Disclaimer – All the characters and places in this story belong to Tamora
Pierce
"Gahhh!" Prince Liam's cry of frustration echoed in the deep caverns of the catacombs beneath the palace as he knocked over a rack of decorative spears. They clattered across the stone floor loudly, breaking the silence that had followed Liam's act rage.
"I should be up there, fighting! Protecting my knight master Sir Faleron as a true squire should!" he said angrily.
"Liam," Lianne, Liam's twin sister, said quietly in warning. Guards were standing outside of every doorway, ready to stop anyone from getting into the room where the Conté children sat, or as they had overheard the Lioness say, to keep them from getting out. However, the guards made no move. They were all used to the Conté family temper.
Alan stood from his relaxed position against the wall, righted the spear case, and began to put the spears back in their places. The youngest prince, Jasson, who was beginning his final year as a page, took a break from his nervous pacing to help his friend.
Once the job was finished, Alan turned to the angry squire. "Come on Liam, don't you think we'd all rather be up there helping? How do you think I felt when Lady Kel brought me here because I'm still to weak to fight? And what about Jasson? The rest of the pages are up on the walls, at least able to fetch water and food for the fighters, but he's here as well."
Liam looked away, ashen faced.
Lianne stood up, dusted off her breeches and stood next to Alan.
"Liam, think! With Papa, Mama and Roald all refusing to come down here with us, you have to be the sane one. If anything, if anything happened to them, you'd be King until Shinko's baby is born."
Liam sat down again, defeated.
"I don't want to be a king, or a prince. I just want to help Tortall."
Jasson sat next to his brother, and Lianne and Alan followed in suit.
"Well," said the shy youngest prince, "Look on the bright side, when was the last time we were all able to talk to each other as friends?" It had been a while since the four friends had been able to just relax and enjoy each other's company. Ever since first Liam, then Alan and Jasson, had begun their quest for knighthood, the once inseparable friends had seen less of each other than they would have liked. Especially Lianne, who had been attending the royal university, studying magic.
"Yah," Alan said jovially as he put one of his big arms around Lianne, "I rather like it."
Lianne giggled and rested her head on Alan's shoulder. "Me too,"
Alan bent his head and leaned in for a delicate kiss. Jasson snorted, ruining the moment.
Alan raised his fist in false anger. "Now see here you young scallywag!"
Even Liam couldn't hide a grin. "You two are just happy because this war put a quick ending to marriage arrangements between you and that little King Dunevon," he said to his sister slyly.
Lianne visibly shivered, causing Alan to only hold her closer. "I wouldn't have gone anyway!" she said rebelliously. The night her father had even suggested the idea Lianne marry Dunevon, she had locked herself in her chamber and Jonathan had spent the night sleeping on the floor. Neither Queen Thayet nor Lianne had even spoken to him for a week. However, in his stubborn way, Jonathan had begun talks anyway with the Copper Isles' regents. He argued that if Lianne were to marry Dunevon in exchange for peace, then Tortall would be rid of its worst threat.
"And I wouldn't have let them take you away," Alan said stubbornly. He and the youngest princess had secretly loved each other for as long as they could remember. It had taken a moonlit midwinter's night last year and a little nudging from their friends for them to finally admit their feelings for each other. Now they were a couple, though their parents were never to find out. Neither of them even wanted to imagine what would happen if they did.
"You two are weird," Jasson said, interrupting their moment, "I liked it better when you were just friends."
"Just wait until you're in love Jasson, then you won't think it's so silly," his sister retorted.
"Well, no Conté will ever marry Copper Isles royalty now." Liam noted.
They all hushed as they heard loud footsteps approaching from one of the corridors.
"Shinko, I won't stand for this. I'm a knight! I can't just let my father tell me what to do!" The four instantly recognized the voice as that of the crown prince, Roald. Alan and Lianne sprang apart just as Roald and his wife, Shinko, entered the chamber.
"Mage battles my breeches!" he explained to his wife, "what does that have to do with my safety?" However, Shinko was ignoring her husband's rants and was instead looking intently at a rather red squire and sister-in-law of hers. She looked back and forth between them, her eyes dancing in the Yamani form of a smile, before replacing her mask of calm and nodding sympathetically.
"Of course Roald." She said before winking at Lianne.
"What's happening Roald?" Jasson asked intently.
"Father's decided that I'm too young and delicate to be useful." The crown prince steamed.
"No, not that," Jasson interrupted, "What was that about mage battles?"
Roald calmed for a moment long enough for them to notice the worry in his eyes. "Inar Haddensra, the mage whom Numair defeated in the Immortals War, is back and Numair has gone after him."
No sooner had Lani's head hit the pillow of its first bed in weeks, than she found herself in a very life-like dream. She was at the edge of a meadow in the midst of a dense jungle. Though it was clearly night in her dream, the meadow was lit as though it were noon.
At first glance, the grass in the meadow appeared black, but upon a closer look, Lani discovered that the grass was actually hundreds of crows. They were eerily still and quiet, as though waiting for something. Unconsciously, Lani took a step back, not sure what to make of the dream.
"Now, now, the crows are nothing to be a afraid of. You've seen worse, I dare say," a singsong familiar voice said.
Out of thin air, Kyprioth appeared on a rock in the center of the meadow. He was dressed in the traditional clothes of a raka. His sarong was bright orange and his light vest was an impossibly azure blue. On every finger there were at least three copper rings and around his neck was an emerald pendant the size of a fist. The whole ensemble made the Trickster almost impossible to look at through the brightness of his clothing and jewelry.
Perhaps, Lani thought, that's what he's aiming for.
She bowed carefully where she was and tried to hide the uncertainty from her voice as she said, "Good evening your godliness."
"Isn't it?" Kyprioth mused as he beckoned her forward. "Come, come, there's no time to dawdle! Have a seat right here." He patted a spot on the rock right next to him.
Lani took a breath, and began to slowly walk to the rock. To her surprise, the crows split apart, leaving a path for her to walk.
Though the distance was clearly short to her eyes, the walk seemed to take forever. Lani mumbled something about uncooperative tricksters as she finally climbed onto the rock and sat a respectful distance from the god.
"Good," Kyprioth said, "Now where are the others?" As if on cue, six others appeared at the edge of the clearing. Lani quickly recognized three of them as Daine, Aly, and Nawat, but the others she had only seen around Tanair and did not know their names.
All of them paused uncertainly at the edge of the meadow, preferring the darkness of the forest to the brightness of the meadow. Lani's eyes watered as she looked to see Kyprioth's reaction. To her surprise, he looked rather smug.
"Come! There's not a moment to lose. My brother Ganiel has lent me only this night to talk to you. I might never again be able to talk to all of you in private until after I get my Isles back."
Aly was the first to leave the safety of the forest.
"Just like a god to interrupt my beauty sleep," she said as she sat down next to Lani. Soon they all were assembled in a circle on the rock.
"What do you want Kyprioth?" an older woman asked roughly. She had an air of power that Lani knew could only belong to nobility or a mage. She quickly judged by her speech and clothes that she was the later.
"A fair question Ochuba," replied the trickster.
"But do you plan to answer it?" asked a man whom Lani recognized as Sarai's sword instructor.
"Of course." Kyprioth said. "It's almost time for my trick. Rubinyan and Imajane are too occupied with Tortall to even imagine that trouble might stir up at home. A siege has begun in Corus, Port Royal and Port Cayenne, and the Tortallians have enough men and food to draw it out for a year. Imapain and Rubinyawn are too impatient to wait as their advisors tell them to and plan instead to send even more men over. So many in fact, that there will only be a few thousand remaining in the islands."
Lani felt a smile twitching at the edges of her lips and many others were hiding similar grins. One man, a footman Lani had seen at Tanair, was smiling outright.
"Ulasim," Kyproith said, turning to the man, "How many fighters would you say we have?"
"Enough." He said determinedly. "Either way, all we have to do is make our way into the palace and take care of the king and queen. Even people who aren't on our side will have little reason to resist Sarai's rule.
Kyprioth stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.
Lani too was thinking, but her thoughts were not optimistic.
"All we have to do is get into the palace?" she asked disbelieving.
"We'll already have people on the inside." Aly said, eyeing Lani suspiciously. The others had similar looks.
"My father had people on the inside too. But they didn't know about the traps, the extra guards, the spells..." Lani trailed off. She braced herself as the memories began to wash over her.
"Your father?" Daine asked, speaking up for the first time.
Lani nodded, "My father was one of the leaders of a revolt about fifteen years back in Rajamuat. They had servants, slaves, guards, and palace healers, all on their side. But when the attack began, things went wrong. Magic choked people to death, suits of armor came alive, and cobras we set out by their handlers. There was little need for executions by the time the revolt was put down."
"But we have the help of a god!" Ulasim argued.
"So did they." Lani answered quietly.
All eyes turned to Kyprioth.
"It was the wrong time, I thought there was a chance, but I read the signals wrong. This is different, I know now is the time. There will never again be an opportunity like this!" The god said.
"We'll be more prepared this time," Festago promised, breaking the silence.
"I can talk to some of my acquaintances about the magical protection," Ochuba offered.
"I can ask the servants to get rid of the suits of armor." Ulasim said.
"I can take care of the cobras," Daine said quietly, offering no explanation to the others as to how she would do this. None but Kyprioth, Aly, and Lani herself knew who Daine really was.
Lani nodded slowly, "Then I will help train the people." She knew she had to have hope, or else images of her father's execution would constantly flash through her head, distracting her.
"And Aly and I will talk to the crows and see what they can do," offered Nawat.
"This will work," Kyprioth told them with grim determination. "A month from this very night is when all must occur. That is the perfect time."
"What about the ladies?" Aly asked, "We can't start a revolt in Sarai's name if she knows nothing about it or is against it."
Kyprioth again stroked his beard, which, Lani noted with interest, had grown noticeably longer during their meeting.
Slowly, he raised one of his wrinkled hands and pointed to the sky.
"What do you see?" he asked them.
"A moonless night," Nawat answered.
"When the moon grows full again, that is when you must tell Sarai and Dove. I leave the rest of the planning to you. I'll give you as much luck as I can. Don't let me down."
He snapped his fingers and Lani woke up in the bed that she had been given at Tanair. Daine sat up in the bed next to her.
"That was odd," Lani whispered so as to not wake anyone up.
Daine nodded in reply. She rubbed her eyes sleepily.
"I need to get some air," she whispered to Lani. Carefully, she slipped out of bed, doing her best not to disturb the two cats and dog that had wriggled their way into her blankets. She pulled on a pair of breeches and tucked her nightshirt into them. Finally, she pulled on a pair of boots and crept out the door.
Lani heard the latch click softly as she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
As always, Aly had a lot to think about. Her head was so full, that after Kyprioth's dream meeting had adjourned, she decided that she would take a walk to ease her mind rather than tossing and turning for the rest of the night and waking Dove.
Her feet carried her to one of her favorite spots to sit and remember home. When Aly opened the hatch to the roof, she was very surprised to find someone already up there.
She recognized the woman as her aunt by the owl that sat perched on her shoulder. Quietly, so as not to startle either the woman or the bird, she sat down next to Daine.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Daine asked. Aly wasn't sure if the question was directed to her, the owl, or just to the night sky.
After moment's pause, Aly answered, "A big mess."
"That much is clear," Daine mused, "But so much else isn't."
"I'll try to clear up as much as I can if you want," Ally said.
Daine nodded silently and tossed the owl into the night air. It hooted farewell and flapped silently through the sky. "What's going to happen if this doesn't work?"
Aly wasn't sure how to answer such a question, but she finally decided the truth would be best. "I don't know, but what ever it is, it won't be good." She said.
Daine nodded, as if she expected no other answer.
"Why do all the raka have bits of wild magic?" she asked out of the blue.
Aly thought for a moment, and then remembered something from a book of legends she had read in the Balitang's library.
"That I don't know for sure, but the raka do have a connection with crows. It is said that the raka and crows are brothers, hatched from different eggs in the same nest." She answered, "Why?"
"I was just wondering." Daine said. "Speaking of crows, about your friend Nawat,"
"Yes?" Aly was grinning.
"Do you know he's a crow?" she asked.
"Yes." Aly answered.
"How is he human?"
"I have no idea. He told me that you two met. He thinks you're a crow turned human too. I tried to explain to him that you aren't, but he didn't believe me." Aly said
Daine chuckled softly.
Ally and Daine sat for a while in silence, simply enjoying each other's company.
Soon, Ally noticed that the sky was beginning to lighten in the east. She stood up and dusted of her breeches.
"We'd both best get back to our beds before someone finds them empty." She said. As she turned to go, Daine stood up and grabbed her arm.
"Wait, before you go, I've a message from your mother."
Aly looked up. "What did she say," she asked, blinking away unwanted tears.
"She says that she loves you, and that she's proud of you, no matter what path life takes you down." She gave Aly a quick hug and walked past her to the hatch leading down to the castle.
A cool dawn breeze swept across Aly's face, drying the tears in her eyes before they could even fall down her cheeks. Despite the tears, she smiled. Her mother was proud of her.
"Gahhh!" Prince Liam's cry of frustration echoed in the deep caverns of the catacombs beneath the palace as he knocked over a rack of decorative spears. They clattered across the stone floor loudly, breaking the silence that had followed Liam's act rage.
"I should be up there, fighting! Protecting my knight master Sir Faleron as a true squire should!" he said angrily.
"Liam," Lianne, Liam's twin sister, said quietly in warning. Guards were standing outside of every doorway, ready to stop anyone from getting into the room where the Conté children sat, or as they had overheard the Lioness say, to keep them from getting out. However, the guards made no move. They were all used to the Conté family temper.
Alan stood from his relaxed position against the wall, righted the spear case, and began to put the spears back in their places. The youngest prince, Jasson, who was beginning his final year as a page, took a break from his nervous pacing to help his friend.
Once the job was finished, Alan turned to the angry squire. "Come on Liam, don't you think we'd all rather be up there helping? How do you think I felt when Lady Kel brought me here because I'm still to weak to fight? And what about Jasson? The rest of the pages are up on the walls, at least able to fetch water and food for the fighters, but he's here as well."
Liam looked away, ashen faced.
Lianne stood up, dusted off her breeches and stood next to Alan.
"Liam, think! With Papa, Mama and Roald all refusing to come down here with us, you have to be the sane one. If anything, if anything happened to them, you'd be King until Shinko's baby is born."
Liam sat down again, defeated.
"I don't want to be a king, or a prince. I just want to help Tortall."
Jasson sat next to his brother, and Lianne and Alan followed in suit.
"Well," said the shy youngest prince, "Look on the bright side, when was the last time we were all able to talk to each other as friends?" It had been a while since the four friends had been able to just relax and enjoy each other's company. Ever since first Liam, then Alan and Jasson, had begun their quest for knighthood, the once inseparable friends had seen less of each other than they would have liked. Especially Lianne, who had been attending the royal university, studying magic.
"Yah," Alan said jovially as he put one of his big arms around Lianne, "I rather like it."
Lianne giggled and rested her head on Alan's shoulder. "Me too,"
Alan bent his head and leaned in for a delicate kiss. Jasson snorted, ruining the moment.
Alan raised his fist in false anger. "Now see here you young scallywag!"
Even Liam couldn't hide a grin. "You two are just happy because this war put a quick ending to marriage arrangements between you and that little King Dunevon," he said to his sister slyly.
Lianne visibly shivered, causing Alan to only hold her closer. "I wouldn't have gone anyway!" she said rebelliously. The night her father had even suggested the idea Lianne marry Dunevon, she had locked herself in her chamber and Jonathan had spent the night sleeping on the floor. Neither Queen Thayet nor Lianne had even spoken to him for a week. However, in his stubborn way, Jonathan had begun talks anyway with the Copper Isles' regents. He argued that if Lianne were to marry Dunevon in exchange for peace, then Tortall would be rid of its worst threat.
"And I wouldn't have let them take you away," Alan said stubbornly. He and the youngest princess had secretly loved each other for as long as they could remember. It had taken a moonlit midwinter's night last year and a little nudging from their friends for them to finally admit their feelings for each other. Now they were a couple, though their parents were never to find out. Neither of them even wanted to imagine what would happen if they did.
"You two are weird," Jasson said, interrupting their moment, "I liked it better when you were just friends."
"Just wait until you're in love Jasson, then you won't think it's so silly," his sister retorted.
"Well, no Conté will ever marry Copper Isles royalty now." Liam noted.
They all hushed as they heard loud footsteps approaching from one of the corridors.
"Shinko, I won't stand for this. I'm a knight! I can't just let my father tell me what to do!" The four instantly recognized the voice as that of the crown prince, Roald. Alan and Lianne sprang apart just as Roald and his wife, Shinko, entered the chamber.
"Mage battles my breeches!" he explained to his wife, "what does that have to do with my safety?" However, Shinko was ignoring her husband's rants and was instead looking intently at a rather red squire and sister-in-law of hers. She looked back and forth between them, her eyes dancing in the Yamani form of a smile, before replacing her mask of calm and nodding sympathetically.
"Of course Roald." She said before winking at Lianne.
"What's happening Roald?" Jasson asked intently.
"Father's decided that I'm too young and delicate to be useful." The crown prince steamed.
"No, not that," Jasson interrupted, "What was that about mage battles?"
Roald calmed for a moment long enough for them to notice the worry in his eyes. "Inar Haddensra, the mage whom Numair defeated in the Immortals War, is back and Numair has gone after him."
No sooner had Lani's head hit the pillow of its first bed in weeks, than she found herself in a very life-like dream. She was at the edge of a meadow in the midst of a dense jungle. Though it was clearly night in her dream, the meadow was lit as though it were noon.
At first glance, the grass in the meadow appeared black, but upon a closer look, Lani discovered that the grass was actually hundreds of crows. They were eerily still and quiet, as though waiting for something. Unconsciously, Lani took a step back, not sure what to make of the dream.
"Now, now, the crows are nothing to be a afraid of. You've seen worse, I dare say," a singsong familiar voice said.
Out of thin air, Kyprioth appeared on a rock in the center of the meadow. He was dressed in the traditional clothes of a raka. His sarong was bright orange and his light vest was an impossibly azure blue. On every finger there were at least three copper rings and around his neck was an emerald pendant the size of a fist. The whole ensemble made the Trickster almost impossible to look at through the brightness of his clothing and jewelry.
Perhaps, Lani thought, that's what he's aiming for.
She bowed carefully where she was and tried to hide the uncertainty from her voice as she said, "Good evening your godliness."
"Isn't it?" Kyprioth mused as he beckoned her forward. "Come, come, there's no time to dawdle! Have a seat right here." He patted a spot on the rock right next to him.
Lani took a breath, and began to slowly walk to the rock. To her surprise, the crows split apart, leaving a path for her to walk.
Though the distance was clearly short to her eyes, the walk seemed to take forever. Lani mumbled something about uncooperative tricksters as she finally climbed onto the rock and sat a respectful distance from the god.
"Good," Kyprioth said, "Now where are the others?" As if on cue, six others appeared at the edge of the clearing. Lani quickly recognized three of them as Daine, Aly, and Nawat, but the others she had only seen around Tanair and did not know their names.
All of them paused uncertainly at the edge of the meadow, preferring the darkness of the forest to the brightness of the meadow. Lani's eyes watered as she looked to see Kyprioth's reaction. To her surprise, he looked rather smug.
"Come! There's not a moment to lose. My brother Ganiel has lent me only this night to talk to you. I might never again be able to talk to all of you in private until after I get my Isles back."
Aly was the first to leave the safety of the forest.
"Just like a god to interrupt my beauty sleep," she said as she sat down next to Lani. Soon they all were assembled in a circle on the rock.
"What do you want Kyprioth?" an older woman asked roughly. She had an air of power that Lani knew could only belong to nobility or a mage. She quickly judged by her speech and clothes that she was the later.
"A fair question Ochuba," replied the trickster.
"But do you plan to answer it?" asked a man whom Lani recognized as Sarai's sword instructor.
"Of course." Kyprioth said. "It's almost time for my trick. Rubinyan and Imajane are too occupied with Tortall to even imagine that trouble might stir up at home. A siege has begun in Corus, Port Royal and Port Cayenne, and the Tortallians have enough men and food to draw it out for a year. Imapain and Rubinyawn are too impatient to wait as their advisors tell them to and plan instead to send even more men over. So many in fact, that there will only be a few thousand remaining in the islands."
Lani felt a smile twitching at the edges of her lips and many others were hiding similar grins. One man, a footman Lani had seen at Tanair, was smiling outright.
"Ulasim," Kyproith said, turning to the man, "How many fighters would you say we have?"
"Enough." He said determinedly. "Either way, all we have to do is make our way into the palace and take care of the king and queen. Even people who aren't on our side will have little reason to resist Sarai's rule.
Kyprioth stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.
Lani too was thinking, but her thoughts were not optimistic.
"All we have to do is get into the palace?" she asked disbelieving.
"We'll already have people on the inside." Aly said, eyeing Lani suspiciously. The others had similar looks.
"My father had people on the inside too. But they didn't know about the traps, the extra guards, the spells..." Lani trailed off. She braced herself as the memories began to wash over her.
"Your father?" Daine asked, speaking up for the first time.
Lani nodded, "My father was one of the leaders of a revolt about fifteen years back in Rajamuat. They had servants, slaves, guards, and palace healers, all on their side. But when the attack began, things went wrong. Magic choked people to death, suits of armor came alive, and cobras we set out by their handlers. There was little need for executions by the time the revolt was put down."
"But we have the help of a god!" Ulasim argued.
"So did they." Lani answered quietly.
All eyes turned to Kyprioth.
"It was the wrong time, I thought there was a chance, but I read the signals wrong. This is different, I know now is the time. There will never again be an opportunity like this!" The god said.
"We'll be more prepared this time," Festago promised, breaking the silence.
"I can talk to some of my acquaintances about the magical protection," Ochuba offered.
"I can ask the servants to get rid of the suits of armor." Ulasim said.
"I can take care of the cobras," Daine said quietly, offering no explanation to the others as to how she would do this. None but Kyprioth, Aly, and Lani herself knew who Daine really was.
Lani nodded slowly, "Then I will help train the people." She knew she had to have hope, or else images of her father's execution would constantly flash through her head, distracting her.
"And Aly and I will talk to the crows and see what they can do," offered Nawat.
"This will work," Kyprioth told them with grim determination. "A month from this very night is when all must occur. That is the perfect time."
"What about the ladies?" Aly asked, "We can't start a revolt in Sarai's name if she knows nothing about it or is against it."
Kyprioth again stroked his beard, which, Lani noted with interest, had grown noticeably longer during their meeting.
Slowly, he raised one of his wrinkled hands and pointed to the sky.
"What do you see?" he asked them.
"A moonless night," Nawat answered.
"When the moon grows full again, that is when you must tell Sarai and Dove. I leave the rest of the planning to you. I'll give you as much luck as I can. Don't let me down."
He snapped his fingers and Lani woke up in the bed that she had been given at Tanair. Daine sat up in the bed next to her.
"That was odd," Lani whispered so as to not wake anyone up.
Daine nodded in reply. She rubbed her eyes sleepily.
"I need to get some air," she whispered to Lani. Carefully, she slipped out of bed, doing her best not to disturb the two cats and dog that had wriggled their way into her blankets. She pulled on a pair of breeches and tucked her nightshirt into them. Finally, she pulled on a pair of boots and crept out the door.
Lani heard the latch click softly as she fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
As always, Aly had a lot to think about. Her head was so full, that after Kyprioth's dream meeting had adjourned, she decided that she would take a walk to ease her mind rather than tossing and turning for the rest of the night and waking Dove.
Her feet carried her to one of her favorite spots to sit and remember home. When Aly opened the hatch to the roof, she was very surprised to find someone already up there.
She recognized the woman as her aunt by the owl that sat perched on her shoulder. Quietly, so as not to startle either the woman or the bird, she sat down next to Daine.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Daine asked. Aly wasn't sure if the question was directed to her, the owl, or just to the night sky.
After moment's pause, Aly answered, "A big mess."
"That much is clear," Daine mused, "But so much else isn't."
"I'll try to clear up as much as I can if you want," Ally said.
Daine nodded silently and tossed the owl into the night air. It hooted farewell and flapped silently through the sky. "What's going to happen if this doesn't work?"
Aly wasn't sure how to answer such a question, but she finally decided the truth would be best. "I don't know, but what ever it is, it won't be good." She said.
Daine nodded, as if she expected no other answer.
"Why do all the raka have bits of wild magic?" she asked out of the blue.
Aly thought for a moment, and then remembered something from a book of legends she had read in the Balitang's library.
"That I don't know for sure, but the raka do have a connection with crows. It is said that the raka and crows are brothers, hatched from different eggs in the same nest." She answered, "Why?"
"I was just wondering." Daine said. "Speaking of crows, about your friend Nawat,"
"Yes?" Aly was grinning.
"Do you know he's a crow?" she asked.
"Yes." Aly answered.
"How is he human?"
"I have no idea. He told me that you two met. He thinks you're a crow turned human too. I tried to explain to him that you aren't, but he didn't believe me." Aly said
Daine chuckled softly.
Ally and Daine sat for a while in silence, simply enjoying each other's company.
Soon, Ally noticed that the sky was beginning to lighten in the east. She stood up and dusted of her breeches.
"We'd both best get back to our beds before someone finds them empty." She said. As she turned to go, Daine stood up and grabbed her arm.
"Wait, before you go, I've a message from your mother."
Aly looked up. "What did she say," she asked, blinking away unwanted tears.
"She says that she loves you, and that she's proud of you, no matter what path life takes you down." She gave Aly a quick hug and walked past her to the hatch leading down to the castle.
A cool dawn breeze swept across Aly's face, drying the tears in her eyes before they could even fall down her cheeks. Despite the tears, she smiled. Her mother was proud of her.