Dolphin Dreamer: Glad you enjoyed that!

Esmerelda 01: I love getting your reviews, they make me chuckle!

Daine's Daughter: Thank you.

imakeladrygirl: Thank you!

Silverlake: Here it is!

goldeneyedwildmage: you'll have to wait for thet for a while...

Sonnet Lacewing: I love George, all things considered I think he's my favourite character throughout the Tortall sequence. He's going to play a big part in this. How was his speech? I took in what you said in Interlude, and made him a little less dialectal.

A/N: Anything you recognise belongs to Tamora Pierce.

Chapter 5 – Eyes Open Wide

Daine hadn't yet found a chance to tell Numair about the pregnancy charm. She had knocked on his door late the previous evening but there had been no answer. After having a hunt about the fief she had bumped into Harailt who had told her that Numair and George were down in the cells, attempting to shed light on what was going on down there. She had found that she had missed him intensely. Not every evening in Corus had been spent with Numair; they had both been busy people and had frequently gone several days without seeing one and other, but now she felt real desire to just be near him and it felt like weeks ago since she had seen him, rather than just the previous morning. She didn't tap on his door, knowing that if he had had a late night then he would want to get some sleep now. She went straight to the kitchens with Kitten to hunt out some food. The kitchens were in a state of panic and Daine could hear Aliz barking loudly at the porters and chefs. She smiled to herself; however much Aliz shouted she was certainly an excellent cook. After breakfast she had promised Thayet that she would go up to her rooms and have a final fitting for the dress that she was to wear tonight. Then she had been asked to shape shift and fly over the surrounding area, checking that everything was in as much order as it could be. So far, apart from the trouble with the prisoners, things had been going very much to plan in regards to regenerating the area. It would take years before everything was as it has been throughout Tortall, and eventually Daine knew that the progress made would slow down. But they had had a very good start, which hopefully meant that some of them would be returning to Corus before the end of the week.

In Thayet's room she found that her dress for the ball had been completed and that Thayet had actually sewn it herself.

"It wanted to make sure it was right," Thayet explained.

"And what about mine? You didn't sew that?" Onua joked.

"You don't have a new beau to impress," Thayet defended herself.

Onua smiled sweetly at them, her eyes giving away the fact that she was hiding a secret.

"Onua?" Thayet asked. "Is there something you should be telling us?"

Onua smiled again. "Not at the moment, Thayet. With regards though to Daine's dress; Numair would still think she was beautiful if she dressed in rags." She swiftly changed the subject.

"Well, it will be their first proper, unofficial outing together," Thayet smiled at the young woman with the smoky brown curls.

"You're not going to announce us, or anything drastic like that, are you, Thayet?" Daine eyed her queen.

Thayet shook her head. "Oh no. People have already put two and two together, a lot of them spotted that you were a little… er… different with each other when you said goodbye after the dragons brought you to Port Legann. There will be gossip, Daine, don't worry about that, but people are very happy for you. We won't announce anything until something more formal occurs."

"Which won't be for a long time yet," Daine muttered.

"Has Numair proposed?" Onua inquired.

Daine smiled, not sure how much to say. "He mentioned it after his fight with Hadensra, but not since. I told him that I would one day."

Thayet laughed. "Poor Numair." She said, over Onua's giggling. "He's certainly met his match with you!"

Daine felt herself blushing a little. "Please don't tell him I've told you, will you?"

They both shook their heads. "It's fine to confide in us, Daine, but we will keep things like that between ourselves. You didn't say no, though, did you? He will have been happy with that," Onua reassured.

"Do things in your own time. You've both got the luxury of not having any pressure on you to have to rush into things like this. You should make the most of it," Thayet advised, helping Onua out of her dress and hanging it carefully. Onua changed back into her breeches and shirts, obviously going to the stables. Daine cranked the window open. "I'm going to fly over the area. Can I leave the window open so I can fly back in here and change into my own clothes? It'll be quicker than doing it from my room," Daine asked.

"That's no problem," Thayet responded. "I just can't be sure of who would be in here though when you fly in."

"I'll take the chance," Daine smiled, preparing herself by hiding the pregnancy charm in her boot.

Meanwhile, Numair was crawling into bed, utterly exhausted after spending all of the night with captives, himself and George interrogating them with his gift and George's Sight. Most of the morning had been taken up with a conference between himself, George, Jonathan, Imrah and Harailt, relating what had been learnt about the prisoners. It certainly looked as George has suggested, that someone was trying to cause trouble to weaken Tortall and the last thing that Jon, or anybody else for that matter, was civil unrest. He was acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't seen Daine for quite some time and felt a strain of desperation for them to have some time on their own, to start to get to know each other in this new capacity. He fell asleep almost immediately; the pain in his jaw and lip had subsided after further treatment from one of the healers.

He woke several hours later to the sound of a female calling his name. He opened his door and let in Thayet.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Numair, but we have the feast in two hours and I'm greatly aware of how long it takes you to get ready. There are new breeches and shirts in my room, if you'd care to choose yourself a pair that fit," she said, not looking in the least bit sorry for waking him up.

Numair nodded, wondering if George had had the same awakening.

"Numair, you've got two hours! We would really like you to be there," she repeated, slightly louder this time, as she wasn't certain that he had taken in what she had said.

"I will be, don't worry. I'll get a bath now and go and pick some new clothes. You've not made them have you?" he demanded, remembering a tale told by Alanna about Jonathan getting rather painfully stuck in a pair of breeches that Thayet had made. Thayet made a huffing noise rather like Cloud and walked off down the corridor. Numair couldn't resist a sly smile.

Thayet's room was unlocked when he got there. Too tired to think about knocking he pushed the door open and saw a semi-naked Daine trying to close the clasp of a chain around her neck.

"Numair!" She exclaimed, covering her chest with one hand, thankful she had already put on her loincloth. The mage turned his back as she quickly put on her breast band. "I'm decent," she told him; he turned round and raised his eyebrows.

"You call that decent, Daine?" He said, unable to look away.

"I'm not wearing much more when I've got my night shirt on," she smiled teasingly at him.

Numair sighed. He was fighting a losing battle. She was not going to let him woo her and court her slowly, she didn't want that. "For my sake, then, at least put on you shirt. His sharp eyes noticed a second item around her neck. "What's that you have on?" Forgetting her semi-naked state he stepped over to her, gently clasping the new charm.

He found himself blush and look at her incredulously. "When did you get this?" He asked.

"Thayet gave it to me yesterday. I was going to tell you about it, Numair, but I haven't seen you since," she replied calmly.

"Why?" he stuttered somewhat. "I thought we'd wait a bit before… I don't want to rush you…"

Daine laughed and put her arms around him. He felt her body warm against his, causing a reaction he'd rather have not had in front of her just yet. "We'll take as long as we need, but I do need a pregnancy charm whether we wait four days or four months. But please, don't try to protect me or decide we should wait until we're married. Let's just wait for the right time."

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him softly taking care not to press too hard on his sore lip. She deepened the kiss, and he doubted whether he would be able to wait as long as he had planned.

Eventually, when he felt his legs could no longer stand, he broke away from the kiss. Unable to speak for a moment, he just looked at her, not quite believing how lucky he was to have this beautiful, amazing woman in love with him. He kissed her softly, savouring the taste of her. "We really must be getting ready for this feast else Thayet will have us served for dessert."

Daine laughed softly, still in his arms. "When are we going to get some time on our own?"

"Soon, I hope. I don't think we'll be needed here for too much longer. Hopefully, Jon will let us have a short break at my tower," Numair said quietly. "We really must get dressed."

She sighed and moved away from him to get to her clothes. He watched her as she moved. He had seen her briefly in states of undress before but had never been allowed to look. Now that barrier had gone and he could look to a certain extent, although he still felt a little guilty. He took of his own shirt and stood bare-chested looking at the shirts that Thayet had had made. He pulled out a white one with a deep cut V at the neck that could be tied with the white cord attached. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Daine watching him as she laced up her own shirt.

"Enjoying the sight?" he asked.

She blushed and looked away causing Numair to smile.

After Daine had dressed in her own room and managed to put up her hair in an elaborate style they walked to the fief's main hall where the tables were arranged as if for a banquet. They walked hand in hand, not attempting to conceal that they were now together, noticing a few glances and smiles that came their way with some amusement. The meal was simple enough to not let people think that Thayet and Marielle had been excessive, but nice enough to be something different. After the food had been demolished, the tables were moved back to allow people room to dance. Daine recalled the last time she and Numair had danced, at Beltane before they found out that Kitten had gone missing. She scanned around the room and found her being fussed by Lord Imrah, who had seemed to take a particular liking to her. She smiled as Numair followed her look to where the dragonet was.

"She's fine," he reassured. "Nothing will happen to her, you can relax." She snuggled in further, her lips brushing the bare skin in the V of his shirt as they danced.

Baron George of Pirates' Swoop watched Daine and Numair, as they moved around the floor, wishing that his own wife were with him now. Not to dance, particularly, although that would have been fun, but so she could have seen the new couple finally together. And to pay him the money she would owe him after their wager on how long it would take the two mages to get together – he had already claimed his winnings from Thayet. The day had been a particularly long one for George. He had spent much of it chasing his various spies for pieces of information that had helped confirm his theory that there was someone attempting to harm Tortall by causing an uprising. Unfortunately, that somebody had yet to be identified, a problem guaranteed to give George a massive headache for the next few days. A servant who George had decided could be a possibility for a new recruit discreetly came up to him.

"There is a messenger here for you, Sir. They are waiting for you in the scullery," she said as if she was offering his a refill for his glass. Without anyone noticing, George Cooper slipped away to meet his unexpected guest.

Numair walked Daine back to their rooms after the music had stopped playing for the night. Standing outside her door he kissed her softly, pulling away before it began to take over his mind.

"Shall I stay with you tonight?" she whispered.

"I think it's best if we sleep separately, at least until we get back to Corus," he told her although inside he was screaming yes!

She stood on tiptoes to kiss him again, this time much deeper and with a lot more passion. He wondered how long his will power would last if she kept on behaving like this.

Daine slipped into bed alone. Kitten had gone with Tkaa and a bag of new opals during the dancing. Daine imagined that she was now driving Tkaa mad with different trills and other new noises to try and discover what power she had over the stones. Thinking now of Numair, the image in her head was one of him without his shirt, she began to drift into a sleep that would be anything but peaceful.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please review! I'm sorry its a bit of a cliffy, but I'm trying to weave plots together.