Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce. She's the genius. I'm the wanna-be.
A/N: Another two chapters in one day, you guys will think I'm nuts.
And now
Chapter 6 – Gift Exchange
The morning sun arose warm and promising. It was an extremely mild day for January and Daine, Alanna, George and Numair all agreed it was best for them to get moving as quickly as possible. Alanna and George were heading on the Pirates Swoop and Daine and Numair were bound for Corus. They were packing their respective belongings, Daine saddling the horses, and Numair rearranging packs, when Daine felt the wrongness of approaching Hurroks. There were three and she called as much to the camp. When she turned to get her crossbow, Numair was already holding it out for her, along with three quarrels. The beasts barely swooped down on them when Daine dropped two and Numair blasted one.
Alanna had rushed up with her own bow and looked somewhat disappointed. George was putting a couple of his famous throwing daggers back in their sheaths. "I s'pose that answers that question," he said.
"What question," Numair asked before Daine could voice the same inquiry.
"We were wondering if you two were strong enough yet to be traveling on your own," Alanna explained. "Since you left nothing for me to fight, clearly you are."
"Sorry?" Daine responded. Numair grinned at her.
"Nice crossbow!" Alanna said, eyeing the one Daine was holding. "Is it new?"
"Midwinter gift," Daine answered with pride, offering it to Alanna to examine. George began to look it over too.
"Somebody's fond of ye'," George said. "That's a nice 'en – Raven Armory, too." He whistled appreciatively. Daine saw Numair blush deeply. He turned back to the packs, so his face was hidden.
"I made out like a bandit this winter," she answered with a smile. "That was from Numair. He gave me a book too, all about birds. It's amazing. And we got your gifts of course. Oh, that reminds me. I have stuff for you too, in my pack. I never saw you over mid-winter." She dug into her saddle bags and handed a large package to George and a smaller one to Alanna. "That one," she said pointing to Alanna's, "is from me n' Numair together 'cause I bought the necklace and he had the pictures done." She opened the package. A fine silver chain sported a unique locket that had two stacked ovals instead of one. When she opened the top one she could see a small portrait of George next to a small portrait of Thom. The lower oval had portraits of the twins. The chain was just long enough to wear as a bracelet. Alanna looked speechless and her eyes were over-bright.
George was peering over her shoulder. He said, "I think I'm jealous." Alanna chuckled. It was probably what kept her from crying.
Numair stood and smiled, "There's an artist in Corus, you might know him, Volney Rain. He's very talented. He had a devil of a time getting the children to sit still but luckily he can almost paint a face perfectly from memory, which is how he did George's."
George, playing the long-suffering husband, whined, "All I got was this leather bound journal." Alanna glared at him. "She knows I'm kiddin'. This is very nice younglin' 'n' I thank ye'." He kissed the top of her head.
Numair grinned at George and confided, "You probably ought to take a peek inside." George looked confused, but did as he was told. He stared and sat down.
Alanna looked around confused.. George began to sputter, "This is… this is amazin'. Did Myles…" Daine felt positively gleeful at the reaction.
"It was a gift to him too," Numair answered. "And don't look at me. That was all Magelet's doing." The look of pride on his face sent another butterfly to dance in her stomach.
Alanna appeared severely left out so Numair explained, "Daine talked to Myles' carrier pigeons. They all know the signals in that book so they can communicate with Myles and George without Daine's help. They all did it willingly. She wouldn't force any of them. Now when they pass messages, they can scout in the process."
"Myles was aching to tell you before I could give this to you," Daine added, "But I can be fair persuasive."
"Her gift was so much better than mine, George, that I had it sent to your home." Numair said it with a smile. Daine looked up at him wondering if he really felt she had outdone him.
Both Alanna and George seemed a little dumbstruck. Finally, George said, "What else did th' bandits bring ye', Daine?"
She grinned and listed gifts she had received from Onua, Sarge, Jon and Thayet, Kally and Roald until – "and one mystery gift. I thought maybe it was from Numair but it didn't make sense because he already got me the crossbow and book. Plus why wouldn't he just give it? The boy who delivered it didn't know." She dug it out of her pack. "I packed it hopin' to figure it out – like if I stare long enough I'll know." She gave the necklace to Alanna to examine. She saw a look between Alanna and George that she couldn't guess the meaning of.
Alanna looked to where Numair had been standing a minute ago, but he had left to get the last saddlebag. "Does Numair have a guess?" Alanna asked quietly.
"He says he doesn't." Daine answered. "He said I prob'ly have a secret admirer." She felt herself blush. "If I do, he either has a big purse or is quite foolish with his coins."
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They said the last of their goodbyes. Alanna and Daine hugged and George asked Numair to look over something quickly. But when Numair followed him to the creek, George looked at him keenly. "Why din't ye' jest give 'er the necklace?"
Numair felt exposed. "Hmm?" He tried to pretend he didn't know what George was talking about, but clearly George wouldn't fall for it. He sighed, letting his shoulders sag. "That happened to be the day of my epiphany. I realized that I had been a little extravagant. But I couldn't bear the thought of not giving it to her." He felt like hiding his face.
"Think 'bout what I said," George told him.
"But…"
George cut him off. "I know ye' got good arguments, but ye' should mull it over anyways."
They shook hands and walked back to where Daine and Alanna were waiting. Within moments all climbed on their mounts and headed out.
Numair and Daine talked as they rode about the gelatin cubes, the brief hurrok fight, and a few other assorted things. Finally, Numair asked something that he had been wondering for a while. "Magelet, that book you gave me for Mid-Winter. Where did you get it?"
She grinned brightly and his stomach did a back flip. He chided himself for the strong desire to pull her off Cloud and kiss her until her knees gave way. "Carthak," she answered.
"Did you hang on to it all that time?" He looked confused. "And how did you ever afford it before you got the purse from Jon?"
"Why all the questions? It's a gift. That's supposed to be a secret." She blinked at him from beneath her long lashes.
"That book saved your life," he said solemnly. Her mouth dropped open. "The spell to open the Tharsen Window – that was in that book. It's full of amazing things. It had to have cost so much money."
"Maybe more than I paid for it," she said seriously. "I sent some money to Kaddar along with a request that he pick out a book on magic that you would likely not have."
Numair absorbed this with a strange guilt. "Did you know that I really didn't like Kaddar," he said after a long silence.
"Why," she asked.
"Dumb reasons I suppose. He was nice enough. I didn't like that he still wanted slaves and I didn't like the way he treated those without magic. But mostly, I thought he was playing with your emotions." He felt really wrong-footed now. He made a mental note to write Kaddar a long letter of apology and thanks.
"Yeah, I remember," she said sarcastically. "You know that you can be too protective sometimes."
When they stopped to camp for the night, Numair and Daine moved into their traveling routine. It was so efficient and practiced that they each attended to tasks without unnecessary discussion. Numair was giving heavy thought to telling Daine how he felt. He was carrying on another big argument in silence when a snowball hit him in the back of the head. He turned to find Daine stifling giggles. "Are you sure this is a fight you want to start?" he asked her playfully.
"Well you are a nice, big target," she answered, lobbing another snowball at his chest.
"I may have no aim with a bow, Magelet, but.." he picked up a handful of snow, formed it into a ball and threw it. It hit her squarely in the chest. "…I'm pretty good with snow."
The fight was on then. They raced around the clearing, dodging snowballs or lobbing them at the other until Numair stopped to collect some more snowballs and felt Daine plow into him, knocking him over backward. She landed on his chest as he came to rest in a thick snow drift. "I win!" she declared.
The setting was winter, but it was a lot like his dream. He stared up into her eyes, ready to give in and confess everything and then the firelight caught her necklace. He saw something behind her badger claw he'd never noticed before. He could hear her delirious mutterings all over again. "love you…. Perin…" and "No wonder I love you." Had she been with him? Jealousy seared through him. He tried to remind himself that she had given her heart to Perin. He had no right to speak. He scooted away from her, trying to get his pounding heart under control. "So you have," he choked.
The next quarter hour was almost painfully silent. Numair had never wanted to be another person before. Now he wanted to be Perin Porter. He dried both of their clothes with magic and they quietly went about their evening tasks, eventually settling at the fire to eat their soup. He was doing a really good job of beating himself up mentally when she finally broke the silence. "What are you thinking about so hard?" she asked.
He tried to smile. "Sorry, I'm not very talkative am I? Maybe I'm a bit tired."
"I'm sorry, Numair. I didn't realize that you might not be back to normal yet. I can clean up if you want to go to sleep."
"No," he answered. "It's my turn. You cooked."
"What was that you once told me? 'The moon will not stop its monthly journey just because I cooked and cleaned on the same night'. Sound familiar?"
He had to chuckle at that. "I'm not that tired, Magelet."
"Well at least let me help you," she began to gather the dishes to clean. He took them from her, nearly jumping when her hands brushed his own.
When he was finished, they both crawled into their tents. Despite what he had told her, Numair's thoughts were far too busy for sleep. The night had been so clear that a million stars were visible and he thought it might calm him a bit to look at them, so he pulled his bedroll out where he could see the sky. To his surprise, Daine had done the same. They took one look at each other and laughed.
"Stargazing?" she asked.
He nodded, blushing slightly. She moved her bedroll directly beside his and lay down there. He said nothing. He lay down beside her and stared at the night sky. "Which constellations are out?" she asked, moving her head into the crook of his arm. He looked over at her curly head and sighed longingly. He pulled his blankets up and looked into the night sky to find the answers to her question. As they lay there so close that he could feel her lungs expand with each intake of breath, he wondered if there was a god of sexual frustration that he had failed to pay homage to all these years.
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