Disclaimer: I wish it belongs to me, if that counts anything to you!=D But no, none of it belongs to me.
I promise you that something will actually happen in this chapter! I hope you enjoy.
Thanks to all those who reviewed. If it's boring or short, please tell me! This is my first Tamora fanfic, and I'm not the best at it! Oh well…=J
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"Yes, we do know about that," the Thayet informed the King's Champion. Putting her book aside, she turned in her seat to face the couple.
"Then what are those things?!" demanded Alanna. "All we know is that the blobs are loaded with Numair's Gift."
"Calm down," George whispered in her ear. He didn't want his wife's temper to get the better of her again. That always resulted in interesting things.
Though nobody had actually heard what George had privately said, Jon had a pretty good idea. Changing the subject, he asked, "How did you know about those 'blobs'? As far as we knew, only the people in the castle knew about them."
Alanna snorted. Trying to cover up, she said, "Yeah right! It seemed like everybody in the towns and villages we passed on the way here was talking about them. We know about them because the trinkets that Numair gave me three months and years ago were both leaking his gift. So what's it about!?"
"Okay, okay!" ushered Thayet. She now stood next to her husband, a hand on his shoulder. "All we know is that Numair's been working on a new project. Now we know that instead of losing his Gift, he was gaining it. Well, of course we concluded that those 'blobs' went to him."
Jon went on after his wife finished. "Now we know that it's at least as far as Pirates Swoop, thanks to you." He paused, then said, "We still don't know what Numair's project is, though."
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As Kaly watched the tiny sparrow that she had placed in her doll's crib, she thought. Maybe I should get some food for it. Since the sparrow looked as if it would sleep for ages, she got up, shook out her skirts, and walked out the door. When she reached the stairs that headed for the kitchen, she sopped for a second. She was about to go find Daine to ask what sparrows ate, when she remembered that she couldn't find her. Oh well, she thought. Maybe the cooks know.
When she entered the kitchen, one of the mages who was working on the spices glanced at the door. Doing a double-take, he rushed over. "What are you doing here, Kalasin? You're not supposed to be wandering alone."
"I wanted to get some food for a sparrow. Do you know what they eat?," she asked, all innocence.
The mage sighed and said, "Yes, the like seeds, I'll get you some if you promise to go back to where you're supposed to be." He then got up and opened a cabinet. He took some seed out of a jar and put it in a napkin. As he handed it to Kaly, he said, "Here you go. Now please go back to where you're missed."
Kaly then headed to her room, carefully holding the napkin as not to lose any food.
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When the sparrow opened its tiny eyes, it flinched from fright as well as pain. Its side felt as if it had been stepped on by a giant. As it propped itself upright on its legs, it looked around. Not only was she in unfamiliar surroundings, but she didn't remember how she got there, either. She tried to fly out of the padded enclosure, but she found that she couldn't move her wings. Instead she settled for hopping out. Now she hopped around the room, exploring its contents. Feeling that this place was stuffy, she longed to fly out of the whole in the wall that let in the sun.
Watching that whole, she saw a green scaled bird with leathery wings soar through the sky. She wished that she were able to do the same, and wondered how it would feel like to be just like that creature. She wanted to know what it'd be like to speak in those whistles and clicks. She knew that it'd be nice to be able to do those magical whistles. It'd also be wondrous to have your skin change color constantly.
As the sparrow thought all of this, she didn't even have the slightest notion that her wings changed bit by bit, until they were smooth and leathery. She didn't notice that she was slowly becoming larger by the second. Nor did she notice that her beak was disappearing, only to be replaced by an awkward feeling muzzle.
Daine the Dragon then approached the window.
