Unless I made a few mistakes somewhere, there are very few accidental details in this story. I like to twist the canon whenever I can, so if you think you see a familiar plotline, you're probably right.

Reviewers make my day. I wrote this chapter to get away from four straight days of exams, and my finals week doesn't start until Tuesday.

Next chapter: Quarrel

The Emperor's Mage
Chapter Sixteen: Guess

Lindhall probably imagined that his scowl was rather impressive, but Alanna had been dealing with Jon for entirely too long to feel intimidated by the effort. It was probably rude to dismiss her friend so easily, when he'd spent years in Carthak placating Ozorne, but she wasn't going to fight him. She walked away from the confrontation Lindhall was trying to force, to better look over the empty laboratory space.

Given no better option, Lindhall repeated his initial claim. "I know he had something to do with this."

"Daine said she's not upset with Arram. She's mad at the pair of us, if I'm reading the situation correctly—and don't tell me that Draper can charm her away from both of us with a few magic lessons and polite gestures. It's an insult to the girl's common sense."

Lindhall's argument abruptly lost steam, and they both knew it. The stubborn man immediately started on a new direction as if it had always been his intent. "Well, something happened. Daine nearly threw a book at me when I went to check on her this morning. It takes quite a bit to get her in a temper."

"The both of you have been living with me, Lindhall," Alanna said dryly. It had been a very satisfactory agreement, for the most part. George did most of his spy business out of sight, and for a scholar Lindhall Reed had very little curiosity. That wasn't fair, perhaps, as he had an enormous interest in birds, but with people he rarely went past the basics. He left her husband to "business affairs," and never questioned the many, many people that would come in to see George on a regular basis. Daine had worked out George's place in the spy network within a week and a half.

"You didn't have any more luck with her?"

"No, but I knew what to ask. She's too angry to talk to either of us, at the moment, but she told me that she should be ready after dinner." Alanna had her suspicions, but she would let Lindhall vent for a little longer. If he tried to lecture Daine later, Alanna would stick his lips together.

Lindhall relented. "It takes quite a bit to make her angry, but it's frustrating. I know that she and Arram have been getting on, and it might not be such a bad thing. He and Ozorne have been friends for entirely too long, but that only means that Arram has had years acting as the emperor's conscience."

"Do you think Daine is in danger?"

"I'm not sure." Lindhall frowned, finally relaxing back to his normal posture. "She's probably safer if she is close to Arram, if she can earn some portion of his protective streak, but then she draws Ozorne's attention. He has very little interest in me. It's much more useful to Ozorne that I stay in Tortall so he can gripe about a fugitive and have leverage in negotiations. Daine has a very unusual sort of power, but Ozorne has always had an eye for power."

Alanna paled when she took the idea to its conclusion. Daine was a force to be reckoned with, as untrained as she still was, and Ozorne had wanted her to heal his birds. He had asked for the girl specifically. "Just how much can Ozorne sense? I don't know much at all about his magic."

Lindhall didn't look nearly as nervous, but he didn't know just why his student was so powerful. "He had never been as powerful or as talented as Arram, but he has a ruthless streak that puts them on a much more even keel. His Gift is a very dark emerald green, for those who have the ability to see it, and he spent a great deal of his adolescence fiercely jealous of Arram's power."

"He'd be quite jealous of our Daine's, then."

"The ability to speak with animals?"

Alanna shook her head, hand automatically moving to her ember-stone. "I'll tell you when we're back in Tortall, Lindhall. The walls have ears far too frequently." If Ozorne could see magic, he just might realize that Daine was godborn. Alanna had been a little suspicious from the start, but it had been over the first time George looked at her. He controlled the reaction, exactly as she would suspect, and told her that night after making her put up every spell she knew against eavesdropping. They both knew all too well that gods had their own ways, and it wasn't for mortals to interfere without an invitation.

If Arram Draper knew... "I might know what's bothering her," Alanna said. She didn't approve of lying, generally, but she wouldn't let a little ethical problem get in the way of protecting a friend. "Girl problems, something I really should have talked with her about before."

Lindhall flushed and immediately backed off, the dear man. "You'll talk to her, then?"

"Before dinner, if she'll let me," Alanna promised.

They finished the conversation with much milder pleasantries, but Alanna barely paid attention. The ember-stone was warm beneath her hand. That was more than enough of a reason to go speak with Daine immediately. It was finally time to tell Daine the truth.