HAHA! HAHA! YES. I finally got my permit and I just went driving!!! The power!!! Ahhhhhhhh. Well, in my adrenaline-powered state, I got it together enough to write another chappie! Sorry it took so long, yucky soccer tryouts take up sooooo muccccch timmmme. Oh well. enjoy!

Transportation

For the second or third time since her quest started, Kel slept late. The comfort of a warm feather bed was something she hadn't felt in a while, and her body was making up for time spent sleeping on rocks and hard ground.

She got up when the sun had risen high enough in the morning sky to hit her straight in the face. Kel sat up in bed, yawning. She turned to look at Neal, and saw that he was facing the opposite direction, so the sun wasn't in his face at all.

"Lucky," she muttered before throwing back the covers and locating a new dress from her saddlebags. Neal just made sleep-noises and settled deeper in the bed.

She got dressed quickly and made her way downstairs. Edward and Helena were already up, sitting in the banquet hall finishing off a four-course breakfast. She was immediately and excitedly invited to finish it with them, and she accepted.

"You must wake Lord Gabriel up, my dear," said Edward. "Elsewise, we'll be late in starting off!" Kel bit down a little too hard on her toast. She took an extra long time chewing.

"Ahem," she said politely. "Starting off?"

"Of course! For the King's Gala! That is the reason you came to our Islands, is it not?" Helena trilled.

"Ah . . . Of course," Kel said faintly. "Let me just go wake him."

She excused herself and walked quickly to the door. In the hallways, she hiked up her skirts and ran to her rooms. Luckily, no one was in the hall to see her unladylike antics.

"Neal!" she cried, bursting in the bedroom door.

Neal jumped awake, scrabbling for his sword. "What! What's going on?!"

"We're going to the King's Gala! That's why Edward and Helena think we've come!"

"What?" Neal said, squinting at her. "What King's Gala? Where?"

"I have no idea! But we're going!"

A few muddled minutes later, Kel and Neal entered the banquet hall, stately moving down the long rows of empty chairs.

"Gabriel! So nice of you to join us! We've told Cook to pack a movable brekkie — we're leaving now!" The lord and lady swept past the two Tortallan knights and took of through the labyrinthine halls, forcing Kel and Neal to follow them.

"These people don't like to move slow, now, do they?" Neal muttered.

"I can remember someone else doing the exact same thing," Kel shot back. Neal sneered elegantly before running into Edward's back.

"Oof! Here we are! Ascend!" said Edward.

They had reached the courtyard, and Kel wasn't at all ready for what they faced. There were two four-poster beds sitting before them, surrounded by sixteen burly men. She saw Peachblossom and Topaz tied up at the side, saddled but not tightly.

"Wha—" she started, mystified.

Neal interrupted her. "Thank you for loaning us a litter, Lord Edward," he said with a meaningful glance at Kel.

"It was nothing, Gabriel. Now climb on, so we can begin!"

Neal helped Kel up, but once again, instead of using his hand, as was proper, she levered herself up using his shoulder. She was already inside the litter, but Neal looked quickly back and saw Edward and Helena exchange expressive glances. His thoughts flew.

"Madylene, you really should do something about your balance. It's an absolute liability on a horse, you know," he called, with a wink at Edward. The furrows in the lord's brow eased, and he winked back.

"My balance—" Kel began loudly, but by then Neal was already inside the litter with her.

"Is perfectly fine, I know. Yet you still use my shoulder, not my hand, to help yourself up with. Not like a lady." Kel fell silent. "Next time, try to be a little less conspicuous? Please? And I know that you're learning this from scratch, but listen to me. I've noticed my share of Court Ladies, so I know how they act."

"Oh, have you?" Kel said dangerously.

Neal glanced at her, saw her expression, and promptly stuck his head outside of the curtains, shouting, "We're ready, Lord Edward! Lead the way!"

They rode, or rather sat while eight people moved them, for most of the day. At lunch, Kel was itching to ride, but Neal convinced her not to even ask.

"I suppose we can't ask where we're going, can we?" she asked Neal at one point, sitting propped up on some cushions inside the litter.

"Of course not," Neal said. "We're already supposed to know."

Gradually, sound began to grow outside the thick curtains of the litter. Kel and Neal conversed in hushed tones so Edward and Helena wouldn't hear; they were hurriedly trying to figure out where they were headed. A look outside the litter didn't do much good, as all they saw were trees and bushes. The noise steadily grew louder, but Kel and Neal were resigned to being passengers.

At around dinnertime, Edward's voice penetrated the thick curtains of their litter. "Ahh, here we are! The Grand Palace!"

All right, here's my explanation for that chapter. There's more to come, soon, because I've been writing it, but I thought the chapter was getting too long so I cut it down to the first possible logical break for a chapter. Sorry! This one was short, but I haven't updated for a while and I felt an inexplicable need to. Does anyone else experience this? Anyway, the next chapter should be up within the next few days, barring any sort of government silencing, or any other event that would conceivably silence my writing.

Ummm . . . so many people reviewed! Yay for reviews! Here are replies! Yay for replies!

Epitaph Munku-JGSPTV: okay, first of all, what the hell does your name mean??? It's awesome, though. Yes yes, Cleon needs to go AWAY!!! Hopefully he will. ONLY A WEEK TILL LADY KNIGHT!!!! And you can order it online (even the other side of the world isn't far enough away from eBay!) but you knew that, right? ;)

Gaia: Ahh! So much writing! It makes me feel really really cool! Thanks so much for all the ACTUAL WRITING ADVICE! YAY! I will go back and change (some of) it sometime in the new future. And for a new pn . . . how about zucchini bandit? I'll let you figure out whether I'm joking or not.

Phoenixdreams: thanks very much! And I know, it was, but I had to get them out of the way. Woohoo for favorites!

Loke: I know! I love Byrn! I'm a TOTAL K/N shipper . . . can't stand her with anyone else. and if she ends up with cleon I will be REALLY REALLY MAD! Ugh. Now you've got me thinking about it. must move on.

Dragon Fire: LADY KNIGHT comes out where I am on august 27!!! Yay!!!

Keita: hey, did you know that your pn is an anagram for my real name? Isn't that cool! Thanks for all your reviews . . . they were really inspiring! And I know muchos gracias is spanish, I was saying I was sorry if I spelled them wrong because I'm taking french, so I don't know how to spell spanish words . . . get it? merci beaucoup, how's that? And also, Cleon's marriage isn't arranged since forever, it's just been implied to be since his mom is (apparently) very anal. Anyway . . . yeah.

Bobo: there's more now!

Dragon Queen: I think Edward is hilarious too, but I haven't seen the Man in the Iron Mask. :( I guess I'll have to. And sorry, but Kel's in dresses for at least another chapter. *winces* don't kill me . . .

Quackers: it makes me so happy when you say it's one of the best! Tell all your ff.net buddies to read it!!!

Valeria: ya know, I just don't think I can make Neal get married. It's just a bit too . . . I don't know, settled I guess. I'm waiting for the great Tammy to make that decision. (aside: she must. SHE MUST.)

Loony: Thank you for that lovely course in meal presentation. And I wasn't Queen Elizabeth, but I was a queen . . . ahem, queen of the savages in eastern mongolia, but still! And yes, I hope to find out about sean biggerstaff too, (please, god, please)

Larzdinn: I LOVE K/N. That is all.

Songbreeze the Omnipresent: You're getting another shoutout, too! Your pn kicks major butt! I love it. and no problem about those italics. And is there something wrong about laughing while your mother's in the room because *coughs* I end up doing that . . . can't restrain myself . . . must go now.

Penpen: Let's hope it's not wrong to love characters in books . . . I'm in major trouble if it's some cosmic no-no.

Nessa'fur: No, I did not ever get a plot bunny. *looks hopeful* wink wink nudge nudge a nod's as good as a yes to a blind bat ( or something to that effect, I haven't seen monty python in a really long time)