_______________________Chapter One: Pirate's Swoop______________________
The stranger looked up at the sky. It was a gray and cloudy evening. It was cold, too. She hoped they would let her inside. She looked at the building with her almond shaped lava green eyes. It was just as the thirteen-year- old girl had pictured it. Suddenly the wind picked up and her emerald cloak was spayed with salt water from the sea. There was going to be a storm that night, she could tell it. She looked at the castle again. Now that the wind was blowing the flags on the towers fanned out, so she could see them. Ken frowned, the expression looking strange on her pale face, for she seemed like one who always smiled. Only one flag was up. It was the one with a golden key on a brown field. That meant the Lioness was away again. Oh well. Ken could still ask George. Maybe they just haven't put the
flag up yet. She hoped that was it. She knocked on the door.
A woman answered. " Hello?" the maid asked. This, however was not how she had expected it, for some reason the girl had always imagined Alanna or George would answer. "Hi." She answered, "May I speak with the Baron, please? It's, sort of important."
"And whom shall I say is calling?", the servant asked. "Just tell him an old friend has come to met him," she said, smiling. The woman disappeared. Shortly after she came back. "He will see you." She said, and beckoned her inside shutting the door behind them. She led Ken to a library with comfy looking chairs and left, shutting the door as she left.
The girl in the cloak let her hood fall so the man could see her better. Her dark wavy hair fell unbound onto her narrow shoulders. She looked at the man at the desk. He had broad shoulder's that were light by the fire from the fireplace and lamps. She could tell he was tall even though he was sitting. His nose was too big for good looks, but he appeared handsome when he smiled because of his twinkling large green hazel eyes. Now she smiled. "Hello George. Is Alanna in residence?" she asked.
"No she's off adventuring," he answered. "Are you a friend of hers? I don't believe we've meet."
"We haven't," she replied. "But I know you well enough all the same. My name is…". She thought for a moment. "Kenret. My name is Kenret. I just…" another quick decision, " I was wondering if you could teach me a bit on how to use knives? I know you used them all the time, you know, being an ex-king of thieves and all. All I know is where to hid them." -I can tell him when I tell Alanna, - she thought. -It will be easier that way. -
"You're a mighty strange younglin', bein' bold enough to go blurting out accusations like that." He said, not truly denying it. "I don't know of many your age who'd know that about me. I suppose I might teach you a bit. I'm getting out of practice anyway. I just know I'm going to regret this though. Either that or Alanna's going to yell at me. Or both. You said you could hid them well enough, how many knives do you have on you now?"
"Twelve. And I'll make sure the lioness doesn't yell at you. And I promise you won't regret it. Please?"
"All right, all right. When do you want your first lesson?"
"First, I need a place to stay. Could I pay you rent? And stay here? Just for a while."
"It takes a brave lass to come to a Baron's home and after accusing him of treason, then demand rooms and lessons. Yeah, I suppose you could stay here, for a while, but I'm not certain on how long. Just so long as you behave. And don't be tryin' to kill me in my sleep or anything." He said laughing.
"Don't worry, I won't," she assured him. "Besides, you have the Site. I'd probably fail and get caught." She replied, eyes twinkling.
"Smart lass. When do you want your first lesson?"
"No time like the present." She replied. He nodded and striped off his boots.
Ken was there for almost three weeks, learning knife and hand to hand combat tricks and hints from George. She spent her time earning her stay, for she had run out of money. She was hired on as a stable hand, for they had to fire the last one, he wasn't well enough trained. Ken on the other hand, seemed very well trained in horses and acted as if she had spent plenty of time with them in her short life.
She enjoyed her time at Pirate's Swoop. During her afternoons she spent her time with the Baron's and the King's Champion's children. Some of them were close to her age, the oldest was eleven. The day before what would be the last day of her third week. Ken was in the library, trying to learn about the history of Tortall. Kenret heard voices outside and in the hall and decided to investigate. When she came out side she saw between all the warrior horse's that Alanna had returned. -Finally! - She thought, -I was tempted to just tell George, and have him explain it to her. - After everything had calmed down, and Ken was back to her studying, but at magic this time, instead of history. She never liked history. She didn't bother trying to talk with Alanna, she knew she would be summoned sooner or later. Sure enough, a servant soon told her she had been 'summoned' by George, who was in the Okamura Library.
When she had arrived there, Alanna started to say something, "Is that? No of course not."
"What?" George asked.
"Nothing, she just reminded me of some one."
George glanced at her before introduced Kenret to Alanna and her to the other, and explained to Alanna why she was here. Alanna cocked a slender copper eyebrow at the story, but said nothing. She probably was going to chew George's head off later. The girl made her move. "Actually, truth be told, I came to ask Alanna and you, George, about something. I did want to learn knife fighting though, that was fun, thanks."
"Oh? What were you going to ask us?" Alanna inquired.
"Well, first I think I need to explain some stuff."
And here's the story that she told:
I had a normal life. It was cool. I was about ten, and I lived on a horse ranch, a good one, if not a big one. We only had thirteen or so horses. There were people who had thousands, but they didn't get to spend time with all of them. I would hate that. Just having tons of horses you lend to camps in the summer of whatever. Not cool. But I know all my horse's names, I train them, I make sure they're happy. I scoop up their poop. Oh well.
Can't have everything.
I was decently popular in school. I had enough friends. Though, I think a few of them were only my friends so they could ride horses. I never invited them over to ride. That'll teach 'em. :P My favorite hobby-type-thing was learning about medieval junk. I studied their swords, armor, that kinda stuff in my free time. I also read a lot. I was a bookworm. My favorite author's were Tamora Pierce and Piers Anthony. Tamora first. Not that I had any free time mind you.
I had a good life. –Boring! - I mean, how could some one stand that? Never anything new. -I wish I could get out of here! - I had often thought. I often thought of how cool it would be to visit Tortall and Xanth. If I fell into a portal or something. Now, you know where I'm going with this, obviously. Something strange happened, and my entire -*life*- changed, yada, yada, yada. But unlike I all those books I've read, it wasn't really this horrible thing that made me regret my wish. It wasn't all good, but it wasn't all that bad, either. It was cool.
It happened when I was ten. In our house (us being Mom[a.k.a., Salina], Dad[a.k.a., Darek], Billy [the youngest], Dan [oldest], and Sukura [second oldest] and, of course, me, stuck in the middle.), we have a closet. In the attic. We have a closet in the attic. Whose ever heard of a closet in an attic? I don't think the attic was ever a room, but it's there. Any way, we're not allowed to look in that closet. Got me why. It's just a rule. It's easy to cope with, 'cause generally we don't go up there much, so there's not a lot of temptation to deal with. When we were little, we thought of reasons that it might be, all kids do. Mom and Dad are Spies, Mom and Dad are Aliens, Mom and Dad are scientists, all three, even things like there's a body up there and they don't want us to be traumatized for life. That one really helped us girls restrained from looking. Ugh. Could you imagine?
-Anyway-, my parents said that, when I was ten, maybe, -maybe-, they would show me what was in there. Dan and Sakura were so jealous! Dan has long since moved out, and Sakura is working on it. –They- never got to look in it. I thought it was so cool! Then, when I was ten, they wouldn't let me go in there. I cried and cried, but they just wouldn't let me. They seemed really upset about something. I couldn't think of what. But I didn't care, they said I could so I was going to. That was that! So, of course, when Mom and Dad were asleep, I snuck up to the attic. I pulled the string, and the stairs came down. I made sure I made as little noise as possible. I got up there, turned on my flashlight, and walked over to it. As I stood before the closet door, I reconsidered.
-What if there really is a body or skeleton in there? And I'll certainly get in trouble when Mama and Daddy find out!- I didn't think of if Mom and Dad found out, 'cause I knew they would. Parents always knew. Aspecially Mothers. –Yeesh-. I opened it of course. But who wouldn't? When I opened it, I felt a burning sorta sensation thingy. But it wasn't quite burning, it was, well, the only way I could think of it is it was like Alanna, calling on her gift. How I imagined she felt. I felt I knew her character so much better now. It was awesome! I felt some thing pull on me. I didn't know what to do, so I just let it pull my in. It took forever to suck me in. I had enough time to think, rethink, and triple think about turning back. If it took one more think longer, I would have turned back. I had a short attention span, after all.
When I finally appeared somewhere, I looked around. It looked like the priesty place where the Academy of Magic or whatever from Tamora's books. -Cool! - I was thinking, -I wonder where I am though? It would be so cool if I was, like, in one of Tammy's books or something, so long as I don't get attacked by Immortals-… There was some old guy at a desk, a few feet away. I suppose he was a priest, or a sorcerer-to-be. I decided to ask where I was. "Excuse me," I began. "Cou-" "Go away, kid. I'm busy." He interrupted. Okay fine. I would just look around for awhile. I poked at the bottles of things on the walls. There was gross slimy stuff in most of them. It looked like a witch's house or somethin'. It was so cool. I couldn't get any of the jars open though, and soon tired of looking at them.
So then I started to look at the papers on the table. One group of them looked sort of like a test. I looked at it. I knew the answers to some of the questions. I thought that was cool. I knew the answers, because like I said, I'm a bookworm, and some authors are very creative. They had the words to spells, and formula's to potions, and description on how to use the 'Powers Within' yourself. So I found a quill (a quill? No body uses real quill! They use the ones with pen inside of them. I wonder where it came from?) and a bottle of ink, and some how, very sloppily, managed to learn to write with one. So then, I took the test. A few I didn't know the answer to, so I just made something up. The guy at the desk glared at me a few times, but I just smiled back. I think he even rolled his eyes once. When I was done, I put the finished, ever-so-blotted papers on the table nearest the man, because I had been writing on the floor, but knew I shouldn't keep them there, 'cause I'd probably slip on them. Then I poked around at the books on the selves of the library, which is where I finally discovered I had been playing. I think curiosity came over the man, because he finally looked at the test thingy I had done.
As he reviewed it his eyes widened. He gradually flipped though all the pages. When he was done, he said, "You, kid. What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't. But it's at the top of the page, mister." I answered, trying to sound polite, even if I didn't like him very much. "Yes, it is. Ken-ret. You…" He dwindled off.
"Its said Ken-Ray, sir."
"Yes, yes of course it is. Kenret. H-how-where did you learn this?"
"I'm not sure, sir, I just-I don't know."
"Do you know what these papers are? Do you know what this means? You got almost every question right! You missed only one, no wait, two. That means you pasted! These are the final exams in mastery! How- no, I studied my whole life. I only past five years ago, and the younger sorcerer ever was eighteen. A mere child like you could never accomplish something such as this! Who gave you the answers? Who?!" He demanded, a bit over excited if you ask me.
"I didn't cheat! You saw me sitting there the whole time! Wait, are they really the final exams? Does this mean I'm a sorceress? Cool!"
"I can't believe it…" He said, mostly to himself. Then he looked at her again. "No, you still have to take the Ordeal first."
"I do?" Ken asked, nervous. "Do I have to? I'm scared, I don't want to… But I do get to be a sorceress, if I do, don't I? I could be the youngest one ever! Right? Now that'd be cool!"
"Yes, it would do wonders for the academy's popularity. No one has been sending their boys to us to learn magic any more. Not since-never mind. Will you do it? You couldn't do until All Hallow's Eve, but that's not too far from now. I shall need to talk to the other master…" He thought to himself.
"When is Halloween?" she asked him.
"Halloween?
"Oh, um, er… All Hallow's Eve, I mean."
"It's in a month in a half. Not much time at all"
"But, I need to go home! I miss my mommy already, and I'm hungry!"
"Where do you live? Yes, I suppose we –would- have to talk to your parents about this first." He sad, remembering the laws. "I had forgotten. Where do you live?"
"Um, I came through a closet." She answered. "Mom didn't want me to, but she said I could, years ago, so I did."
"You what?"
"I came through a closet. Were you keep clothes? I don't know what I was doing in an attic, 'cause that's where it was. I mean, who's ever heard of a closet in an attic? That's the stupidest place ever. No one going to go marching up to the attic to get their clothes every morning."
(Did I mention I also talk a lot? Well, I do. Okay, so after a while we finally understood each other. He didn't seem disappointed that we couldn't find my Mom. So, I stayed the for about a month, and then got ready to take my Ordeal.)
"Okay, Kenret. Tomorrow will be your Ordeal. Now, we don't make as much fuss as they do in the castle, for the Ordeal of Knighthood. You'll be waken up at dawn. You'll take a purifying bath, watched over by some of the sorceresses. We don't have many, but… They will instruct you in what to do. Then you will be taken to the chamber of the Ordeal. Then you'll take the Ordeal, and if you pass, you'll finally be a sorceress." The old guy, whose name was Geligan as I had come to learn, said as he was steering me back to my rooms after dinner.
"Okay." I said. Then I thought, -You know, I just ralised it, but I don't have any magic, as far as I know. Even if I do know how to use it. And do I really want to take the Ordeal? I read those books, and Alanna and Keladry really didn't seem to like their ordeal very much. I know their Ordeals were for knighthood, not sorcery. I don't know what happened to him, but it can't be good. If it was good, it wouldn't be called an ordeal. He didn't seem to mind it much, but Kel and Alanna hated theirs. And I can't blame them, after all. I don't want to go through that! But I don't know anything about the magic one. I'll just tell them I don't want to. -
Just as I was about to tell him that I didn't want to go through with it, when we reached my door. "Now," he said. "Remember not to say anything until you come out of the chamber tomorrow, okay?"
"But," I started. "I don-"
"Good, good. Get some sleep. You've got a big day ahead." He interrupted, shutting the door behind me.
Oh well, I would have to do it then. But first, before I went to bed, I wanted to see if I really did have magic. So, reading enough Tamora Pierce books to know how to light a fireplace, I concentrated on an imaginary fire with in me, but I pretended it was real. I thought I felt some thing! I nudged it harder, feeling it. I called upon it, and tried to concetrate it on my fireplace. Nothing happened. I felt like a fool. But I kept trying, after awhile being smart enough to add –wood- to the fireplace, just in case it would help. After many more tries, and a long time after the sentry called the hour of Midnight, it worked! I was so happy! But I was tired too, so I dosed the fire and went to bed.
In the morning, everything happened as it should. After my ceremonial bath they lectured me in what it means to be a sorceress, yada, yada, yada, and then they took me to the chamber the Ordeal was in. It was a tiny room, with a huge door in the wall opposite of me. The walls were plain stone, the door iron. It looked sorta rust to me, but I now know that it was just reddish iron. Everyone stood very still for five minutes. It felt like forever. I thought I was going ta pee my pants, really. It was cold to. I mean –freezing-. It was probably the fact that it was so cold that kept me from wetting myself. -Is wish they would hurry it up, already. -Then, the eternity was over, and the servants began to open the door. There before me, past the open door, was the next plain stone room I was supposed to go in. I wished the eternity had never ended.
I stepped forward, into the Room of the Ordeal. I looked around. Big room, black opal walls were all around me. The room was octagon shape. Okay, so I was wrong, it wasn't a plain stone room, oh well. I heard the door shut behind me. I continued to look around nervously, wondering what was going to happen. I heard a strange noise behind me. Like a staticly channel or sizzling bacon. Instead of turning around to face it, I scrunched down on the floor, covering my head with my hands. I did that for about an hour, not moving, barley remembering to breath. I never opened my eyes, but unfortunately, there's no such thing as earlids, so I heard ever so many terrifying noises. I wondered if I was even still alive, or if I had really been hit with a bolt of lightning and my body was already being burned or buried. I heard so many moans and screams in the background, I could be in the dark tower where the Black God keeps his new souls and not even know it. I sounded like a Halloween tape.
-All right, thirty more seconds and I'll have to open my eyes. - I thought. But before the thirty seconds were up, the noises stopped and the chamber door opened. "It's alright to get up and open your eyes now, Kenret. You did it." Said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Geligan's. I did. Geligan directed me to my chambers, which was good. 'Cause I think I would've gotten lost if I tried to on my own. Or I would've fallen asleep half way there. As it was, I fell asleep before I hit my bed.
I felt horrible. Everyone kept saying what a great Magician, er, Magicianess/Sorceress/Magicess I must be, to be able to get through the Ordeal with out a scratch. They all kept saying how I must've passed with flying colors. I think the truth is I barly passed. I decided then to become a great sorceress, so as to (kinda) justify it.
Eventually, I learned how to make a portal, so I could go home. Okay, it only took two weeks, but I had some one help me. It was a really hard spell, and even harder to find. I came home, walked down the attic stairs (I appeared in the attic closet), and went to bed. The spell took a lot out of me. But it was night, so no one noticed.
In the morning, I woke up and got dressed in normal clothes, for I was still wearing medieval junk, then went to the breakfast table, 'cause that's where every one was. I ran to Mom and Dad and gave them a big hug a kiss. I hadn't realized how much I had missed them.
"Well what's this about?" asked my Dad.
"I missed you so much! Didn't you miss me?" I asked.
"Uh, well, sure honey. I, guess. Of course we missed you. We haven't seen you since you went to bed last night, after all." He said, jokingly, like always. -Oh, I thought, did he see me come out of the attic or something? -
"Don't be mean, honey." Mom scolded Dad. "She's just sorry about the fight we had last night. Because we wouldn't let her in the attic. We didn't say good night like we usually do, and she misses us." -Okay, was there some one here in my place, so that no one would find out that I was gone? I don't want any one pretending to be me! - "It's okay sweetie, we're not mad at you. Have some breakfast. I knew you'd be down here in the morning, so I made you some." Mom said, scooting a plate of waffles and bacon to me. I sat down and thought as I ate.
-Hmmm, maybe I used the wrong spell. Since when does Mom make breakfast? That's what cereal is for. Maybe I did the spell wrong, and I was in an alternate universe, or something. -I looked around to see if anything else was different. Nothing was, everything was exactly as I had left it. Wait, it was exactly as I had left it. Same number of days marked on the calendar, same dirty dishes, well, a few new ones too, same everything. No time had passed when I was in Tortall! Everything was back to normal! Thank the Goddess. Oh, wait, I'm not in Tortall anymore, it's thank Goodness here. I knew that. While on the subject, I better say thank you to Mom for breakfast, huh? I did so.
Now that I had it all figured out, and was done eating, I went back up stairs into my bedroom, because I had gotten syrup on my third favorite shirt, (the one I was wearing) and had to soak it, so it would come out. I put on a different shirt, then went to the bathroom to put my old shirt in the sink to soak. When I came back, I looked at the bag I brought with me as a souvenir from Tortall. I couldn't resist bringing home –some-thing. I had a spell book in there. I decided to study it. I was bummed when I found out my magic didn't work in the real world. After a month or so, I thought I had figured out what spell was used on our closet. It was a powerful spell. But when I went in the attic to examine it (at night while my parents were asleep, of course), it was gone! I thought it might be. That meant it was either done in a hurry or by an amateur, or even maybe by a sorcerer, or sorceress, was weak. Of course I wondered we the person put a spell on the closet anyway, and stuff like that. But I don't like wondering about things that long when I'll never get the answer, so I didn't worry about it much. Anyway, after a while, I discovered that I could use magic when I was close to the closet. Probably the side affect of a poorly done spell, but I wasn't complaining. So I used my magic to search it. I was right when I guessed what spell it was. The spell did make time freeze on whatever side I wasn't on. And was only meant to last for ten years a few days, or a one way trip. So after I used it to go to Tortall that first time, it disappeared. It was getting late, and I had a test tomorrow, so I gave up then, and got some sleep whilst I still could.
Like, six months later, I was brave and confident enough to make another journey to Tortall. And that's what I did. Nothing bad happened. From then on I went whenever I was bored. I sold things from my world in Tortall, so I could have money to pay for things. I really didn't go that often though. I always froze time when I wasn't somewhere. Very important detail, if you ask me.
Anyway, this story is getting long, so I'll skip that part. Blah, blah, blah, I learned about magic and took up several careers over the years, like being a scholar, marketplace person (selling things from my world for high prices), stable hand, lots of stuff. It's dull. Nothing really happens. Oh yeah, and I learned how to make it so that I had a different body in each world, so that I didn't have to worry about changing clothes when crossing worlds. Also, It didn't bother me then, but I knew that if I kept using the same body, instead of two, then It would appear that I aged twice as fast, and that might bug when I'm older. Anyway, I'll skip to a little while after my thirteenth birthday.
I was I my room, reading, like I always do after dinner, when I heard Mom and Dad downstairs in the living room, I knew it was the living room because the living room was just beneath my room. Anyway, Mom was talking to Dad about something, and Dad was reassuring her, she was crying. I couldn't imagine what over. Nothing happen recently enough. Some times she cried because she thought maybe some of her kids didn't have a good birthday, but she only cried that same night, or maybe the next morning. Well there was this one time, that she took us –all- to- oh, wait, never- mind.
As I was saying, I heard them talking, and suddenly Dad called for me to go down stairs. When I came down, he said, "Kenret, we need to talk about something. Now, you may not believe us at first, but bear with us. We can prove it."
"Sure Dad." I said worriedly.
"Okay, then. We didn't want to tell you this because we didn't want to lose you, but you deserve to know. Just don't interrupt, because we may not be able to continue, okay?"
"Of course, Daddy."
"Okay, thirteen years ago-" He Dad started, but her Mom shook her head and put her hand on his arm. "I want to tell it." Kenret thought she heard her mom say, but her mom was whispering, trying not to cry.
"You want to tell it? Okay, go ahead, dear."
Her Mother coughed to clear her throat, so that Kenret could here her. "It was before we had you. We just moved here, in this house. We-we heard a-a noise, upstairs. We thought either-either a box had fallen, or-or something. Bu-but then we heard foot steps and-and thought it was a burglar, o-or a drunk or something." She started, stuttering from trying not to cry.
"Your father went to investigate, to check out what was-what was up there. A…a woman looked down the stairs, as Darek pulled them down. Sh-" she choked up again.
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer me-"
"No." Her mom interrupted her Dad. "I can tell it. She had a baby girl with her. She said, she said that she was from a different land, called Tortall. A different world. She said her home was under attack, and- and she was afraid for her child. She asked if we would protect her. The baby girl. She said she was busy fighting of raiders, she couldn't watch over the baby. She looked very weak, covered with blood. Your Father and I were very worried for the woman, I can't remember her name. She-she left a portal, using the last of her strength. It was to her world. She said that, because she was weak, she the portal wouldn't work until the baby was ten. That she didn't want to-to leave her child here, but she had to. She left us with instructions to send the child through the portal on her tenth birthday, and she gave us the baby's birthday. What was her name, Darek? I forget."
"The woman's name was Alanna. She was short and had red hair. And purple eyes, I think. Her home was called Pirate's Swoop." Darek supplied, also choked up a little. "I don't remember the little girl's name."
Saliena nodded. "So, we keep the child and took care of her. We built a closet around the magic portal. We named the girl Kenret. And when her tenth birthday came around, we couldn't bear to give her up. But now we decided that, Alanna must miss the child, as well. And that girl deserves a chance to decided what she must do."
Kenrea, who had been quiet all that time, couldn't be quiet any longer. "And I, of course, am that girl." Her parents nodded. "You mean Alanna's my real Mom? The Lioness Alanna? Woah, I didn't expect that! So she's who made the portal! All this time I should've meet her…" She rambled on.
"You mean, you knew all this?" Her father asked, surprised.
"Er, sort of. You see, I got made when you didn't let me look in the closet, so I snuck up to the attic when you were asleep and went in. I've been going to Tortall for years!"
"But you were never gone!" Kenrea's mother protested. "You've always been here, with us!"
"No, I learned to freeze time in whatever world I'm not in. So it would be like I was always in both worlds."
"Oh, so you can be with Alanna, and us? Neither of us have to miss you?" Selina inquired.
"Nope! I mean, yep. Wait… whatever! I know what I mean. You two don't have to feel guilty."
After a lot more talking and hugging, they watched me go into the closet. Well, they watch me step towards the closet/portal, and open it up, but then they were frozen in time with the rest of the world. And anyway, here I am. I came to ask if it's true. If it's true that you lost a little girl thirteen years ago, while trying to protect her?
The lioness and the Baron had been quiet through the whole story. They didn't understand some part, for they didn't have as advance technology as the real world, but they understood well enough, using context clues.
"Yes. Yes I did send my baby into another world. When she didn't appear on what would have been her tenth birthday, we assumed that my spell went wrong, for my gift was drained at the time I did it. Are you our little girl?" Alanna asked, tears in her eyes.
Kenret nodded, and Alanna scooped her up in her arms, and hugged her. George followed suite. Kenrea hugged them back, though not because she had missed them, but because they needed it. It was very hard losing a child, as far as she understood. Plus, how many times do you get to hug your favorite book characters?
Sorry! I know this is a really long chapter, but I thought that all Kenret's character development should be in one chapter, like a book would have it. And I didn't want to leave it on a cliffhanger, because I don't know how long it will take 'til the next chapter is done. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter! It took forever to write! Please read and review!
The stranger looked up at the sky. It was a gray and cloudy evening. It was cold, too. She hoped they would let her inside. She looked at the building with her almond shaped lava green eyes. It was just as the thirteen-year- old girl had pictured it. Suddenly the wind picked up and her emerald cloak was spayed with salt water from the sea. There was going to be a storm that night, she could tell it. She looked at the castle again. Now that the wind was blowing the flags on the towers fanned out, so she could see them. Ken frowned, the expression looking strange on her pale face, for she seemed like one who always smiled. Only one flag was up. It was the one with a golden key on a brown field. That meant the Lioness was away again. Oh well. Ken could still ask George. Maybe they just haven't put the
flag up yet. She hoped that was it. She knocked on the door.
A woman answered. " Hello?" the maid asked. This, however was not how she had expected it, for some reason the girl had always imagined Alanna or George would answer. "Hi." She answered, "May I speak with the Baron, please? It's, sort of important."
"And whom shall I say is calling?", the servant asked. "Just tell him an old friend has come to met him," she said, smiling. The woman disappeared. Shortly after she came back. "He will see you." She said, and beckoned her inside shutting the door behind them. She led Ken to a library with comfy looking chairs and left, shutting the door as she left.
The girl in the cloak let her hood fall so the man could see her better. Her dark wavy hair fell unbound onto her narrow shoulders. She looked at the man at the desk. He had broad shoulder's that were light by the fire from the fireplace and lamps. She could tell he was tall even though he was sitting. His nose was too big for good looks, but he appeared handsome when he smiled because of his twinkling large green hazel eyes. Now she smiled. "Hello George. Is Alanna in residence?" she asked.
"No she's off adventuring," he answered. "Are you a friend of hers? I don't believe we've meet."
"We haven't," she replied. "But I know you well enough all the same. My name is…". She thought for a moment. "Kenret. My name is Kenret. I just…" another quick decision, " I was wondering if you could teach me a bit on how to use knives? I know you used them all the time, you know, being an ex-king of thieves and all. All I know is where to hid them." -I can tell him when I tell Alanna, - she thought. -It will be easier that way. -
"You're a mighty strange younglin', bein' bold enough to go blurting out accusations like that." He said, not truly denying it. "I don't know of many your age who'd know that about me. I suppose I might teach you a bit. I'm getting out of practice anyway. I just know I'm going to regret this though. Either that or Alanna's going to yell at me. Or both. You said you could hid them well enough, how many knives do you have on you now?"
"Twelve. And I'll make sure the lioness doesn't yell at you. And I promise you won't regret it. Please?"
"All right, all right. When do you want your first lesson?"
"First, I need a place to stay. Could I pay you rent? And stay here? Just for a while."
"It takes a brave lass to come to a Baron's home and after accusing him of treason, then demand rooms and lessons. Yeah, I suppose you could stay here, for a while, but I'm not certain on how long. Just so long as you behave. And don't be tryin' to kill me in my sleep or anything." He said laughing.
"Don't worry, I won't," she assured him. "Besides, you have the Site. I'd probably fail and get caught." She replied, eyes twinkling.
"Smart lass. When do you want your first lesson?"
"No time like the present." She replied. He nodded and striped off his boots.
Ken was there for almost three weeks, learning knife and hand to hand combat tricks and hints from George. She spent her time earning her stay, for she had run out of money. She was hired on as a stable hand, for they had to fire the last one, he wasn't well enough trained. Ken on the other hand, seemed very well trained in horses and acted as if she had spent plenty of time with them in her short life.
She enjoyed her time at Pirate's Swoop. During her afternoons she spent her time with the Baron's and the King's Champion's children. Some of them were close to her age, the oldest was eleven. The day before what would be the last day of her third week. Ken was in the library, trying to learn about the history of Tortall. Kenret heard voices outside and in the hall and decided to investigate. When she came out side she saw between all the warrior horse's that Alanna had returned. -Finally! - She thought, -I was tempted to just tell George, and have him explain it to her. - After everything had calmed down, and Ken was back to her studying, but at magic this time, instead of history. She never liked history. She didn't bother trying to talk with Alanna, she knew she would be summoned sooner or later. Sure enough, a servant soon told her she had been 'summoned' by George, who was in the Okamura Library.
When she had arrived there, Alanna started to say something, "Is that? No of course not."
"What?" George asked.
"Nothing, she just reminded me of some one."
George glanced at her before introduced Kenret to Alanna and her to the other, and explained to Alanna why she was here. Alanna cocked a slender copper eyebrow at the story, but said nothing. She probably was going to chew George's head off later. The girl made her move. "Actually, truth be told, I came to ask Alanna and you, George, about something. I did want to learn knife fighting though, that was fun, thanks."
"Oh? What were you going to ask us?" Alanna inquired.
"Well, first I think I need to explain some stuff."
And here's the story that she told:
I had a normal life. It was cool. I was about ten, and I lived on a horse ranch, a good one, if not a big one. We only had thirteen or so horses. There were people who had thousands, but they didn't get to spend time with all of them. I would hate that. Just having tons of horses you lend to camps in the summer of whatever. Not cool. But I know all my horse's names, I train them, I make sure they're happy. I scoop up their poop. Oh well.
Can't have everything.
I was decently popular in school. I had enough friends. Though, I think a few of them were only my friends so they could ride horses. I never invited them over to ride. That'll teach 'em. :P My favorite hobby-type-thing was learning about medieval junk. I studied their swords, armor, that kinda stuff in my free time. I also read a lot. I was a bookworm. My favorite author's were Tamora Pierce and Piers Anthony. Tamora first. Not that I had any free time mind you.
I had a good life. –Boring! - I mean, how could some one stand that? Never anything new. -I wish I could get out of here! - I had often thought. I often thought of how cool it would be to visit Tortall and Xanth. If I fell into a portal or something. Now, you know where I'm going with this, obviously. Something strange happened, and my entire -*life*- changed, yada, yada, yada. But unlike I all those books I've read, it wasn't really this horrible thing that made me regret my wish. It wasn't all good, but it wasn't all that bad, either. It was cool.
It happened when I was ten. In our house (us being Mom[a.k.a., Salina], Dad[a.k.a., Darek], Billy [the youngest], Dan [oldest], and Sukura [second oldest] and, of course, me, stuck in the middle.), we have a closet. In the attic. We have a closet in the attic. Whose ever heard of a closet in an attic? I don't think the attic was ever a room, but it's there. Any way, we're not allowed to look in that closet. Got me why. It's just a rule. It's easy to cope with, 'cause generally we don't go up there much, so there's not a lot of temptation to deal with. When we were little, we thought of reasons that it might be, all kids do. Mom and Dad are Spies, Mom and Dad are Aliens, Mom and Dad are scientists, all three, even things like there's a body up there and they don't want us to be traumatized for life. That one really helped us girls restrained from looking. Ugh. Could you imagine?
-Anyway-, my parents said that, when I was ten, maybe, -maybe-, they would show me what was in there. Dan and Sakura were so jealous! Dan has long since moved out, and Sakura is working on it. –They- never got to look in it. I thought it was so cool! Then, when I was ten, they wouldn't let me go in there. I cried and cried, but they just wouldn't let me. They seemed really upset about something. I couldn't think of what. But I didn't care, they said I could so I was going to. That was that! So, of course, when Mom and Dad were asleep, I snuck up to the attic. I pulled the string, and the stairs came down. I made sure I made as little noise as possible. I got up there, turned on my flashlight, and walked over to it. As I stood before the closet door, I reconsidered.
-What if there really is a body or skeleton in there? And I'll certainly get in trouble when Mama and Daddy find out!- I didn't think of if Mom and Dad found out, 'cause I knew they would. Parents always knew. Aspecially Mothers. –Yeesh-. I opened it of course. But who wouldn't? When I opened it, I felt a burning sorta sensation thingy. But it wasn't quite burning, it was, well, the only way I could think of it is it was like Alanna, calling on her gift. How I imagined she felt. I felt I knew her character so much better now. It was awesome! I felt some thing pull on me. I didn't know what to do, so I just let it pull my in. It took forever to suck me in. I had enough time to think, rethink, and triple think about turning back. If it took one more think longer, I would have turned back. I had a short attention span, after all.
When I finally appeared somewhere, I looked around. It looked like the priesty place where the Academy of Magic or whatever from Tamora's books. -Cool! - I was thinking, -I wonder where I am though? It would be so cool if I was, like, in one of Tammy's books or something, so long as I don't get attacked by Immortals-… There was some old guy at a desk, a few feet away. I suppose he was a priest, or a sorcerer-to-be. I decided to ask where I was. "Excuse me," I began. "Cou-" "Go away, kid. I'm busy." He interrupted. Okay fine. I would just look around for awhile. I poked at the bottles of things on the walls. There was gross slimy stuff in most of them. It looked like a witch's house or somethin'. It was so cool. I couldn't get any of the jars open though, and soon tired of looking at them.
So then I started to look at the papers on the table. One group of them looked sort of like a test. I looked at it. I knew the answers to some of the questions. I thought that was cool. I knew the answers, because like I said, I'm a bookworm, and some authors are very creative. They had the words to spells, and formula's to potions, and description on how to use the 'Powers Within' yourself. So I found a quill (a quill? No body uses real quill! They use the ones with pen inside of them. I wonder where it came from?) and a bottle of ink, and some how, very sloppily, managed to learn to write with one. So then, I took the test. A few I didn't know the answer to, so I just made something up. The guy at the desk glared at me a few times, but I just smiled back. I think he even rolled his eyes once. When I was done, I put the finished, ever-so-blotted papers on the table nearest the man, because I had been writing on the floor, but knew I shouldn't keep them there, 'cause I'd probably slip on them. Then I poked around at the books on the selves of the library, which is where I finally discovered I had been playing. I think curiosity came over the man, because he finally looked at the test thingy I had done.
As he reviewed it his eyes widened. He gradually flipped though all the pages. When he was done, he said, "You, kid. What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't. But it's at the top of the page, mister." I answered, trying to sound polite, even if I didn't like him very much. "Yes, it is. Ken-ret. You…" He dwindled off.
"Its said Ken-Ray, sir."
"Yes, yes of course it is. Kenret. H-how-where did you learn this?"
"I'm not sure, sir, I just-I don't know."
"Do you know what these papers are? Do you know what this means? You got almost every question right! You missed only one, no wait, two. That means you pasted! These are the final exams in mastery! How- no, I studied my whole life. I only past five years ago, and the younger sorcerer ever was eighteen. A mere child like you could never accomplish something such as this! Who gave you the answers? Who?!" He demanded, a bit over excited if you ask me.
"I didn't cheat! You saw me sitting there the whole time! Wait, are they really the final exams? Does this mean I'm a sorceress? Cool!"
"I can't believe it…" He said, mostly to himself. Then he looked at her again. "No, you still have to take the Ordeal first."
"I do?" Ken asked, nervous. "Do I have to? I'm scared, I don't want to… But I do get to be a sorceress, if I do, don't I? I could be the youngest one ever! Right? Now that'd be cool!"
"Yes, it would do wonders for the academy's popularity. No one has been sending their boys to us to learn magic any more. Not since-never mind. Will you do it? You couldn't do until All Hallow's Eve, but that's not too far from now. I shall need to talk to the other master…" He thought to himself.
"When is Halloween?" she asked him.
"Halloween?
"Oh, um, er… All Hallow's Eve, I mean."
"It's in a month in a half. Not much time at all"
"But, I need to go home! I miss my mommy already, and I'm hungry!"
"Where do you live? Yes, I suppose we –would- have to talk to your parents about this first." He sad, remembering the laws. "I had forgotten. Where do you live?"
"Um, I came through a closet." She answered. "Mom didn't want me to, but she said I could, years ago, so I did."
"You what?"
"I came through a closet. Were you keep clothes? I don't know what I was doing in an attic, 'cause that's where it was. I mean, who's ever heard of a closet in an attic? That's the stupidest place ever. No one going to go marching up to the attic to get their clothes every morning."
(Did I mention I also talk a lot? Well, I do. Okay, so after a while we finally understood each other. He didn't seem disappointed that we couldn't find my Mom. So, I stayed the for about a month, and then got ready to take my Ordeal.)
"Okay, Kenret. Tomorrow will be your Ordeal. Now, we don't make as much fuss as they do in the castle, for the Ordeal of Knighthood. You'll be waken up at dawn. You'll take a purifying bath, watched over by some of the sorceresses. We don't have many, but… They will instruct you in what to do. Then you will be taken to the chamber of the Ordeal. Then you'll take the Ordeal, and if you pass, you'll finally be a sorceress." The old guy, whose name was Geligan as I had come to learn, said as he was steering me back to my rooms after dinner.
"Okay." I said. Then I thought, -You know, I just ralised it, but I don't have any magic, as far as I know. Even if I do know how to use it. And do I really want to take the Ordeal? I read those books, and Alanna and Keladry really didn't seem to like their ordeal very much. I know their Ordeals were for knighthood, not sorcery. I don't know what happened to him, but it can't be good. If it was good, it wouldn't be called an ordeal. He didn't seem to mind it much, but Kel and Alanna hated theirs. And I can't blame them, after all. I don't want to go through that! But I don't know anything about the magic one. I'll just tell them I don't want to. -
Just as I was about to tell him that I didn't want to go through with it, when we reached my door. "Now," he said. "Remember not to say anything until you come out of the chamber tomorrow, okay?"
"But," I started. "I don-"
"Good, good. Get some sleep. You've got a big day ahead." He interrupted, shutting the door behind me.
Oh well, I would have to do it then. But first, before I went to bed, I wanted to see if I really did have magic. So, reading enough Tamora Pierce books to know how to light a fireplace, I concentrated on an imaginary fire with in me, but I pretended it was real. I thought I felt some thing! I nudged it harder, feeling it. I called upon it, and tried to concetrate it on my fireplace. Nothing happened. I felt like a fool. But I kept trying, after awhile being smart enough to add –wood- to the fireplace, just in case it would help. After many more tries, and a long time after the sentry called the hour of Midnight, it worked! I was so happy! But I was tired too, so I dosed the fire and went to bed.
In the morning, everything happened as it should. After my ceremonial bath they lectured me in what it means to be a sorceress, yada, yada, yada, and then they took me to the chamber the Ordeal was in. It was a tiny room, with a huge door in the wall opposite of me. The walls were plain stone, the door iron. It looked sorta rust to me, but I now know that it was just reddish iron. Everyone stood very still for five minutes. It felt like forever. I thought I was going ta pee my pants, really. It was cold to. I mean –freezing-. It was probably the fact that it was so cold that kept me from wetting myself. -Is wish they would hurry it up, already. -Then, the eternity was over, and the servants began to open the door. There before me, past the open door, was the next plain stone room I was supposed to go in. I wished the eternity had never ended.
I stepped forward, into the Room of the Ordeal. I looked around. Big room, black opal walls were all around me. The room was octagon shape. Okay, so I was wrong, it wasn't a plain stone room, oh well. I heard the door shut behind me. I continued to look around nervously, wondering what was going to happen. I heard a strange noise behind me. Like a staticly channel or sizzling bacon. Instead of turning around to face it, I scrunched down on the floor, covering my head with my hands. I did that for about an hour, not moving, barley remembering to breath. I never opened my eyes, but unfortunately, there's no such thing as earlids, so I heard ever so many terrifying noises. I wondered if I was even still alive, or if I had really been hit with a bolt of lightning and my body was already being burned or buried. I heard so many moans and screams in the background, I could be in the dark tower where the Black God keeps his new souls and not even know it. I sounded like a Halloween tape.
-All right, thirty more seconds and I'll have to open my eyes. - I thought. But before the thirty seconds were up, the noises stopped and the chamber door opened. "It's alright to get up and open your eyes now, Kenret. You did it." Said a voice that sounded suspiciously like Geligan's. I did. Geligan directed me to my chambers, which was good. 'Cause I think I would've gotten lost if I tried to on my own. Or I would've fallen asleep half way there. As it was, I fell asleep before I hit my bed.
I felt horrible. Everyone kept saying what a great Magician, er, Magicianess/Sorceress/Magicess I must be, to be able to get through the Ordeal with out a scratch. They all kept saying how I must've passed with flying colors. I think the truth is I barly passed. I decided then to become a great sorceress, so as to (kinda) justify it.
Eventually, I learned how to make a portal, so I could go home. Okay, it only took two weeks, but I had some one help me. It was a really hard spell, and even harder to find. I came home, walked down the attic stairs (I appeared in the attic closet), and went to bed. The spell took a lot out of me. But it was night, so no one noticed.
In the morning, I woke up and got dressed in normal clothes, for I was still wearing medieval junk, then went to the breakfast table, 'cause that's where every one was. I ran to Mom and Dad and gave them a big hug a kiss. I hadn't realized how much I had missed them.
"Well what's this about?" asked my Dad.
"I missed you so much! Didn't you miss me?" I asked.
"Uh, well, sure honey. I, guess. Of course we missed you. We haven't seen you since you went to bed last night, after all." He said, jokingly, like always. -Oh, I thought, did he see me come out of the attic or something? -
"Don't be mean, honey." Mom scolded Dad. "She's just sorry about the fight we had last night. Because we wouldn't let her in the attic. We didn't say good night like we usually do, and she misses us." -Okay, was there some one here in my place, so that no one would find out that I was gone? I don't want any one pretending to be me! - "It's okay sweetie, we're not mad at you. Have some breakfast. I knew you'd be down here in the morning, so I made you some." Mom said, scooting a plate of waffles and bacon to me. I sat down and thought as I ate.
-Hmmm, maybe I used the wrong spell. Since when does Mom make breakfast? That's what cereal is for. Maybe I did the spell wrong, and I was in an alternate universe, or something. -I looked around to see if anything else was different. Nothing was, everything was exactly as I had left it. Wait, it was exactly as I had left it. Same number of days marked on the calendar, same dirty dishes, well, a few new ones too, same everything. No time had passed when I was in Tortall! Everything was back to normal! Thank the Goddess. Oh, wait, I'm not in Tortall anymore, it's thank Goodness here. I knew that. While on the subject, I better say thank you to Mom for breakfast, huh? I did so.
Now that I had it all figured out, and was done eating, I went back up stairs into my bedroom, because I had gotten syrup on my third favorite shirt, (the one I was wearing) and had to soak it, so it would come out. I put on a different shirt, then went to the bathroom to put my old shirt in the sink to soak. When I came back, I looked at the bag I brought with me as a souvenir from Tortall. I couldn't resist bringing home –some-thing. I had a spell book in there. I decided to study it. I was bummed when I found out my magic didn't work in the real world. After a month or so, I thought I had figured out what spell was used on our closet. It was a powerful spell. But when I went in the attic to examine it (at night while my parents were asleep, of course), it was gone! I thought it might be. That meant it was either done in a hurry or by an amateur, or even maybe by a sorcerer, or sorceress, was weak. Of course I wondered we the person put a spell on the closet anyway, and stuff like that. But I don't like wondering about things that long when I'll never get the answer, so I didn't worry about it much. Anyway, after a while, I discovered that I could use magic when I was close to the closet. Probably the side affect of a poorly done spell, but I wasn't complaining. So I used my magic to search it. I was right when I guessed what spell it was. The spell did make time freeze on whatever side I wasn't on. And was only meant to last for ten years a few days, or a one way trip. So after I used it to go to Tortall that first time, it disappeared. It was getting late, and I had a test tomorrow, so I gave up then, and got some sleep whilst I still could.
Like, six months later, I was brave and confident enough to make another journey to Tortall. And that's what I did. Nothing bad happened. From then on I went whenever I was bored. I sold things from my world in Tortall, so I could have money to pay for things. I really didn't go that often though. I always froze time when I wasn't somewhere. Very important detail, if you ask me.
Anyway, this story is getting long, so I'll skip that part. Blah, blah, blah, I learned about magic and took up several careers over the years, like being a scholar, marketplace person (selling things from my world for high prices), stable hand, lots of stuff. It's dull. Nothing really happens. Oh yeah, and I learned how to make it so that I had a different body in each world, so that I didn't have to worry about changing clothes when crossing worlds. Also, It didn't bother me then, but I knew that if I kept using the same body, instead of two, then It would appear that I aged twice as fast, and that might bug when I'm older. Anyway, I'll skip to a little while after my thirteenth birthday.
I was I my room, reading, like I always do after dinner, when I heard Mom and Dad downstairs in the living room, I knew it was the living room because the living room was just beneath my room. Anyway, Mom was talking to Dad about something, and Dad was reassuring her, she was crying. I couldn't imagine what over. Nothing happen recently enough. Some times she cried because she thought maybe some of her kids didn't have a good birthday, but she only cried that same night, or maybe the next morning. Well there was this one time, that she took us –all- to- oh, wait, never- mind.
As I was saying, I heard them talking, and suddenly Dad called for me to go down stairs. When I came down, he said, "Kenret, we need to talk about something. Now, you may not believe us at first, but bear with us. We can prove it."
"Sure Dad." I said worriedly.
"Okay, then. We didn't want to tell you this because we didn't want to lose you, but you deserve to know. Just don't interrupt, because we may not be able to continue, okay?"
"Of course, Daddy."
"Okay, thirteen years ago-" He Dad started, but her Mom shook her head and put her hand on his arm. "I want to tell it." Kenret thought she heard her mom say, but her mom was whispering, trying not to cry.
"You want to tell it? Okay, go ahead, dear."
Her Mother coughed to clear her throat, so that Kenret could here her. "It was before we had you. We just moved here, in this house. We-we heard a-a noise, upstairs. We thought either-either a box had fallen, or-or something. Bu-but then we heard foot steps and-and thought it was a burglar, o-or a drunk or something." She started, stuttering from trying not to cry.
"Your father went to investigate, to check out what was-what was up there. A…a woman looked down the stairs, as Darek pulled them down. Sh-" she choked up again.
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer me-"
"No." Her mom interrupted her Dad. "I can tell it. She had a baby girl with her. She said, she said that she was from a different land, called Tortall. A different world. She said her home was under attack, and- and she was afraid for her child. She asked if we would protect her. The baby girl. She said she was busy fighting of raiders, she couldn't watch over the baby. She looked very weak, covered with blood. Your Father and I were very worried for the woman, I can't remember her name. She-she left a portal, using the last of her strength. It was to her world. She said that, because she was weak, she the portal wouldn't work until the baby was ten. That she didn't want to-to leave her child here, but she had to. She left us with instructions to send the child through the portal on her tenth birthday, and she gave us the baby's birthday. What was her name, Darek? I forget."
"The woman's name was Alanna. She was short and had red hair. And purple eyes, I think. Her home was called Pirate's Swoop." Darek supplied, also choked up a little. "I don't remember the little girl's name."
Saliena nodded. "So, we keep the child and took care of her. We built a closet around the magic portal. We named the girl Kenret. And when her tenth birthday came around, we couldn't bear to give her up. But now we decided that, Alanna must miss the child, as well. And that girl deserves a chance to decided what she must do."
Kenrea, who had been quiet all that time, couldn't be quiet any longer. "And I, of course, am that girl." Her parents nodded. "You mean Alanna's my real Mom? The Lioness Alanna? Woah, I didn't expect that! So she's who made the portal! All this time I should've meet her…" She rambled on.
"You mean, you knew all this?" Her father asked, surprised.
"Er, sort of. You see, I got made when you didn't let me look in the closet, so I snuck up to the attic when you were asleep and went in. I've been going to Tortall for years!"
"But you were never gone!" Kenrea's mother protested. "You've always been here, with us!"
"No, I learned to freeze time in whatever world I'm not in. So it would be like I was always in both worlds."
"Oh, so you can be with Alanna, and us? Neither of us have to miss you?" Selina inquired.
"Nope! I mean, yep. Wait… whatever! I know what I mean. You two don't have to feel guilty."
After a lot more talking and hugging, they watched me go into the closet. Well, they watch me step towards the closet/portal, and open it up, but then they were frozen in time with the rest of the world. And anyway, here I am. I came to ask if it's true. If it's true that you lost a little girl thirteen years ago, while trying to protect her?
The lioness and the Baron had been quiet through the whole story. They didn't understand some part, for they didn't have as advance technology as the real world, but they understood well enough, using context clues.
"Yes. Yes I did send my baby into another world. When she didn't appear on what would have been her tenth birthday, we assumed that my spell went wrong, for my gift was drained at the time I did it. Are you our little girl?" Alanna asked, tears in her eyes.
Kenret nodded, and Alanna scooped her up in her arms, and hugged her. George followed suite. Kenrea hugged them back, though not because she had missed them, but because they needed it. It was very hard losing a child, as far as she understood. Plus, how many times do you get to hug your favorite book characters?
Sorry! I know this is a really long chapter, but I thought that all Kenret's character development should be in one chapter, like a book would have it. And I didn't want to leave it on a cliffhanger, because I don't know how long it will take 'til the next chapter is done. Hoped you enjoyed this chapter! It took forever to write! Please read and review!