Sorry that this chapter might be short as well but I have a couple of projects that I need to do that I haven't started yet. Disclaimer: I do not own any of Most of the things I am writing (they belong to Tamora Pierce) but I do own the characters and places I have created.

When they reached the palace, Raoul took Alanna to the practice courts as most of the knights were probably training there right now. As soon as they walked in one of the indoor practice courts, friends surrounded them. Douglas, Geoffrey and Gary patted her on the back with a welcoming "You're back!" The others stood a little further back and were a bit mire gentler in their greetings. All of them wanted to fence against her to see how much she had changed in the two years that she had left the palace. "We want to see if we have improved in our fencing skills because you're the best at it" explained Geoffrey.

"Fine, I will then" retorted Alanna. She unsheathed lightning and said with an evil grin on her face "Who will go first?"

Everything was quiet, and then Raoul said rather shakily "I will if no one else will." He too unsheathed his sword. As everyone else got out of the way Gary went to where the two knights were getting ready and announced "Do honour to your dignity. Now guard!" Gary quickly stepped back as the duel began. Both Alanna and Raoul attacked and defended but after about 10 minutes it was clear that Alanna had gotten the upper hand. She saw an opening and took it, quick as lightning. "Well I can see that you have not lost your touch. But where did you learn to do that disarming? I don't think father ever taught that to you" asked Gary

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Replied Alanna in her usual fashion. She really hadn't changed that much and the others knew it. In the next minute they all wanted to fence with her to see if they could pick up on anything else that she had mysteriously learned from her time away. After two hours Alanna finally announced that she was done in and went to her rooms.

As soon as Alanna arrived at her rooms, which were situated in the knight's wing, she flopped ungracefully onto her bed. And fell asleep ……….

Flashback

………. Everywhere was quiet. They were morning for their protector. The Queen's Own had died. She was murdered. Murdered by poison. A slow and painful death that had lasted a year and Aurora had to watch her mother slowly waste away into oblivion. Aurora at the age of seven was now an orphan as her father was killed last year. Alanna was nine and both she and Taya were trying to comfort the heartbroken seven-year-old. It was hard for the three as the other two had never known their own mothers' and had considered Lara, Aurora's mother as their own. It was a sad day for the people of Atlantis, but it was also joyful as Lara had made her journey into the Land of the Unicorns. The first day of Winter would always be a day of joy and sorrow for the people. The question was, when would Aurora be ready to take up the family responsibility of being the Queen's Own? No one had ever heard of one that young taking up that position. Was history going to be rewritten? ……….

End of Flashback

……….. Alanna woke with a start. She was surprised when she felt tears on her cheeks. Atlantis is where she had just come from. The homeland of her mother. A mother that was the heir to the throne until she fell in love with a person who could not rule. Luckily for her, her sister had enough of the chosen in her to rule. Alanna possessed the chosen too. She had more than anyone else she knew as was said to be the next Queen of Atlantis. That was why she was there for the past year. She was scared. But as Alanna remembered now, the brother of the two sisters had married Aurora's mother. Does that mean that Aurora could be chosen too? Could she be the child of the prophecy? The prophesy that said a child with the blood of all the Divine Powers and of the power of the Unicorn running through her blood will save the world from destruction. Weren't the Queens Own descendants of the Divine Powers and didn't the rulers of Atlantis have Unicorn blood in them?

Suddenly she heard a noise in her room and a familiar voice say "…………………

Sorry!!!!! I know that I am mean but I couldn't think of what to say!!! Help would be useful. Thanks to Kakila, Luthe (thanks for the pen thingy answer), miss invisable, Hello, Jip, Alanna/George and The Mouth of Sauron for the reviews they are really appreciated!