A/N: Yes, I know I said it was finished, but here again I try to overcome writer's block on something longer (in this case chapter 5 of Altitude).

Update A/N: Duh. I gave all these the wrong numbers -- there are only 48 of them, not 56. Sigh.

Disclaimer: All characters mentioned herein were originally invented by Tamora Pierce.

41. Sweet Revenge

Sarralyn is a restless sleeper, even as an infant, and more than once Daine feels the bed creak and shift as Numair, tired of being kicked and elbowed, shuffles off (taking half the blankets with him) to go and sleep on the sitting-room hearth.

She tries not to feel too smug the first time Sarra, newly mobile, clambers down and goes after him, leaving her in full, luxurious possession of the bed.

42. The Hardest Thing

That nightmarish shape-shifting pregnancy was entirely Daine's own fault, according to her Ma (who should know, if anyone does), and, though she wouldn't wish away her daughter's marvellous ability (well, not often, anyway), she has no wish to repeat the experience. During her second pregnancy, therefore, she is obsessively careful, remaining completely human at all times for eight months, three weeks, and two days.

This is, she often thinks, the hardest thing she has ever done. But when Numair, inspecting his newborn son, pales at the magnitude of the baby's Gift, she decides it was worth it: "At least," she says philosophically, "he's only human."

43. Choices

Rikash wonders what he's supposed to do with his life. Da's lectures on the responsibilities of the Gifted toward the unGifted are all very well, but, like much of Da's conversation, short on practical application. Rikash doesn't have the right sort of magic to be a healer, and the thought of devoting his life to battle magic makes him shudder. And does the realm really need one more mage who can move the earth and turn people into trees?

44. Hellions (with apologies to Kitty Ryan)

Daine looks around her normally tidy sitting-room in disbelief, certain she has not seen such utter chaos since the last war. In the midst of it the children are sleeping, curled up together in front of the dying fire.

"Your children," she says to Numair, who has had charge of them for the morning, "are absolutely dreadful."

"Ah, but they're your children now, Magelet," he smirks. "I've a council meeting to attend in a quarter of an hour."

His attempt to sweep elegantly out of the room is spoiled somewhat when she hurls one, two, three juggling balls at his head, only barely glad that he dodges them quickly enough to avoid serious injury.

45. Practical Magic

"What fun," Sarra grins, when Rikash explains his latest experiment: an antidote for the venom of a rare (nearly extinct) species of snake. "I'll help you test it."

She studies his magically preserved specimen for a moment, then takes his hand in hers.

Then her gown slithers to the floor (won't it be lovely if the housemaster walks in on that!) and a slender, perfectly deadly Kyprin banded asp slithers up his arm and bares its little fangs.

Rikash goes very pale, and sits down gingerly on the edge of his desk. If he just keeps breathing regularly, he tells himself, he can stay conscious long enough to talk her out of it.

Then the snake drops away, becomes a mouse, scampers under the discarded gown, and after a moment Sarra stands in front of him again, hands on hips, frowning. "Where's your self-confidence?" she complains. "We could have so much fun if you'd just have a little faith."

46. Anniversary

"But what's it the anniversary of?" Sarra demands, as she watches her parents dress for their special anniversary outing. (She is an inconveniently logical and inquisitive child, even at five.) People celebrate wedding anniversaries, she knows; but it's only July, and she knows they got married in the fall.

"Never you mind," Da says severely, and Ma giggles (Ma never giggles) and her cheeks turn pink.

"Look after your brother," Ma says, "and mind your Aunt Lianne."

And they kiss her and Rikash, and out they go.

Sarra scowls mutinously: she hates being left in the dark.

47. Namesake

It's uncomfortable, sometimes, being named after a Stormwing. Most people don't know them the way his parents do. When he asks whether the original Rikash was always a Stormwing, and, if not, how he became one, Ma and Da look at each other, and make odd throat-clearing noises, and finally admit that they never thought to ask.

48. Silence

It is well known in Corus that Numair Salmalín can talk forever about absolutely anything.

His children discover the exception to this rule when they ask him to tell them all about his family back in Tyra.