I don't own anything…I'm a minor. I do have a car and my own insurance, but that's only so my parents are less liable for damage, and technically it's mine, but in reality it's theirs. It's funny how that works.

Review Response time! My Favorite!

Colleen, thanks for the review! You didn't like the short chapter? Well, here's a real long one, no need to thank me.

I never disregard what anyone tells me about my fics, I want to make them as best as I can. I only disregard things about spelling mistakes, because I already know about them; I need a beta but I'm just too damn lazy to get one, either that or re-go over them myself better. But I swear, posting causes mistakes, it does, I saw the proof for myself!

And about the overall forward-ness in the dream, you're very right that he'd probably much shyer in real life, but you've got to keep in mind that it was a dream; that was just what they both wanted to happen. And it wasn't a dream that either of them knew the other was having. That might have confused you, now that I think about it; I should have made it clearer. Gainel can take a peak in any dream he wants whenever he wants, but he isn't omni-aware about all of them at once, just like the Gods don't hear the thoughts of everyone in the world, only when you pray to them. He was daydreaming himself; The Great Gods don't really sleep, unless they want to.

Actually it's funny you mention that, because when Gainel gets nervous he goes into denial about it. Case in point, this chapter. He's really fun to torture, in tension filled circumstances, not with actual weapon's or anything.

This chapter starts part two. It's starts to explain what they've been up to since the end of part one.

And yes, I TOTALLY ABSOLUTELY WANT TO READ YOUR FIC WITH GAINEL! You can be the first member of the Gainel fanclub, after me of course. And if anyone ever wants to use my version of Gainel or anything from my fic at all, I give absolute permission to do anything you want. All they have to do is tell me in a review, (so I know about if and can read the fanfic, cuz I would want to,) and mention my fanfiction and give me credit for all my stuff. I don't know if anyone would ever want to use my stuff, but if they did, that's all they'd have to do.

Oh and did I tell anyone that my story has been put in a C2? Whoever put it there, wow I'm so honored, drop me a review sometime! This is just wicked awesome. It's in the C2 The Sanctuary for Interesting Pairings. Anyone wants to put this fic in a C2 is welcome, not that there's much I can do about it anyways.

Nativewildmage thank you for calling me cool! And for reviewing! In reality I'm actually a book nerd, so being called cool is a major thing for me, Yay!

And your fics are awesome NWM, I'm half way through Plots&Plans Part two so expect another review when I finish it (gives a thumb ups) Woohoo!

Numair's Lover Thank you for reviewing again! I don't want to give away what happens, but I can tell it'll be something you didn't expect, or at least something I don't think you'd think to expect. I mean, for all I know you did expect it.

And type as much as you want in a review, just make paragraphs when they are kind of long, because when it's all in one big paragraph like that, all the letters just blur together and I loose my place. I'm weird like that.

And sugar highs sound great, but unfortunately for me, I have a huge tolerance for caffeine and sugar. I drink like seven cans of soda a day and I'm still as mellow and interesting as a tree. Sugar is the same. I'll get sick before I get hyper. And getting sick would take about twelve giant sized Hershey's chocolate bars. Yeah, I'm weird like that.

Feifiefofum thanks for the review! I just love to hear you talk; it's so funny, in a good way mind you. I guess funny isn't the right word, entertaining would be more apt.

I actually do like mecha. Girls are allowed to like action, Gundumn wing is like my favorite anime, except that Dorothy should just get over herself, and Relena should just die…period. If it's got action you can count me in. And it really does sound great, I'm gonna keep my eye out for it. Is there a manga? Is it as good do you know? I wanna see all this stuff, it's just getting a hold of any of it that's bothersome.

And hey, formula is formula, and formula is good by itself, but it's all your extras that make it great, like the chocolate, caramel, butterscotch and white chocolate chips, pecans, M&Ms, bits of snickers, Butterfinger bars and Reeses Pieces that really make it fantastic.

Hopefully it will turn out great. Thanks for the support, and keep reviewing, cuz we all know I do love them so…

Review everyone! Please? Especially you people who are totting off with a free ride and not reviewing. Yes, I know you're there, my stats says +15 people have read chapter 8, and I got how many reviews? Four? So review, please? I do love you all so…

Providence Smiles

By LGR

Part II: Matters of the Heart

—Lynn opened her eyes wishing the dream she'd just had wasn't a dream at all but true; she couldn't bear the thought that He might see how she felt about him, her greatest fear, and probably the truth, was that he didn't feel the same way. How could she hold on to such a foolish and vain hope, how could she be anything he'd want?

As soon as she'd been dropped into the armchair, one of the palace servants had come in to light a fire in the hearths and noticed her. There was uproar of activity in which everyone in the palace she knew came to make sure she was in one piece.

Both her mother and her father had given her arm-wrenching hugs, and even her little brother Rikash had looked relieved and for once, hugged her of his own volition and stood up to his other friend's comments about it.

It hadn't seemed like four days to her, but apparently it really had been, and she wasn't the disappearing type. Her father, her aunt Alanna, Thom, and even the king had been scrying for her the whole time and not coming up with anything at all.

Numair had demanded an immediate explanation, but her mother had convinced him that they should let her have a cup of tea and something to eat, because she must have been tired. And besides, Daine had wanted a look at the bird-immortal that had been ghosting Lynn since she'd returned, and who's chiming cries were the real reason the Palace servant had noticed she was anyone other that an ordinary late night reader.

But Lynn wasn't really hungry or tired, it had only seemed like a few hours to her mind, and though she wasn't feeling all that uppity, it wasn't as if she was sick. So when they'd got back to their rooms in the palace, she had refused anything to eat or drink and just began to explain the situation.

It turned out to be pretty boring really. She didn't tell her parents that she was attacked; she didn't want to worry them. She had all her faith in her knew immortal friend keeping her safe. The bird couldn't speak anymore that the young dragon kitten could, but she could some how make her meaning known, as kitten could. The little dragonet and the bird often talked together, if that was what it could be called.

She'd also left out the part about Gainel being her patron now, and how they'd talked so much. For some reason it didn't seem right to tell, and besides, what humans knew, the gods could find out, and she still thought Gainel would get into trouble if any of them found out. And before she could even think of a way to explain how she'd been able to hear what the Dream King had said, her father had asked her if he'd gotten a construct to translate for him, and she simply said yes. She didn't like to lie, but it all seemed necessary to her mind.

Her parents had accepted the story, even if her father looked a little suspicious, as if thinking "there had to have been more to it then that". But eventually her little escapade was forgotten, and everything went back to normal.

Or at least almost normal, her father wanted to know how she'd been able to phase-shift and asked her to repeat it, but Lynn couldn't remember what another phase felt like, she just couldn't do it without something there for her to compare herself to. And though they practiced and tried for some time, eventually her father decided it wasn't going to work, and they gave it up for the time being.

For the first week she'd went to sleep hoping to see Gainel. He had promised to visit her, but when every night she woke up having had ordinary dreams, she figured he must have forgotten or that he had been to busy after all.

People noticed that she always seemed distracted and not really there. Many asked if she felt well, but other than the fact that she felt forgotten and alone for the first time in her life, she was perfectly fine, and she just gave them a smile and told them she was great. Her excuse became that she had just been thinking.

She picked up a reputation for being rather absent-minded. She'd stop speaking in the middle of sentences, forget what she was talking about, not notice when someone was speaking to her.

She was feeling horribly rejected until one night a month after she'd returned, she opened her eyes expecting to be awake and found that she was sitting in a chair fully dressed, with Gainel sitting in another opposite her.

She expected him to look blurred and shadowed again, but he didn't. He looked exactly the way she remembered him before she'd been sent back: dark hair, light skin, color-shifting eyes and all. He was, however, missing the aura of lightening.

"You did come after all!" She said excitedly, "I was worried you'd forgotten…"

He seemed rather surprised that she'd actually been looking forward to seeing him again. "I didn't forget," he said. His voice wasn't the faint whisper she'd remembered, it seemed more real and substantial than that; but it was just as soft and she found that she liked it.

"I just didn't believe you'd want to see me so soon." He explained, but she could tell what he meant, He had thought she would have forgotten about him.

"Well," she said, "I know you're busy, and time runs differently from here to there, but…if you don't mind…" Lynn didn't know how to ask him to come more often without sounding selfish, but it turned out she didn't have to.

"I'll come more."

It was a fact. He visited her at least once a week, he said he would have come more, but his post kept him from doing so. As it was, He often had to leave in the middle of conversations, because dawn was approaching, and with her return to the real world.

What they talked about was subject to what Lynn had to say. The Divine realms didn't change very much, Gainel said, and though he would sometimes tell her what the gods thought Uusoae was up to, it wasn't very often, and it didn't really change.

Mostly Lynn would say what had been bothering her that week, and Gainel would try to help her with it. She'd thought he would think it boring and tedious to listen to, but every time she would ask if he wanted to change the subject, he'd say no.

The daytime seemed less real in comparison, those days. Nothing overtly exciting ever happened, and Lynn took to reading. And not just Romantic novels that the court ladies often fawned over, or adventure books that the palace pages and squires liked, but philosophy and science, too.

It got to be that it was hard for her to just sit down somewhere and read after lessons were over, because most of the other girls her age thought it was their duty to get her to "have some fun."

As soon as Lynn realized she'd never get some peace since she was easy prey, for anyone who fancied to talk to her, while in the Palace library. She took to reading outside but she was still found out; the bird immortal she'd named 'Fancy', on a whim, was a dead give away as to her location.

Finally, she climbed a tree and asked Fancy to hide. It was strange how no one noticed her, only the thirteen year old reading in he tree; most everyone who walked by while she was in the tree reading, looked at her like she was touched in the head.

She knew she wasn't supposed to use her shifting powers unless it was for a good reason or she had permission from her parents or she was practicing; it was the same rule her parents had set up for Rikash, so she couldn't complain. But she did it anyways.

She turned into her favorite animal, a cat, and sat on the tree branch reading. Unfortunately, no one would realize that the black cat in the tree was Lynn, and someone would tell her parents she was missing. Her father would scry and find her, but it still meant she got a lecture about the proper usage of her powers.

It took Lynn months of trying out new reading places before she found the perfect hide out: Thom's office/mage's workshop/library. He wasn't her favorite cousin for nothing.

Thom was pretty high up in the mages hierarchy these days, and had a large set of rooms in the university just for him. He was mostly obsessed with his experiments, except when it was his turn to watch his seven-year-old daughter, Tania, a white-blond haired little girl with bright green eyes.

One thing that could be said about Thom was that he knew when he was beaten. He put all his studies on hold to play with his daughter, then he'd pick them all back up as soon as his wife Naranda returned to pick her up.

Lynn assumed that Thom and Naranda had worked this system out ages ago, since they were both very serious mages. They took turns giving Tania the attention she needed, and still got their own research done.

Thom certainly wasn't going to bother her from reading, and no was casually walking through his lab; and if by chance she got bored or finished the book she had, Thom had tones of others in his huge set of giant book shelves. And if she got exceptionally bored, she could always give Thom a brake and play with Tania awhile.

Tania was perhaps the only little kid she actually liked to be around, she was always interested in everything, especially Fancy. The immortal was a sure fire way to keep her occupied for hours. Kitten would even come by every once in a while from her Father and Mother's rooms to join in the fun.

Occasionally however, Thom was doing sensitive or powerful experiments and needed her to leave the workroom.

She thought about going to her Father's workroom instead, but decided not to, she needed to get outside. Lynn left her book in her room and went to walk around the palace training yards.

The day before had been her fifteenth birthday, and Gainel had visited. What was even more surprising had been that he'd known and done it especially because of it. From what Lynn had heard from her mother about the Badger god, they didn't mark the time very well and she thought Gainel had been very thoughtful to remember.

It was actually the first time he'd ever told her happy birthday, she'd only mentioned her others in passing and he hadn't really shown any that much interest, but he said that, since it was her birthday, they could do anything she wanted.

"Anything I want?" she'd asked confusedly, "what do you mean?"

He'd shrugged, "Well this is a dream, and I am the Dream King, as it were."

"Then you mean, that we could make the scenery like, say, a tropical sunset?"

"Yes, anything you want," he'd said.

Over the years they'd talked of many things; and not only about her.

The philosophy books she read? Most of them were about the relationships between the gods, humans and other beings in the realms, their powers and places in the universal equilibrium. She'd wanted to understand what those dedicated to the gods did; and how they fit into things.

What she couldn't find out or didn't particularly understand, she'd ask Gainel. She often thought that she shouldn't know these sorts of things. They were for the Gods to know, not mortals; but whenever she'd ask Gainel, why he was telling her such things, he'd shrug and say, "Because he could."

But because of her asking questions, she knew that actually changing someone's dream the way was going to, used up a lot of power. It took a lot of energy for him to just visit her; but she didn't want him to stay away, so she didn't say anything more on the subject.

"Anything I want? Anything?" Lynn had asked, he'd nodded, "Then I want…it to look…"she was having trouble thinking of what she wanted. Well, she knew what she wanted but…

Lynn had decided to go for it. She hadn't thought Gainel would get mad…but one never knew with the gods, even if it was Gainel to whom she talked to every week and now seemed as human as anyone, more even, Lynn liked being with him more than any other person, and he even smiled now. Real grins too, not just the little smiles he had given to comfort a little girl away from home. And he always laughed when she told him a funny story…

"I want," she had said, "for it to look like the Shazdale meadow, outside Mage's Tower, at sunset."

The Shazdale meadow was her favorite place anywhere, and it was lucky for her that it was right near her home, Mage's Tower. It was unlucky however, that her parent's did a lot of work for the crown, so most of the year she lived with them at the Palace, and she didn't get to see it.

It was just a small little clearing set on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean, covered in dark green grass and containing a large, flat rock, perfect for sitting and looking at the sunset. It was called simply 'the flat-rock' and could fit about six people just sitting; maybe three lying down, if they were squished together.

And she was there, she could even smell the salty air, and see Mage's Tower not more than a couple of miles away, farther from the shore.

"Very nice choice," Gainel had said.

Lynn sat down on the flat-rock, "And now I want," she had said, "For you and me to sit together on the flat-rock."

"Alright," he said, and came and sat down next to her, he seemed really nervous for some reason, Lynn could tell, and not just with her strange senses. He kept leaning toward her, slightly flinching then holding himself slightly away from her, before forgetting himself, and leaning near her again.

Lynn didn't know whether this meant he wanted to sit closer to her but didn't know what she'd think, or…well she wasn't sure what else it could mean, but her mind kept telling her it was a ridiculous thought, even though she wanted it to be true.

She wasn't sure when she'd started thinking of wanting Gainel as more than a friend, but she knew it would only cause trouble in the end. How could a god like mortal? But then her traitorous mind would remind her of her Grandparents, and she'd dare to hope…before reality swept in and told her she was only fifteen, and he'd lived for how many centuries? Then her treacherous wit would remind her of her parents, they had a big age difference too. Her Ma had only been sixteen when her father and her had realized they loved each other.

They did it; I'm related to them! Maybe I could too…

But she didn't think she'd be so lucky; but at least she could get one hug on her birthday.

"And now I want, for you to give me a hug."

He had, and the odd thing was he didn't flinch away.

It was the best birthday present she'd ever had.

And now she was walking along the palace, the day after, just thinking, and absently looking at the fighters warming up. It was cloudy, being an early spring morning, and the occasional sprinkle of rain or fog wasn't unusual.

But she didn't really care. She sat down on the fence outside The Queen's Riders practice grounds, damp or not.

It had been two and a half years since Uusoae had attacked her in the Dream Realm, and Lynn hadn't forgotten. Why she wanted Lynn, was still a mystery, for she could tell Gainel wasn't lying when he said he didn't know.

Gainel didn't lie to her; he just looked anxious and changed the subject. Like when she'd asked him once whether Uusoae had any sort of grudge against him.

Which basically meant yes.

Lynn had always wanted to be helpful to him, and now more than ever. She knew that Uusoae was very powerful, he mother had said it had taken all the gods together to force her back into the Chaos realms the last time she'd nearly escaped. Gainel would need all the help he could get if she came after him.

She wasn't a Great God or anything, but she could at least learn to defend herself, although she knew all of that already, but she'd have to be good to stand up against a chaos-creature. She wanted to not be a hindrance, maybe even to help. Lynn didn't have the audacity to think she could be much of a help, but she could do something at least.

She wasn't a black robe like her Father, and she couldn't wield a longbow like her Ma. She wasn't a swords mistress like her aunt Alanna or her cousin Alan, or very clever or a knife fighter like her uncle and cousin George and Aly. She wasn't a great scholar like her cousin Thom, or a healer like the Duke. She couldn't command an army like Raoul, or use a great magic jewel like the King.

All she was really good at was shape shifting and phase shifting, and she wasn't even very good at that. She still remembered when that chaos-creature had attacked her, and she hadn't even thought of changing into something else or phase shifting. And she couldn't even phase shift when she wanted to.

But Lynn decided she was going to practice. She'd do her very best. She would figure out how to get to the Divine realms on her own, and if Uusoae ever came after Gainel, she'd have Sarralyn Salmalín to deal with.

And maybe if she started now, Lynn could eventually be a halfway decent fighter by the time Gainel needed his charge.

"Hey Lynn, we don't see you around here often." Onua said as she noticed the shifter sitting on the fence. "What's up?"

"Nothing much Auntie Onua…but I wanted to ask you something."

The K'miri woman looked a little suspicious, "Go ahead, girl, though I don't know how I'll answer."

"Do you think you could teach me to fight?"

Onua hadn't been expecting anything like that, "To fight? You already know the basic blocks and handholds, and the punches. What are thinking of fighting for?" the horsewoman of the riders asked.

"You know, for just in case I needed to." She said, hoping the K'miri woman would buy it.

"What kind of fighting?" she said at last.

"Not with any weapons, just with hands and feet, that sort of thing," Lynn was hopeful and she let it show on her face.

Please, please, please? She thought with all her might.

Onua shook her head as if wondering what she was doing, then said, "If it's that you want, then I'll tell you that I wouldn't be the best teacher. Now, don't give me that puppy-dog face," she said when Lynn put on an expression aimed to give the watcher an inane sense of guilt and pity, "I'm just saying that you should ask the Shangs, not me, I'll go with you to ask them if you'll wait for me to finish up here with the ponies."

"Oh thank you—thank you!"

"Don't mention it. Seriously don't, I have a feeling your parents don't know about this and probably wouldn't approve."

"Alright." She couldn't, in all honesty, deny it.

They'd walked over to the Pages training grounds where she'd been introduced to Eda Bell, the Shang wildcat, who'd told her that she was pretty old to suddenly want lessons now, but she could appreciate that Lynn wanted to try anyways; once she realized that she was serious about learning.

She'd never been so sore in her life since that day, but she'd didn't complain and she kept coming to the Wildcat for lessons in the afternoon, once she was done teaching the pages.

And in the mean time, in the mornings as she nursed her bruises from the day before, she practiced shifting.

Phase shifting was still shaky for her. In fact if she was honest, she still couldn't do it well at all, but she kept practicing.

By her sixteenth birthday (in which she asked for the same Gift from Gainel, and he'd smirked slightly, and even kept his arm around her for slightly longer than necessary. This had set her into more days of fantasies and 'what if's' that she had to beat into submission,) she had grown fairly adept at phasing just enough to go through a solid object, though anymore than that was beyond her.

Eda Bell was also praising her everyday, saying if she'd trained as a shang from the beginning she'd have been great. But as it was, she could beat any of the pages and most of the squires, if she cared to, in unarmed combat after only a year of training.

She was strong, fast and hard to anticipate; it also helped that she was almost six feet tall at fifteen. She wasn't likely to get any taller, her mother said she stopped growing taller at about fifteen, too, but it was a nice plus.

By the time her seventeenth birthday rolled around, her parents had found out ages ago she'd been practicing with Wildcat, people actually lined up to watch their practice bouts. Lynn never won, but she lasted and lasted, sometimes taking almost ten minutes for her to actually pin, or tire Lynn out enough that they had to stop the fight.

Eda of course, was never tired.

Luckily for Lynn, that was also the year she learned she could heal herself using her shape shifting powers. Shifting a bone wasn't much different from shifting the whole thing after all, and she wondered why it took her or anyone else so long to realize this. But at least it meant she wasn't put out she twisted her ankle when she fell wrong in a practice bout, or when she'd kicked her foot at the wildcats, and ended u with a broken toe.

And for her seventeenth birthday, she'd asked for the same thing from Gainel, and he'd looked slightly disappointed. She didn't know what that meant.

And just now, she'd had that dream, and she just ached all over and on the inside as if she went five rounds with Eda with no breaks and her being thrown around like a rag-doll.

Why did matters of the heart have to hurt so much? And not on the outside or to the physical, where someone could actually do something about it, but on the inside in those secret places people kept to themselves, where everything hurt double because your vital organs were so close?

She lay in her bed staring at the ceiling, not really wanting to move, even though she knew she should. She wanted to scream, to pelt someone over the head, to cry…anything that would let this hurt go away. She was too old for silly fantasies and believing in dreams that could never come true.

And on this day, the threat of Uusoae was far from her mind, she seemed much too far away, when Gainel was so close, but locked away from her behind a steel door with the key missing; no with the key never having existed in the first place.

On this day Lynn had forgotten about Uusoae, but Uusoae had not forgotten about Lynn.

And Providence knew that the beginning had finally come.