Disclaimer: The places, most of the people, and many of the magical implements were created by Tamora Pierce. I borrowed them.

A/N: RotG has a discrepancy. It says that they thought Ozorne was dead until he came back in April with a horde of monsters at his back in one section and then it says in another that although Daine had not heard Ozorne's voice in six months, she recognized it. I found a way to make that work by having Daine hear him but not remember right away. You'll see that in this chapter as well as more mysteries I hope you'll like.

Chapter 15 – Chasm

Daine sat in a comfortable chair at the Royal University Library. Numair was still in his meeting in Harailt's office. If he didn't emerge soon, they would have to go get their dinner before she could use her map making kit. Daine had hoped to get started right away. She had hurried through her chores and even convinced a few animal friends to help out. Daine had not spent any private time with Numair in weeks and she missed it so much that she ached for his company. Now she was waiting and not being very patient about it.

Daine leafed through a book on mage rankings. She found the page on black robe mages and saw that there were portraits of the seven with that ranking when the book was written. Numair looked a lot younger. In fact, clearly he was the youngest ever to earn that rank. The artist had depicted him well though. All the features were right, though his face had filled out more since that time and probably the rest of him too. She tried to imagine him when he was a teenager and once again the idea of a young man that was mostly knees and elbows came to her mind – Storkman.

Below his picture was one of Cearl de Romondo. Someone had actually written "deceased" below the picture and she wondered if it were a student or professor who had chosen to add that piece of information. She had not thought about this man in months. He had made a potion from the blood of a griffin to entrance herself and several other loyal Tortallans. Under that spell she had attacked her friends, forcing 'people' to attack and leveling her bow on two-leggers. She had shot Numair. It was a thought that still made her ache. They had found the potion and a gem bracelet used to control herself and others among the victims, but they had never found the stormwing that seemed to be part of the plot.

She rested her head on the book as she thought about that time. So much of it seemed more like a tall tale than what actually happened and yet she had been part of it. She could remember the final fight and watching Numair struggle against a force that should have killed them all. She was tired from hurrying through her chores and she yawned. She wondered if she would ever remember the lost time when she was under someone else's control as she replayed the month of December in her memory. And then suddenly strange flashes ran through her mind of events she had no cognitive memory of – a familiar voice ordering her to attack and the pain of forcing horses to do her will when she knew they didn't want to, watching Numair fall to one of her arrows, a voice telling her to stab a friend, and a very passionate kiss.

"Magelet," a soft voice called her. She could feel his hands shaking her gently. She knew it was Numair. She opened her eyes. Her face was pressed against a book on the table in the library. "Were you waiting that long?" he asked with a big smile.

Daine was a little dazed. She stared down at the book that had been her pillow. It was the black robe mages. She hadn't dreamed that part up. "Were you looking me up?" Numair asked her.

"Yes, but I guess I must have dozed off." She was a little embarrassed.

"Well it's nice to know my life story is so fascinating," he teased. She simply rolled her eyes and snorted a little.

She rubbed her eyes with her hands and tried to smooth her hair. "Someone added a line to this book, did you know that?" she asked, pointing to Cearl's picture.

Numair glanced at where she had indicated. "Hmm, that was thoughtful," he said sarcastically.

She thought about what she had just dreamed. It was still so vivid in her mind. "Numair, when I was being controlled, did I …" she couldn't finish it. There was every possibility that the kiss was an event from another dream. "Did I do anything you didn't tell me about?"

Numair studied her for a moment and looked down at the book. "Are you remembering?" he asked very softly.

"Maybe," she said. "I dreamed some things – flashes really." He was definitely not looking her in the eye. "But it's hard to tell with dreams, you know?"

"Yes." His eyes were still downcast.

She placed a hand on his cheek and his eyes met hers, but she could not read him. He didn't seem embarrassed. "You weren't looking at me," she said in nearly a whisper. "Why?"

He sat down in a chair next to hers but his face was still unreadable. She had noticed that this seemed to happen more and more now as if a door had been closed on his emotions. "I don't like to think about that time. I hate the thought that someone could control you like that and leave you to suffer guilt for their actions. And so much of it was never resolved satisfactorily."

"I thought I heard a familiar voice ordering me – Ozorne's voice." Now something passed through his eyes that she recognized. It was clearly hate.

"If he isn't dead …" he started.

"You'll have to wait until I'm through with him," she finished. He snorted and looked into her eyes. She felt that familiar sensation of butterflies in her stomach. The kiss definitely was wishful thinking and nothing else. If she had pulled him into a kiss, she thought it most likely that he would pull away shocked and refused to continue as her teacher. However Ozorne's voice was probably real – it would make sense if he were part of such a cruel scheme.

Daine pushed thoughts of the dream aside and asked, "Did you, Lindhall, Alanna, and Harailt figure anything out?"

"Maybe," he answered vaguely. "However I think we once again managed to come up with more questions than answers. Honestly, it wasn't very enlightening, and if I had realized you would be done so quickly, I would have found an excuse to leave sooner. We mostly argued in circles. Did you have less to do today for some reason?"

She pulled out the mapping kit and grinned expectantly at Numair. "I admit I hurried a little. I just couldn't wait."

He smiled back at her. "I had no idea you were so interested in cartography. I might have given you this sooner if I had." At her blank look he said, "Cartography is the art of map making. And really, you are uniquely designed to be able to create more accurate maps than most given that you can obtain the bird's eye view of things whenever you want."

She was nearly giddy with anticipation now. "So how do we start?"

"The first thing to decide is what subject you want to plot. You have some options. We can copy an existing map for practice. We can make up a fictional map for practice. We can try to make one from your memory of a location. Or we can go flying over an area you'd like to plot and try to make one that is both practice and a real map. The last choice means the most work, but seems like it would be the most practical as well. But I'll let you chose."

Daine rolled her eyes at his frivolity. "You already know which will be my answer, Numair. You've been my teacher for almost three years."

He held both hands up in mock surrender. "Guilty," he said with a grin. "What area would you like to fly over?"

She smiled at him impishly. "The royal forest would be good. I know for a fact that Jon's map of the forest isn't quite right. And, it's close."

He grinned broadly. "That's a good choice. We're lucky it is still light out too. We can certainly fly over it before dark. But we really want to get started on the actual map while the memory is fresh. In your kit is some depolnate powder that will help you draw a perfect two-dimensional representation of what you observed. But it must be used within two hours. We might end up having a late dinner. Are you okay with that?"

"Sure," she agreed, feeling more and more excited.

They put on coats and left the cartography kit safely in Daine's room. She came out carrying her crossbow. "What's that for," Numair asked.

"I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would never go anywhere that I could possibly be attacked without having a bow with me. I doubt if we'll find any immortals or other fiends, but I'd be fair foolish to stop now." He chuckled.

They walked to the edge of the forest in silence. Daine carefully set her bow and quiver by a large oak tree. "Do you know what bird you're going to shift to?" Numair asked. "I don't get a choice, but you can be nearly anything you want."

"Hawks see very well and in color, so I think I'll also be a hawk" she said with a smile. He tweaked her nose.

"Okay. How far do you want to cover?"

"Three leagues by three leagues would probably be best. That is the usual, right?"

"Yes. Good choice. We want to memorize as much ground as we can. When we're nearly done, I'll come back first and dress behind the oak When you see me back here, you can do the same. Does that sound satisfactory?" She nodded in answer.

He shifted to hawk shape first. When she shifted, she changed to a monkey long enough to put their clothes behind the tree with her crossbow on top in case the wind came up. Then she shifted to a red tailed hawk and the two glided off to survey the area.

It was nice to fly with Numair. The two swooped along the western perimeter of the area they wished to map first and then moved in grids, memorizing the sights and reveling in the feeling of flight. Numair was a bit playful as they drifted on columns of air and it gave Daine a freedom she didn't usually allow herself in the air when she had shifted for a specific purpose. She surveyed the ground like she was supposed to, but began to duck in and out of trees over ground they had already covered, trying to sneak up on him.

But soon they saw something that took all the play right out of them. Toward the eastern side of the area they were mapping they saw a collapsed section of ground that should not have been there. Numair dipped low to examine it and Daine followed. Nothing about it looked natural.

Daine landed at the edge of the chasm and made an interesting discovery. The fissure was visible from the air, but not the ground. She wondered if an unsuspecting traveler could fall right into it without realizing it was there. Numair continued to soar above in a circle, obviously studying the strange pit while Daine shifted to the shape of a wolf and sniffed near the edges. She could not see or smell anything strange. It was as if it didn't exist. If Numair hadn't continued to circle, she might have shifted and taken flight again to make sure she hadn't imagined it.

Daine changed to a monkey and motioned for Numair to land so that he could observe the disappearing act. He did so and she could see his beak open in surprise. He lifted off and flew across to land outside each corner, checking from all views. He shook his feathered head each time he failed to see it.

Numair lifted off once more, landing behind Daine. She heard him change form behind her, the familiar crackle of his magic letting her know what was taking place. She kept her back to him, though she made the discovery that her mind was trying to picture his muscular form wearing nothing but a black opal necklace. She shook her head as if to shake of the image and tried to focus on this issue at hand.

"I'm invisible now," he said from behind her. Daine changed only her head to that of human so they could talk. She was still struggling with this with other forms, but primates were close enough to humans that the biology wasn't such a struggle to merge together. It was easy enough to change just eyes or ears or an arm to a wing, but the human head and animal body was more difficult. "Daine, what have your various forms told you?" She found it slightly unnerving to hear him but not be able to see him. It was dusk now and the air was chilly. She knew Numair must be cold, something he hated. She felt guilty. Unlike him she could wear fur to stay warm.

"I cannot see it with any eyes I've tried as long as I'm standing on the ground. It also has no smell and I cannot hear anything odd." She reached with her magic and felt nauseous. But there was no specific form that her magic could find. It was more a lack of form, if anything and she told him so.

He stood closer now and though she could not see him, she could hear him shiver and smell the familiar spice and soap that was his scent. She saw a stone lifted into what seemed empty air and tossed where they both knew the fissure to be. They never heard it hit the bottom. It was as if the stone had dropped into nothingness. He tried a second stone with the same result. She saw black fire shoot in an arch toward the chasm and she heard Numair cry out. A long line of black fire extended into the hole as if it had chained him and the air buzzed as if the very atmosphere were crying in pain. She would never know why she thought that it was pulling him in, but she did and acted accordingly. She dived at the area where he had been and felt herself impact him solidly and knock him to the ground.

"Numair! Are you alright?" No answer came. She could feel his very solid form and tried not to think about the fact that he was not dressed. It was one of those moments that she would give anything to have the Gift so that she could call for help without leaving him. She felt for his shoulder and tried shaking him. "Numair! Can you hear me?" There was still no answer. She could smell the scent of blood though she could not see it and it sent a wave of panic through her. He needed a healer and she didn't know if she dared to try to move him. So she placed two stones above his head and shifted to a cheetah. She raced to where they had left their clothes and carried them back to him. She draped them over him as completely as she could. "Numair!" she called again. Again there was no answer. "I'm going for help. You're going to be okay," she said it more to reassure herself than him.

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Sorry for the cliffy but the next will be up soon.