(no subject)

[the_lioness]

Alanna crouched behind her folded tent one morning, silently watching a herd of deer graze on damp, mossy grass near their camp. The early morning mist obscured sound, mostly masking the officers' quiet conversation as they prepared to wake the trainees and move out. Sword balanced on her knees, Alanna waited and considered culling a deer for their supper.

The knight became aware that someone else was watching and flicked her eyes left to find Daine and Onua's dog, Tahoi, staring at the herd. Daine had that look in her eye, a certain wonder in melding her mind with those of the animals nearby and losing herself in another state of being; only not as completely now, thanks to Numair. An involuntary shudder passing through her torso, Alanna focused again on the deer. It wasn't Daine that gave her pause so much as the idea of someone else touching her mind, knowing her thoughts, controlling her actions. Years had passed, but she hadn't forgotten.

"Turn out!" The hush was broken by Sarge's deep bellow.

The deer were instantly alert, muscles bunching to flee. Daine called "Stop!" and they did. Every last one. "What'm I doing?" she asked herself a moment later. "Go on, scat!"

Nostrils flaring wide, the deer unfroze, then ran up a hill and into the forest.

Alanna slowly stood up, eyes watchful as Numair crossed to Daine and said something in a low voice. She didn't have to look to know the trainees were all staring, wide-eyed and a little afraid.

"Congratulations, Numair. Your student learns fast," Alanna said as she walked by, heading for the horses.

"I have a good teacher," said Daine, and Numair affectionately ruffled her hair; the smile he turned from her to Alanna was proud.

(It takes a strong will to exert control over another being.)

Alanna smiled back, but she knew it didn't quite reach her eyes.

~ ~ ~

The days they had lost to rain made for several hours of hard riding. After a change of mounts, Alanna dropped back to converse with Numair and discovered that Daine was bent over an injured rabbit, intent on healing deep cuts inflicted by a goshawk. The girl was silent and deeply absorbed in her work, concentration stretched to the very edges of her awareness. Alanna recognized the tension, the slow beading of sweat on her forehead.

For hours she kept at it, switching from the wagon seat to Spots, Numair's horse, when the road became too bumpy.

Alanna checked on them from time to time, exchanging telling glances with the mage. This she knew well: the exhaustion, the need, the overwhelming desire to scratch an itch or wipe away sweat. Watching Daine, Alanna took a deep breath and felt something give.

"I wish I could add my will to hers," she whispered to Numair.

He shook his head, frowning, and she smirked a bit before riding back to Thayet.

When she finished, Daine released the rabbit. It bounded away as if it hadn't been near death hours before. Alanna grinned and faced south.

~ ~ ~

Later that evening, Alanna was going through a series of stretches with Thayet and Buri, laughing at something Liam Ironarm had once said about the Shang movement they'd decided to practice while the trainees were learning hand to hand combat. This journey presented the three women with an opportunity to relive those days and the adventure that had formed the groundwork for their friendship. They appreciated it.

"Alanna!" Numair's frantic call interrupted them. "Come quick!"

Without hesitation, Alanna scooped up her sword and ran toward the sound of his voice. She rounded a group of tents and saw him on the bluff, hovering over a still, small form on the ground.

Daine.

"What happened?" she demanded gruffly, dropping to her knees and lightly grasping Daine's too-cool cheeks in her callused palms. The girl's body was completely lax, her face pale and shadowed.

"She was sitting, loking out to sea, and just collapsed!" Numair sounded as if he knew exactly what had gone wrong and didn't want to say the words aloud.

Alanna swore. "Goddess bless, her heart's stopped." She kept her voice pitched low, in case she'd been followed by worried onlookers.

Numair made a choking sound. A stopped heart is usually a dead heart.

Ignoring him, Alanna began to reach for great reserves of her Gift, pulling the thread of fire out of herself and gathering it in her hands. They began to glow with an eerie purple light, the magic building and building until she thrust her hands at Daine's chest and released the power. Again she called on her Gift, again she focused all her strength on Daine's heart.

There. Jaw clenched, Alanna felt a shiver of recognition, sensed the silvery presence that was Daine, and yanked.

Daine blinked up at Numair, eyes unfocused, and the mage began to shake her as she came around. "You fiend! What on earth possessed you? You were dead! I ought to kill you myself!"

"Numair, calm down," Alanna ordered, running a shaky hand over her damp forehead. She felt weary, unsteady. "How are you, youngling? You gave us a scare."

"You're the purple fire. You brought me back?" The girl clutched Alanna's other hand.

"I gave you a direct jolt to the heart. We thought we'd lost you."

"My heart?" She thought about this. "It made too much noise. I wanted it to quiet down so I could talk with the dolphins."

Numair rolled his eyes toward the sky. "Do you hear her? She wanted to talk to dolphins, so she stopped her own blessed heart! Mithros, Mynoss and Shakith!"

"I never," said Daine.

Onua slapped a hand over Numair's mouth. "Not until you can talk without screaming."

"Daine, meditation is done for control over body responses, and thus over the mind. In cutting back the sound of your heart, you were cutting the heartbeat itself." Alanna bit back her amusement, keeping her voice firm.

"Well, I won't do that again," Daine swore. "I feel like a mule kicked me in the ribs."

The knight cracked a smile and looked knowingly at Numair. "In a way, one did. I gave you quite a shot, youngster."

Evin was there with a hand to help Alanna up, and she left Numair to deal with his pupil. Exhausted, she walked stiffly to her tent.

Daine was just a young girl who'd had no notion of what she could do until very recently. They would all do well to remember that.

~ ~ ~

The night was clear, the wind cold. At the base of the bluff, Daine gasped and stumbled out of the water, onto her pony.

Tahoi woke Onua. Cloud dropped a tired, shivering Daine at Numair's tent. They listened to her story and woke the others.

Numair and Alanna each took a turn in the surf, letting the water act as a focus to sharpen their senses, reinforce their Gifts. Alanna's fingers remained curled around the emberstone long after they climbed back to the bluff and Numair's fire.

"I'm sure," Daine answered Thayet's question. "They're up and down the coast as far as I can hear."

Buri frowned. "How can they stay in one place like that?"

"They have their own magic." Numair didn't look up from where he was drying his feet.

Thinking of their destination, Alanna asked, "Can they see everything? Can they look through walls or stone?"

Daine tilted her head. "I think they see like hawks. I don't know what they can do with their magic."

"They can only use a little without being noticed. If a sorcerer knows where to look, he can see the aura of their magic for miles. All they dare risk is the bit that holds them aloft. Once I thought to look that far, of course," said the mage.

"Don't blame yourself," Alanna snorted. "I see magic too, and I never spotted them." She stood, patting Daine's shoulder in an awkward way, almost afraid of using too much force. "Good work. I have to let Jonathan know. He won't be pleased."

Walking away, Alanna rubbed the tense muscles of her neck and ignored her own too-loud heartbeat. She went a good distance, then quickly built a fire as Coram had taught her when she was young. The flames burned a bright, cheerful orange. She stared at them for a long minute before tossing a handful of vervain at their base and saying the words of the spell, turning them purple.

Once the image formed, she said "Jonathan" in a grave voice.

"Lioness."

"There are Stormwings up and down the coast, hovering just out of sight. Watching."

The king swore.


[Scenes/dialogue taken from Wild Magic, by Tamora Pierce.]