Neal's Chick: Indeed! Thank you for reviewing! Daine's Twin: Hope this is soon enough! Celuna Cirrus: Sometimes I feel dory for Jon. I had a feeling I'd done that to Zerek. I have a child in my class called Zakir and I actually wrote his name a few times! Bitterosemary: I'll be a happy bunny when I've finished this sequence. Not even half way through it yet and I already know what the next story will be about. Dying to start it, particularly as the next chapter of this sets it all up. Fayrey: I had a look at that today while I was having my roots done. Action scenes are something I never thought I'd write until Interlude and they are not something I envisage focusing on in the near future, although I do have an idea for a fantasy trilogy that would require them, but they won't be what I "give birth" to first. What texts are you studying? Also, are you familiar with Trudi Canavan, seeing as she's an Ozzie fantasy writer? Aravilui: Thank you! I considered that with a female. I'm also going to have a nasty female mage turn up at some point – next story maybe. Some women are nasty and they don't get portrayed enough! Dolphin Dreamer: I am typo queen! Crown me now! Did you get the email? If you didn't PM me and I'll resend it. Thank you for the review as always! Daine's Daughter: that bit is up next! NB44: Thank you. I am kind of enjoying it, its certainly good practise and I am learning a lot as I research. I'm currently writing around 5000 words per day, hence typo city. Keep reviewing! Lime 63: More fluff on its way, particularly in the chapter after this. Silverlake: I wondered that when I wrote it, but can you imagine not having chocolate? They gotta have chocolate! Goldeneyedwildmage: witter means go on with yourself, something I have a talent for! There are eight festivals in total, Mabon (Harvest/Thanksgiving), Samhain (Hallowe'en), Midwinter/Yule, Imbolc, Ostara (Easter), Beltane (Mayday), Midsummer and Lughnasadh. Each will have three chapters, although the chapter after this is a standalone… (fit of inspiration?) Sonnet Lacewing: It's funny to think that when I start writing my own book, it'll be led by very much one character. I think I will find that hard at first after dealing with so many in this. Having said that, the follow up to this will be very DN based and I think I will try and make it a little more adult – not in the M rating sense – but in the way they deal.

Disclaimer: See previous page for this. It still applies.

Imbolc Part III

Chapter 3 – Women

Daine could hear Alanna cursing George from the moment she stepped through the heavy door into the Baron's house. Alanna's tone was unmistakable, speaking rapidly and at full volume, she clearly wasn't happy.

"One night, one night we leave you men for and look what happens! Jon has some traitor chef in who helps to set you all up and put you on a plate for Synthia! If I was here it would never have happened…"

"But it's all well, lass. No one was injured…" George interrupted bravely.

"Injured? Look at your face!" Daine heard her tone soften as she focused on George's injuries.

"Well I was never that pretty to start off with," George responded, amusement in his voice. Alanna was then quiet, and Daine figured that she had buried herself in the arms of her husband, the one place she always went for solace.

She and Numair headed to one of the smaller sitting rooms which were padded out with comfy cushions and padded chairs. She sank down in his arms on one of the larger seats, feeling his heart still beating rapidly in his chest.

"Do you not need to fish in the mages?" She asked him, having briefly heard his story of what he had been up to while she and the other women were galloping over from the Tower.

Numair shook his head. "There's a group of the Own, headed by Raoul, on their way. They'll take Synthia and the mages back to Corus and hopefully see that Synthia is dealt with properly this time."

"Don't you have to release them from your spell?" She inquired, hoping that she wasn't keeping him away from what he should be doing.

"No, I can do it from a distance and it will make it easier to transport them," Numair sighed, taking hold of one of her curls that had come lose form the clips she had put it up in that morning and twisted it round his fingers, admiring the smoky grey colour that made his heart sing every time he thought about it. "You wanted to ask me some questions." He was not looking forward to this interrogation. For Numair Salmalin the past stayed resolutely in the past, but Daine was his future and she had a right to know of certain things.

"Who was the man who lived in the Tower before you?" She asked, gently tugging on his horse tail, her eyes intently meeting his. "Brielyn told me that you helped him a lot."

Numair sighed, taking her other hand and kissing it gently. "You were right. I was related to him. He was my father," Numair announced. "No one knows this story, Daine, it's not really a pleasant one and it's no longer relevant. But you have a right to know."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry – I was being nosy. If you don't want to tell me thn you shouldn't."

Numair smiled, remembering one of the hundreds of reasons he had fallen in love with her in the first place. "I do want to tell you," he assured her and brushed her forehead with a kiss.

"Once I became known to the king and was assured of my safety I let my parents know where I was and that I was alive. I briefly returned to Tyra to see them, having not done so for more that ten years, and my mother, at least, was anxious to see with her own eyes that I was well and unharmed after all that they had heard of from Carthak.

"I stayed for three days; after the first two hours spent in the house I saw that my mother was suffering greatly with having to live with my father. I have told you before that his days were filled with drink, and she was left to run the business and make ends meet, which she managed very well most of the time. Now they were both old – they had me late on in their lives, I was a great surprise when I came along – and she could no longer work, passing most of the business to the child of a friend who had gone into the same business and doing occasional work from him when she was well enough.

"One the first night of my visit I saw my father being violent towards her, something I hadn't known he'd done before. Obviously I was shocked and upset, and rushed in to defend her, which ended in a fight between me and him, a physical fight I might add, I would never have used magic on him.

"He stormed out and ended up being taken in by the guards for the night, whom he was well known to. The following day I went to collect him from the gaol. No son should ever see his father like that, his drinking resulted in the most awful depression, he begged me for forgiveness and ended up on his knees in the middle of the street, with a good number of people looking on.

"By the time I got home with him following on behind me like a lost dog, my mother was cowering in a corner, worried how I'd react to their situation. It was clear that their marriage was over, and had been for sometime, probably since before I'd gone to the university.

"That evening, when he'd passed out peacefully this time, she asked me to take him back with me to Tortall, and find a life for him there. The years of drinking had taken their toll and he was obviously not well, and refused to go to a healer, knowing he'd be told to give up the drink. I asked her why she didn't want to come back with me, but she just shook her head, rather mysteriously and said that she had a life here, while he did not, and that I was the only person he'd listen to.

"It surprised me, to find out how much he'd boasted about me to the people who he'd drank with and their neighbours. I had never known before that he was proud of me and it softened me to his cause. From what I'd gathered, my mother had a friend that she didn't want to leave behind, hence her reluctance to leave Tyra. Since he has died, I found out that she had met someone else, whom she now shares a great deal of her time with. He has given her all that my father couldn't.

"After the third day I left, my father in tow with the promise to abstain from drinking until we had reached Tortall, as I knew I would be unable physically to lift him if he was inebriated and the boarder guards wouldn't let us through.

"The five days it took us to return were the strangest of my life, including the time when I escaped from Carthak. Many of the mysteries of my childhood were explained in those few days and it would take me the same length of time again to recite them to you now. By the time reached the outskirts of Pirate's Swoop, where I was intending to bring my father until I had found a home for him, I had realised that I could not burden any of my new friends with the ghost of a man that was with me.

"We ended staying at an inn an hour's ride from the Tower, which I found was vacant and had been for some time. I made some enquiries and purchased the Tower for my father to reside him. It was far too big for one person, having been built by a mage with a huge family – three wives and twenty five children the local lore has it – some four hundred years ago, but he needed space. Years of being spent in a cramped up house and small narrow streets had made him claustrophobic, which was part of what had led him to drink.

"I had virtually no money left from what I had saved once I had bought it, but my father was content and that had become the priority. His drinking had stabilised, although this seemed to have had an averse affect on his mind. He would have conversations with people who weren't there, call for his mother and sometimes not recognise who I was.

"I returned to the Tower when ever I could over the next three years, and that's how Brielyn came to know of me as I bought milk for him there and fresh meat. I left her money so she would take fresh food to him, as he had become infirm and unable to go out on his own.

"He died after living there for three and a half years. I was with him as I had known it was near the end of his life. I had wanted to bring a healer in, but in his brief moments of lucidity he had forbidden it, saying he knew when it was time to go.

"His death was peaceful, far more peaceful that his life had been. Once he has passed I arranged for him to be buried nearby and had a brief ceremony where several people from the nearby village came, including Brielyn, although my mother stayed in Tyra.

"I cannot blame her for that, he made her life a living nightmare as it was the only way he could find to deal with his demons. I repurchased the house in my own name and set the proceeds from his estate to her, small compensation for what she had had to put up with and she wouldn't take money directly from me.

"She told me shortly after he died that I had given her her freedom back. She was able to live again now that he wasn't there, and enjoy what was left of her time. She felt no guilt about not attending his committal and I understood why completely. His guilt was passed onto me, that I did not act sooner and save them both from misery.

"Each Samhain I throw a piece of paper into the fire asking to be helped to forgive my father and each Imbolc I whisper to the corn doll to help me leave the past behind and to stave off the guilt that is left behind form his life. Each year it gets a little easier, but I know that I will always carry a piece of my past around at the back of my mind. It's what makes me who I am."

Daine sat in his arms, letting the silence punctuate his final sentence. Her eyes had filled with tears that she was trying not to shed. Numair's face wore a distant expression; she could tell that it obviously pained him to talk about the past. She rested her head on his shoulder and he automatically brought his hand up to her hair, taking comfort from her presence and calm.

"How is your mother now?" She asked him gently.

Numair smiled softly. "She's better than she ever was. She has a man-friend who lives near her and has done for years. They eat together, share the same interests; he looks after her and she looks after him. She met him a while before I came to see them, about four years before I think, but kept him at arms length because of the seriousness of how she thought of her handfasting vows."

"You haven't been to see her for as long as I've known you. Why?" Daine asked, nuzzling the side of his face with her own, inhaling the scent of the creams he had used after shaving that morning.

"Because I remind her of my father. I look like him a lot and my voice sounds identical to his. They weren't an arranged marriage, they fell in love, and I think he was immensely happy with her and their life together for a few years. The his father moved in with them and my father regressed emotionally and turned to drink to wash away his past. When I suggest going to see her, she always has an excuse for me not to go," he said, sadness lilting in his voice.

"Maybe she does feel guilty," Daine offered, wanting to try and ease his pain. "She has a new love. Maybe she feels bad because of that and if you see her with him she might think that you feel that she is being disloyal to her husband."

"Maybe so, Magelet. I hadn't considered that before. I would like to see her again. She's quite old now and I don't know how many more chances there will be before she is called to the peaceful realms," he sighed, holding her close.

"Would she like to meet me?" Daine asked. "It would be an excuse to suggest going to see her."

Numair laughed. "It would. I have written to her about you and she was very interested and asked lots of questions. She did say that she would like to see you for herself, so maybe that was a hint. I will write again and suggest it."

Daine nodded, looking intently into his eyes. There was one more question. "Why did you keep the Tower after it held so many memories about your father?"

Numair laughed wryly. "I fell in love with the Tower and its history from the day I saw it. It was also the place where my father was at his happiest, so that does mean something to me. Any sad memories that it held have been eradicated since you have been there. Now it's the place where you and I live, and hopefully one day our little ones too."

Daine joined in his laugh, her eyes welling up with tears once more and her cheeks blushing red with the reference to their future. She curled up closer to him, watching the snowflakes gently fall past the window in the last snow storm before spring galloped in like a lion.

When Alanna began to round them all up an hour or so later she found them both asleep by the fire and for a moment was tempted to leave them be as they looked so sweet together, curled up with their legs intertwined. However, things needed to be done, and decisions needed making, so she began to tap the mage's shoulder, just hard enough so that it would disturb him from his sleep.

They met the rest of their friends in the sitting room, sat at a long table. Thayet had left food out on the table to accommodate any one who was feeling pangs of hunger. Dusk was beginning to set, which was going to ass to the small problem that the children were now at the Tower with only Maud and Eleni.

"I should definitely go over there," Thayet announced with a sigh. "Otherwise Liam and Jasson at least will be worried that something has happened to mamma and papa."

"In that case we'd all better go, including you, George," Alanna said pointedly at her husband who was currently filling his face with cured meat and bread. "I can't believe you are eating food prepared by that traitor!" She exclaimed. George grinned, his mouth to full of food to respond. Alanna shuddered.

"How long will it take us to get there if we ride fast?" Sarge asked in his deep voice. "It's about an hour off nightfall. I wouldn't want to be riding late in conditions like this." He nodded to the window where snowflakes could be seen dancing past it, twirling like dancers.

"I've done it in two hours before now," Numair responded. "It takes three going at a leisurely pace, but seeing as we all have strong horses, it should take us an hour less than that, and we won't have much luggage."

"Let's hurry on, then," Thayet said, standing up, obviously keen to get to her children. They had passed them briefly on the way from the Tower to Pirate's Swoop, but the urgency of the situation had meant that she had only had time to briefly kiss them and assure them that everything was alright.

--------------------------------

They arrived back at the Tower in record time, accompanied by a group of the Riders who had taken it upon themselves as they were nearby to make sure that Synthia hadn't left any other surprises in the way of ambushes lying around. He hadn't, and the journey was a peaceful and uneventful one, met at the end by a barrage of children anxious to see their parents and the other adults that they had adopted as uncles and aunts.

Eleni and Maud had taken the children around the village houses, showing the residents the corn dollies in their basket and accepting gifts of food for them, which was given in respect of the maiden goddess. As they had approached, Daine had noticed several bon fires that had been lit, celebrating Imbolc and her sharp eyes had picked up in the fact that someone, probably Maud, had lit the candle that was still standing in each window.

The snow had now turned to rained that was dismissing the remainders of the white from the ground. Numair, glad to be back home after what had been a rather interesting day slumped into his chair and grinned at Daine, who was lighting candles that were surrounding the fire.

"I think I deserve a nice hot drink bringing to me," he smiled, expecting a rebuke at the mock order.

Daine looked at him scornfully. "In that case you'll be waiting a long time." She stepped away from the fire. "Brielyn came over before we got here and asked if I could go to the farm and see to one of the ewes who's having twins."

Numair sighed, pulling his face. George laughed at him. "She'll only be an hour!" he called from where he was sat, both of his twins on his knee, Alianne poking at the fresh cuts on his face. "Go with her. We won't set your house on fire or anything like that!" He jested.

"Isn't Imbolc night meant to be when couples spend time alone together?" Onua's voice sounded from a dark corner where she and Sarge were occupied in murmuring conversations.

"It's when men are meant to be gallant towards the woman they love," Thayet smiled. "And the only man here who had remembered that is your father, Alanna. He whisked Eleni up to their room some time ago with a bottle of wine and two glasses."

George chuckled. "Maybe we all have something planned," he teased, watching Numair stand up to go with Daine to the farm.

"You mean you're trying to think up something quickly now," Alanna grinned.

"There's plenty of wine and food," Numair offered. "Take a bottle. Most of your rooms have adjoining rooms that have a table in. You can be quite private."

"Where's Buri, by the way?" Onua looked around for her friend.

"She went with the Rider group to see if any more of Synthia's men were lurking. She did say goodbye to you, but I'm not surprised that you or Sarge didn't hear," Alanna replied, amusement on her face. "Come on then George, let's put these small people to bed."

The room was empty before Daine and Numair had left. She turned to him, seeing his tired face. "You really don't have to come, you know. I'll only be an hour. It wasn't an urgent call, Brielyn just wanted me check on the sheep and the lambs. She wasn't expecting a difficult birth."

"I'll feel better coming with you, Magelet," he said with a yawn. Daine shook her head and threw on her thick shawl that would hopefully keep her warm on the way.

The birth was not the easy one Brielyn had predicted, and Daine found that she had to nuse a great deal of her wild magic to help all three animals. Numair stood there, fascinated as he watched the procedure. Daine knew that his mind would be putting the practise against some theory he had probably read in a book once.

Miraculously, all three animals survived and the twin lambs were being suckled by their mother as they left to have a warm drink in the farmhouse.

Brielyn sat them down, introducing her daughter Raelyn, who would be working for Daine in keeping the Tower fresh for their arrivals.

Numair sat in an almost stunned silence as her heard Daine pass on instructions for the girl, telling her what to do and where to find things and to leave the whole of the ninth floor alone as that was where Numair's study was. At first he felt a little strange that he hadn't been included in this decision although he understood that it made sense. Daine had had a lot to do yesterday in preparing for the visitors and she'd had very little time in which to do it, having someone come in before they got there to see that everything was ready for them would be a hand, and Daine would have the chance to organise them when he was busy with his experiments.

He looked admiringly at the woman; her soft features and that stubborn chin that he knew only too well, with her big blue grey eyes and eyelashes that were the longest he'd ever seen and that soft mouth that he longed to reach over and kiss. She wasn't the young girl he'd first met; she had grown up and become the other part to his being. His eyes grew soft as gazed at her, until he noticed the farmer sat in his old rickety chair that had probably graced the house for centuries as a family heir loom staring at him, a perturbed look on his face. Numair coughed and diverted his eyes to the fire.

"Daine were askin' about th'old man tha' used te live in t'Tower," he heard Brielyn say in her broad accent. "'E were a nice man. Always 'ad somethin' te say that were pleasant, like. Who were he, Master Numair? Ye seemed te know 'im fairly well."

"He was my father," Numair told her in a quiet voice.

"Well I never!" Brielyn responded. "Ye did look a bit like 'im wi'hindsight. But I never worked tha' one out. At least ye got to spend a lot o'time wi'him while 'e were 'ere. He used te say ye were a good boy. Tha' was 'ow we got te know what ye did, ye know, for th'king."

Numair smiled, not quite sure of what to say. Daine noticed his discomfort and looked to change the subject.

"Would Raelyn like to come over tomorrow and do a few jobs then? She can get to know the place and I can show her where things are kept so she doesn't struggle when we're not there," she said, looking at the small, pale girl sat next to her mother.

"That would be good, Miss Daine," the girl answered for herself, much to Daine's surprised. "I'm lookin' forward to having my own job. When Ma told me about it I were quite thrilled."

Daine smiled, liking the younger girl immediately. Studying her closely she seemed practical and without the frippery found in some of the village girls who were only interested in finding a husband. "Are you betrothed?" She asked her, wondering if their was a handfast ceremony planned at Beltane for her.

Raelyn shook her head. "Ma wants me to get a job and have my own life afore I get wed. says then I'll be able to take better care of myself and have more sense when picking a husband.

Daine laughed, nodding her head in agreement, Brielyn going up in her estimation once more.

----------------------------------------

The Tower was quiet when they returned and Daine felt exhausted, leaning on Numair as they walked through the doors. Everyone else appeared to have taken Onua's suggestion and was celebrating the romantic side of Imbolc; Daine could hear laughs coming from George and Alanna's room from the hallway.

She gave Numair a weary look as she took off her shawl, dropping it lazily on top of the nearest chair.

"I see you've settled in then," he smiled, pulling her into a hug and feeling her weight rest against him. "You've done well getting Raelyn to come here and help. Most of the locals are terrified of me."

Daine looked up and smiled. "It's not only the locals!" Numair laughed at her joke then swung her up in his arms and carried her upstairs to their rooms, to celebrate Imbolc in their own way.

--------------------

The next chapter will be a standalone, set a few days after Imbolc. If I get enough REVIEWS to make me happy, I might consider putting it up…