Here's my first attempt at writing in Tortall. Hope you all like it.

~CHAPTER 1~

Black magic edged with white shone around the edges of the wooden paneled door. The sounds of cursing and crashing could be heard from inside. Suddenly, all was quite and the glare of magic was gone. She slowly pushed the door open and gasped at the scene in front of her.

Chairs were overturned, pieces of broken pottery littered the floor, candles lay on their sides dripping wax onto the wooden tables scattered around the room. Even with the windows tightly shuttered and covered with curtains and the candles all blown out, the room was still as bright as day, the lingering effects of the magic that had been flying around. A streak of magic, sparkley black and edged in white, shot across the room followed by the sound of bones tumbled onto the floor.

Daine stepped into the room and surveyed the sight. Beside her, Kitten whistled shrilly. The magic ceased once again and the tumble of bones on the floor righted itself and reassembled into a small winged dinosaur. Kitten chattered incessently as the bone dinosaur cocked it's head and gave every appearance of being able to comprehend what the small skyblue dragon said. Kitten gave a final croak as the wielder of the black colored magic stepped into view.

"Curse you, you stupid bag of bones! Do you know what you've done? Weeks worth of expirements were on that table and now they're all destroyed! I have to start over and I'm not even sure what was what. I'd kill you if you weren't already dead!" Master mage Numair Salmalin straightened his tunic and robe and pushed an errant lock of unruly black hair back from his forehead. His visage contained a scowl and he was flushed with anger but he was still the handsomest man Daine Sarrasri had ever seen, next to King Jonathon, of course. Numair looked around at her when he heard the click of Kitten's talons on the stone floor.

"Ah, Daine, my dearest and the lovely Skysong," he said, his scowl turning to a smile at the sight of his beloved and her baby dragon. All of his anger simply melted away. "I'm sorry for the mess. Bonedancer managed to destroy in one hour what it took me weeks to prepare. All those expirements mostly done with a few completely finished. What am I to tell Lindhall and Master Harailt when they come for what they need? That that silly little creature is responsible? Lindhall will do nothing but laugh. You know how he is about Bonedancer." While he talked, Numair had righted a couple of chairs for him and Daine to sit on. Kitten scurried over to the desk where Bonedancer was hiding and continued to whistle and chatter at the bone dinosaur.

Daine daintily sat down on one of the chairs and smoothed her skirt out. She really didn't want to tell Numair what she had to tell him, especially when he was so cross at Bonedancer, but she figured she'd do best to just get it over with and quickly. She was supposed to meet Stefan Groomsman in the stable to greet the new replacement mounts for the King's Own and the Queen's Riders. Daine smoothed more imaginary wrinkles from her skirt, tucked a stray curl behind one ear and cleared her throat softly.

The sound brought Numair's attention back to Daine. He curiously observed the nervousness with which she was twitching her skirt and playing with her hair. She only did that when she had something important to say and didn't know how to go about saying it. He gave her a moment to compose herself and continued to wait for her to talk.

Finally, Daine looked up and met Numair's blue eyes. Their gazes locked and Daine felt her heart tighten. Would he be happy or angry with her, she wondered. She knew she would never know unless she just told him. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and when she opened them, told him what she had come to say... well almost.

"Numair," she breathed. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Numair, I have something I need to talk to you about." She paused for a few seconds and said the first thing that came to mind. "You really shouldn't blast Bonedancer that way. He doesn't mean any real harm. He's just really curious about things." Where had that come from? That wasn't what she wanted to say at all!

Numair exploded out of his chair and began to angrily pace back and forth across the room. "How dare you say that, Daine! He didn't destroy weeks worth of your work, did he? I have every right to be angry with that pile of old bones. Work that I poured my heart and soul, not to mention plenty of my Gift, into all destroyed by a bunch of stupid, dancing dog's chew toys. Do you know what it took to do some of these expirements, especially with the multitude of them? Sweat, tears, a little blood, not to mention working myself to near exhaustion, and for what? To have all of it ruined by that stupid bird!" Numiar continued to pace angrily, gesticulating wildly and muttering to himself about work, blood, and stupid bags of bones.

Daine looked down at her hands, clenched tightly together, folds of fabric from her skirt inside them.. She took a deep breath and then another and said, whithout raising her voice much above a whisper, "Numair. Numair, I'm pregnant. Numair, did you hear me?"

lahk4

Two things to remember:
# on't sweat the small stuff.
#2:Everything is small stuff.

Wow, way to drop a bombshell.

Yay for Daine/Numair and yay for an awesome start. I really enjoyed it.

FINALLY there is a Daine/Numair story!! I have been waiting for weeks for someone to write one... Very interesting...........

  

~CHAPTER 2~

Numair stopped in mid-step when he heard Daine speak. All the air simply left his body. He felt as though he had just jousted with Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, most easily the largest knight in the realm, and had lost. His eyes wide with surprise, he took a step towards the seated Daine, who continued to look at her lap.

"Wha...?" The word squeaked from between his lips. He cleared his throat and tried again. "What did you just say? Did you just say what I think you said? I don't believe I heard you right. Tell me what you said again!" He hurried over to Daine's chair, nearly tripping himself in the process. He righted himself and knelt next to Daine, taking her damp, trembling hands in his own. "Tell me again," he said softly.

The sound of his voice seemed to break the trance Daine was in. She looked up into Numair's shining eyes, which, she was startled to realize, were damp with unshed tears. A small smile on her lips, she repeated softly, "I'm pregnant. You're going to be a father soon." She searched his eyes for the joy she hoped to find there. She was greatly rewarded when Numair let out a whoop loud enough to cause Kitten to squeak, Bonedancer to huddle further under his desk, and people to look into the room from the hallway to see what all the noise was about.

He soon returned to himself and once more knelt next to Daine's chair. The curious onlookers continued on their way, whispering to each other about what might be the matter with the master mage.

There came a soft knock on the doorframe. A page about eleven or twelve stood there, wide-eyed, surveying the mess and gently cleared his throat. "Master Numair, Master Lindhall would like to see you in his study. There's something of great...."

The page never got the chance to finish his message because at that very moment Numair jumped to his feet and began bellowing at the frightened boy. "Get out! Get out, you silly boy! Tell Lindhall to go stuff himself! I'm busy!" With a careless flick of his fingers, the door slammed shut and locked itself. Another careless flick righted all the candles around the room and another lit them all. The room took on a subtle warm glow. Numair returned to where Daine sat with her hands still clenched in the folds of her skirt. He knelt once more and gently unclenched her hands and stroked the palms with his thumbs. He knew that would calm her nerves.

"My darling, my love, my goddess, my little magelet." The use of Numair's pet name for her brought a small smile to Daine's lips. She looked up into his eyes again. There she saw the glow of happiness she'd hoped to see. What had she even been worried about? She knew him better than anyone else, even Master Lindhall. Her smile broadened and tears of joy slid down her cheeks. She reached up to touch Numair's cheek with a trembling hand.

"Tell me again," he whispered. "Tell me again."

"I'm pregnant," she replied, equally softly.

"Tell me again," he repeated.

She giggled and brushed her thumb over his lower lip. "I'm pregnant."

"That's what I thought you said." He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head in her lap. He sighed audibly. She giggled again as she buried her hands in his thick black hair.

The sound of footfalls quickly thudding down the corridor made Daine turn towards the door. Someone began punding on the door and jiggling the handle. Numair sighed again and raised his head. He was about to tell the perpatrator to go away when he heard Reed Lindhall's voice yelling at him to open the door.

"Numair Salmalin, open this door. Open this door right now! I sent that page to fetch you and he came back babbling something about broken dishes and overturned tables. And why in the Realms of the Gods is this door locked? Mithros help me if you don't open this door right now. I'll break it down, so help me!" Lindhall conintued pounding on the door for a few moments. "Alright! You leae me no choice! If you're anywhere near this door, back up!"

Numair looked up, deeply annoyed. Here he was trying to be happy about a baby and all Lindhall wanted to do was bust down his door. His brow creased into a frown and he raised his right hand, a ball of black glittery magic forming in his palm. Just before he hurled the ball at the door, Daine gently touched his arm and shook her head "NO".

He stood and lovingly touched Daine's hair and strode to the door. With another little sigh, he used his magic to unlock and open it.

Master Reed Lindhall stood there, red-faces, out of breath and nursing a set of bruised knuckles. "Well, it's about time, Arram! I was beginning to think you might be dead in there. What's going on with you?" Lindhall paused to take a breath and Numair jumped in.

"Nothing's wrong, Lindhall. I was just talking to my wife and thinking about what to name the baby, that's all. Is there something you wanted?"

"Yes, there's something I wanted. I wanted an update.... Did you say baby? Lindhall stopped mid-sentence.

lahk4

Two things to remember:
# on't sweat the small stuff.
#2:Everything is small stuff.

Sorry about the grammatical errors I just found in the 2nd chapter. That's what I get for writing at 1:00 in the morning when I should be in bed. I will try to get chapter 3 out soon. Not sure what to write; Lindahll, Numair, and Daine haven't spoken to me yet today.

lahk4

Two things to remember:
#1:Don't sweat the small stuff.
#2:Everything is small stuff.

If I may make a suggestion. Type everything in word first. Then, you can spell check it. Once everything is perfect, copy and paste it onto a message box. It is much easier. Tabby does that same.

P.S. I have strep throat AND mono!!!

  

Thanks for the suggestion. I usually write it down on paper first and then type it out. Most of the errors weren't something spellcheck would have picked up on, though. Like a missing set of quotation marks. I just have to try to remember not to type when I'm exhausted.

lahk4

Two things to remember:
#1:Don't sweat the small stuff.
#2:Everything is small stuff.

Hello, I've actually been reading this all along, I just keep forgetting to tell you how much I like it. Nice work. Don't kill yourself on the minor stuff, we all know you're not a professional author (or are you?). I'd say 'keep up the good work' if I used cliches...but since I try to *avoid them like the plague*...oh who am I kidding?

keep up the good work.

what did you think of Namiir, btw? Anything to contribute? I know you want to...

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TABBY?!?!?!?!?! There is NO signature on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  

Please ma'am, may I have some more (story)?

*pokes around post hopefully*

Don't drop off on us! I hate when people do that! Finish what you're started--

oh. Maybe I should take my own advice. Tchao.

p.s. But please, write more!

I, too, would LOVE to read more of this story! One word, Tabby. HYPOCRITE!