In The Land of Samsheo's Sun
Version 2
Chapter One

.~.O.~.

When the sun rose that morning, Kel rose with it, as was her usual, before suddenly remembering that she was home at Corus in her own rooms, than still in New Hope. The war had blessfully ended soon after she had killed Blayce, but there was still the habits of the war to be rid of. She smiled, looking out her window at the small square below with the trees that her sparrow friends ad claimed as home upon their arrival.

A knock on the door brought her attention away from the window and as she called, "Enter;" to the man that stood in the doorframe.

At the age of twenty she looked at Domitan of Masbole and wondered what else her future had in store for her.

"Come on, Kel, can't keep me waiting." He joked.

"Alright, alright, I'll be there in a minute." She told him. He closed the door and left, and Kel turned her attention back to the window, where in the courtyard below, stood a young girl, looking about ten or eleven, dressed in a long sleeved, high collared, white tunic of sorts, and long white breeches. Her raven hair cut so short on her head that it stuck up in places, when she looked up at Kel, the Lady Knight couldn't help the breath that caught in her throat. Down the left side of the girl's face, from temple to chin ran a thick ropy red scar. The girl's eyes met hers and the girl suddenly ran into the palace under a nearby archway.

Kel was left standing in her window, wondering just what had happened to the girl with the mysterious gold and silver eyes.

.~.O.~.

All through the day, Kel kept an eye out for the girl, wondering just whom she was, and if she could learn of what had cause the scar that would not leave her be.

When right before her eyes the hall opened up around a corner, revealing the very same girl, engaged in what appeared a conversation between herself, Numair, and Daine. Appeared for the fact that the girl said nothing, but was moving her hands in what Kel believed to be sign language.

The girl suddenly noticed Kel standing in the hall watching her and froze.

"Kel?" Daine called, when she noticed who had caught the girl's attention. "It's alright Sam, it's no one but Kel." She told the girl whose hands began to shake.

Kel suddenly had a flashback to when she had first met Tobe. She smiled but remained standing where she was, if she moved, she might frighten the girl further; letting the girl make the first move. The golden, silver, gaze met Kel's and moved slightly towards her and Kel smiled a little, putting the younger more at ease.

"Hello there, Keladry." Numair greeted. "How's the first week back at Corus been going?"

"Well, sir. It's much better being here than at any war. I have to say that I'm glad to be home." She replied with a smile.

The young girl, Sam, looked from Numair, to Daine, to Kel, before signing things quickly to Numair, and after a quick nod from the man, walked down the hallway and around the closest corner after which the footfalls of someone running met their ears.

Daine sighed. "That went a lot better than I thought it would." She said, looking at Numair. Then she looked to Kel.

"Who is she , if you don't mind my asking?" Kel raised an eyebrow to the look that Daine threw her.

"Her name is Samsheo, from what she told me." Daine replied. "I call her Sam for short, but that's mostly all that she's really said. Numair and I have taken her on as our apprentice, and very nearly adopted her in doing so."

"Why's that?"

"That girl has more issues than any injured animal I've ever come across." Daine muttered. She looked at Kel, before glancing down the hallway towards the corner that Sam had vanished around. "I wish that I knew just where she went when she runs off like that."

"I saw her this morning in the small garden square outside my window." Kel told her.

Daine smiled, but it was a smile smile, and there was something in her eyes that was surprised. "From what Numair and I have been able to notice, she rather has an interest in you, so that doesn't surprise me; what does is the fact that you actually saw her."

"She seemed to be enjoying the company of the sparrows." Kel replied, almost shrugging her shoulders. "Where did that scar on her face come from, anyway?"

Daine's, and Numair's, eyes darkened. "We do not know, Keladry, but we ourselves wish to know." Numair replied.

What none of them knew, was that a set of ears heard those words, and the silver and gold eyes went slightly sad.

.~.O.~.

When dinner rolled around, Kel sat with her old friend Nealan of Queenscove, listening to him regale her and the men surrounding them with the latest in his love life, Kel believed that he would indeed marry her Yamani friend, Yuki, from the way that he spoke of her.

The sight of black hair and gold and silver eyes peeking around the doorway, and looking at all the rooms occupants, before ducking back, caught Kel's attention.

Kel silently excused herself, before slowly making her way over to the girl. "Hello." She spoke softly. "Would you like to sit next to me?" She asked reaching her hand out slowly, she didn't want to scare her away. "Your name is Sam, right?"

The girl nodded, showing Kel that it wasn't her hearing that kept her from speaking. Her golden silver gaze wandered around the noisy mess hall before focusing on Kel once more.

"Do you want to sit next to me?" She asked, dearly hoping that Daine was right and the girl had something of an admiration of herself.

Slowly, almost slower than a snails pace, the girl placed a hand in Kel's who just noticed that the girl's hands were hidden by soft black leather gloves. Kel smiled, slightly squeezing the smaller hand in hers.

Neal was silent as Kel led a more than hesitant child to sit with them. "Hi there, Sammy." He smiled at her.

The girl glanced at Neal before smiling a little.

"Neal?" Kel asked, wondering how he knew her.

"Sammy here comes to father for healing lessons, more often than not she ends up hiding in my small office, away from my dad and his famous caring nature." Neal was hinting at something, and it took Kel a moment to understand.

Sam was abused in the worst of ways. Kel remembered how Baird had reacted on one of his visits to her outpost, when he had discovered a Scanran girl had been raped while fleeing from her homeland to seek shelter with Kel and her people; if Baird had reacted in a similar way, then Kel understood how Sam would have hidden in Neal's office.

Kel filed this information for later as she and the girl sat next to each other, Sam rather jumpy from all the people and noise. Kel didn't bother asking Sam what she would have wanted to eat. If she was this flighty from just sitting in the room, there was no way that she would remain in her seat if she had to be forced to choose anything much less food.

When she laid down the tray of food Sam looked at her funny, a glance that asked 'what is all this?'

"Go ahead, but eat your vegetables." Kel said with a smile.

"And there she goes again. Between you and me Sammy, I think Kel just likes to torture us good people by demanding that we eat our greens." Neal told her with a smile. "Back in our page days Kel would boss around a group of five boys, all without batting an eyelash. A tough one she is, has gone through alot, too. I can say that she's saved my life many times."

Sam smiled as she slowly ate, but didn't really look up until the last sentence. Cocking her head to the side, she reached into a large pocket in the front of her strange shirt and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen.

Healer Baird says that to get strong you have to eat greens. She wrote, carefully, obviously thinking about the words.

"And now I'm defeated!" Neal said dramatically, theatrically thrusting his fork against his chest.

A breathless laugh left Sam's lips, and she smiled a little.

"When did you learn common?" Kel asked after a moment.

When I come here, I didn't speak, so Master Numair taught me sign, and common. Sam wrote.

"What language do they speak where you come from?" Kel asked, smiling at Neal who continued to twitch where he had smacked his head against the table in mock death.

Sam was still for several moments before putting pen to paper again. The land is Dellio, and the language is Dellion, I know no other name.

Kel appreciated the sharing of something that obviously bothered Sam so much, but before she could say so, Sam wrote again quickly.

I must go, Numair must be expecting me. Before dashing off, and leaving her plate.

"Don't be too hurt, she does that with everyone." Neal told her. "Father suspects that her life wasn't a kind one."

"Wait, 'suspects?'" Kel asked. "He doesn't know for sure?" She asked, recalling his comment from earlier.

"No, she won't sit still or stay long enough for father to even give her a basic examination, much less a whole lesson, whenever he tries, even when telling her what he's doing, she runs." Neal told her, a sour look on his face. "That, and if you get a sedative anywhere near her she goes berserk." Neal shook his head, and Kel, from all the experience in knowing him, could tell that he held back tears. "Everyone in the palace, almost, knows who she is, and if her story is half as true as what we believe, then may the gods have mercy on who did that to her, for we won't."

"So mote it be." Was all Kel could say to that.

.~.O.~.

[A/N: Hi there, sorry that this is late, I think that some of the more pressing issue that some had before with the original version was that Sam seemed to trust everyone a little too quickly for their liking, so, I hope that in this new version, some of those worries will be laid to rest. I do believe that I may get a little flack for having Sam seem so timid, but I've met people that have either gone through some of what she has or have seen it, and they approved as well as advised me on this subject, so I'm pretty sure that I'm on safe ground. Questions? Comments? PM, email (email in profile) or review! ~melonkitty :) ]