Disclaimer: The characters are owned by Tamora Pierce, but the plot is owned by me.
A/N: Takes place during Kel's probation year. The first part is taken out of First Test.
(Revised & Updated 05/10/10)—I'm going to revise the chapters already posted for this story, and then I will start adding more.
Keladry Warrior Goddess
Chapter 1: Finding Out
"I know you all wish to pack. Get to it. Keladry of Mindelan, report to my office at the next bell."
"You sent for me, my lord," Kel said.
Lord Wyldon sighed and turned. "Sit down, girl."
Kel hesitated, then sat.
Wyldon absently massaged his right arm. "I want you to listen to me. I speak to you as I would to my daughters.
"Now that you have made your point, consider the future. Soon your body will change. The things that you will want from life as a maiden will change. Pursue the course you have and you might be crippled by an accident. What if you fall in love? What if you come to grief, or cause others to do so, because your thoughts are on your heart and not combat? This year was the easiest."
You think so? She asked him silently. It wasn't your year, was it? She opened her mouth to reply.
"You are dismissed." He said in a heartless voice. "So I can't come back." Kel asked carefully. "No." was the training master's answer. Kel felt her heart stop. So this was it. This is what it has all come down to. This was the last step for Kel. She felt all of her built up anger boiling over. "Why can't I stay? I did as well as the boys. Actually better, since I had to put up with you working me harder each and every day!"
"You are dismissed Mindelan." Lord Wyldon was becoming irritated. "You will regret this decision Lord Wyldon." Keladry said calmly, as if her earlier blow up had never happened.
She left Lord Wyldon's office and headed towards the Royal Meeting Hall. She knew that Their Majesties, King Jonathon and Queen Thayet would be there at this time of day as their weekly schedule demanded it.
She entered the hall with a bang, her Yamani Lump Face in full force. "Your Majesties, I wish to have an audience with you." She said addressing it more to Thayet then Jonathon. Jonathon gave Thayet an odd look and then turned back towards Keladry. "Of course Page Keladry; what would you like to ask?" Jonathon asked mildly curious.
"Actually I am no longer a page, as your training master has declared me unsuitable for this profession. But now I need you to do something for me. Think of it as a small atonement for your unjust acts towards me. If you know what is best for you, you should summon your most trusted advisors and all of the pages" Kel finished. Jonathon was at a loss for words, too shocked to say anything. So Thayet took control of the situation. "Why should we do this Keladry?"
Kel looked her straight in the eyes, "Because…it involves the lives of all those in Tortall."
Jonathon called a page boy and told him to alert Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak; Baird of Queenscove; Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau; Captain Flyndan; Sir Gareth the Younger; Myles of Olau; Buriram Tourakom; Daine the Wildmage; Numair the Black Robe Mage; Lord Wyldon of Cavall; all of those in the Council; and the pages.
They soon arrived since they were all at the Palace for some meeting or other. Roald came with Neal, Merric, Faleron, Cleon, Esmond, and Seaver. Kel also saw Joren and his cronies. They looked startled when they saw Kel at the dais with the King and Queen. When she saw that everyone was in the hall she began.
"I have asked you all here to tell you that Tortall is in great danger." She paused when everyone started talking at once. She observed the room and all of its occupants. Some she would miss, some she would be glad to get rid of, and some she didn't even know. When she had had enough of their endless talk she whistled, it was a piercing whistle that caused everyone to look up at her.
"If you do not wish to know I shall not tell you. But I do believe you will like to know as it involves the future of every single one of you. As some of you might know, though not many, I have been denied the complete training of a knight. Many of you, I'm sure, are very pleased with this; but you shouldn't be. Because of this sudden change there has been a karmic tilt and the Yamani's are fully aware of it. They will not take have the balance tipped lightly and they intend to repay Tortall for its part in causing this tip. There will be no bride for Roald from the Islands," Kel turned to look at Prince Roald. "Though I know you would have loved Shinko—" she began but was interrupted. "But I thought he was betrothed to Princess Chisakami?" Neal questioned under his breath, but Kel heard him.
"He was intended to, but Chisakami will die." There was a gasp, but Kel went on. "I know this because," She paused; a little nervous to go on. Okay, it's now or never. I've come so far now, I can't back out.
"I am a Yamani Goddess." There was a snort from Joren and more than one nervous laugh. "How do we know that you're telling the truth Lump? Who in here would actually believe that you," Joren looked her up and down, sending an unpleasant shiver through Kel's body, "are a goddess?" Joren asked with a slight smirk on his face, no longer afraid of insulting her in front of Wyldon since she was no longer a page. Kel looked Joren in the eyes, thankful that these events would at least take her away from Joren's unpleasantness. "Daine probably already figured out my secret and can back me up, seeing as we are cousins." At this everyone looked at Daine.
"Her mother is my father's sister." She said with a shy shrug. Kel added, "I am daughter to Ilane, Goddess of Land, and the most sacred of all Yamani goddesses." Joren interrupted her, "So now you not only expect us to believe that you are a goddess, but also that—as a goddess—you didn't cheat your way in the practice courts?"
The adults present began nodding their heads in agreement, still not thoroughly convinced of this whole tale. Jonathon exchanged another look with Thayet. She shook her head at him, silently telling him to stay quiet as it seemed that the young boy from Stone Mountain was asking all the right questions.
"I never used any of my powers." Kel looked at her friends, willing them to know that she would never do anything as unfair as using her powers to be better. "And if I did, you Joren would not be alive today." Joren gave, once again, another snort, but the other pages could see the fear beginning to show in the blond page's eyes.
"Now I'm sure you would all like to know the story behind this so I will tell you—quickly though, there is not much time. It all started when Mother traveled to Tortall as favor to the Great Mother Goddess. Mother heard the woods calling out to her—there was something dying beneath the trees. She investigated, and found Father bleeding to death from a stab wound. She did something that could have cost her immortality. She took Father to The Realm of the Gods.
"There he was treated by one of her friends. During his mending period, he and Mother fell in love. So Mother went to her father to ask his permission to marry a mortal.
"Grandfather was a very strict old man, but after the scandal Daine's parents caused he was lenient with Mother. He let her marry Father as long as she did not make him a God like Uncle Weiryn had done with Aunt Sarra. So she married him and moved into Mindelan, they had 5 children and all were mortals, then finally I was born. And I was a demi-Goddess. I was given the title Warrior Goddess of the Yamani Islands. And now the Yamani's know that their favorite demi-goddess was dismissed from becoming a Tortallan Knight. The scales have tipped and the Yamani's will attack.
There is one more thing you all must know before I have to leave. I was not sent here to actually become a knight, but to watch the ally of my worshippers, to make sure that Prince Roald would make a suitable husband for one of their princesses, and mainly to protect you all.
"Now that this incident has happened I have warned you of the future to come, for you are my father's country. But I must tell you that I will not fight for either side; my mother's country or my father's. But I will protect my friends, in the Islands and in Tortall. While you can die, you will have more luck on your side. Though, that doesn't mean do anything stupid Neal." She looked at her best friend.
"Now I must go" With that she changed into her real form.