Daine walked into the cottage later that morning feeling very refreshed, despite the fact that she stunk of horse droppings. When she got in the door, she was met by a miffed looking Numair.
"And where, exactly, have you been my dear?"
She rolled her eyes. "One of the horses in the village was down with colic. I helped."
Numair cocked an eyebrow. "I'll wager that drew a reaction."
She shrugged. "No more than usual, the horse's owner didn't know me before."
He nodded, then returned to the kitchen. On the small stove was a pot of what looked to be stew. But then, you never knew with Numair, it could have been his laundry for all she knew. Daine sat in one of the chairs, shedding her shoes and dropping them with disdain along the side of the room. For awhile, there was a comfortable silence, as Numair stirred his concoction, and Daine leaned back in her chair. Then Numair turned from the stove, watching Daine. "What are you going to do?"
She didn't need to ask him what he was talking about. "I don't know. What do you do with people who won't break an image of you. Can you change it?"
He looked away. "Don't ask me. Just look how my return worked out."
She winced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to remind you. It's just…"
He took three strides over to her and gentely placed a finger over her lips. "Hush. Your home is completely different than mine. It is small, remote. The trouble in my return was power, Ozorne wanted my power, they fear your power. There is a difference."
She looked down, closing her eyes. "Yes," she whispered, "But how can I show them that they need no longer fear me?"
He shook his head. "I can't give you the answer to that, Daine. There are people in this world who fear magic naturally. They feel it spawns evil."
"But it's just a matter of how you use it!" she protested.
He smiled. "Those of us who use it know that. But it is natural for mortals to fear what they do not understand. It is the same principle as your wolves."
She smiled. "They're not my wolves, Numair, you know that."
He shrugged, smiling. "More yours than mine anyway."
She shook her head. "That doesn't solve my problem, Numair, how do I get these people to understand that I jut wish to make peace with my past?"
He returned to the stove, stirring the pot a few times, then returned to the table before answering. "Sweet, I can only give advice, and the best advice I can give is this: In the end, we will only love what we understand, and we will understand what we are taught. You must teach the village not to fear you."
"How? I obviously can't start a class entitled Daine 101."
He laughed in surprise. "That is very true. Think: how did you teach the people of Dunluth not to fear the wolves?"
"I-" she stopped and thought for a moment. "I had the humans and the wolves meet. I had them each speak of their concerns, then they came to an agreement. But how does that apply?"
"Go into the village and act natural. Show them that you're not mad, that you can be normal. Greet their animals. Help them as needed. Forgive their misgivings, re-write the myths."
Daine bit her lip, then looked up at Numair. "You'll help?"
He smiled. "I am here for just that reason."
~^~
*looks sheepish* Yeah. So. If any of you that were reading this originally still are even on ff.n then…heh…*hides* BAD ME! So, yeah. Review. Can't promise much, didn't realize that senior year was so horrible time-wise. Want to finish this, don't know about a time bracket. SORRY!