I definitely just did this for fun, so enjoy if you want to. Sorry about the weird "-l-" things. They're the only way I managed to break up the sections.
Daydreaming, thinking of a place far, far away from this Midwinter party kept my ears closed. I jumped at the tap on my shoulder. Looking up (seeing as I am nearly eighteen and only five feet tall), I saw Myles of Olau, my Knight Master. "Kora," he said tiredly, "Come meet Sir Raoul of the King's Own and his squire, Alan." Curious, I followed the old knight to a pair of men—one with dark hair and eyes, a head and shoulders above the other, who was still a head above me, and the other, with coppery-blonde hair and strange, violet-tinged green eyes. Sir Myles never asked me to meet someone unless they were important—or if I'd be serving under them one day.
I tugged cautiously at my inky black tunic, examining the pair from under my bangs. I'm dreadfully shy when dealing with new people, though it doesn't take long before I can have a full conversation with them. "Kora, this is Sir Raoul, and his squire, Alan of Pirate's Swoop. Raoul, Alan, this is Squire Koralyn of Summersedge."
"Raise your head, young one," Raoul's gruff voice sounded over my bowed head. I looked up, straight into the tall knight's black eyes. Soon, though, the two knights were deep in conversation, leaving us squires pushed to the edges of the group. I glanced at the Lioness's younger son. Admittedly, I was admiring the hard muscles of his arms, his strong nose, playful mouth, and mischievous eyes. Alan leaned over and whispered, "Are we both going to just stare off into space, or would you like to talk about something?" I blushed furiously, and cursed the light of the room—it certainly wouldn't hide my face right now. I thought the question over, then answered with a smirk, "It depends on what you'd rather talk about." Did I mention I tend to be a pert little thing when I do talk?
He threw his arm around my shoulders and shook sandy-red hair from his strange eyes. "How about you? You know, why you wanted to become a knight?" he said, steering me away from the crowds, onto a balcony. "Okay. How about this: I tell you why I wanted to become a knight and you tell me how you got your peepers, Master Alan," I retorted, brushing my bright gold hair behind my ears. The other squire stretched out on the stone bench present, and replied, "Sure. Start, then. And next time, leave off the 'master' stuff."
I paused, then sat beside him. "Well," I began, "I g-guess I wanted to become a knight after a centaur tried to kidnap me when I was eight. Lady Alanna saved me, and I wanted to be just like her when I got older." I looked at him. He was staring at me outright, his dragon-scale eyes glinting in the light. Finally, he smiled, "All right, then. Fair's fair. I don't know how I got my eyes. I guess that the green in my da's eyes got all funky with Mother's violet. It freaks most out—especially girls."
-l-
The last day of the Midwinter festivities I tumbled out of the Chamber of Ordeal, still biting my lip. Myles and Raoul—and Alan—helped me to my rooms, which were still attached to Sir Myles's.
Before I knew it, I knelt before King Jonathan, and I was pledging my allegiance to him and Tortall. I stood, grinning widely—I was officially a knight of Tortall, the third lady knight in over a hundred years. My mother and father—Lady Elsie and Lord Byron—pulled a cloth off of my shield: a bronze seahorse on a purple field ringed first in bronze, then in violet. I threw myself into their arms, nearly crying with glee.
After the celebrations, I sat in my new rooms. A knock at the door sidetracked me from my shield. "Come in," I called, setting my shield aside. A face adorned with green-violet eyes peered in. "I wanted to say congratulations," Alan said, easing into my room. He stood there, opening and closing his mouth as if trying to think of something to say. Finally, he gave up. Crossing the room in wide strides, the grabbed my face and kissed me, passionately and rather sloppily. He broke away and looked into my eyes, then kissed me again and again, still passionately but much neater each time. I kissed back with passion to rival his, clinging to his neck. I tripped over my feet and fell onto my bed, cursing. Alan put his mouth over mine, effectively silencing my string of words.
I laid back, bringing him with me, only separating for air. I fumbled under my pillow as he slid my tunic off. Finally, I clasped the leather thong I'd hung my anti-pregnancy charm on—not that I'd ever had to use it before. I'm no trollop! Sliding the thong on my neck, I felt Alan slide my breeches around my hips. I grasped his tunic and tugged it off. I wrapped my legs around his waist and let him take over.
-l-
When I awoke in the morning, Alan was waiting by the door. "Leaving?" I asked, slightly perturbed that he'd have left before I woke up. He shook his head, tying the laces on his breeches. There was a soft knock at the door. Alan opened it and took a tray of porridge and bacon, fruit juice and ale. I smiled, propping myself up with one hand. He sat the tray on my small desk, saying, "You know, if I hadn't started my knight training so late, we'd both be knights together. Maybe when…when I become a knight we could, you know…" He began to fumble with his words. I got up and kissed him on the cheek. He looked into my blue-gray eyes and smiled. "Maybe," he said again, "we could get married, or, or something…"
I kissed him, smiling as I did so. "I'd love to."
-l-
In the year that passed before we saw each other again, I ached greatly for him. His letters to me told me he ached the same for me. I was posted on the southern border, fighting off would-be Carthaki raiders while he was north, keeping an eye on the freshly-secured Scanran border. His mother, Alanna the Lioness, was posted with me—it was her punishment for saying a few choice words to the king when he told her she still couldn't help the female pages that might come along.
She looked as if her days as a knight had taken their toll on her, but in a good way. She had laugh lines around her famous violet eyes and lines around her mouth. Some silver strands stood out in her close-cropped coppery hair.
"Alan wrote to me about you," she said one night over supper, close to Midwinter. "He really loves you. I'm glad at least one of my children has found someone in Tortall." She said it with a smirk. Her daughter, Alianne, had married a crow-turned-man in the Copper Isles, where she was a spymaster, and Alanna's other son, Thom, was engaged to a Carthaki mage. "He's worried about me, though. Alan says he doesn't understand why a noble girl would want to marry a younger son—one who won't inherit any lands. I told him I didn't care about land or money, just love," I replied quietly. She smiled, her violet eyes twinkling, "I'm glad to hear you say that."
-l-
I watched Alan go into the Chamber. It felt like years before he—like I did three years earlier—stumbled out. Had I looked that pale and sweaty? I accompanied him, Sir Raoul, and Alan's parents to his rooms. I kissed him on the forehead before he slept. When he woke up, hours later, he grinned at me and said, "How about that offer from when you were knighted?" I admit, I nearly slapped him—he hadn't even eaten anything yet and he was worried about me! Men. Will they ever learn? "Let's worry about this after you've been knighted, Sir Alan," I said with a wink.
-l-
"Come on, lass," Alanna said as I adjusted my white veils again. "The day isn't getting younger, and neither am I!" I rolled my eyes at Buri, who'd become my friend through Raoul's part in planning his squire's wedding, and followed my soon-to-be mother-in-law out. Alianne, whose copper-gold hair matched Alan's, leaned over and said, "At least she won't be like this once you two are actually married." A girl with black-brown hair tugged at Aly's dress, followed by another girl and a boy. "Ochobai, let's go sit down. Where's your da?" The girl pointed to a man with a razor blade nose and thick black hair, stretched out at the back of the room. Aly smiled at me and wandered off with her three little ones.
Buri added to Aly's comforting remark, "Don't worry, it won't all be this frightful." She put a hand to her swollen belly, smiling gently. "It all gets better from here, actually." She, too, found her husband and sat down. The wedding seemed to flash by, and I savored the moment where Alan and I kissed before the Mithran priest, the Goddess's daughter, and our group of friends and family.
-l-
Three months later, I perched on a chair in Lady Alanna's chambers. "Well?" I asked, trying not to perturb my mother-in-law. I couldn't help it—I wanted to know if I was really and truly with child! "If I tell you, will you stop fidgeting like a child on the verge of a treat?" she retorted, smiling. "Yes, lass, you're carrying my grandchild. What do you even use your Gift for?"
I was slow to reply, "Well, I help the villagers where we go to, and I help with sewing and cooking. I rarely have to detect pregnancies, so I didn't know what to look for."
-l-
"I'm so glad Alanna was there, Alan. I felt like I was just fumbling in the dark. I mean, sure, we've got instincts, but what do we do with those in—" Alan cut me off, kissing me with a fervor I was glad he still had. I lay in a bed in the birthing chamber, holding Annalyn, our first child, in my arms. She giggled at us, her green eyes glittering. "I'll never forget this, Kora," Alan replied and kissed Anna's golden curls.
Alan, Alianne, Alanna, Raoul, Buri, Ochobai, Nawat (not mentioned by name), Myles, King Jon are all property of Tamora Pierce. Well, Alan's description is mine. Koralyn, her parents, and Annalyn are mine.