Thanks for the good reviews :-) They are the ones who give me the extra push to keep this story going. However, I have a mind with lots of stories, so now there are two stories in progress ... this and a story of how Numair's and Daine's son Rikash gets mixed up in problems in Tyra. I will soon publish the next new story. Look for Divinity, if you want to read how much trouble Rikash has with a strange girl.
Note: I just discovered that there is need for dividers between different scenes, so now it will be easier to read the story.
Chapter 4 - Confession
Daine was awakened by something furry touched her nose.
She had slept all night in wolf form, and had finally had a night without bad dreams. Dreams where she always falls down a long slope, and then landing almost unscathed. However, with one exception, her heart was being torn. The dreams had begun some time after they had returned from the realm of the gods, and came to her sometimes. However, someone that night had sparred her from the cruelty the dream always offered. Numair's mangled body lying at her feet, with open eyes looking emty up at her.
Again, something touched her nose. She opened one eye, and saw everything in gray. She had to remind herself that she had chosen to remain one of the people. It was dawn and the furry merged with the still dark background. A purr reached her sharp ears and a moment later she recognized the cat from the barn. The black cat was a female and Daine had had the pleasure to help this cat, as one of her kittens had been near death during delivery.
Now it went on stretched, careful paws in front Daine.
"Ahh ... you're finally awake" purred the cat, while the stretched its sleek black body elegantly.
"You woke me, my sister" Daine, had prefer to to lie down to sleep again, but this cat was not in the least afraid of being in the company of wolves, had sought her with a purpose. "Is there anything I can do for you?" Daine asked as she straightened her position on the ground. It was nice to be in wolf form, however, it had the disadvantage to have the hard ground under the belly always.
The cat lay on the ground in front of her, and began patiently to lick its fur. Lifting one paw and continue cleaning, it answered. "I have a message for you."
Daine was a bit surprised. "What message?" She looked at the cat, who seemed to be located very comfortable in this strange assembly. Surrounded by sleeping wolves.
The cat took the time to reply, continue cleaning. It was finally finished, and laid her head on her paws, with ears turned slightly backwards. "The horses woman came to me and asked if she could use me as a messenger."
Daine sighed. She had completely forgotten her duties with Onua, of course, would the horse woman need her help. And here it was. "And you said yes, can I assume since you are here".
"Yes, when one of the two-legged come and put a bowl of milk down to my kittens and me, I can not refuse to help." The cat began to purr, and Daine could almost feel the viberations through the soil.
"I think you should stop your purring, the wolves are easy to arouse" she warned.
The cat went quiet.
"What was the message?" asked Daine, probably a bit too impatient. In spite of the darkness and the undisturbed sleep, she could feel the beginnings of a head ache. Well, wolves also had head ache, in the same way as the humans, she thought annoyed.
"I have a note tied around the neck" answered the cat. "It's quite annoying, so you are welcome to remove it. The horsewoman tried to explain to me what the message was about, but it finally ended up with she jumped and gesticulated so wildly that I thought she had gone mad. You must remember to tell her that we cats do understand human language "
Daine chuckled. The cat sent images showing Onua whinny like a horse, and crawl around on all fours in the straw inside a horse boxes.
"I'll remember, sister." Daine closed her wolf eyes and found the bronze fire. It roared lively behind the glass wall Numair had set up. She took a single thin thread and wrapped it around her, and called on the memories that made her a human girl Daine. Every cell in her body responded, and every fiber and every inch of gray-brown fur disappeared and were replaced with soft skin. Claws on the paws transformed into nails, and the paws grew out became hands. From standing on four legs, stood now a naked two-legged woman.
She lost her balance and grabbed the tree to regain it again. Daine, taking a deep breath and closed her eyes to get the world to stop spinning. The headache she faintly have noticed in wolf form, hit her with such a renewed vigor that she turned and threw up violently. With noting left, she went to her bags and rinsed her mouth.
"Are you okay?" It sounded from a very concerned Cloud, who had come up behind her and stood with its muzzle against her back. "You seem hot, more than normal."
"I'm fine, except that I have a bad headache."
"Maybe you're in heat"The cat offered and come over to her. It stroked affectionately against her legs, and lay down on the ground with its belly exposed.
"That is ridiculous, humans are not in heat, I have simply eaten something bad for dinner, maybe Miri had packed some old meat down".
Daine put the bottle of water away and sat down. Her head throbbed still, but she chose to ignore it. She scratched the cat's bare stomach for a moment and began to loosen the knot on the rope around its neck
Dawn had begun, the sun had decided to get up early, much to the luck of Daine. She had just last night not chosen to make fire, so she had to settle for the weak light to read Onua's message
It had taken her a few years to learn to read her employer's convoluted script, and now she saw the small print. It would have been nice with a magnifying glass, but the hawk eyes may be sufficient
"Daine ... hope you enjoy the free time, Stefan comes with 30 horses the day after tomorrow". Shit, she had completely forgotten that Stefan had been in the nearby markets to gather horses.
Onua and Daine have had their annual travel suspended this time, because of the delegation from Tusaine
She decided to return home when the day became night, so she had more time with wolves Daine asked the cat goodbye and promised to put more milk for the kittens when she came back. She straightened once again look inwards and every muscle contracted. Here in wolf form again, the headache was not nearly as bad as in human form.
Numair tried to hide the yawn for the tenth time, he had sat up most of the night and tried to locate Felica in the spy reports he had received from George. His former lover was not mentioned at all in the past 7 years, and the reports about the court in Tusaine revealed nothing unusual. Not that he had expected it. The last 5 years, all countries had been busy because of the immortals.
Numair yawned again. He would give anything to avoid having to sit here in this hot room and had to listen to the preliminary proceedings that belonged to the start of negotiations.
He did not hear a word of what was said. The assembly was again the closest friends to the royal family, Gareth the older and the younger, and Lindhall. Alanna and her husbond, George, was present along with Onua and Raoul. The king and queen were also present. Count Harlan and Duke Mather sat on the other side of the large round table with their advisors.
It was mid-afternoon, and the heat was unbearable.
Numair was playing with the glass of water, he heard faint how the door behind him be opened carefully. He hear that the newcomer was a woman, due to the sound of silk that rustled.
"Sorry I'm late".
He recognized the voice as Felicia's and turned half round. She had this warm day decided to take a light blue dress with a deep neckline. Her hair was covered by a transparent white veil, fastened with silver pins, decorated with blue flowers. Numair smiled faintly, it had obviously taken longer to get this look to be adequate.
He saw how she curtsied before the king and queen, and only he caught the glance as she sent under the long black colored eyelashes. This glance was sent only to him, and him alone, and he received it. She sat next to Duke Mather.
The talks were long and bored, too boring that Numair didn't bothered to listen. Only when the king said the word "university" was his attention caught. He discovered that everyone in the room was waiting for him, his participation in this talk.
"Yes," he replied short, he had only listened with half an ear.
"Well, it's agreed. Tomorrow the delegation will get a tour by Numair and Lindhall" The king looked earnestly at everyone in the room.
Numair, sighed internally. It was not exactly what he most wanted, but it was better than having to sit in this room for one more day. He moved restlessly in his chair and immediately dropped his gaze on Felicia's face. She had been sitting and watching him for a long time, and he had intentionally not met her gaze until now.
Memories sprang to life in his brain, a dance that lasted most of the evening. The taste of the red wine on his tongue, and then touch of lips against his. Hands that had sought down on her lower back and had pressed her close against him. They had been out in the garden, hidden by the trees that King Jon had planted as a kind of incipient maze. Kisses transformed into touches anywhere on the body, longing for more. He had interrupted the kiss to look into her eyes, ready to tell her that she had his heart. The blue eyes were bright of well-being and the reddish hair was tousled of the their fierce kisses. He had stood and watched her with a hand on her cheek. He pulled her to him again, ready to part her lips along with his tongue ... the woman in front of him changed little by little, the closer he pressed her to him, the more she changed, the hair changed color. From the top of her head grew reddish hair, and was transformed into long, curly and brown. The woman was lower in his arms and reached him suddenly only to the chin. In his memory, the Numair who stood and kissed Felicia, pulled back and looked puzzled now down into a pair of gray-blue eyes. The woman in front of him was no longer the woman who sat opposite him in the room, but his former student.
Confused Numair shook his head and the movement got the conversation in the room to silence.
"Do you want to add something or do you disagree?" asked King Jon. The king looked skeptically at him, and Numair discovered to his annoyance that so did all the others.
He felt how the blood pumping in his oar, and how his heartbeat thumped like a thousand drums in tact. All this for a memorial. He breathed deeply a few times and let his magic reduce heart rate a bit.
"No sir," was all he could say, afraid that he would reveal what really perished with him.
The king nodded hesitantly, and turned again his attention to Duke Mather.
One by one the others in the room turned their attention away from him, and he relaxed. The only one who didn't turn her gaze away from him was Felicia.
He felt more uncomfortable than ever. The memory had made him confused. He loved Daine, but which of the women in the memory had gotten his body to react that way. The first time he had met Felicia, he had not hesitated to make her his love rather quickly. But with Daine, he could hardly bring himself to cross the invisible boundary that was between them. And there was also the damn thing about the age difference. There had been many incidents in which he had lost control and had been close to turning her into a woman ... but ...
He did not think any more, because from being alone with his thoughts, he felt another presence ... he growled deeply.
"Alanna, get out of my mind!"
"No, I will not. Who is it you want to sleep with?" Alanna sat with both one leg leaning against his and her elbow in direct contact against his bare skin.
"None of your business, Alanna". Numair was furious that she had broken through his defenses. It must have taken a while and a lot of energy for her to achieve this. He was still furious that he had not noticed what she had been up to. Cursed memories.
"It is my business, I've seen you quite unhappy over the past year and you have been also quite impossible to be around. And these meetings are simply so boring that I thought it was about time you opened your mouth or thoughts, and explained what the hell is with you. I'm your friend, Numair". Alanne seemed a bit angry and annoyed.
"It's nothing" Numair wanted for anything in the world not to reveal his feelings for Daine to the lioness. This woman had, a violent temper, not only because of her flaming red hair, but because of the sense of justice she possessed.
"It's not absolutely nothing, Numair. I saw you yesterday as you recognize the description of Felicia. You lost control of yourself, which have been relatively rare, but lately it seems as if you have been careless. So it is not absolutely nothing, and you know you do not feel better by keeping things secret. Secrets has a knack of eating your soul ... " Numair could feel from Alanna that if he did not stop her now, she would go on from here to midwinter about this subjekt.
"Fine, if you would be so kind to keep quiet for a moment. You women talk constantly, you can not get a word in" Numair sighed, she was right. His secret was about to eat him up inside, and it would be nice to be able to talk to someone about his concerns.
Numair took a deep breath, and looked at the congregation around him. They seemed all to be immersed in deep debate on the topic of silk, which suited him perfectly for Felicia had finally turned attention away from him.
How should he start?
"Why don't you just start talking?" suggested Alanna.
"But where to begin?" Numair was a bit curious to find out how much Alanna had observed.
"Ha ha ... very funny Numair. You want me to guess, that's not fair. I can only tell you the things I know. And the only sure thing I know is that you have not had any female acquaintances over the past year".
"What ... how ... Alanna, do you keep an eye on who I invite into bed?" Numair was shocked.
"Yes, if you absolutely must know. But I only do it because I'm your friend, and to protect you. Otherwise we would have had small Numair copies running around the palace." She explained confidently.
"What! ..." Numair was shocked to the core. "Wait ... I do not want to know more about the topic. And no, I have not had the slightest desire to invite unknown women into bed. Not anymore."
"Have you changed women out with men?"
He captured the skeptical undertone in Alanna's voice. "Absolutely not, Alanna, where do you get that idea from?". He noticed how she beside him shrugged.
"Then was is wrong Numair?" She seemed more worried than before. "You're not sick?".
"No, not sick. Yet I will admit that I have been hit with something that is just as serious."
He hesitated and felt that Alanna waited patiently for a further explanation.
"I'm in love". There, now he had said it.
"Oh" it seemed to be the only answer Alanna could come up with.
He had not even expected this quiet reaction, but maybe she would not be so quiet when she knew who it was he was in love in.
"It explains a lot, so who is it you have sighed after a whole year?" Alanna seemed a bit hesitant.
Now came the test, Numair thought. Either she will accept the situation that Daine and I have flirted extremely or else she will go crazy on me.
"It's ... it's ... it's Daine". Now it was said, there was no way back. He had to take what came. Numair turned his head and looked down at his hands. He noticed how the lioness froze beside him and there was silence in his brain. He still felt her presence, but the silence was terrifying.
Alanna had been leaning across the table and had started to pour water into her glass. The carafe exploded in her hand. He just managed to surround the carafe with his magic and got a protective bubble around it, so broken glass could not fly all over the the assembly. Well, she had not taken it so nicely, he thought, as he had glass shards fall quietly down against the table.
"Alanna, what on earth are you doing?!" Asked Kong Jon shocked as he stroked the now wet hair away from the face. "Are you trying to kill us?" He was the one who had received most of the water that had been in the carafe.
"Sorry, Your Highness" Alanna didn't seemed to be sincerely sorry. "I was just trying to cool it a bit so I could get some cold water., It... failed". Numair had great difficulty in keeping a straight face, it was a decent excuse and explanation.
"You just wanted to cool the water a little!?" Numair could hear that there was an attack of the king's rage against Alanna on the way. And he could feel how Alanna's temper began to stir again. It almost cooked. From experience he knew that the king and his Champion could have the most frightening arguments, and here were the ingredients for another. Numair knew that the two currently had many unresolved issues. The king had refused to let Alanna get near a girl, whom he had taken on as a page, but only on probation. This had created this distance between them.
The king sat and boiled with rage, and Alanna was also ready for fight. He had to stop them. It was not the best time, not while the delegation from Tusaine were present.
He caught Gareth the elderly's attention. The man nodded to confirm that he understood Numair's intention.
Gareth the elderly cleared his throat loudly, as only an old man like him could. It got the assembly to turn its full attention to him.
"I think we are all ready for a little break. This heat gives me a headache, and as a older man like I am, its difficult to sit still for hours."
Numair admired him for the respect that Gareth the elderly always managed to achieve. Even the king was interrupted in his thoughts, and seemed to relax a bit.
The delegation began to rise, and Numair saw how Felicia edged past along the wall opposite him. He did not want company right now, and especially not Felicia's, so he chose to flee the scene. He came across Alanna out in the hallway, but he didn't wanted to talk with her either. He nodded to her and walked with quick steps away. He faintly heard her voice behind him.
"Numair, I'm not finished with you!" She shouted.
No, he knew that she was not the least finished with him. He had told only a fraction of what was going on between him and Daine, and she would find him sooner or later. Right now he needed to immerse himselves in the books LindHall had tracked down to him. They had gotten a load of old long-forgotten books from a ship from Tyra a week ago, and he had not had time to study them. It was his plan now. He reached his room and stepped inside. Numair felt safer now, he led his power flow. Under no circumstances he wanted to be disturbed.