Disclaimer: I don't know anything but Narumi, Kenichi, and Tenshi. And any other character you've never heard of.

Prologue

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"Neal! Neal! Where are you?" Domitan of Masbolle yelled as he rushed down the narrow, poorly lit hallway. He slowed down as he heard the thuds of a long body hitting the floor. Seconds later a door cracked open and a bleary-eyed man stuck his head out.

"What could you possibly want?" Nealan of Queenscove demanded of his cousin. Neal's long chestnut hair was everywhere, as if he had just witnessed a tornado in his room. His eyes were blood-shot and tired, as if he hadn't had any sleep since the beginning of the war, which was now officially over. Truth was, Neal hadn't had a lot of sleep. Kel and the refugees had kept him up and about while he was stationed.

"Are you awake?" Dom asked, not realizing the obvious.

"Well, I do a good impression of sleepwalking, don't I?" Neal said sarcastically, somewhat angry that his cousin had no real reason to wake him.

"I meant 'are you planning to go back to sleep'?" Dom flapped his hand at Neal in impatience.

"Are you planning on leaving anytime soon?" Neal yawned loudly, not bothering to shut him mouth.

"Well, no. I needed your help. You have a better eye at these matters than I do. Which tunic should I wear?" Dom held up to tunics. They were almost identical, save one had silver thread. They were both blue with the same design, only in different coloured thread. Neal stared at Dom for a minute before stepping back and slamming the door shut in Dom's face. "NEAL! I NEED YOUR HELP!"

"MUST YOU SHOUT?" Merric yelled from down the hall where he had been sleeping.

"Sorry!" Dom quipped before returning to bang on Neal's door. The door flew open mid-bang and Neal pulled Dom into his room.

"What's wrong with you? Of all the crack-brained things to be doing before dawn, you're asking me for advice on tunics that look identical?" Neal pushed Dom into a chair and moved to relight the fire that had gone out during the night.

"Well, it's really important." Dom muttered. Neal growled in frustration at the matches and finally used his Gift to light the fire.

"More important than sleep?" Neal growled again, shoving more wood into the fire. "Give me a good reason not to throw you into the fire with the wood?"

"Narumi is arriving today." Dom said, as if this Narumi was the most important reason. He stared at Neal as if Neal were an incompetent idiot.

"Nar-who?" Neal stepped into the closet to change.

"Narumi. Lady Narumi noh Satoya, the most beautiful maiden in all of Tortall, well Yamani." Dom sighed deeply in love with just the thought of the Lady. "And best of all, I'm courting her. Me! Not a single other soul."

"And you need to be up before dawn because.?" Neal muttered.

"To be ready to meet her at Port Caynn, Meathead. Why else? My Lady is coming to Corus for Court. She is to be presented this season." Dom ran long fingers through his hair, bright blue eyes shining.

"HOLY SH--!" Neal yelped, tripping over a chair as he stumbled out of the closet. "I supposed to meet Yuki there today, too!" Neal stumbled about his little, messy room in an attempt to straight it up a bit so that he could find his best tunic.

"Which tunic do I wear?" Dom demanded, raising the two up again. "Answer me, damn it!" He yelled when Neal didn't speak.

"So this is how a men act when they're getting ready for a date or something." An amused voice said clearly and loudly. Both men glanced over to the door. Kelandry of Mindelan stepped over the threshold and pulled something out from under that desk. She threw the object to Neal who nearly burst into tears when he saw it was the tunic he'd been searching for.

"Which tunic, Kel?" Dom held the tunics up to his chest.

"Silver threaded one." Kel answered after a moment. Dom thanked her and rushed out of the room. "May I ask what exactly is going on?"

"Me and Dom have to go down to Port Caynn today to meet Yuki and his Lady." Neal threw his shirt on before throwing the tunic on over it. "What are you doing here?"

"I was heading to breakfast and heard the noise. Want to go get something to eat?"

"Umm...sure." Neal answered, shoving some things aside so he could walk to the door. He followed her out of the room, latching the door firmly behind him.

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Well, that's it for now!

"You could have mentioned me!"

Shush, Dranic! You aren't supposed to be here!

"I'm your muse. I'm everywhere you go!"

*Stuffs the little fairy man into a jar and corks it off*

Please kindly ignore the annoyance! =P

Now I might have misspelled some places. Sorry about that! Enjoy the wonderfully strange creations of my somewhat insane mind (or in the words of Nick, my 'supernoodle')

~Icebyrd67 (February 15, 2003)