Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people or places in the following
chapter; I just think they sound good.
Authors note: Sorry it took so long. It has been deleted three times from my computer so I've had to write it three times and now I'm posting it as soon as I finish writing it for the fourth time before it can't be deleted again. If I'm lucky the fifth chapter won't be long. Also, I started writing this before I read tricksters choice so it's a bit contradictory of that book but I like the story and will continue to write it as I was going to in the beginning.
**********
Daine rolled over in bed and was startled to find Numair lying beside her. She hadn't realised that he was back! She reasoned that he must have returned sometime during the night and left her to sleep, she liked that. When Daine noticed the drooping feeling in her gut that she had become all too familiar with these past few weeks she moved to fly out of bed. But at the same moment a long arm wrapped around her waist trying to pull her back into bed! The jolt the arm caused made Daine retch over the side of the bed. Needless to say the arm withdrew at lightning speed. Numair threw himself of the bed and ran out the door sprinting to Alanna's rooms. Daine didn't notice his departure. She merely ran to the privy to prevent unnecessary mess that she would only have to clean up later.
Two minutes later Numair returned with Alanna close on his heels still buttoning her shirt. By this time Daine was leaning against the wall opposite the door. She had finished throwing up. Numair looked worriedly at her and shoved Alanna closer to Daine saying desperately, "What's wrong with her? Was it something she ate? Can you fix it?" Alanna simply looked at Daine with a 'you still haven't told him?' gleam in her purple eyes. Daine studied her feet and shook her head. "Well, what is it? Why are you just standing there? Why are you staring at me like that?" Alanna was staring at him. She was wondering how long he could blabber on before he would let her speak. When he finally quieted she said gently, "Numair you might as well sit and calm down please." "CALM DOWN?" he yelled, "HOW IN MITHROS' NAME DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN? I COME BACK AFTER THREE WEEKS AND FIND THE WOMAN I LOVE THROWING UP WHAT MIGHT BE ALL SHE ATE LAST NIGHT AND ALL YOU TELL ME IS TO SIT AND CALM DOWN? Alanna met his eyes and held them as she yelled just as loud as he did, "Numair THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH HER!" When Numair looked as if he was going to argue further she added, "SHE'S PREGNANT YOU DOLT! SO SIT DOWN AND FOR THE GODS' SAKE CALM YOURSELF!" Numair looked as if he'd been slapped across the face. "PREGNANT? But - I - she - we -!" stammered Numair, "I'm going to be a father?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace . . . . . . .
"Have you seen Daine lately Jon?" the queen asked her husband absently while leaning over a rose bush in their private garden, "I haven't seen her since Numair was sent away to Leagan." The king gazed thoughtfully at the small shovel in his hand before replying, "You know, I don't recall seeing her at dinner for quite some time now." Thayet opened her mouth to say something but was immediately cut off by a strangled and very desperate scream coming from Daine and Numair's rooms. Both instantly sprang up with an almost audible twang, and ran in the direction of the scream.
When the monarchs reached Numair and Daines' rooms they found Daine leaning against the opposite wall shaking her head and smiling slightly at an unconscious Numair who was lying on the floor in a very uncomfortable position indeed. Alanna was walking towards Numair holding a pitcher of something that looked suspiciously like ice-cold water. "What happened to him?" the king asked. "He fainted when Alanna told him that I was pregnant." Daine told him frankly. The king turned to look at her, "You're pregnant?" he asked as though confirming it. Daine nodded. "My only Wild Mage and my . . . uh . . . strongest mage, have a baby?" Daine nodded again. "I can see why he fainted, poor man." By this time the king had gone stark white in the face, the queen looked as if this was the best news she had heard all year. "I think I - I might just sit down over -." The king managed to say before falling flat on the floor beside Numair with a dull thud. "I see we'll be needing more water," Thayet remarked, "I'll go get some." Daine collapsed into the chair beside her in a fit of laughter. "I - thought - they would - be happy - about it!" she said through giggles. Alanna reached Numair and poured the contents of the pitcher over his head. Numair jumped up so fast that it startled Daine - she hadn't known he could move that fast. "What happened?" he whispered, "You fainted." Alanna told him. "You - screamed and - then you - fainted." Daine told him, still laughing. "And . . . um . . . what happened to him?" Numair asked, pointing to Jonathan. "He did the same thing as you did," Alanna informed him. "But he didn't scream." Daine added, finally getting control of her amusement. Thayet returned bearing another pitcher. Swiftly she poured its burden over her husband's head. Jon didn't jump from the cold. He simply opened his eyes and slowly sat up rather than standing. Then he started to laugh. "I could have sworn that you just told me you were pregnant," He explained looking at Daine. " I must have been dreaming, isn't that funny?" he began to laugh again. It was a few moments before he realised no one else looked the slightest bit amused and stopped. "Well I thought it was funny." He mumbled. "That wasn't a dream." Daine told him gently, "I really am pregnant." Jon went white again. "Well, it's time ad past for us to return to our gardening." Thayet told the room, "Come on Jon." Thayet helped the king to stand and led him out of the room. "Congratulations Daine." Jon said as he left with slightly less energy than would have been expected. Daine looked at Numair and his eyes met hers. She knew exactly what he was thinking; they had to marry soon or they would be the subject of palace gossip for the rest of their lives. Daine wished it would all go away. All the people trying endlessly to find reasons why they shouldn't be together, the way everyone frowned on her simply because of the age difference between her and Numair, even the way everything she said and did was related back to her relationship with Numair and the marriage they all expected but didn't want. Alanna, seeing that they needed to talk alone, said, "I should go. I still have packing to do before I return home." "Alanna?" Daine said, "When do you leave?" "Tomorrow." She replied "But I'll come back once a month to make sure you're alright and if you need me in a hurry you can send to me through my Gift with Numair or the king." Daine nodded; quite convinced that she wouldn't need another healer.
"I'm sorry Numair but I'm not ready," Daine said as Alanna closed the dor behind her, "I'm not ready to marry. "That's alright Daine I wouldn't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do." He said Daine realising that he thought she didn't want to marry him, stood where she was, horrified. She took a step towards him but he said something about having a lot of work to do and left the room before Daine could remind him that he was still dressed in the things he slept in.
*****
For the rest of that day Daine sat in her room, thinking. Numair hadn't reappeared since that morning which gave Daine the impression that he didn't want to talk to her. Finally in the late afternoon Daine decided to go look for him.
She found him in Alanna's rooms conferring with the knight. The hushed voices stopped when she knocked on the door. Alanna admitted Daine into the room saying, "Daine, you'd better come in I need to talk to both of you." Daine entered and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the room from Numair. He looked hurt but soon turned his attention to Alanna. "You said you needed to talk to us?" Daine prompted when Alanna gave no sign of wishing to speak. "Yes I do." Alanna began "it's just that I don't know how to say this. But you need to know before the pregnancy goes too far for me to fix it." "Alanna," Numair said warningly, "what's wrong with the pregnancy?" "Well, this baby is going to be a quarter god, it will have a heck of a lot of wild magic and it's going to have a pretty dammed big Gift." Alanna was sweating and looking very uncomfortable. "So basically this baby is going to be so full of magic that giving birth to it will undoubtedly kill you, Daine." It took a few moments for this to sink in. when Daine came out of shock she realised that Numair was yelling again. " - SAID THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH HER!" he screamed, "YOU TOLD ME THAT SHE WOULD BE FINE AND THAT THE BABY WOULD BE HEALTHY! YOU SAID - " "Numair STOP YELLING AT HER!" Daine screamed at him "THIS IS HARDLY HER FAULT NOR IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN DO ABOUT IT, SO STOP LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO BLAME AND DEAL WITH IT!" she ran past them and sprinted to the library before anyone could say anything.
*****
Daine spent the next week hiding from the world. She went to bed a couple of hours after Numair did and woke three hours before he did, giving Numair the impression that she wasn't sleeping at all. He didn't think this was a good idea considering her condition and went to the top of the tallest tower in the palace to send for Alanna.
Daine had finally come to a decision and had come out of hiding to find Numair. It was late afternoon when Daine finally found him. She climbed the stairs to the tower and emerged into the night air just behind Numair. She walked around him and placed herself between him and his view of Corus. When she opened her mouth to speak her voice came out as a croak after not using at all for a week. She cleared her throat and tried again. "We can get married whenever you like," she told him, " but I've decided to keep the baby so I don't see the point in marrying if I'm to die in eight months any way. However if you insist in becoming a widower in a short period of time then the winter solstice is coming up and my parents will be able to cross over to the mortal realms then. But I really don't see the point." Numair, realising what she had said, walked to her and kissed her fiercely, cupping her face in his hands. "Are you sure?" he asked, the heat in his voice making her shiver agreeably. "Yes." She whispered. Numair scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the door of the tower before saying, "I'll get Lindhall." "Why do we need Lindhall?" Daine asked him. "Because you have to pass on your knowledge to someone before that baby comes and it might as well be him, he would understand it so much better than I would and we will not talk of you dying because I am quite sure that it will not happen." "But Alanna said that there was no doubt that it would." Daine said worriedly. "We still shall not talk of it because I do not wish for it to happen." Numair told her before running down the stairs with Daine still in his arms.
Authors note: Sorry it took so long. It has been deleted three times from my computer so I've had to write it three times and now I'm posting it as soon as I finish writing it for the fourth time before it can't be deleted again. If I'm lucky the fifth chapter won't be long. Also, I started writing this before I read tricksters choice so it's a bit contradictory of that book but I like the story and will continue to write it as I was going to in the beginning.
**********
Daine rolled over in bed and was startled to find Numair lying beside her. She hadn't realised that he was back! She reasoned that he must have returned sometime during the night and left her to sleep, she liked that. When Daine noticed the drooping feeling in her gut that she had become all too familiar with these past few weeks she moved to fly out of bed. But at the same moment a long arm wrapped around her waist trying to pull her back into bed! The jolt the arm caused made Daine retch over the side of the bed. Needless to say the arm withdrew at lightning speed. Numair threw himself of the bed and ran out the door sprinting to Alanna's rooms. Daine didn't notice his departure. She merely ran to the privy to prevent unnecessary mess that she would only have to clean up later.
Two minutes later Numair returned with Alanna close on his heels still buttoning her shirt. By this time Daine was leaning against the wall opposite the door. She had finished throwing up. Numair looked worriedly at her and shoved Alanna closer to Daine saying desperately, "What's wrong with her? Was it something she ate? Can you fix it?" Alanna simply looked at Daine with a 'you still haven't told him?' gleam in her purple eyes. Daine studied her feet and shook her head. "Well, what is it? Why are you just standing there? Why are you staring at me like that?" Alanna was staring at him. She was wondering how long he could blabber on before he would let her speak. When he finally quieted she said gently, "Numair you might as well sit and calm down please." "CALM DOWN?" he yelled, "HOW IN MITHROS' NAME DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN? I COME BACK AFTER THREE WEEKS AND FIND THE WOMAN I LOVE THROWING UP WHAT MIGHT BE ALL SHE ATE LAST NIGHT AND ALL YOU TELL ME IS TO SIT AND CALM DOWN? Alanna met his eyes and held them as she yelled just as loud as he did, "Numair THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH HER!" When Numair looked as if he was going to argue further she added, "SHE'S PREGNANT YOU DOLT! SO SIT DOWN AND FOR THE GODS' SAKE CALM YOURSELF!" Numair looked as if he'd been slapped across the face. "PREGNANT? But - I - she - we -!" stammered Numair, "I'm going to be a father?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace . . . . . . .
"Have you seen Daine lately Jon?" the queen asked her husband absently while leaning over a rose bush in their private garden, "I haven't seen her since Numair was sent away to Leagan." The king gazed thoughtfully at the small shovel in his hand before replying, "You know, I don't recall seeing her at dinner for quite some time now." Thayet opened her mouth to say something but was immediately cut off by a strangled and very desperate scream coming from Daine and Numair's rooms. Both instantly sprang up with an almost audible twang, and ran in the direction of the scream.
When the monarchs reached Numair and Daines' rooms they found Daine leaning against the opposite wall shaking her head and smiling slightly at an unconscious Numair who was lying on the floor in a very uncomfortable position indeed. Alanna was walking towards Numair holding a pitcher of something that looked suspiciously like ice-cold water. "What happened to him?" the king asked. "He fainted when Alanna told him that I was pregnant." Daine told him frankly. The king turned to look at her, "You're pregnant?" he asked as though confirming it. Daine nodded. "My only Wild Mage and my . . . uh . . . strongest mage, have a baby?" Daine nodded again. "I can see why he fainted, poor man." By this time the king had gone stark white in the face, the queen looked as if this was the best news she had heard all year. "I think I - I might just sit down over -." The king managed to say before falling flat on the floor beside Numair with a dull thud. "I see we'll be needing more water," Thayet remarked, "I'll go get some." Daine collapsed into the chair beside her in a fit of laughter. "I - thought - they would - be happy - about it!" she said through giggles. Alanna reached Numair and poured the contents of the pitcher over his head. Numair jumped up so fast that it startled Daine - she hadn't known he could move that fast. "What happened?" he whispered, "You fainted." Alanna told him. "You - screamed and - then you - fainted." Daine told him, still laughing. "And . . . um . . . what happened to him?" Numair asked, pointing to Jonathan. "He did the same thing as you did," Alanna informed him. "But he didn't scream." Daine added, finally getting control of her amusement. Thayet returned bearing another pitcher. Swiftly she poured its burden over her husband's head. Jon didn't jump from the cold. He simply opened his eyes and slowly sat up rather than standing. Then he started to laugh. "I could have sworn that you just told me you were pregnant," He explained looking at Daine. " I must have been dreaming, isn't that funny?" he began to laugh again. It was a few moments before he realised no one else looked the slightest bit amused and stopped. "Well I thought it was funny." He mumbled. "That wasn't a dream." Daine told him gently, "I really am pregnant." Jon went white again. "Well, it's time ad past for us to return to our gardening." Thayet told the room, "Come on Jon." Thayet helped the king to stand and led him out of the room. "Congratulations Daine." Jon said as he left with slightly less energy than would have been expected. Daine looked at Numair and his eyes met hers. She knew exactly what he was thinking; they had to marry soon or they would be the subject of palace gossip for the rest of their lives. Daine wished it would all go away. All the people trying endlessly to find reasons why they shouldn't be together, the way everyone frowned on her simply because of the age difference between her and Numair, even the way everything she said and did was related back to her relationship with Numair and the marriage they all expected but didn't want. Alanna, seeing that they needed to talk alone, said, "I should go. I still have packing to do before I return home." "Alanna?" Daine said, "When do you leave?" "Tomorrow." She replied "But I'll come back once a month to make sure you're alright and if you need me in a hurry you can send to me through my Gift with Numair or the king." Daine nodded; quite convinced that she wouldn't need another healer.
"I'm sorry Numair but I'm not ready," Daine said as Alanna closed the dor behind her, "I'm not ready to marry. "That's alright Daine I wouldn't want to force you into doing something you don't want to do." He said Daine realising that he thought she didn't want to marry him, stood where she was, horrified. She took a step towards him but he said something about having a lot of work to do and left the room before Daine could remind him that he was still dressed in the things he slept in.
*****
For the rest of that day Daine sat in her room, thinking. Numair hadn't reappeared since that morning which gave Daine the impression that he didn't want to talk to her. Finally in the late afternoon Daine decided to go look for him.
She found him in Alanna's rooms conferring with the knight. The hushed voices stopped when she knocked on the door. Alanna admitted Daine into the room saying, "Daine, you'd better come in I need to talk to both of you." Daine entered and sat in the chair on the opposite side of the room from Numair. He looked hurt but soon turned his attention to Alanna. "You said you needed to talk to us?" Daine prompted when Alanna gave no sign of wishing to speak. "Yes I do." Alanna began "it's just that I don't know how to say this. But you need to know before the pregnancy goes too far for me to fix it." "Alanna," Numair said warningly, "what's wrong with the pregnancy?" "Well, this baby is going to be a quarter god, it will have a heck of a lot of wild magic and it's going to have a pretty dammed big Gift." Alanna was sweating and looking very uncomfortable. "So basically this baby is going to be so full of magic that giving birth to it will undoubtedly kill you, Daine." It took a few moments for this to sink in. when Daine came out of shock she realised that Numair was yelling again. " - SAID THAT THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH HER!" he screamed, "YOU TOLD ME THAT SHE WOULD BE FINE AND THAT THE BABY WOULD BE HEALTHY! YOU SAID - " "Numair STOP YELLING AT HER!" Daine screamed at him "THIS IS HARDLY HER FAULT NOR IS THERE ANYTHING SHE CAN DO ABOUT IT, SO STOP LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO BLAME AND DEAL WITH IT!" she ran past them and sprinted to the library before anyone could say anything.
*****
Daine spent the next week hiding from the world. She went to bed a couple of hours after Numair did and woke three hours before he did, giving Numair the impression that she wasn't sleeping at all. He didn't think this was a good idea considering her condition and went to the top of the tallest tower in the palace to send for Alanna.
Daine had finally come to a decision and had come out of hiding to find Numair. It was late afternoon when Daine finally found him. She climbed the stairs to the tower and emerged into the night air just behind Numair. She walked around him and placed herself between him and his view of Corus. When she opened her mouth to speak her voice came out as a croak after not using at all for a week. She cleared her throat and tried again. "We can get married whenever you like," she told him, " but I've decided to keep the baby so I don't see the point in marrying if I'm to die in eight months any way. However if you insist in becoming a widower in a short period of time then the winter solstice is coming up and my parents will be able to cross over to the mortal realms then. But I really don't see the point." Numair, realising what she had said, walked to her and kissed her fiercely, cupping her face in his hands. "Are you sure?" he asked, the heat in his voice making her shiver agreeably. "Yes." She whispered. Numair scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the door of the tower before saying, "I'll get Lindhall." "Why do we need Lindhall?" Daine asked him. "Because you have to pass on your knowledge to someone before that baby comes and it might as well be him, he would understand it so much better than I would and we will not talk of you dying because I am quite sure that it will not happen." "But Alanna said that there was no doubt that it would." Daine said worriedly. "We still shall not talk of it because I do not wish for it to happen." Numair told her before running down the stairs with Daine still in his arms.