____________________________________Chapter Three:
Decision_____________________________________
A week later, Alanna poked her head into her "perfect" daughter, Tomora's, room to wish her good night, and found her daughter sitting on the corner of her bed, which in turn, was in the corner farthest from the door. Tom looked as though she wanted to be the farthest possible distance from the corner that the door was in. Alanna opened the door wider, to see which direction the girl's eyes were staring at. They were indeed looking in the corner's direction, and her face showed a disgruntled and sickened feeling. As the girl's line of sight was blocked by the door, she looked up at her mother. "You ruined my favorite book!" The thirteen-year-old complained.
"I didn't touch your book!" The red head exclaimed, obviously surprised by the accusation.
"I didn't say you touched it, I simply said you ruined it."
Alanna, back on her guard, though still utterly confused, demanded, "Then how did I ruin them? With my gift?"
"No, but think about it. A story about a strong willed girl, who goes off to the castle, and pretends to be a boy for eight years, falls in love, and has great adventures could be a really great story, right?"
Alanna started to answer yes, but then reconsidered. Maybe Tom wanted her to say no, and it was usually better to say what she wanted you to, because if she said something else, then Tom would spend hours trying to convince her that she was right and Alanna was wrong. But Tomora started to slowly nod her head, so Alanna slowly said, "Yes."
"Yes." Tom repeated, but not slowly. She always talk very fast, and it was hard to understand her the majority of the time." If fact, it's my favorite story. Or at least when Tomora pierce writes it. Though the idea is classic, and many authors have used it. But then, if you read a story where your mom acted like a childish fool and got all mushy and junk, your probably wouldn't like it. I know you never had a mom, but think about it. Would you like details about your father's love life?"
The Lady Knight very hastily denied any such desire. The idea seemed to disgust her. "Exactly. My favorite book was your's, but now it's just too gross. I don't want to know anything about your and the king falling in love." Alanna's eyes widened, and then she blushed. Tomora ignored that fact, and continued. "I never thought of that detail. In every fanfic story I've ever wrote, I always overlooked that fact." She sighed.
"What's a fanfic?"
"Uh, it's sorta a story. But it's one some one write off of a different story, to say, this is probably what would have happened if such-and-such inciting incident had gone differently."
"Such as?"
"Well, some of the most popular ones that other people use are if you had married Jon, fallen in love with Roger, or if you had gone to the convent instead of the castle."
Alanna's mouth was agape, then immediately sobering as she heard George coming down the hall behind her she asked, "Did you write any of these stories about me?" Then she re-blushed, ashamed of herself for thinking of the life her and King Jonathan could have had. Her current life was much better than one with Jon could have ever been.
"Oh, I didn't write these stories. I just told you, Tammy did." Then Tom rethought what Alanna had asked. "Oh, you means have I ever written a story, a fanfic about you?" She asked realizing her misunderstanding just as George poked his head in. "Yeah, tons of them. The biggest and longest of them is when George gets killed and you marry Jonathan.
"I what!?" The baron and baroness exclaimed, loudly and simultaneously.
Tomora smiled. "Yeah, after being together another six months after the epilogue, (though you're not married yet), you two travel from Pirate's Swoop to the Castle, for Midwinter festivities and to get married. But on that one hill with all those church's, the very few remaining of. What's- His-Name's? Rafik? No, wrong book, it's Ralon, isn't it? Ralon. Ralon right? That bully you embarrassed so much he left the palace, and then joined forces with Duke Roger? So that he could kill you? Is that his name? The one with the purple stain around his missing eye because he tried to make a move on Delia against her will and the maid threw poison on him? Don't ask me why they happened to have poison lying around, but-"
Alanna finally realizing that Tom was going to tell her everything she knew about Ralon if she didn't answer. She would have answered the first time, but she thought it was a rhetorical question. "Yes, that was his name."
"Yeah, anyway. The remainder of his loyalties jumped you and George on Palace Way, and they killed all but one of the servants you had traveling with you. You and George fought them, but one of them killed George. Then there was the whole, you holding George and him saying goodbye, and the cliché "one last kiss" and then he died in your arms and you cried and all that overly used junk. Then you went to the castle and stuff like that. You found out that Jon was having problems with Thayet, and a whole bunch of stuff. They decided that it was better if Thayet and Jon didn't get married. And you stayed at the castle. You didn't want to know what it was like to return to Pirate's Swoop and not have George be there. And Jon comforts you, then blah, blah, blah, you find yourself falling in love with him again, and you know he still loves you, but you're scared because of you don't know if it would be right, out of loyalty and all that towards George, and all that stuff. Anyway, he tries to convince you that George would've wanted it or whatever, and yeah, yeah, yeah, you get married. Then you find that all this was written by a kid, (I mean in the story) and as soon as she clicks save, on the computer it all becomes true, and then she find a portal and finds out that she's Alanna and Jon's daughter, and. Wait,. I'm off topic. What were we even talking about? I've forgotten."
"So have I." Alanna replied.
"Oh yeah, you ruined my book. Anyway, goodnight."
"Uh, goodnight."
"Wait, I die?"
Tom laughed. "Yeah, but don't sweat it. I stopped writing that one ages ago. I had to alter the personalities of characters, 'cause truth to tell, Alanna and Jon aren't meant to be together, when all is said and done. I mean, they were meant to be for awhile, but they were never supposed to be together forever. The quartet was originally supposed to be a single romance book, and she was supposed to marry Jon, but something just wasn't right. When she changed it to young adult books, she realized it was because it went against Alanna grain. That Alanna wasn't meant to marry Jon. I wrote my story when I was mad at Tammy for not making Alanna marry Jon, but that lasted a month tops. I realized that I would have been even more mad if she had married Jon, because poor George was better for her, and cared more for her. Anyway, goodnight." And then she lied down and pulled her blankets over her.
"Uh, goodnight." George said as Alanna waved. They both started to exit the room with odd expressions on their faces.
As they closed the door, Tom called to Alanna, "You ruined my book!"
Alanna shut the door the rest of the way with out responding as George looked at her and asked, "How'd you ruin her book?"
"I fell in love."
"Then I'm happy it's ruined" he responded, though he knew he was missing something.
Alanna and George were snuggling in front of the fireplace in their sleeping quarters, when suddenly a rough female scream came from about three rooms over. It sounded like a yell of frustration more than a scream of terror, but nonetheless they jumped up, throwing the blanket that they'd been wrapped in off, and grabbed their favored weapons off of the table that housed them, in the back of the room. A sword for Alanna, and a belt with three knives for George. George also took an extra sword in case he was to run out of daggers. As they ran out the door, ready for battle, a guard caught up to them, and informed them that the noise sounded as if it had come from one of George's smaller treasury rooms. Just as they were about to turn the corner into the hall where the treasury door was, they heard the door slam shut and angry footsteps stomping exaggeratedly loud towards them, as if the suspect wanted them to know he was there. Or else the culprit was irritated. Instead of turning the corner, the nobles stopped, just out of sight, poised for battle, and flapped their hands, signaling the twenty or so guards behind them to do the same. and ready to ambush the suspect, or to be ambushed.
The unknown enemy turned the corner and revealed to be their newest foundling daughter. When they saw her they sighed with relief and Alanna waved her hand at the twenty new guards running up the hall behind them. Tomora walked straight up to George, not caring what an uproar she had caused, and stopped right next to him, and glared and evil look up at him. Then she threw her hands up and out in exasperation, and said, "Eww!". Then turned, and kept walking.
"What? What happened?" George said, somewhat urgently.
"Your sick."
"What'd I do this time?"
"I found your ear collection, that's what!"
Alanna broke out laughing, not making the slightest attempt to muffle it. George gave a few deep laughs and a good chuckle as well. Even a few of the guards giggled at her.
"What were ye doing in my treasury, anyway?" George asked, his forced noble accent slipping a little.
"Some treasury. I was exploring. This castle is huge. My bathroom is bigger than my living room in my other home. And my family has six kids. This place is huge! What's wrong with you. Can't you find anything to do with all this space? Come on! And why do you just leave those things around? That's disgusting. Why do you keep them?"
"They, uh, encouraged loyalty."
"Oh, oh-kay" She said in a sarcastic tone. "Threatening to cut peoples ears off if they make a single mistake is a great way to do that, of course. That's what everybody does. Gross! Why do you still have those? Who keeps pickled ears lying around, anyway? That was a long time ago. You don't even know those people anymore, what use do you have for their loyalty? You never make contact with them."
She paused, and looked at him suspiciously. "Do you?"
"Of course not."
Tom watched him, trying to decipher the tone of his voice, but he had purposely altered it so that it gave nothing away. She couldn't decide whether he was lying or joking. She watched as Alanna gave him a sidelong glance.
"Of course not, not you. You would never do anything like that." Tomora said dryly. "Don't tell me you keep those around for no reason. Because that's like, sick. I mean stalker sick, or something. That's just messed. Just messed up, man."
"Well, I suppose you might they have fond memories in them, I guess. Or that they have sentimental value, from my childhood. Like your rag."
"Some childhood. And keep Mr. Ragg out of this."
Alanna gave them both quizzical glances. "Mr. Ragg?
"That's her pet rag."
"That's my pet rag."
Alanna just stared at Tom as she reached down to pull up her pant leg, revealing a colorful rag some how tied around her knee. As Tom untied it, she saw the Tom had used the hole in on corner of it to loop the other corner into. Tom lifted it up to show her. It was covered with colorful spots, but looked as if the original color was a light, faded green.
"This is my pet rag. His name is Mr. Ragg. I've had him since I was seven. He's colorful because he eats things that stain. Mostly nail polish. That big spot there is tie-die from when I clean up tables at camp. I feed him once a month." She said in a voice that told Alanna that Tom had made this speech to many people before. She just kept staring at Tom with the same flat look.
Tomora decided the give Alanna the long story behind Mr. Ragg. "When I was seven I had in a corner of my room a little table covered with a sheet that had some Lisa Frank paint supplies on top. And when my friends came over, I would paint little teddy bears or butterfly in the corner of their eyes. I was quite good at it if I do say so myself.
"Then one day, I was cleaning my room so I could go somewhere with my friend Leira, who lived across the street. She was helping me, because she wanted me to go too. I was putting away my paint supplies, for I had tired of the idea, and found the rag I'd been using all along to help clean up any paint off my fingers or brush handle or whatever else. I smelled something bad so I put the damp rag to my nose, to see if that was it. It was. New Mexico has such hard water, that if anything was wet for to long it got a very dank smell. I said, 'Eww! Bad Mr. Rag! ' and threw it across the room. No particular reason I called it Mr. Rag, I just did. 'What?' Leira asked, not hearing me, and I said that I said Bad Mr. Rag. She asked why he was bad and I told her 'cause he smelled. She said, 'Oh, is that whet smells?' and I said, 'I guess.'. She leaned across the room, which wasn't hard because it was only 10 by 10, and smelled it to, agreeing that it smelled. She kept bring it up that day, because really, it was quite funny. You had to be there.
"Then, like, six months later I was in the car going to the mall, with my friend Leira. We had brought food with us, to save money on fast food, and I had a damp rag to clean up with. I immediately recognized the smell, but all of our rags smelt that way, so it was no biggy. But then I saw the pink paint on the corner. It was the Lisa Frank paint. It should have washed off, because the paint was acrylic, but things don't always work as they should. I showed it to Leira, and said, 'Hey look it's that rag from when you were helping me clean my room. Mr. Rag.' I said his name so she would have some inkling of what I was talking about, but she remembered before I said his name.
She did her usual, over-enthusiastic, 'Oh, yeah!' As she recalled the event. I tied him around my shin, just under my knee, and went inside of the mall. After a while I noticed that the rag was gone, and told Leira that he fell off my knee. We started to pretend to mourn, crying our eyes out. Hey, we were hyper. We kept fake crying until mom made us stop, because we were making a scene. Anyway, when I got back in the car, he was right there on my seat. So we rejoiced and from then on, I've always had him with me. He has more personality, so now his name is spelled with two g's. I always have him with me."
Her parents stared at Tom blankly. She return the look. She simply sat there for a moment, then suddenly reached down to pull up her pant leg, fold the rag into a triangle, then twirled it, making it a narrow strip. She wrapped it around the back of her leg, then tied it to the front by putting the right corner into a hole in the left corner, and wrapping it back around.
She stood, gave her parents her traditional two-fingers-and-a-thumb wave, said, "later", and stalked down the hall, back to her room. Alanna and George watched her go for a minute, then dismissed the guards and started back down the hall, as Tomora turned a corner, she looked back and said, "Eww!"
The next day, at dinner, Tomora had been asking a lot of questions about Alanna's time at the castle as a page and squire. After about three courses, Alanna asked, "I thought you knew everything about me, why are you so curious?"
"Well, it's just that I was trying to convince myself out of going to the castle to become a knight." She said casually.
Alanna raise one slender copper eyebrow, but replied calmly. "Is that so? Did you succeed?"
Tom replied with, "No, I don't think so."
"It's a lot of work. More since your female and your fellow pages will constantly be testing you."
"I know"
"And you are three years too old."
"I can still go. I think I can handle being made fun of. It's one of the few things that I haven't done yet. Training to be a night, I mean. I've had a million other jobs I Tortall. I love being challenged. I think I would like it."
"Well?" Alanna asked, turning towards George, who had been watching with interest.
"Well what? If she wants to go, there isn't anything I can do about it. It would be like asking you to stay in a safe place while we were under attack."
Alanna shrugged, turning back to Tom, though she looked rather flattered from George's comment. "Well, I suppose it's your decision. Are you going?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I guess it's decided then."
"Yep." Tom answered, as she turned back to her potatoes, even if they were too dry without ketchup or any other sauce."
George looked over at Alanna from his horse. Alanna and George were out on a evening ride in the forest. "Your worried, aren't you?"
Alanna sheepishly looked at him. "Yes."
"You know she'll be safe."
"I know. That's not what worries me."
George waited for her to continue, but she didn't. "Then what worries you?" He prompted.
"Well. It's just, that, she doesn't seem to know what she getting into. She's so hasty" "You didn't know what you were getting into."
She looked up from the spot on her saddle. "That's what I'm afraid of."
They headed back for the midday meal, and to practice with Tomora. They had started giving her lessons three times a day. A considerable bump up from once a week. She seemed to be a natural with the sword, except that she was afraid to swing it rapidly. She seemed to think that she was going to cut off a hand, because she was such a klutz. True, she was very clumsy, always misjudging distances, so that she stubbed her toe, trip, or hit her shoulder on the side of her doorway whenever she walked out of her room, but Alanna wished she would try anyway. It wouldn't do to have a knight that's afraid to swing a sword. They left for the royal castle in three days, and she wanted to give Tomora as much practice as she could. George also gave her hand-to-hand and knife lessons.
As she walked to a practice court with recently found daughter, she tried to express her concern to Tom, as best she could. "Are you sure this is the life you want? It's nothing but hard-"
"Work every waking moment, and many extra waking moments to boot." Tom finished with her. It's what Coram had told Alanna when Alanna was ten. "Don't worry. I be fine." She said in an exaggerated voice. "I always make the most important decisions in life without thinking. It's the small decisions that I take forever with. Like when we pull up at the Burger King and mom asks what I want. I take, like, and hour to decided."
Alanna didn't understand most of what Tom had said, but none the less understood her point. She sighed. "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into. That's not a good way to make decisions."
"I do understand. I've already got some small butterflies in my stomach, and I guarantee they'll get bigger as the day gets closer."
"Really?" Alanna hadn't thought that Tom was worried at all, she held such a cool, cocky face about everything. She thought that Tom just blunder through life with out thinking of the consequences.
"Yeah. I know you think I act like a blonde, but I do think. I'm a lot smarter than I act. I know a lot more than you think. I know what I'm doing."
"I've said that before" Alanna replied, stopping so that Tomora could open the practice room door.
As they walked in, Tom replied, "But remember, you meant it. That's what you said to Thom, when you switched places, so that you could go to the castle, and he to the convent." She smiled. She had said it in such a way that it implied that Thom had wanted to be a lady, though they both knew that they both knew that that wasn't true. "And also when you came back to visit George from the Bazhir, after breaking up with Jon because he assumed that when you said you'd 'think about it' you meant yes, and George caught you ease dropping with his Site that you forgot he had and he got you to tell him all that happened, and then you-."
"You know about all that?" Alanna asked, evidently very alarmed.
"In embarrassing detail." Tom said, teasingly.
Alanna blushed furiously. "I didn't know it was that kind of book. I thought it was just facts, like it was my idea, and I left when I was ten, and disguised myself for years, not word for word everything that ever happened to me."
"You thought wrong. Anyway, point being that I know the trouble I'm getting into, and am prepared to put up with it." She said, stripping off her boots and the sweater stylishly tried around her waist. She put her hair up in one of those huge alligator clips, and drew her sword. She wouldn't be permitted to use it in the castle until her teachers deemed her to be ready, but it never hurt to practice.
"Don't forget your glasses." Alanna, who was similarly prepared and was stretching, her aging bones popping and cracking, reminded her.
"Oh yeah." Tomora replied. She didn't need the glasses to see, which was obvious because of the fact they were purple. They matched her purple T- shirt somewhat imperfectly, but well enough, and were complemented by the sweater she had tied at her waist, which was a maroon color, with light pink/peach sleeves. Her blue eye shadow went well with her jeans and white tennis shoes. Her arms were covered in bangle bracelets. She took those off too, putting them in separate piles, so that she wouldn't have to make sure each arm had an even number when she went to put them back on. You'd think she'd put a lot of thought into it, but she really just put something clean on.
She and her mom lost track of time, focusing on teaching and learning. Tomora had to work on her faith in herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she would give herself a big gash down her arm. They didn't realized how late it was getting until a servant found them and told them that dinner was prepared and 'Master George' had been waiting for them for near an hour. Then they gathered up their stuff and headed towards the dinning room.
At dinner, Tom requested that George come with her to the castle, along with Alanna. Tomora knew that one of them shouldn't leave Pirate's Swoop with out the other remaining there, but she seemed to be very passionate about it, so George agreed and made preparations.
They left in time to get to the palace for the Opening. The party, get together type thing that Alanna hadn't gone to because her Father was anti- social and Keladry hadn't gone to because, uh, well, because. Tomora was antisocial, so didn't necessarily want to go, but she knew that Jon would be disappointed in Alanna if she arrived late, so said nothing in protest.
She didn't see what good it was. It as just to let nobles show off their children that would soon be practicing to be knights. To see which had the most training already and was strongest, ect. She never saw sense in many social activities, though, so it wasn't surprising. She really didn't like it because it gave her butterflies. She was usually so confident in everything, she just wasn't used to being nervous. It was really unpleasant. It made her feel that she had low self-esteem, though that was far from true.
A week later, Alanna poked her head into her "perfect" daughter, Tomora's, room to wish her good night, and found her daughter sitting on the corner of her bed, which in turn, was in the corner farthest from the door. Tom looked as though she wanted to be the farthest possible distance from the corner that the door was in. Alanna opened the door wider, to see which direction the girl's eyes were staring at. They were indeed looking in the corner's direction, and her face showed a disgruntled and sickened feeling. As the girl's line of sight was blocked by the door, she looked up at her mother. "You ruined my favorite book!" The thirteen-year-old complained.
"I didn't touch your book!" The red head exclaimed, obviously surprised by the accusation.
"I didn't say you touched it, I simply said you ruined it."
Alanna, back on her guard, though still utterly confused, demanded, "Then how did I ruin them? With my gift?"
"No, but think about it. A story about a strong willed girl, who goes off to the castle, and pretends to be a boy for eight years, falls in love, and has great adventures could be a really great story, right?"
Alanna started to answer yes, but then reconsidered. Maybe Tom wanted her to say no, and it was usually better to say what she wanted you to, because if she said something else, then Tom would spend hours trying to convince her that she was right and Alanna was wrong. But Tomora started to slowly nod her head, so Alanna slowly said, "Yes."
"Yes." Tom repeated, but not slowly. She always talk very fast, and it was hard to understand her the majority of the time." If fact, it's my favorite story. Or at least when Tomora pierce writes it. Though the idea is classic, and many authors have used it. But then, if you read a story where your mom acted like a childish fool and got all mushy and junk, your probably wouldn't like it. I know you never had a mom, but think about it. Would you like details about your father's love life?"
The Lady Knight very hastily denied any such desire. The idea seemed to disgust her. "Exactly. My favorite book was your's, but now it's just too gross. I don't want to know anything about your and the king falling in love." Alanna's eyes widened, and then she blushed. Tomora ignored that fact, and continued. "I never thought of that detail. In every fanfic story I've ever wrote, I always overlooked that fact." She sighed.
"What's a fanfic?"
"Uh, it's sorta a story. But it's one some one write off of a different story, to say, this is probably what would have happened if such-and-such inciting incident had gone differently."
"Such as?"
"Well, some of the most popular ones that other people use are if you had married Jon, fallen in love with Roger, or if you had gone to the convent instead of the castle."
Alanna's mouth was agape, then immediately sobering as she heard George coming down the hall behind her she asked, "Did you write any of these stories about me?" Then she re-blushed, ashamed of herself for thinking of the life her and King Jonathan could have had. Her current life was much better than one with Jon could have ever been.
"Oh, I didn't write these stories. I just told you, Tammy did." Then Tom rethought what Alanna had asked. "Oh, you means have I ever written a story, a fanfic about you?" She asked realizing her misunderstanding just as George poked his head in. "Yeah, tons of them. The biggest and longest of them is when George gets killed and you marry Jonathan.
"I what!?" The baron and baroness exclaimed, loudly and simultaneously.
Tomora smiled. "Yeah, after being together another six months after the epilogue, (though you're not married yet), you two travel from Pirate's Swoop to the Castle, for Midwinter festivities and to get married. But on that one hill with all those church's, the very few remaining of. What's- His-Name's? Rafik? No, wrong book, it's Ralon, isn't it? Ralon. Ralon right? That bully you embarrassed so much he left the palace, and then joined forces with Duke Roger? So that he could kill you? Is that his name? The one with the purple stain around his missing eye because he tried to make a move on Delia against her will and the maid threw poison on him? Don't ask me why they happened to have poison lying around, but-"
Alanna finally realizing that Tom was going to tell her everything she knew about Ralon if she didn't answer. She would have answered the first time, but she thought it was a rhetorical question. "Yes, that was his name."
"Yeah, anyway. The remainder of his loyalties jumped you and George on Palace Way, and they killed all but one of the servants you had traveling with you. You and George fought them, but one of them killed George. Then there was the whole, you holding George and him saying goodbye, and the cliché "one last kiss" and then he died in your arms and you cried and all that overly used junk. Then you went to the castle and stuff like that. You found out that Jon was having problems with Thayet, and a whole bunch of stuff. They decided that it was better if Thayet and Jon didn't get married. And you stayed at the castle. You didn't want to know what it was like to return to Pirate's Swoop and not have George be there. And Jon comforts you, then blah, blah, blah, you find yourself falling in love with him again, and you know he still loves you, but you're scared because of you don't know if it would be right, out of loyalty and all that towards George, and all that stuff. Anyway, he tries to convince you that George would've wanted it or whatever, and yeah, yeah, yeah, you get married. Then you find that all this was written by a kid, (I mean in the story) and as soon as she clicks save, on the computer it all becomes true, and then she find a portal and finds out that she's Alanna and Jon's daughter, and. Wait,. I'm off topic. What were we even talking about? I've forgotten."
"So have I." Alanna replied.
"Oh yeah, you ruined my book. Anyway, goodnight."
"Uh, goodnight."
"Wait, I die?"
Tom laughed. "Yeah, but don't sweat it. I stopped writing that one ages ago. I had to alter the personalities of characters, 'cause truth to tell, Alanna and Jon aren't meant to be together, when all is said and done. I mean, they were meant to be for awhile, but they were never supposed to be together forever. The quartet was originally supposed to be a single romance book, and she was supposed to marry Jon, but something just wasn't right. When she changed it to young adult books, she realized it was because it went against Alanna grain. That Alanna wasn't meant to marry Jon. I wrote my story when I was mad at Tammy for not making Alanna marry Jon, but that lasted a month tops. I realized that I would have been even more mad if she had married Jon, because poor George was better for her, and cared more for her. Anyway, goodnight." And then she lied down and pulled her blankets over her.
"Uh, goodnight." George said as Alanna waved. They both started to exit the room with odd expressions on their faces.
As they closed the door, Tom called to Alanna, "You ruined my book!"
Alanna shut the door the rest of the way with out responding as George looked at her and asked, "How'd you ruin her book?"
"I fell in love."
"Then I'm happy it's ruined" he responded, though he knew he was missing something.
Alanna and George were snuggling in front of the fireplace in their sleeping quarters, when suddenly a rough female scream came from about three rooms over. It sounded like a yell of frustration more than a scream of terror, but nonetheless they jumped up, throwing the blanket that they'd been wrapped in off, and grabbed their favored weapons off of the table that housed them, in the back of the room. A sword for Alanna, and a belt with three knives for George. George also took an extra sword in case he was to run out of daggers. As they ran out the door, ready for battle, a guard caught up to them, and informed them that the noise sounded as if it had come from one of George's smaller treasury rooms. Just as they were about to turn the corner into the hall where the treasury door was, they heard the door slam shut and angry footsteps stomping exaggeratedly loud towards them, as if the suspect wanted them to know he was there. Or else the culprit was irritated. Instead of turning the corner, the nobles stopped, just out of sight, poised for battle, and flapped their hands, signaling the twenty or so guards behind them to do the same. and ready to ambush the suspect, or to be ambushed.
The unknown enemy turned the corner and revealed to be their newest foundling daughter. When they saw her they sighed with relief and Alanna waved her hand at the twenty new guards running up the hall behind them. Tomora walked straight up to George, not caring what an uproar she had caused, and stopped right next to him, and glared and evil look up at him. Then she threw her hands up and out in exasperation, and said, "Eww!". Then turned, and kept walking.
"What? What happened?" George said, somewhat urgently.
"Your sick."
"What'd I do this time?"
"I found your ear collection, that's what!"
Alanna broke out laughing, not making the slightest attempt to muffle it. George gave a few deep laughs and a good chuckle as well. Even a few of the guards giggled at her.
"What were ye doing in my treasury, anyway?" George asked, his forced noble accent slipping a little.
"Some treasury. I was exploring. This castle is huge. My bathroom is bigger than my living room in my other home. And my family has six kids. This place is huge! What's wrong with you. Can't you find anything to do with all this space? Come on! And why do you just leave those things around? That's disgusting. Why do you keep them?"
"They, uh, encouraged loyalty."
"Oh, oh-kay" She said in a sarcastic tone. "Threatening to cut peoples ears off if they make a single mistake is a great way to do that, of course. That's what everybody does. Gross! Why do you still have those? Who keeps pickled ears lying around, anyway? That was a long time ago. You don't even know those people anymore, what use do you have for their loyalty? You never make contact with them."
She paused, and looked at him suspiciously. "Do you?"
"Of course not."
Tom watched him, trying to decipher the tone of his voice, but he had purposely altered it so that it gave nothing away. She couldn't decide whether he was lying or joking. She watched as Alanna gave him a sidelong glance.
"Of course not, not you. You would never do anything like that." Tomora said dryly. "Don't tell me you keep those around for no reason. Because that's like, sick. I mean stalker sick, or something. That's just messed. Just messed up, man."
"Well, I suppose you might they have fond memories in them, I guess. Or that they have sentimental value, from my childhood. Like your rag."
"Some childhood. And keep Mr. Ragg out of this."
Alanna gave them both quizzical glances. "Mr. Ragg?
"That's her pet rag."
"That's my pet rag."
Alanna just stared at Tom as she reached down to pull up her pant leg, revealing a colorful rag some how tied around her knee. As Tom untied it, she saw the Tom had used the hole in on corner of it to loop the other corner into. Tom lifted it up to show her. It was covered with colorful spots, but looked as if the original color was a light, faded green.
"This is my pet rag. His name is Mr. Ragg. I've had him since I was seven. He's colorful because he eats things that stain. Mostly nail polish. That big spot there is tie-die from when I clean up tables at camp. I feed him once a month." She said in a voice that told Alanna that Tom had made this speech to many people before. She just kept staring at Tom with the same flat look.
Tomora decided the give Alanna the long story behind Mr. Ragg. "When I was seven I had in a corner of my room a little table covered with a sheet that had some Lisa Frank paint supplies on top. And when my friends came over, I would paint little teddy bears or butterfly in the corner of their eyes. I was quite good at it if I do say so myself.
"Then one day, I was cleaning my room so I could go somewhere with my friend Leira, who lived across the street. She was helping me, because she wanted me to go too. I was putting away my paint supplies, for I had tired of the idea, and found the rag I'd been using all along to help clean up any paint off my fingers or brush handle or whatever else. I smelled something bad so I put the damp rag to my nose, to see if that was it. It was. New Mexico has such hard water, that if anything was wet for to long it got a very dank smell. I said, 'Eww! Bad Mr. Rag! ' and threw it across the room. No particular reason I called it Mr. Rag, I just did. 'What?' Leira asked, not hearing me, and I said that I said Bad Mr. Rag. She asked why he was bad and I told her 'cause he smelled. She said, 'Oh, is that whet smells?' and I said, 'I guess.'. She leaned across the room, which wasn't hard because it was only 10 by 10, and smelled it to, agreeing that it smelled. She kept bring it up that day, because really, it was quite funny. You had to be there.
"Then, like, six months later I was in the car going to the mall, with my friend Leira. We had brought food with us, to save money on fast food, and I had a damp rag to clean up with. I immediately recognized the smell, but all of our rags smelt that way, so it was no biggy. But then I saw the pink paint on the corner. It was the Lisa Frank paint. It should have washed off, because the paint was acrylic, but things don't always work as they should. I showed it to Leira, and said, 'Hey look it's that rag from when you were helping me clean my room. Mr. Rag.' I said his name so she would have some inkling of what I was talking about, but she remembered before I said his name.
She did her usual, over-enthusiastic, 'Oh, yeah!' As she recalled the event. I tied him around my shin, just under my knee, and went inside of the mall. After a while I noticed that the rag was gone, and told Leira that he fell off my knee. We started to pretend to mourn, crying our eyes out. Hey, we were hyper. We kept fake crying until mom made us stop, because we were making a scene. Anyway, when I got back in the car, he was right there on my seat. So we rejoiced and from then on, I've always had him with me. He has more personality, so now his name is spelled with two g's. I always have him with me."
Her parents stared at Tom blankly. She return the look. She simply sat there for a moment, then suddenly reached down to pull up her pant leg, fold the rag into a triangle, then twirled it, making it a narrow strip. She wrapped it around the back of her leg, then tied it to the front by putting the right corner into a hole in the left corner, and wrapping it back around.
She stood, gave her parents her traditional two-fingers-and-a-thumb wave, said, "later", and stalked down the hall, back to her room. Alanna and George watched her go for a minute, then dismissed the guards and started back down the hall, as Tomora turned a corner, she looked back and said, "Eww!"
The next day, at dinner, Tomora had been asking a lot of questions about Alanna's time at the castle as a page and squire. After about three courses, Alanna asked, "I thought you knew everything about me, why are you so curious?"
"Well, it's just that I was trying to convince myself out of going to the castle to become a knight." She said casually.
Alanna raise one slender copper eyebrow, but replied calmly. "Is that so? Did you succeed?"
Tom replied with, "No, I don't think so."
"It's a lot of work. More since your female and your fellow pages will constantly be testing you."
"I know"
"And you are three years too old."
"I can still go. I think I can handle being made fun of. It's one of the few things that I haven't done yet. Training to be a night, I mean. I've had a million other jobs I Tortall. I love being challenged. I think I would like it."
"Well?" Alanna asked, turning towards George, who had been watching with interest.
"Well what? If she wants to go, there isn't anything I can do about it. It would be like asking you to stay in a safe place while we were under attack."
Alanna shrugged, turning back to Tom, though she looked rather flattered from George's comment. "Well, I suppose it's your decision. Are you going?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I guess it's decided then."
"Yep." Tom answered, as she turned back to her potatoes, even if they were too dry without ketchup or any other sauce."
George looked over at Alanna from his horse. Alanna and George were out on a evening ride in the forest. "Your worried, aren't you?"
Alanna sheepishly looked at him. "Yes."
"You know she'll be safe."
"I know. That's not what worries me."
George waited for her to continue, but she didn't. "Then what worries you?" He prompted.
"Well. It's just, that, she doesn't seem to know what she getting into. She's so hasty" "You didn't know what you were getting into."
She looked up from the spot on her saddle. "That's what I'm afraid of."
They headed back for the midday meal, and to practice with Tomora. They had started giving her lessons three times a day. A considerable bump up from once a week. She seemed to be a natural with the sword, except that she was afraid to swing it rapidly. She seemed to think that she was going to cut off a hand, because she was such a klutz. True, she was very clumsy, always misjudging distances, so that she stubbed her toe, trip, or hit her shoulder on the side of her doorway whenever she walked out of her room, but Alanna wished she would try anyway. It wouldn't do to have a knight that's afraid to swing a sword. They left for the royal castle in three days, and she wanted to give Tomora as much practice as she could. George also gave her hand-to-hand and knife lessons.
As she walked to a practice court with recently found daughter, she tried to express her concern to Tom, as best she could. "Are you sure this is the life you want? It's nothing but hard-"
"Work every waking moment, and many extra waking moments to boot." Tom finished with her. It's what Coram had told Alanna when Alanna was ten. "Don't worry. I be fine." She said in an exaggerated voice. "I always make the most important decisions in life without thinking. It's the small decisions that I take forever with. Like when we pull up at the Burger King and mom asks what I want. I take, like, and hour to decided."
Alanna didn't understand most of what Tom had said, but none the less understood her point. She sighed. "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into. That's not a good way to make decisions."
"I do understand. I've already got some small butterflies in my stomach, and I guarantee they'll get bigger as the day gets closer."
"Really?" Alanna hadn't thought that Tom was worried at all, she held such a cool, cocky face about everything. She thought that Tom just blunder through life with out thinking of the consequences.
"Yeah. I know you think I act like a blonde, but I do think. I'm a lot smarter than I act. I know a lot more than you think. I know what I'm doing."
"I've said that before" Alanna replied, stopping so that Tomora could open the practice room door.
As they walked in, Tom replied, "But remember, you meant it. That's what you said to Thom, when you switched places, so that you could go to the castle, and he to the convent." She smiled. She had said it in such a way that it implied that Thom had wanted to be a lady, though they both knew that they both knew that that wasn't true. "And also when you came back to visit George from the Bazhir, after breaking up with Jon because he assumed that when you said you'd 'think about it' you meant yes, and George caught you ease dropping with his Site that you forgot he had and he got you to tell him all that happened, and then you-."
"You know about all that?" Alanna asked, evidently very alarmed.
"In embarrassing detail." Tom said, teasingly.
Alanna blushed furiously. "I didn't know it was that kind of book. I thought it was just facts, like it was my idea, and I left when I was ten, and disguised myself for years, not word for word everything that ever happened to me."
"You thought wrong. Anyway, point being that I know the trouble I'm getting into, and am prepared to put up with it." She said, stripping off her boots and the sweater stylishly tried around her waist. She put her hair up in one of those huge alligator clips, and drew her sword. She wouldn't be permitted to use it in the castle until her teachers deemed her to be ready, but it never hurt to practice.
"Don't forget your glasses." Alanna, who was similarly prepared and was stretching, her aging bones popping and cracking, reminded her.
"Oh yeah." Tomora replied. She didn't need the glasses to see, which was obvious because of the fact they were purple. They matched her purple T- shirt somewhat imperfectly, but well enough, and were complemented by the sweater she had tied at her waist, which was a maroon color, with light pink/peach sleeves. Her blue eye shadow went well with her jeans and white tennis shoes. Her arms were covered in bangle bracelets. She took those off too, putting them in separate piles, so that she wouldn't have to make sure each arm had an even number when she went to put them back on. You'd think she'd put a lot of thought into it, but she really just put something clean on.
She and her mom lost track of time, focusing on teaching and learning. Tomora had to work on her faith in herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she would give herself a big gash down her arm. They didn't realized how late it was getting until a servant found them and told them that dinner was prepared and 'Master George' had been waiting for them for near an hour. Then they gathered up their stuff and headed towards the dinning room.
At dinner, Tom requested that George come with her to the castle, along with Alanna. Tomora knew that one of them shouldn't leave Pirate's Swoop with out the other remaining there, but she seemed to be very passionate about it, so George agreed and made preparations.
They left in time to get to the palace for the Opening. The party, get together type thing that Alanna hadn't gone to because her Father was anti- social and Keladry hadn't gone to because, uh, well, because. Tomora was antisocial, so didn't necessarily want to go, but she knew that Jon would be disappointed in Alanna if she arrived late, so said nothing in protest.
She didn't see what good it was. It as just to let nobles show off their children that would soon be practicing to be knights. To see which had the most training already and was strongest, ect. She never saw sense in many social activities, though, so it wasn't surprising. She really didn't like it because it gave her butterflies. She was usually so confident in everything, she just wasn't used to being nervous. It was really unpleasant. It made her feel that she had low self-esteem, though that was far from true.