This is a fan made story. I don't own the rights to the Protector of the Small series, any of its characters belong to Tamora Pierce… Much to my disappointment. This goes AU about midway from the book Page. Fair warning. Constructive criticism is welcome but if you don't like it simply because you don't like the line of thinking, please don't attack me for it. This is mostly centered on Joren. This is also a slow build Kel/Joren.
Autumn 457
The next morning Joren spent reading more about how to court Lady Knights. Sir Paxton managed to catch a glimpse of the book but chose not to comment, shaking his head in amusement instead. The knight briefly wondered where his squire got the book, but it was obvious what the book was for. Around noon, Neal and Cleon dragged Joren out of his tent finally. They were all going to see the jousting in support of Kel. The day was beautiful, the wind blowing strongly off Lake Naxen.
Joren found the situation odd as he sat in the stands with Jump perched in his lap and the sparrows crowding on him. Neal laughed, "You know, I think they have claimed you as theirs." Joren scowled at the smirk on the older squire's face but didn't comment. He chose instead to watch the field as Kel moved Peachblossom onto the field.
The herald went up to Kel and spoke to her. Joren watched intently as she nodded, and the herald move away from her. Her monster of a horse shifted and stamped the ground as she moved over to her lane. She mounted him and then took her helm to put on. Joren watched in surprise when the trumpet blared and Peachblossom shot foreword like a hell hound was after him. She brought her lance down just before Ansil of Groten did.
Her lance shattered on impact with the Ansil's shield. Joren narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the lance breaking so easily. Kel apparently seemed to suspect the same because she seemed to check the second lance carefully before the field monitor spoke to her. Whatever was said seemed to reassure her as she smiled at him before returning to her lane.
She had to wait while Ansil's friends behaved in a celebratory manner as if he had already won. Once he moved into place the trumpeter gave the signal again and once more Kel's horse stormed down the field with determination. This time, when Kel's lance hit the knight's shield, the man popped out of the saddle and slammed into the ground.
Joren couldn't help smiling with pride as field monitors and a healer surrounded the fallen knight. Kel moved away from the rearing stallion before the knight finally got to his feet slowly with the aid of Vinson and the Tirrsmont knight that Joren had seen with them the day before. Kel had dismounted by this point and approached.
Their exchange was longer than it should have been given the circumstances. They glared at Kel when she thumped him with her lance, probably because the knight was being stupid, Joren guessed. He seemed to snarl something out.
Finally, she led Peachblossom away from the man and was stopped by a monitor. Her face seemed to flush a little as she waved him off and left the field. She had glanced to the stands and Joren looked in the direction she was staring. Not far away, he saw Sir Gareth the Younger counting out coins into Lord Raoul's hand. Lord Raoul looked particularly smug and Joren figured the man probably had a right to be as well. He was the one who had went through extensive jousting lessons with her.
Joren and the others left the stands after this, finding quite a bit of amusement over the idea that Raoul had bet Kel would win and based on how many coins changed hands, a fair amount too. Joren allowed temptation to win out in the end, despite Neal and Cleon's advice and went to look for Kel to ensure that she was still fine.
He found her in a tree. He debated talking to her from the ground but decided to go up to her instead, so they could have privacy. Once he started to climb up to her, he smiled at the ridiculousness of the situation, "So, you're alright? No missing limbs from climbing the big scary tree?" He teased to ease his tension from worrying about her. He didn't want to question her abilities, he knew she was good enough to beat Groten even before the match.
"Ha ha, very funny. I'm not injured, if you're worried. He was overconfident, and I won, so the gods must have thought I was right. Otherwise they'd have made me lose. You know how trial by combat works."
"You won because you were better at jousting than he is, Kel. Though, judging by who was with him, I can guess what provoked you and you probably proved him wrong by knocking him out of the saddle, so it is a moot point," Joren settled onto a branch slightly higher than hers and spaced just far enough away that he wasn't directly in her face either. "Can I kiss you now?"
Kel blushed a little, "We should probably talk about that. Lord Raoul gave me a lecture about the difficulties of women in combat if they take lovers." She elaborated on what Raoul had said and by the end Joren smiled a little to goofily.
"He's right. We should be careful about all of that. We'll definitely have to maintain your good name too," Joren nodded, still smiling brightly.
"Do I have one?" Kel asked skeptically as she eyed him. They both knew that he had once suggested otherwise.
"You do with your friends and you'd better with anyone who speaks with us," His tone was slightly ominous as he said the last.
Kel looked at him, surprised. She sometimes forgot that Joren wasn't always a part of their group like he had. This conversation brought it to the forefront, but it also illustrated how far Joren had come from his days as a page, "I don't deserve my friends." She finally commented quietly.
"Sure, you do. You are probably the only reason the lot of them made it past being Pages. Besides, I know that you preformed those inspections for them during the testing. They would have looked like disheveled morons otherwise," Joren laid on the complements thick. He then glanced down and around to ensure no one was around before stealing a quick peck on her cheek.
This made her grin and blush a little more. A grumbling noise made her look at her stomach and remark, "I'm hungry."
"Me too. And I do believe my mother would have me hanged if I failed to attend to the needs of her best friend's daughter," Joren smiled as he began to climb down. "Never mind the Lady I am courting."
Kel followed him down and they went to join their friends. While they ate, a servant brought a note to Kel, inviting her to joust the next day with Sir Voelden of Tirrsmont. This was a match and Kel refused it quickly. As the group returned to camp, Voelden stopped them and slapped Kel lightly with a riding glove.
Neal and Cleon had to hold Joren back while Owen held Merric back. Kel glared at Voelden, "I accept. Ten gold crowns if you lose." Joren resisted the urge to roll his eyes and Neal and Cleon let him go, comfortable that Joren wouldn't attempt to kill the man now.
Joren and Kel wandered away from the others after they exited the castle. Joren was counting himself lucky for the few quick kisses he got while they hid in shadows, even if they were interrupted, still he couldn't help but wish for a little more.
"It's like having a train of chaperons," Kel sighed, startling Joren but voicing what he was thinking. They had reached her tent and he smiled.
"My thoughts exactly. Doesn't anyone sleep?" Joren half-grumbled.
Kel smiled at his sweetly. It was a smile that Joren was quickly beginning to love as much as the lady who wore the smile, "Sleeping is what I need to be doing. I have a griffin to care for and a challenge tomorrow." She pointed out.
Joren sighed, knowing there were nobles all around, returning from the banquet, "Well, I wouldn't dare interfere with your much-needed rest, my lady. Send him flying tomorrow."
With this, he gave her one last wistful look and left for his own tent. If his future was set in stone in terms of the Ordeal, then at least he will have kissed the girl of his dreams. That was, if he hadn't done enough to change his fate. Now, he would dream of her.
The next day, the group of friends watched once more from the stands. As Kel moved into the lane for the match, the baby griffin in her care flew onto field and perched on the wooden barrier blocking the two lanes from each other. He screeched and Kel seemed to address him before lowering her visor and indicated that she was ready.
With the trumpet call, she flew down the lane with the same intense speed as the day before. This one seemed more normal as they struck each other and then swerved and returned to their original ends. The griffin shrieked again as she passed him. The stands were quiet now, the griffin unnerving many of the spectators. So quiet, you could hear the birds that had been disturbed by him. Voelden's stallion was unnerved as well and reared. Apparently, the only animal that the griffin didn't bother was Peachblossom.
As they made the second pass, something odd happened, Kel sent Voelden's shield flying off his arm but Kel jerked back unnaturally. Joren paled as he noticed the dent now in Kel's armor. A man closer to the field already called out "Foul!" and the people in the stands began shouting their outrage. Then Peachblossom tried to lung for the knight across the barrier but Kel reigned the gelding in.
She eventually managed to turn the horse and get back to the starting point. She got water and a new lance from the field monitor and seemed to talk to him briefly as he passed her the lance. She shook her head and then returned to her lane. They made the third pass, both lances shattered, then Kel did something with her shield and seemed to yank him out of his saddle and he hit the ground. The noise this induced was nearly ear shattering. Joren had to stand on his seat in order to see over the heads of the rest of the already standing crowds. Kel had drawn her sword and used it now to lift his visor before pointing it at the man's nose.
Her lips moved and then Voelden raised his hand and his lips moved. Kel spoke again before sheathing her sword and walking away from the man, back towards Peachblossom. She led her giant mount back down the field as people cheered. Joren nudged Cleon and then Neal before he started chanting. The chant catching on with the rapid crowd mentality, "Mindelan! Mindelan!" Followed Kel off the field before a group of women, the Queen, Kel's mother and Joren's own mother included, circled her and dragged her off.
Joren and his friends worked their way out of the crowd slowly and after some effort found out that Kel had been taken to the Queen's tent. When they reached it, they heard Ilane of Mindelan threaten Kel with a fan if she fought the healer. When Verene of Stone Mountain came out of the tent, she scolded them, telling them that Kel wouldn't be available for the rest of the day after her healing and shooed them away.
Joren reluctantly allowed Cleon to drag him off so he could vent some of his frustration over Kel being hurt rather than hunting Voelden of Tirrsmont down and running him through with a sword. Cleon made him run three full laps around the perimeter of the camp, fully exhausting him before freeing him to go rest. Joren briefly contemplated the idea of challenging Tirrsmont and running the man through with a lance of his own but dismissed the idea as he knew that Kel wouldn't like it.
The next day was one of rest, Joren was thankful for it because it meant, no one was going to run Kel through. He even managed to sleep in late. When he did wake and eat, he decided to probe his mother for information on Kel's injuries and went to her tent. He wasn't surprised to find her already waiting for his arrival and demanding a walk with him by the lake shore as payment for the information. This was a small price to pay so he immediately offered her his arm.
Lady Verene smiled and took it. She was a little bit smug that her son had turned out such a gentleman when compared to his father. She may have suffered for years in the silent war that had occurred, but in the end, she was the victor. As a result, she had a son she could be proud of, fittingly this also meant her son was the exact opposite from what Burchard had wanted.
As they approached the lake, two adult griffins flew overhead. Joren frowned in concern and ordered his mother to go back to her tent. He then ran towards the lake. He froze when he saw the baby griffin being released by Kel and happily trotting over to and began twining around one of them.
"Please, lady, gently," An eagle that had been facing away from him but perched close to Kel spoke with a human voice and Joren realized that it was the wild-mage Daine talking as the eagle moved in a manner that would be unusual for a normal bird. "No need to shout. It hurts."
Eventually the eagle removed its wings from its head and spoke again, "They gave me their names, but I can't pronounce them. The brindled one is his father. The copper one is his mother. They thank you for all you've done. I told them you had been searching for them all this time, through me. I also told them you killed the centaur who was going to keep him."
Looking at the griffins as he approached slowly, Joren was a bit awed by the creatures. He came to stand just behind Kel who glanced back at him and gave him a brief smile before redirecting her attention to the griffins. The father reached his head over the mother's wings and worked a bag loose of its ties with his beak and dropped it in front of Kel.
"This is just a token, they say," Daine spoke again, Joren could now see that where an eagle's head should have been, a human head was instead, it was even more unnerving to him than the griffins were. "They can't really thank you for what you did, but they know humans value their feathers."
They pulled a loose feather from the baby griffin and he let out a squawk of protest. Daine spoke again, "They say he has learned bad habits. They never allow a young one to make so much noise." After this, the griffin parents traded looks before nodding to Daine and Kel, Joren was probably insignificant to them. The father took hold of the baby griffin by the scruff of his neck and then took flight. The mother joined and soon they were just specks.
"Before they are out of range and their effects wear off, I really do like you and I am serious about my feelings," Joren blurted to Kel, startling the eagle that was Daine in the process.
Kel sniffed and then chuckled a little, "I know that, silly. There was a baby griffin in the tent when you first said it. This is ridiculous. He is with his own kind. I didn't even like him." Kel sniffed again before accepting the handkerchief that Joren held out for her.
"You did the right thing," Eagle-Daine said.
Kel nodded slowly, "It's a weight off my mind, or it will be. You get used to anything- Well, maybe you don't." Kel retracted her statement looking at the odd hybridization of bird and human.
Daine chuckled and shifted her head back to that of an eagle's before taking flight.
"Well that's that, the sparrows will be thrilled that he is gone," Kel remarked to Joren as she collected the bathing things and Joren grabbed the bag for her. He walked with her to the tent.
When they reached it, he pulled her from the view of the outside world and pressed a deep kiss on her lips, "I nearly had a heart attack when I saw those griffins flying overhead, especially after Tirrsmont trying to spear you through yesterday and not getting to see you afterwards. I am relieved you're alright." With this, he left her to look at what was in bag from the griffins and to get rid of the mass of baggage that she would no longer need.
Joren went back to his mother's tent to receive a scowl from her. He explained what had happened, reminding her that Kel had been caring for a baby griffin while its parents were located. Verene's anger dissipated with the knowledge that her son had sent her back to her tent to keep her safe while he had rushed off to aid Lady Keladry. Joren then proceeded to give his mother her walk along the shore along with a description of the entire encounter to appease any lingering upset she might have had.
The progress moved on from Fief Naxen and Joren had to sit by and watch as Kel was offered matches at every stop they made. Kel stopped refusing them when it became obvious that doing so meant challenges instead. The majority of her opponents were knight with a few squires. Vinson had thankfully, at least on the surface, kept his distance. It was pointed out to him that almost all of them were conservatives.
Joren made a point of attending all the matches and noted that some of the knights that Kel had tilted against were obviously offering apologies of some sort and he became firmly convinced that It was likely Vinson's doing. When they reached Fief Bylthdin, just outside of Corus, they were given a temporary reprieve of banquet service as the Pages were allowed to observe tournaments and provided the services.
On the second night of the tournament, Kel and Joren stopped so she could read the board that listed the next day's proposed matches. If someone wanted out of a match, he had until midnight to change the listings
"I'm on again," Kel murmured. Joren held out a torch from a nearby lane so that she could read it properly in the dark.
"What a surprise," Joren teased. Kel was probably gaining more experience with the lance during the Progress than most knights got in their first five years after getting their shields.
Kel's mouth fell open as she read her opponent's name, "You'd better see the coffin maker and order me a box." She told Joren as he looked at the board himself.
"Lord Wyldon isn't going to kill you. He can't be worse than Lord Raoul," Joren nudged her in reminder. He knew he could have teased and said something inappropriate but chose not to.
Kel sighed before nudging him, "I'd best turn in early. I'll need all the rest I can get before he pounds me into the mud."
Joren couldn't help but smile at this, "Oh, I don't think he will go too over the top. He doesn't hate you anymore." He let her lead the way through the camp as they made their way back to her tent.
"Just because he doesn't dislike me doesn't mean he won't pound me into the mud," Kel replied.
Joren hesitated to respond, knowing she was probably right before he finally smirked, "There isn't any mud on the ground. It hasn't rained recently." He proclaimed in triumph.
Kel chuckled a little as she let him tug her into a dark corner with no one around, "Nice try, dirt will probably hurt worse." Kel smiled as Joren kissed her with a slight passion.
"For luck. Also, it will still be easier to clean your armor after the joust then if it were muddy," He pressed one more kiss to her lips before allowing her to escape to her tent.
Joren rolled his eyes the next morning when he saw that it had rained during the night. He almost suspected that it was the Trickster's doing. Sir Paxton sat with Lord Wyldon's wife while Joren joined his and Kel's friends to watch the match. The herald barely wasted any time speaking to Kel before riding off the field. At the first pass, both their lances shattered but Joren smirked at Kel having kept her seat so far. The second pass had the same results as the first, two shattered lances and Kel still on her horse. Joren couldn't help but smile. Most full knights would be on the ground by this point.
Joren and his friends groaned in sympathy when she came out of the saddle on the third pass. As she sat up from the mud, Lord Wyldon approached and spoke to her for a few minutes. Joren smirked, knowing that the training master was likely taking a little pride in the fact that he had started Kel's training in jousting. Lord Raoul was waiting for her off the field but Kel seemed no worse for the wear, despite going three rounds with Lord Wyldon.