Daine smiled politely at Master Erik and walked around the third table to greet him. Her seat, exactly as she feared, was next to him, with someone completely unfamiliar at her other side. Daine silently thanked Alanna once again for her fantastic outfit, without it she would hardly have the courage to face all the frightening people that would be in attendance at the night's ball.
"Hello Veralidaine, you look exquisite." said Erik, as he beckoned for her hand. She gave it to him, reluctantly, and he kissed it gently. Daine looked longingly over towards Numair's seat; he was already deep in conversation with Master Ahern.
"Thank you, Master Erik. Please, call me Daine." replied Daine.
"Very well, and you shall call me Erik. None of this 'Master Erik' business, I am master of nothing really, just a lover of animals. Your King Jon tells me that you are also quite fond of fauna, Daine. You must tell me of your exploits." said Erik, flashing Daine a mischievous, and a rather attractive grin. Daine rolled her eyes and they both had a good laugh.
Daine regaled him with tales of defeating Ozorne, evil emperor turned stormwing, and of ferreting out traitors to the crown while at the same time developing her skill as a wildmage. Erik seemed quite enthralled, much to Daine's surprise. She thought for sure he'd be condescending towards her on account of his noble birth. She actually felt quite akin to this strange man from a land that still made her shiver at the mention of its name. She talked for a while longer about life in Tortall, about which he was very much interested, and about her particular skills in wildmage-craft. She kept talking until the first course was served and realized that she had been yammering on for quite some time.
"Oh Mast - Erik, my apologies. I cannot seem to control my mouth. I did not mean to bore you!" said Daine bashfully.
"Not at all, Daine. You lead a most amazing life." said Erik, who was interrupted by the server's arm reaching over him to put down a steaming plate of roast duck. As the server motioned to give the same to Daine, she politely refused. Erik gave her a quizzical look, Daine sighed and decided she should explain.
"I don't eat game," she said, "I…uh…"
"You… uh… what?" asked Erik teasingly.
"I was shot once, when I was in deer shape. So now I only eat animals that were raised to be eaten." she said, as quickly as she could, and blushed.
"You can turn into an animal?!" exclaimed Erik. Daine was shocked.
"What, you can't? Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, our skills are so similar that I just assumed that, well… y'know…"
"That I can do everything you can do. Well, at first I thought so too. But you can talk to immortals, you can turn into animals, is that any animal or just one?" asked Erik.
"Any animal." answered Daine, in between bites of vegetable stew that was served as soon as she turned away the duck. She smiled inwardly, she was a bit put out to know that someone else shared her rare talent, but was happy that she was more advanced than he. She moved to take a sip of her wine and gasped aloud and nearly dropped her glass when she saw Erik's face smiling at her from inside it.
"You… how did you… how did you do that?!" exclaimed Daine.
"It's an illusion. Just a simple parlor trick is all. What, you can't do that?" said Erik shrewdly. Curse him, thought Daine. He's too darn charming for his own good."
"Of course I can't do that… how can you is what I'm asking." answered a playfully irritated Daine.
"In addition to my wild magic that cowers in comparison to yours," said Erik, with a play bow toward Daine, "I have medium traces of the Gift." Daine's eyes widened. Wild magic and the Gift, she thought, imagine the possibilities.
"What can you do with your Gift? How much wild magic do you have?" asked Daine in a siege of questions.
"Whoa, easy there. One at a time! I can do basic spells and illusions with my Gift. You know, communication spells, fire making, popping up in wine glasses, etcetera, etcetera." said Erik, rewarding Daine with another of his dashing smiles. "With my wild magic, I can talk to animals and… well there is a strange side effect when I touch someone who is completely un-Gifted." he said with a pause. "I can give that person a bit of my wild magic. I have discovered that I have to be willing to give, and the person has to be willing to receive, it can't be forced. I can give the un-Gifted the ability to talk to the animals." Daine pondered what Erik said. He can give people the ability to talk to animals, she thought. So many more possibilities, both good and dangerous popped into her head.
"Have you tried this with one who is Gifted?" asked Daine.
"Only once, and it was unsuccessful." replied Erik.
"Ah, well that is unfortunate." said Daine. At that moment, the herald gave the sign for silence. The king was about to speak.