Disclaimer: Insert generic disclaimer here – include Tamora Pierce's name.

A/N: This chapter has some foreshadowing to the"very, very bad" comment at the end of ROTG. The next chapter will be very much like the book. They have the dragon fight. I will add some magic things, but you can expect a lot of word for word because it is all dialogue.

Silverlake: Thanks

Numair's Lover: Again sorry.

Alanna Cooper: I'll put it up on my registry at some point.

Nativewildmage: That was fun to write too.

Hoshiko88: Never call yourself stupid. We all miss things.

Mhairi: Thank you so much. You are so very kind. I'm both sorry to have kept you up and grateful that you think my efforts are worth insomnia. Yes, I am very prolific and far too obsessive. I joined on 10/24/05 and this is my 8th story (3 are one shots). I do at least one chapter a day.

Celuna Cirrus: Thanks

Sarramaks: As always, thank you so much for all the assistance and ideas. I idolize your writing and keep finding myself thinking in terms of your current story as if it were cannon. That chapter had a lot of the new relationship steps that couples always have to go through and I kept thinking, "No wait – is this contradictory?" and then realizing I was thinking of your those relationship steps in your story. And thank you for helping me continue this story when I almost quit.

Goldeneyedwildmage: Thanks

Bitterosemary: Thank you so much. It has been hard in this story to find room for improvising. It makes the chapters much slower. My copy of RoTG is starting to look very worn and it isn't even 4 months old.

Purple Eyed Cat: I hope you still want to read it if it gets published.

Rauros Falls: Thanks so much.

Chapter 24 - Arrival

Numair watched the landscape of the sea of sand for awhile. Like most deserts there was life in the endless dunes and it came out at night. Small rodents probably raced the desert floor. Though he could not see them from the air, birds of prey dived for what could only be their next meal. These would, of course, all be gods. So any rodent caught in the open would be immediately born into another body. Numair tried to imagine what that was like. But his existence was linear and his experience did not lend itself to such imaginings.

He must have dozed off, because soon he was awakened by Queen Barzha. "Wake up, Master Salamalin. We're about to land."

The sun was just peaking over the horizon. He turned in his ropes to see Daine being awakened as well. Looking down, he could see they were headed for a flat expanse of sand. At its border was a wall of white and red shimmering magic. It was opaque in that what lay beyond was masked completely.

Numair had seen a spell like this once in the human world. That too was intended to be a border, but it scorched whatever it touched. To his fascination, this wall radiated heat but did not seem to scorch the sand or the cacti near it. Reaching for it cautiously with his gift, it appeared to be deadly.

When they touched ground and landed with a gentle thump, Numair found his muscles were stiff from remaining confined for so long. He winced as he straightened and looked over to see Daine stretching. He winked at her.

Barzha, Hebakh, and Rikash landed in front of them while the other Stormwings hovered in the air. "Our debt to you is paid," the queen told them. "We are going now. If the dragons are unhappy with your presence, we prefer not to be nearby.

"Thank you," Daine and Numair said simultaneously. Daine added, "If you see Ozorne before we do, give him our regards." Numair grinned at her thinking that his regards had something to do with blowing the evil creature up from the inside out.

Barzha and Hebakh only nodded before jumping into flight with the rest of the flock behind them. Rikash gently tapped Daine's arm and then Numair's with his wing. It was an interesting sensation since usually the metal wings of Stormwings were used as weapons. This was more like a friendly pat. "Be polite to the dragons and watch your step," Rikash advised before launching himself to catch up with the Stonetree Nation.

Numair and Daine walked along the fiery curtained border for a few minutes, examining it and looking for some sort of door. As they walked, they had to maintain a distance due to the heat that it emitted. And still, both were sweating from their proximity. "Now what?" Daine finally voiced aloud.

As if in answer a voice chimed in the air around them. "Go away, mortals. You will not be admitted to the Dragonlands. We wish to know none of your kind."

"On the contrary," Numair said mildly, "One dragon knows a great deal of us. My companion is the guardian of the dragonet Skysong." He did not add that his own fondness for Kit left him to think of her as his child.

"The true guardian of a dragon is brave. You are shrinking, cautious beings."

"Oh, really," Daine stalked toward the curtain and into the deadly looking flames.

Shocked and scared witless for her, Numair followed, only hoping to pull her back from certain death. The heat scorched painfully until he felt like he was being seared by mage fire. But strangely enough it was over quickly. The barrier, which had appeared to be a thick wall of magical flames from the outside, was actually thinner than silk. On the other side of the portal lay rolling, sunny hills, and Daine stood there safely, only gasping and sweaty from the intensity of the heat.

He dropped his staff and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Don't you ever – ever—frighten me that way again!" He shook her to impress his point and then wrapped his arms around her, clinging in gratitude that she had been right and he had been wrong, and she was still wonderfully alive. "Ever," he added. Then he kissed her again, feeling the powerful rush of passion and nearly getting swept away from awareness of where they were and why they were here.

"I don't know," Daine said playfully, staring up at him. "I like this particular kind of tantrum. Besides – at least now they know we're brave enough."

"Speak for yourself," he said, fumbling for his handkerchief. He wiped his face trying not to let her see that his hands were shaking. It was an amazing spell. It had fooled him into believing she would be burned to death and he had followed anyway.

"The darkings?" asked Daine a little frantically. "What if they –?"

The darkings popped their heads out of their hiding places. Jelly had, of course, been in Numair's shirt. Leaf poked its head out from Daine's belt purse and said, "Warm. Fun."

Numair rolled his eyes and chuckled. Jelly was not amused by the trip through the fire. It crept up to Numair's shoulder. "I know it wasn't fun for you," he said soothingly, and petted the darking with a finger.

The darking stretched until it could look Numair in the face – at least that's what he thought it was doing since it darkings don't have eyes. "Fine now," Jelly said. "Get stick." Numair grinned and picked up his staff, thinking that it was ironic that the darkings could be made from the blood of someone so evil when the darkings themselves were so brave and kind.

He set Jelly on the ground so that it could trickle to its friend. The two pooled together discussing something.

"Wait," the portal's voice instructed. "Guides will come for you."

Numair took another moment to examine the wall of fire again. From this side, he could see the intricate layer of spells that made up the complicated illusion. He was only beginning to wrap his mind around advanced dragon magic when he felt Daine slip her arms around from behind him. "Are you still pouting?" she taunted. He could feel the pressure of her head against his shoulder blade.

"I was never pouting," he said in answer. "And I doubt very much if you can see very well from where you are."

He lifted his right arm to fold around her as she walked around. She kept her left arm wrapped around him, just slid her hand as she moved, sending shivers down his spine. "What are you doing then?" she asked.

"I was examining this spell. It's ingenious really. I examined it with my magic from the outside and was convinced it was lethal. You can guess why you nearly scared me to death by strolling right into it." There was a sarcastic bite in the last four words that left her sniggering. "From this side I can see the layers of magic to make it look deadly, to make it give off heat that is actually innocuous, to bind those with evil intent but allow those with courage, to respond vocally to a number of stimuli, and to stand indefinitely. This is an interwoven spell using the magic of four individuals, too."

"Wow," she uttered. "Like Dunlath's shield."

"Except," he said with admiration, "This spell has no focusing stones or any other outside means. It is just magic of the highest caliber."

"Am I to lose you to dragons?" she asked teasingly.

He blinked at her. "I'm merely admiring the abilities of masters." He turned within her embrace to face her. "I'm already smitten with you." He kissed her deeply. When they broke the kiss she grinned at him impishly. "What are you thinking?" he said, with a huge smile.

"I was thinking if you impress the dragons half as much as you have me, they might be fair willing to show you some tricks."

He leaned down again, pressing his forehead to hers. "As much as I would like that, we need to keep moving and not dawdle up here. Maybe they will welcome us back when you visit your parents. Or they might be willing to visit Kit in Weiryn's lands." He paused long enough to kiss her again. "How strange it feels to think we might soon go home."

"Umm-hmm," she said. She turned her head, snuggling into his chest and making his heart pound.

"Will we – are things –" Numair struggled. He was nervous about what would come when they returned. She looked up into his eyes, searching his face. "Magelet, will things between us change once we're back?"

"A little, I'm sure. We will have battles to focus on and eight pawns to find and destroy, but –" She reached a hand up to stroke his cheek. "You look so sad," she said.

He had tried to bury the worry and fears of where they would go from here. Apparently in her arms, his emotions were laid bare. "I'm sorry," he offered, lamely.

"I'm still going to want this," she said squeezing him a little. "Only a fool believes nothing changes. There are a lot of friends who may or may not accept us. But I told you how I feel. Don't question it so much."

"I cannot help but worry. I keep expecting to wake up and find I dreamed it all." She promptly pinched him – hard. "Ouch!"

She grinned. "See, you're good and awake." She laughed at her own joke.

"I could teach you a thing or two about awake if you don't mind your manners," he flirted.

"Oh, yeah?" she challenged. "I think I already found one of your weaknesses." She mimicked rubbing her nose on his chest, but was actually about an inch away.

He stared down at her for a moment, not sure if he dared to play this game. But then she lifted one hand and drew idle circles under the edge of his collar with her thumb. So he kissed her jaw and nibbled his way to her neck and earlobe until she moaned very softly. Then he stopped and let her go taking a step back and smiling slyly.

"You are a bad, bad man," she gasped.

"Just remember who started it," he said lightly.

The two darkings trickled over, Jelly heading for Numair, while Leaf leaped onto Daine's foot. Both bent simultaneously to pick up their passengers and lift them to their shoulders. When they realized they had both reacted exactly the same, Numair and Daine chuckled.

They began to fidget, wondering exactly when the expected guides would arrive. At last, Numair saw Daine react to Leaf tugging her hair. They looked up to see two creatures trotting toward them. They were very similar to kitten with long, reptilian snouts and colorful scales. They were younger dragons with tiny wings that were incapable of flight.

A bright white one reached them first. This one was smaller than its companion – merely four feet long with a two-foot tail. When the other arrived, Numair could see it was nearly the same height as Daine (5'6") with steel-gray and black scales intermixed. Unlike the white dragon, this one was calmer and much less obviously enthralled by the appearance of mortals.

--We're to take you to our grandsire – the white dragon told them, speaking to their minds, not their ears. –You're the first mortals we've ever seen. It's very exciting! I'm Icefall, only the elders call me Scamp. My cousin – well, she's really a third cousin twice removed – her name is Steelsings, only I call her Grizzle because she's so old.

--Welcome to the Dragonlands,-- said Steelsings/Grizzle, mind voice grave, --Ignore Scamp. She has only two centuries. She doesn't know very much.—

--You've only one more century than me! – accused Scamp. –You don't have your wings yet either!—

Numair hid a smile behind one hand. Not only did they pour information that wasn't necessary, but the irony of their years was entertaining. He couldn't begin to imagine what information he could amass if he could live as long as these creatures. And yet their behavior was extremely like that of a budding adolescent, despite the ages of 200 and 300 years. The contrast to kitten made her seem like an infant by comparison.

--Children should be seen, not heard – Grizzle said, cuffing Scamp. Then the gray dragon looked to Daine and Numair. –Follow us, please--.

Numair sincerely hoped the rest of the dragons were as much fun as these two.