The usual disclaimer, that none of the character are not mine.
Not only a Kel/Dom, but a post LK fic as well; I hope this is a little different, though.
In the heat of battle…
It was the spring after she had killed Blayce, the Nothing Man. The summer of that battle had merged into autumn, time flying as New Hope was built and made strong against any further attack. Raoul and Buri's wedding at Steadfast had marked the shift of seasons into winter, and then the long cold months had been spent quietly. Kel had spent the brief daylight hours continuing her young charges' weapon training, and the long northern winter nights lost in paperwork. The supply lists, rotas, reports and so on filled her candle lit evenings, occasionally in the company of Neal, or Merric, but often she whiled away the time alone, her thoughts wandering from the dry words and impartial numbers…
Those thoughts most often wandered in the direction of a certain blue-eyed sergeant. Kel had always valued the friendship of Domitan of Masbolle, even whilst she nursed an unrequited crush for him throughout her squire years with Sir Raoul and the rest of the King's Own. His easy charm and good looks had always been obvious, but after their excursion to Scanra, his trust and belief in her became clearly apparent. Her mind drifted in his direction tonight, reliving, not for the first time, some conversations and just the one dance they had shared at Steadfast that Autumn.
"Kel, it's been a pleasure." He had looked straight in her eyes, and smiled warmly, as they had parted after that waltz, the last of the evening. Kel remembered how her heart had lurched under that sapphire gaze, and an echo of that feeling passed through her at just the memory. She watched the candle flame flicker in a draught, and wondered how it could feel as if her stomach and heart could temporarily swap places when their associated plumbing should make it impossible. She grinned to herself, and tried to get her mind to bear down on the fiddly rota she was trying, in vain, to get to work out.
The quiet in her own upstairs room did not seems to help. Her thoughts just rattled round her head, louder and louder, like leaves in the winter wind outside. She could scarely admit it to herself, but all that filled her mind was Dom, and she couldn't focus her mind on work. Her mind seemed split in two; the dutiful, hardworking Kel, who did her duty on one side, and, growing stronger, a restless, prickly Kel, who could think of nothing but her emotions and desired nothing but action.
"There is needed work," she told her restless side, "I need to organise New Hope."
"Pah!" her wild side said, "It could run itself now, you are a knight, a combat knight, or so you tell yourself, but what are you doing?"
"My duty." The good Kel stated.
"Who are you trying to convince? Training children and pushing paper, daydreaming of Dom; do you know what you are becoming?"
"You will tell me" Kel growled to herself, already knowing the answer.
"A desk knight".
Neal heard a crash from upstairs in the command block, clear above the whistle of the gale outside and crackle of the small fire in the downstairs office.
"What on earth was that?" he asked Merric. The red headed knight put down his mug of tea, and pushed a hank of red hair out of his eyes.
"Kel's upstairs, isn't she?" he asked quietly. The two young knight's eye's met for a second, than parted. They had both noticed the growing restlessness in the lady knight over the winter, and were worried. Tobe, hidden in the corner, had noticed both his lady's mood, and the worry of her two closest friends. He slipped unnoticed out of the office as the young men uncomfortably wondered if they should go and ask Kel if she was okay.
Tobe knew Lady Kel was frustrated at New Hope, frustrated with her charges and duties at the refugee camp. His lady was a woman of action; she would take on any task, work her way through any orders; had she not set out to rescue 500 civilians with only herself, a glaive, and a collection of animals? She had succeeded, too, he reminded himself, as he climbed the last few steps to Kel's door. What Lady Kel couldn't deal with was having no job to do. Between her own skills, in setting up the camp so it almost ran itself these days, and the any remaining Scanran forays halted by the snows, she had little to do save paperwork. He knew she was frustrated, quiet even for her. He thought she was lonely, under her Yamani mask. Tobe listened closely at the door for any further crashes, and raised his small fist to rap politely at the door. As his knuckles wavered over the wood, a new noise cut through the night; a horn calling the alert. The door flew open in front of him and Kel stormed past; Tobe flattened himself in her wake as she ran down the stairs. He thought maybe, now, his Lady would have something to do with herself. He stole a glance into her room before he trotted down the stairs after her, and amended his thought. Something to do besides demolishing her furniture by hand, that is….