Okay, here's part 2. Hey, I got it out faster than I thought I would! I hope your enjoying it so far! I tried to explain as much as I could in this one about the past of Roald and Lysse. Hope it's not to confusing! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: You know the drill, Tamora Pierce's characters don't belong to me and never will no matter how much I ask for them. One day...one day... *dramatic music plays in the background*

Not bothering to look at the surprised looks on his friend's faces, Roald continued with the story, sitting on the window seat in his room.

"When I was five, Lysse was four at the time; a marriage contract was drawn up for a future marriage. You see, my mother has known Lysse's mom for awhile now and they thought it would be a good idea for their children to get married. My mother's exact words were 'cute'", Roald made a face. "Well, since the fief of Oakswood isn't that far away Lysse's mother would bring Lysse over here or I would go over there. My parents didn't want me marrying someone I didn't know, so we would have play schedules. Anyway, at first we didn't really like each other, that whole girls and boys are gross stage, but eventually we actually started enjoying each other's company. The only bad thing about us being together was that Lysse's idea of fun always caused us to get into trouble, like the Pepper Incident. Lysse, Anji, and I (I had met Anji on one of my visits to Oakswood), were playing around in the castle's kitchens behind the cook's back. The cook and all the servants had been preparing for the Midwinter Banquet and the cook was in the process of making a cake. Lysse and Anji thought it would be a good idea to 'decorate' the cake, so we innocently put pepper on the icing of it. The cook, thinking he had already decorated it, took it out to the guests and you can figure out what happened from there. They figured it was us no matter how much we denied it. I think the pepper on our clothes gave it away. Well, being 6and 7 years old, how were they going to punish us? We didn't know what we were doing."

While Prince Roald had been telling his story his friends had been listening with awe. Kel or the others had had no idea about that part of Roald's past. Kel had thought she had known everything. The room remained silent as Roald continued on.

"Everything fell apart, again, during a Midwinter Festival banquet 3 years later, almost right before I was starting my years as a page. Us children, not being old enough to attend, were sent to bed early. I remember being touchy about it, and Lysse and Anji threw fits, but us being children, what power did we have over the adults, so we were tucked into our rooms. Later that night there was a knock on my door from Lysse and Anji who had somehow snuck past their nursemaid, I still haven't figured out how they did it. Their plan was to sneak into the Banquet Hall and spy on Anji's older brother Terrence, then a senior page."

"Wait," Kel interrupted, "Sir Terrence is Lady Anjeanette's brother? Oh."

"Roald looked surprised, "Did he come? I haven't seen him in years!"

"Yeah," Owen said, "He's huge!" Roald then smiled at some memory that had formed in his mind.

"Yes, he is. Well," Roald got back on track, "of course I agreed, I had never been to a banquet either and I wanted to know what one was like. We ended up crawling underneath one of the tables and had to crawl over people's feet without being caught to reach where Terrence was standing. Lysse, wanting to get her cousin's attention, pulled on his hose, causing them to fall down and him to trip with his tray of food landing on none other than Lord Wyldon and his wife. His wife took the incident good naturedly, but Lord Wyldon...that's a whole different story I'd rather not get into. Let me just say he got mad. His great anger caused him to accidentally flip the table as he got up, which showed us to the entire group of guests, including our very angry parents. After that the marriage contract was ripped up and thrown away. A few months later, a new one was made up to marry me to a princess of the Yamani Isles. My mother later told me the contract was broken because the nobles around Tortall were complaining about this future marriage and dreading to have Lysse as there Queen. I guess it just got to be too much for my parents, so they talked to the family of Lysse and agreed to break it. They also agreed it would be a good idea to send Lysse and Anji to the convent where Anji's mother, Lady Linda, who owns the land around it, could keep a close eye on them. Anything to get them out of the castle and away from me. They said something about her being a bad influence, but I don't think so, Lysse is just...Lysse, she can't change her personality. I love her personality, it's exciting and it always gave me a thrill when I was with her." Roald got a look on his face like he was remembering something wonderful from his past.

"Roald," Kel interrupted his silence, "Did you...love her?" Roald, for the first time during the story, looked back at the group.

"As much as a ten-year-old could." That was the only answer he gave. Silence, the kind of disbelief, spread awkwardly through the room. After a few moments, Neal decided to break it.

"Why did Lysse and Anji come back all of the sudden? I mean, am I the only one who wasn't expecting it?"

"It was agreed before they entered the convent, that they return when they were of a marrying age. Lysse would be sixteen now, Anji seventeen. Terrence, who after he got his knight-hood, went at the order of the family to stay and escort the girls back. Anyway, they're all back and I know the nobles will not be happy, Lysse's mother and her aunt (Anji's mother), will be arriving soon, which will cause an even bigger problem at the castle."

"Why?" Faleron spoke up.

"You'll see." A smiling Roald answered back.

**********

Kel and the group dispersed outside of Prince Roald's room to get ready for supper. Kel walked down the hall with Neal to their rooms.

"That was amazing," Kel said to a thinking Neal. "I thought I knew everything about Roald, but obviously not." Neal still said nothing. "Neal. Neal. Neal!" He jumped, surprised.

"Kel, do you believe in love at first sight?"

"Excuse me? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I was just thinking about what Roald said and it got me thinking about the amazing feeling of love. I mean even a ten year old can feel that as strongly as anyone else."

"Neal, Roald didn't exactly say that he loved Lysse." This kind of talk was beginning to make Kel uncomfortable and Neal was getting into 'philosophical mode' again.

"No, but couldn't you just tell? Over the years this love has just grown stronger. Those two are meant to be together and now it's impossible for them ever to be."

"Stop talking about this Neal, I really don't see any relevance." All this talk was making Kel think about her feelings for Neal and she didn't want to have to think about this right now.

"Really Kel? Really?" Neal said quietly, staring at Kel in the eyes. This stare began to pierce through Kel. "Kel...?"

"What?" Kel answered, not able to break the stare from the deep green eyes in her view. Neal was quiet for a moment, like he was thinking of the thing he was going to say.

"Never mind." And with one more quick glance and smile at Kel he walked off to his room. Kel stood there a moment thinking about the weird conversation she had just had. Shaking her head, she entered her room expecting a warm bath, but instead was caught off guard by Lysse, Anji, Sera, and Lalasa sitting around the table in her room drinking tea. All heads turned to the door.

"Keladry!" Lysse called, patting a seat next to her. "Sit here and have some tea with us. We were just having a stimulating conversation about you with Lalasa while waiting for you to return!" Kel, feeling out of place in her own room, sat down in the seat Lysse had motioned to. "Now, I know your probably wondering just what we're doing in your room, but let me tell you, Lalasa has told us so many interesting stories about when you were a page. You've lead such an interesting life."

"It's Kel." Kel said, not expecting this type of reception in her own room.

"What?"

"I like to be called Kel, not Keladry."

"Oh, well that's just fine then, Kel." Lysse sat at the table rolling the name off her tongue. "Kel, Kel..."

"I know exactly how you feel." Kel turned to the speaking Anji. "I just absolutely cannot stand my name of birth either. It's too...I don't know, fancy...I guess." A knock came at the door and Kel, giving this a chance to escape for a moment from the table, went to answer it. A servant was at the door.

"Excuse me, my lady, but I was told I could find Lady Lysse here. You see, I have a letter from her parents and I was told to give it to her." Kel turned around to Lysse who was still repeating Kel's name; testing it. "Um, she's busy at the moment, but I could give it to her." Kel took hold of the letter and closed the door. "Lysse, you have a letter from your parents." Kel walked over and handed it to an eager Lysse, who opened it. Everyone watched Lysse's reactions as they went from excited to confused and depressed. Anji spoke first.

"What does it say?"

"My parents, they've arranged another marriage for me. This time to someone I don't know."

"Who?" They all asked. Even Kel was curious as to who it was.

"A man named Joren." Silence filled the room as the cup Kel was holding shattered to the floor.

"Who's Joren?" Lysse asked.

(A/N): Dun dun dun. Cliffhanger. What's going to happen next? Of course I can't tell you, it's a surprise! I hoped you like it. It's getting more interesting. I tried not to have too much explaining in this one, but it didn't work out. Part 3 will hopefully move a whole lot faster. That's the problem with inviting new characters, they have to have a past or no one will be able to understand them (it is my fave part though, I love making up new characters). Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this one even more than part 1! The plot begins to thicken. Please review!