Fi POV

'Hello, my name is Fianola,' She held out her hand out for him to shake. He finally made eye contact, glaring at her angrily although she didn't know what she could have possibly done to make him angry at her. She flinched, and he walked away trailing after the other pages. Fianola looked around for her sister but she had already gone. She sighed, she looked after her sisters but they always seemed to think that she could handle things on her own. Now she wasn't so sure if that was true...

She watched her sponsor (she still didn't even know his name) walk away with most of the other pages. A few of the page sponsors were still standing there, instructing the other 'probationers' in the ways of life at the palace. She didn't know what to do.

She knew that Claire would race up to her sponsor and hit him over the head until he did what he was supposed to. She also knew that Yvenne would yell out until he turned around, she winced at the very though. Yvenne was very good at getting what she wanted by means of yelling. Fianola however, was, by far the quietest of the three 'sisters'.

She sighed and trudged after her sponsor and the other pages.

She was glad that the boy had volunteered to show her around when she saw all of the turns they took (even though he wasn't exactly 'showing' her around). The palace was full of strange turns and corridors with corridors and doors coming off them. It was very confusing. Fianola had a good sense of direction when it came to being lost in a forest but the setup of the Palace was impossible for her to understand. She continued to follow the boys in front of her.

As she walked she tried to remember the way that they came. She tried… and failed. She walked along the corridor and nearly ran into the boys she was following. They had stopped in front of two, high, double doors. She couldn't reach the top of the doorframe. The boys pushed them open. To Fianola's surprise, her sponsor waited for her as his friends filed through.

'I am not going to look after you.' He still looked angry. 'If you annoy my friends or embarrass us or anything else I will hurt you.' Fianola cowered back from him. 'I am not your friend but I will show you how to get back. You sit with me, you do not speak, you do not giggle and when I am done, I will take you back.'

Fianola was shocked. She nodded mutely and followed him into the hall. There were so many boys in the room! There were eight long tables filled with boys ranging from ten to seventeen. The only girls she saw were younger than her because she had obviously started late.

She spotted Claire who looked like she was enjoying herself. She was sitting with a very short blonde girl and a boy who was only a little taller than the girl. Fianola was glad that Claire was doing ok and that she had finally found friends shorter than her. Under normal circumstances Fianola would have laughed but after her sponsor's lecture she didn't dare. The final part of her sister's quartet was the tallest of all of them. Fianola recognised him as Claire's sponsor. Looking at him, she wished that she was over there with him. She saw Claire laugh at something the shorter boy said and when Claire's sponsor grinned he turned towards her. She looked down blushing and kept eating.

She finished her dinner quickly and, now that she was no longer hungry realised how tired she was. She smothered a yawn and discretely looked down the table at her sponsor. He had hardly started eating and caught her looking. He scowled at her. She did her best not to cower back into her chair.

She checked on Claire and caught her eye. Claire mouthed 'Are you ok?' but Fianola motioned for her to talk later. She sighed and sat back in her chair then jumped when a bell rang.

Most of the pages and the squires that were there gathered their trays and took them to a long window that took up most of one wall. They turned them over to the kitchen help and left the Mess. The only people left were those who hadn't finished eating.

Fianola didn't get up to go with them because her sponsor was still eating. He looked up at her once it was only the two of them at the table.

'Come here.' Fianola slid closer along the wooden bench. Her felt sick with dread. 'I am going to take you back to your room and tomorrow I will take you to the tailors. They will supply you with your uniform and you will take it back to your room. By then you should know your way around so I shouldn't need to show you anything. After the tailors, you're on your own. Oh, and I have some advice for you. Go home.' With that he left the table. He got out into the corridor before Fianola exploded.

'Wait' He turned around. Fianola had been quiet since she had gotten her sponsor, she hadn't protested when he treated her like an idiot or when he ignored her. But she wouldn't stand for him telling her to go home. 'Why do you hate me so much? I know that some conservatives still don't think girls should be knights but Hollyrose isn't a conservative fief! Why did you even volunteer to be my sponsor if this was what you are going to do?'

He stared at her silently for a minute.

'I didn't volunteer. Do you want to know how I ended up as your sponsor? My brother Merric, my parents favourite, their beloved eldest, that's why. He was in Keladry of Mindelan's year. They were friends and my parents loved that. No, we're not conservatives, but that doesn't mean that I want the commoners and the women to have the same rights as men.' He stepped towards Fianola and towered over her. 'My parents found out that there would be girls in this year. They sent My Lord a letter saying that I would take on any girl that didn't have a sponsor. Merric was pleased; he wants me to do what he did, to treat women tramps like equals. But I am going to put you in your place, go home.'

'Can I at least know your name so I can avoid you from now on?' Plans of bravely challenging him once she got her shield began forming in her mind but he walked on without another word.

Fianola was proud but she knew that she would never find her way back if she didn't follow him. She walked after him until she recognised where they were. She turned off a large corridor with many windows into the pages wing. The boy from Hollyrose went down the boys' corridor and she found the corridor with the girls' rooms and went into her room.

She sat in the dark for long minutes shaking. Tears surged down her face and she couldn't stop them. She had known it would be hard, that there would be people who would try to stop her but she had always counted on having someone to help her through. She knew that Claire would be fine. If Claire's sponsor didn't look after her then she would, but she didn't have that kind of insurance.

Claire POV

After she left Kiniki's room Claire got ready for bed. She did her teeth, got changed and used the privy.

She was in a very good mood. She had been in the palace for less than a day and she already had three good friends, four counting Fi. Thinking of Fi brought her to the next thing that made her happy. She could be as messy as she like and take as long as she wanted in the privy, the bathroom and the dressing room.

'Mithros, Fi!' She ran to the door and crept down the corridor as most of the pages were already in bed. She knocked on Fi's door and waited.

'Who is it?' She knew it was a standard question but she couldn't resist.

'Claire! Who do you think?'

Fianola opened the door and Claire noticed her eyes were red.

'Fi, what's wrong?' It was obvious she had been crying. Claire shut the door and sat Fianola down on the bed. Fi shook her head she was very proud. 'Fi tell me.'

'It's everything, we won't see mum and dad for months, were alone here and it's just so hard.'

'Liar' Claire knew her sister. She was almost fourteen and she was very strong. She had been longing to get away from home for a long time. 'Even at dinner there was something wrong. Is it your sponsor?'

Fianola looked away from Claire and she knew she'd guessed right.

'Why? What happened?'

'I don't want to talk about it. Go to bed, I'll tell you in the morning.' Claire knew that she wouldn't but she left anyway.

'Kiniki's right, she thought as she got into bed This is going to be harder than I thought.'

Thank you for the Favourite Story; Chris Finkle, sarabistarfire,

Thank you for the Story Alert; Chris Finkle, Secret Scribbled Notes, sarabistarfire,

Thank you for the Favourite Author; Chris Finkle,

Vicky- Thank you for the review. I love Brornan too, he's funny or at least I am going to try and make him funny. And Lachran is a sweetie

REVIEW! Even just to tell me how much it sucks!