Disclaimer: Do I look like Tamora Pierce? I'm pretty sure she's not a bored Canadian living in a stupid province, so... no. It's not mine and I'm not claiming any of the characters or the sitting wherein.

Notes: Inspired entirely by the conversation Daine and Kel have in Lady Knight, starting in chapter eight, p. 164 - at least in my paperback edition. That and the Bikini Kill song "Rebel Girl." /dork.

"You're missing the whole gods blessed tapestry, Mistress," General Vanget haMinch said, bluntly. "You're not seeing it the way I do, as a commander. Now, if you will please go away and stop this madness?"

Numair Salmalin watched his wife scowl at the general, furiously. For once, she held her tongue and padded from the room, every line of her body showing her anger but to her credit, she didn't slam the door of Vanget's map room.

"My lord," he began, in the aftermath of her exit. Vanget was a conservative, known to disapprove of both of them. But even he couldn't deny that Daine was an asset to his command.

"Your charming wife, Master Numair, needs to understand her place in this. She provides intelligence and I decide what to do with it. She might be better off reporting to the Spymaster or His Majesty's Prime Minister, if she finds me so vexing. I ask you to address this."

Numair, the realm's most powerful mage, bristled inwardly at the insult to Daine. "My wife, General Vanget," he said, smoothly, "is her own woman. Not a noblewoman who takes commands from her husband." If he tried to command her, as Vanget was suggesting he wouldn't stand a chance.

The general, commander of the Tortallan forces, second to only to the king himself, turned around and muttered to himself, only with three audible words: "wild", "commoner" and "women."

"Is that all, my lord?" He rose, knowing he had to go after Daine. Vanget had done two idiotic things - insulted her intelligence and angered a pregnant woman. She'd grown calmer since she was fifteen, but he had witnessed the power of her fury and somehow, he knew the general would be furious if she were to tear his fort down.

"Indeed." Vanget resumed looking at his maps and Numair took that as a dismissal.

It didn't take him long to find her - she was up on the curtain wall, surrounded by local birds and forest animals.

"Plotting to bring the fort down around a certain conservative's head?" He asked and she shook her head at him, without turning around.

"No," she said, quietly, hands in the pockets of her breeches. "Though I did think about it. I suppose His Lordship told you to correct my behavior, like you're my taskmaster?"

Mithros, Mynoss and Shakith. How would she know? It wasn't like her to eavesdrop unless she deemed it necessary. Had she guessed? "He did. I told him you're not a noblewoman and you take no orders from me."

Blue-grey eyes were rolled up at the heavens, as she looked out at the forests of the northern part of the country. "That's sweet of you, really."

"You didn't slam the door this time," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Odd's bobs, did I want to," she replied, hand at her lower back. "But even if the General and I don't get on, I can't say he's done badly for a military man."

True. Vanget was an excellent commander, in the absence of the king. "How's our son?" He asked, meaning the child she was carrying - a sibling for their daughter, who was in the care of friends in the capital.

A smile crossed her face and the tiny lines around her mouth and eyes deepened. "Still think it's a son, do you?"

"I know so."

"You're just saying that because you didn't know the last time."

"And now we know and you won't tell me."

She tipped her head back to grin at him, the expression the same as it had been when she was just a girl. "Exactly. I want to torment you."

"You, my magelet, are most evil. You do know whether it's a boy or a girl, don't you?"

"I do. Duke Baird told me." She tucked a stray hairpin back into place. "And don't find him and ask him - he swore he wouldn't tell you, no matter what you tried."

He scowled at her, as she laughed, the sound carrying. "You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I am. If you weren't so fun to torment, it might be different."