Chapter 1: Questions

She opened her eyes to darkness. That was usual though. She usually only woke during the night to hunt. During the day she hid. This felt different though. She could see vague shapes moving around as the room, and it was a room, brightened slowly. It was as if she was seeing everything through a thick veil. This scared her because it could only mean that they had captured her. The ones that wanted to kill her for being born to the wrong family. The sounds were muffled as well. She wished she could understand what they were saying.

A small blue creature came up to her and looked at her carefully. It made a trilling noise before chirping. 'It's all right. Mama won't hurt you. Who are you?'

She didn't know why she could understand the creature when she couldn't understand the people, but it made her realize something. She didn't know who she was! She whimpered and saw the three people stand and come over to where she lay.

The Duke Baird sighed, exasperated, as he straightened up from the table. It had been two weeks since the wolf appeared in Daine's rooms; the other two wolves had already gone back to their home.

"I've never seen anything like this. Her wounds are healing well enough on their own, but something is blocking my magic from healing her any faster. Have you had any luck with getting her to turn back?" he asked, taking a seat a few steps away where Daine and Numair were waiting for him.

"The only time I've ever seen anything like this is when Numair was stuck as a hawk. The only reason we got him back was because Alanna and Onua knew his name. We don't have a clue about her name," Daine replied while shaking her head.

"She also has a great deal of Wild Magic, but it feels different than the others that I've come across. More powerful, somehow, but also more fragile. I can only hope that she'll come back to us soon and explain this all," Numair added, hugging his worried wife.

They all looked over as Kitten trilled and chirped at the wolf and heard a whimper. Seeing the wolf's eyes open, they all got up and went over to her. They tried to get a response from her, but all they got back were glazed looks.

"Perhaps the arrows were drugged or poisoned with something that stays in the system," Daine said, confused. "She's making me dizzy like you did when you were stuck, dear."

"I don't think that's it. I haven't found any poisons in her blood, but then it could be something from the Stormwing's claws that is making her sick. You two of all people know how unsanitary Stormwings are," Duke Baird replied, running his hand through his hair.

"Have someone get me if anything changes. Jon wanted a report on our newest guest. Not that I'm sure what to tell him. She's still a wolf. We know about the same as when she arrived," the Duke said as they showed him to the door, their expressions looking sympathetic. The king had been nervous of late, almost as if Thayet were pregnant again.

The Duke made his way to his nephew's rooms and waited for a bit before being ushered in by a servant as a grimy messenger left.

King Jonathan the IV sat behind a desk reading a letter as his uncle came in the office. Looking up, he smiled and said, "Sit, sit Uncle. You look dead on your feet. How is our visitor?"

"She's awake, but that's the only change. I get the feeling that she's lost in some way. Daine can't talk to her, but then she could never talk to a human in an animal's body. Numair says she has a brand of Wild Magic that he doesn't recognize. He thinks that it might be more powerful than Daine's," the healer duke replied, sitting in a comfortable chair.

"How can that be possible? Her father was a god. The only way that her magic could be more powerful is if the girl's father were a god as well. And as far as we know, Weiryn hasn't been unfaithful to Daine's mother," the king muttered, thinking aloud.

"I don't know, my king, but I'm getting too old for guessing games. Maybe tomorrow will bring a new light on the subject. For tonight, I'm going to bed."

The king stood and said, "Of course, Uncle. Go get some rest. Neal and Yuki should be arriving soon. I'm sure you'll want to spend time with them and your new grandbaby."

With a wistful smile the Duke let himself out of the office and off to bed.

Not very far away, a Stormwing landed tiredly on a log and settled in for the night. Just one more day. She'd better be there or that wolf will regret ever being whelped, he thought to himself before falling into an exhausted sleep.

A/N: So sorry about the short chapters. I'm usually one of those people where the scroll bar is at most an inch long, (about three and a half centimeters for those outside of the US that don't know what I'm talking about inches), but after this the chapters should start getting longer. Thanks for reading and many thanks to Kokou for beta-ing this. She's also the one you need to thank for keeping me from rambling. Also, thanks to Gina star for reading my entire set of dribble and liking it.