Dom yawned loudly, smiling when several other men in the squad followed his action. He brushed back his hair, still wet from when he had hastily washed his face before coming out to the courtyard. The sun had just begun to make its way over the tree tops of the Royal Forest, and were it not for the tragedy of the village they were about to go and aid he would have called it a lovely morning.

"Masbolle." Dom turned to find Qasim beside him. He gestured over to a rider with clipped brown hair, smaller than most of the men, astride a gigantic roan horse.

"By the gods," whispered Dom, "he actually chose her." The two men grinned.

Dom rode up to her, examining every inch of her and her gargantuan animal before offering her a turnover. The squire's uniform was new, barely wrinkled. She didn't seem all that bewildered by the situation, as many new members of the Own were when summoned this early, but judging by what Meathead had written him she was probably hiding any confusion.

She looked up at him smiling slightly. She had only come to the Own a day or two ago, and already they were riding out on a mission. Well, that was military life, always hitting you with surprises. "She'll have to learn to deal with them," thought Dom to himself. "She's had to deal with a full load of them already."

This was the girl Raoul of Goldenlake had chosen to be his squire. This was the girl that his cousin Neal believed would become, not only the next Lady Knight, but one of the greastest knights since the Immotals War. This was Keladry of Mindelan.

"I see you've still got your overgrown horse," he said, examining the malicious looking Peachblossom. "Domitan of Masbolle at your service, Squire Keladry. Your page-sponsor was a certain mad cousin of mine."

"You're related to Neal?" she asked, her smile widening.

"Sadly yes. I call him Meathead. He's written me so much about you I feel like I know you. Call me Dom."

"Kel," she said, shaking his large hand. Dom smiled. He did not tell her that he already thought of her as Kel. He did not tell her that he had kept every one of Neal's letters about her. He did not tell her that he had read and re-read them, looking for any hint that she might give up.

She was a tall girl, almost as tall as Neal was. She was well muscled, had an air of discipline about her as well as a fierce determination in her eyes. She was certainly an interesting choice for a squire. She was obviously a good fighter, had a different background than the other boys and, from what Neal had told him, had no misconceptions about the "glory" of being a knight.

Unlike himself.

Raoul gave the signal to ride out. Dom watched Kel ride away as she went to begin her first real day as a squire.

Even though many knights would have gladly taken Dom on as a squire he had taken the first offer he had received. There was already talk of war brewing between Tortall and Carthak. There had been attempted rebellion in Dunlath. And then there were the immortals that had seemed to appear out of dreams themselves, terrorizing the armed forces as well as civilians.

Dom had wanted to fight as soon as he could. He had wanted to serve his country. He had wanted to be a hero.

And so, when Burchard of Stone Mountain had offered to take him on as a squire, less than a day after he passed his big examinations, Dom had accepted.

Dom had looked good in the colors of Stone Mountain. He walked through the courtyard towards the stables, a gallant-looking young man in pale blue. He noticed, with a certain degree of pride, the noblemen who looked at him with approval as he walked by them. He was fifteen as a first-year squire; strong and determined.

Sir Burchard had already been commanded to take a small squadron of soldiers to aid a village that had been attacked by some of the Immortal creatures threatening the realm, these ones called Spidrens. Dom carried his packs to the stable, buzzing with excitement to be riding off on a mission already. His fingers shook as he saddled his horse, a large stallion given to him by Sir Burchard he had named Pounder. A man, a foot-soldier by the look of him, smiled.

"Eager to be riding out young man?" he asked Dom. The boy shook his head excitedly. "Well, these people certainly need as much help as they can get in these times." He nodded at Dom before walking out of the stable. Dom smiled, feeling a sense of pride rush over him. He was already going to begin a knight's work. He was going to help people.

He led Pounder out of the stable towards the group of men that were assembling in front of Sir Burchard. His knight master sat astride a large black horse, gazing imperiously at the soldiers before him. As Dom approached them he saw the man who had spoken to him in the stable and waved. The man waved back until a man next to him whispered something in his ear. Hesitantly, the man put his hand down, turning away from Dom.

As he walked past them, frowning, he heard whispers pass him. "Squire to Sir Burchard-"

"Shouldn't talk to him. We don't need any trouble but what he'll give us already."

"I bet he's just like Burchard."

"Won't be long till he goes treating us like filth."

"Knights, all the same."

Dom, frightened by the whispers hurried over to his knight master. "Ah, there you are Masbolle," he said. He looked at his men. "Not the best command we could have gotten. In fact a rather poor one if you ask me. Stupid. Knights shouldn't have to lead rabble like this."

"Sir?" asked Dom, trying to keep his voice under control. "They all seem like perfectly capable soldiers." Sir Burchard glared at him.

"These men? They think just because they're soldiers now they're above themselves. There was once a time when the crown had standards for the men they let serve it. And it was only men." Dom remained silent, mounting Pounder. "It's ridiculous," his knight master continued, "letting women into these Queen's Riders. The Queen and the King's champions. Mark my words the reasons these immortals escaped are just proof that the gods have turned on us."

"I have a female relative in the Riders," remarked Dom, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. Who was this man to question how the kingdom was run? His own soldiers didn't even like him. "And we were told that the Immortals were released by Carthaki mages." Sir Burchard was about to reply when the sound of hoof beats filled the courtyard.

Two squadrons of men dressed in the blue and silver of the King's Own rode up next to the soldiers. They were mostly young men, a decent number of them Bazhir. At the head of them rode the largest man Dom had ever seen. He had a merry face and curly black hair, and talked and joked with some of his men. The rest looked at him with admiration or approval. Even soldiers in Sir Burchard's squad whispered excitedly among themselves when they saw him. It was Sir Raoul of Golden Lake and Malorie's Peak, knight commander of the King's Own.

Only Sir Burchard watched in distaste when the men rode away after getting their supplies. "There's an example for you right there," he told Dom. "It used to be that a post in the King's Own was a respectable profession. Now look at how undisciplined they are with Sir Raoul as their commander. They even let Sand rats into their ranks." He pronounced Raoul's name disdainfully. "I'm not sure what's worse," he continued, "these men we're stuck with, or those."

Dom looked at his saddle thoughtfully. He had never seen two more different men. Raoul obviously was on good terms with his soldiers and they respected him. Sir Burchard treated his soldiers harshly, and they viewed him with distrust even fear. Suddenly he realized the mistake he had made. Sir Burchard was no leader, and he was most certainly no hero.

"Knights, all the same." Was that really true? We're all knights, at least the ones that weren't famous like the Lioness or Sir Raoul, all arrogant and mean-spirited like Sir Burchard? He thought back to his time as a page, the knights he met. How many stories had he heard of knights that took advantage of women, verbal attacked the king and queen, and viewed common soldiers with disdain. He thought of the squire that had been with Laurence when they attacked that girl.

The Chamber of the Ordeal had let men such as Burchard and that boy through to become knights. Wasn't it supposed to stop men like them? What did being a knight mean if you counted men like that among your ranks?

Was life in the Own that different from life as a knight? Dom watched them ride away, their white burnooses trailing after them and their chain mail glittering in the sun. They did great things. They helped people. Their leader was a good one, and you became a leader by passing real tests, not some nightmare in a room.

Realizing what he was thinking, Dom shook his head vigorously. No. He had a duty. No, he had promised his family he would become a knight, no matter what. He had a duty to them, and a duty to the realm. He had chosen this path, and he would stick to it.

Despite the hardships. Despite the disadvantages. And despite Sir Burchard.

When Sir Burchard gave the signal to move out, Dom followed, his face cold and stoic.

…..

It was rather grim work, digging graves. Even Dom's good humor could not keep him from thinking about the bodies they would lay to rest here. "It needs to be done," he told himself. Almost mechanically he moved the shovel up and down alongside the villagers of Haresfield. "It's harder for them," he remembered, "They're burying their dead."

At last he paused, standing to wipe the sweat off his brow. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Kel and helping a small child and her mother working in the ruins of a house. The woman looked tired and her eyes were red and puffy from weeping, but she still smiled gratefully as Kel helped her shoulder a heavy load. Dom smiled, just a little bit and went back to shoveling.

She had been a very good choice indeed.

A/N: Uh, sorry for the rather uneventful chapter. I promise you the next one will be far more interesting. A note on the conversation between Dom and Kel, it is taken from the book but I shortened it, just in the interest of not making it too confusing. And if you are interested, yes Sir Burchard is the father of a certain annoying pretty-boy git that appears in Squire. Well, Tamora Pierce owns all of these characters. Watch for the next chapter and please review!