Chapter Three, Potions.

Numair sat back in relief. His desk was piled high with papers and bottles or jars. A fire burned in the grate, as he pulled himself out of his chair to stir the pot that hung over it. This potion took hours to brew, and he was not sure even if it would do what he intended. Daine's nightmares needed to be stopped, and soon, before she collapsed from exhaustion. What worried the tall mage more however, was the fact that she only remembered one of her many nightmares.

Onua Chamtong, one of his closest friends for years, ever since he had come to Corus in fact, and had been found doing player work, had said that the girl had been dreaming all the way back from Cria, in Galla.

She didn't even realise what had happened when Numair had been in her dream that morning. He had got her out of the dream and she had woken up, not knowing why he was in her room. With a sigh, he distilled the potion again, it would be enough for the week. Only a small amount was needed to be fully potent and stop her from having these dreams for a week. He would brew some more later, when he was rested. Now, the question was, how would he convince her to take the draught, when she couldn't remember that there was anything wrong with her?

Daine stood in the middle of the field, calling out to any rider trainees who had problems with their tack. These new youths were soon learning to respect her, as she talked to their mounts and they soon found that, if they didn't listen to her commands, their mount would refuse to move. Some would even find themselves flying through the air if the pony stopped a little too eagerly. The other trainers had also learned to see the signals that Daine was talking to a horse and that something was wrong with one of them. A few of the mares had developed a habit of walking around in tight circles if they knew something was wrong, until the person on their backs would become so dizzy that they would loosen the reins.

Buriram Tourakom was a K'mir, like Onua and although she had a less open face, she had become a friend to Daine, and she loved her horses. Sarge was an ex slave, a huge black man who had come to Corus as a manual worker at the stables and had worked his way up quickly. He had a huge bellow and a sly sense of humour.

As Daine stood there, she noticed Numair striding across the field, his hair unusually unkempt. He held something close to his chest, then beckoned Onua over to the fence and showed it to her. She nodded at something he had said and the two conferred for a while. As the mage noticed Daine was watching them, he spoke once more to the horsemistress, then waved at her, grinning broadly. The object he carried, which she now realised was a vial or bottle of some sort, disappeared into his belt purse.

By the time she had got over there the two of them were innocently discussing the pending arrival of the King's champion and her family. She was easily distracted by the conversation, as she too was excited. To her, a simple country girl from a Gallan village, Alanna was a heroine equal to those of legend. She was one of the reasons Daine had come to Tortall so willingly with Onua. 

If the King of the country had helped the Lioness win her shield and then made her his champion, then the rest of the country might ignore the fact that Daine herself was a bastard child who never knew her father.

But she had also found that Alanna was human, she laughed, smiled, loved and joked. And she cried too.

When Alanna was last at the palace Daine had inadvertently bumped into her as she sat at the grave of her brother, and the small plaque in the chamber of the Black God that bore his name, and the name of the Shang Dragon, Liam Ironarm. She had been crying gently, as Daine wandered around, running her fingers across the names of the dead, wondering what their stories were. Both had been so quiet neither had known of the other's presence. It wasn't until Daine had turned a corner and nearly fallen over the older woman that they noticed each other. Luckily Alanna had seen the humour of the situation, even as Daine had began to stutter an apology.

Numair waving a hand in front of her face brought Daine out of her memories.

"I'm going back up to the palace now, do you want to come with me?" He asked,

"Go on," Onua nodded her head, "It'll do you good to have an afternoon off. Even if this lot don't."

The girl bade her friends, both human and people goodbye, before clambering over the fence and following the mage.

"Are you hungry Daine?" He asked.

"A little." She admitted. He looked her over with a critical eye

"You still don't eat enough."

The girl groaned, this was a conversation she had with him and Onua often.

"I eat plenty! Just acos..."

"Because." Numair corrected her absentmindedly,

"Just because," She dutifully repeated, "I don't eat as much as Miri or Evin," She named her two rider friends who seemed to eat whenever the was food around, "That doesn't mean I'm not healthy!"

"Let's go to the kitchens then. We can find some sustenance in there, I am sure."

When they came into the kitchens, Numair was treated with great awe, and trays bearing mugs of juice, bread, cold meats and cheese were quickly made up for them and shoved into their hands.

"Shall we eat these in my room Magelet?"

"Prob'ly be a good idea, no point sitting in the mess hall alone." Daine agreed.

"Shall we have a lesson up there then?"

Daine nodded, there was so much Numair had to teach her about her friends, and she was eager to gobble up any information she could get her hands on.

"Shall I get my book?"

"Yes, Put your food in my room then go and get it." She nodded and slipped into his room before he did. She wove expertly, with the air of one who had done this many times before, between the piles of books that littered the floor around the doorway. Balancing the tray against her hip, she shifted the objects on the lone table to the floor, then placed her food down. She smirked up at him as he too came across the floor gracefully.

"Point taken Daine, I need to clear this up."

She nodded and moved to the door, lightly jumping over a stack of glass cups, after a few seconds she poked her head back into the room,

"You really do! My ma would have had a fit if I had left my room like this. It's like Onua says, the powerfuller the mage, the more scatter brained he is!" She ducked back out, so the pillow Numair threw at her missed. It didn't help her much though, as Numair's magic kept it afloat and chasing her.

"That's cheating!" She cried, before he let her go.

When he was sure that she was leaving, Numair stood, and uncorked the bottle of potion he had made earlier and slipped a bit into her spiced juice. Hopefully the cinnamon in there would conceal the taste from her.

When she arrived back in the room, he was innocently flicking through another book of his. He put it down when she came in and laid her 'wondrous' book, as she called it, on the table before them.

"What do you want to study today then?" He asked.

Her nose wrinkled slightly as she thought, flicking through her mental catalogue of the People.

"Bears." She said decisively. "The dogs were saying that one was around."

"Good." He flicked to the appropriate page in her book. "Bears are carnivores and come in several species...."

Daine sighed happily and took a bite of cheese then took a deep draught from her juice.

There- no cliffhanger! Alanna will be arriving in the next chapter. This will be canon Alanna, from the books. And for references sake, this story takes place just after Wolf Speaker.

HuntressDiana