So a sequel to New Hope Players was demanded... and so a sequel is given. Now this begins around the November of 461... incase that leaves you confused, that means that Daine is approx. 3mths pregnant. According to the previous ficlet, Buri&Raoul's kids would be around 6 months, Loey and Gydo are 14'ish and tobe is 12ish and irnai is 9'ish. more details to follow... The title kind of stinks, but it seemed appropriate. Also you don't have to read my previous fic first, but you may want to. Also, don't forget, rider group seven (including Miri) are stationed at New Hope. Also (i kno lots of alsos) this will include a reunitation of our favorite players... but who's life are they changing now? Time will tell.

November-1, 461

"Loey!" The voice at Loey's door was official sounding and urgent. Loey who sat on her bed looked frantically around at Tobe, Gydo and Irnai, all three of whom were on her floor. They'd been talking for the past hour about what they could for a play this midwinter, for everyone really wanted another genius production. The problem was, what could they do? So for the past two nights they's all woken up extra early (think 4 am) and snuck into Loey's room to discuss the problem.

"Loey!!" The voice came again. -Hide- Loey signed to the others. While it wasn't illegal for them to be there, it was a secret meeting, and Neal wanted to know exactly what they were planning to do before they began the script. He wanted to be involved completely. Tobe and Gydo scrambled to the dressing room, they closed tghe door silently behind them. Irnai dove under the bed, pulling all the notes they'd written with her.

Making sure they were all safe, Loey opened the door a crack, "Who is it?"

"It's me, Kel."

"Oh Guys, tis just Kel," Loey sighed with relief, and led the commander in, "You can all come out."

"Hiding from Neal?" Kel smiled as the other three slid out from where they were hiding.

"Ugh yes," TObe stretched his back, "We correctly portray him as a total dolt once and now he wants to be totally involved, so it doesn't happen again."

"It's kind of funny... in a pathetic way" Loey sighed, "We're still debating whether or not to make him a dolt again, but that would mean refusing the bribes..."

"Ha. Still no script?"Kel asked, sitting in the armchair.

"Still no cause!" Gydo moaned, "You see, last year we had a perfect cause, a reason, something to FIX. but this year... everyone is happy. So what do we do? Make them unhappy so we can have a good play?"

"I guess we could do a Raoul and Buri story, i mean the twin's birthday alone would earn us applause, and laughter." Loey smirked at the the memory of Raoul's reaction to the news that he had twins.

"It would," Tobe smiled at the memory too, then sighed, "But everyone knows that story, and for once those two aren't fighting at all."

Irnai scanned her list of couples, "That leaves Daine and Numair, but those two NEVER fight, and if they do it lasts a week."

"You see Lady?" Tobe groaned, "We're doomed!"

"You're forgetting someone." Kel smirked at the children, savouring the fleeting moment that she was smarter then them.

Loey looked at her puzzled, then her eyes went wide, and she smiled evily, "Ohhhh i know!"

"Well i dont! Mind clueing me in?" Tobe hated it when Loey knew stuff he didn't... unfortunetly it happened a lot.

"Rider Miri and Comander Larse!" Loey exclaimed!

"You know, that's almost as good as last year's Kel and Dom escapade, only now we'll be digging for details, but what ever!" Tobe stood up pulled a large slater from behind the dresser, and using chalk him and his gang began to plot out the story... no one noticed when Kel let herself out.


Kel was walking across the town, over to the main offices when someone called her name. Looking around she saw Buri, holding two kids in a basket. Kel walked over to the frazzled ex-commander, and pulled a squalling child out from the basket and proceeded to quiet it with a bottle.

"Thanks," Buri sighed, "When Raouls gets back, remind me to kill him."

"For leaving you alone with these two, or helping to create these two?" Kel asked smirking.

"Both," Buri smiled tiredly, "Now, i was supposed to tell you... oh! Guess what?!"

"Miri and Evin announced their love for one another," Kel suggested, absentmindedly.

"Uh, no. But interesting guess, no this is even bigger!" she leaned in and whispered something to Kel.

"Are you kidding?" Kel looked momentarily shocked, then laughed, "No, we all knew it would happen eventually i guess. And they're going to announce it here?"

"Thats the best part," Buri said evily, "She hasn't even told him yet!!"

"No!!"

"Yeah!!"

"Look what we have here, a pair of the unlikeliest court gossips in Tortall." Neal said, as he looked down on the two ladies with amusement.

"Ho ho ho, very funny," Kel rolled her eyes up at the man, "As if you don't talk to Yuki about the latest gossip all of the time!"

Neal rolled his eyes in defeat and sat down next to the two women, "Guess what."

"What?" Buri wasn't in the mood for guessing games.

"As i left headquarters, a little birdie left some letters on your desk Kel," He pulled out a couple of letters from his pocket, "Though they all seem dull, no juicy letters from Dom. So i didn't bother to open any."

"Thanks Neal." Kel flipped through the letters, she pulled one out and handed it to Buri, "Raoul." she said simply. THen she pulled another dull-looking one out and tossed the rest at Neal.

"Wait, what?!" Neal looked affronted, though kel and Buri were too busy reading their letters to notice, "Wait you guys have been disguising your letters as dull reports to keep me from reading your letters?!"

"Yup." Kel and Buri said without even glancing up from the letters from their lovers.


"So the first five scenes cover their training, the next five their career up till now and the remaining one or two is the confessional scene?" Tobe looked at the slate, it was packed with Loey's miniscule chalk writing.

"Yes." Loey flopped back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling, "And splattered throughout will be the tale of their love ever growing."

"Sounds good!" Gydo said, she sat at Loey's dressing table, playing with the ribbons and necklaces.

There was a long comfortable silence, and then Irnai spoke, "Okay, so we've got that planned out, but what else? I mean last year we had this whole big plan, should we bother this year?"

"Oh definetly!" Loey sat straight up, "And do I have the plan! Gydo, toss me that book on the table, thanks!" She flipped eagerly through it while explaining to the others what it was, "Okay in this book is a chapter about convincing people to your idea, but at the same time making them think it was their idea all along. Real tortall spies use this to learn from. And theres another chapter about leading people to the right conclusions. We can sooo use some of these tactics to get this thing rolling!"

"Sounds cool, but why do you have a spy training manual?" Tobe looked at Loey suspiciously, it had often been joked about that she could make a good spy, what with her secretive nature and her excellent eavesdropping and sneaking skills, but Tobe had never taken it seriously.

"Oh," Loey bit her lip, "No real reason, just Alanna thought it may interest me. Oh here's the chapter!" ANd she proceeded to explain how it worked, but Tobe wasn't listening. Loey was fourteen, next august she'd be fifteen... the proper age to become a tortallian spy, and now was the right age to start learning about it. Tobe had never considered the possibility of Loey or Gydo leaving. Yes they were two years older then him or so, but they were his best friends! And there was no use talking to Irnai about it, she probably already knew what would become of them, and he really didn't want to know.