Description: Daine experiments in earnest with her magic until the mages encounter a group of bandits.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. Everything belongs to Tamora Pierce.

Author's Note: I looked up pair bonding between wolves to see what sort of things they did, and mutual grooming is one of them. I originally had this scene from Daine's perspective before I changed it.

I have no idea if Numair had an easier time helping Daine with her shapeshifting in Tamora's head, but I had far too much with this scene. Daine strikes me as a person who wouldn't look before she leaped despite what Numair says in Wolf Speaker.

Chapter 32

Numair found it difficult to sleep that night between the elementals appearance and having Daine cuddled up next to him for a lesson. He'd noticed the looks she'd been giving him recently, and he wasn't completely oblivious to her flirting. His biggest fear was that he'd accidentally manipulated her into believing she was attracted to him because of that kiss in Lindhall's rooms. Daine wouldn't have been eyeing him up otherwise. She was far too young and gorgeous to be wasting any of her attention on him under normal circumstances. He just happened to be the only available male who travelled alone with her, and Numair had no intention of breaking her trust and taking advantage of his friend in the woods, however much his body hated him for it right now.

He'd been letting his own feelings cloud his better judgment. Numair couldn't deny how much he wanted, and occasionally needed, to hold Daine. She brought him a peace and contentment which was making it very difficult to resist when she offered comfort so freely. Numair had to keep reminding himself that his companion was only sixteen, far too young to want anything more than kisses and maybe a quick tumble between the sheets. She could find that with plenty of young men and, other than him being a terrible mistake on her part, Numair was quickly discovering that he didn't want anything brief with Daine.

The age gap between them rendered half the things he'd like to consider with her absurd, then there was the matter of his life expectancy. It wasn't fair to make promises to her or any woman when Numair had no idea how long he had left to live. He loved spending time with Daine, and he wouldn't trade that for anything. She was his single most joy next to Kitten, magic and books. Life or, more accurately, the badger god had granted him time with his darling Wildmage and he would take all the delight and wonder from it he could before the Black God claimed him.

Numair woke late the next morning to the sound of a fire crackling and the smell of breakfast. He emerged slowly from his tent in rumpled clothing with his tousled mane in disarray. His hair had finally reached that annoying stage where it constantly fell or blew into his eyes and Numair was getting fed up having to keep brushing it away, worried he'd develop a nervous tick.

Hunting through his pack, he found a handful of hairpins and his brush. After wishing Daine a good morning, Numair made himself comfortable by the fire, holding the pins in his mouth while he attacked his thick mane with the brush. He could see Daine watching him from the corner of her eye while she made tea and warmed the porridge. Zek and Kitten were less subtle in their curiosity as the marmoset took one of the hairpins from his mouth to examine, showing it to the dragonet. Kitten climbed up his chest to take the rest out of Numair's mouth and held them in her claws before offering him one.

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully as he began to fasten his fringe into place.

Numair thought he'd successfully pinned back his hair when a gust of wind blew several stray locks over his eyes. Daine giggled while he cursed under his breath, placing a mug of tea beside him.

"I always hated this stage when growing my hair out," he admitted.

"You could just wear a headscarf," she teased, grinning.

"While they suit you quite nicely, I doubt the same could be said for me," he sighed, removing the hairpins to start again.

Numair made a bigger mess of it the second time until Daine took the brush and forced him to sit still while she sorted it for him.

"It's getting quite long now," she commented, finger-combing his hair.

It was an effort of will not to close his eyes and groan at how good her ministrations felt. "I used to wear it just below shoulder length."

"Are you growing it out again?" Daine asked, accepting a pin from Kitten.

Numair hummed in agreement. "I was told long hair suited me."

"You certainly look better with the hair than without." She smiled, running her fingers over his scalp again.

"Thank you," he murmured, eyes closing of their own accord this time, tilting his head for her and losing himself in the feel of those strong yet delicate fingers.

"Can't you just spell it or make a potion for hair growth?" Daine asked after she'd finished adding the last of the pins, coming to stand in front of him and inspect her work.

"Hair tonics are surprisingly fickle. One miscalculation and you could end up with emerald frizz or a sticky mess." Numair smiled up at her gratefully, grabbing the mirror to examine her work. "I knew one mage who created a hair growth tonic but instead of effecting the hair, his fingernails and toenails grew a foot long, yet his head remained bald." She giggled, returning to the fire to dish up the porridge. "Spells are even more difficult to manage. If you don't isolate the area of influence then all your hair – head, eyebrows, eyelashes and body hair – will start to grow. You could end up looking like a woolly mammoth."

"I thought you were s'posed to be clever," Daine snorted, handing him a bowl and spoon.

Numair glared, mildly offended. "Perhaps if I put my mind to it, I could work something out but in the meantime my hair would grow on its own. Sometimes it's best to leave nature to what it does best and try not to influence things more than necessary."

They finished breakfast and packed up the campsite relatively quickly when his enigmatic Wildmage announced that she wanted to try shapeshifting again.

"I thought I'd try bird-shape this time," Daine stated, chewing on a thumbnail.

"I believe we agreed you'd learn one shape before you tried others," Numair said sternly, swatting the hand away from her mouth.

"No, you decided!" She scowled.

Giving him her best game face, Daine transformed instantly into a starling, her clothes falling off her to lie in a heap on the floor. Numair inhaled sharply. He'd never managed a transformation that quickly or smoothly. The Daine-starling warbled, hopping out from the clothing before giving her wings an experimental flap.

"Bird-shape is quite different to a horse," he lectured, feeling a bit like he was telling his grandmother how to suck eggs. "Not only do you have to be mindful of your horizontal surroundings, but you must also concentrate on the vertical ones too. I wouldn't advise trying to take off from the –"

Daine made a rude sound before taking flight, wings beating fast. Numair sighed, watching his student dart around the sky, taking to the air far easier than he ever had. She performed several tight turns, flitting and fluttering around him and the horses, showing off.

"I'd steer clear of the trees on your first attempt," he warned, noting her trajectory. "Spatial awareness is something that –" The Wildmage crashed into a tree branch, plummeting like a stone to the floor. "Daine!" Numair charged across the clearing to where she'd fallen.

"Ow..." The young woman sat up, stark naked with a hand to her head.

Ignoring the awkwardness of the situation, Numair crouched beside her to examine her scalp for any signs of bleeding. Finding none he tilted her chin, holding up a finger in front of her face. "Move your eyes only," he ordered, moving his finger left and right, up and down, relieved when she seemed unharmed. "No cranial damage that I can find." Numair sighed in relief. "This is why you need to watch your surroundings. At some point you might actually start heeding my advice when it comes to taking things slow."

Daine noticed his blush and huffed. "Am I all right to try again?"

"That is entirely up to you." The mage moved away, averting his eyes. Why was she asking him when he didn't appear to get a say in how she learned this particular lesson or how much she tested her limits?

A starling hopped onto his hand and whistled, running her beak against his thumb. Numair sighed and stood, carrying his student out of the trees and back towards the lake. Holding up his hand, he watched her glide gracefully towards the grass before flapping her wings and taking to the sky once more. Retrieving her clothes and earrings, Numair stored them carefully in her pack trying not to notice the absence of the pregnancy charm.

Daine was less excitable this time, swooping and curving while Numair and the horses made their way back to the river at a steady stroll with Kitten chattering and bounding along flapping her immature wings. He wasn't sure how long it would take for the dragonet's wings to develop before they could carry her in flight, but it didn't hurt to practice. Using a whisper of his Gift, he lifted Kitten a few inches off the ground much to her delight while she continued to beat her small wings.

The starling warbled and chattered to the dragonet before turning to glide over the lake. In a reckless manoeuvre, she soared into the air before diving back down again, not adjusting her tail feathers correctly in time and crashed into the water.

"Mithros, Mynos and Shakith!" Numair cried, splashing into the water, trying to spot a drowning starling.

He was waist deep when the young woman emerged coughing and spluttering. Scowling despite his relief, Numair held out his hand to help her back to shore, determinedly keeping his eyes averted.

"You might want to try a larger bird next time," he grouched, thankful for the frigid water while he sloshed towards the waiting Spots to dig out dry clothes from his pack. "You require less flapping to remain airborne and can practice gliding and soaring around obstacles at a more sedate pace rather than at break-neck speeds. I have yet to see you land in a way that doesn't involve crashing. I believe taking off and landing should really be one of the first things you master if you're inclined to take advice from a mere two-legger."

Daine rolled her eyes and grinned at him, finding a towel to dry herself before retrieving her own clothes from Cloud. With the horses between them, the pair dressed with their backs to each other. There was nothing to be done about his soaking boots, so Numair removed them, tying them to Spots' saddle to dry while he walked barefoot. Ringing out his breeches and socks, he shot another disgruntled look in her direction.

"Don't blame me you didn't think to remove your boots before charging into the lake," she retorted. Before Numair could state his own opinions about why he wouldn't take the time to remove his boots while she potentially drowned in a shape that was not designed for swimming or got eaten by an opportunistic pike, Daine asked quickly, "Why haven't you shapeshifted since coming here?"

Numair swallowed, avoiding her curious gaze. "It requires a lot of magic to shape-change with the Gift and I cannot use magic while changed." He also wasn't keen on the idea of leaving her and the animals without magical protection.

"Can you take other shapes?"

"Not easily," he admitted. "I don't have your advantage of learning the shape from within the animal itself."

"If I get the hang of this we could go flying together," she suggested hopefully.

"Perhaps," the mage muttered, his mind running through another set of spells to try which would allow her clothes to change with her. His first attempts at spelling her earrings to stay with her had all failed miserably.

"Please come flying with me?" Daine looked up at him from under her lashes. "It'll be more fun if we go together. There's no other two-leggers I can share this with, and the birds aren't exactly impressed by something they do as easily as we learn to walk."

It hadn't occurred to him how few people she'd be able to share this experience with. Words didn't really do justice to the feeling of soaring through the sky with the wind in your feathers or describe the incredible view. "I will fly with you one day," Numair sighed in defeat.

"When?"

Laughing, he ruffled her hair. "You have the patience of a toddler!"

Three weeks later under the light of a full moon, Daine crouched under a bush in wolf-shape spying on a group of bandits while they ate and drank around the fire. The bandits had kidnapped several women from a nearby village and were holding them hostage for either their own sick pleasure or to sell them as slaves. It reminded Daine far too much of what had happened in her home village of Snowsdale three years ago. The Wildmage growled softly feeling her hackles rise.

She'd left Numair just over the rise with a group of angry villagers who had joined them in this hunt. The plan was for Daine to free the women before signalling the others to attack, which Numair was not happy about, but she was confident this would work.

They had tracked the bandits easily to their camp thanks to her strong sense of smell. While her first shape had taken a week to learn, the second had only taken a matter of days to master. Now Daine was able to learn an animal's shape in a day and was even able to change from one shape to another without having to return to human-form first. Moreover, her body liked being in animal form even if it was draining.

Slinking around the camp, Daine made her way silently to the tent where the women were being held. She was about to enter when the Wildmage stopped, reconsidering. The women inside would already be frightened, and Daine didn't need them screaming at the sight of a wolf before she'd had a chance to make herself human. Focussing on her core, she slowly shed fur for skin, paws for hands and feet until the young woman was human and naked. Ducking under the canvas, Daine found the four women bound and gagged, two of them close to her age. They started to whimper and squeak until the Wildmage held a finger to her lips.

"I'll have you out in a minute," she whispered.

The knots were too tight to undo and Daine didn't have a knife on her, so she reformed her hands into claws to slice through the ropes. Changing a part of herself at will was harder than the full change but she'd improved over the last week. In minutes all the women were free, huddling together in fear while they looked to the Wildmage for guidance.

"I'm going to give the signal to my friend, then you're going to run out the back of the tent and into the woods," she instructed. Spots are you in position?

I'm ready and waiting, the gelding responded.

"A black and white spotted gelding is going to lead you back to the village. He's hidden not far over that way." The Wildmage pointed in the direction where the horse stood. "Are you ready to run?"

The women nodded nervously though Daine wasn't convinced. She was about to signal Zek when the tent flap opened and one of the bandit's entered, startling the inhabitants.

"What's goin' on 'ere? Where'd you come from?" he frowned, eyes travelling over Daine's naked body.

Zek, tell Numair to attack now! The Wildmage sent urgently. "Run!" she yelled, shifting into wolf-shape.

"Hey! The gixies is escapin'!" the bandit shouted as all hell broke loose.

Daine launched herself at the man, tackling him to the floor as the women behind her screamed in panic. Three of them ran out of the tent with the Wildmage praying they'd head towards Spots but the youngest, barely fourteen at a guess, just cowered in the corner crying. Outside an explosion boomed making the bandits cry out as Numair and the villagers attacked, creating the diversion.

The bandit beneath Daine wrestled with her trying to go for the knife at his belt while she snapped her jaws in his face. She saw the flash of steel just in time to leap away before she got a dagger in the belly. Growling and snarling Daine backed away, placing herself between the frightened girl and knife as the man grinned nastily. A thunder of hooves announced the arrival of Cloud who kicked her front hooves at the bandit knocking him to the floor. Daine surged forward and with a crunch, crushed his windpipe in one bite. It was harder to regain her human shape when her blood was up, but the Wildmage eventually managed it, keeping her back to the terrified girl.

"My pony will get you to safety," she said, trying to gentle the growl in her voice. Can you take her back to the village?

What about you? Cloud demanded, stamping and snorting in agitation.

I'll be fine, Daine reassured her.

Wiping the blood off her mouth with the back of one hand, the Wildmage helped the girl to mount her pony when another bandit spotted the women and charged. Fighting didn't seem like a sensible option when she was wearing only her skin, and teeth and claws didn't stand a chance against the sword the man wielded. Numair and the villagers could do for the bandits, Daine decided. She needed to get out of here and back to the village, or at least to make sure the women hadn't panicked and run in all directions. Choosing the smallest and fasted shape she knew; Daine transformed into a hare and dashed into the woods after Cloud.

Spots, how many females do you have? The Wildmage called out with her magic once she was undercover.

Two. I am leading them back to the village. They smell very frightened and are gripping my mane so tightly it hurts, the gelding replied.

I have the other female, Cloud snorted from further ahead in the trees. I'll herd her back to the village.

Be nice, Daine warned. They've had a bad experience.

Behind her, more tents lit up like bonfires while her long sensitive ears picked up the sounds of fighting, but it was the sight of the flames themselves that made Daine's heart race. Every animal was afraid of fire and in a moment of sheer panic, animal instinct overwhelmed human intelligence as the Wildmage fled into the forest.

Rabbits, voles, mice and squirrels joined her, running from the flames in terror. Daine had just enough sense to run in the direction she sensed Cloud, dashing through bushes and leaping over logs until a noose slipped over her neck. Instantly the wire tightened, cutting off her airway and nearly snapping her neck. Daine struggled and writhed but the wire only got tighter until she lay there struggling to even draw breath. Her first thought was to shapeshift, but she couldn't get a grip on her magic to transform. Her cries for help only came out as wheezing squeals and screams while Daine's vision swam and darkened.

She lay there for hours on the very edge of consciousness until the sky began to lighten and Daine heard the sound of footsteps crunching on dry leaves. She began to wriggle and struggle against the snare when a man appeared. Daine screamed in panic as the man – a hunter – drew his blade and knelt on the floor beside her. All around, animals rose in defence of the Wildmage: birds pecked and scratched at his face, squirrels nipped at his hands, even a snake slithered out from under a log to hiss and threaten.

The hunter screamed and fled from the mad animals with the birds continuing to harry him while the squirrels tried to gnaw at the wire. They apologised quickly that it hurt their mouths and refused to break. Daine began to cry when another man appeared, except this one didn't carry a knife. The man spoke softly, soothingly while gentle hands released the noose and cradled her to his chest.

"Can you change back?" a familiar voice asked.

Change?

She felt something brush against her mind: an image of a beautiful young woman with wild, smoky-brown curls, large blue-grey eyes, a soft, full mouth and a stubborn chin, surrounded by a blazing copper aura. That's me? Black, sparkling magic guided her to a core of white light as Daine connected with her human form and shifted instinctively.

"Sweetling, you scared me! I couldn't find you anywhere." Arms encircled the young woman's naked body as the reassuring scent of spices filled her nose. Numair!

"How'd you find me?" she whispered in a hoarse, rasping voice.

"I was following Cloud when I heard a commotion from the birds," Numair explained while he removed his cloak to wrap it around her shoulders.

"The women...?" Daine asked, burying her face into his shirt.

"They all made it safely back to the village," he reassured her, stroking her curls and placing a kiss in her hair that made Daine's heart almost burst. Tilting her head back to get a better look at him, heat surged through her entire being when Numair placed a gentle finger under her chin, lifting it carefully as she closed her eyes thinking he might kiss her. "We should get this looked at. There's a hedgewitch in the village who might be able to provide some healing," he murmured. Daine opened her eyes to see him inspecting her neck. "Is your throat sore?" he asked, releasing her chin.

The question was too much as she buried her face against his neck and burst into tears, but, oh, how it hurt to cry! Every gasp and sob burned her bruised throat as she swallowed and hiccupped. Numair just held her, arms wonderfully tight, until Daine got control of herself long enough to stop the noise, trembling and shuddering violently.

"Would you like to change into something warmer until we find you some clothes?" he asked, stroking her back while he tucked the cloak more firmly around her body.

Daine sniffed and frowned at him in confusion. Oh, he meant shapeshift. She shook her head, clinging to him once more as Numair hooked his arm under her knees and lifted her as he stood. Daine was only vaguely aware of Cloud leading them back to the village, but the mare remained oddly silent, not offering a single tart opinion about how stupid her mistress had been to get lost or separated.