The next two days went slowly for Daine. It was all the same. Sleep, eat, practice, eat, practice, eat, sleep. The majority of the time was practicing, which was Perin practicing using the focus on Daine.

By the end of the second day, Perin could control any part of Daine that he wanted to. That night, they returned to the capitol.

Numair's anger was pushed to it's limits. It was past the dinner bell and Perin still hadn't returned. He would know; he was checking the scribe's wind periodically.

Sulking, Numair began to walk to his rooms, thinking that maybe Perin was running late and would arrive in the morning. But he couldn't stop thinking about Daine!

Numair looked up and found himself standing in front of Daine's door. He leaned his head against it and felt a tear slide down his cheek. He turned to return to his own rooms when he heard a giggle in the adjacent hallway. "Stop it!" I know that voice...Daine!

Numair ran around the corner and froze in his tracks. Daine was on the floor, and there was a man on top of her...kissing her. If the way her arms were wound around his neck was any indication, she wasn't objecting. Numair backed up slowly, not believing what he was seeing. The man on top of Daine picked his head and looked Numair right in the eye. It was Perin. There was an evil glint in his eye and he grinned and nibbled Daine's ear, keeping his eyes on Numair the whole time. Their eyes remained connected until Daine whispered something in Perin's ear. Perin looked at her and nodded, moving to get off her. Daine giggled and gave him a quick kiss. She ran down the hallway, right past Numair, and went into her rooms.

Numair stared after her, She hadn't looked hi way; hadn't even seen him. He felt Perin walk up behind him. "Give up old man. She's out of your range." In seconds, Perin was up against the wall with Numair's hand at his neck. "First of all, boy, you refer to me only as Master Salmalin. And second of all, I don't know what you've done to Daine, but I will find out, and I will stop this."

"What makes you think I did something? Maybe she wanted a change from the ordinary." Numair released Perin regretfully.

"That's not my Daine."

You're right. That's my Daine." Perin bowed mockingly. "Good day, Master Salmalin."

"Numair, what's the matter? You've been quiet since you got here. Frankly, that's a rare occurrence." They were in Alanna's rooms. Numair had seen Daine again in the hallways but she had regarded to him as a stranger. "Alanna...I just don't understand. I thought she loved me. Why is she with Perin?" He heard Alanna sigh.

"Honestly Numair, I don't know. I'll look into it, but...I really don't know what I can do."

"Something's wrong. I just don't know what. What could Perin have done? It's not like he's a mage or something." He saw Alanna's eyes go wide as she considered a thought.

"Numair, wait. Are you positive he doesn't have the Gift? They don't check for that in scribes."

"Well...actually...not..." Numair looked at Alanna, watching her pace the room. "Numair...you said you think a scribe somehow has your real focus, right?" He nodded. "And Perin is a scribe who happened to be gone the whole time that Daine was gone." Numair nodded again. "HE was gone exactly three days...which is the most time that's needed to even a low-level mage to master a focus..."Numair nodded again, realization slowly creeping across his face. "You mean...Perin is controlling Daine with my focus?" Alanna looked at him gravely and nodded. The look in her eyes told Nuamir that she was trying really hard to hold in her temper. Numair's own eyes grew hard with anger. He would get his Daine back.

"Daine! Stop it!" Perin slapped her hard on the face. "Fighting it will do nothing! I have control." She fought him, trying to overcome his magic. Suddenly, Daine broke free and ran at him, punching and kicking anything she could. "Daine!" Letting his temper get the better of him, Perin shoved at her with his magic. With the force of the blast, Daine flew back a few feet and slumped to the floor, unconscious. Perin sat and held is head in his hands. It was harder to control Daine than he thought...soon people would begin to notice the result of him using too much magic. But now, he had one last thing to do with Daine to get rid of the Master Mage.