"Hey, Lord Cadvan, hey!"

Cadvan shook his head to rid himself of the sleep that fogged his mind. He looked from where he had been sitting in a sort of semi-stupor, hoping that his writing student would not bother him.

"What is it Koldorath?" Cadvan replied, looking up to see an eager faced young bard holding a poem out to him.

"I was wondering, Sir, if you would check this over. It is about the Lady Maered." He caught the sharp look Cadvan threw him and supplied lamely, "I just wanted to make sure my retelling was correct."

Cadvan looked down with mild distaste.

And so did go the Lady Fair, far from home and in dispaire…

"You spelt despair wrong," Cadvan said, scratching out the word with his quill.

…She traveled far, her heart all broke, a young untrained creature of the wild.

"Lady Maered is not a creature of the wild," Cadvan said in a bored voice, "but I like your prose, keep writing and we'll see where it goes."

Koldorath nodded and shuffled back to his seat. It seemed as if the same infliction had overcome all the young male bards. They all loved to write about Maered. One too many sickly lines about the color of her hair, the shade of her eyes, and the texture of her skin would often send him away from the room almost gagging and sometimes fighting to control the laughter that sprung from such silly stories and comparisons.

Therefore he liked the afternoon classes. They were comprised of women from the school's mathematic core, and they felt no such need to glorify Maered in such a way as to make fools of themselves. They were sharply intelligent, unlike the misty eyed boys and girls who wrote poetry in the morning.

When classes were out, he wandered along the corridor to the garden, where a fine layer of sunlight made the remaining dew sparkle and glow in the light. He closed his eyes then, exhausted from the concealment charm he had to perform to keep the young bards confused about his identity the night before at the bath house.

He found a perch on the low stone wall with heavy supporting arches and leaned back. Soon he fell asleep, completely by accident and was awoken when he fell off the wall in surprise.

Maered looked down at him from above and laughed.

"You should have seen your face," She chuckled, "what wrong with you today?"

"Had a bad sleep," Cadvan mumbled, picking himself off and dusting grass off his back and shoulders. Maered took to helping him, and he let her, using his mentor mindset. She only wished to help.

"Have you forgotten about today?" She asked, watching him readjust his tunic and pick grass from his hair.

"What are you talking about?" Cadvan countered, "It is but noon."

"No-o-o-o," Maered grinned. "It's three thirty. I came looking for you after Master Heldine took over from you. He hadn't seen you, and thought if you were missing, you would have had very important business keeping you away. Mysterious stuff, you know—but instead you are here."

"Indeed," Cadvan replied, "I'll have to give that man a bottle from the Bard's reserve. I think I still have credit with the Cellar Master."

"Yes, but not now," Maered said impatiently, "but for now, to the Bard Cave!"

"The Bard Cave?" Cadvan asked with a funny expression.

"Yes," Maered looked down and her cheeks colored red, "I thought—oh never mind, come on!" She dragged Cadvan back inside and let him go when they saw a few stray bards leaned against the wall or sitting on low stone benches in the corridor, noses deep into their texts. Maered giggled conspiratorially, and one of the bards, an older woman named Yelannie, looked up from her book and gave Cadvan a vastly disapproving look.

When they arrived at his quarters, Cadvan closed the door and poured them both a healthy measure of wine.

"So," Maered said nervously. Cadvan looked up and look a long draught from his cup.

"You know this is not how it is usually done," he commented blandly.

"I know," she replied defensively. "Guess what?"

Cadvan gave her a mildly interested look.

"It's my birthday in a few days." Cadvan almost kicked himself. He had forgotten, and had not yet gotten her anything. "So, you owe me," she continued, "not to mention since you dragged me across half of Annar on our little quest."

"Fine," Cadvan said, "come here then, Maered."

Maered pulled her chair closer and Cadvan examined her closely. Perhaps those sticky sweet poems were right about her. She was indeed beautiful, with full red lips and stormy blue eyes that held the Elidhu quality not unlike her counterpart in Rachida. He was possessed with a sudden urge to kiss her, but stopped himself only enough to say, "I'm going to kiss you now. Pull away if you are uncomfortable."

He kissed her then, but only lightly. She tensed for a moment, but then pressed into him, almost unseating him from his place.

"You didn't kiss me like this when we solved the Riddle," She said when she pulled away for a moment. Was that longing he heard in her voice?

Her tone made him kiss her again, and when they were done she gave him a wicked look.

"Ok, that's good," she said. "See you tomorrow, Cadvan." She stood up and traipsed out of the room. Cadvan sat watching where she had gone for some while before draining his goblet and heading off for dinner.

In the hallway he met again with Yelannie. She shook her head with a stern expression.

"You are here to train her," She reminded him, "not to take her virtue."

AN: Another chapter complete! Ya! I was going to write more, but I gotta go, toodles! More soon. Thanks for the lovely review, I really appreciate getting them. Side note though, should Cadvan succumb to Maered or will another force him into action? R&R as always