"What is that, Thom?"
"Really Sarralyn, must you ask questions about everything?" the red-headed boy replied.
The small eleven-year-old girl pouted, "But Thom, Pappy never answers my questions, and Mama just tells me to ask Pappy."
Thom sighed and turned around, "Well, if you really want to know what that is, why don't you ask me after I finish this, ok?"
Sarralyn smiled, "Thanks Thom!" And then she skipped out of the room.
Thom shook his head and sighed again. Then he turned back to his experiment and thought up an answer to what exactly the small kudarung that Aly had sent him was.
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"Sarralyn, be careful," Thom warned.
The fourteen-year-old rolled her eyes. "Thom, when am I ever not careful?" she asked.
Thom snorted, "I don't think I'll answer that one."
Sarralyn grinned, "But Thom, you always answer my questions."
Thom ducked as a loud bag issued from Sarralyn's vicinity that was now clouded with smoke. "And you never listen to my warnings," Thom said to the air. This earned him a chuckle.
----------------------------
Sarralyn fiddled with her hair. Rikash stared at his sister with wide eyes. "You like him, don't you?" he accused her.
Sarralyn blushed, "That's none of your business, Rikash."
"Well, it's final, Thom's to marry the girl from well where ever it is that she's from. Now what's none of you brother's business?" asked Numair as he entered the study.
Sarralyn stood up abruptly, "Nothing Pappy. I'll talk to you later." Then she ran from the room.
Just as she turned the corner, she ran into a tall strong person. "Whoa there, Sarralyn. What's the matter?" Thom asked when he saw her tears.
"It's nothing, Thom," she told him.
"Oh, it's never nothing with you," he replied.
"Just leave me alone, ok?" she retorted.
"No, now tell me what's the matter?" Thom said with a grim grip in his voice.
"Thom leave me alone!" Sarralyn nearly shouted.
"I'm not leaving you alone till you tell me what's wrong," he snapped.
"Fine! Fine! I'll tell you, but it's not my fault when you hate me!" Sarralyn cried.
Thom looked at her in surprise, "Why would I ever hate you?"
The tears were falling freely now as she said, "Because… because I hate you!"
Thom's face grew sharp, "And why's that Sarralyn?"
She set her face, angry overtaking the sadness, "Why does that matter, Thom? It's not like I matter anymore."
Thom felt the angry building. "Of course you matter. Now tell me what is making you so upset?" he demanded.
"No, why don't you just go spend all of you lovely time with what's her name, that you've taken to courting," Sarralyn said.
"What does Lydia have to do with anything that we're talking about?" Thom asked.
Sarralyn let out a frustrated cry. "She has everything to do with it!" she shouted at him. "It's obvious that you don't understand anything, Thom!" and with that she turned to leave.
Thom wasn't about to let her get away. He grabbed her arm and the next thing he knew, he was laying in the infirmary with Neal, his mother's former squire standing over him.
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Kel stood on the wall, looking down into the courtyard. "Why did they send her here again?" she asked the others who stood with her.
Neal sighed, "She and Thom got into a rather violent, magical argument in one of the back halls of the palace. Numair and Daine thought it best to get her away from Thom for a little while."
Raoul tilted his head as he watched the young wildmage in practicing with her bow. "What could Thom have done this time, to make her so mad?"
Neal looked at Raoul smiling, "That's the exact same thing that Thom asked me when he was coherent. He has no idea why she was so upset. All he knows is that it has something to do with Lady Lydia, himself, and something that he apparently doesn't understand."
"Who knew that teenagers could be so confusing?" Raoul asked.
Kel and Neal grinned, "We did." They turned to face the young woman how was taking her anger out on the target in front of her.
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Thom stared at the book in front of him. He pretend to turn a page every now and then. "You do know that I know you're not really reading that, right?" Lydia asked him.
He jumped. "Oh, sorry Lydia. I'm just thinking, that's all."
"Umhm, and how's that working out for you?" she asked, one eyebrow arched.
Thom sighed, "I just don't understand what has her so angry. She's been gone a three months and I haven't gotten a single letter."
Lydia laughed at him. "You still haven't figured it out have you?" she asked.
He whipped around and stared her down, "And you do?"
She smiled and said, "I've known since you told me about your argument."
"Well, would you care to explain?" he asked tentatively.
"No, that's for you to figure out. But you might want to rethink your agreeing to pretend to be engaged to me to get my father off my back for spending so much time with you for this experiment of ours," she said with a grin. "I think I'll leave you to figure it out."
Only after she left did what she said really sink in. "Wait, what does she want me to do?" Thom asked himself. Thom thought through everything that had happened and he came up with nothing. He decided to visit his mentor.
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"And that's what happened," Thom told Numair. "So why is she mad?"
Numair sighed and put down his tools. "Thom, I never thought that I'd be doing this," he told the younger man.
"Do what, Numair?" Thom asked, almost eager.
"Give my daughter's suitor advise," Numair said as he turned around to face Thom.
"What? Why are you….oh, oh!" Thom said as he final understood Sarralyn's anger. Then his face fell, "Oh no! No, no, no. She can't possible feel that way. Can she?"
"Well apparently she does, or she wouldn't be so terrible upset with the fact that she thinks that you're getting married, when in actuality you're not. Which, I might add, she does not know," Numair said.
"But I'm too old for her!" Thom argued.
Numair smiled at him, "I used that same argument with her mother and it got me nowhere. If you're what she wants, then you're what she wants. The age difference between you might be larger than it was for Daine and myself, but it's not that much greater. Nor is it any larger than the age gap of several happy, successful marriages here at court." Thom thought this over. He opened his mouth to speak, but found himself unable too. "I'm not done yet, Thom. Now you need to stop thinking about what she wants and think about yourself, because your heart's going to be involved in this just as much as hers is. Now, out! I have an experiment to finish."
----------------------
"Well done, Sarra!" Kel told the younger girl after a short bout with staffs.
Sarralyn smiled, "Thanks, Kel." She sighed. "Kel, can I ask your opinion on something?"
Kel nodded and said, "Let me guess. Something to do with Thom?"
Sarralyn's smile grew, "Yeah, do you think I'm being foolish?"
Kel smiled back, "Not at all, Sarra, not at all."
"Lady, Lady!" called one of the guards on the wall.
She turned and shouted back, "What is it, soldier?"
"A man with flaming hair, like the Lioness' is a-coming down the road!" he shouted in reply.
Sarralyn sighed, "Well better now then later."
Kel's smile turned to a grin, "Let him in!"
Sarralyn walked over as the horse came to a stop shortly inside the gate. It's rider hopped down and rushed at her. She gasped as the breath was knocked from her has she felt Thom grab her and hug her tight. Then he kissed her like he would never get a chance again. All Sarralyn could feel was fire, in her fingers, her toes. Hot fire raced all through her. She had never been kissed like this. She wrapped her arms around Thom's neck holding him as close as possible.
Eventually, when they had broken apart, they heard the cheers of the people in the fort. He grinned down at her, "Sorry it took me so long to figure it out, Sarra."
"You're forgiven if you kiss me like that again," she told him seriously as she could manage.
A/N:
So yeah…. I really keep meaning to write Amanda's story (see my other Tamora Pierce story), but other things keep typing themselves in its place. I feel really bad about not updating, which is why I'm making a new rule for myself. For every chapter or one-shot that I read, I've got to put up a chapter or one-shot, in a timely manner. How's that sound?
So this pairing, of Thom and Sarralyn sort of hit me awhile ago, when I was rereading Trickster's Queen. Because in the epilogue, it talks about Thom explaining something to Sarralyn and her beaming up at him. I thought that it would sort of be ironic for them to end up together, because her mom went for someone older, and his dad went for someone younger. Anyways, I like it, put that's just me.
I'm thinking about doing a K/D (Kel/Dom) story, but there are so many, I might do something else first, a less appreciated couple from Pierce's great creation that is Tortall.
So, don't forget to READ AND REVIEW! If you got a question, send it! Anywhos, thanks!
Yours truly,
...doveofdreams...