Heart's Desire
Chapter 3- Kelsie's Night Out

Disclaimer-
I don't own Alanna, George, Jon, etc. I do own Kelsie, Matthew, and those other stupid girls from the convent.



Kelsie followed Matthew without saying a word. It was too dark to see, and Matthew took her hand in order to guide her. Kelsie was glad it was dark, because she was positive that she was blushing furiously. Finally, they were under a tree at the edge of the Royal Forest. They weren't very far away from the barn.
"All right, why Old Man Cooper?" Kelsie demanded of the squire.
"It's a long story." Matthew paused as Kelsie gave him the same furious glance that she had seen Alanna give George just a few hours before. Matthew, seeing this glare, cleared his throat and said, "But of course we have all the time in the world. All right, you really want to know? My big brother, Raoul, is the commander of the King's Own and he's one of Jon's best friends. He's also one of Alanna's. Raoul used to be good friends with George, too, just like the rest of them. But then Raoul told me something- something he had seen George do when he thought no one was looking, or something he had said. Raoul never really explained it to me, he said it was none of my business. Of course, he never would have said one thing if I hadn't asked him why he didn't like George like Gary and Jon and Alanna did. Raoul is stubborn, though. He still refuses to tell me what he knows, but Raoul has never lied to me. I know with all my heart he didn't make this up, Kelsie. Raoul is a pretty laid back guy, and he doesn't just stop liking someone for no reason. Especially someone that he'd been friends with for years, someone that his best friends were still really close to. I can always ask Raoul, but he says it's not important for me to know, and if it ever does become important, he'll let me know."
"But what on Earth would George have done? He's always seemed so nice, even when he was the Rogue! He still is nice to me. He introduced me to Alanna and everything."
"Alanna's a cool lady. I get to see her a lot because of Raoul. She helps me with training and stuff like that. She's really impressive. Raoul loves her to death. He says she's like the sister he never had. But I don't know what the deal is with George that he's got her, Jon, and Gary fooled, and not Raoul. All I do know is that I have the worst feeling that he's put them in some sort of danger."
"Danger!" Kelsie exclaimed.
"Listen, Kelsie, don't worry about it. When the situation becomes serious, Raould promised that he'd let me know. No, don't even start! My brother would never lie to me, Kelsie, and he never has."
"Well, then why............"
"Can we change the subject?"
"All right, fine, we can change the subject. Is the Lioness really as good as I've heard? I've never actually seen her fight."
"The Lioness? She's the best warrior I've ever seen. She's easily the best in Tortall. I mean, she's no Shang Warrior at hand to hand combat, but she knows a thing or two. And she learned from the Dragon- the former Dragon, that is. The only one that ever came close to beating her with a sword was Alex of Tirr...................." Matthew's voice trailed off and he looked at Kelsie, thinking. They sat in silence, both thinking about the person Matthew had just mentioned. Then Matthew broke the silence.
"Was he......... I mean, were you.......... What I'm trying to say is................" Kelsie cut him off angrily.
"Half. He was my half brother. His mom died when he was born, and then Father remarried to Mother. I never realized he went quite so............ bad. I never expected it from Alex. I mean, we weren't exactly the closest siblings on the planet- I'm sure you and Raoul are probably much closer than Alex and I were, but still. I mean, he was family, after all, even if we argued a lot. It hurts to think about him. I think about how he went over to Duke Roger, and how he tried to kill them.......... Your brother, Sir Gary, the Lioness, King Jonathan, and Goddess knows who else! I wish............ I wish there were someway I could have stopped him. Sometimes I feel like it's my fault, like the fact that I was born pushed him over the edge. And I wonder if............" Kelsie stopped abruptly.
"If what?" Matthew asked her gently.
"Why am I telling you all this? I barely know you!"
"I could ask the same thing. Why did I tell you about what Raoul says about George?"
"I don't know. Why did you?"
"Something just told me that I......... That I needed to trust you. Like you were an important part of the puzzle, a part of the puzzle that I can't figure out where it goes. As soon as I saw you, Kelsie, I knew that you were someone I needed to get to know better. And the first step to getting to know someone better is by talking to them, even if you tell them things that you prefer to keep to yourself." Matthew looked down at Kelsie again, and she met his gaze.
"You know something? You're right. And............ You know what you said? About me being a missing piece of the puzzle? Someone that you just felt like you needed to trust. I felt the same thing." She smiled, just a little smile, but a smile all the same. Matthew smiled back.
They sat under the tree talking for a long time. Kelsie told Matthew all about Tirragen, and then he told her about Golden Lake. They talked about her training at the convent, and then about his training to be a knight. They talked about the King, Alanna, Gary, Raoul, and many other figures in the palace. They talked about the Bazhir, and about other countries. Kelsie felt as though there were nothing they hadn't talked about. She had even gone so far as to tell him what she thought about the Lioness and the King being together. Matthew grinned wickedly when she told him this.
"Alanna and Jon! How brilliant! I never thought of it. One of the Bazhir that visited from Bloody Hawk told me some vague thing about them once being lovers, but I never really gave it a second thought. This is brilliance, Kelsie. If there's any way I can help you get them back together, just let me know!" Matthew smiled. Kelsie smiled, too. It was good to know she had someone she could count on. Kelsie finally looked away from Matthew's gaze- his eyes were so friendly!- and gasped in horror. In the distance, the sun was beginning to creep up from behind a hill.
"Mithros, we've been here all night! Matthew, if my mistress catches me not in my bed, I may never get a chance to put my plan in action- I'll be sent back to Tirragen, or worse, back to the convent! We have to hurry! What's the quickest way back to the area of the castle where the girls from the convent are staying?"
"Follow me," he said.
"But won't you get in trouble if they catch you? Just tell me and go back to your own quarters, before you get in trouble." He pulled on her hand again and led her off at a run in the direction of the palace.
"I won't get in trouble. My brother's my knight master, and he doesn't really care what I do, just as long as I don't do anything stupid that'll get myself killed. He'll probably think it's funny that I was out all night talking to a girl from the convent. He says I'm just like he was at his age- and he always avoided the ladies. He couldn't stand balls and things like that. All he cared about was his training."
"And are you really like that?" Kelsie asked mysteriously, now used to the feeling of his hand in hers (and quite enjoying it).
"Maybe," Matthew said, "You'll just have to wait and see. We have to be quiet once we get into the palace, so that we don't wake anyone up. And if we come across anyone, we have to pretend that we just happened to be up early."
"How can we do that? We're still in our clothes from the ball," she pointed out, looking down at her emerald green dress, which, despite being slightly dirty and wrinkled, still looked beautiful.
"Nothing wrong with that," Matthew commented, nodding toward her dress. Kelsie blushed slightly, trying to hide her face from Matthew's gaze. He opened the door slowly, and suddenly the two were silence. Kelsie was relieved for the silence, afraid that she would say something stupid. He led her through the hallways, and before she knew it they were in front of her room. Matthew let go of Kelsie's hand, and then bowed to her.
"Farewell, Lady Kelsie. I shall see you again, I hope," Matthew said. Then, before Kelsie knew what was happening, Matthew had kissed her gently on the lips. Kelsie opened her mouth to speak, but Matthew was already halfway down the hall.
Slowly, Kelsie opened the door to her quarters and changed into her sleeping clothes. She felt the strangest feeling, something she had never felt before. She wasn't sick, this was a good feeling. She felt as if she was........... She couldn't find the words to describe it. She felt as if she were floating. She looked down at the dround, but her feet were both firmly planted on the ground. Kelsie flopped down on the bed, and pulled the covers over her, even though she was already plenty warm. She smiled, despite the fact that in about two hours her mistress would be waking her up. If she was lucky, maybe they would be granted a bit of free time when she could sleep. It didn't matter that much, though. All Kelsie knew was that she never wanted to let go of this feeling.

~~~


Two hours later (or at least, she thought it was two hours later), Kelsie felt someone shaking her awake.
"Five more minutes," she moaned.
"Kelsie, wake up, it's me!" the voice said.
"Matthew!" Kelsie cried, sitting up straight, "What are you doing here? How'd you get into my room?"
"Don't ask, Kelsie, it doesn't matter. Just hurry up and change. I'll be waiting right outside in the hall, allright?" Kelsie nodded, and Matthew closed the door behind him. Quickly she changed into a violet dress. She combed her hair of ringlets into a ponytail, and then she washed her face. She looked at her reflection. She didn't look as beautiful as she had last night at the ball (or afterward, with Matthew, she thought with a smile) but she looked fine just the same. She wasn't nearly as tired as she had been, and when she looked out her window, she saw why. The sun was already high in the sky- it was already noon!
She slipped out the door, and greeted Matthew properly this time.
"It's noon! Why didn't anyone wake me before this?"
"One of the other girls from the convent- she was flirting with me, so I decided to get all the information I could out of her- said that her mistress had allowed one of the girls to stay in their quarters because she had fallen ill."
"Ill?" Kelsie asked, puzzled, and Matthew grinned wickedly.
"I figured you would need more sleep than just an hour or so, so I wrote a note to your mistress and left it on your door. It explained that you felt ill when you went to bed last night and that you wished to spend the morning resting. I knew you'd need to be well rested for this."
"Well rested for what?" she asked, and Matthew grinned again.
"Come on, we can't be late for a meeting with the King," Matthew insisted.
"The King! Matthew, how did you........."
"No questions. I'll explain later. Just come on." Grinning, Kelsie followed.

Author's Note-
So there you have it! In the next chapter, Kelsie finally meets Jon.
Please review, and I hope you enjoyed it!