Will Alanna and the rest of the crew recognize Kaprice when she's in Corus?

Oh, they can't. Sorry about the confusion about this, but Kaprice is now living in the part of Tortall that exists seventy years after she fixed The Devastation. Damn, I should have mentioned that in the beginning of the last chapter. I knew I was forgetting something… But no, alanna and the others can't recognize her because they are no longer alive (unless they somehow survived to be nearly a hundred). Delora (Thorn and Evin's adopted child) , just in case you guys didn't notice, is still alive, and she is Rose's grandmother (but everyone refers to her as Grandmother Delora). Now, you might be asking, does Grandmother Delora recognize Kaprice? Hmm…what do you think?

What is Kaprice's fief?

Kaprice is more formerly known as Lady Kaprice of Nightslark. Nope, she is not related to any past characters. Oh, and Ryker's formal name is Sir Ryker of Champion's Lake.

A.N: LOTR: TT was great! The dwarf guy is absolutely hilarious.

This chapter is continued right after the end of the last chapter. It's all part of one scene, but was split into two. The part in italics reflects the part from the last chapter.

30. The Epilogue: Part II

Ghris snorted. "Name five people who you actually act nicely to."

"You. Rose." Kaprice struggled to name more people. "Lonna, before she left for the convent. My parents and Eliva."

Rose shook her head indulgently while Ghris gave her an amused look.

"But I'm also nice to…er…my horse."

Ghris laughed and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Perhaps we should leave now for Grandmother Delora's manor. Before you find more people to humiliate."

Rose turned to Ryker. "Ready to leave?"

Kaprice froze. "Wait, he's coming with us?"

"Is that a problem?" Ryker asked her with an amused quirk of his eyebrow.

Kaprice slowly shook her head. "No. Not yet."

Her response made Ryker smile and to her surprise, she found herself wanting to smile back.

"Sir Ryker and I met while I was on Rider business. We're good friends," Rose said pointedly.

In other words, Rose was warning her to be nice to him.

Kaprice stared at the two of them inquisitively. "Are you two lovers?" she asked in her usual, blunt manner.

Rose threw back a head and laughed. "Lovers? I prefer men who are slightly less arrogant."

"And I prefer women who are slightly less domineering," Ryker threw back teasingly, flashing Rose a quick smile.

It was obvious to Kaprice that this was an age-old argument between the two of them. She felt a stab of envy run through her, for during their time apart, Rose had obviously found herself new friends.

Ghris quickly pulled in beside Rose as they rode to Grandmother Delora's manor. Kaprice fell back a bit and couldn't help but feel a bit left out.

"She's told me a lot about you."

Kaprice blinked and turned to look at Ryker, who had fallen back to ride beside her.

Kaprice turned her gaze back in front of her without bothering to reply.

"She's proud to be your friend, you know," he said softly.

Kaprice couldn't help but be surprised at his gentle tone. She snuck a side-long glance at him and found that he was watching her.

She straightened. "What is it that you want from me, Lord Ryker?"

"What would you say if I said that all I wanted was your friendship?"

She snorted. "I wouldn't believe you."

"All right. Then perhaps I should mention how beautiful you are, and how I want to throw you on the ground and ravish you every time you look at me with those great green eyes."

Her mouth dropped open at Ryker's astonishingly frank reply. She started to glance up towards him, but remembered what he said about her looking at him and quickly turned her gaze away.

She heard him chuckle. "Have I embarrassed you? Amazing, I thought that you would do away with me the same way you did with Cowell in the stables."

"You're not in kicking distance," she muttered.

Ryker laughed.

"Well, since you don't seem to like that answer, I'll just say that what I want is to thank you for getting Mindy off my back. I thought that she'd never leave me alone," he said in an exaggeratedly woeful manner.

She couldn't help it. She let out a helpless laugh. "You really are arrogant," she said, shaking her head.

"So I've been told," he said, his hazel eyes glittering with laughter.

"So," she said, looking at him curiously. "What's it like being a knight?"

He looked at her amusedly. "It's a lot of work."

She raised an eyebrow. "Work? Indeed, it must be real hard going to parties every night."

He shrugged. "Well, there are those who prefer palace festivities every night. But most do find some work to do. From guards work to international affairs, knights are wanted everywhere. And besides, there's always a border patrol willing to take in more recruits."

"And you're one of the latter knights?"

He looked at her curiously. "What do you think?"

"I think you're a feather donning court dandy. And that sword at your side is for show," she challenged, knowing very well that he was probably the exact opposite of what she was declaring him to be. Rose wasn't the type to befriend court dandies. "I can probably beat you in a duel," she added contemplatively.

He laughed, not in the least bit insulted. "Can you indeed, Lady Kaprice?"

She snorted. "Of course not. The art of sword fighting was sadly lacking in my education."

His hazel eyes glinted. "I can teach you, if you want."

She blinked. "Pardon?"

"I can teach you 'the art of sword fighting', if you want me to," he said again.

She squinted at him. "Really?"

"Sure."

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him through narrowed eyes. "All right, so what's the catch?"

"The catch?" he said innocently.

She gave him a pointed look.

"Are you always so suspicious of everything?" he laughed. "There is no catch, lady. I am willing to teach you without anything in return."

"Why?" she asked, still skeptical.

He gave her a sly smile. "Because I like you."

She snorted again. "Yes, along with anything else that wears a skirt."

He glanced down at her legs pointedly. "But you're not wearing a skirt."

"Would you prefer that I say you like anything that wears breeches then?" she asked innocently.

He gave a sharp bark of laughter. "There is no winning with you, is there?"

She let a smile touch the corner of her lips. "Nope."

He chuckled. "My offer still stands. I will teach you without asking anything in return." He sounded a tad more serious than he had a moment ago.

She snuck a glance at him and saw that he was watching her. She paused, considering.

She was attracted to him, she couldn't deny it. There was something about his mischievous grin, his twinkling eyes, that made her smile. And whenever she heard his husky laughter, she wanted to hear it again and again.

She turned her face to meet his gaze. "All right, then. I accept your offer."

He smiled, obviously pleased. "You won't regret it."

"I better not," she said mockingly.

"Oh, and I have a gift for you."

She blinked, surprised. "A gift? Why? You hardly know me."

"Well, I thought it'd be rude to come to your birthday celebration without a gift. And besides, because of the way that Rose carries on about you sometimes, I feel as if I've known you forever."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper bag. He then offered the bag to her.

She stared at it quizzically. "You brought me a paper bag? How sweet."

He just laughed.

She glanced up at him as she opened it. "This better not be jewelry. I can only have so many rings forced upon me each day, you know..." Her voice faded as she stared into the bag.

Sand? Had he given her sand? No, wait. Not sand, she realized as she poured some of the bag's contents onto her hand.

Seeds.

Seeds for Kaprice's Tears, she comprehended.

He had given her her namesake.

Of course, that had been done before. Young men often swaggered into her parents estate, offering her a bouquet of Kaprice's Tears and thinking themselves so clever for bringing them to her. The most obnoxious suitor had told her: 'Legend has it that these flowers sprung from the tears a young woman shed for her lost love. And now I've brought them to you, the flowers of my heart.' And then he had tried to choke her with his tongue.

By the time she had been done with him, he had been running from the house.

Sure, there were those who had offered her the flowers…

But none had ever offered her the seeds.

And something about this gift touched her to the bottom of her heart.

She slowly raised her gaze to meet Ryker's bright eyes.

"Thank you."

He gave her a warm, tender smile. "Happy Birthday."

~*~*~

A delicate finger rose as if to touch the image of the handsome young man who rode beside an equally striking young woman.

But the finger hesitated, and then pulled back as the observer lowered her hand back to her side.

With a sigh, the woman continued to watch the couple as they spoke to one another. She watched as the young woman gently closed the small paper bag she held and placed it into her pocket. She watched as the couple continued to ride until they caught up to another couple, a pretty brown haired woman and a tall, wiry young man.

And then all four rode up the final steps up to the manor on top of the hill together.

The tall, wiry young man said something to one of the woman. She made a face and returned his comment with a quick retort, causing the others to laugh.

Another woman appeared, approaching the four riders. This woman was old. She said something, obviously in greeting, to the four riders. Each of the riders pulled themselves out of their saddles and onto the grass to offer the older woman an affectionate hug. And once the horses were settled into the stables, the old woman ushered everyone inside her manor.

And all was still.

The observer raised her hand again, and her finger inched back towards the image of the now tranquil manor.

But first the Mother Goddess spoke.

"And they lived happily ever after."

Then her finger touched the water's surface, and the image shimmered into oblivion.

The End

A.N.: . I have no ideas for a sequel yet, and I probably won't have any ever. But who knows, maybe Kaprice and Ryker will appear in future fanfics, as Evin and Thorn did. Thanks to everyone who reviewed/left me constructive criticisms/etc.

Are you planning to write something new?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Here's a bit of an intro for everybody:

Nobles' Bane:

Eager isn't the word Kalasin would use to describe how she feels about her betrothal to Emperor Kaddar and moving to Carthak. She didn't know the young man well enough to judge whether or not she liked him, but just the thought of moving to Carthak, a place so different from Tortall, to marry someone she really didn't know was daunting.

So the day her ship is supposed to leave, she ducks into the library, hoping to delay her departure by hiding. And there, she discovers a strange book…

Short excerpt from the first chapter of the fic: Well, since you don't know how long you'll be in here, hiding from the others, you might as well read something, she told herself. She was in the palace library after all.

Carefully settling her skirts around her, Kalasin settled herself right in the middle of the aisle and started to read:

This world has idiots, ordinary people, extraordinary people, and those idiots who don't think they're idiots. The latter is the worst kind, I think.

And, I suppose, that's where I come in.

I have many names. The serfs, the servants, the slaves, the poorer commoners: they call me their savior, their heroine, their Lady Jade. What the nobles used to call me (and some of them still do think of me that way) isn't repeatable.

Which makes sense. Considering that I used to hunt and kill them during my free time.

This story is old. It occurred before your time, before your parents' time, before their parents' time.

It involves how the royal Conte family first came to be.

And although it is a story with a 'happy' ending…it is most certainly not the ending I would have personally preferred.

The name I was blessed with at my birth was Lauryn. And this is my story.

Well, what'd you think? Weird? Scary? Tell me what you think in a review.

Before I close, I'd like to ask a favor of everybody reading this. Will you leave me a review for this chapter? (Yes, that means you! *points finger at you* I'd like to hear from everyone, even if it's a simple review with the word: 'Hello'. I know there are people out there who read but don't review, and so I'd like to ask you to review this chapter for me. I'd really appreciate it if you could just take a couple more minutes of your time and leave me some feedback.

Thanks!

~krizsta

P.S.: if you'd like me to email you when I post my third fic 'Nobles' Bane', leave me your email in a review.