"Where's James?" Kasi asked the next evening at their study group. "I need his dictionary-like brain."

Celi shrugged. "I haven't seen him since dinner," she said.

"Me neither," Angus said. "And I need his help with our math problems. You measly little second years just aren't good enough for me."

"What about me?" Leroy asked.

"You're just too stupid Franken," Angus said with a grin.

Celi rose with a sigh. "I'll go look for him." He wasn't in his room, though, or the library. She checked the healers and the training grounds, though she doubted he would be in either of those places. There was a spell she had learned earlier on that year in her advanced magic class with Master Numair. It allowed her to look upon someone who was far away, to paint a picture of them. It was strong magic, and she could not do it without permission from the person she wished to view – when she learned it, she and James had spent an entire Sunday afternoon spreading themselves as far across the palace as they could and seeing how much they could guess of what the other was doing. James hadn't been very good at it, it was too difficult for him, but Celi had caught on to it easily. Numair had told her that when she improved she would be able to carry on a true conversation with another person.

But right now, all she needed to do was concentrate on James. She retired to the privacy of her room, closed her eyes, and pictured James in her mind. It wasn't hard. His face was always in her mind anyway. Slowly a body joined the face, and then a room, then other bodies… Celi didn't recognize the place. It certainly wasn't the palace. She recognized many of the people – Commander Domitan, one of the Duke of Naxen's sons, Master haMinch's son, Kieran, and others.

Celi didn't know what was happening – why were they gathered like this? She concentrated hard on what they were saying. She saw a man she didn't recognize in front of them, speaking to them.

"Work faster," he said. "Macan."

"She knows him well. She isn't giving me anything to work with. He wouldn't ask her questions like that."

The man frowned at Dom – who he had just called Macan. Why was Dom referring to himself in the third person? "Well now he does," the man said. "Make it believable."

He turned to James, and Celi felt chills down her spine. "Denrier, what have you learned?"

"Only that he plans to retire. Not much else. They are expecting nothing from us."

"What about the pages?"

"They train as if they are expecting something, but they are not."

"Anything good?"

James shrugged. "Not too many. There's a girl. She seems promising, training to be a Shang. I've got a hold of her, she'll be gone by summer."

Celi gasped, and the vision dissipated. She stumbled as her own room spun back into view. Collapsing into a chair, she put a hand over her mouth. What was happening, and who could she tell? Who was this stranger speaking as James? How long had been in his place? Had he bee the one, gods forbid, who kissed her?

She couldn't say anything to anyone until she was sure. Tomorrow, she would test him. She would find out if it were true.

She got her chance the next evening, when they were studying in Leroy's room. The conversation moved away from work and towards fighting. They discussed the merits of using fighting techniques that one's competitor did not know.

"As long as they're fair fighting techniques," Celi said. "James, you remember my first day? What did I break?"

James raised his eyebrows and smiled unselfconsciously. "Obviously not your spirit," he said.

Celi smiled as the other boys chuckled. She'd have to try again. There were four nights until their little tests, then the camping trip, then summer. He had said he would drive her out by summer. She had less than a week to figure out what was wrong, and to fix it.

The next morning Celi vented her anger into her early morning practice. Ella noticed her tension. "The Shang never fight angry, my lady. Control your emotions before you continue. Passion is a hindrance, not a help, you know that."

Celi knew a scolding when she heard one. She bowed to her maid, took a deep breath, and calmly resumed her exercise.

Practice that morning began with archery. The pages were given harder targets and told that if they could hit them consistently, they would be allowed to test different arrows. Celi practiced pretending that the dot in the centre of the target was the man who had been speaking to the assembly when she watched James. She hit a bull's-eye every time and was the first second-year allowed to use the more powerful arrows.

When she went back to her room to bathe after practice, Celi realized she had to tell Ella. Ella would be able to help her. She always could. Now was the time do it, while the boys were all down at the bathhouse.

Ella thought it sounded fishy, too. She and Celi racked their brains trying to figure out a way to make James slip. Celi wished she could as her friends, but that was silly. She knew more about James than anyone else, and there was always the risk of them not believing her.

"James," Celi pulled him into her room after dinner that night.

"Gods, Denaia, I thought you were never going to talk to me again."

Celi shook her head with a grin. "I thought of something today. Do you remember last Midwinter? My first one at the palace? I was so terrified."

"What about it?"

"I just remembered how funny it was."

"Why?" James eyes darted to the door and his smile flickered. Then it was back, as if his face had never changed at all.

"That night. Midwinter night. Don't you remember?"

"I don't know. Did we have a party?"

Celi shook her head in disbelief, still smiling at him. "You have to remember that. You and I decorated your rooms before everyone got there. It was wonderful. You can't have forgotten it!"

He grinned. "Of course. There were seven nights and seven parties. You lost me for a moment."

Before he could smile again, Celi punched him.

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BUM BUM BUM…..

Oh, that was joyful. I truly enjoyed that. I feel mean, though. Especially since its going to be a while before I probably get another chapter out!

Atlanta Enchanted: yeah, they are sorta young… what can you do. It will all be resolved, and they can only get older. Haha, that line was awesome because it had SO many connotations in it. Mostly, Ron is a big perv who looks at girls bums when they walk by. Whatever, he is still adorable. And I love Neville in this movie, he is so funny, and he's not even clumsy or stupid or anything!

Seirien: mmm… I know how you feel. But march break starts tomorrow! Whoopee!

"Life, to me, is like a quiet forest pool, one that needs a direct hit from a big rock half-buried in the ground. You pull and you pull, but you can't get the rock out of the ground. So you give it a good kick, but you lose your balance and go skidding down the hill toward the pool. Then out comes a big Hawaiian man who was screwing his wife beside the pool because they thought it was real pretty. He tells you to get out of there, but you start faking it, like you're talking Hawaiian, and then he gets mad and chases you..."

I don't get this one. It doesn't seem that funny to me.

-unolimbo