Disclaimer: not mine! (Wow that was easy) Ok, this is longer than I meant for it to be, but it kinda just happend, but the rest of the chapters probably won't be this long.

The streets of Corus were filled that fateful Midsummer day with people talking, laughing, many holding drinks as they watched the shows. A magician performed sleight of hand tricks that left the young children in the crowd gasping in wonder, while a puppet show nearby acted out a story done so often by their peers that almost everyone in the audience knew every line, but still laughed as the hero cunningly outwitted the villain and everyone lived happily every after. A hazel-eyed singer stood in front of a large crowd, drawn by the sound of her captivating voice, and there was a trio of musicians behind her playing the fickle melody. The girl finished her song with a high note, then curtseyed and hurried off the slight platform that had been erected for the street entertainers' purposes.

Another girl, the same age as the singer, waited by the back stairs of the stage behind a curtain positioned to block the audience's view of the preparations backstage. Just as magicians never revealed their tricks, entertainers hated for the public to know just how the men were able to get on the exotic, high stilts or why the jugglers really never dropped their balls, ladders, saws, and other assorted instruments.

The first girl rubbed her throat, gratefully accepting the water that the other handed her, pausing to tie up her brown hair from the mass of curls it had been painstakingly put into that morning.

"You were great, Danai! I told you that you could get that note!" the second girl praised quietly, mindful of the people just feet away on the other side of the shielding curtain.

"No, you told me that I'd better practice or my voice would break in front of everyone," Danai complained as the musicians took their own bow and left the stage to great applause.

"My fingers are going to fall off," one fiddler, a blonde youth, complained to the other two. The next comment her directed at Danai with a grin: "If you keep picking these fast songs, we're all going to be at the healers' for months!"

"As if you don't enjoy all the attention, Rob," retorted the girl, smiling. She turned to her companion, "When are you on, Kai?"

Kai tilted her head up to check the angle of the sun. "Two hours. Enough time to go buy some trinkets or watch Hedi do her flame routine," she said hopefully. She herself was dressed in a dancer's customary performance clothes, a tight shirt and loose breeches that reached down to her calves, covered by six different colored skirts, all in shades of orange, yellow, and red. Her dark mahogany hair was in several braids that were all caught in a strict bun at the back of her head, and her makeup exaggerated the size of her green eyes and red lips to humorously match her role.

At the mention of said routine involving fire, Danai groaned, "As if we haven't seen it scores of times before, we have to ruin Midsummer by going to see it. Great idea."

They watched the next act, a foursome of acrobats pass them on their way to the stage, exchanging greetings and wishes of luck. "Fine, if you don't want to go watch her I'll do it alone."

Danai relented, "Fine, but just because my mother taught me never to wander the streets alone."

Kai laughed happily, throwing a carefree arm around her friend's shoulder. "As if you aren't used to it by now. Six years on the streets and you're still afraid that you'll get robbed or something. You don't have any money, and I swear that we must know half of the local pickpockets."

"That's ok, I'll admit that you do tend to make wandering the streets aimlessly a little more interesting. Mostly because of your tendency to be in the worst place at the worst possible time."

Kai frowned. "I do not have that problem. Maybe it was that server's problem that the cats happened to be there that night, not mine."

Danai giggled. "Sure. What about the time with the drummer? The jewelry salesman? The herb woman? Or when you accidentally…"

"All right, you made your point," Kai said glaring, but the effect was completely lost due to the comic placement of her facial makeup.

They each bought some food, talking to various friends as they finished performing or doing less legal jobs, admired the wares in the stalls, and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. They even got back early for Kai's troupe to be on schedule, which was a rarity, and Kai didn't have anything stained on her costume, not even the usual slight mishaps with newly-painted banners, dogs fighting, or even waiters spilling water on her at the restaurant they went into. So for Kai, the day could have been perfect.

Except that when they were backstage waiting to go on, Kai wandered to one side, about to begin stretching, when a figure burst through the curtains wielding a knife to the indignant cries of those nearby. He bumped into Kai, pushing her into one of the nearby wooden walls, which, luckily, was much sturdier and held her weight. She watched in a sort of daze as he looked around, his eyes alighting on her. She straightened, wincing as she felt her bruised back.

In that moment, two things happened. The most obvious of which was that yet another person bowled into the curtain, racing through, also holding a sword. The other thing was that the original man grabbed Kai, holding his knife to her throat and using her as a shield against the newest intruder, who had been holding his sword with the clear intention of impaling Kai's attacker. Kai blinked her eyes, trying to remain upright and wondering how hard she had hit that wall.

"Don't move," the man with the knife said. She felt it move dangerously close to her neck and instantly stilled. The one holding the sword Kai quickly realized was not a boy as she had first assumed, but a girl in rough squires' attire with a short masculine haircut.

She waved he sword menacingly, saying, "Joren, if you don't let that poor girl go…"

"You'll what?" asked the blonde who held her. "Go to meathead? Or better yet…the stone? See how far that gets you, Kel."

"I saw you kill him," Kel said tersely. Kai tensed, realizing that a murderer held her life in his hands. She noticed that everyone nearby was watching the exchange, but none would do anything for fear of getting her killed. The last act had finished, and was now staring with the rest of the passing crowd, but this squire was the only to address the murderer.

"So what if you saw me?" Joren retorted, moving back, away from his opponent slightly. "Who are people likely to believe? The whore training as a squire, or the eldest son of the duke of Stone Mountain fief?"

Just then, as Joren continued to edge away, a third member joined the group. This one was tall, and older than the other two, but his eyes widened as he took in the scene. "Don't even try it, Meathead," warned Joren as the newcomer began to glow a pale emerald green. "If you even attempt anything, the girl gets it," he said, pricking her neck with the knifepoint. Kai closed her eyes as she felt a drop of blood run down her skin. Some distant, sane part of her was remarking about the fact that this had been the only costume that she hadn't somehow gotten some stain onto, and now there was blood.

She opened her eyes; saw Kel glance at her concernedly. "What do you want Joren?" she asked, her face blank.

"I don't want you or anyone to be told of what happened back there. That was private." Kel looked like she was about to object, but Joren moved the blade closer to Kai. "I don't want the duke, king, Wyldon, or anyone after me after this. This will NEVER," he emphasized the word, "become public knowledge. Got it?"

"And you'll let her go?" Kel asked, nodding at Kai. "And leave the city?"

"Agreed," Joren said. "Unfortunately I don't trust you so someone go get my horse." Kel nodded at one of the newcomers in the crowd who wore the squires' uniform also. He cast a concerned look at Kai before swinging onto his own steed and galloping toward to palace.

Kai searched the crowd, her eyes finding Danai, who looked like she was about to cry. The leader of her troupe looked crestfallen so she gave him a sympathetic smile, knowing that he was probable disappointed that they had never performed their new routine. One of the local pickpockets was holding a knife and studying the entire scene. Kai suddenly knew that doing anything like what he apparently had in mind would be very, very stupid. She tried to meet his eyes, trying to tell him to stop, but he didn't seem to understand until someone nearby, who also had been watching her, poked him and began talking to him. Kai suddenly wondered where the Watch was, but as they weren't helping, she decided that that was unimportant.

Very quickly the squire was back with Joren's horse, and before Kai knew what was happening, he had thrust her unto the saddle, twisting one of her arms behind her back. Somehow he was able to direct the horse without the reins, as he maneuvered a path through the anxious crowd to the main road out of the city.

Kai noticed that her defenders were keeping pace with them on their own rides, but they were far enough back not to frighten anyone.

After they had passed the last checkpoint and crossed the city walls, Kel shouted, "Joren you're out of the city. We won't tell anyone so just let the poor girl go."

He broke into a canter as soon as she started talking, but at the end her muttered, "Let her go. Fine." And her threw her out of the saddle, at a distance not to be killed by the horse's hooves, but still close enough for her to be too scared to scream. She felt her head snap back onto the cobblestones before the darkness stole her away.

Kel's POV

Kel watched as Neal put a glowing hand to the dancer's forehead, wondering how Joren could have done something as careless as that. The others gathered around them, all trying to talk at once.

"What'd he do that was so bad?" "The crowd said it was murder." "They'd need a witness, right?" "Who did he kill?" "How did this girl get caught in it?" "Who was it?" "Where'd you hear that?"

"Be quiet everyone!" Neal practically shouted. "If you want to know anything, I suggest you let Kel talk."

Everyone's eyes turned to her. Kel looked around at her friends, reviewing what she knew in her head. "Well," she said slowly, "I was coming back from a horse merchant's stall when I saw Joren in a back ally. He had a sword and he was killing a man. I don't know what happened, or if it was provoked, but I guess I might have gotten so angry that I didn't stop to think." She allowed a sheepish grin to penetrate her normal Yamani blankness. "I started chasing him, and he eventually, after a few angry shopkeepers and some broken wares, went through the stage curtain on the main road, the large one. I got there and he had he poor girl scared to death at knifepoint." She shook her head. "I can't believe he would do something like that. He killed a man! With a sword! Using the knowledge and training that we all got to protect people like that to murder!" Kel shuddered.

She glanced down to where Neal had reduced the swelling of the dancer's head to a minor bruise, but still was keeping her in a Gift induced sleep. "What do we do with her?" Neal asked.

"Why not just let her go back?" someone asked. "She must have a life, a family to return to."

"No," Kel said firmly. "Do you actually think that Joren will honor his promise to stay out of the city? He has too much at risk here: his honor, his position, his wealth. No, he's going to come back, and he won't want anyone living to know his secret," she finished grimly.

"Well, we all know," Merric said.

"And we're trained fighters Merric!" Kel said through gritted teeth. "She is a street dancer, how do you expect her to defend herself against a man with a sword?"

"Would you like to go back and guard everyone who paused to stare and heard you declare him a murderer?" Neal asked, obviously thinking that she was being too concerned over nothing.

"No, because if Joren comes back he won't bother to track down people who know almost nothing. That would be pointless! But she," Kel pointed at the prone figure, feeling slight anger rushing through her veins, "Has reason to report him to the Watch for threatening her, and she could not have missed what I said. Joren knows what she looks like, and he will track her down eventually!"

"So what are you suggesting?" someone else inquired.

Kel stopped. What was she thinking? Would the girl really want to be uprooted from her life just because someone might come back and might recognize her? Too many ifs to take chances, she decided. "Well, I would take her as a maid, just to keep an eye on her, but I already have Lalasa and I can't support another person." She looked hopefully at the small gathering.

Neal sighed. "My dad would kill me if he thought I was hiring a maid for any reason. He'd say I was just being lazy."

There were other demurrals around the circle, most for legitimate reasons, for she knew that most of them did already have people under their employment. Her eyes scanned the crowd once more, searching out someone who could afford another person.

"Faleron?" She asked quietly, not wanting to pressure him by everyone hearing.

He shifted nervously from foot to foot, studying the sleeping girl. Finally, he said, "Well, I don't have anyone working for me now. Uh…I guess father won't mind."

Kel noticed some people's expressions looking suspiciously like relief as they heard that, but she guessed that none wanted to deal with the rumors that always surrounded court when two people lived remotely close to one another. She nodded to Neal, who took his emerald green hand off the girl, who still didn't wake up.

Neal swore softly. "I may have used more of my Gift than I thought." He stood up, turning to Faleron. "Your new maid!"
he said, gesturing at the unconscious dancer.

Ok, better than anticipated. Now, all you people out there with consciences should click on that little box down there and tell me what you think. yes, I mean review.

Mari