i didn't catch much besides...she liked cleon right? Yay! Im both NK or KC so ...i didnt care much. whomever she liked was okay with me. yeah i haven't read page or squire yet (bad fan, bad fan) and so im just writing this ignorantly.
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"Studying?" Cleon said, followed by a troop of second-year pages as they wandered aimlessly into the library. "On a rest day?"
The girl squire scowled at her friend. "I nearly failed the last test in History," she informed him sulkily. "I don't want to do that again."
"Oh, dove of my soul," he said expressively, his arms in an elaborate gesture as he drew a chair up next to her. Grabbing her hand, he held it to his heart like a play actor as he gazed into the distance. "Never fear, fair maid, for I shall rescue you from-"
"Stuff it, Cleon," Neal growled.
His best friend stared at him. "Neal, what's wrong with you?" Merric asked faintly, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks. Queenscove stared back icily, his green eyes glinting, until Cleon's own face paled and he stumbled back a step.
Kel stared from Neal to Cleon, Faleron, Owen, and Merric standing there like deer cornered by huntsmen. "You two, on your feet," she commanded. "Out. Now." When they hesitated, she snapped her fingers. "Please," she added, her gentle voice returning to its normal pitch.
~~~~~~~~
She nearly had to drag the two out by their sleeves, while they had a staring contest of glares. "Honestly," she said, exasperated. "You're scaring the other boys! You've been at it for weeks, I swear!"
"Oh," Neal mumbled.
Cleon's eyes were downcast. "Yeah." He did not meet her gaze though he hoped -actually, imagined- that her fingers had held onto his arm a wee bit longer than it had on Neal's.
"Really," Kel insisted. "What is the matter?" Her wide hazel eyes watched Cleon, and then Neal. They shifted their feet, uncomfortable.
"Nothing," they chorased. Biting her lip, Kel sighed.
"All right, then. It's hard to be a peace maker," she informed them sternly, "when the two parties are incoherant. And the medium is attempting to study."
~~~~~~~~~~~`
The banquet that night was attended to by the Squires, not the pages. Piers and Ilaine watched their daughters carefully, both Kel and the ambitious Oranie, who had managed to repel most suitors with her arrogant attitude.
"Do you think she knows?" Ilaine whispered to her husband, regarding the two boys who gazed after the girl, hastily piling dishes onto a tray.
Piers watched for a moment, then shook his head. "I have no idea. I think we shouldn't try to arrange anything until...we can discern whom she prefers."
Ilaine whistled softly. "Amazing. We worry the most about our tomboy girl, and she attracts the Duke's son and yet another. Both handsome lads, they are."
Piers laughed. "All this, while we fussed over Oranie and both her hands are still empty."
~~~~~~~~~
Kel fled with the stack of dirty dishes to the kitchen. With a sigh, she began to load them into the basins for washing, the dirty water just missing the sleeves of her Squire Gown uniform created by Thayet a year ago.
She smiled down at the red and gold cloth, the same as the tunics, but cut into a fitted bodice and flowing skirt. "You never know," the Queen had commented with a wink, her own adapted Rider outfit accenting her figure. "Uniforms ought to look nice."
Slapping the hanging braid out of her face, Kel stood and smacked right into Cleon. "Oh, sorry," she said, blushing slightly. Her hands still tingled with his touch, as they had braced her against slamming into him full force.
The redhead bit his lip, watching her face. "No problem, pearl," he informed her, clenching and unclenching his hands.
For the second time that evening, she blushed shyly. Kel felt the red creeping up from behind her ears to her nose. "Yama bless me," she prayed inwardly. "Don't make me a lobster now."
The boy gripped her by the shoulders and drew her nearer until they were almost touching, staring down the few inches into her face with a strange expression. For moments, they stood there, nothing said between the two. Kel's huge eyes grew wider, hear heartbeat increasing, until Cleon finally stepped back with a jerky motion.
"Rose of my Heart," he said, voice slightly bitter. "You are in love with Neal, are you not?"
"What?" Kel's mind suddenly cleared. "Neal?" She stood confused, for she had nearly been in Cleon's arms, and he had asked a question she had not anticipated.
The redhead took her surprise as a yes. "Oh, but I am a fool." Running one hand through his curling hair, he let out a disappointed sigh. "And how could she not," he muttered more to himself that addressing the girl, "prefer a Queenscove to a poor son of a struggling hold?"
Kel gasped, reaching out to grab his arm, but Cleon had disappeared as quickly as he had came.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Neal saw Cleon run from the dining hall, his face awash with sorrow. "Ah." Discarding the pile of napkins he was burdened with, he darted back to his rooms.
Ilaine grinned. "Wonder what shall happen now," she said, playing with her drink languidly. "They're both after a goal; yet there can be only one winner."
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"Cleon?" Kel called as she wandered the halls. "Cleon!" Bless the Gods, where had he gone? "CLEON!" Where was he? Had he just said...that he liked her? Kel's heart warmed at the thought, for she loved him dearly.
The boy hid himself behind a small pillar and waited until her back was turned, and then sped out the door and into the courtyard without being seen.
"Kel?" a voice rang out. She turned, hoping it was Cleon, when she saw Neal standing there, a bunch of daisies in one hand. "Kel."
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cliff hanger isnt it? hehehes