I apologize ahead of time for the rushed tone of this prompt. Perhaps I will go back and edit it, but I was in a bit of a time crunch. But anyway, here it goes:

The Lady Knight and the Lord

''Girls,'' Piers asked his daughters, ''what do you want before I go?''

It was Midwinter, and they were all home at Mindelan. His daughters were around him, ready to embrace their father before he went back to the Islands. One of their family friends there had died, and was offering them a great inheritance. This would help pay off their debts, he knew, and now he could spoil his girls again.

''A silk dress,'' Oranie said.

''A diamond necklace,'' Adalia said.

Each of the sisters listed their demands, and each was similar to the other. Piers nodded and took down each patiently.

''Kel,'' he asked his youngest, ''what do you want?''

Kel considered. She could always have chain mail or a newer glaive. Yet she knew that she did not need those things, and that it would be unfair to her father to ask to get him these things.

''I want a silkworm,'' she said finally.

No silkworms grew in Tortall. Kel did not want silk from this silk worm; she had missed the Yamani Islands and wanted to be reminded of it.

Piers smiled. His youngest daughter was really different from his others, in more ways than one.

''I shall visit you all before summer comes,'' he said.

When Piers went to the Islands, he had discovered that the sons of the family friend who had entitled him money had claimed all of his money. Piers was left with nothing, and he had no money to buy his daughters any presents.

To make matters worse, Piers was robbed before he left and found that he had no money to get back home.

He wandered through a forest lost, until he had found a silkworm plant in the garden of a great house.

The fief that the house belonged to was huge, and Piers figured that he would go unnoticed. So he marched up the hill, and to the garden.

As a guard caught him, Piers cursed himself for his stupidity.

''Please,'' Piers said to him. ''I can explain.''

The guard did not listen, and Piers was dragged up to the great house where he was greeted by the angry lord.

The lord was quite young; he appeared to be only in his early twenties with wide almond brown eyes and a sharp chin.

''Since you have intruded in my garden, you must stay here,'' the lord said.

''No, I cannot,'' Piers said. ''I have a family back home that I must attend to.''

The owner's face did not change.

''Please,'' Piers said. ''I was only trying to get a silkworm for my daughter.''

''Your daughter?''

''Yes. She wanted a silkworm when I came here; I offered her a present.''

''Is she pretty?''

Though Kel did not fit the typical standards of beauty, Piers considered her to be very beautiful. She was considerate, hardworking and passionate, and that constituted beauty to him. ''She is beautiful. She is a knight right now.''

The owner's eyebrows quirked. ''A knight? Where are you from?''

''Tortall,'' Piers admitted reluctantly.

''Keladry of Mindelan?"

''Yes.''

The owner smiled. ''Then she is a great fighter. That may prove to be quite useful to me. I will make you a deal. Instead of you being my slave, I would like your daughter to come here to this fief. I will even be merciful to you and pay for your trip back home.''

''But...''

''That or you stay here.''

''Fine.''

''I want your word in ink. Then I will release you.''

The owner brought in one of his personal scribes to write up a contract.

Piers gulped, nodding reluctantly. This was the only way that he could leave. And he had to go back to Mindelan. He had no choice.

His hands shaking, Piers wrote up the contract.

Three months later, Piers arrived back to Mindelan. Though he put it off as long as possible, he finally visited his daughter.

''There's no getting around it,'' he said. ''You have to go back to the Islands this summer, Kel.''

Kel's face dropped, and she felt her hands shake. Ashamed, she put back her mask. ''But…''

''You can come back in the fall, to Raoul, Kel,'' he said. ''I'm sorry. I wouldn't have done it, but then I would have had to stay in the Islands as a slave.''

''I don't understand.''

''I didn't get any part in the will, Kel. I couldn't get any presents for you or any of your sisters. And then, to make matters worse, I was robbed..''

Kel gasped.

''I tried to take a silkworm for you but I was caught trespassing,'' Piers said.

Kel looked away from him. She knew the penalty for this as well as he did.

''I had to get back to Mindelan, Kel.''

She said nothing. Guilt churned through him as he thought of the sacrifices she would have to make for a crime that he did. And he was only trying to get her a silkworm...

''I'm sorry, Kel.''

Still she said nothing. She kept her face carefully blank. He sighed. Under that mask, he felt the disappointment and anger oozing under the surface.

''It's only for the summer.''

''I'll go,'' she said, her voice betraying none of the feelings that she was carrying inside. ''You do have Mindelan to take care of after all, as well as your ambassador duties.''

She had to go, anyway, whether she wanted to or not. ''Thank you, Kel.''

She quirked a false half-smile, knowing that it would make him easier at mind. He only wanted to help her after all; he had meant her no harm. She would much rather take her father's stead. Still it was not easy for her to go.

But she nodded and agreed to it, since she knew there was nothing else she could do.

She came to the fief a week later. She wondered who this man was, and what he could ever want with her. She knew that it could be nothing good, not with the way that he had blackmailed her father.

She could defend herself, she knew, if need be. If he was one of the conservatives who had doubted her skill, then she could prove him terribly wrong. She could face him, and she would do it gladly.

The servants led her inside.

She was younger than she had thought, only in his twenties or so. His brown eyes were carefully and politely blank, and she made sure that hers were too.

They each bowed to her in the traditional Yamani style.

''Hello,'' he said. ''Have a seat inside. We have much to discuss.''

She complied.

''You can resume your training tomorrow at dawn,'' he said.

''Training?'' she asked, confused.

She had all ready practiced every morning, but it was odd hearing someone telling her to do so.

''I would like to see you,'' he said, ''and hopefully use you for the summer.''

''I am Hachiro, by the way,'' he added. ''I all ready know your name.''

She

She would train, and he would watch her with level and curious eyes. Sometimes he would put her on tasks, and sometimes he would give her the day off. They would talk at dinner about various things, usually with a philosophical undertone in their conversation. Though she was at first unsure of what to say to him at first, their conversation became easy and free- flowing. She missed her family back home, but she adjusted quickly.

It was only in the night when she wished she was back home, because night was when he became volatile. It was in the nighttime when he withdrew. At night, she saw a man pacing outside of the window. The man was older and more withered; his cheekbones were higher and his nose was bigger, yet he looked very similar to the lord that she had conversed with so often.

One day this strange man went to her window, knocking at her door. Kel did not know if she should ask Hachiro who he was, but decided that she had no idea in which way she should do so.

She gripped her glaive as she went to the window, fearful that this man was someone who would turn out to be a fearsome opponent.

''Come out here,'' he said. ''I would like to talk to you.''

''I need to get the lord here,'' she said.

''No need,'' he replied. ''Just come.''

The floor being at ground level, she crawled out of the window and followed him.

He took her to the lake there.

''Look,'' he said.

''What do you want me to look at, sir?'' The man's voice was husky and not hoarse.

''Isn't it a pretty lake?''

''Yes,'' she answered, taken aback.

''The night is nice tonight.''

''It is,'' she said.

The man looked like he wanted to say something more, but stayed silent.

''You should go now,'' he said.

''Of course,'' she said, still wary and suspicious.

These conversations tended to be short and succinct. Sometimes they would say nothing; they would just sit by the lake. Usually it was when she was with the lord of the fief that the conversations had any substance.

''Marry me,'' the older man said one night.

Kel looked away.

''Please, will you marry me, Kel?''

''Sir, I barely know you. I don't even know my name.''

He said nothing.

''I have to go back home eventually, anyway.''

''Oh, you know my name,'' he said, his voice sad and his face as smooth as ever. She looked at him closely, uncomprehending.

He said nothing more, just walked away.

''Wait!''

He did not heed her call. He would only ask her again the next night and the next night and the next night, each time being denied his request.

''Your father is here, Kel,'' Hachiro said, ''for a business trip.''

''May I see him?''

He nodded. ''For a week,'' he said. ''Then come back here.''

She nodded. No longer was she filled with fear. She was filled with a deep adoration and respect for the man who stood before her.

''I will,'' she said.

''I will send you a mirror,'' he said. ''In which you can see me always.''

She squinted her eyes in confusion. ''Sire, I do not understand.''

A flicker of pain flashed in his eyes before his mask came in place again. ''Go,'' he said. ''Just come back to me.''

She nodded, and he promptly sent her off.

Kel and her father met up in the castle of the capital of the Yamani Islands.

''Kel,'' he said, doing his best to keep his voice calm.

''Papa,'' she replied, embracing him in turn. Out of habit, she kept her face Yamani- smooth.

''How was it?''

''He is a very good man,'' Kel said. ''I have enjoyed my stay with him.''

''Good. Your sisters have come here too. Would you like to see them now?''

Kel nodded and Piers showed her up to the rooms in which they were staying.

''Kel!'' they exclaimed, smiling.

She kept her surprise hidden. ''Hello,'' she responded.

''So how was your stay?'' Oranie, one of Kel's sisters, asked.

''Well,'' she said. ''He has been very kind to me.''

''So I see,'' Adalia, another sister, responded.

A week later, when Kel was planning to leave, her sisters begged her not to.

''Kel please,'' Oranie said. ''Stay a little bit longer. We rarely get to see you.''

Her other sisters looked at her earnestly.

For some reason, Kel felt suspicion and reluctance roil within her, but nevertheless she found herself agreeing.

''Just for a few days,'' she said.

They all nodded. ''A few days only, Kel,'' they said agreeing.

Three nights after her sister convinced her to stay, Kel felt a pit form in the center of her stomach. She grabbed the mirror that Hachiro had given her and realized that she had not looked on it once since she had been there.

To her horror, she saw the old man who had been meeting with her gasping and writing on the floor. He transformed into Hachiro and then back again to his original state.

Her chest tightened and her heart clamored in his chest.

Above him was a man with a figure of him and his hand and running water. Kel realized that she was doing the same thing that had been done to Lianne, the mother of Tortall's ruling queen.

She couldn't let that happen.

Immediately, she ran through the hallways.

''Kel,'' Adalia was in the hallway, her brown hair fluttering down her back. ''Where are you going?''

''I have to go,'' Kel said.

''You can't even say goodbye?''

''Hachiro is in trouble. I have to...''

Kel shoved Adalia out of the way before riding on her horse toward the fief, which was luckily only miles away. She prayed that silently to the gods that she made it there on time.

She ran into the house, her heart hammering in her chest. She grabbed her glaive, ready to stick it through the man who was hurting Hachiro.

She was in the living room.

''Get away from him,'' she growled as the man hovered over an unconscious Hachiro.

The man held the small figure of Hachiro in her hand.

''Not on your life,'' he said.

The man looked up. With his blue eyes and blonde hair, he was definitely not Yamani. Despite this, his Yamani did not have a foreign accent.

''What do you want?'' Kel asked, her voice shaking.

''For him to die,'' the man said simply.

Kel charged toward him, but he ducked. He grabbed her, but she kicked him in the groin. It was then that she stuck him with her glaive.

She then immediately ran to Hachiro's side.

''Hachiro,'' she breathed.

He moved.

''Please,'' she said. ''Stay with me.''

He got up, gripping her arm.

''Do you want me to get the healers?''

He shook his head. ''They wouldn't do any good.''

''What was that all about?'' Kel said.

''He put a curse on me when I made a decision that displeased him. He made me sick. The only way to break the curse was to...''

''What?''

''He said the only way for him to break the curse was if...''

''If what?''

''If a woman fell in love with me.''

''I love you,'' she said suddenly. Immediately, she thought of Cleon, her former lover. She was going to do this again.

''I love you too,'' he said. ''Haven't I made that clear? I suppose I will have to follow you back to Tortall then.''

She kissed him then, and he kissed her back.