Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it belongs to Tamora Pierce.

A/N: The great thing about writing fanfiction is that you get to share your perceptions of characters and events. All of us read things into the lines of a story and very often they are different. I see Weiryn as a man's man, who wouldn't be to easy to welcome a bookworm mage who has his daughter's affections. Remember that Weiryn and Sarra can read Daine's emotions and thoughts too. I was surprised by how many thought I made him too gruff. He does soften a little later, but it's always darkest before the dawn.

The Whisper: I'm so glad you like it. Most people liked Sarra, but aren't happy with my version of Weiryn. In my mind he's wolfish and as we all know, wolves are both incredibly frighting and wonderfully loyal. It's good to know you see his intentions and not just the gruff exterior. I thank you.

Goldeneyedwildmage: Thanks. I love Queenclaw and you will see a bit more of her before they leave Weiryn and Sarra's house.

Sunfish Sailor: Welcome back. Thank you so much for the compliments and encouragement. I sure hope I can get published.

Blackandwhiteroses: I've had cats like her. If my current cat could speak though, she'd spend a lot of time screaming in fright. She's afraid of everything.

Lady Araceli: Thanks!

1reallyblue1: Sorry. I see him as Wolfish. Wolves are both incredibly frightening and very, very loyal.

Magicalmoony: Numair was 30 in RotG and just barely. He is 14 years older than Daine, not 24 years older.

Narms Briton 44: We both have dirty minds – it was a euphemism.

Starlit Emerald-Eyed Empress: The reference to height is below. And thanks!

Bibliopheliac: Thanks. I love Queenclaw. Weiryn is protective father who isn't ready for his daughter to have another man in her life when he barely knows her. The other Gods see the truth. They are far too old to take his crap. That's how I see it anyway.

Nativewildmage: Glad you liked it.

Bitterosemary: No fair smelling my plot before it comes. Yes, when she returns from the Taurus attack, Numair, Rikash and Weiryn are talking outside. She gets dressed and comes back out and Numair and Weiryn are no longer there. Dun, dun, dun. You'll see.

Purple Eyed Cat: Thanks.

Hoshi-Ko88: Thanks.

Sarramaks: You will see more of Queenclaw. She's a little fond of Numair because he will pet her. As you know, cats tend to lay claim to anyone who will fuss over them.

Kit49: Thanks.

Chapter 6 – the Lights of Uusoae

Numair made his way to the bedroom door to see Daine. He took a deep breath and tried to remember some passages from the Power Codex, a complicated and amazing book on spells he had been given by his friend and former teacher Lindhall Reed. Surely, if Weiryn picked up on thoughts from that text, he would be so bored or confused he wouldn't care to listen in further. Numair tended to think of it in strange sections of passage because it was written in an ancient language that he had to translate in his head in order to read. The mental process made him feel even more exhausted then he already did. But he wanted so desperately to see for himself that Daine was alright without becoming Weiryn's new archery target.

As he approached the door, he heard the tail end of a conversation. Sarra said, "..meant to be killed by bandits!"

"Daine?" he said as he came to the door. Talk about things from the war, he reminded himself. "You know that the badger destroyed the Skinners, yes?"

"Ma told me. You don't look so good," she responded, looking worried. Gods! She looks pale. But even drained of color, she still was so captivating.

Numair was afraid Weiryn would read him, so he thought more about the text before he spoke and prayed he wouldn't mix up words and sound like an idiot. He smiled nervously. "I'll survive. Are you all right?" It was what he had really come for – to hear from her own lips that she was healing.

"I hurt a little." She looked from Numair to Weiryn and back again as if she were comparing their heights. Numair was actually quite a bit taller, although Weiryn's antlers extended about an inch over Numair's head. From his lofty perspective, Numair could see that they did sprout smoothly out of Weiryn's head and that the curly hair directly around them looked stiff, more like deer or elk fur than hair. For a moment it struck him as rather odd that Weiryn might hang antlers as trophies in his home, when he sported his own pair.

Numair felt a sudden surge of nauseau. He tried to smile anyway and said, "I am informed that passage between the realms has an adverse affect on mortals." He clung to the doorframe to keep himself upright. The extra effort to mask his thoughts was tiring him fast.

The badger picked that moment to transport himself into the room. Numair watched him waddle over to Daine. She greeted, "Hullo. So we've you to thank for handling those Skinners?"

"You wouldn't rest until you knew they were dealt with," he responded in what could only be described as an actual voice. It took Numair by surprise. He had clearly heard the sound with his ears rather than just his head. If it took Daine by surprise, she didn't show it. The badger god rose to plant his forepaws on her covers. She scratched him behind his ears.

Numair felt someone's gaze and turned to see Sarra eyeing him curiously. He wondered if she had noticed that his thoughts were masked. She frowned, "You are supposed to sit, and stay sat. For the second time, she made a tugging gesture at the room and it reshaped itself, buckling and twisting to form a chair. "Down, Master Salmalin!" she ordered. She had apparently reverted back to the former way of addressing him. He complied primarily because he was feeling very dizzy at that moment.

He looked up to see Daine's shocked expression. "But – Ma, you can't – You never –"

"Things are different here," the badger explained, again in an audible but gruff voice. "In the Divine Realms, we gods can shape our surroundings to suit ourselves."

"Sometimes," added Weiryn. Numair realized the brusque man had softened in the presence of his mate and daughter. Great, he's saving all his animosity for me. He chided himself. It was probably just his imagination.

"Wonderful," Daine said, her voice quavering a bit. "Tell me – how did we come here? The last thing I remember is the Skinners." Numair thought again about the realization that she wouldn't have left him to die even though she could have saved herself. His brow furrowed with concern.

Weiryn and Sarra traded glances. "You were in danger of your life, against a foe you could not fight," Weiryn told her. "We had meant to bring you only, but this – man" he openly glared at Numair – "refused to let go of you. We were forced to bring him as well." Numair slumped a little. His enmity is aimed at me. It's not my imagination.

"I just thank the Goddess that you met the Skinners on one of the great holidays, when we could pull you through to us," Daine's mother added. "Otherwise you would have been killed. It fair troubles me that no one we've asked as ever heard of those creatures."

Light bloomed through the curtains on a window that filled one of the walls, growing steadily more brilliant, then fading abruptly. "Oh, dear," remarked Sarra as Weiryn drew the drapes open. "They're still at it."

It looked like some type of flash explosion and Numair stood quickly, ready to protect Daine from danger. "What's going on?" he asked and then chided himself for nearly letting his emotions escape him and not realizing that in the presence of three gods, he probably was the least powerful in the room. That was a position he was not accustomed to.

"Will you sit?" cried Sarra. "Men! You're so stubborn!" Numair sat quickly, this time on the bed. He noted with amusement that the chair sank back into the wall almost is if it were sulking.

Daine stared at the view and Numair turned to look too, although he peaked at Daine out of the corner of his eye. She looked awed. When he turned his attention back toward the window, he saw a clearing with a lazy stream rolling through. Behind it stood a thick wood, the type which he would imagine Weiryn would love to hunt in. The sky above was filled with a vacillating spectrum of light. Undulating colors of mint, orange, yellow and gray fire shimmered and coursed, like a mage fight between four powerful mages.

"What is it," Dain whispered nervously. Numair took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Then he looked up to see if anyone had noticed. Weiryn was looking out the window and not at them. "I feel that it means something bad, but it's so beautiful…"

"It means that Uusoae, the Queen of Chaos, is fighting the Great Gods," said the badger. "That light is her magic and her soldiers, as they attack the barriers between our realm and hers."

"She has been at it since Midwinter." Weiryn put an arm around Sarra. "Normally the lights that burn in our sky reflect your mortal wars, but this is far more important."

"Thanks ever so," muttered Numair. He was rewarded by a grin from Daine.

Sarra looked at her daughter and said reproachfully, "Speaking of war, I never raised you to be always fighting and killing. That's not woman's work." Woman's work – that'ss a subject nearly guaranteed to rile Daine's temper, he thought

"It's needful, Ma. You taught me a woman has to know how to defend herself."

"I never!" gasped Sarra, indignant.

"You taught me when you were murdered in your own house," Daine said quietly. Numair smiled at her proudly and patted her ankle. He saw Sarra turn into Weiryn's hold, leaning on his chest. She shuddered slightly as if she were crying silently.

Softly, Numair answered, saving Daine from causing her mother further angst. "Sarra, our war in Tortall may seem unimportant to the gods, but not to us. Daine and I must return to it. They need every fighter and every mage." But the moment the words were out, he realized that Daine might want to stay here. The thought of losing her made him ache but … he looked up at Sarra and Weiryn, realizing it was not safe to think about this now.

But then he saw Daine nod in agreement. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, as if she were very dizzy. He looked at her with concern. Then he heard Sarra say, "We'll talk of that later. You both need to drink a posset, then sleep again. It will be a few days before the effects of our passage are over." She went to the hearth and ladled something from a pot into a pair of cups. One she gave to Daine and the other to Numair. "Drink," she ordered.

Numair smiled once more at Daine, smelling the mix of familiar healing herbs, though the odor was intense. He had never smelled goldenseal once it was mixed with other herbs before. He gulped it down and Daine followed suit. It was bitter and unpleasant.

"Back to bed, sir mage," order Sarra.

"Good night, Daine," Numair said. The badger echoed him.

"G'night," she murmured, eyes drooping. "Oh – I forgot. G'night – Da," she added to her father.

As Numair walked slowly back to his room, he could hear Weiryn respond indistinctly.

He crawled back into bed, realizing somehow that the reason the bed was long enough was because either Weiryn or Sarra had stretched it be so. He heard a soft thump and felt the weight of an animal on his bed. Queenclaw had come to take a nap. She began to bathe herself near his elbow. He thought, as own eyes grew heavy, that this must be a little like what Daine felt like when she went to bed and numerous talking friends joined her one by one.

"Goodnight Queenclaw," he said drowsily.

-- Goodnight, Mortal. Don't snore. --

"Yes, ma'am."

-

-

Thanks for reading. Please respond.