Title: Through another's eyes.
Author: Geeklove13
Pairing: D/N preromance.
AN: I found a challenge to do a scene in the books from another charecters eyes so I did the scene in Emperor Mage from Numair's eyes rather than Daines.
All dialouge you recognize is Tamora Pierce's. This might end up being a series of me doing favorite scenes from Numair's eyes.
Sitting in Lindhall's office at the University, I fought back impatience, unable to focus on the book in front of me. I wanted to find Daine and Kitten and get out of Carthack and go help my friends with the coming war. Magelet, I will find you and when I do you'll never be lost again, even if I have to make a focus. I sigh and then hide in the backroom as footsteps come running down the hall. I can't be seen. I can't risk being caught and ruining my only chance to save her.
"Master Lindhall!" Kaddar is shouting, fear in his voice.
"What is it Kaddar?" My mentor asks as he puts silencing spells around the room.
"It's Daine! I told her about the execution, and it was like she died, she sat there numb and cold as ice, and her eyes went scary and she told me to remove all the people I care about, and she had the slaves remove the birds. I think she plans on going after my uncle." The boy who I hate simply for the crime of liking my magelet, looks a bit terrified.
I myself am terrified, Daine going after Ozorne all by herself? It would be suicide. How much pain is she in about my death? I forgot to tell her about my plan, about my fears that Ozorne had nothing but bad intentions in mind for me. I forgot my plan to protect her by focusing on Varice, and drew the emperor's attention to her. If she dies I'll never forgive myself.
I walk out, and Kaddar stops short. "You're dead. I saw them kill you." I explain my brilliant plan to him, and he explains in further detail what happened to Daine. I shiver at the idea of her trapped in one of those rooms, I know that her biggest fear is to be caged.
Evening comes, and we head to the imperial palace and nothing could have prepared us for the sight that awaited us, bone statues everywhere destroying the castle, the west wing and astronomer towers burning, bone staues on fire. Finally we came across Ozorne weak and near death, being chased by hyenas near the immortal's section of the menagerie.
Daine! I knew instantly that one of them was her, and the way they went after the mage's shield, I knew which one was her. Magelet, stop this. You'll get hurt or killed, he's still dangerous.
"NO!" I cry, putting a fire barrier around the emperor, wanting to protect Daine from him at all costs. I was watching Daine and I ignored Kaddar's speech instead watching the Daine hyena throw herself against the barrier, receiving a little burn on her nose. She snarled and paced the barrier.
"Promises is it? Well I have a promise in reserve!" Ozorne shouted grabbing a steel wing feather, "See I have this promise!" The barrier exploded and Daine crashed onto the stormwing Ozorne cutting herself and getting back up.
Ozorne tried to use human magic again to his detriment and I felt smug as I rang out, "You forgot our earliest lessons, Ozorne, once you take immortal shape you can never change back."
Rikash, the civalized stormwing, called to Daine, "Things aren't as bad as you think. You might look around."
Daine turned, I watched her see Kaddar, Lindhall, Bonedancer and me. She lost her hyena shape, and sat down hard, unclothed.
"No.." she was breathless, her eyes dark and full of grief. "Gods this is too horrible. Don't do this to me." The hyena's crowded around her protecting her modesty. I stepped forward, wanting to gather her in my arms and take that grief from her eyes but I couldn't touch her when she looked like she'd break if I came any closer.
Magelet, please forgive my stupidity. "I'm real sweetling. It truly is me." is all I say aloud.
"Kaddar and Varice saw them kill you. You're a ghost or a puppet a Simuthing." her voice breaks in places and my heart cracks again. I don't know how much more cracking it can take.
I lift my hand black fire growing around it. "You can't attach magic to a simulacrum remember?" The hyenas watched the fire with intrest as I let it die out.
Swallowing, eyes still dark full of such pain, face white as snow, "Very well then you're one of Numair's Simal-" she breaks off and I try to make her realize that it is the real me.
"Simulacra, Magelet remember how we met? I was a shape-shifted bird hawk. You nursed me until Alanna helped me regain my true form." Images pop into my mind, I don't say them all but for a second I let them over load my brain. Daine as she first seemed to me, full of wildmagic and reassuring when I was crazy and dying. Daine telling me about hairtyes, teasing me, asking questions to animals for me... Daine doing a thousand little things.
"Last year in the courtyard of Dunlath castle, I changed Tristan Staghorn into an apple tree with a word of power." I remember our banter, even as I remember the rush of protectiveness that made me so hasty, I wasn't going to turn him into a tree until he went after my magelet.
I took of my cloak and floated it to her, it settled onto her shoulders, and she rose wrapping it around her, although her fingers appeared numb since it took her a few seconds to grasp the cloth. I could hear her mind clearly, as she prossessed that a fake wouldn't know so much about me.
She stepped away from the hyenas and reached out to touch me and then pulled back as if afraid that I wasn't real.
"Kitten, is it really him?" the dragon chortled affirmative, and I extended my hand to her, fighting the urge to gather her up and take her away from this awful place. She steeled herself and placed her hand in mine. Her hands were icy cold and I embraced her tightly lifting her off her feet, she buried her face in my shirt and began to cry.
I held her as tight as I could and began to whisper to her. "Hush magelet. I'm here. I'm here. I won't leave you. It all right." When she'd cried herself out, I let go of her reluctantly, and produced a handkerchief.
She wiped her eyes, blew her nose and asked, "Where have you been?" I explained and then when I teased her about the damage she said. "I thought they'd killed you. I lost my temper."
I teased her about understatement and the graveyard hag appeared, and then once the graveyard hag, took the power to raise the dead animals back to life, Daine collapsed into my arms.
I felt worried but I was certain that it was stress and exaustion taking it's toll. Kaddar directed us to his mother's house, and to a bedroom for Daine and I laid her on the bed and sat on a chair.
A line from a story whispered to me and I altered it, and said it out loud to the empty room.
"What no one knew was that Numair, the greatest black robed mage to ever live, and a lover to attractive court ladies everywhere had fallen in love with the girl with all of his shivered mage heart. And deep within the mages heart he knew that was how it had to stay.
She whimpered in her sleep, and I brushed stray curls out of her face, laid a soft kiss on her forehead. "Sleepwell magelet."
I left the room, leaving my heart in the hands of a young girl, who if I have my way will never know it's there.
