Chapter 12: Homecoming

The next morning Daine kissed Numair goodbye probably for the last time in the next thirty years. She sobbed the whole time.

He was just walking through the gate when she called, "Wait!" Numair turned, his eyes hopeful. "Tell…tell everyone I said hullo, please." Numair nodded and the hope vanished. There was a loud crack and he was gone.

To no prevail Sarra and Weiryn tried to comfort the inconsolable Daine. For the next two days Daine didn't eat a bite. She lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. She had many visits from furry friends, but closed her source of magic. She didn't want to use anything associated with Numair. But she had no clue that things in the Mortal Realms were going quite the same way.

"Numair Salmalín, don't you ever do that again! You could have been lost forever!" An outraged and worried Alanna greeted him the next morning at breakfast. Everyone welcomed him back and didn't say anything about his adventure, but Numair saw a question in everyone's eyes. Finally it was Alanna who ventured to ask.

"So, did it work?" She asked quietly so that only they could hear. Numair stared into violet eyes and her eyes, already soft, softened to a deep sympathy. She obviously saw the hurt and devastation in his. "She didn't want to come back, did she?" Numair just got up without excusing himself and strode to his room where he threw himself onto his bed.

In the Immortal Realms, Daine suddenly woke with a start. She had an idea, a marvelous idea. She needed to see the Mother Goddess as soon as possible. It was critical that she see the Mother Goddess. She might just be able to get away with it.

"I'm worried about Numair," Alanna stated. She was up late with Jon again. Still best of friends, they often had discussions. Jon nodded and poured them some wine.

"He is going to kill himself if he doesn't stop this nonsense. Should I go talk to him in the morning? We all know how close he and Daine were – "

"No, I'll go," Alanna interrupted. "I need to speak with him anyways."

"Keep your temper."

"Jon, I know to keep it. Right now isn't the time for a temper."

Numair woke to the smell of horses and the unique, fresh outdoors. That was impossible! He hadn't opened his shutters in the last four weeks and he certainly hadn't been around horses. He felt a pang in his heart when he recognized the smell – that was Daine's scent. Why did he have to be reminded of her every second?

Wait – if the scent was here, mustn't the rest of her be here, too? He sat up and looked around his room, his previously aching heart beating ferociously in his chest with excitement. No Daine. He looked a second time, and discovered the same results. Still no Daine. The ferocity in his chest vanished, leaving behind a weak, suffering organ. He lay back down feeling dejected when something brushed his cheek. Numair turned to come face-to-face with a green-eyed girl.

Startled, he pushed himself backwards only to fall onto the floor where he just stayed.

"No, don't do this to me. Why? Why can't my suffering end? Everywhere I turn I see her! I've had enough of chasing a nonexistent person!" He put his hands over his face and groaned. Daine wouldn't want him to be this way.

Numair didn't notice the girl get off his bed and kneel beside him. When he finally opened his eyes, he came yet again close to this tortuous face. His eyes caught on hers and he couldn't pull them away.

"Numair, calm down. This is no dream or hallucination. Please believe that it is me. It's Daine!" Numair just shook his head but his eyes never left this strange person's.

"You're not Daine. Daine is – Daine is – she's not here." He finally ended.

The girl sighed. "Your favorite nickname for me is Magelet, on your thirtieth birthday you got drunk and danced on a table in the Dancing Dove, and you gave me this ring for our engagement. Is that enough proof for you?" Numair's eyes were now as big as saucers. The girl took a ring off her finger and placed it in Numair's palm. The spell that had bound his eyes to hers ended and he was able to look at the ring. The ring Numair had given her had tiny opals and diamonds set into the white gold and on the inside the words To My Love were engraved. He looked it over. This was indeed the ring he had given her. Yet he wasn't totally convinced that this wasn't a simulacrum, someone's idea of a bad prank. He gathered his magic at his fingertips and pushed the magic into the girl.

Inside he found a well of copper fire. He pushed further and found a heart. Looking inside this heart he found love. Simulacra didn't have hearts or love. This love, he found, was centered on something. He prodded at it; then he saw a mental image of himself. He was running his fingers through his hair and staring at a golden locket. Numair knew this to be the locket he had with a portrait of Daine inside.

Numair was captivated. All of a sudden, a thousand memories flooded his brain: they were at Pirate's Swoop, defending the fort from pirates. Next he saw them together in a cave of wolves; they were embracing in Carthak, after Daine had thought him dead. That memory seemed to move Numair and he didn't see the rest of the images. When Daine had thought him dead, he showed up and told her the truth. Daine had believed him, but he didn't believe her.

Numair looked into those green eyes. "Daine."

He stood up, pulling her with him and wrapping his arms around her. She was back! She really did love him! He kissed her hair, her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, and finally her lips. Next thing he knew he was crying and her face was buried in his chest. He breathed deep, needing to take in that outdoorsy scent. Whatever had happened before he didn't care. The color that had drained from his cheeks returned and he was once again that tan, fun-loving mage that Daine knew and loved.

Daine stood there for a long time. Gods, did she love this man! She felt her heart rise and her soul sing. She was whole again, a whole that had once been missing a half. Now they were together, and both halves rejoiced. So wrapped up in each other, they didn't hear Alanna at the door.

"Numair, will you please open up? You can't stay in that room forever." Alanna knocked lightly. "Numair, come on!" She kept knocking and trying to persuade him to open the door. Numair and Daine didn't hear her. By now she was starting to lose her temper. "Numair, stop feeling sorry for yourself and open the door! You have three seconds before I kick it down myself!" Just then Numair opened the door, smiling and leading Daine by the hand. Alanna was so shocked that she stood there with her mouth open. Finally her senses grabbed her and she called after the two.

"Daine, Numair!" They turned.

"Alanna! Sorry, I didn't see you!" Daine broke away from Numair and ran to Alanna. She hugged her old friend.

"Daine – how? I mean – you're here – with him – you're – you're," she stuttered until Daine cut in.

"I'll tell you later when everyone else is around. It's quite a long story and I don't want to tell it more than once." She laughed and Alanna just smiled and shook her head. She was still dumbfounded.

Daine and Numair continued down the hall to the mess with Alanna bringing up the rear, picking up a few people on the way. Daine was glad to be back.