Title: aqua vitae
Summary: Daine is a wild-mage, a half-god living in the human realm. Everyone thought she was one of a kind, until Thom of Pirate's Swoop finds a girl one winter, something stranger even than Daine.
---
three
Rather than take the immortal into the dining halls, Thom sent a message with a page summoning his mother, Daine and Numair to the stables. He was half way through brushing Flambo when they arrived.
"Thom!" his mother greeted him, "thank you for returning."
"How is Grandda?" Thom asked after greeting everyone.
"Oh, he's fine, still demanding his drink every day."
Thom grinned; if Grandda Myles was drinking everything was fine.
"How about you?" his mother continued, "find anything interesting on your ride back?"
The glint in his mother's eye and her tone of voice brokered no arguments; she already knew something.
"How did you know?" he demanded.
"You forget Daine can tell if immortals are nearby," the Lionness said simply.
"Leon?" Thom called.
"She won't leave the mare, sir, and she still wants nothing to do with me," Leon replied from a stall.
Thom sighed, closing his eyes. "Just wait a minute, mother," he requested.
The bay mare, still muddy and unbrushed, was in her stall with her head held curiously over the door. Daine approached the stall with Thom, letting the mare lip her fingers and snuffle her hair while Thom hoisted himself over the barricade.
"Come on," Thom called gently, holding out his hand and stepping forward. "No one's going to hurt you here, they just want to meet you."
The immortal, bedraggled and muddy, was crouched almost under the mare's hindquarters, her hands wrapped around the horse's legs. Thom sighed and beckoned her forward again.
Her expressionless, pale eyes regarded him for several long moments, before she once again let him take her hand and lead her out from the under the horse – a routine repeated at every way stop they'd passed from Imdram to Corus, and a routine Thom was well sick of.
"Come on," Thom coerced, tugging her toward the stall door, "this way."
Daine opened the door, allowing Thom to lead her out of the stall and into the full light of the stable.
"Mother Goddess," his mother whispered, staring at his foundling.
"This is what I found," Thom announced needlessly.
"I swear, Thom, you are almost as bad as Sir Keladry with your ability to take in strays," the Lioness said.
"I resent that," Leon called out, and then clapped his hand over his mouth when he realised it was the Lioness he was talking too and not his knight master.
"You see what I mean about the lack of respect?" Numair said dryly to Daine, but there was a glint of humour in his eyes.
Thom looked at four people in front of him – his mother, Numair, Daine and Nealan of Queenscove. "Well?"
"When you find something, you certainly make sure it's worth finding," Daine murmured. "I can't talk to her."
"But you can talk to all the immortals," Thom argued.
"No, I can't," Daine disagreed. "I can't talk to Kitten for a start."
"Kit's a baby," Thom said, dismissing the argument.
"How do you know she isn't a baby?" Nealan questioned.
"Does she look like a baby?"
"Has she said anything at all?" Daine questioned.
Thom shook his head. "She doesn't speak, she doesn't eat, and she doesn't seem to sleep. She doesn't even change her facial expressions!"
"I have no fair idea what she might be," Daine finally admitted.
"I tried the Seeing Spell the first night after I found her," Thom offered, "and she's like nothing I've ever encountered before. She's got immortal blood in her for sure, but what sort I don't know."
Black fire flared around Numair; the immortal hissed and shrank against Thom's side.
"You're right," Numair agreed from within his spell. "Take my shoulder, Daine."
"Horse lords," Dained murmured after following Numair's instructions. "I've only seen a similar essence before in a water sprite, years ago."
"I remember that," Numair agreed, the fire fading as he finished his spell. "She's no water sprite though."
Thom listened to the rain thundering down on the roof of the stable. "Master Finch of the Golden Galleon said she controlled the weather. It hasn't stopped raining on us since we found her."
"More's the pity for us," Leon added gloomily.
Thom fought to hide a smile similar to those his mother and the others were fighting to hide; Squire Leon of Jesslaw's dislike of mud and filth was legendary amongst even the older knights.
"I'm going to look in my books," Numair said, "and talk to Lindhall and Tkaa. They might have some idea." The mage left the stables without waiting to hear their replies.
"What should I do with her?" Thom asked sharply.
"What have you been doing with her?" Daine asked.
Thom shifted uncomfortably.
"She likes Sir Thom," Leon announced wickedly. "Hardly lets him out of her sight."
"Thom?" Thom remembered that tone of voice well from his boyhood, and it never failed to make him feel like a three year old lad who was about to be punished for playing pranks on the servants.
"I don't think she likes being inside," Thom said. "We got her rooms, but whenever we got her to stay in one alone she'd just leave as soon as we turned our backs."
"And when you didn't get her to stay in one alone?" his mother asked.
Thom shrugged. "We stopped getting rooms and she stayed with the horses."
It sounded cruel, Thom knew, but it was less cruel than the immortal's agitation when he left her alone in a room at an inn.
"Leave her with me," Daine suggested. "She might get along with Kit or even Tkaa, and if she doesn't I'm sure the animals will keep an eye on her."
Thom looked at the immortal, his hand still firmly clutched by his. It was silly, he knew, to feel jealous of Daine for taking the immortal from him, but he couldn't stop the prick of emotion at the thought of handing her care over to someone else. Despite the scratches, the fuss, the shrieks and the hassle of trying to look after a strange immortal, Thom had grown used to her in a few short days.
"Okay," he said, "but you get to be the one who tries to make her let go of my hand; I'm running out of scratch balm."
---
In the end it was decided it would simply be easier for Thom to walk to the immortal to the suite Daine shared with Numair.
"Do you think Numair will mind?" Thom asked the wildmage.
Daine shrugged. "He's used to strange creatures wandering in and out."
Thom glanced at the immortal trailing next to him. "She looks more human than animal though."
Daine didn't answer; they'd reached the door to her suite, and found it open already.
"Kit," Daine sighed, reaching down to scoop a young dragon into her arms, "I've told you not to open the doors unless I'm around. What happens if you get stolen?"
The dragonet chirped happily in Daine's arms, her scales shining colourfully in the torchlight.
"Come in, Thom," Daine said, carefully settling Kitten on a worn perch.
Thom followed as instructed, looking around the room quickly. He'd spent a lot of time in this room as a child, wanting to play with Daine's animals. When he'd started his page training, he'd discovered it was somewhere to relax when he had no punishment or extra work due, and as a result the room was as familiar to him as Pirates Swoop.
"What are you going to do with her?" Thom asked, leading the immortal toward a seat.
Daine shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Tkaa can talk to her and tell us what she needs or want. I'm hoping for that, actually," the woman confessed.
Kitten chirped loudly, her scales turning almost white as she looked at the immortal.
"What's wrong, Kit?"
The dragon chirped again, loudly. Thom's immortal appeared to ignore Kit, her appearance as unchanged as ever.
"I don't think Skysong is pleased with your guest, Daine," a silvery voice murmured.
"Tkaa," Daine smiled at someone behind Thom. "Thank you for coming."
"I admit to being must curious when Numair described this one," the basilisk said. "Good evening, Master Thom, it is good to see you well."
"You too, Tkaa," Thom smiled, tugging the immortal forward again. "Do you know what she is, Tkaa?"
The basilisk paused, his tail clasped daintily between his forepaws as he studied the new immortal.
"I have never seen one like her before," Tkaa confessed.
"She doesn't talk to you?" Daine questioned.
Tkaa shook his head. "No."
"Do you know what she is?"
"In part," Tkaa said cryptically. "Numair believes she might be an elemental."
"Is she?" Thom asked, trying to remember what an elemental was.
"Not entirely. Partly, yes, but there she has human blood in her too."
"A half-immortal?" Daine gasped. "I didn't know that was possible."
Tkaa looked calmly at the wildmage. "You of all people should not think that, Daine daughter of god Weiryn."
"I didn't think elementals could… you know," Daine murmured. It amused Thom to see a light blush staining her sunbrowned skin.
"I did not either," Tkaa admitted. "However, elementals are far and few between, and the few that have crossed my path have never cared for enlightening my curiosity about them."
"What exactly is an elemental?" Thom questioned.
"An elemental being."
Well, Thom thought, that helped.
"Numair explained it to me once," Daine added. "He said that they're the essence of things. Beings made entirely of the essence, and they make things fuller wherever they go."
Yup, very helpful.
"She's got water elemental in her," Tkaa said.
"So she's water?" Thom asked doubtfully.
"Essentially," Daine smiled. "But she's got a solid form, she's not just an essence, and I've never heard of that happening before."
Thom looked at the immortal still holding on his hand. "So what do we do with her?"
Daine shrugged. "Nothing. She'll do what she pleases."
Thom really didn't like the sound of that.
---
By the time Thom left the immortal in Daine's quarters, washed and changed, it was too late for him to still dine in the soldier's mess hall. He met a forlorn and hungry Leon in the empty room, and felt his stomach grumble loudly.
"Noble's hall should still be serving," Leon said hopefully. "They eat later than everyone else."
Neither Thom nor Leon's attire was particularly suitable for dining in the Noble's hall, but Thom figured that his family was controversial enough already; dining in something other than formal tunics simply wasn't enough to earn a gossip or rumour these days.
Thom tugged on the leather tie holding his horsetail back, making sure it was secure, and nodded at Leon. "Let's go, young squire."
They found the noble's hall still full, and a table near the door almost empty. Taking their seats at the end of the bench, Thom glanced quickly around the room. Neither King nor Queen dined in the hall tonight; doubtlessly they were eating in their private rooms, but Prince Roald and his wife Princess Shinkokami were both seated at the head table, deep in discussion with one another.
"Do you know what the immortal is now?" Leon asked quietly once servants had brought them bowls in which to dip their fingers.
"Tkaa thinks she's half an elemental," Thom answered, "but they're not sure how it's possible for her to have that half."
"The other half?" Leon asked curiously.
Thom shrugged. "I'd guess human, but I don't know for sure. Tkaa did say it was something to do with water, and maybe that's why its' raining so much."
"It wasn't raining in Imdram though, and she was there a long time," Leon pointed out.
"She was held captive there, maybe it was her way of punishing Glavestock for holding her."
The first dish arrived, and Thom accepted it gratefully. After weeks on the road travelling, the food here made his mouth water in anticipation.
"I don't mind not eating with my friends tonight," Leon sighed happily as he tucked into his dish. "No offence intended of course, sir."
Thom felt his lips quirk with a smile, but he shared the sentiment silently. Despite the gossip and the unpleasantness often associated with dining in the noble's hall, the food was undeniably excellent.
They were halfway through their meal when an uneasy hush settled in the noble's hall. Thom, his back to the door and his mouth full of duck, meet Leon's anxious gaze curiously.
"I probably should tell you," Leon said, "but I don't really want to."
Given the quiet of the hall, and the look on Leon's face, Thom was fairly certain he could guess. He closed his eyes and swallowed his food quickly, taking a deep breath to gather his courage. When he finally turned around, his fears were realised – the immortal was standing almost right behind him. Thankfully it looked as though someone – Daine, Thom guessed – had tried to clean her up. The tunic was clean and her hair was not as tangled as it had been.
Still, Thom doubted it was the travel-weary state of the immortal that held the dining-hall's attention.
"Sir Thom of Pirates Swoop," Prince Roald said clearly, "there is a blue girl standing in the doorway."
"Yes, Sire," Thom agreed after looking at the Prince. "Though she's more immortal than girl, if you know what I mean."
"Yes," Roald said, "the blue colouring made that fairly apparent. It's an interesting shade, don't you think?"
"Very interesting," Thom said.
"Does your friend require something to eat?"
Thom shook his head. "No, Sire, she doesn't eat as far as I'm aware."
"Then perhaps you might escort her elsewhere, so that those of us who do want to eat could do so uninterrupted?"
"Yes Sire, right away, Sire," Thom mumbled, stumbling to his feet. The immortal's hand immediately wrapped itself around his, almost as though she was steadying him.
"Thank you, Sir Thom," Roald said. If Thom wasn't so far away from the prince, he would have sworn there was a glint of humour shining in his clear blue eyes. As it was, Thom bowed stiffly and lead the immortal from the dining hall, Leon trotting swiftly behind him.
"Mithros," Thom breathed, "when Daine said she'd do what she pleased, I didn't realise that meant she'd just…" words failed him.
Leon was grinning.
"What?" Thom asked wearily.
"It would have disappointed them at the dining hall if Thom of Pirates Swoop didn't give them something to gossip about."
Thom tilted his head back proudly and narrowed his eyes at his insubordinate squire. "And for associating with Thom of Pirates Swoop, Squire Leon, I assure you that your reputation will be similarly dragged through the mud for many years to come."
"At least if they're talking about you, you know you're doing something right."
The immortal tugged on his hand, surprising Thom. He looked at her, and she tugged on his hand again.
"I think she wants you to follow her," Leon commented.
"I hope to the gods she doesn't want to go outside in this weather," Thom said, allowing the immortal to lead him through the palace.
Five minutes later found them standing outside in the courtyard, the immortal content to simply stand in the downpour, refusing to release Thom's hand.
"You might as well go to bed, Leon," Thom called over the noise of the thundering water. "No point in us both getting wet to the bone and missing out on sleep."
"I'll make sure there's a hot bath ready for you when she's done whatever it is that she's doing," Leon consoled.
Resigned, Thom waved farewell to his squire with the hand not mercilessly gripped by the immortal, and hoped she didn't want to stand in the rain for too much longer.