Nealan of Queenscove opened a letter. Five minutes into it, he began to laugh.

"Neal? What does it say?" asked his wife Katherine, opening her own letter.

"It's from Owen. Kel, Joren and their children paid a visit to Jesslaw. The two girls, Jodi and Adele, chased him up a tree, while the boy, Xavier, hinted about chopping the tree down. Owen said he was afraid for his life!"

Katherine grinned, then cast her brown eyes onto the paper. She laughed. "Beware of trees."

"Sorry?"

"Nothing." Her Yamani looks were smooth.

Neal tried to guess what she was thinking, but, like Kel, she covered up too well.

"Lady Katherine, I do believe you are hiding something."

Her brown eyes glinted. "I do believe I am."

He groaned in frustration. "Give me a clue?" She took him by the hand, and led him outside.

"Horses."

"Horses? Horses...outside...trees..." In the distance, horses could be seen dragging a carriage. "Who's coming?" Neal enquired.

His wife ignored him. The horses drew nearer. Finally, they pulled up in the courtyard. The door on the side opened and out jumped- "Kel?"

The tall brunette ran up to Neal. "Well it's hardly likely to be the Stump," she joked.

He groaned again. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Kel glanced at Katherine.

A nod replaced the smile a non-Yamani would have chosen. "Owen wrote," she said simply.

Neal nodded. He frowned at the children who had clambered out of the carriage, although not seriously. "I hear you've got yourselves into mischief recently. Behave yourselves here."

The three children gazed angelically up at Neal. "We would never do anything like that to you," they chorused, with shy smiles. Neal looked pleased. "See, all you need to do is-"

He frowned; Kel and Joren, recently out of the coach, were laughing. "What?"

"They said that to all the others," Kel gasped. "Just how many lives have these three wrecked?"

"Oh, only ten..." Kel's face crinkled into a smile, much like that of her children. "In the last three visits."

Katherine smiled politely. "Now Neal, your mouth looks silly like that. Jodi, Adrian is helping cook; Adele, Carlotta is by the pond; Xavier, Damien is grooming Starnight. And," her voice grew dangerous, "If so much as the knocking of a stone reaches my ears, you will be beaten day and night for a month."

"Oh, and that's just for Adrian, Carlotta and Damien. You three will be strung up by your ankles, with no food from the low bridge at home. In winter," she added quickly.

Adele, Jodi and Xavier looked suitably frightened as they walked off. Neal raised his eyebrows. "Isn't that slightly cruel?"

Joren, Kel and Katherine looked at each other. "You wouldn't been saying that if you'd seen some of the people we've visited's homes." Kel grinned. "I think we should go and stay with Zahir again."

"I don't think Vinson will ever go out of his fief again."

Neal linked arms with Kel. "Now, Sir Keladry, you will tell me everything." Kel, about to obey her friend, saw a servant, breathless and red-in-the- face, run up. "Lady Katherine, Sir Nealan, the – pond-" he forced out between desperate pants for air.

Kel and Joren exchanged glances. "No," was cried simultaneously, and both knights made a run for the area indicated by the puffed-out servant. The pond was reached. A nursemaid, wet and grumpy, was climbing out of the water. Adele and Carlotta were calmly picking herbs from the nearby garden.

Kel grabbed her daughter's arm. "What have you done?" Adele's face was completely innocent, and made Neal feel a twinge of pity for the six-year-old. "I didn't know that if you pushed her, she'd fall. It's not my fault."

"It was the only one," Joren reminded her.

"Sir Nealan, the stables have fallen!"

"Lady Katherine, the kitchens are aflame!"

Kel turned to her husband. "You were saying?"

"Maybe we shouldn't go to the palace with Jodi." Neal's eyes glinted. "Oh, do, do!" he pleaded.

"The Stump, and my children. Hmm, maybe you're right." Kel winked at Joren.