Author's Note: This story is also posted to AO3, and was originally written as part of Yuletide 2015. The M-Rating is for descriptions of violence, starting from chapter 2. Please be warned that chapter 2 also contains implied character death (in a dream).

463 HE, Winter

The sound of cobblestones beneath Hoshi's hooves made Kel take in a sharp breath. Along with the other knights who had aided her in her command of the fort and refugee camp, New Hope, Kel had finally returned to Corus for the first time since her posting to the Scanran border, three years previously. Now, with the newly forged Scanran peace ending her command, Kel felt a sudden and unexpected tension fill her chest, as she entered through Corus' gates. The tension must have also reached her heels; Hoshi slowed to a walk, letting out a sharp breath through his nostrils. Neal rode up alongside her, grinning.

"No slowing up now, Mindelan!" he called, cheerfully. "I'd like to make it to the Palace in time for a hot supper. Mithros knows, we've earned it!"

Behind him rode Kel's childhood friend, Yuki, Neal's wife since the summer, so bundled up in scarves against the cold wind and flecks of snow that only her bright eyes were visible. Further back, alongside the wagon that held Kel's dog, Jump, and their belongings, rode Kel and Neal's yearmate and friend, Merric, and behind the wagon, Tobe, half asleep atop Peachblossom. It had been a long and cold journey from the northern borders to the capital, but fortunately they had arrived just in time for the beginning of the Midwinter festivities—the first most of Tortall's knights would attend in three years.

Kel grinned at Neal and rolled back her shoulders, trying to shake off the strange tension. She too, was looking forward to a proper meal after several days of field rations. She nudged Hoshi back to a trot. "Get a move on then, Queenscove," she teased. "I know you're really looking forward to all the wedding toasts you're owed!"

Neal shrugged good-naturedly. Together, the small group rode between the snow-covered houses lining the capital's streets. Despite the cold weather and the relatively late hour, there was plenty of other traffic - vendors selling hot pasties and mulled wine, men and women in heavy coats hurrying from door to door, and children throwing snowballs and running between the horses and wagons that traversed the streets. Kel rode silently, her mind still trying to reconcile the size of the capital that had once been her home with the small fortified town of New Hope which she had now left behind her.

As they entered the palace courtyard, a familiar voice broke through her reverie. "Kel!"

Kel looked down, and grinned. "Daine! I didn't expect to see anyone out here at this time of day."

The Wildmage took Hoshi's reins from her, offering a sugar lump to the pleased horse. "I had so many people wanting to play with the babies that I thought I'd take them up on it and spend some time with some sensible folk."

Kel laughed as she slid from Hoshi's back, knowing that Daine's definition of "sensible folk" probably meant the horses or other palace animals rather than other humans. "I can't say I blame you," she said, thinking of all the times the animals and birds Daine had magicked around Haven and New Hope had helped her. She, too, sometimes found Jump's or the horses' company preferable to anyone else's.

Daine grinned at her. "Here, you've been riding all day - I can make sure the horses get the care they need. You all look like you could do with something to eat just as much as they do!"

As she spoke, Stefan Groomsman, the palace's head hostler, alongside several other palace hostlers, joined them, taking the reins of the other horses. Even Peachblossom peacefully allowed himself to be lead away from Tobe, who had slid sleepily from his back and who was now letting Jump free from the wagon. As he opened the door, several fluffy shapes fluttered out into the icy air and settled on Kel's shoulders: her sparrow friends.

"Thanks, Daine," Kel said gratefully, Neal, Merric, and Yuki all echoing her sentiment. With her friends and animals alongside her, Kel entered through the palace doors for the first time in three years.

Inside, the palace was bustling with activity. Servants whisked their snow-wet cloaks away from them and brought in their things from the wagon to be left in their chambers, and a maid - seemingly a friend of Lalasa's with instructions from Kel's former maid - took Tobe under her wing and led him off for a hot meal, followed by Jump and, somewhat to her consternation, the sparrows as well. Meanwhile, a squire, who Neal greeted as Alan, his former knightmaster, Alanna the Lioness's son, fetched Kel and the others to the dining hall for dinner.

"Running errands now, squirt?" Neal asked Alan jokingly.

Alan nudged him in the ribs with an elbow. "Sir Raoul heard you'd arrived and told me I'd better come grab you all before anyone else did."

Kel and Yuki looked at one another, confused. Merric asked their unspoken question: "Wait, why would anyone else want to 'grab us'?" he said, surprised.

Alan raised his eyebrows, for a moment looking startlingly the mirror of his famous mother. "Well, mostly Lady Knight Keladry, really." He turned to Kel. "Everyone knows what you did with the killing machines was what won the war, even if it took a while for it to end after that. Plenty of people were saying they wanted to hear it from you first hand."

Kel groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was to have to recount the events leading up to the death of Blayce the Gallan over and over - particularly because she wasn't sure exactly what the "official" version of the story entailed, and even more because she could not think about what had happened without remembering all those innocents who had died as part of it.

Yuki, who knew the full story from Neal, looked at Kel with sympathy and then turned to Alan. "Well, thank goodness for Sir Raoul, then."

Raoul waved them over cheerfully as they entered the dining hall, and Kel soon found herself seated between Buri and Owen, the latter of whom pronounced it "absolutely jolly" to see her again. Indeed, they hadn't seen each other since before Owen's knighting, and so Kel was truly happy to have a chance to catch up with her friend. His natural positivity soon overcame the last vestiges of her earlier uneasiness, and she relaxed into her seat, enjoying the good food and pleasant company of friends that she had not seen in one place since Raoul's wedding to Buri, three years previously.

Over the course of the meal, various friendly faces came over to say hello: Alanna and George, with news of their daughter Aly, who had still been missing the last time Kel had seen the Lioness; Roald and Shinko, who had finally been able to marry that autumn after the peace agreements had been concluded; Lord Wyldon (although Kel had seen him much more recently, at Fort Mastiff that spring); Numair and Daine, leaving early to return a squalling baby Rikash to their chambers; and Cleon and his wife Ermelian. Kel felt a bittersweet pleasure that she did not feel any pangs at all at seeing Cleon married - not that she had thought of him much since the official end of their romance, but it was one thing to be half a country away from each other and another to be confronted with his marriage in person. Really, seeing Cleon only made her think of Domitan of Masbolle - but he was someone Kel was unlikely to see that Midwinter, since several squads of the King's Own were still patrolling the northern borders, and Dom was in charge while Raoul was recalled to court.

As the night drew to a close, Kel felt comfortably full of food, and well-sated by good conversation. Excusing herself to Buri, who had been telling her about her plans for the Queen's Riders, she stood up to head towards her chambers. Glancing up at the King's table, she noticed with surprise that a Yamani face was amongst those sat in his entourage: a woman, square-faced with narrow, intelligent eyes and long, black, grey-streaked hair wrapped in braids around her head. Kel blinked, realizing that it was also a face she recognized - and one she had never expected to see outside of Yamani soil.

Leaning over, she nudged Yuki's back. "What, in Mithros' name, is Sato noh Akazome doing in Tortall?" she asked. Yuki started at the name and stood up as well, trying not to stare too obviously at the King's table.

"Sato-sensei is here?" she asked excitedly. "I must say hello!"

Kel felt confused, although out of habit she tried not to let her confusion show on her face. As a child in the Yamani Islands, she had known of Sato noh Akazome, although she had never spoken to her. The formidable woman was one of the most respected mages in the Islands, famed for her skill with illusion magic in particular, but she was also known to be one of the most severe traditionalists of the Yamani court. Prior to Kel's parents' arrival, she had made her displeasure at the Emperor's welcoming of foreigners to the Islands so well known that even Kel had heard about it as a small child, and she had refused to have anything to do with them while they were there, despite the close relationships Piers and Ilane of Mindelan had forged with the Emperor and other Yamani nobles. But now the mage was - seemingly willingly - in Tortall, and not only that, but smiling and chatting with Queen Thayet and Duke Baird? And, moreover, not even wearing the formal kimonos of a senior Yamani mage, but instead a Tortallan style tunic in brilliant red.

She turned back to Yuki, to ask her what she knew about the mage, but Yuki was already halfway to the King's table. Kel shrugged mentally. There would be plenty of time to find out about mysterious Yamani mages later on - and really, mystery or none, it had little to do with her. The war is over, and you don't need to be on guard for every little suspicious thing anymore, she reminded herself. A little of the uneasy tension she had felt on entering tension had returned to sit at the bottom of her stomach, although for what reason, she couldn't really say.

"I'm off to bed," she said decisively to no one in particular, and headed to her chambers.