20 Themes Daine/Numair
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Interest
Numair did not understand why Daine reread things. She knew almost everything to know about each animal. He couldn't see the allure in reading books on them or scrolls.
Daine didn't understand Numair's interest in reading scrolls on boring spells. She didn't understand the desire to know how to spin a thread with a few simple words.
There was something they both agreed on. They didn't understand each others interest so much as they understood why they were interested in it.
Friends
They were friends. They were student and teacher, and they were companions. Love or lover had never entered either of their minds before Daine's trip to Carthak.
Wars'
The immortal war was when Daine really understood certain things. She understood her love was not the same as others. She loved animals like they were her family. She loved Tortall like it was her native country. She loved Sir Alanna, Baron George, the King and Queen and various others like they were her mother or grandfather. She loved Numair and there was no comparing that love to anything she had ever experienced. The war was what had taught her that and although she hated wars, she was grateful of that.
Cost
Everything had a price. Daine knew that from experience. The cost of learning about animals was loosing her mother and grandmother. She had a price on Numair's love and her love for him. Never becoming a goddess of minor animals and staying with her mother for eternity. Loosing one of the things she had most wanted.
Numair understood everything had a cost. The cost of meeting Daine was loosing the Emperor's favor and Varice's love. The cost of going to the University was barely ever hearing from his parents. There were many more things that had a cost and one was the peace between Carthak and Tortall had cost him his ability to convince himself that Daine was just a student.
Companionship
With their love came companionship. There was a deep bond before they had chosen each other. The bond was unbreakable and one that no one truly understood the depth of.
Shiver
They were stuck together as always at balls. There was nothing remotely interesting for either of them there but they sat as was appropriate. Numair knew just what to say and do to cheer Daine but usually but at the moment neither of them had much to think of to cheer them. Numair's hand brushed against Daine's and the slight shiver that he caught on her was enough to make him smile to himself.
Lace
Lace did not suit her. He had seen it laced through her hair in pretty ribbons of silk and it did not look right. He had seen her dressed in the finest of gowns and yet that wasn't quite right either. It wasn't until he realized what did look right. Mud, feathers, dirt, and straw things that she wore daily without intending to were what looked best.
Kitten
The dragonet caused plenty of issues between the two. He liked Kitten, actually he had grown to love her like she was a pet but she was quite mischievous. Daine refused to let him put safety guards on their room that made her not do the things she most enjoyed. Ripping apart his robes was one of her favorite pastimes and no matter how many times she did it Daine never relented on her protest of putting harmless restrictions on their rooms. It wasn't until Daine's favorite pair of breeches got destroyed that she let him. It was one of their few arguments.
Speech
Numair heard the various people making fun of Daine's speech. He wasn't quite sure how to handle it. She did speak slightly different from the rest, but it had never been noticeable to him until he heard ladies imitating her. George told him exactly what he thought of the matter. Let them speak because in reality it was the commoners who were smarter then the rest of them.
Children
Sarralyn came first. She was a hard pregnancy but Daine was sure that she was special despite her gift. When she was born, Daine was fair proud of her daughter/son/animal. There was no telling yet what gender she would end up being. When she was demanded to become what she wanted to grow into, Daine was quite proud of the young child in her arms.
Rikash
Her son was another story. He was an easy birth but a hard keeper. Although Sarra had the ability to change shapes and forms she was easy to restrict. Rikash however was not. His gift was like Numair's and did not know any bounds. Daine knew he couldn't help it but she wished that there was a way to restrict him. The last set of curtains had been her favorite set yet.
Peace
The only time they got peace was when they were out doing their respected jobs. Daine was in the stables or kennels or various other places and Numair was in the various libraries. There were no fires to take care of, or animals to catch and force back into their true shape. There were no screams of fights or Sarra changing her appearance to get out of trouble. Daine had never found her job as calm before having children. Yet it seemed to be the only place of quiet in the world as her children found her quite easily at social functions.
Teaching
They split up the teaching of their children. Sarralyn was taught by Daine to control every aspect of her power. She let Sarra study people and their appearances. She made sure that she had control over every little detail in herself before letting her get used to it on her own. For Rikash she could do little.
Numair made sure Rikash knew every corner of his gift, every little tiny speck of it. Every single little strand of magic to make sure nothing would come of him doing harder spells. There was little to nothing he could do for Sarra as Daine could do little for their son.
Sport
It became a sport for their children to see who could cause the most chaos. By far Sarra was the winner. Yet there were times when Rikash came close. Sarra was just as powerful as him but hers was different. By changing her hair and eye color and just that she could confuse just about anyone.
Rikash finally caused enough damage to proclaim the winnings. He had set fire to almost their entire suites AND had been able to pick up the damage. Then he hid in the stables, convincing all the horses NOT to tell their mother were he was. It was a beautiful trick that no one ever forgot because of the sight of young Rikash scrubbing the hall floors for three weeks.
Ways
Their children went their ways. Sarra went abroad to travel the world and Rikash went to the university to challenge his gift. There was nothing left for Daine to clean up or yell at. She did not realize how much it would hurt for her children to go their separate ways and wondered how her own mother had been able to deal with it for knowing she would never speak to her child again was much harder then Daine had to go through.
Noble
Although they were no of Noble blood they were deemed nobles by most of everyone. If someone was questioned it was a simple answer. They deserved it more then the born nobles did.
Mess
Whenever Daine came back from the stables a mess, with her hair knotted and hay and straw poking out, mud on her breeches and boots and her hands cut up from the raw leather Numair just smiled. If Daine was any other person he doubted he would love her as much as the messy woman in front of him.
Beauty
Hers was not a normal beauty. She was not fair, or graceful, or curvy. She was a brunette, strong, and with clear grey eyes and more intelligence and impatience then most court ladies. He had believed he loved Varice and in a way he had but there was nothing that compared to the beauty of Daine.
Magic
Most court ladies loved Numair for his magic and power and riches. They did not see the real human inside of him nor did they care. They never saw his mistakes only his completions and that was what made Daine sure of herself. She loved Numair despite the stupid things he said and did when he wasn't truly thinking. He didn't think about the jump until he was falling.
Together
They were intertwined completely. There was no other way for them to live together, breath together, or act together. Daine knew that she needed him like air. If she was not with him, no matter what the reason she felt it was harder to live and think. He was like someone lifting the pressure off of her. She couldn't imagine her life any other way.
A/N: I liked these. I don't quite know what to write about them because although it may seem like it's an excuse you kind of understand what happens to them after the books because of the POTS and TC and TQ. The first one I wrote and it may seem pretty like…unlike them but I figured they may understand why they want to learn things of their subject but not understand the depth of that. Daine's gift is related to animals (obviously) therefore she'd be more inclined to read things about animals whereas Numair's gift was more magically (again obviously) and he would lean more towards the more…mystical if that's a good word choice, spells. They understood why they chose those but they couldn't quite understand why the other went to such great lengths to learn more and more about it. Anyway, I'm done. My next pairing is going to be either Aly/Nawat or Kally/Kaddar.