Disclaimer: All characters belong to Tamora Pierce. I do not own the lyrics.
Set After Squire. Could be before or after Lady Knight.
And all the roads we have to walk are winding
-Wonderwall by Oasis
If you took a look at the two sole Lady Knights of Tortall, one might be curious as to how the two women came to make same choice of becoming a knight.
It didn't take a scholar to notice the differences between the women. You could start with the obvious: height or temperament. Then you could move on to the subtle, more technical differences: preferred weapon or presence of The Gift. Some may even take into consideration the fact that one infuriates the conservatives by taking the title and shield of a woman and the other infuriates them by taking the title of a man. It seems to bring to light that the conservatives just don't know quite what they want.
However, none of this mattered to Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan. The only thing that startled her when she finally met the Lioness, was just how human her hero was.
For such a long time, Kel had imagined Alanna as this invincible, larger than life being. The truth was, she was just a short, stubborn, and fiery tempered woman with a magnificent destiny.
Kel had once asked Alanna how she did it. She wanted to know how Alanna became one of those people to fight alone in dark places. She will never forget the response.
"The thing is, I was never really alone. People, every one of us, we walk these winding roads, but the thing about roads is that they intersect with others. I am the product of several collisions with other people's winding paths. I collided with George, Jonathan, Raoul, Gary, Thayet, Myles… even you. It's not the obstacles I fight along my own path that makes me "one of those people". It's not even the goals I set for myself. It's the strangers I ran into along the way. Strangers that became friends and family. I never know where my road will lead, but my friends and family are my beacons. They lead me home. So even when I do fight alone, I'm fighting for someone other than just myself."
Alanna said, constantly, that she was not one to look to for inspirational speeches, but if you caught her off guard, she tended to surprise you.
Kel was comforted by Alanna's honesty. Alanna was still her hero. She had done what many will never be able to even dream of doing. She was the truth behind bard's songs, tavern tales, and children's bedtime stories. Yet, she was human.
She walked a path, but she wasn't always alone. She wasn't always this legendary fighter. She wasn't always a woman who left people gaping, in either awe or scandalization.
She was once just a girl with a dream to become a knight. She was a woman with people she loved and wanted to protect. She was a human walking her winding road in the world.
Despite all their glaring differences, when you got right down to it, the two Lady Knights of Tortall weren't that different from each other after all.
