This is an AU story about Raoul and a romance he has. I am huge Raoul/Buri fan, but I always wondered what would happen if one of those silly court girls caught his attention......

-----

Raoul pushed his food around the plate in front of him, silently counting down the number of minutes before he could get up fro

Raoul pushed his food around the plate in front of him, silently counting down the number of minutes before he could get up from the dinner table and the number of minutes before he could leave this cursed ball. As his new squire, Kel, poured him wine, she smiled at him encouragingly, though looked warily at his equally silent dinner partner. Jonathan had made good on his threat, and since Raoul had disobeyed him, he had Lady Jaid of Stone Mountain seated next to him. While slightly better than a matchmaking mother, the 22 year-old older sister of Joren of Stone Mountain was still quite a punishment. Although, she hadn't been chattering much. In fact, she hadn't spoken a word. Raoul grinned, honestly this punishment could have been a lot worse.

"Can I ask you a question?" Lady Jaid said, breaking the silence out of the blue.

Raoul groaned internally, apparently he had got ahead of himself. "Of course Lady. What is it you would like to know?" he asked politely.

Lady Jaid looked up at him with her lovely ice blue eyes and said, all in one breath, "This is going to seem so random, but I figure you would know and you won't yell at me for reading a book, since I'm guessing you let you're female squire read, or at least wouldn't object to a woman reading. I'm getting off subject. Anyways, what I wanted to ask was you know the book by Sir Blane New Battle Strategies? Well, in it he talks about Lord Ramish coming up with this brilliant new strategy for how to use catapults, and I totally don't get it. I mean it's just taking up a ton more manpower, and only sending the stones slightly farther. Why is this so brilliant?"

Raoul stared at her for a moment, completely overwhelmed by the speed of her speech, which all seemed to slur together in one continuous word. Once he was able to comprehend her, he again paused in an attempt to process how the daughter of a notorious conservative had managed to ask him such an intelligent question about battle strategy. He snapped out of his thoughts to see her giving him an odd look. Finally, he said, "The reason you're confused is that Sir Blane failed to mention that Lord Ramish was attacking a double wall. This strategy allowed him to hit both walls simultaneously, thus significantly reducing the time it took to break through to the actual castle. Blane is brilliant, but has a tendency to skip important details like that."

"Oh, I see, but wait, why couldn't he use the strategy used in the siege on Panden castle?"

"It's because of the way the slope of the hill was. Here I'll show you," Raoul answered, creating little walls with his food. The two happily chatted about battle strategy for the rest of the evening, Raoul continuing to use food as a way to show her.

Across the room, King Jonathan frowned as he looked over at Raoul's table. "My dear, did Lady Jaid of Stone Mountain just catapult peas across the table?" he asked his wife.

"What? I didn't see that. You must be..." Queen Thayet trailed off as she noticed Lady Jaid blushing and steadfastly not looking down the table where Lord Verace was wiping peas of his tunic and looking about in confusion. Raoul's shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter. "It looks like your punishment didn't work out so well," she said with a grin. "What on earth are those two doing? It looks like they're talking about....battle strategies."

Jonathan scowled. "I knew I should have sat him with a mother, but with Lady Jaid being newly presented at court it seemed the perfect opportunity."

"She was presented quite late. She's older than her brother Joren, isn't she?" Thayet said.

"Yes, her parents decided not to have her presented when she left the convent. They waited until now when her betrothal to Vinson of Genlith was official to present her at court. I don't know why exactly," Jonathan replied.

Thayet sighed, "That poor girl. If Raoul is enjoying her company this much, I have trouble believing she will enjoy being married into that family."

Jonathan squeezed her hand. "If there's one thing I've learned in my life, it's don't underestimate the women of Tortall. I find myself wondering how well Vinson will be able to control a woman who, based on how she's catapulting those peas, has a good grip on battle strategies."

At the end of the dinner, Lord Berchard of Stone Mountain walked over the table where his daughter was sitting and seized her by the arm, dragging her upright. He nodded stiffly at Raoul and then pulled his daughter across the room to administer quite the lecture. Raoul sighed. He hadn't meant the girl to get in trouble, but from the look on Lord Berchard's face, Lady Jaid was often in trouble with her father. He got up and walked over to where Sir Gareth the younger was standing.

Gary grinned at him. "Forty some years old and still tossing peas at the dinner table. What would our old etiquette master say? What were you two doing anyways?"

"She asked me about Sir Blane's book and some of the things he failed to mention. Our food seemed a good tool to demonstrate with. The girl is quite intelligent."

"So, you finally meet the perfect girl and she's a conservative's daughter and betrothed to a Genlith. Only you would do that," Gary teased with a grin.

Raoul rolled his eyes. "I'm old enough to be her father. Wait, she's the one that was just betrothed to Vinson?" he asked. When Gary nodded he sighed. "Kel's mentioned him before. He's a nasty sort I think. That poor girl."

"Well, I need to go talk to some people. You going to stay against the wall and try to pretend you don't exist?"

Raoul nodded, and settled his bulk against the stones behind him, hoping to go unnoticed. Not long after, Buri walked over to where he was standing.

"Mind if I hide over here with you?" she asked.

"Not at all," Raoul answered with a grin.

"Seems like you enjoyed your dinner partner," Buri said slyly.

"Why is everyone so amused by this?"

"Because you were more animated and relaxed with that little conservative girl then you have ever been at a party before."

Raoul rolled his eyes. "It's not her fault who her father is. She's a smart girl. I liked having someone to talk battle strategies with."

"That's what you were talking about? I thought you just both had bonded over a shared hatred of that noble you kept hitting with peas. Where did she learn battle strategies?"

Raoul shrugged, scanning the room to look for the clinging pale blue fabric of Lady Jaid's dress. "She'd read some books about battle strategy," he said, spotting the girl laughing in a corner, her conversation partner blocked by the slew of people between them.

As the crowd parted, Buri said, "Ah, it all suddenly becomes clear."

"What?" Raoul said.

"She's talking to Lady Margaret haMinch. You've heard about Maggie. Everyone knows she left the convent and joined the Riders against Padraig's wishes."

"Actually, I heard Padraig admit to being proud of her the other day."

"Good, I'm not surprised actually. It was always pretty clear that she had always been his favorite and that's how she accidentally ended up a damn fine commander. You can't shadow that man and not become one. I knew he'd come around. There was never even a suggestion of disownment after all, or even marriage suggestions before she joined the Riders. Anyway, my point was that she always tells these stories about her and her best friend sneaking out of the palace to have wild adventures in the city. I think you may have been sitting with this mysterious best friend."

"What kind of stories?" he asked, smiling as their topic of conversation threw her head back in a hearty, though improper, laugh.

"Apparently they once went to some inn and played first one down with a squad of the Own that was there. It was Dom's squad. Maggie claims that one of the Own went down first and she and her best friend went pint for pint with them men and definitely held their own. Dom's squad, when confronted, failed to deny this story. Make no mistake, that girl is a party animal."

"She seemed so sweet," Raoul said sadly.

Buri laughed, "That doesn't mean she's not sweet. Maggie's a sweetheart. Well, in her way. She cares about people a lot."

Raoul raised an eyebrow. "I'll take your word that," he said dryly. "All I know is that my men are fluctuating between admiring and terrified of her."

Buri laughed. "Mine too for that matter, which is what makes her a fine commander. She knows when to intimidate, when to baby and when to impress. She really is just like her father. If her stories are true, your little Blue Jay is certainly not her father's daughter."

Raoul rolled his eyes, "She is not my Blue Jay. She's not my anything. How are your recruits looking?"

Successfully changing the subject, Raoul spent the rest of the evening chatting with Buri about the Riders and the Own, before retiring back to his room.

----

Review!