Title: Mischief in Lace

Author: royslady51

Series: ForeSight, In Miniature

Fandom: Heralds of Valdemar

Pairing: Nothing not already in the books.

Summary: When the Senior Grove Born Companion's human daughter proves to be more mischievous than Skif was as a child and just as irrepressible, Alberich is hard-pressed to keep up with the little girl's attempts to 'help'. Darci is proving to be ingeniously creative in her need to 'fix' things...and finds interesting ways of making sure she is in places where she can find out more about the things that make her more likely to get answers.

Naturally, Alberich is going quietly crazy.

Warnings: Humor, Smarm, Fluff, Possible Spew and a little drama.

Rating: G

Author's Note: As long as you do not change any part of this, give me proper credit, are well-versed in this fandom, are an experienced writer, you're more than welcome to play in this sandbox.

Disclaimer: No money or other benefits of any kind have been gained by the writer who is playing in Mercedes Lackey's sandbox.

Mischief in Lace

Six-year-old Darci ne Rolan was perfect picture of utter innocence, Her pink kneeskirts showed white lace petticoats under the lower hem and she displayed all the ribbons and lace one could ever want on a little girl of the Queen's court. Even some of the ribbons were white lace, particularly her hair ribbons. There was nothing about her that would indicate the events of the past two hours...or that she wasn't supposed to actually be where she was...which was on the Queen's Progress.

Kero hadn't been able to leave just then and it was a meeting that needed to be taking place so Auntie Queen had packed up her senior Heralds, most of the Field Heralds and Grays and took the opportunity that had been presented to her, to get away from her non-Herald Councilors for a bit. With both Daddy and Alberich going, it wasn't that hard to sneak onto one of the horses being readied for the march. Daddy hadn't told her she wasn't to come because Darci hadn't asked...it was much harder to get a negative answer when you don't ask the question to start with, she reasoned.

The pack animal she'd first climbed upon had been disapproved of by the stable master who had gotten her the suitable pony she usually rode for the ride, instead of the packhorse...but everyone knew Rolan was her daddy and that Alberich was her guardian. Since the stable master knew that both were going on this progress so he hadn't bothered to ask her if she had permission to go. He just saw to it she had a decent marching pony for the trip.

Now, 'pony' was a misnomer, since Kantor had been the one to make sure that young Darci had an excellent seat and knew what she was about, even so young as she was, because there was always the chance that someone might try to get to Alberich by trying to snatch little Darci...and that meant that either Kantor or another Companion might need to put the child utterly out of reach of such a person...so the girl had to know how to ride even a Companion, her's or not, saddled or not...and at top speed, jumping all sorts of things.

The mount the girl was on was her's, but not one she was allowed to ride without supervision. This was because this was a full sized horse, for one thing, and a battlemare that had come, both child-trained and war-trained, from the Shin'i'in for another. Alberich was usually the one who rode Shapitala in the war-maneuvers to keep her sharp, but again, the mare's trainers had made sure Darci knew the mare's commands and could ride her under any conditions. She was just too much of a risk to Alberich and thus to the Queen without such precautions being taken. If she was Chosen, the mare would be given to Kero but until and unless that happened...Darci would ride either this one or another of her kind.

The milling crowd of hundreds of Heralds readying themselves and their Companions, more than qualified, in the stable master's mind, as 'supervision'...and so he tacked the grayish-red mare up for a long journey, called a couple of grays that were both ready and mounted over and told their Companions to keep an eye on Alberich's charge and sent the mounted child out on her horse. The charge was easily met as the pair simply took up a position on either side of the girl's horse and stayed there. The journey would take much longer than a Companion's trip usually did because they were traveling with Guards and Bards as well, so they were held to the paces of wagons for nearly two months.

It was nearly six weeks into the ride when Rolan caught her mind-speaking in panic to an adult Herald named Grethal who had given the Grays a break by taking over Darci's care as her current minder. Grethal's Companion, Vestra was stunned at the ease and strength of the girl's Mindspeech and it was this shock that got the Senior Groveborn's attention.

Darci had been listening to people talk in her head for most of the time that she'd lived with Alberich and so thought nothing of it. The only reason she hadn't used it before now was that she hadn't needed to...but she was having a bit of trouble with a somewhat wet and so slippery saddle and needed the Herald's help...and it was too noisy where they were with all the laughing Grays, to make herself heard before she slipped off her mare. The mare had already responded to the command to halt and the signal that told her that her rider was unstable in her saddle. She was trying to keep her broad back under the sliding girl...with deminishing success.

Grethal and Vestra got to Darci in time and the Herald pulled the girl onto his lap just as Talia and Rolan trotted up to find out what was going on.

"Darci! What are you doing here? Why aren't you at home?"

She still couldn't hear herself or anyone else, all that well. "Daddy and Uncle Alber was comin' and didn't say I couldn't go too! And I've been good, I've been minding my minders, haven't I Grethal?"

"Well, yes, you have. You've stayed where you were supposed to, at least."

Rolan groaned audibly. True. I didn't think of it. He paused, turning his head and drooped. Kantor says that his Chosen also did not forbid it...he never even brought it up to her. I suppose I should have said something to Kantor.

"How did your saddle get so slippery?" Grethal wanted to know.

"I had to clean it last night 'cause there was pie and blackberry juice all over it and I think maybe I didn't get all the polish off."

"Oh dear..." Talia looked at a bit of goob here and there, then had Grethal hold the girl steady so she could stand up...while Talia checked the back of her dress. Not that there was any need as saddle polish covered the tops of the Herald's thighs, making a mess of his Whites.

He sighed. "I don't suppose someone can get her changed so I can go and do the same?" He had pulled another dress out from the mare's saddlebags...she was trained to leave anyone with a Companion alone...and handed it over to Talia along with soap and other things. Talia had the girl sit astride the battlemare's neck in front of her saddle and led both to a shallow creek where Seleny was...and several other people...like Alberich and Myst.

"Forbid her I did not. Should have."

"True. Get the extra polish off her saddle, will you?" Talia told him. "She tried to clean it after spilling some things on it last night and used too much...nearly slid right out of it."

"Did you find out whose Gift woke up?" Seleny asked her.

"Yes. Darci's, actually. She was calling Grethal, because he was her current minder, to catch her before she fell and startled Vestra. Which, of course, got Rolan's attention...now, let me clean her up and get her into something other than saddle-polish covered skirts."

"How far from us was Vestra when Darci Mind-called to her Chosen?" Alberich asked Kantor, aloud, his eyes on the Queen and Myst.

"They were riding with the third year Grays, nearly to the tail end of the line. So...we heard her cry out...about a mile away from where she was. Not bad for so young a child. Best we go ahead and get it trained...she's going to be a very, very strong Mindspeaker, I think. Once she hits puberty, it will probably grow stronger still." Kantor answered, nodding his great head. He turned his head toward Rolan and repeated both question and answer to his superior. As her legal, if unorthodox father, it was Rolan's responsibility to get his daughter's ability trained.

The Groveborn sent a thought ahead to Darkwind where he rode with Elspeth, inquiring if the Mage thought the Vale had children's Gift teachers available. That brought Darkwind and Elspeth back to them and caused the mage to do a bit of testing of the sort his people used to gauge a child's emerging Gifts.

To Rolan, Darkwind said, "Send a message to the Companions in the Vale to the effect that she has one of the stronger Mindspeaking abilities I've seen in so young a child...and there's a few more rising under it. At least three...ask them to tell Firesong she needs an Assessment...and the sooner the better. She plays with Companion foals most of the day, she may have been Mindspeaking them during play for quite a while and they, being so young themselves, wouldn't have seen it as anything unusual. Nothing to tell mothers about, anyway."

The other adults took this in with various degrees of shock while Rolan sent the inquiry, then inquired of the mares left in the Field at home...who questioned their foals.

Yes. She's been Mindspeaking for at least a year...during Team Seek and Find, mostly, when the foals practice their ability to locate lost and possibly hurt humans. Only they've known Darci from birth, so she gets to play at developing that ability as well...she's as good as most of the two year olds that she played with first...and better than some. She has animal as well as human Mindspeech, so the foals tell their dams. Starla tells me her yearling has seen signs of Firestarting...he did tell her about that since it can be dangerous and has been watching for it since then. Some of the two and three year olds tell their mothers that she could have either a little Foresight or a Finding ability...she finds Hiders pretty fast, too fast to just be using Mental Scans. The Groveborn turned his attention to Darci and asked her some questions, phrased for her age. Darci says that since Alberich has Foresight she's supposed to have it too. So she does. Her belief is strong enough at her age, when Gifts are most likely to first develop and then lie quietly until a child is older, to bring them up to usable levels. She has noted that Mage Gift is sought after in the Heralds because their numbers are still low...it was not Firestarting Dart saw, I think, but she might be a baby mage. Firesong's Assessment Testing will bring it out, if it is there."

Alberich groaned quietly. Darci was a handful, no question. A Darci with a handful of waking Gifts? "If Chosen she is to be, be soon it better is. More eyes and hands than have I and time needed is, I do not have, will I need that child out of trouble to keep." Kantor agreed immediately. One of the reasons that she was required to ride only under supervision...and was mounted on a horse that would not leave the stable unless there was someone in Grays or Whites along, was that Darci, at age five, had been found riding anything that wasn't a Companion, that she could manage to climb up on. Including other people's warhorses or even cattle. They really should have looked into the Animal Mindspeech before now, he told his Chosen.

"Explain the Deer Incident it would." He grunted out.

Darkwind looked over at him. "Deer incident?"

"Last year, Companion Rhys found her riding a blacktail buck...shortly after she met your cloven-hooved friends." Talia grinned. "She was five, didn't know the difference and decided she wanted to learn to ride one of her new friends. She had her new friends in the Stables one morning so she could ask the Stable Master for a deer-saddle. It took a while to convince her that the black tails were the wrong kind of 'deer'. That only the right kind could talk properly to her. That must have been when she figured out that her ability to mindspeak was just fine." Talia sighed. "I told her that the right kind would talk to her in her head and since no one knew she had Animal Mindspeech and these were talking to her in her head...it means she still doesn't understand the difference. Something else I'm hoping to get cleared up in the Vale."

Darkwind started laughing. "The confusion is understandable, actually...with that Gift and at her age."

"Yes. But into the salle, stop must, without warning, every breed of deer bringing. Many orphan fawns nursing are the Home Farms. Soft it is, they think me, for such tender things." The Weaponsmaster complained. "Baby bird, how many time, retrieved from rafters have you? Nest and eggs she takes, calls the parents into salle she does, in safety to place. Bird doors, how many installed, you have? Darci you must thank."

"Well...she found me a new bond bird too, after Vree died of old age. Two, actually, since both of that pair bonded to me. That was their first clutch, too. Both of them are quite young."

"True. Where went the brood?"

"Oh, I just had Firesong send some bondbirdless young Talyadras up to see if they could bond to them. Now there are five people with eagles in the vale."

"Warn them of the breed you did not?"

"Not a word of it, in fact. Once the bond took, it didn't matter anyway...and they'll have found out soon enough. Bondbird Eagles so far from the Vales are rare. Too rare to go bondless. It's not good for them."

"And did Firesong, react well did, after his firebird gone was, to the parrots sent him she did, buying them with allowance she had?"

"No idea...but it'll be fun finding out how he responded to his birthday presents."

"Just so." Alberich nodded. "Remember you, the birds called Macaws?"

"I do."

"In parrot family are they...thus were the young birds sent to Firesong. Scarlets she got."

"She said she sent him a nestful, on his agreement he'd bond to as many as possible...bald and in the nest."

"Aye."

"Alberich, he's a Healing Adept...bonding to the lot would be no problem."

"Aye."

"There were seven in that clutch."

"True, there were."

"And he thought they were going to be small, colorful, quiet birds."

"Aye, he did. Six moons have passed, know better he does, now. Has a taste of her trying to fix things he does, and now does he her assessment. When he tells her what she does, can do...what then, since she immediately will go to try it? No caution, no hesitation the child has. Into all things, at the gallop she must go, leaping in with both feet off the ground and in the air, she does...and leaning backward into the strongest wind she will do, let it aid her in her hurry she does."

"We're in trouble." Darkwind groaned. "You more than me, but still...I've very glad I'm not you."

Alberich nodded agreement and looked at Rolan in inquiry. "A mother is needed for her...one who knows a child's tricks. If give her a sibling you do, in trouble they will go and remain there."

"Too late, but he will watch her carefully. He's very good with youngsters." Talia told him.

"In Vale we be will, a year. In Vale her first teachers will be. Hope caution may be found, I do, for her. Not hopeful, am I."

TBC