A/N: ARGH! STUPID ELECTRICITY! My house is falling apart. My modem is not working! I'm going through IDT (Internet Deprivation Trauma). For the 10 minutes my modem did work I found out that FF.N does not. Work that is. ::shrieks in joy:: THE MODEM WORKS AGAIN! But I can't write reviews for stories or anything. Oh well. School is back in session...YAY SENIOR YEAR!

I was not unhappy to delete that last author's note - it was in desperate need of editing.

DISCLAIMER: I own the characters but Tortall and it's surrounding areas are owned by Tamora Pierce.

Lady Ribyyn of Hadic

Chapter 9 - Fight, Kiss, Slap, Lecture

Hayden entered the kitchen to find his mother and older brother already awake. Glynice was cooking French toast and Slyde sat at the breakfast table looking worried.

"Ullo," Hayden said cheerfully, trotting into the room. Slyde merely glared at him. Hayden glanced at his older brother as he sat down. "What's wrong with you?"

"When was the last time you saw her?" Slyde grumbled.

"Saw who?"

"Ribyyn," his mother answered. "Your brother thinks she's been kidnapped by that fool boy Dasher."

"She didn't come home?" Hayden queried.

"Would I be worried if she did, dolt?"

"I'm not a dolt. I'm only askin'. 'Sides, what makes you think she didn't come home?"

"Her door's open an' her bed's not slept in. Th' candle I left burnin' fer her is burned all the way down."

"Oh."

There was a loud creak from behind the family and they turned to see a very dazed and distracted Ribyyn enter the room. She sat down next to Slyde with an audible thump. Blinking a few times, she reached out to grab the pitcher of orange juice, but Slyde grabbed her wrist first.

"Where in Mithros have ye been?" he snapped at her.

"Upstairs."

"Ye weren't upstairs when I checked last," his voice was no longer worried, but it held a note of anger.

"I've been upstairs all night," she insisted.

"All night?" Glynice asked innocently.

Ribyyn nodded emphatically. "Well, past midnight at least. The window to my room was locked, so I came in through Slyde's room." She paused, her face thoughtful and then her eyes glazed over with realization and she became extremely interested in the table top. When she continued, what she said came out softly, as if she didn't want them to hear. "I spent the night there."

It was quiet in the kitchen for what felt like hours to Ribyyn. The silence was broken when Hayden leapt out of his chair and cried out, "I'll kill him!"

"Kill who?" asked an innocent voice from behind them. Darin stood at the doorway, with his usual cool confidence. Ribyyn studied him. He'd changed in the years they'd been apart. His voice was deeper than before and he'd grown a lot. In the past he'd only just topped her meager five feet, three inches. She was no longer so short, a wonderful two inches had been added to her height, but he was still at least five inches taller than her. His hair was blonder, if that was at all possible. The only thing that was the same was the lovely shade of green his eyes had when he found something funny. Apparently, Hayden's reaction was hysterical, because his eyes were filled with laughter. He caught Ribyyn staring at him and smiled at her. Walking further into the kitchen Darin ruffled her hair as he walked by. "Mornin', Love," he said as he sat down across from her at the table.

He picked up a slice of toast and was about to bite into it when Hayden snapped at him. "Who said you could eat our food?"

Darin merely raised an eyebrow and gave the younger boy a confused look. "Your brother?" he said, though it was more of a suggestion than a statement.

"Well I retract the invitation!"

"Hayden!" his mother snapped at him. "That is no way to treat a guest."

"Even though he slept with Ribyyn?"

Ribyyn opened her mouth to protest but Darin beat her to it. "You act as if she's your fiancée, not your sister. And we didn't sleep together. She fell asleep on the floor while I was talking to her."

"Talking to her, or seducing her?"

Three voices screamed, "Hayden!" while one other calmly asked, "I beg your pardon?"

"Hayden, apologize immediately or leave this table!" Glynice scolded her son.

"Fine. I see that I am not contributing to this discussion-"

"What else is new?" Slyde asked, rolling his eyes as he received a glare from Hayden and a giggle from Ribyyn.

"So I will take my leave," Hayden finished. He grabbed the piece of toast that Darin held in his hand and stood up to leave the room. "Fine by me if you all want to eat breakfast with the rapist and his victim." And with that he strode out of the room. Moments later the slamming of the front door was heard.

"Rude little brat, isn't he?" Darin drawled as he took another piece of toast off the plate.

"He's not usually like that," Ribyyn informed him, pouring herself another glass of orange juice.

"He's just not used t' competition is all," Darin said with a smile as he buttered the bread. "That's alright. He really ought not to be worried about anything."

"Why?" Ribyyn asked slyly, forgetting for the movement that Slyde and his mother were in the room as well. "Were you leading me on last night? Is there someone else?" Darin coughed and ignored the question. "Because if there is, I suppose I could find an immediate substitute. It wouldn't be all that hard." She caught the flicker of moment at his eyebrow though, to all appearances, Darin continued to ignore her. "And it wouldn't necessarily be Hayden, mind you. I know plenty others who would be quite willing."

Darin nearly choked on his toast at this. Ribyyn smiled cheerfully at him and resumed eating her breakfast. Darin only continued to stare at her. Suddenly he turned on Slyde. "What have ye done to her?"

"Eh?" Slyde said, his mouth full of scrambled eggs.

"She used t' be so innocent!" Darin explained.

"She still is," Slyde told him as he swallowed, and stood up to put his plate in the sink. "She's lyin' t' ye." He walked over to Ribyyn and bent down to whisper in her ear. "Ye know where I'll be if ye need me. I trust ye'll explain things then." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, rose and nodded to Darin, and left the room.

Glynice glanced at the King of Thieves and the seventeen year old. "This may be against my better judgment," she said, "but I'll leave you two alone." She followed her son out of the room.

"You were lying to me?" Darin asked, his voice mock-hurt.

Ribyyn rolled her eyes and picked up her dish. She carried it over to the sink and proceeded to clean it, all the while ignoring Darin's piercing stare into her back.

"I can't believe you would lie to me. What happened to the Ribyyn I knew?" He grinned at her, rose, and brought his dish over to the sink. He took the clean dish out of her hands and handed her his dirtied one.

"She grew up," Ribyyn said calmly as she cleaned the plate. There was silence as she handed it over to him and he dried it. When they were finished she placed them back in their proper places.

"Why?" asked Darin softly. He looked down on her. She no longer looked like the thirteen year old he knew. She was taller, and more feminine. At thirteen she had looked ten but at seventeen she looked mature. Her face had been round, her eyes large, and her hair plaited in two braids, like a proper young maiden's should be. Her face now had lost much of it's baby-fat. Her eyes were still round and blue, but they held more knowledge. Her deep red hair was longer than before, and was worn in one long braid which she twisted around her head as if it were a crown. However, she was still shorter than him.

"Everyone's got to grow up sometime, Darin," she spoke softly and tried to keep from looking at him.

"I know," he whispered. "But you seemed so set on staying a child forever." He paused and studied her. Ribyyn could feel his eyes on her, boring into the top of her head. She felt two cool fingers slide under her chin and force her face up. Her cerulean blue eyes met his spring-green ones, and he smiled. "I think I like you better this way though." He bent down and kissed her lips softly.

Ribyyn sighed and relaxed, leaning against him. Foolishly, she wished that this moment could last forever, but knew that she would die of suffocation if it did. At the moment though she didn't care, and just as she thought her lungs would burst, Darin broke the kiss. Ribyyn wondered how he was able to do that, break the kiss just as she was about to pass out. She'd have to ask him sometime.

"So," Darin said, his calm confidence unwavering. "D'you think ye could show me around this blasted city ye've been livin' in fer the past four years?"

~*~

"It's not fair!" cried Hayden. "She's mine!"

"She's not yers," Roank said with a roll of his eyes. "She's her own person, belongin' to nobody."

"I don't care!" the teenager yelled in anguish. "He has no right to come bargin' in and treatin' her as if she were no more than a common wench."

"I don't think that's exactly how he treated her," Slyde said, though he knew not why he was sticking up for the man. Ribyyn did seem to know him and trust him, but that was never enough to convince Slyde.

"It is how he treated her!" Hayden insisted. "Couldn't ye tell? She breaks into his room an' he immediately tries to bed her!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say immediately," a voice behind Hayden drawled. "We did try to get reacquainted before falling asleep on the floor, but it had been a long day. So you must forgive me for falling asleep when he had barely begun telling me where he had been for the past four years." Ribyyn sat down next to her friend.

Hayden turned to her. "Why would ye care where he's been?" he said with contempt. His next comment was mocking. "Unless of course ye wanted to bed him. In which case I understand perfectly. Only th' purest for th' Lady Ribyyn. Any man she beds is not allowed to have had paid 'guests'."

Ribyyn faced him, her face an unreadable glare. "Take that back," she growled.

"I will not."

"TAKE IT BACK!"

Hayden only ignored her. Furious, Ribyyn drew her hand back and let it fly. It made a sickening smack as it came into contact with Hayden's cheek.

"BITCH!" the boy cried. "What th' hell did ye do that for?"

"Never speak of my friends that way again. Never." She continued to glare at him. "You don't know what we went through together. You have no right to make such assumptions."

Hayden just gaped at her. Then, in one swift movement, he shoved his chair back and left the inn.

"Dollface," Slyde told her, "I don't think I've ever seen this side of ye."

"Life's full of surprises," she said, her voice low.

"Are ye goin' t' tell us 'bout yer friend now?" Roank asked.

"What is it you want to know?"

"Anythin' yer willin' t' tell us," he leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. "Like how ye come t' know him so well that ye can fall asleep on th' floor with him without a second thought in that silly head o' yers."

"I've known him since I was," she paused to think. "I've known him practically forever. Longer than I can remember. He... he was my brother's best friend. Before he died that is."

She looked at the two men, waiting for their reactions. When she saw only their intent faces she continued, looking down at her hands and keeping her voice quiet and controlled. "I've thought him dead for the past four years." She looked up at them and said, "I'd thought you'd done it."

Roank's eyes widened and Slyde glanced at his companion. "Ye mean t' tell me that th' King o' Thieves is the boy Goethe tried t' drown in th' river four years back?"

Ribyyn nodded. "Gods," the man groaned, his face in his hands. "We are so dead."

~*~

It was late into the afternoon and Roank had been called away for one of his many tasks as head of the thieves in Port Caynn. Ribyyn had been silent while the two men discussed how to approach Darin Smith for hours, and remained silent while Slyde studied her.

"Rib," he said softly. She looked up at him and the thief saw exactly what he feared most, complete and utter innocence. The girl had no idea what she was getting into with the Rogue. "We need t' talk. Let's go upstairs." He pushed his chair out and stood up. Ribyyn followed him up the stairs and to Roank's private quarters above the small inn.

"Sit," he ordered. Ribyyn sat. "How well d'ye know this Darin fellow."

"I told you. I've known him forever."

"Yes but," he paused for effect. "It's been four years, Dollface. Folks change in four years. 'Specially when horrible things happen t' 'em."

"Darin hasn't changed that much."

"Was he persuin' ye romantically 'aforehand? An' don't try 'n tell me that he ain't got no romantic notions. I was at the breakfast table this mornin', remember." Slyde looked down at her, his eyes filled with worry.

"Yes. No. Sort of," she said softly. "I was only thirteen, Slyde. And he was afraid that if he'd said anything then Kalvin would make fun of him. He had his pride to hold on to! He'd only just told me how he felt the night before we got split up." She paused for a breath. "Everything that passed between us was merely friendly," she lied. "Don't hurt him Slyde! I've only just found him! I couldn't bear to lose him a second time!" Slyde wondered offhandedly why the girl was sticking up for the Rogue so much. He wasn't about to go and gut the man, though Hayden might be foolish enough to do so.

"Don't worry, love. I'm not about to go an' skin him. I'm smarter than that." He smiled down at her. "Just be careful, alright? And ye might want to ask Mum t' go diggin' in her jewelry box an' find ye a charm. Don't give me that look!" he scolded her as she blushed and scowled at him for intruding on her privacy. "I'm doin' what's best for ye, child. Ye'll appreciate it later. I promise ye."

She sighed and nodded her head in defeat. "Good," he said to her, and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "And remember, I'm always here if ye need someone t' talk to."

"Thanks Slyde," she said with a shy smile.

"Yer welcome. I could say more, but I'll let Mum handle that little 'girl-talk' thing." Her blush deepened and she glared at him. He laughed and put his hand on her shoulder, pushing her towards the door. "Now go an' find that lousy pickpocket o' yers!"

A/N: Ah...another chapter done! See what the Jewish holidays can do to a girl. I hate being stuck at home all weekend. Don't forget, if you review you get a cookie!

I was just talking to a friend of mine who's rereading all the Tortall books over again, and she said she came upon a part in Page where a character sings, "Books, books, books," and she finds this funny because she does the same thing. But she couldn't remember the character, so I told her it was Owen. And she says she can't remember why he said it, so I told her it was because they were going to the library because there wasn't enough room in Neal's room. And she told me I was hopelessly obsessed. Perhaps. :D