Disclaimer: Anything that you think is Tamora Pierce's almost definitely is.

A/N: Again, thank you for all the reviews! You guys are awesome. SportzGurl: yeah, I remembered Christina Aguilera's song, and I just couldn't resist! :) And Darking Queen, I've never been called a creative genius before, and I probably never will be again, so thank you. Hardly, but thanks for saying it! :) One exam down, two to go, so I'll update again after the 21st. I'm making up a lot of stuff as I go, but if anyone thinks any details are horribly off, please let me know.

"I can't get Jardan out of my head!"

Daine burst into Alanna's room, forgetting to knock in her agitation. Her outraged exclamation was directed towards the Lioness' swaying posterior, as her friend was currently sprawled on the wooden beams, stowing spare armour under her mattress. Startled, Alanna's head snapped up and thudded against the bed frame. A muffled curse reached Daine's ears, but she was too preoccupied to worry overly much about the Champion's formidable temper. Backing up on her knees, one hand clutched in copper hair, Alanna squinted up at Daine with a mixture of pained irritation and alarm.

"Daine, that's..." Her gaze drifted past the bothered wild mage and settled on the tense figure in the doorway. "Daine!" she hissed, "Numair's right behind you!"

Daine didn't bother to turn around; even if she hadn't just frog-marched him through the palace corridors, she was always alerted to the mage's proximity by a gentle stirring of her skin. Numair felt it too, when she was near, and was constantly frustrated by his inability to find an intellectual explanation. She accepted it as natural, and barely noticed the prickling awareness most of the time.

"I know that," she said impatiently, dismissively. "Alanna, why can I hear Jardan's voice? This has never happened before, not with a human."

A frown flickered over Alanna's face, and she stared at Daine. "Oh! Oh, you mean...he's in your head. His voice is in your head."

Daine stared back, slightly confused. "Yes...that's what I said."

Alanna shook her head. "I know...never mind. You can mind-speak with Jardan? Right now, if you wanted to?"

"'Want' has nothing to do with it," Daine said wryly, "I don't want to speak to him. He's just suddenly...there."

Numair remained ominously quiet, and Alanna rose slowly from the floor. Folding her arms, she tilted her head, trying to understand. "It's like your connection with the People then?"

"Partly. Except that I enjoy talking to animals for the most part."

'That hurts. Really, it does.'

Ignoring Jardan's mocking words, Daine turned to Numair. He stood stiffly, looking directly ahead and, judging by the scowl tugging at his face, was lost in rather unpleasant thoughts. Reaching up, she gently pulled at his shirt. His unreadable gaze swung down to her, and he raised a sardonic eyebrow but remained silent.

"Please don't be upset," she said urgently, fingers entwining in the crisp material.

'Why should he be upset? I'm the one who had to listen to - '

'Would you stop eavesdropping! I'm trying to tell Numair something.'

'How about "Get a haircut"?'

'I'm ignoring you now.'

Daine moved her hands to Numair's waist, holding him loosely in place. She could feel the tension in the mage's long frame, and feared that he might pull away from her. Their closeness of just a few minutes before had evaporated, and he looked distant and angry.

"I'm not upset," Numair said finally, covering her hands with his. Paying no attention to her fervent resistance, he pulled them away from his body – before hesitating and lightly entwining their fingers. "I'm just...surprised. You've never had such a..." he gritted his teeth noticeably, "...bond with someone with wild magic before, have you?"

It was more of a statement than a question; he knew she would have told him if she had.

"No," Daine said decisively. She'd never experienced anything like this sudden link with Jardan. The feelings she had for Numair tied them irrevocably, both emotionally and physically. The connection with Jardan, she couldn't even begin to describe. She couldn't honestly say that she liked him, yet she trusted him. She did trust him, and that was unusual in itself. She was always wary of strangers, and instinctively suspicious of their motives. But Jardan...she didn't sense danger or disloyalty in him - and she could feel his very presence. She half-expected to look over her shoulder and find him there.

Unconsciously turning her head at that thought, Daine jumped in shock. She blinked and stared in dumb surprise at the two men standing in the doorway. The subject of her thoughts ran a hand through golden curls and gazed back calmly, a hint of a smile playing around his mouth at her rare loss of speech. At his side, the Elder, Daionarus, waited patiently, one hand grasping a carved emerald cane. This was the first time that Daine had seen him up close and she searched his face curiously. Harshly sculpted and etched with lines, he looked formidable, but his smile now was charming.

"Forgive us for intruding," he began, in those same melodic tones. Deep yet gentle, his voice reminded Daine of Sarra's lullabies in the more carefree days of her childhood. It was soothing, reassuring. "I understand that you are a little...unsettled by new developments, Mistress Sarrasri?"

"A little unsettled," Daine repeated, finding her own voice at last. "Sire, I'm used to hearing things in my head, believe me," she stated bluntly, "But having a veritable stranger practically reading my thoughts is a little more unsettling than discussing mice with housecats or wind patterns with sparrowhawks! I'm not sure how it's possible that I'm able to mind- speak with a human, but I don't like it and I want it to stop."

Alanna's hand crept up to cover her face as Daine grew more forceful and less respectful with each passing word.

"I mean...it's an invasion of privacy!" Daine snapped, completely forgetting who she was talking to – her anger, a little unfairly, focused on a highly amused Jardan. "And it interrupted me at a really inappr..."

She stopped abruptly, violent red rushing to her cheeks and matching the blush creeping into Numair's own face.

Jardan coughed once, and then again, louder, rubbing his mouth hard and obviously trying to hold back a smile.

'Nice.'

'Oh, hush it!'

Alanna's eyes were wide, the Lioness seemingly torn between humour and disapproval. She compromised by grinning slightly, while directing a chastising look toward Numair. Still vividly coloured, he shrugged, looking a little affronted to be the sole recipient of blame.

"Yes. Well." Daionarus, openly smiling, cleared his throat. "I realise that it was probably a great shock to you. However, I can assure you that it will not be the serious problem you no doubt envisage. If you concentrate, focus your power, you will soon find it very simple to close Jardan's voice out. Essentially, it is little different from your connection with animals."

"I did try," Daine said, politely now, but still a mite touchily. "It didn't work."

"That isn't unexpected," Daionarus nodded. "With your emotions upset, it's unlikely you would be able to obtain enough focus. Try again."

The command was softly spoken, but firm.

Daine eyed him briefly, then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. External sounds from her surroundings muted as she concentrated on her mind and magic, as Numair had taught her. Enveloped in the copper power, she frowned suddenly. She could sense a foreign body...a force that was familiar only in colour. Her eyes flew open, and she looked into Jardan's inscrutable face.

"Your magic...I still have it," she said slowly, "There're still strands of it with mine."

Jardan nodded, folding his arms and leaning back against the wall.

"If two people have substantial enough wild magic and make contact, they become indelibly bonded," he told her, watching as uneasiness fleetingly touched her face.

Numair shifted beside her, and Daine tightened her grip on his hand but didn't break eye contact with Jardan.

"So that's why I can mind-speak with you?" she questioned, "I wouldn't be able to with anyone else? With others who have lesser amounts of wild magic?"

He shook his head. "No."

Daionarus spoke up. "It doesn't diminish your own powers in any way. If anything, it will make you stronger. And, while you'll be able to converse with Jardan if you wish to, you should be able to close his voice out." He broke into a fully-fledged grin. "A blessing that the rest of us can only wish for."

Jardan rolled his eyes, but a tiny smile lessened the severity of his expression.

The Elder continued: "When Jardan speaks to you, Mistress Sarrasri, try to lock him from your mind, as you would do with your animals."

Averting her gaze in order to concentrate better, Daine focused on pushing away the alien magic and clearing her mind. Breathing deeply, she looked up when silence ensued.

"Did you say something?" she asked the other wild mage.

He nodded, then laughed suddenly. "As you would seem to be taking my calling you a 'pretentious brat with more temper than ability' awfully well, I assume you were able to shut me out."

The room momentarily went dangerously still.

Then: "Preten...you..." Daine fumed disjointedly.

Alanna tactfully interrupted before the Sailans could receive a full display of that temper. "Master Daionarus, I've been intending to ask you about the Blazewings." The words came out in a rush, while she kept one eye on Daine's outraged countenance.

Without warning, Jardan's grin disappeared and his body jerked in reaction. Not looking at any of them, he announced abruptly: "Please excuse me while you talk. I have...some important business to attend to." Nodding shortly, he turned on his heel and quickly exited the room.

Alanna blinked. "Did...I say something wrong?"

Daionarus uttered a rather forced laugh. "No, no. Jardan...is a very busy man, that's all. I apologize if his departure seemed impolite."

Daine frowned. There was an undercurrent of tension in the palace that discomforted one moment, and the next was covered with an air of jocularity. It gave her an uneasy feeling, and she didn't like it.

Daionarus was speaking again, slowly, almost reluctantly. "It is very unfortunate that you should be caught up in a Blazewing attack at all, let alone right on your arrival. I'm sure that the King and Queen would never have invited you here had they thought there was a significant threat to your safety. You see, we haven't had a Blazewing attack in...four, yes, four years now."

"Four years?" Alanna repeated, startled.

"Yes. I'm afraid our guard was down. We were almost beginning to believe that...well. It was foolish. The Blazewings are a continuing menace, and we ought to be prepared at all times."

"I've never seen anything like them before," Numair spoke up, his hand in Daine's still taut. "They are mage-made, you said?"

Daionarus nodded. "A fact that I am thoroughly ashamed of, being a mage myself. The Blazewings...are a curse. A plague."

"Animals," Daine said softly, almost incoherently, remembering the creatures' bestial faces.

The Elder paused, then agreed: "Yes. We believe that they are created from the flesh and fear of prey - animals that have been hunted and slaughtered by their own kind. The Blazewings embody their terror and rage...their pain."

Snatches of those terrible cries entered Daine's consciousness and she shuddered, futilely shaking her head.

"All living things have an innate selfishness, a competitive drive," Raillenden's mage continued, "And that hunger and lust for personal gain can spawn indiscriminant urges to destroy. To remove any and all obstacles in the way." He took a deep breath, his face almost frightening in its intensity. "If there is another attack, which I pray to the Gods you are spared, try to avoid being bitten at all costs. If you value your humanity, fear their venom. Others...have learned the cost of carelessness."

"Their venom?" Numair queried harshly, "It...infects?"

Daionarus' laugh was bitter. "Oh yes. It infects, it overwhelms, If a human is bitten by a Blazewing, the poison will kill eventually, but by the end they'll be begging for death."

He broke off suddenly, as if registering their silent horror. He put his head back, and tightened his grip on the sturdy cane.

"I'm sorry," he said, smiling grimly, "You haven't even slept a night on Sailan soil and you've already fought a battle. You don't need me acting as the voice of doom."

"But - " Alanna began, her own voice slightly high-pitched with...impatience? Fear? Daine wasn't sure.

"Another time," Daionarus said firmly. "You must all be exhausted. I believe there's a light supper available in the north banquet room, if you're hungry."

This sudden return to normality after the harsh words and heavy apprehension of before seemed surreal.

Daine started to shake her head, but Numair put a hand on her arm. "You should go downstairs, Daine, you've hardly had anything to eat all day."

She frowned up at him, wondering if his suggestion was motivated solely by concern for her welfare, or if he was trying to get rid of her. She knew that the tension between them wasn't resolved.

His expression eased slightly and he managed a small smile, raising a hand to touch her cheek. "Go on, sweet," he murmured close to her ear. Raising his head, he spoke louder: "Besides, if you have the time, Master Daionarus, I'd like to extend this discussion a little. Perhaps in your study?"

"Right now?" the other mage questioned.

"If you have the time," Numair repeated.

"Of course. I am very interested to speak with you also. If you'll follow me? Mistress Sarrasri, Sir...Lady Alanna, if you go to the right, you'll find yourselves at the main staircase, and someone will be glad to direct you to the banquet hall.

Daionarus inclined his head respectfully and gestured for Numair to precede him into the hall. Squeezing Daine's arm lightly, the latter released her and strode from the room.

Daine stared after them, turning slowly to face Alanna when her friend spoke.

"Well," the Lioness muttered, releasing her breath in a sigh that stirred copper tendrils. "This has been some day. I guess appearances can be deceptive."

"What do you mean?"

"I thought the Sailan Isles looked idyllic. Paradise in the mortal realms."

Daine looked at her grimly.

"The most vicious creatures lurk in the most serene waters."
She reached the last step of the imposingly vast staircase and looked around warily. Alanna had decided that taking to her bed early sounded more inviting than food and Daine had no idea which direction Numair and Daionarus had taken. At a loose end, she had ended up in the palace foyer alone.

Brushing a speck of grime from her shirt, she looked around at the lush elegance and evident wealth and sighed. Her eyes landed on a familiar figure, and her brows rose in interest.

'Important business, Shakith's foot!' she thought, shaking her head.

Jardan Treylrawne stood carelessly by a ridiculously large fountain, but he wasn't alone. A woman was draping herself over the handsome mage, fruitlessly trying to attract his attentions. Daine frowned, wondering why she was so familiar. Realization came coupled with annoyance. The preening and coquettish creature was a dead ringer for Varice Kingsford – only blonder and more buxom.

"Honestly," she grumbled aloud. "You travel all the way over the Emerald Ocean..."

A voice interrupted her disgruntled musings, and made her jump.

"Are you looking for the banquet hall?"

She turned, and smiled at Azassandra.

"Yes, I am actually. I was just wondering which direction to take."

'Not plotting the demise of all busty blondes.'

"I'll show you," the Princess volunteered at once, "I'm a little hungry myself. Well, a lot hungry actually. I eat a disgusting amount of food. You may be shocked."

Daine laughed. "I doubt that. Clearly, you've never sat down to a meal with me."

Azassandra grinned back, then looked past her to Jardan and the Floozy.

"Did something happen before?" she asked, "Jardan looks a little glum."

Daine couldn't hold back a snort. "Oh yes," she said, eyeing his platinum-haired limpet. "Very glum."

Her companion turned serious. "Oh, that's Lucia Marksham. She's like that with all the men. Actually, you should probably watch her around your Master Salmalin. He's just her type."

Daine rolled her eyes. "Why doesn't that surprise me."

"She's been trying to attach herself to Jardan for about five years now. But he'd never look at her."

"He wouldn't?" She couldn't keep the doubt from her voice.

"Oh no. Jardan's not...well, he keeps to himself. He never...he's so angry all the time now, so cynical. It's such a shame after the way he used to be. He's never been the same since..."

Daine looked at her curiously. She hated gossip, but sensed that the princess could clear up part of the mystery that seemed to shroud the Isles. "Since?"

"Since Kyria." Azassandra looked stricken suddenly. "Oh, I'm sorry...I shouldn't...I'm not supposed..."

Daine shook her head at the sight of the other's distress. "It's alright. I won't mention it to anyone," she said reassuringly, and changed the subject, stifling her impatience to press the young woman further. "Shall we go to the hall?"

Clearly relieved, the Princess gestured toward large wooden doors, flanked by immaculately garbed guards.

"This way."

Daine followed her, glancing back once at the other wild mage, eyes slightly narrowed.

Her Ma had always taught her that an enquiring mind could be put to better use than nosiness.

There were times when a person should follow their mother's advice.

And times when they shouldn't.