A/N: Howdy everyone....I just got back from Homecoming at my school! We lost badly, but I still had a blast! I love going to games at my school......I didn't get to go to the dance though because my mom said I couldn't. I suppose it wouldn't have done me much good to go anyway, because I can't dance and I've never had a date, thus no escort.........

Anyway, I'll shut up and get on with the story. I'll try to add some fluff or something in this chapter, you know, to make it a bit more interesting than last chapter.....

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Daine gripped Numair's hand as they walked out into the distance, away from Legann Fort's walls. Surrounding the fort was a vast amount of space, most of it that Daine could see was covered with trees. There was a small creek flowing through the forest floor. Though Daine could not see it, she could hear the sound of its peaceful waters rippling through the rocks and soil it flowed through. Daine followed Numair's lead as he pulled her in the direction of a clump of willow trees that bordered the tiny creek. They mad their way over to the barrier of willow branches and they each pulled them back so they could walk through to the other side.

Once they were concealed by the barrier of willow leaves, Numair slumped back, leaning his lanky form against the trunk of the nearest willow tree. He sighed and said, "Alone at last," his voice was quiet, almost breathless, but Daine didn't miss a single word of it. There was a sort of fire in his voice, one that made Daine excited, though she had no idea why. There was a strange emotion in his dark eyes, one that she couldn't remember having ever seen before. It brought her a new, foreign excitement, one that sent chills up her spine. She felt her heart beating faster within her chest, her excitement building. In her mind she could hear his voice saying 'I shall get back to persuading you at a later time.' The thought of him carrying out these words made Daine shiver in excitement.

Daine moved to stand next to him, she too leaned her body against the tree, resting her side against his lanky form. She heard him sigh in what seemed to be contentment. She reached down to his hand and gripped it affectionately. He squeezed her hand back, allowing her to entangle his in her own. " I believe we both have a lot of telling to do," Daine mused as she leaned her head in the crook of his arm, her face resting against the silk of his black robe. He reached up his spare hand to run it through her smoky gray curls.

" Indeed we do," Numair said in response. Though Daine wasn't looking at him, she knew he was smiling, for she could feel it. She turned her head to look at him and saw that he was indeed smiling. This brought her lips into a crooked smile. " Why don't you start? What happened to you after we parted?"

Daine sighed and let her memory roam back in time. Many things had happened to her, many indeed. " I flew on Wingstar back to Legann to meet with Jonathan. He ordered me to act as his messenger and spy while he busied himself wielding the Dominion Jewel," Daine began her tale, letting her gaze travel from Numair to that of the beautiful surroundings. The wall of willow leaves that surrounded them looked mystical, a pleasing sight. Daine paused briefly before continuing. " I did as I was told, carrying messages for him often. For me, the real excitement didn't start until after a creature of chaos had come. I don't know if you heard about it, but some men opened up an unidentified box and thus released a creature of chaos. Raoul went up to fight the thing, as did the Badger and Rikash." Daine said the stormwing's name with tear filled eyes. Without being able to contain herself, she felt a hot tear slide down her face. She felt Numair's finger come up to her cheek and gently rub off the tear. She nodded to him gratefully.

" Are you all right, love?" he asked, his tone revealed his wonder as to why she was saddened by telling this.

" I'll be fine," she assured him, holding back any more tears that threatened to fall. She held her head high and continued. " Raoul killed the dratted thing, but as it was about to fall, it threw itself at Rikash and killed him."

The news came as quite a shock to Numair. He knew stormwings were rather easy to kill, but Rikash had always been tough one. He remembered in Dunlath several years ago when he and Daine had first met Rikash. She hadn't been able to kill him then, and was sure she wouldn't have been able to kill him now if she had wanted to. He had been wise, a rare trait for a stormwing, not to mention clever. He'd been good to Numair and Daine, and neither would ever forget him for how he helped them. If it hadn't been for Rikash and his clan, there was no way Daine or Numair could have crossed the Sea of Sand. " I'm sorry, Magelet," Numair said, trying his best to reassure her. He didn't know what he could say to make her feel any better though. Too many of her loved ones had been taken from her in her lifetime. She'd faced death all around her more than was natural for most humans. Numair didn't think it was fair at all that such a person as Daine should have to face so much grief. She was barely a small slip of a girl when her mother and grandfather had been murdered by bandits. It hadn't been long after that that she'd been forced to kill for the first time. No, life had not been fair to his Daine. But no more would it be that way, he would be sure of it. No longer would death knock at her door. He would drive it away. He would protect her from it. In his eyes, she'd been through enough, and he'd protect her until he himself was sent to the Realms of the Dead. He loved her enough to do this and more for her. There wasn't a single thing he would not do for his Daine.

" Its all right, Numair," Daine said, squeezing her love's hand for assurance. " I just don't understand the Black God's choice on who's life he claims, thats all. If there ever was a good stormwing, Rikash was just that. Out of all the stormwings that could have been killed, why did the Black God choose him?"

This had been a question that had always puzzled Numair. Why did the Black God claim the lives of certain people? Many good people died by his hand everyday. Why did he always allow the impure to thrive, the twisted to live off of others. It didn't seem fair. It all fell under the same category though. It was the choice of the gods. Often times Numair questioned why the gods did things as they did. He'd always thought that if he was a god, the good would thrive and the evil would fall. That was not always how the gods operated though. Perhaps things would be different for himself and Daine now however. They'd lived the lives of heroes and were both still rather young. They had a lot of life left to live, and perhaps the gods would let them have it in peace. He'd finally gotten what he'd wanted all along, and that was Daine's love. How could life be anything but good so long as he had that?

" I don't know, sweet," Numair said, still thinking on the matter. Nothing he could say or even think could justify Rikash's death or for that matter, the death of anyone he or Daine had lost during their lifetime. " Its questions such as that that have always puzzled me. I'm almost certain that there is not an answer and there never will be."

What Numair said made sense to Daine. Perhaps he was right. Gods did things for a reason, but mortals would never understand that reason. There was a chance that something good could come out of the stormwing's death. If she thought about it, there had been something good to come out of her Ma's death. After her family had died, she'd fled to Tortall and met Numair, Onua, Alanna, Thayet, Jonathan, and all of her other friends. She'd helped them and she'd learned a lot about herself. If her Ma hadn't died, there was a good chance that she would never have gone to Tortall, never met Onua, never found out about her Wild Magic. The most terrifying thought that went along these lines though, was that she might never have met Numair. She might never have saved him that day in the swamp when he was stuck as a hawk. Its likely that he would have died. It would have been near impossible for Onua to have found him, for she could not sense him as Daine could. Yes, Daine was sure that if her Ma hadn't died, her lanky friend and love would have. Who knows what would have become of her friends had her Ma not died. Daine wanted to be modest, but she had to admit that she'd saved her friend's lives more than once. " I think I understand, Numair," she said quietly. He leaned his head down to rest on hers, his lips resting in her hair. She could feel his warm breath on her scalp.

There was a long pause in which neither spoke. Both mage and magelet were deep in though, neither really wanting to share their thoughts with the other. Finally, Numair spoke up out of curiosity. " What happened after Rikash was killed, Daine?" he asked, his voice gentle, yet pleading.

" After Rikash was killed, I saw a lone stormwing flying away from the battle. It didn't seem right to me. I knew that it could be only one stormwing, Ozorne," Daine said, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. She felt anger renewed welling up inside her just as it had when she had been chasing Ozorne through the air that day. She took a deep breath and then continued. " I followed Ozorne in the shape of a bird that was half bird of prey and half starling. I had almost caught up to him when he sent three of those winged apes to stop me. I spent some time fighting them off before I could go after him again. I finally caught him and our fight lasted for a while in the air. Before long though, we hit the ground and continued there. It lasted so long that I lost all of my strength to shape shift and he drained his power."

Numair's eyes grew wide as he heard her story. He'd assumed he'd had a more exciting battle than she had, but she could give him a run for his money. " How in the name of Mithros did you manage to come out of this alive?!" he asked anxiously. This would have to be a miraculous escape, even for Daine's standards.

" To tell you the truth, I didn't think I was going to come out of it alive as it all was happening," Daine said, remembering her fear when she'd been unable to shape shift. She'd been so afraid that she would never see Numair again, or any of her other friends for that matter. She could remember hearing his voice in her head, 'If you get yourself killed, I will never forgive you.' "In the last moment, I slit his throat with my badger claw."

Numair was rather shocked to have heard this. Whatever he had expected her to say, that hadn't been it. Had he been the one drained in a battle, he would never have thought of something so simply. Apparently, Ozorne hadn't thought of it either. It had always been Ozorne's downfall to underestimate Daine. This time it had been more than just his kingdom that he lost. He had lost his life. Numair couldn't be more grateful for a man's death. Ozorne had been a thorn in his side for a very long time. The man, if he could even be called that, was evil. He wasn't something that should be allowed to walk the earth. After a while, Numair finally voiced his thoughts on what Daine had just said. "I would never have thought to do that," he said simply, earning a strangled laugh from Daine. His legs ached beneath him, for he had been standing in the same position for a very long time. He decided to take a rest, so he released Daine's hand and lowered his body to the ground, sitting on the hard dirt floor.

Daine soon followed his movements, taking a seat next to him. He leaned her head down to rest in the crook of his arm as he lifted up his arm to wrap around her shoulders. Once settled, Daine broke the new found silence. " I believe you still have a tale to tell," she said, her voice close to teasing. Numair smiled at this, leaning his head back to rest of the willow's trunk. He looked up into the willow's canopy, as is searching for answers. Blocking his view of the sky was the barrier of willow branches and leaves.

" Where shall I start?" he asked more to himself than to Daine. In any event, she answered him.

" Start exactly where I did," she prompted, not lifting her head from the crook of his arm.

" Well, I left with Thayet and her army to head for the main battle grounds, not far from Legann. With every step I took, the aurora of Hadensra's Gift grew stronger. Every time I felt his power come closer, I got scared. Walking into a mage's duel has never scared me like it did with Hadensra. Do you know why I was scared, Magelet?" he asked, voice soft and filled with emotion. Daine leaned her head back to look up into his eyes. His face was lit up by the sunlight that leaked in through the gaps in the barrier of willow leaves. She thought he looked rather handsome in this moment. She wished she could capture this moment in time, and go back to it when she wanted. If she could, she would go back to it often.

" Was it because you knew he would be the hardest mage you've ever faced?" Daine asked, not at all prepared for what his answer was.

" No," his tone was foreign to Daine. It was breathless, filled with longing, but even that was putting it mildly. It made her feel giddy through and through. It gave her a feeling she couldn't even begin to describe. " I was scared that I would never see you again, Magelet, never hold you again. I'd waited a long time to have your love and now that I'd gotten it, I didn't by any means want to die and thus lose it." Numair finished his statement and Daine was soon in the same state he was. She felt as if she could barely breath.

" Even in death, you'd still have my love," Daine said, feeling her eyes well up with tears. She loved this man with every ounce of her being, and would never let go of him, not even in the end of time. " I love you so much, Numair Salmalin."

" I may have your love in death, but I'd still never be able to do this," his voice came out raspy and he sounded as though he could scarcely breath. Daine barely had time to take all of this in, for in an instant after uttering these words, he'd brought his lips over hers roughly, pinning her back to the trunk of the willow. She moaned in pleasure as the kiss went on, passion growing with every second. Just as he pulled away for air, he came back more gently. This time, Daine was even more unprepared. She lost her balance and slide down landing with a thump on the forest floor. Through this whole event neither broke the kiss or even took notice that they'd fallen, for they were too wound up in passion and desire.

Finally, Numair lifted his head to find himself face down, laying on top of Daine. For a moment he sat questioning as to how he got in this position, but shrugged it off. He rolled over and onto the floor beside his love. " Have I persuaded you enough in regard to matrimony, my love?" he asked teasingly, his voice a cracked whisper. He hoped with all of his heart that she would say yes. He wanted her to be his forever and he wanted the world to know it. In a more serious tone, he added, " Daine, you're the one I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want you to be my wife."

" I'm sorry Numair, but I can't, I just can't," Daine did her best to be sympathetic, but felt like a monster when she saw the look of disappointment and even hurt in his eyes. Seeing this, she knew she'd given him the wrong impression, for he looked away quickly and she knew she'd hurt him. " I-I didn't mean it that way, Numair," Daine pleaded with him, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. " What I meant, was that I'm just not ready for marriage. I'm sorry." He turned to face her, meeting her gaze once again.

" Its me who should be sorry, sweet," though he tried, he couldn't hide the hurt from his voice. This stung Daine like a bull whip, but she pushed it away long enough to hear the rest of what he had to say. " I should have waited a while longer, but I just can't help it. When I'm with you, I'm free. Its not like anything I've ever felt, and I want to keep it forever."

" Don't be sorry, Numair," Daine said, her eyes welling up with tears at what he had just said to her. If she hadn't known of his feelings for her before, then she surely did now. She could feel how sincere his words were. She felt the same, but she just couldn't marry him, not yet. " I feel the same way about you, I truly do. I love you so much that it hurts, but I just can't marry you. Not yet at least."

" I understand, Daine, and I'll wait for you for as long as you want want me to wait," his words were sincere, his promise made. Daine knew he had every intention of keeping it, but would he one day regret it? She couldn't marry him so long as she still had such thoughts. Besides all of this, none of their friends even knew that they were lovers. No, it was much better to wait.

" I never said I wouldn't marry you," she said quickly, hoping that this at least would cheer him up. " I love you, Numair, and I want to be with you forever, but I just don't want you to be trapped."

" If I was to be trapped with someone, you'd be my first choice," he said with a sigh, knowing that he couldn't by any means win this argument.

"I'm sorry," Daine repeated. She couldn't take having such an argument with him just now and she wished it would stop. " I stand by what I said before. Maybe someday, I'll give in and marry you, but not now."



" I love you anyway and nothing you say or do can keep me from doing that," Numair said with a forced grin. He pulled Daine into his chest and held her tight. He kissed her forehead lovingly. She welcomed the closeness of his face, hoping that he wouldn't dwell on their previous argument.

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A/N: Well? As usual, I want to know what you think...I love reviews *hint hint* and they will make me update faster. I will also drop you the hint that I have several chapters that come after this one already written, so when I update depends entirely on your efficiency in reviewing.....with that in mind, do not hesitate to click the little gray button in the bottom left corner of this page! ^_^