Okay, here it is! I apologize for how long it took me to write this, but I had a lot going on over the weekend. By the way, does anyone know the name of Neal's horse?

At the Wandering Ram

"Quick!" Kel hissed. "Do something!"

"What?! What do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know! Use your Gift, or something! Hurry! They haven't noticed we aren't Carthaki yet!"

Neal sighed. He held out his hand, and a dark green ball of fire grew in his palm. With a sweeping motion, he flung the fire in a circle, encompassing both the knights and their horses.

"Okay, we're invisible, but nothing else. They can still hear us, and if they come inside the circle, they can see us," Neal whispered.

Kel padded to the horses. "You better to be quiet," she told them. "Otherwise, we're all dead." Peachblossom shook his head restlessly, but didn't move after that. Neal's horse shifted position and stood quietly.

The soldiers were getting closer by the second. Within a minute, they were right next to the invisible sphere containing Neal and Kel. Marching in sync, the Carthak soldiers passed them by, as close as ten feet to the bubble, and continued down the shore.

As soon as they were out of sight, Neal broke the spell, gasping. His face had a light sheen of sweat from the strain of holding the spell for so long. "Gods," he wheezed. "Could they have gone any slower?"

"We're lucky they didn't, with you looking so bad after holding it this long. Of course, not that it really makes a difference . . . " Kel said teasingly.

"What, don't you think I'm handsome normally?" Neal retorted, a mock-conceited look on his face.

"Most of the time," Kel said without thinking. At Neal's startled look, she hurriedly added, "But the rest of the time I can hardly stand to look at you."

Neal's look faded into a confused expression. Kel silently cursed. She had as good as told him that she thought he was handsome! She changed the subject, saying, "Maybe we should find some Carthaki clothes."

They went into the forest bordering the shore to change into inconspicuous tunics. Kel had finished dressing and was walking toward the horses when she heard Neal walk out of his clump of bushes. She turned around, starting to say, "What took you so long?" but when she saw him, she her words faded away and stopped.

Neal was in the process of pulling his tunic over his head, and he had nice muscles. Kel had never really noticed a guy without his shirt on before, but this was kind of hard to miss. Neal finished pulling down his tunic and caught her staring.

"So this is most of the time, huh?" he said smugly as he sauntered over. Kel's face flushed with color and she turned hurriedly to the horses. What is going on? she thought, frustrated. I never used to act this way around him. Next thing you know, I'll be turning into a tittering court lady!

Out loud, she said, "We should hide everything that marks us as Tortallan."

"Really? I hadn't thought of that," Neal said sarcastically.

Kel glared at him and continued. "We should find some inn to stay at tonight, because if we're found sleeping outside it will draw attention to us." Neal nodded. They concealed the few small things that marked them as Tortallan knights, and were about to mount up when Neal suddenly blinked, and pulled a face.

"Damn," he said cheerfully. "I just realized that you don't have to pretend not to be a knight, because Carthak women are allowed to become knights. I was looking forward to seeing you pretend to be meek and submissive." Kel rolled her eyes and whacked him on the shoulder. Neal grinned. They both mounted up and rode along the small path leading into the heart of Carthak.

After riding for an hour and a half, they reached a small town. Judging by the light, there was only an hour of riding time left in the day, so they decided to see about bedding down at a nearby inn called The Wandering Ram.

They left the horses in the courtyard and entered the inn, where they were greeted immediately by the innkeeper.

"Hello, hello!" he greeted them enthusiastically. "I'm Tadit Ahim, the owner of this wonderful inn! Are you looking for a place to stay? We have many rooms available!"

Kel felt flattened under the man's torrential flow of words. She cut in smoothly, saying, "Yes, Ahim, we'd like to purchase rooms for one night, please." She used the correct way to address a person in Carthak, by his last name.

"And what is the occasion? Traveling companions, or adventurers on a perilous quest?"

That last suggestion had struck dangerously close to home. Kel fumbled for an explanation. Suddenly a lanky arm draped itself around her waist, and Neal said wickedly, "We're on our honeymoon." She glared furiously at him, but he was too amused to notice. She tried to shake free of his arm, but he held on tighter.

"Ahh! Wonderful! Two young lovers, about to embark on the most dangerous quest of all!" Neal looked uncomfortable. He hadn't expected the man to care, or make such a fuss.

"Comin!" Ahim shouted. A young man in servant's garb appeared at Ahim's elbow. "Get these two a room! The best we have with -- " he looked knowingly at them, "A wonderfully bouncy mattress!"

Kel was mortified, and Neal was turning bright red. As Comin led them to a room, Kel had seen the humor of the situation and was choking on a fit of giggles. Neal was making funny noises, and gasping as he tried not to laugh. Comin opened the door, and the two knights stumbled inside, gulping air and trying to keep calm. The servant gave them a funny look.

Suddenly Ahim appeared at the door, and while giving the two a look that was supposed to be sly but ended up looking rather turtle-ish, said, "Comin! What are you doing? These two need to have a wonderful time here, and you are intruding on them! Leave!" Comin left. Ahim bowed low and said, "All to yourselves, to do with as you please!" He winked again, and left, closing the door behind him. As soon as the door closed, Kel and Neal collapsed in laughter.

"Okay." Kel finally had her breath back enough to gasp out words. "Okay, okay, okay. Never do that again. But since we're stuck here for at least one night, thanks to that wonderfully helpful man --" They dissolved into laughter once more. Kel continued.

"Anyway, you get to sleep on the floor, since this is your fault."

Neal shrugged. "I don't like bouncy mattresses anyway," he said with a grin. Kel snorted.

Later, after she was lying safe under the sheets, listening to Neal breathing on the floor, Kel sighed. Gods, she thought. What an extremely embarrassing day. She snuggled into the covers and drifted into sleep.

Hehe, yay! Sometimes a little fluff is nice! Okay, the next chapter is relevant to the plot, I promise! (and so was this chapter . . . well, you'll see.) Continue reviewing! It would so cool if you just took the time to write, "cool story." Or "your story sucks." Whatever your opinion may be, just please please please take the time to write a short review! Yay!