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"My lord, I'd like permission to take this to the smithy," Kel said, hefting the lance. "It's too light."
Wyldon blinked at her. "What?"
"Surely my lord knew that Page Keladry has lead weights in all of her practice weapons," commented Neal, who stood nearby. He looked the spirit of mischief.
-Page, Tamora Pierce page 146 of the Random House edition
Lord Wyldon sat at his desk with his head propped on his good arm. He reread his monthly report to the King. "Was there anything else he should include in it?" He reviewed the list again.
He, Lord Wyldon was to include any:
Suspicious actions he had observed
Suspicious of what it didn't say
Excessively violent acts he had observed
This one seemed ironic, considering the subject matter
Change he wished to make in the curriculum
Though the King never said no to anything he wanted
Reactions to the new curriculum
Whose reaction he had never bothered to ask
Thing he had learned
That one had always seemed like a joke...
He paused in his commentary, he had indeed learned something this months. He had learned that the probationer -Page Keladry- he mentally corrected himself, used weighted weapons. The incident had just resurfaced in his mind.
As he continued to think about it he couldn't help but remember that he had also been caught saying 'what' as if he were some drooling idiot. That bothered him as much as anything. It was also highly disturbing that anything could happen in the page's lives that he didn't know about. With one swift movement he stood to go remedy that.
When he stepped into the deserted page's stable alone Stephan Groomsman swung down from the loft.
"Is here some'ing I can do fer you sir?"
"Page Keladry claims to be using weighted practice weapons, do you know anything of it?"
"Only 'bout the lance m' lord. An' she didn't even know 'bout it till 'bout a fortnight aft' they all started wif them lances."
"How could she not know that her own weapon was weighted?" Lord Wyldon asked after he realized what the man was saying.
" 'Cause t'was Joren who weighted it m'lord."
"Thank you Stephan." The man nodded and swung back into the loft as Wyldon left.
Well at least that explained why her weapon was not ready for practice today. He did some brief calculations and realized that it must have been the first time her lance had broken and Joren hadn't been there to hand her another one. He sighed, Joren probably thought he was hurting Keladry when he weighted the weapon. Wyldon shook his head.
If it was any other page he would have been elated to know that the page who was the best with the lance had attained that level with a weighted lance. It would have meant that said page was that much closer to using a non-training lance. Unfortunately it was the Girl who was that much closer to being successful and he just wasn't sure how he felt about that. He sighed again; reminding himself that she was just one more page, nothing different. But the truth was he still wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of being responsible for the success of a female knight. Life would be so much easier if she were just a boy!