One of a Kind

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from any of Tamora Pierce's books on Tortall is not mine. Tortall and all it's varied inhabitants are TP's property, except for the ones I invented ...most of Alanna's friends, a couple of animals, and a few minor people who aren't that important to the plot.

 Chapter twelve: Farewell

The Daughter of the Goddess, Priestess Clothilde, strode down the narrow aisle between the row of desks her students were sitting at, praising this person's work, criticising that one's. Standing by the desk at which sat lady Delia of Eldorne and her friend lady Marisa of Alderidge, she picked up Delia's work and proceeded, as always, to praise, it, before moving onwards, and stopping at the desk behind, a frown creasing her already wrinkled brow as she looked down at the table.

What she was looking at was the lady Alanna, lady of fief Trebond and apprentice to the Dragon of the Order of Shang, who at the moment, was fast asleep and in a rather large amount of trouble.

***

Alanna sighed as she wrote, for what felt like the millionth time, "I must not fall asleep in class, and I must remember to act at all times like a lady." and resisted the temptation to mutter some of the rather rude and imaginative names she'd been thinking up for the priestess Clothilde for the last hour and a half out loud, knowing from almost five long years of experience that she would hear, and then Alanna would get even more lines to write - not a pleasant way to spend a perfectly nice late summer afternoon.

It wasn't like there was anything worth staying awake for in any of Clothilde's classes - it wasn't Alanna's fault Clothilde could make you fall asleep in five minutes with her droning voice - not unlike that of the fly at the window - even if you'd just taken a potion potent enough to keep the dead awake.

Smiling slightly in relief as she finished the 500th line, Alanna stood up, gathered her books and handed the sheet of parchment to Clothilde, then walked quickly out the door before the old priestess could find something else to criticise about her, flipping her coppery plait over her shoulder.

***

"Letters!"

Alanna glanced up at Rhia, forgetting for the moment her soup, and glanced towards where one of the servants had entered with a small sack, and was now handing them out to various maids and apprentice priestesses to bring to the convent's inhabitants. Unless it was something particularly urgent, sent by a private messenger, letters always arrived on Monday, and provided a highlight in what was not the most interesting of lives.

One of the younger apprentices walked over, her blond hair flowing free down her back, to hand them over to the girl's at Alanna's table, and Alanna smiled warmly at her cousin as she approached. Like Alanna, Juliette had hated the thought of becoming some giggling noble lady, but unlike Alanna, she had chosen to become a priestess as a way to escape it - something Alanna had once considered, before she met Liam.

She deposited the letters with a smile, and made a quick few hand movements before catching the eye of one of the senior priestesses, and hurrying back to the apprentices' table. Alanna had learnt the priestesses' sign language better than most, and was glad of it, because when Juliette had arrived at the beginning of the year, she, like all apprentice priestess, had taken a vow of silence until she was initiated fully.

Alanna glanced at her letters. There was, as always, a letter from Thom, and two others from Coram and Maude. Alanna shoved them into her pocket - she'd read them that night, after her evening lesson with Liam - now that she was officially his apprentice, her old lessons with Sophia and the others had been replaced by another with Liam. Glancing over at the others, she saw that Rhia had already opened one of her's, although she laid it down after a moment with a sigh. Tat, however, was frowning as she looked at the single piece of parchment she held, a very un-Tat like thing to do.

"Tat? Tatiana? Something wrong?"

She looked up. "It's a note from the First Daughter."

Rhia leaned over, curious. "The First Daughter sent you a note? That's odd. Normally she just gets Sophia to come and yell at us or whatever."

Alanna leaned over too, reading the brief note. "Wonder why she wants to see you."

Tat shrugged. "No idea. I'll find out soon enough, though. Come with me?"

Rhia nodded, but Alanna shook her head. "Better not. Liam gets mad if I keep him waiting."

***

Rolling out of bed at dawn the next morning, Alanna jogged down the many flights of stairs to where she and Liam always held their morning workout, and quickly began her warm up, partly because was eager to get her beginning exercises over and done with, and partly because there was a chilly feel to the air, and she was dressed lightly in loose cotton breeches and a tight-fitting cotton shirt that reached only to her waist and left her arms bare but for two very thin straps. Liam won their mock fight, as always, and Alanna ran back up to her room to change before going to breakfast, eager to find out what had been so important to the First Daughter about Tat - they hadn't gotten into any mischief recently - well, not important stuff, only the little things they always did. And Alanna would've been called in too, if that had been the case.

Running to the dining hall, Alanna stopped for a moment to catch her breath, and check that her skirts and hair were in order, before waking in and sliding into a seat beside Tat, who, Alanna was surprised to find, looked utterly miserable.

"Tat, what's wrong? Who died?" Alanna asked, then bit her tongue the moment the words were out of her mouth. What if someone had died?

Tat managed a small and unconvincing smile as she glanced at her friend. "No one, but - oh Lanna, they're sending me to Corus tomorrow! With Delia, of all people!"

Alanna's mouth fell open. Tat, leaving? Her best friend? "That's horrible!" she gasped, and looked over at Rhia, who was wearing an expression that mirrored her own.

The bell rang, and Alanna and Rhiannon stood up to go to class, but Tat remained seated.

"C'mon, Tat. Let's pull a couple of pranks on your last day here."

"And Delia's." Rhia added. "We wouldn't want her to leave without something to remember us by, after all."

Alanna glanced at Rhia in surprise - she wasn't usually that interested in pranks.

Tat, however, shook her head. "I've got the day off to pack - that's what the First Daughter said. We're leaving at dawn."

"We'll come and say goodbye.'' Were Alanna's last words before Clothilde came over and ushered them out of the door.

***

The dawn the next day dawned clear and cold, lighting up the mist that had collected in the valleys surrounding the convent. Alanna was dressed in her normal fighting clothes, but with a tunic and cloak thrown over the top; Tat was wearing a stiff lady's dress, her cream coloured hair piled in a complicated knot on the top of her head.

Fighting tears, Alanna and Rhiannon hugged Tat, exchanged promises to write, and then, with a bow, the driver handed 'lady Tatiana' up into the waiting carriage, and she was gone.

Alanna watched the carriage draw away, feeling for all the world like sitting down right there on the convent's front steps and bawling. Tat had been there from the very beginning of her life at the convent, and now she was gone. Then, with a jolt, Tat's final words struck her - "I expect it won't be too long til you come to Corus anyway." I'm fifteen, she thought. I'll be sixteen in three months - and midwinter is in five.

***

Alanna looked up at the stars, tracing the constellation of the Goddess with a finger. It'd been a week since Tat had left for Corus -she could well be there already.

Something cold touched her wrist, and she jumped, reaching for her boot dagger out of habit, then relaxing as she realised it was only a kitten.

Probably from one of the stable cat's litters. Gathering up the kitten, who had crawled into her lap, she tilted it's - his, she was sure it was a he - head up, and almost dropped him as she realised that his eyes were a deep violet that matched her own.

"Good evening, my daughter."

The voice was deeper and richer than that of a mortal woman, and Alanna jumped up again in fright, the kitten squeaking in protest.

Well, if this isn't just my night for unexpected visitors!

The woman slipped off her hood and gestured for Alanna to sit down, which she did shakily.

"Who - who are you?"

The woman's only answer was to give a slight smile, one that Alanna recognised suddenly from the marble statue in the convent's temple, and Alanna's mouth dropped open.

"You - why - why are you here, my mother?"

The Goddess smiled again. "I felt it was time to visit you, as I do all my chosen ones."

Alanna shook her head. "Me? One of your chosen ones? But - "

The Goddess reached out her hand and touched Alanna's temple -

~The First Daughter reached out for her hand, and, without thinking, Alanna gave it. The priestess's eyes widened. "You have the hand of the Goddess upon you, lady Alanna. Welcome to her convent."~

Alanna stared at the Goddess.

"Yes," she said. "You have known that you were one of my chosen daughters since you first came to my convent. You are troubled by the thought of going to Corus. Do not be. You are destined for great things, my Alanna, and I am watching over you."

She held out her hand again, and Alanna knelt and kissed it, feeling as she did so the Goddess press something small and cold into her hand.

"Wear my token, child. It will help you on your journey, and remember, I will there when you need me." Her eyes flickered briefly to the kitten Alanna still held. "Watch over her, my small friend."

She shimmered, and, as suddenly as she had appeared, was gone.

Alanna looked down at the kitten, and then at her clenched fist, and opened it, wondering what the Goddess token was.

As golden-red light gleamed faintly around the stone, and Alanna peered at it, curious.

An ember. An ember contained within a paper-thin crystal, with a tiny loop at the top just big enough to slip a thin chain through.

The kitten meowed to be put down, and Alanna looked down at him, her fingers closing around the ember again, and shivered.

"Well," she said. "I guess we'd best be getting inside."

***

Shannyn dealt well with the sudden appearance of Alanna's new pet, and Alanna threw herself fully into her training with Liam - she wanted to know as much as she could before she left for court. The cat seemed to have an uncanny ability to get anywhere in the convent, as long as that was where Alanna was, a trait which, after a few days, earned him the name Faithful.

The cat also often talked to her, and once Alanna figured out that no one else could understand him and gave her rather odd looks if she talked back, began to think her comments at him whenever they were in public.

***

"Sir Dominic of Eagle's Reach, and the lady Tatiana of Eagle's Reach."

Tat held onto her brother's arm tightly as they descended the stairs and crossed the ballroom to pay their respects to the king and queen. Although she would never admit it, except perhaps to Alanna and Rhiannon, she had been terrified at the thought of descending the stairs by herself, and her older brother had offered to escort her, since his wife, Analisa, was pregnant with their first child and in no condition to attend the celebrations for the Prince's nineteenth birthday.

Once they had done that, Dominic had begun excuse himself to see some old baron or other, but Tat had cut him off. "Don't leave me alone, 'Nic, that's a horrible thing to do to your little sister at her first ball."

Dominic rolled his eyes. "Come on, then, I'll introduce you to my former squire, and you can be wallflowers together.''

Tapping a tall - very tall - young man on the shoulder, Dominic hurriedly introduced them. "Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, my sister, lady Tatiana." and left.

"Well," began Sir Raoul. "That was quick."

"It was indeed, Sir Raoul."

He grimaced. "Raoul, please, lady Tatiana. Formality irritates me."

Tat grinned - truth be told, she hadn't been looking forward to exchanging pleasantries - polite lies, as Alanna called them - all night, so meeting someone as blunt as she wanted to be was a pleasant surprise. "If I call you 'Raoul', then you must call me Tat. Formality is not one of my favourite things either, and, alas, my parents seemed to have an obsession with giving their children absurdidly long names."

Raoul grinned back and then, sighing at something over her shoulder, asked resignedly if she would like to dance as a new dance began.

"I don't like it, but my friends'll never leave me alone unless I do - d'you mind?"

"No. Can I meet your friends?"

"They're all talking to some new lady ... it might be someone you know."

It was. Delia. Forcing herself to smile and greet her politely, as she did all the young men surrounding her - Prince Jonathan, his cousin Sir Gareth, and a young squire - Thom of Trebond, who, she thought, looked so like his sister a blind man could see it, and who was also the only young man there apart from Raoul who wasn't wearing an expression of rapt attention to whatever Delia said and did. In fact, he was wearing an expression of barely concealed dislike - not quite hate, but verging on it.

***

Thom walked over to his friends, intending to talk to them - one of the reasons he didn't mind social events was because they were one of the few times he could see his friends, who always seemed to be away on duties whenever he got a break from his studies and Myles' work - and discovered that they were already very much occupied with the young beauty seated in their midst.

Bowing over lady Delia's hand, he frowned slightly at an odd glitter in her eyes, completely at odds with the charming smile she wore, and, curious, probed gently at her mind.

What better way to get back at the little bitch, than to make her own brother fall in love with me? Alanna'll be horrified - how perfect.

Thom shuddered slightly, quickly withdrawing his magic from her mind. She was every bit as horrible as Alanna had said she was.

Trying desperately to find a way to get away from his friends, and Delia, who kept insisting he dance with her, he didn't notice Raoul until he spoke, and Jon introduced him to Delia almost before he'd finished greeting them.

The lady beside him smiled rather forcedly at Delia, and Thom recognised why she looked so familiar - she reminded him of Raoul's knight master so much that he felt she could only be his sister. And that meant -

Delia opened her mouth again, and Thom, afraid that she was going to make him dance with her again, cut her off. Bowing to the pale beauty beside Raoul, he smiled. "Lady Tat, I presume."

She grinned back at him. "And you would be either Lord or Squire Thom, I take it."

Jon, Gary and Raoul looked from one to the other in confusion. "Do you two know each other?" asked Jon.

Lady Tatiana smiled. "I'm good friends with squire Thom's sister, and they look so alike that I presumed."

"Thom?"

"Unlike you, I was actually paying attention when Lady Tatiana was introduced to your parents, and I got a very good description of what she looks like from my sister. Would you like to dance, my lady?"

Tat smiled; however, Raoul looked a little put out. As they walked towards the dance floor, Thom leaned over, and whispered as close to his tall friend's ear as he could get, "We'll meet you at the windows at the far end of the hall at the end of the dance. Delia's unbearable."

Raoul was at the windows by the end of the dance, and the three of them went outside to enjoy some fresh air - and being away from the crush of people.

Thom retired early, blaming an early start that morning, and another one the next day, although in truth his reasons were namely to give Raoul and Lady Tat time alone - not playing matchmaker, just, speeding things along - he didn't want Raoul in Delia's clutches and this was the perfect way to stop that.

***

... I blame moonlight, music, ecstatic joy at not having to talk to Delia, your brother, and all the Gods for this, Alanna, but somehow I have fallen utterly in love with him. I suppose father will be pleased, at least, since our homes border one another. And before you scowl and proclaim me to be a weak court lady who fell for the first man she met who will now never pick up a weapon again, we had a bout this morning with staffs - and I came rather close to beating him, as well, so that should make you happy. Looking back over this letter, I realise it's made up mostly, if not entirely, our information about Raoul. I miss you incredibly much, and can't wait (even if you can!) for you to come to Corus so I can see you again,

Tatiana

Alanna smiled a little as she read through Tat's letter again, snorting at the idea of her brother playing matchmaker, and placed the letter beside her as she pulled out pen and paper to write back.

The letter had arrived the week after her birthday, along with a birthday gift - a set of diamond earrings from the mines in Tat's home fief, to wear, Tat said, when she was presented to court at midwinter. Alanna had smiled at that in spite of the reminder that she would soon be leaving for what she privately considered to be worse than that part of the Black God's realm for those who had lead evil lives, because of the way it reminded her of Tat's subtle teasing.

It's good for you, commented Faithful from his perch on her armchair. You need someone around to tease you to stop you getting to serious about everything.