(A/N- This sort of struck me while I was in the car on my way to a Britney Spears concert with my sister and parents. There'll be more later, but, for now, its just this.....Hope you like it! ^_^))




Aidan Trina Namir was not pleased.

She had sworn she wasn't going to go to this concert. She had sworn her parents would not drag her, sworn by Belar and Aldur, Aphrael, Dweia, and all the other Gods her parents knew nothing about.

But, of course, her vows were ignored. She scowled in the backseat, a well-worn copy of Polgara The Sorceress in her hands. Torak's teeth, she'd give anything to be in a David Edding's book right now, especially in the Mallorean or Elenium series. She'd ride with the Algars through sunsplashed plains, or train with Pandions in the Cimmura chapterhouse, the only woman ever admitted--

"Aidan, would you stop scowling so much? It's only a concert, after all."

She glared. "Mom, I would really prefer not to hear some Elvis impostor warble "Blue Suede Shoes". You're the one who made me come, remember?"

Her mother frowned disapprovingly. "You've been reading those Eddie books again. haven't you?"

Aidan groaned. "Eddings, mother. David Eddings. Not "Eddie"."

"Whatever." Her mother paused a minute. " What's this?"

Aidan glanced up at the signs for a minute, then blinked, not sure if she was seeing things right. "Tol Honeth, five leagues," she read in a whisper. "Cimmura ten...."

Her mother frowned at a road map. trying to figure out where they were. "I don't remember this is the directions....I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere, I just...."

"Mother," said Aidan suddenly. "Take the Tol Honeth exit." It sounded silly, to be sure, but after all, it sounded promising.

Her mother dubiously obeyed. "I hope you're right....."

Ignoring her mother, Aidan stared out the window as the landscape slowly changed from a night-enclosed concrete barrier to a paved road surrounded by trees. The Imperial Highway, her mind registered. She rolled down the window, heart pounding.

She was here. Really here.

"Halt!" A knight dressed in armor rode up suspiciously as her mother slowed. "What business hath thou in fair Arendia, and what chicanery be this?," he demanded, taking off his helmet. His black hair fell freely, and his bearing was regal.

Aidan gasped. "Sir Mandorallen!"

The Mimbrate stared at her. "Have we met?," he inquired.

She shook her head. "No, but I've read all about you, and Lelldorin, and Garion, and Polgara, Silk and Barak, Hettar and Durnik, Ce' Nedra and Belgarath--"

He held up a hand in puzzlement. "My Lady, I beg of you, please bestow upon me kindness and not tie my mind in knots with thou cryptic speech. Instead, wilt thou and thy companion consent to see Their Majesties, King Korodullin and Queen Mayaserana?"

Aidan's eyes went wide. A meeting with Korodullin and Mayaserana! "Will I get to meet Lelldorin too?," she asked eagerly.

A faint smile touched the knights lips. "Yea, it may be e'en as you inquire, the Baron of Wildantor shall be at the palace." He then cast a plaintive look at their car. "And wouldst thou be so kind as to step away from thy -- er-- "

"Car," she supplied.

"Car," he agreed, " and take a mount to the palace? Tis but a short way," he added quickly. Then he looked past her to her mother, who was pale and visibly shaken. "Art thou unwell, my Lady?," he asked gently.

Aidan cast a glance at her mother, then stepped out of the car. "She'll be fine, good knight," she assured him, curtsying the best she could in a short skirt.

"Ai-Aidan, what is going on?," her mother quavered.

"Oh, nothing, Mother," Aidan said cheerily. "We're just going to be escorted to the palace of King Korodullin and Queen Mayaserana of Arendia. This is Sir Mandorallen, by the way, the Baron of Vo Mandor." She glanced from her mothers startled face to Mandorallen's confused one.

"To the palace then?," she suggested brightly, climbing on a horse Mandorallen had brought. She laughed as they both helplessly shrugged, and reined her horse in.

This was going to be so much fun.

((So, as Gher would say in ROA, I done good? Please R/R! Thankies!))