A/N: Interesting...the day I decide to get around to putting this up, I see another Alanna goes to Shang story...small world...

Disclaimer: It's not mine. Otherwise I'd be publishing this in a book, not on here. All recognizeable characters and places belong to Tamora Pierce

Prologue: The Tigress and the Dragon

Jonathan of Conte stood at his father's right hand, as befitted the heir to the throne of Tortall. Today they were welcoming two of the Shang warriors, who had come to train some of the pages and squires in the fighting styles that their order used.

The two warriors, both of whom had fiery red hair, bowed. One was a man, and the other a young woman.

The woman kept her hair at shoulder length, and had pushed her bangs over to the side of her face, drawing everyone's gaze to her brilliant violet eyes. The man, who was obviously the older of the two, kept his hair shorter, the ends just brushing the tips of his ears, and had blue-green eyes.

His eyes were a light sea green at the moment, those who were close him knew that that meant that he was focused on the task at hand.

"I am Liam Ironarm, the Shang Dragon, and this is the Shang Tigress, Alanna Brightwater," said the Dragon, intent of King Roald, not the prince, who was staring at Alanna.

Her indigo gaze was piercing, and haunting at the same time. For some reason, she reminded him of one of the knights who had joined the pages for training almost ten years ago.

Jonathan contemplated that for a moment, then he remembered the knight. It was Sir Thom of Trebond. Thom had never mentioned a sister, but then, he didn't talk much, unless required to; he seemed more intent on developing his Gift.

Yet, she also seemed to be familiar to him in another way, like he had known her in the past; but that wasn't possible. He'd never met one of the female Shang warriors, for that matter, he'd only ever met one other of the Shang Order – the Shang Fox.

"Welcome, Warriors of Shang!" His father boomed, his voice genial. King Roald had hoped that these members of Shang would come soon. Tortall was having trouble with the Copper Isles.

The only possible reason for that was that the princess from the Isles had been rejected as a possible choice to marry Jonathan. Those from the Copper Isles could hold grudges for such things for a long time.

"It is an honor to have you in out court, we thank you for coming," Roald continued in a softer tone, so as not to startle the pages who had appeared. It was quiet early in the morning for the young boys to be much awake. However, they had been required to come to greet their new teachers from Shang when they arrived, several hours before dawn.

Later that day, Jonathan sought out the Shang Tigress. He found her practicing a form of kick that was undoubtedly a Shang move.

The slight woman paused when she saw him, and bowed formally. Jon shook his head; he disliked such formality. "Good afternoon, Lady Alanna."

She smiled slightly. "It's Alanna, just Alanna," she replied. Her voice was strong, and fierce, yet sweet at the same time. In it also was another sort of inflection, loneliness.

Jon knew that most of the Shang warriors never sought companionship. They were too restless to settle down in one place. But it sounded like this Alanna had been separated from someone very close to her, possibly the only family that she had had.

She paused, returning to her formal manner. "Good afternoon, Prince Jonathan." She said evenly, her expression becoming placid once more.

"Alright, just Alanna it is," at his response her lips quirked slightly. "Alanna, you remind me of one of the knights, here at the Palace…does the name Thom of Trebond mean anything to you?" he asked.

Alanna's eyes lit up, "Thom is my brother. My twin. We were separated when I joined Shang when we were seven. I haven't seen him since. It seems that neither of us really had the time. I was training to become a full member of the Shang order until a few years ago. That was when I passed our trails and was named the Shang Tigress. Thom would have come to the Palace at about ten or so and worked until he earned his shield….""

She trailed off, memories flowing back to her…