Weeks went by, Numair and Lindhall reading every book and scroll they could find on wild magic, to no avail. Daine snuck outside when she could to visit with the People, and humans would bring smaller animals to heal and treat to her rooms. She found that if she healed, she barely had enough energy to stand afterwards, and Numair quickly discouraged her from doing it.
Most of their friends had been recalled to the north after Midwinter, but a few remained and visited with her when they could. Kitten grew quickly bored in their rooms all day with Daine, which left her adopted mother feeling very guilty. Numair suggested, one evening, that Kitten should spend some time with her dragon grandparents in the Dragonlands. With their hands full with the new baby, Daine decided it may be a good idea. Kitten agreed to go with some persuasion, and Daine called upon the badger to assist them.
Daine was on the couch with the badger appeared, Kitten sitting at her feet playing with some shiny rocks Tkaa had given her. Daine put down the book she was reading and glared at the animal god.
"I've been calling on you for days," she informed him.
—And I have been busy. Your mother has sent another letter.— He dropped the parchment on the floor, and Kitten tottered over to retrieve it and hand it to Daine.
"I actually called you about Kit," Daine said, gently stroking the dragon's head. "She's fair bored with me these days, and Numair and I thought she might like to visit the Dragonlands until after the baby comes." Kit whistled an agreement.
—First you and Sarra have me running around as your messenger, and now you want me to appeal to dragons?—
"Please, badger. It would be very helpful." Daine looked at him as pleadingly as she could, and the badger snuffled and rocked side to side.
—I will go to them, but you will have to work out the details. I will not be forever hopping between realms.—
"Of course," Daine told him.
—Read your mother's letter. I will be back with the dragon's answer.— He disappeared.
Daine opened the letter in her hand.
Daine,
The babe seems to be growing and thriving. Numair was right in telling you not to heal; you will hurt yourself or the baby if you overuse your magic.
I watch your mage and his friend spend all their days hunting books for something I have already told you the answer to. There is nothing to be done for the shifting at this point, sweet. We must focus on the birth now instead. I have some ideas for how we might safely deliver the child, but I need you to tell your midwife about me first. Instruct her to sacrifice to me and I will be able to assist in the birth without the Great Gods' attention. Please remind her I like blueberry cake best, and sweet pea is my favorite scent.
Drink your teas and rest, Daine. The babe will be arriving before we know it.
Daine set the note down, running her hand over her growing and shifting middle. She felt an odd sense of calm from her mother's words, and came to a sudden realization.
The door opened and Numair came through, looking tired and a bit ragged from another day in the university library. He paused when he saw her face.
"There's nothing we can do, is there?" Daine asked quietly.
Numair stared at her a few moments, then sighed and shook his head. "I truly don't think there is, magelet. I'm so sorry."
Daine nodded, fingering the badger's claw. Numair came and kneeled before her, resting his head on her belly.
"I believe I'm alright with it, now," she said, pushing back a few strands of his loose hair. "As much as I hate to say it, Ma is right. We need to focus on the birth now." He looked up at her, his dark eyes searching hers. She smiled at him and stroked his forehead. "Really, I'm alright. I promise. It's only for a few more months now."
"I've been afraid for a while our search was futile," he said, and pulled away from her as the baby shifted and her stomach grew and shrunk.
"I'm tired of you being in the library all the time, too," Daine admitted. "If I'm to be cooped up like a hen on her egg, we may as well get to spend some time together."
He smiled at that, and then noticed the letter on the small table beside them. "What is this?"
"Another letter from Ma. Here, read it." She handed it over, and he quickly scanned it.
"Interesting," he remarked once he finished. "It is a good idea, to have Elnid sacrifice to her, since your parents were banned from the mortal lands after the war. The Goddess can't deny her assisting a supplicant."
"Ma never said why they were banned, only that the Great Gods didn't like the way they interferred. I think it's because they know I chose the mortal life and they don't want me to get any special treatment," Daine told him, moving around to try to get comfortable as the baby shifted yet again.
"That could be it, magelet - and if it is, the Great Gods don't know who you inherited your stubborn streak from."
Daine snorted at that.
"I'm thinking about a very hot, very long bath. Perhaps Kitten could go visit Tkaa for a while?" Numair said, giving her a knowing look.
"You remember what the midwife said…" Daine reminded him.
"I remember well. She doesn't know how creative I can be." He stood. "Kit, come. Let's take you to your cousin for a while."
Kitten chirped happily and followed him from the room.
The next day the midwife came for her weekly examination, and told Daine, once again, that the baby was growing and healthy and would be fine to continue shifting. This time, instead of scowling at the news, Daine nodded her head to agree.
"There's something you should know, as well," Daine said, pulling the blanket up to cover her. It had been snowing all morning and she had actually been rather cold. "Could Numair come in for this part?"
One of the assistants let him back in, and he came to sit beside her on the bed, rubbing her back gently. Mistress Elnid gave them a puzzled look as she waited for whatever the Wildmage had to tell her.
"My Ma was a midwife - you know that. You probably also know that she died before I came to Tortall, and that I didn't know who my Da was then. A few years after I got here, I found out who my Da is - he's a god of hunt around the place I was born, in Galla. My Ma conceived me one Beltane, but never told me who he was. I…" Daine exchanged a glance with Numair, "…found out, later, that my Ma had gone to live with him, as a goddess of healing and childbirth. I can talk to her though letters, though we can't visit, and she says she can help in the birth, if you are willing to sacrifice to her." Daine finished the last part in a rush, then watched Mistress Elnid's face. The midwife looked to each of them, her eyebrows raised. The assistants with her didn't say a word, just stared at them with varying degrees of shock on their faces.
"I had heard rumors…but honestly, didn't believe them," Elnid finally said. She shook her head. "It does make sense, of course, and quite honestly gives me a bit more hope for this birth."
"It does?" Daine asked, perplexed.
"Yes. Not only can we call on your mother to assist, but the fact you are have divine blood running through your veins means that you may be capable of enduring more than a mortal woman."
Daine scowled. "I am mortal as well. My Ma had me before she was a goddess. And to that, I would really like for all of you to keep this to yourselves. I don't tell many people about my folks. It…makes people uncomfortable." The assistants, who had been looking uncomfortable the entire time, tired to tone down their expressions. Daine turned to the midwife. "I guess you can…pray to my Ma, who goes by the Green Lady." The thought of anyone doing so was odd to her. "If you have any questions for her, I can write her a letter."
"I will pray, and sacrifice to her as well. We will compose something to send to her. I have a great many questions about how to do this." The midwife threw Daine's belly an apprehensive look, but Daine just thanked her and the women all took their leave. She let out a breath and Numair rubbed her back again.
"We will figure it out, dear," he told her quietly. In the next moment, silver fire lit the room and the badger appeared on the bed beside her.
"I didn't expect you back so soon," Daine told him, scratching his ears gently.
—I have returned from the dragonlands. Kitten's grandparents have agreed to take her until Midsummer.—
"When will they be getting her?" Numair asked, and Kit gave a questioning trill from where she was on the floor.
—They are on the way as we speak.—
"What?!" Daine exclaimed, sitting up a little straighter in the bed. "But…we don't even have time to prepare!"
—What is there to prepare? They will have all she needs.—
"Where exactly are they coming too?" Numair asked. "I don't know how well the palace will take seeing two full size dragons descending from midair. We are in the middle of a war."
—They know not to surprise any mortals, mage. They are remaining invisible until they get to the clearing in the forest they used the last time they left.—
Daine knew the cleaning he was talking about. There was no way she would be able to reach it on foot, especially if the dragons were coming now.
"But…she will miss the wedding," Daine said quietly. Kitten scrambled up the quilt and into her lap, nuzzling her adopted mother.
"That may not be a bad thing, sweet," Numair said quietly, a small grin on his face. He was right - Kit didn't always do the best in formal situations.
"Kit? Do you want to go now?" Daine asked the small dragon. Kitten nodded, then nuzzled against her again. "I know you've been bored. I'm sorry," Daine said, hugging her tightly.
—You should be going, if you are going to meet them. Dragons won't wait around all day.—
"I will take her," Numair told her quietly, and Kitten went to him. Daine kissed her nose one more time.
"Be good, and listen. Don't give them any reason to not let you come back."
Kitten nodded, and Numair took her. Daine watched them go, fighting tears.
—You usually aren't so weepy,— the badger told her sternly. Daine wiped her eyes.
"It's because of the baby. I don't think badger mothers get this way. Or maybe they do. You'll have to ask one."
He sneezed a laugh. —I will go ensure the dragons find the right field. Rest, kit. You need it.— With that, he left her.
With Kitten gone, Daine became even more bored than she had been before. At least with the little dragon around, she had some purpose in her day. While she still visited with her animal and human friends and transcribed reports from her northern spies, she noticed that people were bringing her less animals to heal. She had a suspicion Numair had something to do with it, but he denied it adamantly.
The midwife wrote a long letter to Sarra, and Daine sent it off with the badger. The baby continued to grow, changing more rapidly and beginning to kick and punch her insides with gusto. Daine was becoming increasingly uncomfortable, and though she still managed to sneak outside to visit with Cloud and Spots when she was sure she could avoid the midwife and her assistants, it was becoming harder and harder to make it back up the hill to the palace.
Numair filled his days tinkering in his study or at the university, still working on spells to aid the war effort from afar. When he wasn't working on magical things, he and Daine would sit together and read, or talk, or eat dinner with their friends in their rooms. After the strain of the war, having so much time together was sweet for them both.
With not much let to occupy her time, Daine started to think about their wedding. They decided they wanted a small affair, with their closest friends in attendance. The problem was that many of their closest friends were still scattered about the northern boarder fighting the war. In the end, the only time they could work out was the beginning of May, just weeks before the baby was to come.
Daine knew she needed a dress for the wedding, though getting clothes made for her in her odd shape was one of the last things she wanted to do. The queen also knew this, and decided to take the matters into her own hands and arrived at Daine's rooms with seamstresses in tow one afternoon. Numair, who had answered the door, was banned from the rooms until dinner.
"I really don't see the need for all this," Daine told Thayet from atop a wooden platform as she was measured, draped with fabric, and pinned in. If the seamstresses thought her constantly changing lower half was odd, they didn't give the appearance. With pins in mouth, a team of four of them worked all around her with absolute concentration.
The queen sat on the couch, a cup of tea in her hands and a smile on her face. "It is absolutely necessary. It is your wedding day, Daine. Besides the fact that almost none of your dresses fit you anymore."
Daine couldn't deny that. It was becoming increasingly hard to fit into anything these days. She was soon going to have to start wrapping herself in a bedsheet, she was certain.
One of the seamstresses brought forwards a green piece of fabric, but the queen stopped her with a hand. "I was thinking blue, to match her eyes. Perhaps with cream?"
"Just not white," Daine said with a small grin, putting a hand to her belly.
"Cream will look much better with your complexion, anyway," one of the seamstresses said between the pins in her teeth.
"Are you getting all the things you need for the baby?" Thayet asked.
"Numair got the crib I showed you, and we have a small dresser that will fit in there, too. That's all, really."
"That's all! Daine, you are going to need clothes, and diapers, and blankets!"
"And hats and stockings," a seamstress put in.
"And linens, don't forget linens," said the older seamstress working on the hem of the frock.
Daine shrugged, upsetting some of the pins. "It could also need a stall, or a coop, or a perch. I don't see the point in buying things when we aren't sure yet if the baby will be human or not."
"Surely…surely it will choose to be human," said the queen, looking more than a little worried.
"I think it's up to the baby." Daine rubbed her belly gently. She knew it might seem odd to others, but she understood the urge to not be human sometimes.
"Didn't your mother say she could help?" Thayet asked, setting down her empty mug.
Daine looked to see if the seamstresses raised an eyebrow to that, but none of them did. "She said she could help with the birth, and then we will see after that. One problem at a time, she told me."
Thayet sighed, and was quiet for a few moments. "You are still going to need things, regardless. I will have some sent to you, since you can't go into the market."
"Numair could go," Daine suggested, and Thayet laughed.
"And just imagine what he would come back with!"
Daine smiled, too. She had sent him to the market before to get her things and he had always come back with the most ridiculous items, and usually had forgotten what she had requested to begin with. "That's probably true."
Suddenly, the baby shifted into a herring, and Daine wobbled and put her arms out for balance. The seamstresses all reached out to lay steadying hands on her, pushing pins into her side. She hissed, trying not to feel like a pin cushion, her constantly overtaxed emotions soaring with frustration. Thayet, seeing her face, nodded to the seamstresses. "I think that is enough for today, ladies. Let's let our Wildmage get some rest."