Neal was standing at the edge of the practice courts, watching his friend Kel. He had come here to practice his shooting, but now that he was here, he didn't much feel like practicing. Kel was doing a practice dance with her glaive, her most prized weapon of all. Neal watched, almost in a trance-like state as she whirled the weapon around, slicing through the air. He hadn't seen his friend in many months, but since it was almost Midwinter, many people were coming back to the palace. Kel hadn't noticed Neal yet, which was good, because he didn't particularly want to talk with her just yet.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Merric enter the practice courts. Neal motioned for him to stop, and ran over to him. Neal walked with Merric until they were far enough away that Kel wouldn't be able to hear them.
"Merric, have you ever thought that Kel should, umm, find someone to be in a umm, relationship with?" Neal turned a bit red, seeing as they never had talked about their friend this way before.
"What, do you mean you?" Merric looked at Neal as if he was a bit crazy.
"No, not me, stupid. Mithros, you're almost as annoying as the Stump. You know that Kel would never see any of us that way. I mean that maybe we should set Kel up with someone she doesn't know."
"What did you just say about Kel?" Owen of Jesslaw nearly screamed out this remark, causing Kel to look around. Neal grabben Owen and dragged him behind a bush.
"Shut up! Do you want the whole world knowing who we're talking about?" Owen was nice, but not always the most tactical person. Owen glumly went silent. "Anyway, Merric, but I think I have someone in mind, someone Kel wouldn't have met yet. At least I don't believe she's met him."
Owen's eyes went big. "Do you mean you want to set Kel up on a…on a date?"
Merric nodded. "But Neal, you know that you can't just tell Kel, 'Oh, by the way, you're going on a date tomorrow' and expect her to show up. It'll be a little trickier than that."
"What if we get Lord Raoul to help us?," Owen asked, "He might want to help."
Neal looked at Merric. "You know, that's actually a pretty good idea. He'd probably be all for it."
Merric nodded. "It's a little too late to ask him today, what about tomorrow morning? Do you want me to come by your room?"
"I'll see you tomorrow Merric." Catching Owen's sad eyes, Neal asked Owen, "Do you want to come too?"
Owen nearly went catapulting to the moon. "YES! I'll see you tomorrow." Owen went running off, practically skipping.
Neal just looked at Merric, shrugged and headed back to his rooms. If he didn't hurry, his wonderful knight-master would be close to decapitating him. I just cannot wait until tomorrow, he mused, this is going to be fun.
Attempting to avoid Alanna, Neal carefully snuck into his room, which adjoined to his knight-master's. He listened at the connecting door, but heard nothing. This is almost too good to be true... maybe she won't destroy me for staying out too late. Still hearing no sign of Alanna, Neal decided to go to bed, still excited with his plans for Kel.
I was going to make this a one-shot, but that changed when I was 1) too lazy to write the entire thing out, 2) it would be a fairly long one-shot and 3) I started losing inspiration at the end of chapter 2. So I need you to review so that I can keep going (please!)
And doncha want to know who Kel goes on a date with?
Disclaimer: Tamora Pierce owns everything recognizable.