Disclaimer: First and foremost, I do not own any of the wonderful characters in this story. The Tortallan universe and everything and everyone in it belongs to Tamora Pierce. Secondly, because this is a story about the characters in the story, reading the story, everything in bold is a direct quote from First Test by Tamora Pierce.
A/N: Ok, first of all, let me apologize to everyone who has been waiting for the next chapter for so long! I am soooooooooooo sorry! Things have been kinda crazy for me the last month and a half. I solemnly swear that I will never let it happen again!
Secondly, thank you to everyone who has left reviews and messages for me! You have inspired me not to give up. I love to hear from you all. Sorry if I haven't responded to your messages yet. I haven't been on my fanfiction account for awhile. I shall answer you all as quickly as I can!
Thirdly, I am not now, nor do I ever intend to abandon this little story of mine. Unless people start telling me its crap. No sense in writing it if no one's enjoying it.
And finally, several of you have been asking for Kel to make an appearance in this story. All I can tell you is that I have plans for her and her friends and all shall be revealed eventually. Please stay tuned and you will find out!
NOW! I think you have all waited long enough, don't you agree! ;)
Previously, on Reading POTS:
"As ironic as this sounds, I think things are starting to get better," Daine giggled. "At least she seems to be in a better mood."
Anders nodded. "She is," he confirmed. "But I wish she would stay away from those boys now, even though I get the feeling that this won't be the case."
"No, it isn't," Wyldon agreed. "This is only the beginning."
"Well hello," Numair said looking down at the black blob with a gold streak in it that seemed to be trying to sneak the book from him.
"Nuts," the blob muttered in a squeaky voice.
"Gold-streak!" Daine exclaimed excitedly. "How have you been?"
The darking drew itself up to address the wildmage. "Dragonlands were boring. Came to visit," it explained. "Not very good at being sneaky though," it muttered to itself.
Numair patted Gold-streak's head affectionately. "It will take a lot more practice to be sneaky with me. Sleight-of-hand is something of a hobby of mine." Gold-streak seemed to perk up at that.
A knock at the door sounded. Raoul answered it to find servants baring trays of food. "I figured we might be at this for a while so I asked the servants to deliver lunch to my quarters," Raoul explained to everyone.
"Good idea, Raoul," said Jon. "I think now would be a good time to take a break and have something to eat.
They ate and chattered for a bit, but everyone was eager to get back to the book. Daine picked it up off the table. "If no one minds, I'd like to read next," she said. Everyone settled in, ready for her to begin.
Chapter 8, Winter
The next morning Kel opened her eyes to discover it was not yet dawn. She moaned. Once, just once, it would have been nice to sleep through the bell to Gower's knock on her door. Even with a banked fire her room was icy, a solid argument for staying abed until the last possible moment.
"I agree," Alanna nodded. "There's absolutely no reason for her to get up so early."
"You just don't like the cold," Jon accused.
"What's wrong with that?" demanded Alanna. "And besides, who likesthe cold?"
She probably shouldn't do her morning exercises until tomorrow or the next day. Even with Duke Baird's treatment, she ached all –
Several somethings hopped on her chest, interrupting her thoughts. Kel looked down.
Thirteen sparrows, the entire courtyard flock, stood on the coverlet. Crown hopped up the distance from Kel's navel to somewhere below her chin, where Kel lost sight of her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the gentle peck.
Instead the quick gait that circled her cheek stopped beside her ear. "PEEP!"
Everyone laughed.
Kel sat up, startling the birds into flight. They perched on the headboard, chattering at her.
"Wonderful," she said, throwing off the covers. "So much for a little extra sleep." Looking up, she saw one of the small shutters was open. No wonder the room was so cold. She hobbled stiffly to the window, mumbling, "How can a tiny bird produce such a loud noise?"
Daine giggled, "You'd be surprised," she mused.
She opened the bottom shutters. Outside, the predawn world was white. Over a foot of snow had fallen in the courtyard. More continued to fall in a steady, businesslike way. It muffled all sound, making Kel feel as if she and the birds were wrapped in a thick down comforter.
"That paints a pretty picture," Thayet murmured.
"I see why you came in," she said, turning to look at her guests. They had taken advantage of her departure to huddle in the warm hollow she'd left in her mattress.
"I can see why they all wanted her up," Myles chuckled.
Kel, grinned, and went to poke up the fire. Once she had it going, she lit a branch of candles and carried them into her dressing room. Overhead the great bell called everyone to another day's work.
With no hearth, the dressing room was icy. Kel danced on the bare stone flags, teeth chattering as she stripped off her nightgown. A colorful sight awaited her: fading yellow-purple bruises spread over her left side and mottled her legs. A bigger, red-purple bruise was just surfacing on her belly.
Anders raised an eyebrow. "Impressive," he commented. "I don't think she's ever been quite that colorful."
Kel whistled, impressed in spite of herself. She had to have been in one or two worse fights than this, although they slipped her mind at the moment.
"No actually, I'm pretty sure you haven't," Anders argued.
The marks vanished under her clothes as she drew on her undertunic and scarlet wool hose. By that point she was shivering so badly that it was all she could do to feed the laces through the holes in the long garments. She was securing the hose to her undertunic when she heard a rap on her door.
"Just a moment," she called, grabbing a robe. Wishing the servants could simply enter her room and knowing the boys would destroy her things if she had the special locks removed, she ran to open the door. Gower took two steps past her with his tray, then turned to stare.
"Sunrise come early today, miss?"
"Huh?" Alanna asked, confused.
Kel blinked at him. "What?"
The man nodded to her face. "Looks like the sun's about to come up in your eye. Nice color."
Alanna blinked. "Did he just make a joke?" she asked in disbelief.
"I think so," George chuckled.
"Thank you, I think."
He put down the tray and saw the birds perched close to the fire. "Time was a man didn't have to deal with wild animals in the palace," he commented.
Daine blushed.
"They aren't wild, exactly," she protested as he left the room, closing the door.
The sparrows cheeped. Kel emptied a cup of the seed she had begged from the stables weeks before onto her desk. Dumping her collection of colored rocks from their shallow dish, she filled it with water and put it down for the birds.
Kitten chirped his approval.
That done, she hurried to wash and finish dressing. Looking at her face in the mirror, she saw what Gower had meant: the swelling was gone, but she had brightly colored bruises around one eye and her other eyebrow and on one cheekbone. Kel shook her head and left her room.
Turning around after she locked up, she nearly tripped over Merric. He shoved her. "I didn't ask you to come bullocking in!" he yelled. "I don't need you to defend me!"
"Are you serious?" Thayet exclaimed.
"What's his problem?" Gary wanted to know.
The others all frowned.
Kel held up her hands and stepped back. "I didn't do it for you," she told him.
"She didn't?" Raoul asked, confused.
"Now they'll give me all kinds of grief, saying I got a girl to – hunh?"
Kel sighed. "I didn't do it for you, all right? I wanted to pick a fight with them and you were there, that's all."
Wait . . . what?" Jonathan asked.
The noise was drawing other pages out of their rooms.
"Just leave me alone!" Merric yelled, uncomfortably aware of their audience. He punched Kel in the left arm, then the right as if daring her to hit back.
Buri sighed, annoyed. "Was that really necessary?"
The blows hurt, but she let him have them. His pride was sore; she understood that. Her parents had explained it, the first few times that someone she had tried to help got angry with her. She wished Merric had tried to hit his tormentors as well. He wouldn't be so angry if he'd gotten in a punch or two of his own last night.
Wyldon nodded, even though he didn't approve of the fighting that took place throughout their years as pages, he had to admit that she had a point. If Merric didn't want a girl to save him he should have done something about it himself. He was beginning to understand her reasons for all those fights.
"Just because you're a stupid probationer girl doesn't mean you can ignore custom like that, either!" Merric informed her.
"It's not like the custom is that old," Jonathan objected. "It wasn't around when we were pages."
"That's because we wouldn't have agreed to such a stupid custom!" Alanna insisted.
Kel sighed again. She had been patient enough – she wanted her breakfast. "Like I said, it had nothing to do with you." Tucking her hands into her belt, she marched down the hall. The other boys gathered around Merric. She could hear them asking him what had happened.
She wondered what he would say. Not your problem, she told herself, and picked up her pace. She was hungry.
"I always get hungry after a healing too," Daine grinned.
Neal was not far behind her. "Ungrateful little swine," he muttered as he sat across from Kel.
"I agree with Neal," Anders muttered.
She looked up from spooning honey onto her porridge. Never had breakfast looked so good. Healings always made her hungry. "Me?"
"No, Merric."
Kel looked down. "Oh. You heard."
"My room isn't that far from yours. He doesn't have to be your slave the rest of his life, but a little thanks –"
"And if it was you?" Kel asked, buttering a scone.
Neal blinked at her.
"Would you have thanked me?" She bit into her scone.
"Well, I- I-"
"Oh, I think I get it now," said Anders.
Kel swallowed. It's bad enough Joren and his pack shamed him. Me seeing it shamed him more. Me doing something about it…" She dug into her porridge, letting Neal think it over.
"I guess I can see it," Thayet sighed. "Still, that was just stupid."
As she ate, she looked for Joren, Zahir, and Vinson. Their appearance was much more colorful than hers. Since they hadn't broken anything, they had not been sent to a healer. Not bad work, for a first-year, she thought, careful to keep her face straight.
"Not bad at all," Wyldon chuckled. "I remember, I was sure she had help from someone. It was hard to believe she'd managed to do all that damage by herself."
"That's our Kel," Raoul smiled. "She's always a lot tougher than everyone expects."
"Well it's fair foolish to think otherwise," Alanna huffed.
Neal was still thinking about what Kel had said when Salma found them. "Lord Wyldon sent me to remind you to wait on his table the next three nights," she informed Kel. "I'll have a clean uniform ready after your classes. Make sure you reach the mess before he does."
Kel nodded. Every other page had gone through the same routine.
Salma touched her bruised eye. "Nice sunrise," she commented, and smiled.
"Has she been talking to Gower?" Alanna wanted to know. "Why is everyone referring to her black eye as a sunrise?"
"It just seemed to have that kind of shading going on," Myles explained smiling.
Kel grinned back. "That's another thing," grumbled Neal. "You're happy about that fight."
Kel buttered another scone. "Yes."
"Great griffins, why? Do you like getting hurt?"
She put her butter knife down. "Don't you ever get tired of asking questions?"
Everyone laughed while Alanna groaned. "Unfortunately not," she said. "You have to threaten him with bodily harm to get him to shut up, and even that doesn't always work."
"Never. They're mother's milk to me. Answer, please."
"See what I mean," Alanna exclaimed.
Kel toyed with her scone. She usually didn't like to explain herself, but she respected Neal. "Warriors get hut. You don't have to like it, just live with it. And last night I got tired of thinking and worrying myself sick. I knew what had to be done, and I did it." She sighed happily. "I love it when that happens."
Wyldon shook his head. "Has she always been like that?" he asked Anders.
Anders laughed. "Pretty much," he replied.
Before the pages left the mess hall, Lord Wyldon made an announcement. As long as the snow continued to fall, Shang combat, weapons practice, and archery would be held at the indoor practice courts.
Kel almost ran into Cleon as she headed out of the mess. He'd planted himself squarely in her path. She halted, staring at him with exasperation.
"Good morning, teardrop of my heart," he greeted her.
Daine snorted. "What exactly is a teardrop of a heart supposed to be?" she wanted to know.
"Apparently, it would be Kel," Buri answered drily.
Kel sighed, her shoulders drooping. He wasn't a bully like Joren. Last night had been about bullies, not about a silly custom. "What is it this time?"
Cleon blinked. He'd expected a refusal. He recovered quickly. "My quiver, if you would, my pearl. I took it to my room to sharpen the arrowheads, and of course I will require it. Return soon to my side, or I will pine."
He'll pine and I'm a holly bush, she though with grim good humor, trotting back to the pages' wing.
Everyone laughed. "I never realized she had a good sense of humor," Jonathan said. "She always seemed so serious to me."
At the end of archery practice, Lord Wyldon told them that riding class was canceled. "This is true only during storms," he explained as they put away their bows. "If it is just a matter of snow on the ground, you train outdoors."
Someone groaned.
Wyldon bore down on the groaner, the first-year page named Quinden.
"I would have hated to be him," Anders muttered.
"It wasn't very smart of him to do that in the training masters' presence," Gary pointed out. "It's like he was asking for it."
"Do you think spidrens sit indoors in the winter?" he rapped out. "They've got nice furry coats. They don't care if it's freezing. Killer centaurs and killer unicorns hate drifts, but they'll attack in shallow snow. Get used to fighting in it." He turned to include the rest of the pages in his lecture. "Once a knight could take his ease in winter. Pirates, bandits, Scanrans, and Carthakis stayed home. We practiced our snow hunting skills, being polite to ladies, and polishing our armor. Winter was our easy season.
Alanna sighed with longing. "I never thought I'd say this, but I really miss those winters."
"Only because you don't like being out in the cold," Raoul grumbled. "Personally, I prefer the cold to all those gods-curst parties, and social events."
"Yes, we all know," Jonathan glared.
"These immortals changed everything," he went on. "Many are out and about in all but the worst weather, which means we come out, too."
"But most of them returned to the Divine Realms this summer," argued a third-year. "Didn't they?"
"There are hundreds still in Tortall," Wyldon said grimly. "And hundreds more, once they breed. Only the monsters that came after Midwinter Festival last year were returned to the Divine Realms. That leaves plenty for us to deal with, one way or another. Any other questions?"
The pages shook their heads.
"Today we commence with a knight's primary weapon," Wyldon informed them. Sergeant Ezeko came forward pushing a barrel set on a small, wheeled cart. The barrel was stuffed with wooden practice swords.
"Take one," he ordered. "Treat it as your own from this moment."
"Brings back memories doesn't it Alanna?" Gary asked.
"Yeah," Alanna smiled. "I was so bad at swordplay at first."
Daine, Buri, Thayet, Numair, and Anders all stared. "Really?" Daine asked, shocked. "But you're so good now!"
Alanna nodded. "I'm sure I've told you."
"I don't believe you've mentioned it," Numair said mildly. The others nodded.
"Oh," Alanna said surprised. "Well, I was."
Gary snorted. "That's an understatement."
Alanna glared.
No one handed a practice sword to Kel.
Thayet scowled but didn't say anything.
She was able to try several before choosing one. It felt easy in her grasp, almost feather-light after her lance. The exercises were like those for the staff; the thing to remember was that the weapon was shorter. They were paired off as usual. Wyldon and Ezeko took them through the basics, high blocks against high strikes, middle strikes to middle blocks, and low blocks against low strikes. Ezeko then led the older boys in more complex exercises as Lord Wyldon stayed with the first-years. To Kel's surprise, Neal practiced with the oldest pages. As a nobleman's son he'd been tutored in the use of a sword for the last seven years.
Alanna grinned. "Didn't help him with me though."
Lord Wyldon took Neal's place in the first-year pairs with Merric as his partner. Kel practiced with Esmond, and found she enjoyed it. Sword work was completely new, so she never had to worry about confusing it with anything she had learned in the Islands. Blocking and striking came easily. When the bell rang for the end of practice, she was sorry to quit.
"Looks like she had a better time at it than you," Jon grinned at Alanna. Alanna just crossed her arms and seemed to pout. But of course the Lioness, the King's very own Champion, would never do something so childish so that couldn't possibly be what she was doing. Not to mention if she was, which she wasn't, no one in the room would be so stupid as to point it out. Therefore, no one commented and the Lioness was able to NOT pout in peace.
So was Esmond, it seemed – he actually gave her a friendly clap on the shoulder before he put away his practice sword.
"I think I like him," Daine smiled.
Buri nodded her agreement as she added him to her list. She'd almost forgotten about it.
After her last class, Kel trotted to her rooms, whistling cheerfully. She was tired and sore as always, but for once she was ahead of the others. It looked as if she would be cleaned up and ready to wait on Wyldon's table on time.
Once dressed in a fresh tunic, she opened her door cautiously, checking overhead for buckets and the floor for anything smelly. Locking up, Kel set off briskly. Two steps and her feet skidded out from under her; down she went on her back. When she finally managed to get to her feet, there was oil on her clothes and in her hair. The light cast by the hall torches had not shown her oil smeared on the gray flagstones.
"This is ridiculous," Thayet cried. "Wyldon, I can't believe you just let those rotten boys get away with stuff like this!"
"Uh, boys will be boys?" Wyldon tried.
Thayet, Alanna, Buri and Daine just glared.
Back into her room she went, to wash and change clothes again. As she dressed she heard the boys leaving for supper. Now she was going to be late.
"Stupid boys," Thayet muttered.
This time when she left her room she skirted the oil and trudged down the hall. Joren, Vinson, and Zahir waited for her near the mess hall.
"I guess you'll learn not to tattle," sneered Vinson.
"I didn't tattle," she said. "The servants told him."
"Never mind that," Joren said, glaring at Vinson. "You've had it easy, wench. That's at an end. You should have fled while you had the chance." Zahir opened the mess-hall door.
"He's such a nasty little thing," Daine murmured.
"You were going to be rid of me by now," she said, her voice ringing clear against the stone walls.
Vinson started to turn back. Joren grabbed his tunic and shoved him through the mess door.
Zahir called over his shoulder, "You won't be here come spring, probationer."
"Actually, she will," Raoul smiled. "Guess she showed them in the end." The ladies smiled and relaxed while the men all sighed in relief at having narrowly avoided another round of strong, angry women.
For her late arrival, Wyldon assigned Kel to wait on his table through the month of January.
"Not her fault," Thayet whispered.
His guests that night, two grizzled warriors form the northern army, spent the meal telling jokes about women who were never prompt. Kel had to remind herself often to be as stone.
The women all glared at Wyldon again who was trying shrink down and make himself as small a target as possible. They could be really frightening sometimes. Not that he was frightened, he was just . . . cautious, yeah that's it.
After that, she left her room to wait on Lord Wyldon by climbing through her shutters. She did it even when the drifts were high in the courtyard: snow could always be brushed off.
Alanna shivered.
Six days later Midwinter Festival began, celebrating the rebirth of the sun and of the year after the longest night of winter. There was no classroom work during the week-long holiday, so the pages could ready themselves to serve in the great banquet hall for each night of the feast. Kel had dreaded her first experience of waiting on the great people of the realm, but to her relief, the first-year pages were spared the ordeal of service in the public eye. Instead she spent the banquet hours at the head of the kitchen stairs. There the first-years passed the plates of food from the servants to the second-, third-, and fourth-year pages, who actually waited on the diners.
She decided that the worst part of her chore was constantly being under the eye of Master Oakbridge, the etiquette teacher. He missed nothing, either in the banquet hall or on the stairs. No one was allowed to relax for so much as a breath as long as the feasts went on.
Raoul shuddered, "That must have been horrible!"
Kel would have loved the chance to look inside the hall at the nobles and all their finery. In the Yamani Islands the holiday was spent in quiet, at home with family. The colorful celebrations of the Eastern Lands – with the great logs for the hearths, the fantastic structures of cakes and candy shaped like castles and immortals, the silk garlands, and the performances of players – were just a dim memory for her. She would have liked to see more than hot, sweaty kitchen folk and nervous, sweaty senior pages.
"I didn't know that about the Yamanis," Raoul said. "I suppose that would have been a bit disappointing then."
It was also annoying to have to wait the long hours until the pages' supper. Only after the king and queen led their guests to a ballroom were the pages released from duty. The squires got to wait on the great ones while the pages ate silently and fell into bed.
Numair raised a brow, "Great ones?" he asked. Everyone else just shook their heads.
The morning after the longest night of the year, the fourth day of the seven-day celebration, was the time when gifts were exchanges. They all took their packages to Salma so that when the servants came to lay the first fires of the year, they could also bring each page's gifts.
Kel had thought long and hard about her gifts. Neal was easy: she gave him one of her lucky cats, since he never came into her room without looking at them. "With your tongue," she wrote on her note to him, "you need all the luck you can get!"
Alanna threw back her head and laughed while Wyldon just rolled his eyes. "Truer words were never spoken," he said. Everyone chuckled, they couldn't agree more.
Gower received a silver noble for the work he did in her room. Money would not have been right for Salma. Instead Kel gave her a silver hummingbird pin from her trinket box.
"That was sweet," Daine commented. "I'm sure there weren't many others who thought of her as well."
The prince had been a source of worry. She thought it might be presumptuous to give him a present, but she really wanted to.
"She really does over think things sometimes, doesn't she?" Gary asked.
"You have no idea," Anders replied rolling his eyes. "Unless of course there's a monster standing in front of her, then she doesn't usually think at all. She just charges right in."
She gave him a small Yamani painting of a bridge over a forest stream. The colors were dreamlike: grays, faded blues and greens, stark browns. It always gave her a feeling of peace, and she hoped it would make Roald feel better about his coming marriage.
"That really is very sweet of her to be so concerned for him about his marriage," Thayet smiled. "And really that gift was just perfect." Jon smiled and nodded.
For Crown and the other sparrows she had gotten raisins and dried cherries, a rare treat for the birds. They were pecking at the fruit when Gower knocked on Kel's door.
Daine smiled while Kitten and Goldstreak nodded their approval.
In addition to her wash water he carried a sack containing three gifts. One came from Neal, a leather-bound volume about the female warriors who had once defended the realm of Tortall.
"I think he gave me the same book when he was my squire," Alanna murmured.
To Kel's surprise, Prince Roald gave her a blown glass horse no longer than her thumb. When she saw the flattened ears and the bared teeth, she laughed. It looked very like Peachblossom.
Thayet and Jon smiled proudly. "You know he didn't give gifts to every page," Jon said.
There was no name on the third gift.
Alanna smirked and George winked at her, but because he is George, no one else caught it.
Kel undid the crimson silk wrap to find a stone jar as broad as her palm. It was made of green jasper and the words "Bruise Balm" were carved into the stone stopper. Kel opened it and sniffed. The thick ointment inside had a delicate smell. Curious, she put a dab on a knuckle she had bruised in yesterday's hand-to-hand combat. The moment the bruise balm touched it, the ache that had plagued her all night stopped. By the time she had washed up and cleaned her teeth, the swelling had started to go down.
Jon whistled lowly, "That's some pretty strong stuff," he said impressed. I wonder who gave it to her.
"Curious," George nodded in agreement with a twinkle in his eye. Myles glanced at George and Alanna and chuckled. Really, how could no one figure it out? One of the strongest healers in the realm was sitting in the room looking like the cat that ate the canary and everyone else was scratching their heads in confusion, except for her husband who was also looking a little smug. Myles shook his head.
Neal banged on her door as she finished dressing. Kel let him in, remembering to leave the door open. "I love that little cat," he said, ruffling her hair. "Thank you."
Kel grinned. "You're welcome. Neal, who do you think sent me this?" She handed the jar to him.
Neal opened it, sniffed and frowned. He sniffed again, then waved a hand over the jar. "Ouch!" he cried, startled.
Alanna bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"Are you hurt?" she asked. What if the ointment was some kind of nasty trick? "What happened?"
Neal replaced the lid and offered the jar back to Kel. "There's serious healing spelled into this," he informed her. "It's worth its weight in gold."
"Impressive," Numair remarked. "I wonder if we will find out who sent it."
"But who?" Kel asked. "Who would give me such a thing?"
"Don't look at me." Neal tore up a dried cherry that had caused some disagreements among the sparrows. "I might have the skill to brew something like this in ten years, but only then. Wasn't there a note?"
Kel shook her head. She rested a hand on her belt-knife, wondering. She had never told Neal about the peerless blade with its plain sheath and hilt. Now she did, and showed him the knife.
"So maybe somebody with money and taste knows what a page needs and wants you to have it," he suggested as they went to breakfast.
Alanna ducked her head so no one could see her smirk. She was having a terrible time keeping a straight face.
"Too bad they couldn't arrange to have the Stump done away with for you."
Not for lack of trying, Alanna frowned.
"I don't want him done away with," she told him as they walked into the mess hall. "I just want him to take me off probation."
Alanna glanced a Wyldon out of the corner of her eye looking thoughtful.
Neal was about to reply but changed his mind. It didn't matter that he hadn't spoken.
"You watch," Kel informed him stubbornly. "I'll do so well he'll have to let me stay."
Wyldon smiled. "That's true," he agreed. Alanna bit her lip, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing having Wyldon as a training master. Of course the whole probation bit was still completely unfair, but he had done a good job with the pages when he was the training master. Also, it really did seem like Kel had changed his mind about girls becoming knights. Considering how strictly conservative most of his views were and how much the other conservatives looked up to him, that was huge.
"A wish for the new year," her friend said, passing her a tray. "So mote, it be."
"So mote," whispered Kel, and followed him into the line for breakfast.
With the Festival's end, winter settled in. The sparrows decided to make Kel's room their quarters. Each day they chirped what she hoped were encouraging remarks, not bird jokes, as she did her pre-dawn exercises.
Daine giggled.
They even ate from her hand as well as from the shallow dishes she'd found for them. Kel was grateful that none of the servants had complained about droppings. She would have hated to give up her feathered companions. The single-spot female, Crown, was particularly devoted over the gray days and cold nights, perching on Kel's shoulder whenever the girl was in her room.
In late January, Kel was studying in the library when she noticed that Seaver had come and gone three different times in one evening. He would take a volume, return at a trot with it, and find another. The last time he searched the shelves, she closed her own book and followed him. He turned into Joren's room.
"Uh oh," Daine remarked.
"Here we go again," Buri sighed.
"She really can't stand bullies can she?" Gary chuckled.
"You still haven't gotten it right," she heard Joren cry as Vinson giggled. "Are you deaf? We need the third book on the Hunger Wars in Galla!"
"You said it was the second volume on farming in Scanra." Kel had to strain to hear Seaver. Of all the new boys, he was the quietest. "You – ow!"
"What happened?" Alanna demanded. This time everyone ignored her.
"Hit him again, Vinson," Joren advised. "Knock the wax from his ears."
"Meanie," squeaked Goldstreak. Kitten squawked something that didn't sound very flattering and nodded.
Kel opened the door in time to see Vinson cuff Seaver. "Just when I finished most of my punishment work, too," she announced.
"It's the Lump," Vinson told Joren, as if the blond youth couldn't see that for himself.
"He does have a knack for stating the obvious doesn't he?" Gary laughed.
Wyldon rolled his eyes, "You have no idea."
"What will it take to get through your thick skull?" Joren demanded, getting to his feet. Vinson stepped to Kel's left, so the two third-years could come at her from either side. "Perhaps we ought to break it this time."
Thayet shook her head, "Those boys are just rotten through and through."
"Where's Zahir? Did he lose the belly for your silly games?" Kel asked.
"Oh, good," Thayet sighed. "I was hoping he would come to his senses."
"See, he wasn't all bad," Jonathan exclaimed.
"Seaver, please go."
"No Seaver, stay and help. You'll feel better if you do," Alanna objected.
Seaver looked from Vinson to Joren.
"Stay if you want," Joren said his eyes on Kel. "We'll bash you, too."
Vinson kicked Seaver without warning. Kel lunged, grabbing Vinson by the tunic, and hurled him into Joren.
"Ha!" Thayet cheered.
Seaver ran out of the room as the two older pages scrambled to get Kel.
"Oh come on!" Alanna cried. "Don't tell me he's gonna get upset with her now too!"
The rest went as she expected. She lost, but struck a few good blows she might not have managed earlier in the year. They all told Wyldon the traditional lie and took their punishment chores without complaint. At this rate, Kel thought, I won't have a free hour between now and summer solstice.
The next evening Kel, the prince, and Neal decided to study in Neal's room. They had just opened their books when someone knocked on the open door. It was Seaver, his books under one arm. Behind him stood Merric's sponsor, Faleron.
"I need help with mathematics," Seaver told Kel, his dark eyes meeting hers squarely. "Would you mind?"
"He doesn't sound upset to me," George grinned. Alanna blinked and started to smile.
Kel shook her head.
"You got space for me?" Faleron wanted to know. "I need to pick Neal's brain for this paper Sir Myles wants me to write. Besides, everybody knows its warmer with more people in the room."
Myles chuckled, "Of course it is," he nodded.
They had excuses that first time, but apparently making up fresh ones after that was too much work.
Raoul grinned, "Why bother? You know she saw right through them anyway."
Merric came with them the next night and gave no explanation at all.
"I knew he'd come around eventually," Buri added.
The newcomers became regular additions to Neal's study group. If the boys noticed that Kel left the group once an evening and came back rosy-cheeked from a run through the halls, none of them commented.
"Well why aren't they going with her?" Gary wanted to know. Everyone else shrugged.
Longtime palace residents said it was the hardest winter in over a decade. Servants labored to clear paths between the outbuildings and the palace. Game grew scarce as the weeks remained cold and snows piled high. In February, Lord Wyldon and Sergeant Ezeko led the pages on an overnight hike, teaching them how to dress and camp in heavy snow. Joren picked up the tracks of a lone deer that led them to a small herd.
"Why did it have to be Joren?" Thayet grumbled.
When they took the meat to a village that had been cut off from supplies they were welcomed gratefully.
The pages warmed up now with staffs, then moved on to sword practice. Only a day a week was spent in more complex staff work. After three weeks. Kel told Neal that she was so out of practice with pole arms that the most timid of the emperor's ladies would be able to gut her with the glaive in a flash.
Gary laughed, "There's that sense of humor again Jon."
Jonathan shook his head. "Remind me to take you down to the practice courts when Shinko and the other ladies are practicing, I think you'll change your mind about that."
Thayet smirked.
Neal found this infinitely amusing and told Kel that he admired her sense of humor.
Kel blinked at him. "I'm serious, Neal."
He patted her shoulder. "Of course you are."
"One day you and I will visit the Islands," she informed him, "and then you will know better."
"Or you'll just introduce him to one of your Yamani friends, let him fall head over heels and she can show him herself," Alanna laughed.
Reviewing her schedule, Kel decided she could fit in a pattern dance before supper, and another before she went to bed. Pattern dances were linked techniques, to give the dancer practice in combat moves when no opponents were about. That night she forced herself to do a complex dace just before supper. She did a simpler one before she went to sleep. The exercises became a permanent addition to her routine.
"Seriously! More extra exercises on top of the other extra exercises she's already doing?" Gary exclaimed.
The work she put into pattern dances and exercises for her arms began to show in practice. As her sword skills improved, Lord Wyldon and Sergeant Ezeko began to pair her with older pages. No one objected until one afternoon in late February, when Lord Wyldon was called away from the court. When he left, the older pages moved around. Kel, found herself facing Zahir.
Uh-oh, she thought as the Bazhir's dark eyes blazed. I'm in trouble now.
"I thought he was over this," Daine sighed.
"Didn't they already try something like this once before?" Raoul wanted to know.
Wyldon frowned.
They began with the strike-and-block combinations. Ezeko stood over them as they moved on to combinations like three high cuts, two low, with blocks to match. He watched Kel and Zahir through two complete sets and part of a third, then walked down the line to see how Quinden did against Faleron. The moment the sergeant's eyes were elsewhere, Zahir hissed, "It's time for you to take you place behind the veil, where you belong!"
"Why that rotten, arrogant, spiteful piece of stormwing sewage!" Thayet cried. Alanna turned red with fury. Daine was glaring so hard at the poor book that the pages started to shrivel. Raoul was remaining amazingly calm, perhaps because he had spent so much time among the Bazhir the insult really wasn't all that surprising. Besides, he didn't have the Lioness' infamous temper. He was however, listing off different King's Own members in his head whom he could pass this little bit of information to. "I hope she kicks his stuck-up little ass!" Thayet declared as Numair was muttering some spell in an effort to save the innocent book from Daine's wrath.
He broke the drill, banging Kel's legs hard as he swung up and he followed; when he struck overhand, she knocked his sword aside and struck him in the ribs. "We don't wear veils!" she whispered in reply.
"Exactly!" Alanna declared. "We have nothing to be ashamed of!" All the ladies cheered in response.
Zahir growled, "A woman out of her place is a distraction to men!" and struck her repeatedly until Kel kicked him in the stomach to make him back off.
"Oh really?" Daine asked innocently. "Just what kind of distraction might that be? What exactly are you trying to say Zahir?"
"Good one!" Alanna cackled.
Joren, Vinson, and a few other boys closed around them to cut them off from the sergeant's view.
"I told you, they already tried this," Raoul pointed out.
"Yes, but last time it was with the staff," Gary pointed out. "Maybe they think they stand a better chance with a sword."
Neal saw them bunch up and came to Kel's defense, dragging Zahir's friends out of his way.
Everyone cheered. "Finally she has some backup!" Buri grinned.
When Vinson hit Neal from behind, the prince yanked Vinson off him.
"Alright Roald!" Jonathan cheered.
Merric threw himself onto Joren's back.
"Now you can get a piece of him yourself," Wyldon smiled.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to disapprove of the pages fighting?" Alanna asked him.
"Probably," he replied then grinned. "I'm not exactly training master anymore though am I?"
Faleron and Seaver went for Zahir. The battle ended only when Sergeant Ezeko waded in and pulled everyone apart.
Lord Wyldon was livid.
"See, I didn't approve then," Wyldon pointed out.
He sentenced all of them to a week of early-evening duty in the palace laundry. The laundrymaids, a set of rough, no-nonsense women with muscles that Kel envied, had a field day with the lads assigned to help them.
Everyone laughed at that.
"It's not fair," Merric grumbled as he wrung out sheets. "Zahir started it."
"But you lot didn't have to pitch in," Kel reminded him. "Besides, this may be the only time all winter that we get the mud out from under our nails."
"Does she always try to look for the silver lining?" Gary asked.
Merric glowered at her, and Kel waited for the explosion. Instead he shook his head, smiling wryly. "Don't you get mad about anything?" he demanded in amused exasperation. "You know they call you the Lump."
"That's not very flattering," Buri commented wryly.
"I try not to show anger," Kel explained. "The Yamanis won't talk to you if you let your feelings out. To them it's like picking your nose at a table. Besides, haven't you noticed how tiring losing your temper is?"
"I never thought about it like that," Gary mused. "Alanna have you ever thought about it like that?" he questioned.
"Shut up, Gary," Alanna grumbled.
"I think you'll find that if you make her lose her temper, you will end up rather tired too!" George chuckled then kissed her on her head affectionately. Alanna smiled wryly.
"I've noticed it gets you punishment," the redheaded boy replied with a shrug. "Maybe it's the same thing."
"Well, you're tired at the end of both, so there you are," Kel said practically. "Help me wring out this blanket?"
Daine sighed happily, "Things definitely worked out better at the end of this chapter!" Numair smiled at her as she snuggled up next to him
"Well let's keep the good times rolling," Buri replied sitting back and opening the book to the next chapter. George and Alanna had their heads down and their shoulders were shaking with the effort to conceal their laughter. Wyldon glared at the two of them as Buri blinked at the book in her hands. Wait a minute, she thought. How did I end up with the book?
