Title: Of Healing and Love—Chapter 6

Author: I Dream of Peace

Category: drama, missing scene, pre-romance (pairing Numair/Daine)

Rating: PG-13 for lots of ouch-ies

Spoilers: All the Immortals books, though of course you wouldn't be reading this without those, would you?

Archive: Feel free to take it, but please let me know if you do.

Feedback: Only reason I'm finishing this bad boy

Series: stand-alone

Author's Notes: I'm so sorry for the delay, which was so long as to be inexcusable. I was right on the brink of deleting this. I was 14 when I started, and now from my lofty perch (:snorts:) of 17, it seems very melodramatic and juvenile. But I got so many nice reviews; I felt awful leaving it unfinished. So I'm going to work around my distaste for you guys. I imagine I'll be changing this all up a bit after it's done to see if I can't make it at least marginally more mature. With that in mind, I haven't read the books in a good long while, so I'd really appreciate it if anyone would be interested in discussing my characterizations with me, and maybe refreshing my memory a bit. I'll not quote the section I was inspired from again, but it's in The Emperor Mage on pages 92-3.

Chapter 6—Of a Decision

Later, the next few hours would seem a blur to Numair. Onua silently slid into Daine's room at some point after Numair had found himself beyond tears. He suspected she had heard his despair, but he couldn't summon the energy to care.

"Come on," she eventually said, taking his arm and leading him from the room. Numair began to protest, but the fierce protectiveness in Onua's eyes told him he was fighting a losing battle. He acquiesced as gracefully as possible.

After a brief meal, Onua watching intently, Numair found himself in a courtyard in an unfamiliar wing of the palace that normally hosted visiting dignitaries. He sat on a stone bench, which was set back slightly under an arch. Dropping his head to his hands, Numair sighed tiredly.

"I don't know what to do," he admitted wearily. Beside him, Onua stood wordlessly. "Perhaps if we waited…" Numair trailed off helplessly.

"No," Onua stated flatly, giving no quarter. "That we cannot afford to do."

"I know," Numair conceded. They were quiet for a moment.

"She's young and healthy, Numair," Onua said finally. "Her body is strong. You give her too little credit. She'll fight this all the way."

Onua's voice took on a calming, slightly persuasive note. "Let the Healers release the spells."

Numair continued to stare blankly forward. Onua stayed with her friend a little while longer, then gracefully stood, squeezed his shoulder, and left. Numair stayed a while longer, weighing options in his mind over and over again. Finally, he stood abruptly and went back to the Healers, going straight to Daine's side. Neal, who was with another patient, had seen Numair enter out of the corner of his eye. He finished and went back to the room containing Numair's charge.

"Sir?" he queried tentatively. Numair looked up and held his eye for a moment. Neal noted absently that evening was coming on fast.

"Release the spells," Numair ordered quietly.

At first, Neal found himself stepping towards the bed, so compelling was Numair's command, but he eventually stopped and stared for a moment. Then finally, "What?" he managed to spit out, which was not the intelligent, professional response he had intended. Numair only looked back at him, his gaze mildly reproachful.

"I'll have to check with my supervisor," Neal hedged.

"Do it," Numair repeated even more quietly but somehow the more forceful for it, and Neal knew he didn't mean to confer with Cas. Neal stopped hesitating and instead approached the bed. Some part of his adolescent mind that was not engaged in the clinical matters of this case noted that Daine was indeed very beautiful, even pale and ill as she was. He pushed that away, clearing his mind of everything but the task at hand.

Numair watched as Neal worked, felt the tide of power surge from the boy to Daine, noted detachedly that the boy might one day be a Healer to rival Alanna or Duke Baird. Numair also felt it when the power in Daine began to diminish, and the flood streaming out of Neal slowly began to return, greater than when it began. The glimmer of Daine's magical power now seemed very slight to Numair's magical senses.

"It's done, sir," Neal said with false calm, stepping away. Numair nodded, not unkindly. Neal returned the gesture then backed out slowly.

Numair was again alone with his charge. The sun was just now setting, and some bleak part of Numair noted this as appropriate. Already, Numair could see more lines of pain forming on Daine's face, a different sort of restlessness to her sleep. Numair could not quite bring himself to examine the wound under its dressings.

Numair drew his chair close to Daine's side and took her hand in his. It would be a long night.