Chapter 25: Elusive Loopholes

Adalia was making her way with Charlie to the marshal point for the squires that had to serve the nobles that would be dining that night.

"Where…?" Adalia began.

"Follow me, milady." Charlie replied mockingly. "I've had to do this a lot."

Adalia followed Charlie into a small door that was just off the hall leading to the banquet room. She grinned in delight when she saw Kula, Daniel, Dameon, Nathan and Kaden. It was the first time they had all been together since Daniel and Nathan had started their squire years. They shouted and ran towards the two.

"Fancy meeting you guys here." Adalia drawled after she was hugged by all of them.

"I know. Weird hey?" Kaden responded sarcastically.

Adalia grinned and examined their faces. She was disheartened to discover that she was the shortest, next to Kaden. They all looked extremely happy to see her. She was almost thrown off balance when Daniel clapped her on the back, green eyes sparkling mischievously, "And so our esteemed Lady knight has finally been captured and forced to join the others to dine with the king."

Adalia grinned crookedly, "Not for lack of trying to stay away." They all glanced through the doors and saw a scowling Kel in a dress, resolutely glaring at the King, who seemed oblivious to this attention.

"It took you long enough." That was Kula. Adalia just grinned.

Daniel cut in, "It was due to some quick thinking on Adalia's part that they were able to avoid joining for so long." He looked at Adalia with amusement and continued, "I mean – 'possum'? Where the heck did that come from?"

The others broke into laughter while Adalia grinned sheepishly and fluttered her hand at him like a lady accepting a compliment. It was at that exact moment that the Master of Ceremonies swept in and ordered the squires about.

-----------------------------------------------------------

None other than her esteemed knight master shook Adalia awake at an hour she considered ungodly – although it was the best sleep in she'd had for months. Groaning, she cracked an eye to stare into Kel's hazel eyes.

"Wake up! I have been called to a meeting with his majesty. I just wanted you to know. I need you up."

Kel left, and Adalia was suddenly wide-awake and incredibly suspicious. Throwing the sheets off, she blessed her own preference to sleep in the clothes she would wear the following day, then ran a brush through her hair and exited the tent.

Catching sight of Kel making her way towards their Majesty's rooms, she followed her, using the practise and advise from her mother on spying. She stayed in the crowd, pretending to examine a necklace in a stall, when she saw Raoul enter after Kel. Now she was incredibly interested. Why would the King want to meet them? Hadn't he vowed to make them stay with the Progress? It probably isn't about leaving it. She jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and span around to see Charlie and Kula behind her, grinning amusedly.

"What are you guys doing here?" She asked suspiciously.

Charlie grinned, "Probably the same thing you are. Alanna and Raoul were called for a private meeting with his majesty, and we were interested why. I guess Kel was called as well?"

Adalia grinned and nodded. They all looked at the building. Kula said, "The room is on the second story. There's no way we can eavesdrop." She looked disappointed, as did Charlie.

Adalia scanned the building, and then rubbed her hands together, a sly grin on her face. "This will be fun!"

They looked at her like she was mad. She turned around, but when they made to follow her, she said, "Wait here. If they see me I'll need a reason to be here." She said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, so they nodded reluctantly and watched as she moved swiftly out of sight, following the building around to the side.

Charlie looked at Kula, amused, "Do you get the feeling - "

"- That she's done this before? Yes." Kula said. They both exchanged a look of exasperation, and then turned to pretend to be examining a sword on display.

While the two squires were debating on just how much experience in eavesdropping Adalia had, she was inspecting the wall. Upon seeing a conveniently placed window with a ledge and awnings underneath, she grinned.

Scanning the surroundings once more, she confirmed that she was alone, and then jumped straight onto the awnings. I love being half crow, she thought to herself; it comes in handy all the time.

She gingerly made her way, bent over, to be sitting under the window. From this vantage point, she could hear everything going on in the room…

"…good that you could all be here. I think it's about time you all know why we want most of the knights with us on the Progress." King Jon was saying.

Raoul was staring at him with a raised eyebrow, and Jon gave him look-for-look. "Raoul, did you really think after last time I would bother getting you to stick with us just to insert my authority?" When Raoul continued staring at him, Jon made a face, "For your information, that wasn't the reason I need you here." He nodded towards George, who was sitting beside him.

George cleared his throat and looked at the four people in the room. "As you all know, there are representatives of Tusaine court who have joined us." He watched as the others nodded their heads. "It is also common knowledge that Tusaine, although they had made a peace agreement at least twenty years ago with King Roald, thanks to our very own Jon and Alanna, have started to get – restless." At this the others nodded again.

It was Jon who spoke up next, "Our whisperman has found that they are much more serious about this than anyone could guess. I wanted to warn you all that this is why, but also because I have an idea about how to hopefully prevent a war." They all looked surprised and gazed at him.

Raoul broke in excitably, "So, if we find a way to discourage them from starting a war, we can escape the Progress?"

Jon looked at his friend with exasperation, and nodded slightly.

He then turned to look at Kel, who was obviously wondering why she was here – this was a top-secret closed-door meeting. She was a knight, but not that high up in the court. His gaze shifted to Alanna as he continued, "Do you remember how last time we had an unblooded squire compete and win against a full knight of Tusaine?" Alanna grinned and nodded, as did Raoul and George. Kel had heard about how Alanna, impersonating a rather tiny boy, had managed to win against a large knight.

"I think we should do something of the sorts, and I have just the squire picked to do it."

All of a sudden, George looked at Jon and put a finger to his lips, eyes narrowed as he went to the window.

Adalia, listening beneath the window, thought that this would be a good time to run.

George opened the window fully and stuck his head out. He scanned the area, and upon seeing only buildings and tents, shook his head. He shut the window and padded over to the window facing the makeshift stalls. Once again sticking his head out, he recognised three squires who were intently examining a dagger.

He yelled down, "Adalia?"

She seemed to look about, and then turn around to spot her grandfather hanging out of a window. She put and innocent look on her face and yelled back, "What?"

He looked at her with amusement. He could have sworn he felt someone eavesdropping, and his granddaughter was acting extremely innocent. He thought it had been her, but he couldn't see how she had done so and manage to get down there so quickly. "Come up here."

Adalia stared at him, curious. Why would they want me up there? Unless…She abandoned this thought as she waved goodbye to her friends, who had provided the perfect cover for her to be examining the stalls – it would have been suspicious had she been alone – and she padded inside, taking the staircase up to the room she guessed the meeting must be in.

Entering, she bowed to Jon, who nodded to her with a kind grin on his face – yet another person she had made friends with through her grandmother – and took a seat beside Alanna and Kel, who seemed to be looking at George and Jon suspiciously.

They quickly 'got Adalia up to speed' and then continued from where Adalia had left them.

Jon said carefully, "I think it would make an impression if we had one of the female squires show them how formidable Tortallans are."

Alanna and Kel seemed to look furious, but before Alanna could start yelling at her King, she was cut off with Adalia yawning, "That's hardly fair, your Majesty."

He looked taken aback for a second, and then addressed Adalia, "What are you talking about? You could beat them."

Adalia grinned wolfishly and said, "No, I mean, it's not fair on them. They would be no competition."

George grinned and explained, "That doesn't matter. It will be good for the kingdom, and it should warn them off starting a war."

The others were nodding in agreement, watching Adalia. She looked thoughtful and leaned back in her chair, propping and hand on her chin. What she said next shocked them, "It won't work."

"Why not?" That was George, who was observing his granddaughter curiously. She obviously had an idea, but seemed not to want to share it. He wanted to know the reasoning behind her conclusion. As did the others, he could tell.

She was staring at the roof, examining an idea, "Did it stop a war last time?"

Jon looked uncomfortable, but said nothing, because obviously it didn't. He replied irritably, "But this time is different."

Adalia shook her head, still gazing at the ceiling. Suddenly she grinned wolfishly and turned to look at those gathered. She met Jon's eyes and said, "We all know by now. If someone loses, it will be because I cheated. No matter how many I beat, they will still be able to convince themselves that it was because I bribed someone, or got in a cheap shot. Grandma, you have experienced that for years, as has Kel."

Jon ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. "You're right."

George and the others looked around dejectedly, clearly examining the incoming disaster of yet another war.

Adalia grinned wolfishly and looked straight into their eyes with determination. "That may not work, but I know what has a much better chance."

All eyes flew to Adalia, shocked. They saw her hard violet eyes and wolfish smile and applied themselves to listening to her idea.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Adalia cheerfully followed her knight master out of the building, grinning. They had all taken much convincing, but in the end they had to admit that it had a much higher chance to work.

Adalia was practically skipping after Kel, who was more than slightly annoyed that she would even suggest her idea.

When they were a fair way away from the building, her knight master swung around and pointed an accusing finger at her chest. "Why didn't you tell me you could do that? … I hope you can do that! Gods! If you get yourself killed for doing something this stupid, I'll bring you back so I can kill you myself!" She said furiously.

Adalia cringed, "You're scaring me!" She said this mostly so Kel would be distracted from screaming at her, although it was incredibly disconcerting having a woman who is at least a head or more taller looming over her accusingly.

Kel took a large breath and clasped her hands behind her back. Adalia was relieved, and started walking at a leisurely pace, forcing Kel to walk alongside her. Hopefully I can get her to walk off the anger. She glanced sidelong at Kel, who was glaring at her. She said reasonably, "You didn't ask. Oh, and I can do it, quite easily too, so don't worry."

Kel was still glaring at her, and Adalia knew she wanted something else. She turned to look at Kel seriously, "Why don't you be the one shooting? That way you don't have to bring me back to kill me…"

Kel wrung her hands at this, quite obviously imagining knocking some sense into the girl. When she started advancing on Adalia, clearly with something of the type on her mind, Adalia thought very quickly. "Ahh, Kel? If it's ok, I think I would rather go…"

Kel didn't stop advancing on Adalia, who was gazing at something behind her in shock, then screamed, "GRASSHOPPER!"

Kel span around instinctively, and started looking for whatever the girl had seen. Almost as soon as she had turned, she registered with annoyance exactly what the girl had said.

Swearing in Yamani, she span back around in time to catch the end of a black braid whipping around the corner. She crossed her arms, "That girl…" She couldn't say anything else, because suddenly the hilarity of the situation dawned on her, and she broke into uncontrollable laughter.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next Chapter: Exhibitions

I hope you liked it. He he he. If you want to try to guess what Adalia suggested, you can. I hope you like my idea, but there we go. The elusive loophole has been found, now the only problem is figuring out how to stop an incoming war.

This is Skyflyte12 thanking everyone for reading this story. Wish me luck in writing the next chapter, and I hope you like his one.