A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Like many of you I think Kel won, though I also lean toward both...Anyway here's the next chapter!
Chapter Ten: Delayed Reports
As if on cue, Lord Wyldon was spotted outside the Fort just before the dinner party was about to begin. "Leave it up to the Stump to arrive at the dinner bell," Neal had drawled as he walked with Kel and Tobe (with Jump not far behind) through the Fort. It had been over an hour since Kel had washed and she had used that time to try to help Neal finish his reports. It gave her time to catch up with her best friend, since she had rarely talked to him since they had arrived at Steadfast. With Yuki still assisting Thayet, Neal had only his reports to distract him for the afternoon. And Kel was amazed that he still found opportunities to bring up his bride-to-be. At one point, Kel had left his quarters to grab something from her own rooms, and when she returned, he was still rambling on about Yuki, completely unaware that Kel had so much as moved.
With Kel's help, Neal got much closer to finishing his reports, though they were still not complete when they left for dinner. Kel insisted that he stay behind until they were done, but Neal brushed off her suggestion.
"Ah, Kel, I'll just tell the Stump the truth when he asks for them," said Neal as they waited by the gate Lord Wyldon would enter at any moment.
"And that would be…what? You were too busy paying attention to your betrothed to write your reports?" asked Kel, curious as to what his answer would be.
"Of course not. He may be married, but I doubt he has one ounce of romance in his body. No, I'll tell him I left them at New Hope."
Just then the gates opened to admit the topic of their conversation. Neal let out a groan at the sight of the man that he referred to as 'the Stump'. Nudging his side, Kel smiled.
Kel was glad to see who accompanied him. Though only as expected, it was Owen, Lord Wyldon's squire, and one of Kel's great friends. On seeing her and Neal, Owen beamed jovially at the two, restraining himself from running at them.
"Well at least he hasn't seemed to affect Owen too much," Neal murmured, nodding towards the unusually cheerful squire- which in Owen's case was all but odd. Kel grinned and concurred.
After the greetings were exchanged, which were mostly on Kel's part since neither Neal nor Wyldon cared for each other, Neal and Kel (Tobe and Jump had followed Owen to tack up his and Wyldon's horses) walked with Wyldon through the Fort, Kel placed between the two.
Raoul, who had also come to welcome the man, sent two men to show Wyldon to his rooms. Kel, ready to follow him, was stopped. Knowing what she was going to follow him for, Wyldon told her, "Reports will be due first thing tomorrow morning, Mindelan."
"But sir-"Kel started. Neal sent her a threatening look. But it was Wyldon who cut her off first.
"Keladry, I will have no objections. I am tired from my journey and don't wish to struggle through reports tonight after dinner. Therefore I want them delivered in the morning." Then Wyldon added, "Besides, I doubt Queenscove is prepared anyway."
Neal straightened, but before any word came out of his mouth, Kel spoke up, "Thank you, sir."
An expression that strangely looked like a grin appeared on Wyldon's face. "Don't thank me, Mindelan, that means I want your reports perfectly neat and precise. We are attending a wedding tomorrow, and I do not wish to miss it, just because I am suffering through insufficient reports."
With that, he followed the two men, to be shown to his quarters. Neal, who had been unnaturally silent up until then, finally burst out, "That Stump! He has some nerve, making us wait until tomorrow because he is tired! That's never happened when we were tired!"
"Well, it gives you time to finish, so I don't know why you're complaining," Kel said honestly.
"But now they have to be perfect, because he doesn't want to read them tonight! This is ridiculous, I feel like I'm one of his pages again," Neal said disgustedly.
"Well there's nothing we can do about it, Neal, we're under his command."
"Mithros, Kel, do you have to remind me?"
"After the wedding, milord is taking me back to Corus to prepare me for my ordeal! Then I will be a knight like both of you! Won't that be jolly?" Owen asked both Kel and Neal, the three of them seated at one of the long tables in the mess hall. The hall was filled with people, chatting, eating, and having a good time.
"Immensely," mumbled Neal, who was still sulking over Wyldon's arrival.
Kel sent him a look and then turned to Owen, who was seated beside her, and said warmly, "It will be wonderful, Owen. We'll be proud to have you among us."
"Thanks, Kel!" said Owen appreciatively. He easily had to be the happiest person Kel had ever met, which was one of the things Kel liked best about her fun little friend, who had grown taller since the last time she had seen him. Owen was still shorter than she, and still slightly chubby, but she realized he was growing up. Though, he hadn't lost his child-like eagerness, which she realized gladly, he would never grow out of.
She and Owen talked about many things, mostly about knighthood and the fighting they had seen recently in the war. Owen was persistent for details about battles, which he thought, like many things, were quite 'jolly'.
About a half hour into dinner, Dom and the rest of the guards from the currently ended shift walked into the noisy mess hall. Most had already finished their meal, and the get-together was just starting. Dom and the others laughed when cheers sounded from one table, where the men were placing bets on arm wrestling. Another table roared with laughter as one man told them a story- clearly a funny one at that.
Dom looked and saw Raoul conversing easily with the people at his table. He then noticed the absence of a certain lady knight and his meat-headed cousin, who, as of lately, always sat at the same table as his friendly knight-commander. Than he smiled when he realized why. Lord Wyldon, whom Dom knew his cousin absolutely despised, also sat at the table with Raoul.
When Dom spotted Kel and Neal at a separate table, he noticed right away Neal's unhappy expression- the same expression that he had seen on the Lioness's face, who also sat in Raoul's company. Leaving his other friends, he went over to Kel and Neal's table, plopping down next to his cousin.
"Hey Meathead, why the long face?" he asked upon his arrival.
"If you haven't noticed," Neal started, sarcasm dripping from his voice, "The Stump is here. Not to mention your added presence."
Dom laughed at Neal's displeasure. Wondering where Neal's betrothed was, who seemed to be glued to his cousin, or actually the other way around, Dom then asked, "Where's your 'Yamani Blossom'?"
Neal seemed to scowl more. Then pointing to the table where Wyldon sat he replied, "Over there at his table. She's been talking with the Queen all day about the wedding."
"Wow," said Dom, amazed, "You must hate him an awful lot to keep you away from her."
Kel laughed and Dom looked across at her. "I see you succeeded in getting clean of mud, lady knight. I don't believe I'll be able to wear those clothes ever again."
Kel chuckled quietly, "Same with mine. They're absolutely ruined." Then she added, "But it was worth it."
"It was." Dom said, looking directly into her dreamer hazel eyes, grinning like usual.
She barely controlled the heat that was spreading across her face, caused by the way he looked at her and the thoughts she was having. He was so handsome, all cleaned up without a trace of the mud that had earlier covered his whole body. But she couldn't help but think that he had looked great even covered in the muck, his smile and eyes dazzling from underneath the dirt as he had chased her earlier through the mud.
Neal, who seemed to remember his and Kel's earlier conversation about the mud fight, perked up, and smirked at his older cousin. "Hey, Dom," he said, teasingly, "I heard Kel whooped your bum in the mud war you two had…"
Dom quirked his eyebrow and glanced back at Kel. "Is that so?"
Kel smiled at the sergeant, and shrugged her shoulders.
"A mud war?!" Owen piped up suddenly. "You guys had a mud war? I miss all the fun!"
Kel smiled again and then looked back to Dom, "Dom, you remember Owen?"
Dom smiled and then looked at the squire, "Of course I do. Our eager young fighter, how could I forget?"
Owen smiled at the admiring comment. Dom and he had met when they joined Kel on her journey into Scanra. They had gotten along from the start.
"Don't worry, Owen," replied Neal, answering Owen's earlier comment, "I didn't participate in the mud war either."
"Is that supposed to surprise me?" asked Owen blatantly.
Though he had said it honestly, Dom and Kel burst out laughing. Neal just drummed his fingers impatiently on the table, deciding not to answer.
Shrugging off Neal's reaction, Owen said, hopefully, "I wish that I will get to do fun things like that when I become a knight!"
"Knighthood is not a bed of roses, Owen," Neal answered.
"As much as Neal would like it to be," Dom retorted, causing Neal to shove him.
"Ha ha, very funny, Dom. Maybe you should tell jokes for a living, I'm sure Lord Raoul would be quite relieved if you did. He would finally be rid of a major pain in his bum."
"And maybe you should go back to the university and relieve Wyldon of the pain in his bum as well, which is not, my cousin, a result from riding in a saddle for too long."
Neal and the others laughed, Neal quipping, "Nah… I like being the cause of his discomfort too much."
All of them laughed out loud. When their laughter died down, Dom asked Owen about his approaching ordeal, which Owen replied to all-to-happily.
Well into the gathering, their table was having a great time, telling jokes, stories, and just chatting. And when Wyldon decided to turn in for the night, Raoul and the rest of his table decided to join their young friends. When they had come over, Alanna grumbled, "That man just puts me in a bad mood."
No one had to ask who she was talking about- it was obviously Lord Wyldon she was speaking of.
To which Neal replied, quietly to Dom, "Just like everything else in the living world."
"I heard that Queenscove," Alanna warned her ex-squire.
Neal gulped visibly.
"Well, he is right," commented Thayet from beside the short lady knight.
"Thanks a lot, Thayet," said Alanna, sarcastically, gazing up at the Queen.
"See?" Buri intervened, "You even get angry at the truth."
Alanna rolled her eyes as the rest laughed. Then she sat down beside Neal, who moved away slightly, closer to Yuki, who had just sat down between Neal and Dom. As the others followed her example and took their own seats, conversations resumed, as well as good stories that amused the whole table.
Kel was glad that they all could forget about the war momentarily and have such a good time. A good time was long overdue for them all.
When the hall slowly started to empty very much later that night, Kel and the rest of them could be found with the remainder of the soldiers, playing none other than apple launching, all gathered around one long table. Thayet and Yuki had left not too long ago, saying they had to get up early to make last minute preparations. Neal then disappeared briefly, turning up again later nonchalantly beside Kel. She pretended not to notice her friend's suspicious absence, too involved in the game to tease him about leaving when his betrothed did.
Kel tried to show Owen how to play the game of apple launching, and when Dom saw her demonstrating how to hold the launching utensil, he smiled and went over to help. Leaning beside her at the empty table, Dom placed his hand on hers, adjusting her hold on the utensil, and telling Owen, "You actually want to have your hand here on the tool for a better grip."
Kel's heart raced as his large hand covered hers, his face quite close to her own. She dared not look, but she could tell by how his voice sounded how near they really were.
Owen studied the hold closely, unaware of Kel's burning face. "So that will help?"
"Uh-huh," Dom answered, and Kel made the mistake of looking at him. His face was so close to hers that their noses almost touched. If that didn't already make her melt, then the smile he directed at her certainly did. Then he squeezed her hand quickly before lifting his hand off. It was almost so quick that Kel may have missed it- but she was well aware of it.
Then Dom started to give Owen some more tips, giving Kel time to recompose herself. Then she watched Owen as he launched his first apple, and the next, and the next after that.
Though he appeared to be having a great time, Kel realized how late it was, and saw how Owen's eyes started to droop. Knowing that he needed to get some rest, Kel stood up and said, "It's getting late. We better go to bed. It'll be a long day tomorrow."
Dom also started to get up, when Owen did the same. "I'll go with you," Owen said, walking next to Kel. "Thanks for helping Dom!"
Dom smiled, and hesitated still standing, "No problem, Owen."
Seeing his hesitation, Kel wondered if he had wanted to come along, so she asked him.
"No, I was just going to walk over to where the other guys are…" he replied, referring to where the other men were still apple launching. For some reason, Kel didn't totally believe him. But she didn't pry. "Good night, Dom." She said, looking at him kindly for helping Owen.
"Good night, Kel." he replied.
Then she walked with Owen out of the hall. She also made a mental note to be sure to stop by Neal's room to make sure he was finishing up his reports.
A/N: Haha, I love Owen, I just had to add him in here somewhere! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next will be up soon…with a little added fluff!