its meaning.
"They're doing good, very friendly and…oh." Daine blushed realizing Numair had caught her.
"Was the nighttime fly fun?" He asked eyebrows raised.
"Sorry Numair. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't resist. Flying out here is better than dancing in there."
"I understand, but now we should probably go back inside."
Daine nodded in agreement and they both entered the ballroom again. Spending the rest of the night ignoring others and just dancing with each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roger walked to his rooms after meeting Daine and Numair. He made excuses to everyone he met along the way, saying he needed to retrieve something for the King. In reality he just needed to think. He did not believe that Daine and Numair were from Tyra. Daine had what sounded like a Gallan accent and did not dress like a Tyran. But Roger did not care so much about that. What he cared about were Daine and Numair's magics. Daine had a foreign powerful magic and Numair? Numair's Gift was more powerful than his, which could be very dangerous. Maybe he could expose something about these two, because if he didn't they might just mess up his entire plot.
'More pawns.' Thought Roger. 'More pawns like Squire Alan.'
Daine and Numair awoke refreshed and decided that they had better go to the palace tailors and get some clothes for the formal event that would be this evening. Directly after they had been woken up they received two notes from a palace runner. One note informed them that there would be a formal event tonight to honor (but not introduce) the Tyran guests and that they should go to the palace tailor for clothes. The other note simply said that a time and place had been arranged for Daine to give her demonstration. The time would be the second bell of the next morning and the place would be the practice courts for pages and squires.
Daine and Numair walked deliberately to the palace tailor. Neither was very interested in being poked, measured, and prodded. As they neared the tailors the giggling of girls could be heard as clearly as if they stood next to them. That could only mean one thing: there were girls trying on dresses for the ball, lots of them. Daine and Numair both sighed, they were not in the mood to deal with buffle-brained, giggling monsters with prying eyes and whispering mouths. But they did not exactly have a choice, so they grudgingly entered the tailors. Eyes of all shapes and colors flew to them. Immediately afterwards the whispering began.
Daine blushed as she caught bits of the conversations. "…why'd they come in together…" "…she's probably no better than she ought to be…" "…tall, dark, and handsome…" "Maybe I can get a dance with …" And the most common conversation bit she heard "…breeches? Who does she think she is?" Daine and Numair held their heads high as they walked past the whispering, giggling ladies. They walked straight to the tailor herself and told her what they wanted.
The tailor was a willowy woman, with creases on her faces that gave her a serious look. She eyed them with her gray eyes looking them both up and down as she placed her hand on her hip. Her other hand strayed absently over the pincushion on the desk behind her.
At first Daine thought that her stares were stares of disbelief or stares of superiority, but the tailor revealed the meaning of her stares when she finally spoke.
"I'm thinking a short black tunic for you with a pale blue shirt, almost white, and black flowing breeches, instead of hose. I think black suits you and the blue will show off the blue flame pattern on your mages robe." She said with authority. She then turned to Daine and with the same authority told Daine what she would be wearing. "A blue gray dress, sleeveless, with a charcoal/dark blue shawl and…beaded embroidery. No breeches for a ball, miss" she said, waggling her finger at Daine and smiling. Her smile made her appear much less serious.
Daine was rushed off to a fitting room filled with other girls and Numair was rushed into another room with a door that said 'MALE' on it. The girls in the room got suddenly quiet as Daine entered, following the tailor. Daine knew the reason for this sudden and awkward silence. They had been talking about her. Daine could feel the eyes on her as well as she could feel the red rising up into her face--partly from anger, partly from embarrassment.
"Because of the lateness of this request you will have to have a dress already made, but, amazingly, we have a blue-gray dress at ready. The shawl will be made today. You will need to try it on because it surely will not fit you." The tailor spoke quickly as she handed Daine the beautiful dress, a pearly white shift, and stockings. Daine went to a dressing closet and put on the shift and stockings, leaving the dress off as she was instructed to. She walked out of the changing closet, feeling completely nude. Eyes flashed to her, seeing if she was as lovely as one person or another had said, seeing if she could be sleeping with all the men, as another person had mumbled. The rumors about Daine and Numair were flying already and the ladies were gossipmongers. They wanted to see if what they had heard was true.
What they saw could be considered good or bad for Daine. They saw that she had a nice body, so they couldn't say she was ugly and that no man would want her, and so on and so forth. But they could use the state of her body as proof she was sleeping around. Plus they could see the scars across her arms, shoulders, and chest, so no doubt more rumors were already developing.
Daine just sighed telling herself to get used to it. The ladies eventually ignored as her dress was fitted, but she did not like where their conversations went to: Numair. She tried not to clench her jaw too hard as one group of ladies discussed what it would take to get Numair with one of them. She tried not to yell at another group of ladies who were discussing marrying him as one of their new fantasies. She tried not to glare fiercely at, and sic animals on the biggest group of ladies who were discussing Numair's body: good points and bad.
Finally the fitting was done and Daine was told she could pick up her dress in one hour. Daine walked out of the fitting room to find Numair waiting for her, in plain view of the ladies.
"Numair they were all talking about you in there, and I hate it!"
"Well then let's dispel ugly rumors and create ones more to our liking." Numair replied as he pulled her into her arms, dipped her back, and kissed her. The ladies were shocked.
"I love you, sweet." Numair commented loud enough for the ladies to hear.
"I love you, too." Daine retorted, smiling.
Daine and Numair exited the fitting room leaving shocked ladies, whispering frantically, fantasies disappearing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That evening found Daine in her dress and Numair in his outfit, both looking ready for a ball. They entered the ballroom with Raoul and Gary. "Alan" was already there along with, Douglass, Sacherell, and Jonathan.
As more people gathered, music began and couples danced. Daine and Numair were not in much of a mood to dance so they stood to the side of the room with an unhappy Raoul.
"I formal events!" Raoul said with a passion, frowning. Daine and Numair just smiled, already well aware of this.
Soon Raoul left to dance with a lady and Jonathan came over to the two, another man in tow. The man was clearly a relation to the prince. He had black hair and blue eyes, but his eyes were less sapphire and his hair was less coal-like.
"Daine, Numair I would like to introduce to you, Duke Roger of Conte, my cousin. Roger this is, as you know, Veralidaine Sarrasri and Numair Salmalin." Jonathan introduced the trio to each other, completely oblivious to the hard, cold look in Numair's eyes he only got when he was angry. The Duke didn't notice, his attention was focused on Daine and he lifter her hand to his lips. Daine blushed, not accustomed to this, while the look in Numair's eyes got colder as he stiffly bowed and muttered, "Your Grace" through gritted teeth.
Roger's attention shifted to Numair and a look of jealous surprise appeared, then was quickly replaced by a false charming look.
"A pleasure to meet you both. And lady Veralidaine, I'm looking forward to seeing your Wild Magic demonstration. If you'll excuse me I have things to attend to." The duke said, false charm put on a little too heavily.
"But Roger you—," Jonathan began, but he was cut short.
"Things to do cousin, things to do." Was Roger's only reply as he walked off.
"I don't know why he left so hurriedly, he was very anxious to meet you…well I hope this evening is finding you well?" Jonathan asked, using small talk to get over his confusion about Roger's actions. Just then a group of ladies began to inch closer and closer to the Prince, eyes fluttering and giggles escaping. Jon sighed quietly to Daine and Numair and rolled his eyes. He put on a polite smile and asked one of the ladies to dance.
Numair looked over at Daine, she was frowning. "Are you frowning because of buffle-brained ladies, or falsely charming dukes?" He questioned lightly.
Daine looked up, startled, she had been deep in thought. "More the latter than the former, but a bit of both." She answered, "I always frown at ladies like that, ladies with no thoughts in their heads, just flirting and hoping they'll be chosen for a bride so they can breed and die. But I always frown at them. I'm more frowning at the Duke, for some reason I him. My animal friends don't like him either. He makes me want to growl and bite him, then run to my burrow."
"I don't like him either, he reminds me of …Ozorne." Numair remarked, getting a disgusted look on his face. Daine just shuddered at the thought of another Ozorne.
Soon some young men came up to Daine, asking for a dance, and the ladies inched closer and closer to Numair, until he could hear them breathing. Good manners dictated that Daine had to dance with at least one of these men and Numair had to ask a lady to dance. Both deciding that they would rather not get in trouble for being rude, they obliged to the rules of good manners.
After Daine had danced with a few young men, she claimed that she was dizzy and needed some fresh air. In truth she just wanted to get away from everybody and shape shift. She looked for Numair and found him being passed around from lady to lady. Someone who didn't know Numair very well might have mistaken the look on his face for one of happiness and pleasure. Daine knew better. She could see the flashing bits of disdain and displeasure appearing on his face from time to time, albeit he hid it well. Knowing that Numair would be stuck for a while, Daine snuck into the garden.
As soon as she entered the beautiful place, bats flocked to her. They landed everywhere asking her questions and wondering what she was doing. Daine looked around to make sure no one was watching. The garden appeared to be empty. Daine got up from the bench she had been sitting on and moved to a bush. Quickly she thought of bats and her clothes dropped into a pile as she changed shape.
Daine the bat flew out of the bush with the other bats, feeling the wind beneath her wings and the sounds in her ears. She continued to fly, until her sensitive ears picked up a sound she knew. A man, a tall man, 6'5. In breeches, a shirt, and a robe. Walking quickly into the garden.
Daine knew she would be in trouble if Numair found her in bat shape so she flew to her clothes and, checking to make sure no one was looking, shape shifted back into them. She walked from out behind the bush just as Numair noticed her.
"Magelet! Where were you? Some people are beginning to question your disappearance."
"I told them I was going into the garden for some fresh air."
"Well I think its time you went back in. By the way, how are the bats?" Numair asked the question so casually that Daine had no time to reflect on its meaning.
"They're doing good, very friendly and…oh." Daine blushed realizing Numair had caught her.
"Was the nighttime fly fun?" He asked eyebrows raised.
"Sorry Numair. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't resist. Flying out here is better than dancing in there."
"I understand, but now we should probably go back inside."
Daine nodded in agreement and they both entered the ballroom again. Spending the rest of the night ignoring others and just dancing with each other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roger walked to his rooms after meeting Daine and Numair. He made excuses to everyone he met along the way, saying he needed to retrieve something for the King. In reality he just needed to think. He did not believe that Daine and Numair were from Tyra. Daine had what sounded like a Gallan accent and did not dress like a Tyran. But Roger did not care so much about that. What he cared about were Daine and Numair's magics. Daine had a foreign powerful magic and Numair? Numair's Gift was more powerful than his, which could be very dangerous. Maybe he could expose something about these two, because if he didn't they might just mess up his entire plot.
'More pawns.' Thought Roger. 'More pawns like Squire Alan.'