ONESHOT: Kel's oldest son, Cadel, has always wondered if his mother had wanted a daughter instead of him. Now, he faces the taunts of older pages as he enters their ranks to try for his knighthood.

A story about Kel's son. Dom got a title and land in reward for services to the crown before he married Kel. This happens in Cadel's first year, and right before my longer story, Yama's Festival. Read, enjoy, and REVIEW!

Please?

A Son

Cadel of Broakhale stepped onto the training courts nervously, sword in hand. He knew that they all wondered about him, the lady knight's son. Working up moisture in his mouth as he watched the older pages' smirks, he wished he had enough nerve to spit at their feet.

They were partnered up by year, and Lord haMinch barked out the combinations he wanted them to perform. It was easy work for Cadel; he did not mind drills, not ones that had been pounded into him since he was little… He was tall and would someday be broad-shouldered, like his mother. With her dreamy hazel eyes, he was more like her than his father Domitan, with a serious and often expressionless face, though occasionally- when he was comfortable with the company around him- he would allow his sharp wit to be heard by others.

He had often wondered if his mother had wanted a daughter to follow her footsteps. A daughter to be the firstborn. Well, at least Lady Keladry of Broakhale had one of those; a daughter. But whether or not his sister would become a knight…

He wondered-sometimes- if his mother was disappointed that he was a boy. Often, he wished that he could be someone else's son, not the boy of a lady knight, not the child who had been growing in her before she was married-

Keladry- then of Mindelan- had not wanted to settle down to raise a child yet.That much he knew from gossip and his siblings; his oldest sister was five years younger. If his mother had wanted children, why had she waited so long to have another-?

To have any other mother, even the Lioness, would have been easier. At least her children had resided in Pirate's Swoop, away from any acute eyes and insulting remarks. He had lived in the palace his whole life, with his father as the Knight Commander's assistant. He wondered often what Vanora, his six-year-old sister, thought about their mother and their position.

She was pretty, and liked the gowns of the rich nobility. She was also small and slight, which made him think that Vanora would never become a knight. Certainly, Lady Alanna was small… but not slight. Cadel wondered if she had been, in her younger years… but he doubted it. A small smile twitched across his lips as the training master- a conservative, of course- scolded one of the older boys for a foolish mistake. Cadel himself never would have made it; though he despised bragging, he had trained with his parents as well as his "uncle" Nealean of Queenscove. And they knew others there in the palace; Tobeas Boone, one of the Rider commanders, was practically a brother. And Daine the Wildmage, her husband Numair Salamalin, Raoul, the Knight Commander and his wife Buri were like aunts and uncles to him.

In short, he had connections that many of the boys around him would never make….

And he never used them. He preferred to be like the rest of them; inexperienced, clumsy, and- most of all- mothered by a woman who had not spent her youth with swords and shields.

"Broakhale!" Broken out of his reverie, Cadel looked up at the hard-faced Lord haMinch. "Pair up with Kasem! And keep those elbows away from your sides."

They were, he thought, but he bowed to the frowning lord and switched places with one of the older boys.Cadel remembered the boy from this morning; he had sneered at the younger boy in a way that made Cadel want to knock the living daylights out of him.

The third-year page that now faced him sneered. His features were dark and sharp, his eyes a hard black. He glared at Cadel as they continued with the exercises, with the same rhythm.

Except that this Kasem hit harder than Cadel's other partner had. Gamely, Cadel countered the strokes. Then Kasem sped up, almost breaking the pattern of the drill. Gritting his teeth, Cadel tried to slow down, only to have Kasem almost hit him.

"What are you doing?" he hissed, deciding to match the older boy's strokes instead of trying to keep the set pace.

"I could ask you the same," Kasem snarled back, features mocking. "You're good for a first-year. Did Mommy teach you that?" Cadel's dreamy eyes narrowed shrewdly, but his face gave nothing else away.

"Is this what this is about?" he asked, voice incredulous.

"You aren't anything but the son of a trollop, whelped by a man who couldn't become a knight." With those words, the youth flipped his sword out of the arranged pattern and cut towards Cadel's side.

Cadel's eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed.

No matter what he thought of his parents- no matter how much they had warned him of the possibility of such insults- he could not let this… ass… speak like that-

With sudden fury, the boy yanked his sword up to block the other's blade. Then, with a contemptuous twist, he forced the sword to the ground and shoved Kasem out of the line.

"Idiot!" he snapped as the boy stumbled backwards, his sword in his hands. Cadel stepped forwards, muscles taunt, aware that the training master and the teachers were shouting. "If you're going to try to kill me, don't go waving that about where someone else might get hurt!" Cadel lowered himself into a crouch, prepared for the worst. Cautioned again and again by his parents and their friends, he knew better than to turn his back now. Sure enough, Kasem lunged towards him, cursing him with a vengeance. The younger boy blocked two cuts, then dived in with a fierce determination that led him to slam his blade into Kasem's sword so hard, it flew from the page's grasp.

Then a black, glittering magic rushed over both boys, holding them in place. Cadel's eyes flickered towards the fence; five people stood there. Numair Salamalin, his eyes focused on the two youths as he pulled them apart with his Gift. Daine, trying to smooth her expression. Lady Alanna, who looked very pleased with what had just happened as she gleefully leaned on the fence post. And-

Inwardly, Cadel groaned.

Lord Domitan and Lady Keladry of Broakhale stood there. His father was grinning widely, but his mother watched the whole scene impassively. Cadel was not certain which was worse….

Numair released the magic on him, and he sank to the ground, aware that his adopted uncle was still holding Kasem in an uncomfortable position, several feet in the air. Sheepishly, Cadel glanced at the furious Lord haMinch and winced. First would come his punishment, then he would have to endure light-hearted comments from his father… and then-

Cadel had no idea what to expect from his mother.

"As I would have thought!" the training master snapped. "Making trouble already! Liberal youths! Spawn of-" Cadel's ashamed gaze fell upon his mother again; their hazel eyes, eerily identical, locked.

Then, suddenly, Kel smiled at her son and nodded. A wide grin spread across Cadel's face, earning him an even fiercer scolding from the lord who was now bearing down on him.

And then, suddenly, all his doubts and dismay were gone. Any fear or worry he had had disappeared for good. He was a Broakhale, son of the second lady knight in a century's time.

And he was proud of it.

As he reluctantly let the insubordinate who had attacked Cadel down, Numair inclined his head to let Daine whisper in his ear. She giggled at the distance he had to lean down to hear.

"Just wait and see. Cadel will be a true swordsman."

"Aye," Alanna agreed, sounding exactly like her common-born husband. "Just you wait. He'll make his own legend, mark my words." She hesitated, then plunged on. "Maybe someday he'll be able to beat me." She glared at Kel, who was staring at her with mixed surprise and embarrassment. "Only because I'll be ancient by then." She scowled. "Goddess, I'm ancient already."

"Maybe it's sitting here, watching the future of Tortall. I know it makes me feel old," Numair said quietly, gesturing to the pages, who were all watching Cadel's scoldings. "Gods, if that dark-haired, sulky lad gets off easily, I'm going to have to pay the servants to wreck his room for him. Imagine, attacking our Cadel like that-!" Kel smiled quietly.

"Oh, don't trouble yourself," she said softly, looking at Cadel's loyal friends, all of whom were glaring mutinously at the other boy. "I'm quite sure that the plans have already been made."

"It seems that Cadel will be following your tradition of stirring up wars among the pages," Dom murmured, wrapping an arm around her waist. "At least you had the sense to cause trouble when you were out of the Stump's sight." Kel rolled her eyes, but smiled at the blank, Yamani-like expression on her son's face as he was berated.

"And at least he has the sense to know not to bate His Lordship, unlike his father's side of the family," she retorted playfully. "Now there's a group that never learned to keep their mouths shut."

"He's certainly your son," he whispered, pulling her against him. Without a thought to propriety, she rested her head against his chest. She smiled smugly.

"Yes," she said softly, eyes soft as they traced her eldest child's face. "And I would not exchange him for a score of daughters, warriors or not."

If you enjoyed this, Cadel and his friends are in Yama's Festival, too. You can read and review that too, if you wish. ;D