Disclaimer: If the characters were mine, I'd have had kel and dom together in Lady Knight. Unfortunately for me they belong to the writing goddess who is Tamora Pierce, so I have stolen them briefly for my own purposes! :P
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Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, so called Protector of the Small sat in the tall grass of a vast, rolling meadow. The sun was shining, and a warm breeze flowed around her, mussing her light brown hair. "Odd weather we're having for the beginning of September" she murmured softly, before sighing with contentment and lying down properly. She enjoyed the feeling of the long grass tickling her face and watched the clouds go by. "I could get used to this" she thought. After all, she did deserve a break after her first eventful year of knighthood. How many other green knights were there who's first assignment had been to command a camp full of displaced refugees? How many had gone into enemy territory, after the afore mentioned refugees had been stolen from her, rescued them as well as simultaneously bring down the mage responsible for the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands of Tortallan men, women and children over the past year? Zero. That's right, Kel deserved a break and now seemed as perfect a time as any.
But this peace was to be short lived. The grass, which had felt so nice before, now felt sharp. No, that wasn't the correct description. It was poking her. Repeatedly. On her right cheek. The breeze that had whispered to her before became harsh and seemed to speak. Kel strained to her it's words. What was that? "Get up"? Why would the wind want her to get up? Come to think of it, why did the wind's voice sound so much like Neal's?
She cracked her eye open and would have jumped out of her skin had it not been for her years of Yamani training. The face belonging to her best friend Sir Nealan "The Meathead" of Queenscove, was hovering inches above her own- not a sight one wants to see when one first wakes up. Kel placed her hand on his chest and pushed him so he sat back on his heels scowling. "You did this on purpose" he growled. Kel's head was still foggy with sleep. "Did what on purpose exactly?" she croaked and calmly reached for her water skin. Neal sighed and stood, raising his arms to the heavens in a perfect player's gesture. "THIS!" he proclaimed in outrage, "You have been getting up with the larks to play with that damned pigsticker of yours for over eight years now, and you choose today of all days to sleep in" he hissed the last two words as if he had been spitting out venom.
Kel suddenly remembered where she was. She and Neal had set off from New Hope on a trip to Fort Steadfast in order to attend the wedding of Kel's former Knight Master, Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak and the Commander of the Queen's Riders Buriram Tourakom. Neal had been impatient to set off, as it became apparent his lady love Yukimi had also ridden to Steadfast, and he was eager to see her. Of course this meant random explosions of poetry and bursting into song on Neal's part, concealed urges to backhand Neal around Kel's the whole ride there. If Kel had been honest with herself, she knew they could have made the journey without an overnight stop. She liked to think, for that split moment, just after Neal had almost walked in on her latrine break at dusk to hurry her along, that Peachblossom's spirit had possessed her. She had insisted that both Hoshi and Magewhisper were both tired and needed a night to recover after their hard days ride. She insisted to herself that this break in the journey had not in any way anything to do with the fact she wanted to punish/torture Neal for the torture he had forced her to endure for the past eight or so hours in the saddle.
Now Kel discovered that her revenge had backfired, for this action seemed to have enraged her friend even more and had increased the frequency of his declarations of undying love for his "Yamani Blossom". Kel scrambled out of her bedroll and watched, bemused, as Neal rolled it up, shoved her belongings into Hoshi's side saddle and hurled her boots at her with more force then was necessary. She felt as if she was a small child, being told off for some sort of wrongdoing. To fit the role, she sulkily walked over to Hoshi and mounted her. She mock glared at Neal and kicked her horse into a gallop. She laughed as she heard Neal's scandalised screech and patted Hoshi's neck fondly. "Well if he's in such a hurry" she grinned and urged Hoshi to go faster. They continued at this pace until they spotted a proud stone building at the bottom of the valley. "Fort Steadfast!" Kel exclaimed as they stopped for a quick break. "My Lady Love!" Neal cried in the same tone. Kel rolled her eyes and urged Hoshi into a trot.
"In ten minutes or so, I'll get to see Dom" the realisation suddenly hit her. She encouraged Hoshi to go faster- she couldn't let Neal see that she was blushing now could she?
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A/N Okay so I did I do on the first chapter of my first fanfic. Reviews would be nice- just to see how I'm doing and I promise to respond to all! Feel free to give me some ideas of where you want the story to go- I only know where I want it to end.... how I get there is another matter! Also if anyone would like to beta for me (I do try to proof read it myself- but sometimes you just miss mistakes in your own writing you know?) pm me or something, for I would be eternally grateful! Also, is it just me or is this chapter really short- tell me and I'll try to do longer next time!
Takara