This chapter took longer than expected, but I did write chapter twelve in the time since I last posted. That will be up as soon as I check that it will lead into thirteen the right way. Until then, enjoy a longer chapter than I planned. Arram's age is an educated guess. He is in his "late twenties" according to Wild Magic, and The Realms of the Gods has him "canoodling when [Daine was] four." I believe he is fourteen years older than Daine.

My thanks to MercurialInk for making this chapter happen.

Next chapter: Dispose

The Emperor's Mage
Chapter Eleven: Innocence

It was fair odd, having someone else sliding right into her mind like there had always been two people there, and it felt different than when Alanna had done it to put in the barrier. Alanna had linked with her a few times since, to check that the shield was in place and keeping the wild magic out from some kind of essence or core that all folk had, but Daine had never been able to see her magic before.

The core was a blazing white that would have hurt her eyes, if she were to actually be using them, and it was far more powerful than she might have predicted. It looked strong, and seemed to wrap the amethyst magic into its edges, but she knew somehow that it would have lost the fight against the wild copper that spread out in all directions from around that center. It was in a rough order, but it looked to her like badly snarled hair. Little Aly was very fond of getting her hair as tangled as a bramble bush, and Daine was one of the few folk at Pirate's Swoop with the patience to untangle it all out.

George was always the best, because he could distract the scamp with talk of spying while his quick hands used combs as surely as he used his knives, but Daine was the second. Maude was good, too, but her hands were too old to get some of the tinier knots out. Daine would tell Aly stories and stories about the People as she worked through the knots, until the strawberry-blonde hair was smooth again. Sometimes the hair shone, and the pretty color had a glint to it that rivaled the copper for brightness, but generally the color was dampened out by mud.

Focus, a voice said quietly, and Daine obediently focused on the rhythm of her heart. It was very loud, but a very impressive tantrum from the Lioness had dissuaded her from every trying to quieten the noise. Daine had stopped the noise, but she'd stopped her own heart along with it.

The quiet chuckle seemed to resonate through her. Nothing so reckless, magelet. Focus on your magic.

Daine followed the copper, this time, imagining that it really was strands of hair woven into such a mess. Long practice let her find the sources of the worst knots at a glance, and just a few nudges had the magic settling into something that looked a touch more tame.

Good. That gives you more of a feel for what your magic should feel like—here. A hand moved into her view, tanned far darker than George's would be, and she realized all over again that she wasn't home. She was in Carthak in the emperor's aviary, and she had somebody in her mind when she didn't even know how old he was.

Thirty, if that is truly in question, Arram told her. He twisted his hand, and black flared around it like a silk scarf with white lights shimmering all through it. I can see magic, of all types, and I'm sharing the ability with you. I don't think that you will see everything, later, but you should retain the knowledge of your own magic. I believe that you may develop this sight on your own, in time, but this will be much more efficient.

Daine shifted, knowing without being told that she had to move very gently, and looked around the aviary. The sight of it caught her breath, and only instinct reminded her to breathe again a few seconds later.

Every leaf of the many shrubs was lit with an emerald fire, and even the vines crawling the windows and the low, sprawling plants on the grounds had that same light. The flowers lit in colors that she'd never seen before that were brighter than any lady at court, and the birds perched about glowed with copper and some reddish aura. When she looked at her own hands, she could see a dim red following where her arteries would be. That same copper wrapped around that red again and again, and the twin arches of blood in her hand had never been so obvious. It was exactly as her books had showed, and when she flexed her fingers she could see the arteries shift.

You use your magic when you speak with animals. With enough practice, you have the ability to command nearly any of them.

"There's no need for commanding," she corrected quietly. Her voice sounded half-there, as if the words were coming from far away. "Most of 'em will do as I ask without anything of the sort, and they'd not be likely to help me out a second time if I went about giving orders for the first."

Not all think as you do. Call to someone familiar, instead, but use your magic.

"I barely know any of the People around here, but..." Daine spread out her awareness without guidance, and it seemed to her that she could feel the red auras and the glimmering Gifts of everyone in the palace. That would be Arram's Gift, then, strong enough that he could feel even the horses and hostlers out in the stables.

The horses are your doing. My awareness spreads only to people.

If she could reach that far, the decision was easy. "Do you have any treats on hand for the birds? The meat-eaters."

I have some left, yes, and I will be able to reach without ending the connection.

"I'll need something if I'm calling my friend back. He's likely to sulk."

One of his hands left her temple, but almost before she could process the change her right palm was filled with lumpy meal that smelled of fish. It wasn't exactly what her friend would be used to, but it at least was suited for a carnivore.

Ragi, she called quietly. Ragi, would you please come back for a minute?

She felt the bird's irritation, and a distinct air of sulking, but she shared the impression of the treats and of embarrassed guilt. The plover waited for several seconds, to be sure that Daine knew her place, but came around quickly enough. He neatly put himself through a half-open window, and landed rather solidly on Daine's knee.

She could see the copper woven through him with the red, but something in Ragi was a little different. There were tiny, barely visible threads of copper shifting away from a pattern that she already knew, spreading through him in a way she didn't understand. His eyes seemed very sharp as they focused on her, but soon enough he dipped his head and ate the food from her hand. Despite his rather obvious irritation, he was gentle, and she barely felt his beak on her palm as he ate with neat motions.

"What's all of that?" She focused on the changes, and felt her vision change so that it was like she was looking through George's spyglass. She could see that the threads were actually more like a spider's web, spreading all around with tiny fragments of her magic.

You have an effect on the animals around you. They become 'smarter,' in a sense—they begin to think more as humans might.

"You mean I change them forever?"

Yes, you do, but the changes you have made were never ill-meant. Intention is almost everything, when it comes to magic.

Ragi tilted his head to focus on her, and his voice sounded all the more resonant with Arram's mind listening in. You are a strange egg-chick, to worry about the way that you fly. Your magic calls out to all of us, and any of the People should be glad for the attention.

His voice had changed, just in the small time that she had known him, but he didn't seem that he was suffering. She still felt that she had to ask. Is it bad, this new way to think?

No. I see, now, and I know that men can put down weapons and become less dangerous. The little boy is no danger, without the leather or the stone in his hand. Now I know when it is safe to let them feed me fish. My mate died when a boy tempted her with treats, and then killed her with the rock.

I'm so sorry!

I will miss her, but our egg-chicks look as she did, and they are strong. I have told them what happened to her, and they will not do the same. They think as she did, still, but perhaps they will meet you before you leave this place.

Animals never thought of the future that way. Daine's hand shook as she smoothed down the soft feathers at Ragi's neck, and she fixed the sight of him in her mind. She had known for years, really, since Hakkon had liked for her to train up falcons to make them more clever. She knew from the way that Cloud was just as wry and clever as any two-legger, and the way that little Gimpy had matured since she'd come to Pirate's Swoop and that Darkmoon was near as smart as Cloud, but it was another thing entirely to see the change so quickly. It had only been a few days.

Thank you for coming, Ragi. It helped me a lot, she said politely. Shock was no reason to go forgetting her manners.

Ragi bowed his head to her, and then to Arram, before flying from the room with that odd grace she only seemed to find in shorebirds.

That's enough, I think, Arram said. He continued before Daine could protest, or maybe because she would argue. You're going to be exhausted, and Lindhall would have kittens if I were the one to put you to bed. Let's leave you with energy to tell Alanna that you yet live before sleeping for a day and a half.

"Can we have another lesson tomorrow night, then, if it'll just be a day and a half?"

Time had felt fair strange since the colors lit up all around them, with the brilliant colors of the flowers and the green all over and the dim brown all through the floor, but it still felt like he waited quite a bit of time before he answered. Tomorrow night, then, after dinner. I imagine I can think of a few more things to show you.

Daine looked at her magic again, to remember the sight properly, and felt his approval. She wanted a few more moments. He had to know she was delaying, but he hadn't stopped her yet. Alanna had never been so thorough in linking minds, and that had always been for the specific purpose of stopping Daine from going mad all over again.

"You called me something, before."

"Did I?" Arram's voice was just the same as she remembered, but hearing only through her ears felt disappointing after the alternative.

Daine had always had a good memory, and that was before living for near three years at Pirate's Swoop. Alanna was like an older sister to her, but that meant she also had George about to teach her tricks with her memory when he wasn't showing her weapons. "Magelet," Daine said confidently, in the only tone that would convince George in their games. "What does it mean?"

"Ah—little mage, that's all." That seemed to be his cue to retreat, because his hands fell back to his own lap. In that same motion, he stood, and he seemed to tower over her as he offered a hand.

Daine accepted. She felt a little unsteady even before letting him pull her to her feet. "Goddess that takes a lot out of a girl. If I'm not awake tomorrow night I'm sure you'll understand."

"I imagine that you will be, Daine. You're far stronger than even I had anticipated. Your magic bends in and around itself, and conceals its size in the way something with a physical form would never be able to accomplish."

Daine was far too tired for scholar-babble, and he sounded so much like her teacher that the response was automatic. "Speak Common or I'll never get this worked out," she reproached him. "You could just say all that normal."

"I could," he allowed, relenting just as quickly as Lindhall always would. "My university tutors, however, would surely think that I'd neglected my lessons for too long, and humans tend to be impressed when you use five syllables when two might have done."

She rolled her eyes. They had linked minds enough that she knew the gesture wouldn't offend him, and teasing about academics had left her on more familiar footing. "It won't work on me, then. I'm off to check in with Alanna and maybe go to my room from there, but the couches are better'n a lord's bed in Galla." She remembered that manners should extend to humans rather belatedly, and managed a bob of a curtsy. "My thanks for the lesson, Arram. I think I can still see the copper, but we'll see when I'm properly awake."

"It was my pleasure, Daine."

She supposed there could be some undertone in the words, and maybe some manipulation in the way that the shy smile made him look as dangerous as a newborn rabbit, but all she felt was tired. She managed her way to the right wing of the palace by sheer stubbornness, and once there Alanna promptly put her to bed like she was eight instead of sixteen. Daine didn't much mind it, coming from Alanna, and anyway the Lioness had the most marvelous ways of battling sleeplessness there could be. Daine didn't tend to sleep well with the sun shining about her, but Alanna had drawn the gauzy curtains and pulled a chair over to Daine's bedside.

"I don't need to go gut him for taking liberties?" Alanna asked. Her voice had that wry cast it usually did, but it was low like a lullaby. "It's rather messy, but it would suit my reputation."

"No mum. He's nice, or at least he's nice with me. Arram told me how to see magic." Even when Daine's words came out as a mumble, she still kept the full story a secret. Somehow she knew that Alanna wouldn't have approved of taking such risks, and it felt rather private. "M'having a lesson again tomorrow, at night."

"Very well, magelet." Alanna kissed Daine's forehead, so gently that it felt like a butterfly landing. "I'll distract Lindhall again. I trust your judgment, and you'll not meet someone that knows more about this magic of yours."

"He said that," Daine whispered, half asleep from the feel of Alanna's hand on against her cheek. She had the faint suspicion that the Lioness was cheating, using magic to make Daine feel even more tired, but couldn't bring herself to care. She felt safe and comfortable, and perhaps that was why the word floated out with no real coaxing. "Magelet."

Daine's eyelashes fluttered shut, and it was several minutes later that Alanna rose silently. When the Lioness took to the hall, she did so with the intention of finding this Arram Draper and having several words with him. None of them were going to be magelet.