A Broken Heart

Disclaimer: Characters and setting of Tortall belong to Tamora Pierce. No copyright infringement is intended.

Summary :

Kel life take's a new turn when her grandparents decide to step in. Then Dom discovers Kel's feelings for him, he rejects her without a second thought. A broken hearted Kel decides to make some changes in her life.

Chapter 1: Dinner

With the end of the Scanran War, many of Tortall's knights returned to the Corus for Midwinter festivities. The prince and the Yamani princess were set to be wed in the New Year and many celebrations took place as each night many held small parties to celebrate and reconnect.

Kel slowly made her way through the thick snow towards Roual's tents on the palace grounds where her friends had gathered for the night. The King's Own Commander and the companies traveling with him returned to the palace much later than expected and only after much insistence from the king. A smile crept on to Kel's face as she thought of the fond memories she had as a squire with the King's Own. A blush soon accompanied her smile as she thought of a certain blue- eyed sergeant that seemed to constantly occupy her thoughts recently.

Kel would probably be the last one to arrive. She joined her parents earlier for a family dinner before she made her way to meet her friends. Her expression suddenly changed when she thought of what had progressed earlier that evening. Her parents certainly surprised her by inviting her grandparents on her mother's side, but the biggest shock came to her when her grandparents brought along with them a young man they hoped Kel to marry.

Kel, not knowing their intentions at first immediately warmed up to the handsome stranger. Taller than Kel by a couple inches, William "Blake" Donehue was muscular with dark brown hair and blue green eyes that reminded Kel of Neal at times and Dom at others. Blake was the son of one of her father's best friends before Piers of Mindelan received his title from the king. As a merchant's son, Blake knew of all the trade embargos and policies that were being put into or being removed by Tortall and its neighboring countries with the end of the long war. He was also genuinely interested in her experiences in New Hope and kept their conversation flowing with a never-ending line of questions. Kel also found out that Blake was a close friend of Lady Alanna's mysterious husband, Baron George Cooper. Coop, as Blake called him, taught him 'everything improper a young man can't learn through lessons, but should know.' After further investigation into their lives and travels, Kel and Blake discovered, with a little help from the elders that they were acquaintances in their childhood days. Further probing revealed to Kel that Blake was none other than her 'Uncle Donny and Aunt Lee's' only son, Will. Donny and Lee were constant visitors at Mindelan before her parents left for the Islands. This brought on another round of remembering of how rowdy Blake used to be as a child and how he and Kel used to make turn the Mindelan household upside down whenever Blake's family visited the fief. Kel and Blake barely had any memory of their times together but were fascinated to hear of their antics as little children.

All was going well at the dinner. The conversation flowed freely even with Blake, a parctical stranger to Kel, present. Her grandmother was not too disappointed at Kel choice of dress, and Kel thanked the gods that Lalasa had convinced her to don dresses throughout the festivities of Midwinter. Her grandparents slowly turned the conversation towards their purpose for attending this dinner. Kel remembered how they began by explaining if the past were different, Kel and Blake would probably be inseparable to this day.

"If your father and mother had not insisted on taking you along with them to those Islands and change you into a barbarian, you would have grown into a fine lady and would have never been broken from your close friendship with William," her grandmother said with a disapproving looking towards Piers and Ilane of Mindelan.

Her grandfather's disapproving looks were of course focused mainly on Piers. With them he added, "Yes, if your father did not insist on not only taking my daughter, but also granddaughter away from me for six years, everything would have been much different." Blake, sensing a change in mood, tried to lighten the mood by commenting on the ridiculous use of color in the eating-house. Completely ignoring Blake's efforts, her Grandmother continued her barrage.

"Well at least there is a chance to straighten everything out now," she said sternly. "Yes, with Kel's marriage to Blake, the Donehues and the Mindelans will be reunited and the union that was originally meant to happen when Kel was sixteen will happen now with that horrid war out of the way."

Kel froze with her spoon half way to her mouth. What union? At least she wasn't the only one that was shocked. Blake, nearly choked on his wine when the proposition was made. He glanced her way and seeing that she was as shocked as he was, quickly gave a wink and immediately started spewing excuses while at the same time trying not to offend neither her parents nor her grandparents. When his efforts were much ignored he looked to Kel for help. Kel had to shake herself from shock and then made an equally gallant effort at dis-encouraging her grandparents from their proposition.

"I really don't want to marry, Grandmother. I am happy as I am and I have my shield to think about. Think about father's name," she pleaded. "Mindelan already gets so much wrath from conservatives for being a relatively new fief and for me choosing my knighthood. My marriage to a merchant's son that not even fully Tortallian will cause an outrage." She sent an apologizing look at Blake to assure him that she meant no offense. Blake nodded in acknowledgement and smiled for her to keep going.

"Like Blake said, we really can't marry each other after only meeting once and you can't decide this union on your own. Blake's family has to also agree and I am sure they wouldn't want me," she finished confidently and threw her parents a look to help her out. What her father said immediately made her regret her words.

"You are right Kel. You can't marry after only meeting each other once, so I suggest that while you and Will are both in Corus, to meet often and get to know each other better. You don't have to worry about Will's family, Donny and Lee and your mother and I have already discussed the unique situation and Will's grandparents are just as pleased because they initially made the proposition after they heard of your caring behavior toward the New Hope refugees."

"But--," both Kel and Blake started simultaneously.

"No buts at all," Kel's mother interrupted. "You will both meet at least twice a week and get to know each other better. We intend to announce you engagement by next spring and have an autumn wedding. Unless something extraordinary happens, we'll stick to these plans, so don't try to change out minds. Kel, Will, I know you think this is unfair, but at least give it a try and see where it leads. And Kel, please adress as Will or William. 'Blake' although a wonderful name is used only by those who know him through business, not through family. Lee will be horrified to hear to you adressing your future husband in the same way his fellowmen at the docks do. Now enough of this topic. Let's get on with dessert."

Dinner ended on a sour note despite the extremely sweet pastries that were served to Blake and Kel as dessert. After the elders left, Kel and Blake decided to play along with the plan until they could find a way to dissuade them from the preposterous proposition. Both agreed that they had to first recover from their shock before they could come up with a brilliant counter plan. With that they parted after exchanging contact information and agreeing to keep their relationship a secret to those outside the family.

With that she left dinner and made her way to find her friends. Although she enjoyed her new friendship with Blake, no Will, she didn't want to marry him.

As she drew closer to her destination, she could hear the chatter and excitement of her friends and decided to put the marriage topic from her mind. Among the many voices, she heard her best friends familiar drawl once again expressing strong views that will probably get him in trouble with his knight master. They seemed to be discussing the many women at court.

"Now Keladry, what do you gentlemen think of her?" another voice asked.

At the mention of her name, Kel stilled. Lady Alanna had asked that question. Kel's curiosity increased almost instantaneously.

Well that's Chapter 1. This is my first fanfic, so sorry about any typos, grammatical mistakes, plot errors, etc. Please Review and tell me how I did. Should I continue with the story or just stop? Review!