Dom stared down at his porridge feeling fully and completely drained before the day even started. Even just the thought of raising his spoon seemed like too much effort. His night had been a late one as he struggled through reports and supply sheets. When he did finally get to bed after the watch called the third hour after midnight, he had had trouble sleeping. The few winks of sleep he did catch were filled with endless reports and worries about Kel. Raoul had warned him the first nights back for a Captain were not restful when he had taken the job. Add on a personal problem and he was starting to believe that Flyn had to have been a mad man to have lasted so long in the position.

A steaming cup of something sweet and spicy smelling was put down in front of him and he turned to look up at a pair of dreamers hazel eyes framed by long curling lashes. Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan was staring down at him with as much concern as she would allow on her normally blank face. The passerby might only believe she cared as much about his well-being as she did about the particular contents on her breakfast tray that morning. Dom himself knew better. When the emotion Kel felt spilled out from her eyes to the slight frown on her lips and the worry lines forming on her forehead, he knew he must look as bad as he felt.

"The sweet will help," she told him pushing the cup closer and taking the seat across from him. "Neal said you might need a bit of a hand with the paperwork."

Dom grimaced. The night before he had realized that if Kel helped him he did not appear particularly able to do his job by himself. People would question why he had been promoted over someone more skilled. Perhaps even Kel would question his ability to be in such position. "I'm still getting the hang of it. He's just upset because it's going to take me longer than he likes."

"Weren't you the one who told me that clerks weren't really needed until company level? It would seem that's what you are at now." Kel asked as she helped herself to an apple on the table.

"Lord Raoul does not use clerks, so it would be a bit shameful for me to ask for them," Dom sighed. He had mentioned clerks at the company level. Or at least company level in the army.

"Lord Raoul uses squires and the Captain of First Company to handle his paperwork when he can't do it all. Plus he has a good twenty- twenty-five years of experience in doing it. I'm not convinced the man doesn't do it all in his sleep. He'll be the first to understand needing some assistance in getting sorted out." Kel smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back. Suddenly his spoon didn't seem so heavy and the porridge looked a little more appetizing. "Besides I'm getting out of practice with reports and supply sheets. I'd like some work to do, if only to hide from Neal for a while."

"He's been his usual annoying self?" Dom inquired feeling much better about wolfing down his food.

"He developed some sort of worry for me that is just getting silly. He wants to know where I am all of the time and he is always watching me with this look on his face." She sighed.

"What kind of look?" Dom felt annoyed with Neal himself. If Neal was becoming more attached to Kel because of the realization she could easily have been his, his overwhelming romantics might be showing more than he would like them to. Especially to Kel who could read a person's body language like an instruction manual.

"Oh you know, like he watches his daughter when she's playing. Convinced she's about to break a leg or an arm or bleed to death if he takes his eyes off of her for a second. He'll nearly have a heart attack when she announces she wants to be a knight." She ducked her head and Dom nearly laughed. This was not something Kel had shared before but he knew Kel had not been surprised when Neal and Yuki's first child was a girl.

"You seem certain of that," Dom mentioned between bites.

"Irani mentioned it to me before My Lord's wedding. I figured I'd hold the information back from Neal but Yuki knows and now you know. I'm hoping she'll get some support from several directions when Neal tries to tell her no in eight years." She gave a silly grin and then looked out across the mess at familiar faces. She waved to Raoul when he noticed her and then turned her attention back to Dom. "When would you like me to report for duty, Captain?"

"Well, you want to escape the Meathead, right? So I'll just kidnap you now, smuggle you into my rooms and chain you to my desk for the entire day." He liked listening to her giggle at his plans. "Does he know where you are now?"

"Who do you think sent me down here?" Kel pointed out.

"Well I won't chain you then. And I'll buy you dinner tonight for the help," Dom polished off his bowl and stood. Let me just steal a pitcher of cider and we'll make our escape."

Through the scratching of quills on paper an hour later, Dom felt uncomfortable wondering when to break the silence and try and get Kel to talk. She had looked at his reports and had informed him how wonderfully written they were and how little he actually had left to do. Within the next hour they would be done completely.

"What?" Kel's voice startled him.

"What 'what'?" Dom looked up at her to see her turned around at his table watching him with interest.

"You sighed, rather loudly too."

"Did I?" Dom knew Kel wouldn't have said something if he hadn't actually done it. But he certainly didn't realize he had done such a thing.

"Is there more on your mind than reports?" Kel asked setting aside her quill to turn more fully towards him. Here she was taking care of him again when he knew it was actually supposed to be him confronting her and taking care of her. At least she had given him an opening earlier.

"I guess I'm just wondering why Neal is so concerned about you lately. I mean he knows you can take care of yourself and he doesn't really develop strange behaviors without a reason. I know he's a meathead but a meathead doesn't change habits easily. They are too stubborn to change so dramatically." Dom watched Kel's eyes seeing something pass behind them before her face closed off again.

"Neal has always had some sort of level of concern for me. When we were pages he would hound me on examination days so we were never late. Except for that last time and I had to force him to go by telling him if he was actually my friend he would get his arse to the exam room without me. Of course, I know he wrote all of that to you and I know he writes you regular reports on my doings. So he really hasn't changed habits at all other than to become just slightly more annoying about it." Kel stood to stretch and pour herself another glass of cider. Before he could so much as blink his glass was full again too and she was leaning on the desk next to him. "So what's really on your mind?"

"Neal doesn't just write me about your doings…" Dom sighed. "Neal writes everything he can about you because he knows you won't tell me anything you don't think I want to hear." He waited a moment before glancing up at Kel to see her face still impassive. "Kel," he turned in his chair to face her. "Neal wrote me what happened that night with your friends. He wrote what you said." He saw understanding dawn on her face.

"So now you're going to tell me that I'm wrong as well," Kel stood straight. "Well I have news for you. Your muscles and scars are attractive so how in Mithros name could you possibly know if I am wrong or not?" She was at the door before his numb mind could process much else. "And I don't need you and Neal and everyone else looking at me like that!"

Dom sat at his desk for a long time after Kel had left. She had been right in a sense. He couldn't know exactly how she felt, but he could see how it was for her. Empathy didn't mean he had to have the same exact experience, just the same emotions. He knew what it was like to feel judged for little more than a career. After another few moments lost in thought, Dom stood, straightened his desk, and picked up the papers Kel had been working on. Once everything was tidy he changed his clothes and went out the door.

To most people, what had happened would have been considered a step-back. Dom saw it differently. Now the lines of communication were open. He could approach Kel on the topic now without being afraid to startle her because it was already out in the open. She would know that eventually he would want to broach the topic if only to apologize or to seek out her reasoning. She probably wouldn't expect such an apology or attention for another few days because most men would probably be scared off as Neal had or the rest of her friends seemed to be. But Dom was not most men.

Kel's door was unlocked when he knocked and received only the mildest 'Come in', from the other side when he announced himself. Kel was sitting on the couch facing the window and could easily have, and probably did, see him coming. He knew she probably expected an apology but he wasn't about to give one. Instead he closed the door, sat down next to her on the couch, and let his eyes fall on the courtyard outside of the window.

"I'm not sure how much you know about Masbolle. I know I haven't said much about it, but I'm sure you know it's a vineyard that produces some of the best wines here in Tortall." He smiled a bit feeling proud of his family. "You also know we are in the Book of Gold as an old fief. Neal's father is my mother's brother. Uncle Baird is, well, different than my mother. My mother sees the wealth and name of her fief above all else. And the wealth and name of the fief comes from its vineyards and vintages. Women in our family should expect to be married off to some of the best fiefs with matches most nobles could only dream of. But men of our fief need to know their roles and places within the fief. Of course my eldest brother became a knight, since that is tradition for almost every fief. My second eldest brother did so as well. The brother above me fell right in line with my mother's wishes and went to the university to become educated. He currently works on the books. My younger brother has the Gift and managed to use it to help Masbolle's vineyards though I don't know how. The knights, well they stay home and manage the fief and vineyards now. Every little duckling is in place except one.

"My mother's letters are never really pleasant. She doesn't like the Own simply because I can't possibly bring honor to our family name if I'm one of one hundred. Even as Captain she's not really let up on me. She'd prefer I return home, marry, produce some children, and run the fief's guards and patrols if commanding warriors is really what I'm proficient at." He sighed. "I don't know what it's like to feel unloved or rejected based on my looks. But I know what it's like to feel rejected and unloved by those who you think should know better. My mother is bad but my siblings are worse. Their letters are lacking in sympathy telling me to just come home and get it over with. When I refuse openly they get fairly mean in their responses."

"That's terrible," Kel was facing him now.

"I'm not saying you're wrong about how people are viewing you. I'm saying their wrong for even thinking that way. I think you are beautiful, for what it's worth. I know every muscle and scar was earned with passion and care for your duty to the people of this realm. If that alone isn't enough for the world to see you as a heroine, then they can all rot in the Peaceful Realms."

"Dom, I…"

"Don't," Dom turned to face Kel and smiled. "Don't argue with me. Go put on something nice. I'm taking you down into Corus and we'll enjoy some relaxing time away from this gossip and prying eyes of this place we are cursed to call home."