"Would you like to gallop?" Arone asked Melane as they reached a wide, flat meadow.
"Sure! That would be great! Race you to the oak tree!" Melane called as she took off.
Melane leaned high on her filly's withers, and gracefully flew over a fence that had been blocking her way. Arone was two steps ahead of her, and he jumped a log just before she touched the ground. But with three long strides of her seventeen-hands-tall filly, she drew ahead of him and slammed the tree with her riding-glove-covered hand. "I win!" she yelped! "Ha ha!"
"You started first!" Arone accused.
Melane stuck her tongue out at him. "So?"
Arone laughed. "You are being very unladylike, you know," he declared.
Melane shrugged, but she straightened up in the saddle and resumed a calm expression. She cleared her throat. "Well. Would you like to keep riding?" she asked politely.
"Sure," Arone agreed with a smile.
Later that day, Melane was walking into her room, when she saw a shimmer and a flash of light. She screamed, and suddenly a badger with silver claws appeared. Melane screamed, and the badger looked at her with confusion.
Hush, kit, he told her. What is wrong?
"Who-who-who are you?" Melane asked fearfully.
Do you not recognize me? Melane shook her head violently. Veralidaine, Daine, why ar- Melane cut him off angrilly. "I'm NOT Daine! I don't even know who this Daine person is!!!!!!!! Do I have some secret identical twin that I don't know about? Every where I go, someone or other is calling me, "Daine". Please stop it! You're confusing me!"
The badger looked at her in shock. This is worse than I thought, he mumbled, and disappeared back into the Realms of the Gods.
Melane breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone, but she shook her head worriedly. What was wrong with her? Was she having delusions? And if she wasn't, why did people keep calling her "Daine"? People she had never even met, too. And those dreams, too. Were those real? She shook her head again, and headed out of the room to talk to the Emperor.
"My dear Melane, how are you?" Ozrone cried as Lady Melane entered his chambers.
"Emperor, I have come to ask you a strange question, but it has been bothering me for some time," Melane began carefully.
"No need for the formality at present, my dear, as we are alone with no one to hear your prim respect."
Melane blushed, and lowered her head. "I would...prefer to keep it formal, if it is all right with you. I don't really know you as of yet,"
Ozrone shook his head in mocked dismay. "All those years I cared for you as a child, count for nothing to you now?"
Melane covered her mouth in a gasp. "Oh, no, sir, I never meant to be ungrateful. It's just...well, I don't want to be disrespectfull. There's no reason for you to be kind to me, after all."
Ozrone smiled. "I can't help being nice, I suppose," he commented modestly. "Anyway, as to your question, what do you wish to ask me?"
Melane frowned slightly. "Well, I was just wondering...have you ever heard of anyone named Daine?" she queried, waiting for his reaction.
On the outside, Ozrone appeared to think for a moment and shake his head. But on the inside, he tensed up and his eyes brightened. His heart started racing furiously. After a moment he replied, "No, no I haven't. Where did you hear of this "Daine" character?"
Melane frowned again. "Wellll, I had a dream, and, and well, um, that's it," she answered, unwilling to tell him about the badger in case it was just her imagination.
"Well, in that case, I'm sure it was, after all, just a dream. However, I would advise that you not ask anyone else about these dreams, for they might think that you were hallucinating."
Melane nodded reluctantly. "All right, if you're certain they were just dreams..."
Ozrone nodded fervantly. "I'm completely certain, my dear Melane. Now if you would excuse me, I have work to do..."
Melane jumped up and headed for the door. "Of course, sir. You have a country to run. Well, actually, I know your ministers do that, but I'm sure you have paperwork-"
Ozrone shut the door on her babbling, and headed for his magical experimentational chambers. It looked like he needed a new memory charm...
