AN: Wow, it's been a long time. Anyway, this is just something I found deep in my harddrive, from a while ago. Hope everyone likes it. Please excuse mistakes, since I haven't read the books in ages, and it's a rather old piece.
Disclaimer: Not mine. I like to play though...
She hates it here. She will not marry anyone her parents say she will. She will not. They can't make her.
Roald tries to tell her it's hopeless, but she won't listen. She can't. Because if she does she will loose everything that makes her Kalasin.
Her sister Lianne understands. But she is different than Kalasin, and she feels no need to leave, to marry by her will. Lianne understands what Kalasin does not.
She's different than her siblings. They are prepared to do what is proper, what is expected. She is not, and will never be.
She hates her mother. She doesn't say it, she doesn't even think it half the time. She had stopped loving her mother when Thayet had told her to stop being silly and foolish and do what was expected of her.
She lost patience with her father the day she turned ten and he told her she could not become a page like her brother. She was to become a lady.
She fought her teachers at every turn. They ground their teeth and went on, slowly breaking Kalasin down, until she was too tired to fight any longer. She returned to court at seventeen, a proper lady, just as her father wanted. She refused to talk to him. It was childish, but she found she didn't care. And that she would fight him too.
She watches the sea, her eyes bright. She wants nothing more to get away from here. The summer place is nice, but she finds herself pacing and riding her mare hard and fast, trying to get away from her protectors and her responsibility. They always catch her, and force her to return with them.
She starts to loose hope. It's been twelve years. She finds herself fading, and becoming compliant. She will be married next summer to an Emperor across the ocean.
Her father watches his once vibrant daughter. She no longer speaks to him or her mother, except in short, monosyllabic sentences, and only with extreme formality. She refuses to see her friends of old, even though he's found Thom and Roald pounding on her door, begging for her to let them in.
Daine comes to her, and asks her what she really wants. Kally turns to her old friend and told her that she wants nothing more than what her parents have arranged for her. Daine knows she is lying, but cannot push any further. She tells her about the emperor that she will marry, telling her how he is kind and intelligent. But Kally isn't sure that she really cares.
Roald gives her a way out. His gift is more powerful than hers, and against his better judgment, he helps her escape. He loves and adores his free-spirited sister. He is her best friend, and she, his.
She kisses his cheek and whispers breathlessly, "Come with me. Be free with me."
He shakes his head. He whispers back. "I wish I could… But I can't. I'm sorry."
She nods quietly at him. "I wish I could understand."
He shoos her away and lets her go. He hears a whoop of pure joy as she races away. He turns away from freedom. The guards will be down in seconds, but they will not catch either of them. She will be long gone, and he will be 'asleep' in his room.
She is free, and he finds, more than anything, he wishes he could have gone with her.