I think this chapter might have been the trickiest yet, if only because I've never written the badger before. His voice is tricky to catch, but this conversation felt like it fit the dream-walking he did in the books.

Next chapter: Neglect

The Emperor's Mage
Chapter Thirteen: Blaze

It was a very pretty field, with tiny wildflowers in white and blue scattered all through ground plants that came up past her ankles, but it wasn't the kind of place she would find anywhere in Carthak. The little wildflowers were something she might've seen in Galla. Snow-lace only grew up north enough that the ground froze solid in every winter, and it was always the first flower to come when the snow melted and the earth thawed a little. She belt close to study the flowers, but the bright colors and the lights from the aviary were just a memory.

She studied her arms as she sat in the flowers, following the veins of copper that pulsed faintly as if they were just as alive as she was. She didn't seen any of the red, but the copper had stayed with her.

"There you are." The badger lumbered up to her, nearly sacrificing dignity for speed, and butted his head against her hand. He wasn't asking to be petted, like most, but she cupped her hand along the side of his neck as a kind of hello. "You'll be able to see your magic, now, and tell anybody that has it at a glance. This was the last step you really needed to start with everything else. Unless things change, though, you'll only get one more lesson with that Draper fellow. Use it well."

"What do you mean, we'll only get one more lesson? I'm learning a lot from him."

"I know, kit." The badger rubbed the back of his paw against his muzzle, looking exactly like King Jon rubbing at his whiskers. "I certainly didn't want it to come to this, but you'll need to be very careful. Ozorne wants to keep you here, and he doesn't particularly care if you agree or not."

"Alanna wouldn't let him." The words should have sounded stronger, but Daine knew the facts all too well. Arram was the match for Alanna's late twin, and that was without counting Ozorne or all of the other Carthaki mages in yelling distance. "Would she?"

"It would be the start of an international incident, if Ozorne took you, and..." The badger looked away, something he didn't do often. "I can't tell you, kit. There are rules to all of this. I can only give clues. Your father would want revenge, if you were kept here, and by the time he and Alanna pulled in all the allies they could muster thousands of people would die. Tortall will not let you be kept prisoner here, but your friends only have the advantage on Tortallan soil."

"You can't say anything about my da?"

"Nothing more than I've already told you." The badger nudged her knee apologetically. "You'll know in time, kit, I can promise you that. You might think of that as a lesson."

Daine's forehead wrinkled. Her friend had always been cryptic, but this was far more than she'd wanted. "It's a lesson that I'll know about him later?"

"Your lesson tonight. You'll wake up in a few hours or so, and if you want to find that mage you'll have to go straight to the aviary. Draper's likely to be cagey, but you need this second lesson. Now, how much you get out of it is up to you, but... he's already told you how to heal, and now you can feel your magic properly."

He nearly blinded her with a sudden blaze of copper when he shifted forward, but half a moment later he was just a badger with the threads and threads of copper she'd expect from a smart animal.

"You're saying I shouldn't ask about healing tonight," Daine said. "I should... ask who my da is?" That made even less sense. "It's not Arram, is it?"

The badger shook his head. "No. It's not him, but he'll know who it is, and the bindings on me won't apply to him. He has his own rules to follow. You must go on with the lesson tonight. It'll be enough if he just answers one question for you, even, but it's important."

"Badger, why would Arram know who my da is?"

"Ask him, Veralidaine."

The badger had never used her full name before. When she rested her hand on his back, she could feel just how tense he was. "Okay. He needs to answer at least one question for me for... whatever it is that you want?"

The relieved huff of air smelled like rotted meat. "That's my kit. One question and you'll have it. Rest, now, because this is going to be a very important lesson."

Daine laid back in the wildflowers. They didn't have a scent, but the badger shuffled up next to her. He didn't say anything else, so she stared at the dream's blue sky until it shifted to something else.