A/N Well I'm back. Here ya go.PRIVATE
Disclaimer - Everything and everyone belongs to Tamora Pierce except for Delaney, Francis, and Colin. They are mine.
My Story - Back at the Swoop"Thom, you're home!!!"
"Alianne, you've learned how to speak properly!!"
"Thom, don't tease your sister." Alanna strode out of the castle.
"Mama!" Thom jumped out of his saddle to hug his mother.
"Honestly, when do you learn not to attack your mother like that?" asked George with a straight face and a glint of amusement
in his eyes.
"Let me down, my boy. You certainly are going to be tall like that unprincipled pickpocket over there."
George stood tall. "I am not an unprincipled pickpocket, at least not any more. I am the Baron of Pirate's Swoop. And I always
had principles, even when I was a thief."
They all laughed. Alan came out of the castle looking a bit confused.
"Did I miss something?" he asked. "Thom, I missed you. You don't know what it's like to have Alianne making me fight her all the time."
Thom hugged his little brother. "Of course I do. That's what is was like for me before I left for the University."
Alianne and Alan were jumping up and down. "Show us, show us!!!"
"Why don't we let Thom rest and he can show off after dinner," suggested Alanna.
Alianne and Alan seemed a little disappointed, but they agreed.
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Thom went to his room and washed up. Then, he walked around the Swoop to see what had changed. After thorough examination,
he found that everything was just the same as when he left.
Dinner was a rather interesting affair. Alan and Alianne were asking Thom so many questions that he finally had to show off some of
his newly gained skills. He closed their mouths and kept them shut using his Gift. His father was laughing his head off and his mother
was fighting to keep the smile from showing on her lips. Alan and Alianne clawed at their mouths until Alanna ordered him to remove
the spell.
"It isn't funny," said Alianne in indignation as soon as the spell was removed.
Alanna couldn't hold back any longer: She burst out laughing.
"Mama!"
"I'm sorry, dear, but you know you deserved it."
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Alanna found Thom later as he unpacked his trunk.
"How about a bout before bed?" she asked him.
Thom looked at his mother. "So that I can get horrendously beaten? Sure."
Alanna smiled. "Come on."
They walked down to the practice court.
Thom picked up to practice swords and handed one to his mother.
"I haven't had much practice. There isn't much of a challenge at school. Most of the other students aren't very good at fencing. My
friend Francis haMinch is an excellent fencer, but his style is very predictable once you fence him enough."
Alanna raised her blade into the guard position as Thom followed the suit.
"Of course he is good, he's a Minchi. They're all trained well in the fighting arts," replied Alanna.
"Go!"
Alanna struck with lightning speed. Thom did his best to keep up, concentrating on her chest to give away any of her moves. The match
went on as mother and son traded blows. It finally ended with Alanna manuevering herself right up against Thom with her sword at his
throat. Thom stepped back with a sigh of relief.
"I don't think I could have lasted much longer, Mama. You're still as good as ever," he said as he wiped the sweat from his face with a
towel.
"And you have improved, Son."
"Thank you, Mama."
Alanna slung her arm across Thom's shoulder. "Let's go to bed."
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The next morning Thom was enjoying a dream when something pounced on him, two somethings actually. Those somethings bounced
up and down and started screaming.
"Thom!!! Get up!! It's already light outside! Come on! Let's go riding!!"
"Alianne. Alan. Please get off me," said Thom into his pillow.
"Please, Thom. Please, please, please."
Thom groaned. "Fine, I'm up. I'm up."
Alan and Alianne climbed off the bed and Thom sat up. Slowly, he climbed out of bed.
"Why don't you two go wait in the dining hall while I wash up and get dressed."
"Okay."
As they left, Thom muttered about annoying siblings and interrupted dreams.
A little while later, Thom walked into the dining hall and sat down for breakfast. The food at the Swoop was so much more delicious than
the food at the University.
You know, I'm probably going to get fat while I'm here.Why can't they feed us like this at the University?
The servants kept bringing out more and more food until Thom couldn't move. He just sat there until his father entered the room. The
former King of Thieves took one look at his paralyzed son and burst out laughing. Thom stared at his hysterical father.
"You think this is funny?!"
"I guess the cooks missed you," George replied when he finally regained his composure.
Thom glared at his father and then started to laugh as well. "That's an understatement."
"Can we go riding now?" asked a forgotten Alianne.
The twins had kept their mouths shut during the meal, having learned a lesson the previous night.
"Sure, let's go."
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Alanna and George's children rode along the beach.
"I can't believe how much I missed it," said Thom.
"Missed what?" asked Alan.
Thom gazed out into the sea. "All of it. The beach, the castle, the village, everything that is Pirates' Swoop."
"Oh, geez. He's going to get all teary eyed and mushy," said a disgusted Alianne.
"Am not!" retorted Thom.
He jumped from his saddle and splashed Alianne with cold sea water.
"Ah!"
Alianne quickly jumped into the water and splashed him back.
Back at the Swoop, the Baron and Baroness watched their children splash in the sea.
"I really missed him," whispered the Baroness to her husband.
"Aye, as did I."
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Thom spent his two months of holiday in much the same routine. Everyday he would wake up and make his way down to the practice
courts and join his mother and/or father and/or siblings in weapons practice. Then, they would all have breakfast together. In the
afternoons, Thom would either go riding, or practice fighting more, or just go down to the beach and enjoy the sunshine. After dinner,
Thom would sit and talk with his father or play chess with his mother. Then, it was off to bed. Thom relaxed with this simple,
carefree routine. Life at the Swoop was certainly different from life at the University.
A/N Well, that's all for now folks. I know my chapters are rather short, but I am a very busy girl. Just to warn you all, it is going
to get considerably more fluffy in the next chapters.^^
Ahnyoung!