In Lioness Rampant, Alanna caught Jon with a drawing he'd done of Thayet…what would happen if she found it later? Set five years after Lioness Rampant.

Thayet dumped another pile of papers on the floor next to her and began to sort through them. "He said the report would be in one of these chests," she remarked. "We should find it soon."

"He should be looking for it himself," grumbled Alanna, who was sorting through another chest with Buri. "It's his own fault for being disorganised."

Buri laughed. "Yes, but then he'd send you to take the Maren ambassadors on a tour of the palace instead."

Alanna scowled and dumped another pile of papers on the ground.

Thayet picked up a loose sheet of paper. It looked like a sketch of a woman, with dark hair and a bony nose. "What's this?" she asked the others.

Buri leaned over and snorted. "It has your name written underneath it."

Thayet looked. "But it doesn't look anything like me!" She fingered her strongly arched nose. "My nose doesn't look like that, does it?"

Alanna shuffled over to where they were, leaning her head on Thayet's shoulder to have a look. "I forgot about that drawing!" She grinned. "Let's just say that Jon's not the most…accurate when it comes to art."

Thayet gaped. "Jon drew this? How did you know about it?"

"Believe it or not, he was in the middle of proposing to me again. I turned him down, again, and then I saw this among his pile of papers. Turns out he was just double checking that the way was clear to pursue you, although he did offer to marry me anyway if I wanted." She snorted. "I always said it was lucky that one of us had some sense."

Buri interrupted them. "It looks like there's something on the back."

Thayet flipped it over, and they saw a poem.

Alanna blinked. "Well, I didn't know about that. Go on, read it out."

"Princess Thayet of Sarain,

You make me feel like dancing in the rain,

And my heart would feel such pain,

If your love I could not gain."

Thayet finished reading and paused, not knowing what to say.

Buri began to giggle. "Horse Lords, that was awful!"

Alanna was grinning. "Jon's not the most artistically talented of people." She suddenly sat bolt upright. "Did I ever show you two what he wrote when I was his squire?"

They looked puzzled. "No."

"Wait right here, I'll be back." Alanna disappeared out the door.

Ten minutes later Alanna reappeared, smirking, with a wad of papers in her hand. She settled herself down next to the others, and held up a crumpled piece of paper. "I found this on his desk while I was tidying it for him…you wouldn't believe how messy and disorganised he was."

Thayet glanced at the stacks of papers around the room. "I think I would."

Buri laughed. "Okay, read it out then."

Alanna glanced at Thayet. "Um, he wrote this while we were sleeping together, so…"

Thayet grinned. "Let me guess, it mentions certain body parts?"

Alanna blushed and nodded. "I won't read it out if you don't want me to…"

Thayet rolled her eyes. "Don't be daft. I didn't even know either of you then."

"Stop stalling – hurry up and read it!" urged Buri.

Alanna grinned. "I warn you – it's even worse than Thayet's poem…

Alanna, Alanna,

You make my manhood swell like a banana,

You dress up like Alan,

Yet you have breasts like rockmelons

Alanna of Trebond,

Of you I am fond

My joy I would barely be able to restrain,

If I were your love to gain."

It was Thayet who broke the silence. "Well, the last four lines were quite sweet."

Buri was laughing so hard that there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

Alanna snorted. "Let's just say I'm not surprised he crumpled it up."

"Crumpled what up?" asked Jon from the doorway.

Alanna attempted to hide the paper amongst another stack, but Jon snatched it off her. He read it, slowly blushing bright red while the women laughed.

"You told me Faithful ate it," he accused.

"You must be thinking of something else," she told him. "That one was sitting on your desk, and it was addressed to me, so…"

He blushed even further. "So you don't have the ones about-"

"About what?"

He shook his head.

Alanna smiled innocently. "Well, I don't know exactly what you mean since you won't tell me, but perhaps they were the ones that Faithful ate."

"Oh," he said. "Right…I'll uh, leave you to it then." He left, shutting the door behind him.

The three women burst out laughing.

"I can't believe he fell for that again!" chortled Alanna.

Buri snorted. "I'm just thankful he never wrote a poem about me!"

Thayet was grinning. "So where are these other poems that Faithful supposedly ate?"

Alanna produced the pile from behind her back and began to read.

"Delia, Delia,

Your beauty makes me feel youthful,

Like a small child,

But less wailier."