Chapter Three

Daine looked wildly around the room, as if Numair was hiding up on the ceiling. She stood in the middle of the floor, her heart numb. After all of his worry for her, all of his loving anxiety for the past few months . . . his absence made a shocked cold spot in her heart. Daine drew a shuddering breath. Where was he? Where?

"Is he awake?" Alanna's voice came in through the open doorway. "Daine-"

Daine slowly turned, to see Alanna framed in the doorway. Apparently something in Daine's face scared her, for Alanna crossed the space within them in two strides. "What is it?"

"He's . . . he's . . ." Daine couldn't get the words out.

Alanna glanced at the bed, and then her eyes shot back to Daine's pale face. "Daine, Daine! It's all right! Maybe he just went to use the privy."

Some of the glaze left Daine's eyes. "The privy . . . yes . . ."

"Right," Alanna whispered soothingly, "Right. Now breathe . . . breathe. Think of meditation. Breathe . . ."

Daine slowly drew a shuddering breath, thinking of all of the meditation sessions that she had done when she had first learned that she had wild magic. Numair . . . had taught her how to meditate.

Daine face crumpled, and she buried her face in Alanna's shoulder, soaking the older woman's shirt with her tears. Alanna held her as Daine sobbed. Thoughts ran through the lady knight's mind, the main one being, Goddess curse it, where are you, Numair?

Numair called upon his Gift again, focusing on the bowl filled with clear water in front of him. He cupped the silver bowl in his big hands, faintly feeling the signs for seeing and the past, present, and future written into it. Numair sent his Gift into the bowl, desperate eyes searching the surface for the image that he wanted. But it would not come. There was nothing, nothing but cloudy fog clogging the surface of the water.

Numair focused again, but all the fog did was get thicker. He cried out in frustration and wanted to throw the bowl across the room, but he knew that it would bring someone running. Unbidden, an image of his magelet surfaced in his mind, and he unwittingly started to scry for her, not caring how low his Gift was.

This time, a clear image appeared in the water. Daine and Alanna were in Numair and Daine's rooms, and Daine was sobbing into Alanna's shoulder. What . . . Oh, Mithros, please don't let something have happened to Daine! Numair stood, knocking over his chair. Leaving the silver bowl on the table, he yanked his over robe on and hurried out of the room, ignoring the exhaustion that was so strong that it pulled on his bones.

The first thing Alanna saw when she looked up was the reflection in the mirror above Daine and Numair's bed. She could see Numair standing in the doorway, his face gaunt, skin pale, breathing hard from running through the castle, coming from who knew where. His hair tumbled around his face as his eyes met hers in the mirror. Alanna's eyes burned with anger, and Numair's were filled with exhaustion and fear.

Alanna narrowed her eyes as Numair's widened in the mirror. He had caught sight of Daine. Before Alanna could stop him, the Numair in the mirror stepped forward and placed a hand on Daine's head.

The first thing Daine saw when she looked up was her love's haggard face, filled with fear, worry, and exhaustion. Something in her broke, and she sobbed into her hands, shoving past Alanna and fleeing the room.

Alanna turned from Numair in the mirror to look at the real Numair. Her violet eyes crackled with anger as Numair stared at her. "What happened to Daine?" he asked frantically.

"Oh, nothing, just the fact that she thinks that her husband abandoned her!" Alanna snapped. She normally had a pretty good rein on her temper, but when a bewildered look came over Numair's face, Alanna let all of her control disintegrate. "She wakes up wanting to talk to him except for the fact that he won't wake up! So she comes to me asking what's wrong with him and why he won't talk to her and why he is being so protective of her and why his head is filled with clay! And since I don't know anything about anything since I just got here two days ago, we decide to go see if he's awake and to try and pry this secret from him that is making his wife suffer so much! So we come back here and Daine is all good and ready to talk to you but you weren't here! Why weren't you here, Numair? Pig-headed thick-skulled donkey with cotton between his ears-"

Numair's blurry eyes widened as Alanna's rant went on and on. When she had gotten to the first of her insults, he whirled and raced out the door, calling for his wife. Alanna, hands on her hips, cut herself off and sighed.

After a moment of indecision, she took her hands off of her hips and went out the door, vowing to find out what the heck was going on with Numair, and to find out before Daine was driven to do something she would regret.

Daine ran through the palace with no destination in mind, her stumbling feet carrying her past bent-over servants and chattering pages and nobles. Tears flowed freely from her eyes as Numair's tired face swam in the front of her mind.

Eventually, she found herself racing over mud, and she emerged in a huge building smelling of hay and horses. The stables. The horses' voices clamored in her mind, begging to know what was wrong with their hoof-sister. Ignoring all of them, Daine fumbled her way to Cloud's stall, finding it empty. Too tired to try and find the mare in the fields, Daine fell into the straw, wrapping her hands around her head and sobbing out her misery.

Many minutes later, though to Daine it could have been seconds or years, a soft voice called down the corridor. "Magelet? Daine?"

At Numair's voice, Daine cringed, digging herself deeper into the straw. His footsteps carried him along the aisle, closer and closer to the stall. She prayed as hard as she could that he would go on by, but the footsteps stopped in front of the stall door.

"Daine!" She heard him open the stall door and come across the straw toward her. Even when he knelt down beside her she couldn't look at him. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but when she recoiled at his touch, he pulled away.

"Magelet . . . I'm sorry. I-"

Daine let out a fresh sob as she heard his voice, picturing his face in her mind. This was not her Numair. This was not her Numair.

"Daine-"

A horse's whinny echoed through the stables, and Daine could hear her closest friend's voice in her mind. Cloud galloped down the aisle and shoved past the stall door. Get away from her, stork-man! the mare cried as she pushed her way in between Daine and Numair.

Numair slid away from the mare, then carefully got to his feet. Only then did Daine sneak a look at him. His eyes were locked on the mare, and there was straw on his clothes. "Daine . . ." he whispered, "I love you, Magelet. More than anything . . ." He trailed off, then turned and slowly trudged out of the stables, his shoulders slumped, head down.

Cloud turned and nuzzled Daine's face. Did he hurt you? the mare asked, a trace of anger still in her voice.

No, Daine said silently, no . . . I don't know. She reached out and caressed Cloud's cheek, then slowly got to her feet. The mare helped as best she could.

Daine laid her head in Cloud's thick mane. I don't know what to think any more.

Then don't think, the mare answered. Sleep. Just sleep.

Daine let her hands slid off of her pony's neck as she sank down into the straw. As Daine sank into darkness, Cloud positioned herself over the young girl, standing sentry while she slept.

Alanna stared earnestly at the man's face etched in the circle of purple fire suspended in mid-air in front of her. His hazel eyes stared back at her just as hungrily. "George, can you?" Alanna asked her baron husband, "Daine is so upset, and Numair won't tell her anything. I can't get anything out of him." The Lioness refused to admit, even to her husband, that she had let her temper get the better of her.

George Cooper nodded, his eyes looking tired but happy at seeing her. "Yes. I'll put one of my spies at tailing him. We'd better tell the king, though: he won't be happy at finding one of his own spies in his court."

"Of course," Alanna answered. Hesitantly, she added, "George . . . is there any way that you could come here to court? I mean, to watch Master Numair, of course. There may be something that you notice that the rest of us miss."

His face softened. "Of course. Jon won't be too happy about it, but . . . if you spin the 'watch Master Numair' card, I'm sure he'd agree."

Alanna smiled, then reached a hand out to gently touch the disk of purple fire. "I miss you," she whispered.

George smiled back. "My Lioness," he said gently, "I have to go. Maude's power is needed to help heal one of the men-at-arms who was wounded in a hunting accident."

Alanna smiled inwardly, thinking of the woman who had helped to raise her and her twin brother, and then her children, and who now held Alanna and her husband in connection by a speaking spell. The Lioness slowly removed her hand from the disk of purple fire and let the spell fade away. As her husband's face blurred and sank into nothingness, she heard eight more words, tenderly spoken, "My spy should come in two days, Alanna."

A/N: How do you like the third chapter? Is it too cheesy? There is a lot of fluff, that's for sure. About Numair not being himself: that will all be explained in future chapters! I promise. I'll update soon.