Disclaimer: None of Tamora Pierce's stuff belongs to be etc. etc. etc.

 

 

 

It was very late.  Kris and George had spent all of the day and most of the night talking about what they would do to ensure that she wasn't caught.  At first she had thought that she would have to go work, so that she may keep her room, but George had said that he would pay for it.  When Kris started to argue, he gave her a look that said, "You don't really want to do unnessecary work, do you?"  Kris decided to bring this up later and they returned to planning. 

 

"Wow, I didn't realize all the troubles Lady Alanna had to go through," mused Kris, nibbling an her index finger.  She always nibbled when she was thinking.  George had just finished telling her about all of the times Alanna had almost gotten caught.  He had also told her about what he referred to as "the Duke Roger incident."

 

"And yes, she really had to kill him twice," explained George, reading the amazed look on Kris' face.  He had enjoyed watching her get more and more amazed as he had continued his wife's story of becoming a knight.  "Well, it's getting pretty late, do you think we should turn in?"

 

"No," she replied, stifling a yawn.  "I want to hear more about *yawn* Alanna."

 

"I'm sorry, but it looks as if you are ready to fall asleep any second now.  Let's get you to bed now."  With that, George picked up the already asleep Kris and took her to her room.

 

                                                            ***

 

Kris was walking around outside; it was a beautiful day.  It had been two weeks since that night with George, and she was walking up through the temple district, making her way towards the palace.  She was dressed in a tunic and breeches, and carried a small pack with her belongings in it slung across her back.  Soon she arrived at the palace, and after entering, was greeted by George.  Accompanying George was a short red-headed woman, a brown-haired woman with a much older dark haired man, a young girl that looked to be about eleven and a man with jet black hair and saphire eyes, holding the most beautiful woman that Kris had ever seen at his side.  Then she noticed a small mangled looking dog at the girl's feet. 

 

"Welcome to Corus my dear.  I am King Jonathon, and this is my wife Thayet."  Kris was awestruck.  "This i think you already know, is George, this is Lady Alanna, this is Daine, this is Numair, and this is Keladry," he said, introducing them all in turn. 

 

Kris was stunned and unable to speak.  The king had said "my dear" and had spoken to her like she was his own kin.  Then she noticed that she was not in a tunic and breeches at all, but an elegent dress and was now dancing with each of the men in turn.  They were in a ball room, and the music was very nice to the ears.  She was getting confused.  She usually hated dresses but found that she liked being in this one.  'This is so strange,'  She thought.  Just then, the dog that had been by Keladry's feet started barking.  No, wait, it was meowing.  She shut her eyes tight, just as it had jumped on her, making her fall onto the floor.  'IT'S GOING TO KILL ME!' she thought frantically.  But the dog only dug it's claws into her and kept on meowing.

 

Kris' eyes flew open.

 

                                                             ***

 

"KATINA!" she yelled at the cat clawing her chest. Then, rememering that there were other people sleeping, she said, "You nearly gave me a heart attack! What am i going to do to make you stop using me as a scratching post? I was having the most wonderful dream.  It was about..."  But Kris had totally forgotten the dream and what it was about.  "I guess I'll let you go this time, but not the next," she told the cat grumpily.

 

Kris' anger eventually died down, but she would be making the cat sleep locked in the bathroom tonight.  If only she could remeber her dream...   Well, she needed to ready herself for the day.  She couldn't worry about silly dreams, she had exploring to do.  She had plans to see Corus and learn what there was to learn about being a page, if she could.  George had said that there would be some pages and squires with time off due to the summer holiday drawing near, because the teachers wanted their break earlier, and were being nice.  Maybe she could meet one of them.

 

After she had bathed, she dressed in breeches and a tunic, grabbed her small purse that held her money, strapped a two knives two her wrists, were she could reach them easily (George's gift and advice) and made her way downstairs to go out into the streets of Corus.  But before she could leave, she was stopped in the common room by the man she had seen earlier from her perch in the rafters.

 

"Excuse me, miss.  I couldn't help but notice that you had a little adventure last night in my inn," the man said.

 

'So this was the owner,'  Kris thought.

 

"I want you to promise to tell me the next time you do anything like that again. I don't like when people uncover secrets, especially my secrets.  I don't want to end up like old Solom."

 

"Yessir, I promise that I'll tell you next time."

 

"Thank you.  Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I'd like to introduce myself.  My name is Rick, and if you didn't already assumed this, I am the owner of the Dancing Dove."

 

"Hi, nice to meet you.  My name is Kris.  I hope I didn't make you too mad." 

 

:"No, it's alright.  Anyways, are you hungry?  I was just about to eat and i think I ordered too much," he said, motioning to the 3 eggs, 6 slices of bacon, and 2 hash browns in front of him. 

 

'Was he expecting me?' Kris wondered, taking in the sight and smell of the food.  "Yes, i am kind of hungry."

 

"So, what brings you to Corus?" Rick asked, as Kris sat down. 

 

"Uh," Kris remembered what George had said.  "I'm visiting my family on the other side of town.  I'm not supposed to arrive for another two weeks though, so I'm staying here.  They don't like it when people arrive before they should." 'Phew, that was close!'

 

"Hmm.  So, what do you think of George?"

 

"He's...nice."  Kris was getting bored, she wanted to go exploring.

 

"That's good.  I was ju-."  Rick was cut off by Freddie coming in and looking distressed. 

 

"Excuse me Rick, Kris.  Rick, I need to talk to you.  Privately." Freddie said, his voice wavering slightly. 

 

"Kris, will you excuse me?" Rick asked, looking at her.

 

"Of course.  I was just about to leave anyway." And with that, Rick and Freddie went into another room, talking quietly. 

 

Kris stood up, wiping her face with a napkin.  The food was pretty good.  Now, with a full stomach, Kris was definately ready to start exploring the city of Corus.

                                                            ***



A/N:  So how was it this time? I hope you enjoyed it.  Now, see that little icon down there that says review? Well, click it and review, PLZ!  And thx to Lady Knight of Kennan for editing!  REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!