Alanna the Lioness didn't think she'd ever been so furious with Jon. No, she thought with vexation, King Jonathon. He wasn't Jon to her at the moment. Not even when they'd had their fight in the desert had she been so vexed. That had been personal, and they were younger then. It had hurt, but at least there had been a semblance of normalcy to it. How else could she have expected for that relationship to end? She snorted at the absurdity of the idea of a marriage to Jon back then and realized that this - THIS was why she could never have been his queen.

How could he?

Her inward screams ricocheted inside her mind with the ferocity of purple lightning, and she realized that if she didn't rein her temper in soon, the stables she was occupying while saddling her mount would erupt in flames.

She leaned up against sturdy horseflesh as her gelding whickered anxiously. How could Jon throw away everything she had worked for like that? Had he forgotten how long she had dreamed of another girl trying for her shield? Did he not remember those emotional moments she had shared with him and Thayet over her concerns that no other girl would dare to try? That no other noble family would let her? After all, her own family had been duped. Who was to say the Tortallan nobility would actually let their daughters choose their own paths. Only last month Buri had visited her and George at the Swoop and told them about all the new recruits: the boys and the girls. Alanna was happy for her friend. Of course she was, but George had held her hand under the table with a reassuring squeeze every now and then, and she knew that he understood. She was envious. Alanna mounted and clucked as she and the horse headed out of the stables with a wave to Stefan and away from the palace. Her head hurt even in the beautiful weather. How desperately she wanted youngsters like Buri had to mentor. Young women who would look at her not as some far away idol but as a teacher who could help them as they found their own way.

Well, she scoffed to herself, glancing over her shoulder. That wasn't likely to happen now.

Not only was Jon effectively going back on his word by allowing that conservative dog of a training master to put the girl on probation, but he was also forbidding Alanna to interact with her. She seethed again letting her breath hiss out between her teeth and kicked the gelding into a gallop. She knew Wyldon and she knew the court. She knew boys. This new girl - Keladry wasn't it? - would have no one on her side, and she'd be tormented. Alanna was sure of it, and her heart hurt at the injustice of it all. Her chance to mentor the next female knight ripped away from her, and her friend, her King was compromising with Wyldon of Cavall.

Soon, the palace was no longer in view, and Alanna had escaped the bustle of Corus. Normally, she would have taken the time to visit her other friends in the capital, but in her haste to arrive to discuss the fate of the new girl page, she hadn't announced to anyone she was coming. And in her anger over the resulting situation, she hadn't felt like announcing to anyone that she was leaving. She let her horse slow to a trot - there was no need to wear him out because of her own irritation - and thought about the Goddess as she followed the coastal road to Pirate's Swoop.

Was she aware of this injustice being done to one of her own? Perhaps this girl wasn't god-touched like Alanna, but surely her desire to be a knight was no less worthy?

I am well aware my daughter.

Alanna shivered involuntarily as the baying of wolves in that clear voice rang through her heart. Then, she blushed. "Why are you allowing it then?" she whispered under her breath. In her innermost parts, she realized that insolence with the great gods was never a good idea, but she wasn't feeling particularly gracious today.

Keladry of Mindelan has her own destiny to follow.

"So you mean her to succeed then?"

That choice is for her to make and her alone.

Alanna scowled at the pommel of her saddle. She was well aware that the gods' power was limited when human choice entered into the mix, but she rather thought that the Mother was being purposefully vague. This conversation told her nothing she didn't already know.

You yet have a role to play in her life, my daughter. Do not let your anger blind you.

As the baying faded, Alanna noted the finality of her Mother's last comment and resigned herself to obscure suggestions. She was still furious, and she still wanted to help the girl. That is, if she even decided to come under the unfair conditions set by Wyldon and her king. If Keladry of Mindelan saw, as Alanna did, that the situation was ridiculous, she may decide such a venture unworthy of her time. Alanna slumped in the saddle and continued onto the Swoop. Maybe George would be home from his latest mission and he could hold her as the storm raged to a calm within her.