Yeah...if I owned all of this, would I be publishing on here or would I publish it for money? Hmm...yeah. Anyway: This. Is. Not. Mine. All. Is. TP's. But. Some. Plot. Things. Are. Mine. Clear?

Top 10 Things That Should Never Be Said to Alanna

Age

"Hey, how old are you, anyway?" the older knight asked her. "Shouldn't you be at the training yards, not trying to debate with your elders?"

For reasons indiscernible to the knight, Crown Prince Jonathan's face was turning red and his body shook. His friends knew that what he struggled with was suppressed laughter.

Weakness

"How about a wrestling match?" George inquired. His hazel-green eyes sparkled with mirth as Alanna turned on him, mouth opening to yell at him. Her lips snapped shut as she saw the expression on his face.

"How about I just kill you now in a duel?" she suggested sweetly.

Memory

"Want to come swimming?" Raoul knew better, but he couldn't resist needling his fire-tempered friend. "We know how much you love the water." His joke was interrupted when he was pushed underwater by Jon and Gary, who had been plotting behind him.

"Thank you, lads," Alanna said with a grin as the two conspirators exchanged smirks and bowed extravagantly.

Fame

"Who are you again? Alanna the Lioness…hmm, doesn't ring a bell." The inn-keeper from a small village in Sarain hadn't heard of the Champion, and didn't seem inclined to give her a room for the night. "Women aren't good warriors in the first place, and—"

"Coram, talk some sense into him. I need a bath." The inn-keeper watched in amazement as the petite redheaded knight stalked away through the inn's doors.

"It's all righ'—ye'll get used to th' lass eventually," Coram explained understandingly.

Stubbornness

"You love him. Get used to it and get over it," the black cat informed her. "There's nothing you can do about it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Alanna told him, her expression hard. "I can do anything that I need to."

Compulsion

"I order you to attend the next ball. In a pink dress, heels, and make-up." Jonathan didn't know if he was asking for a slow and excruciatingly painful death, but he knew that the horrified look on his Champion's face as his words sank in were completely worth any punishment she could mete out.

Disgust

"Don't you just love Delia and Josiane?" Gary asked, grinning wryly. The details of the two ladies' last encounter with Alanna were Palace gossip now, and he wasn't the only one who was glad that it hadn't been him.

His friend's response would have made the stable lads blush, but it only made Gary chuckle in amusement.

Frustration

"You should relax, Alanna. Aly doesn't need to find her way in the world yet," said Maude gently. "She's only fourteen, and she has so many talents."

"But what would happen to her if George and I were killed? She doesn't know what she wants to do with her life! By her age I was Jon's squire, and only four years away from my knighthood!"

"Don't worry, dear—she'll find her way, and you can be sure of that."

Alanna grunted unbelievingly and left the room. Within minutes Maude could hear the sounds of Shang practice.

Revulsion

"Roger wants to know if you will marry him." George joked, a rare smile lighting his face as he watched Alanna fill with rage.

"That…that…oh!" And with a shudder of revulsion, the lady knight marched away, lips pressed together tightly.

Disbelief

"Doesn't the convent sound wonderful? You'll learn to sew and dance!" Alanna was informed excitedly by one of the Trebond maids, who would obviously have been ecstatic to be in her mistress' place.

The redheaded girl's "Hmph" swiftly discouraged any such conversation, but also confused the serving maid, who would have loved to be able to learn those ladylike skills.