I am heartbroken!!!! The bookstore just called and Lady Knight doesn't come out until AUGUST! WHY, OH WHY???? *sighs* oh well, I've waited for a year, I can wait longer. (can you tell that my life is an emotional roller coaster? : D the only way to live! I wrote the next chapter because I am suffering from NTPBWS (New Tamora Pierce Book Withdrawal Syndrome) But . . . . *screams* I can't believe it!!!!! I feel like an idiot for believing, um, whoever told me it came out in may. . . thanks, reviewers, for alerting me to the falsity of my desperate delusions. Keep it up! Well . . . not the falsity thing, just reviewing! I feel loved when people review! And about the whole K/N thing . . . well, you'll just have to wait and find out, won't you? I know, I'm evil. But I sure have a lot of fun.

Wow. Long author note. Here's the chapter!

A Shameful Goodbye

Kel slammed a dusty tome down on an oaken table. She made a frustrated noise and turned to Neal.

"Nothing! None of these index books mention anything that has anything to do with Ancient, or An Cient! I've checked all of them forty times! Nothing!" She sat down in a huff at the table, where Neal was flipping through another index book.

"The king still has all his new books recorded in here, so nothing could be in the library that isn't in here, but you're right. There is definitely no An Cient, or anything of the sort," said Neal.

Kel groaned, a new idea occurring to her. "What if Myles was wrong about whole 'Ancient' thing? What if he was wrong about the whole poem? We could be going to the totally wrong places!"

"No, I don't think he's wrong. All the other clues make sense. But this one . . . did it seem too easy to you?"

Kel thoughtfully replied, "Kind of . . . compared to the other ones, it was a breeze. There has to be a catch."

"I agree."

They sat in silence, thinking.

Okay, here comes a quickie note-- they figure this out really fast, on the first idea, and really easily. I did that on purpose . . . I couldn't think of enough reasons to make it harder for them to figure it out, so don't get mad at me for my easy answers! PS. I thought it was time for Kel to figure one out. She's been in the background on the whole 'brains' thing, and since she isn't stupid, well, here ya go:

Suddenly, Kel froze. She slowly raised herself from her slouched position and lifted her index finger into the air. "Wait," she said, more to herself than to Neal. He looked at her, interested.

"What if 'Ancient' was a synonym? You know, like it had an author whose name was a synonym for ancient? Like, I don't know, Prehi Storic or something."

"You know, you may have something there," said Neal pensively. He grabbed a sheet of parchment. "Okay, tell me all the words you can think of that mean ancient."

Fifteen words and two indexes later, they still weren't anywhere further. Neal was ready to give up, but Kel wouldn't let him.

"Come on!" she prodded. "We have one more word left! It has to be the right one!" He sighed and lugged the last index book over in front of him.

"What's the word?" he asked.

"Antique."

He flipped through the pages to the most probable match. Running his finger down the list of authors and books, he paused. Slowly, a grin spread across his face. Kel shoved over next to him, his arm pressing against her own. She read what his finger was pointing at: Anne Teek, author of The History of the Relationship between the Horsefly Population and the Annual Wheat Surplus.

"Well, that would explain why no one's found this one for four hundred years," Kel said wryly.

"According to the index, the book is in the twenty-third bookshelf on the right," Neal announced.

They walked to the twenty-third bookshelf. Kel got a library ladder and pulled the book down.

"Don't open it until you get down here!" Neal called.

Kel climbed down off the ladder and stood next to him. Together they opened the book. In a hollow recess carved between the pages, they found a dusty round stone. Wordlessly, Kel picked it up and held it up to the magical crystal light, illuminating a runic symbol for two.

"This is the last of the Six hidden in Tortall," she said quietly. "We have to leave home."

"Unfortunately," Neal drawled, "We are at war with the three countries we're supposed to go visit, and I don't think their rulers would take kindly to us sneaking in and taking something this valuable."

"We'll just have to be careful, then, won't we?" Kel smirked.

"Yes," said Neal. "Extremely. By the way, when are we going to leave?"

"How about . . . tomorrow morning."

"Are you sure? Because the last time you said that, you hadn't figured out where we were going yet. Do you have it all this time? Because I want to make sure I say goodbye for the last time -- I already said goodbye to Yuki, and I have to do it again now, because I didn't actually leave, and --"

"Neal." Kel interrupted his rant. "Shut . . . up. We-are-leaving-tomorrow. But I'll go with you to say goodbye to Yuki. I need to say goodbye myself, I totally forgot to do so! Let's go now. It's rather late, and she may already be asleep, or getting ready at least. And don't worry," she added, seeing the skeptical look in his eyes, "I'll leave so you two can have your private good-byes."

Neal readily agreed after hearing this. They left the library, the Two they possessed safe in a belt pouch at Kel's waist. They walked toward the Yamani's chamber, talking quietly between themselves about their travel arrangements. Upon reaching Yuki's chamber, Neal knocked twice, and when no one answered, he set about opening the door with the key Yuki had given him.

Suddenly, her voice rang out. "Don't come in!" she cried desperately.

It was too late.

The door swung open, revealing Yuki stumbling half-dressed out of her bed, where a man covered himself with a sheet. Neal froze.

Without a word, he turned and ran from the scene. Kel was caught like a deer on a crossbow's sight; she couldn't move if her life depended on it.

"Neal!" Yuki cried heart-wrenchingly, tears streaming down her face. "Shit," she sobbed. "Shit, shit, shit, . . ." Her chant of swears deteriorated as she began to weep in earnest. "I didn't mean anything," she wailed, looking at Kel. The man remained silent.

Kel glared at her scathingly. "Why are you crying? Were you the one whose heart was broken? Were you the one betrayed? No. You weren't. So. Shut. Up. And what do you mean by saying you didn't mean anything?" she demanded, past all reason. "You slept with another man! You are . . . were . . . involved with Nealan of Queenscove, or did you forget?"

"No!" Yuki stumbled forward and grabbed Kel's sleeve. "He said he was leaving . . . I didn't know he was here . . . "

"And that gives you an excuse?" Kel screamed. Yuki crumpled to the ground and sobbed. Kel looked at her like she would look at a pile of horse dung.

"I never, ever, want to see you again. I can't believe you. I trusted you. Never, ever, ever again," she whispered. She looked at the man and bowed ironically. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir."

Kel turned on her heel and stalked out the door, the sound of Yuki's lamenting echoing inside her ears long after she was out of earshot.

Whoa, ponies! Now wasn't that an unexpected twist! And you know what this means . . . Kel and Neal are both single! And you know what that means . . . they both hook up with characters I make up and get married.

I'll let you figure out whether I'm joking or not.

Anyways, the next chapter is damage control and then some. Hey, that's a catchy chapter title . . .