Author's Notes: Okies... well... you all know the disclaimer. I don't own Valdemar or companions or heralds or anything... I would love to... but... no. I don't.

Teh Luvverly Co-Authoress: Shea (not a name... she doesn't have an account.)

Please R/R!

"Mother!"

Seowyn woke with a start, only to open her eyes and still see darkness. Reaching up, she pulled the offending pillow, no doubt the cause of the jolt that had woken her up, down off of her face and glaring up into the warm blue eyes of her seventeen year old daughter, Kaidi.

"Good morning," Kaidi chirped, as cheerful and bouncy as any teenager Seowyn had ever seen. 'It's unnatural.' she thought absent-mindedly, her head starting to ache from the glaring morning sun 'Nobody should be this awake before a cup of –…. 'And it doesn't help for her to be wearing Whites. They reflect every little bit of sunlight in the vicinity. … Wearing Whites!' The realization hit her in the face, causing just as much of a jolt as the pillow that had hit her in the face moments earlier.

"My gods!" Seowyn exclaimed, jumping out of bed and hugging the 17 year old heir to the throne tightly. "You got your whites!" Kaidi smiled, nodding brightly. "I knew the Heraldic Circle had planned to give them to you soon, but I didn't know when…." She trailed off, hugging her daughter once more before letting her go and pulling a light cotton robe over her night gown. 'Lucky, Brightstar is still in K'Leshya at the moment… if he'd been here, I think Kaidi would've found herself being hugged by a very joyous but very naked queen!' She chuckled quietly to herself, ignoring the 'mom's-gone-insane' look Kaidi had just shot in her direction.

Shrugging, Seowyn took her daughter's arm and started to walk out of the room. "Do me a favor, and walk an old lady down to the bathing room?"

"Now, Mother," Kaidi laughed, turning and walking in the direction of the nearest bathing room. "Thirty-nine is hardly old! But, since receivin my whites has put me into a particularly charitable mood, I do believe that I'll just nod my head and walk you there without too much of a fuss." She nodded mockingly, taking long, dramatic steps in the direction of the bathing room.

"Tch, I meant for you to take your grandmother, but if you'd rather take me, I suppose that would be acceptable," Seowyn made a face at her daughter, brushing her wav dark brown hair over one shoulder with a flick of her wrist.

"As you command, so it shall be , Your Majesty," said Kaidi, bowing mockingly to her queen.

Upon arrival at the bathing room, Kaidi left her mother to clean up and starting walking quickly down the stone-paved halls of the palace. Turning one of the many sharp corners in this area of the palace, she ran straight into what seemed to be a large walking pile of silk.

"…Why, Hello, Bard Jesslyn," Kaidi said, carefully detangling herself from the folds of the happy-go-lucky 28 year old bard's clothing. "Nice to see you again."

Smiling her apology, Jesslyn straightened the silk of her brilliant blue robes. "My apologies, little one."

"… I'm seventeen. Eleven years difference in age hardly gives you the right to call me 'little one'!" Kaidi said, annoyance piercing her voice like needles.

She merely laughed, patting the young heir on the head. "Sorry, kitten. I just like to tease you." Kaidi sent her a mock glare. "I see you got your Whites today," she observed, raising an eyebrow and making another attempt at straightening the wrinkled blue silk of her robes.

"I see you got another outfit," Kaidi said, wrinkling her nose in mock disgust. "It's hertasi-made, I assume?" The hertasi were small, lizard-like people who enjoy serving those around them and have a knack for making showy, beautiful clothing. They had come with the Tayledras. Nowadays, there were plenty of hertasi volunteers living in the palace and serving its inhabitants, though they had to be gated back home in the winter, because Valdemaren winters were too cold for them.

Jess merely nodded.

"I swear," she said lightly, hitting the bard lightly on the arm in a rather unladylike gesture. "You're worse than any Tayledras mage I've ever seen!"

The Bard let out the most offensive stream of curses Kaidi had heard in her entire lifetime. "That actually hurt! You forget, little one, that you've been training a lot with good sir Weaponsmaster lately. You're not the little weakling you were before you were Chosen."

Kaidi stammered an apology, bowing lightly to the court Bard. "Doesn't court start soon? It has to be getting to be about that time."

"Ah!" Jesslyn looked suddenly horrified at the idea of being late, picked up the gittern Kaidi hadn't even noticed, and hurried off in the direction of the throne room with as much dignity as possible for a late bard in an extravagant silk Tayledras outfit.

Chuckling, the newly promoted Herald straightened her Whites and continued towards her goal, Companion's Field, where she was scheduled to meet with Herald Vairn, the Weaponsmaster, and their two Companions. The walk to the field was a long one, but at the moment, she was feeling like skipping all the way there, and singing along the way.

Upon arrival, Kaidi saw Vairn waiting, as she'd expected. 'I'm only…. She glanced at the time candle nearby. Oh…. Thirty minutes late, give or take a few.' He didn't seem to be annoyed either. Instead, he appeared happy to see her, flashing her one of his perfect, shining smiles. 'It's too bad he's shaych...' Vairn was the only openly shaych man in the whole palace, which probably made his life a fairly lonely one. Although, it meant that men could come to him, instead of him having to ferret them out. Although, he tended to be avoided in court because of it. Which, Kaidi decided, was rather unfair. He had to be one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen. Yes, beautiful. There was something about him that suggested that he would have been better suited to being a courtier, rather than the Weaponsmaster. That suggestion was entirely false. With that beauty came a kind of stealth, a smoothness that made him an excellent, and quick, fighter. That he had a fair, slim figure, golden brown hair, gently highlighted with blonde from a life of being outdoors, and pale amber eyes was completely deceiving. All in all, it made him an excellent fighter and quite pleasant to look at.

Kaidi was pulled from her thoughts by a gentle cough from her friend.

"Ah!" she blushed lightly, smiling a little and changing the subject. "Sorry I was late. I ran into a certain rather clumsy Bard in the hallway."

Vairn chuckled warmly, patting the younger girl on the head. (Vairn was 35, though he looked to only be around 20, at most.) "By 'a certain rather clumsy Bard', I'm sure you could only mean Jess."

So glad you decided to say hello.: said a familiar voice sarcastically in her head.

:Oops… Sorry, Rayne. I was going to say hi, but I got a little…distracted.: She hugged her Companion affectionately, 'nuzzling her head into' burying her face into the pure white of Rayne's mane.

:I noticed.: Rayne replied, nuzzling her chosen's side affectionately. :Really, you humans… always thinking of the same thing.:

:Hah! Right. And of course you had me blocked out all last night because you were just sleeping? If a Companion could blush, Kaidi got the impression she would have. The fact that she hadn't replied was enough to say that she was embarrassed. She decided to let her Companion regain control, rather than just poking more fun at her.

Turning towards Vairn's Companion, Alena, Kaidi smiled in greeting. Alena merely nodded, going back to whatever it is that Companions do when they're not harassing their Chosen, or otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. 'Gossiping, probably.' Kaidi decided, turning her attention back to Vairn.

"So," she said cheerily, already tiring of being so still. "What are we working on today?"

Vairn opened his mouth to reply, but was promptly interrupted by a large boom from the palace, and the sounds of screaming courtiers.

' Mother!' Kaidi thought, vaulting up onto Rayne's unsaddled back with all the smoothness of a well-oiled hinge. Rayne began running towards the palace at a speed no horse would've been capable of. One glance behind her confirmed that Vairn and Alena were racing towards the Throne Room at a speed 'that' to rival her own. As they reached the palace doors, their Companions ran on, their hooves chiming on the stone floors, reminding Kaidi eerily of the death bell that was tolled every time a herald died.

The gallop to the Throne Room seemed to take forever, although it only took a few moments. What they saw when they arrived, neither of them were prepared for.