Chapter 6. The problem with Joren. Kel woke up the next day and lay in bed wondering what was different, what was wrong. Then she remembered what Neal had said and all of the previous days events came flooding back to her. She turned onto her stomach and shut her eyes, trying to go back to sleep, to forget everything that had happened. But nothing could block out the things Neal had told her the previous evening.

"Kel?" a voice behind her said quietly. Lalasa was standing behind her looking very worried and upset. "I heard you last night" - Kel had been crying into her pillow the whole of the last night. "Kel, I don't know everything but I know something happened between you and Neal and I won't ask you what because it's none of my business but I will say that I think you should try and talk to him and sort it out" she said. "I can't Lal; he is so unreasonable and childish, if I talk, he yells, if I'm polite, he isn't...but I can't just leave it at this, I mean, we've known each other since I was ten, I'm sixteen now, I've known him for six years, I can't just walk out and know I'll never speak to him again!" Kel said miserably. Lalasa said nothing, just sighed, shaking her head. "I don't want to get involved in this argument; I just know that you won't be happy until you make up with him" Lal said quietly. "O.k. lets say you're right and we made up, how long would it be until it started happening again? I don't think he's ever going to stop" Kel replied.

A stray ray of sunlight shone through the unopened curtains into Kel's eyes, blinding her. "Oh Gods! Is it already that light out? I'll be late!" "For what? It's Sesia! - Sesia was what they called Saturday - you do not have lessons until the afternoon!" Lal reminded her. "I know, but I promised Chis I would meet her and some other people in the training court this morning to practice using the glaive"

The glaive was the traditional Yamani weapon. It was a very long and heavy weapon, like a staff with a curved sharp blade capping it.

Kel thought herself very out of practice so she had arranged to meet Chis regularly to practice as Kel herself used to be one of the best at using the glaive in the islands. She was nearly as good as her mother, Ilane of Mindelan.

Kel put on loose clothes and soft, flexible cloth shoes and ran out the door shouting "bye!" to Lalasa. She ran down the hallways and finally made it to the court. She was just in time. Chis was there, so was her mother Linn and so was, to Kel's surprise, Ilane. "Mama!" she shouted, running to hug her. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" "I wanted it to be a surprise!" Ilane replied. "Kel, I do believe you've grown even taller!" she laughed. Taking a look at her, Kel saw that she hadn't changed at all. She still had that soft musical voice, she was still tall, and she still had that same grey hair. "I've grown even taller than you, Mum!" Kel laughed back. "Well let's see if you're still as good with a glaive!" Linn joined in.

Kel turned to smile at her, and found that instead she was looking into the smiling face of Roald. "Mum heard about your group and wanted to join it!" he said before she had asked. Kel then saw queen Thayet, queen of Tortall. She was so beautiful, with her hazel eyes, dark hair and skin the colour of coffee milky coffee.

"Excuse Me," said a voice from behind them. A voice that Kel had never heard before. Linn turned around, "sorry but who are you?" she asked, and at that exact moment Thayet said with a slight frown on her face "What are you doing here?" Kel turned around and saw to her surprise and delight.....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* HaHaHa!!! I'm evil! Well you'll have to wait to find out who this 'mysterious' person is!!!! Oh and sorry it's taken so long to put on the site, it's just that I've been really busy. And sorry it's so short. But I'll write more soon. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*