Alanna awoke the next morning by the sun's gentle light seeping through the curtains. She let herself bask in the sunlight, until she remembered - George was sleeping with another woman, the ugly, un-favored part of her mind reminded her. How long has this been going on? All at once, Alanna felt tears well up at the corners of her eyes, but she brushed them away angrily. This was her fault. George shouldn't be expected to stay chaste while she was off fighting wrongdoers and keeping up the right. What am I thinking?! she interrupted herself. George is married to me. He knew when we got into this that things wouldn't always be easy...but he pledged that he would love me.

After twenty minutes of arguing with herself, Alanna forced herself to get out of bed, at least. She walked over to the window, and drew back the curtain. Judging by the sun, it was already after eight. Gary is probably wondering where I am...we decided to meet to practice at eight. For once Alanna couldn't bring herself to care. She knew her friends would though. I don't want to drag them into this, Alanna thought. This is my problem, not theirs, and I have a duty to Tortall.

With that decision made, Alanna quickly washed up from the tub in her bathroom, and dressed in practice clothes. She trotted down to the practice courts, stopping only to grab an apple from the mess hall. By the time the redhead finally reached the practice courts, Gary had already been there and waiting for what could have been hours by the look on his face, even though Alanna knew that it couldn't have been too much more than twenty minutes.

"Where've you been?" he asked, a twinkle in his eye. "Oversleep?"

"Uhm, yes, I guess so," Alanna decided. The whole fact that she had been up late replaying the scene in her bedroom couldn't have had anything to do with the haziness clouding her senses.

"What, no witty remark or threat for bothering you before the sun has reached its zenith?"

Alanna rolled her eyes. "You want me to bite your head off?"

"Of course not," Gary amended, "you'll do that on the court anyway."

Alanna couldn't help but smile. "You can be assured of that," she replied as she pushed George - and the raven-haired woman - to the back of her mind for the time being.

~*~

As the two friends warmed up, Gary thought, Alanna's not herself. Something's happened, but I know better than to pry - at least not in the morning he mentally amended.

Alanna swung her sword in the patterns taught since pagedom, but her heart wasn't in it. Her movements were a bit mechanical, and they didn't carry on the light conversation they normally would. Her swings were fiercer, but she left herself open.

After a few minutes of their fencing, Gary sliced in with his practice sword, letting it rest at the base of Alanna's neck.

"I yield." Alanna gave the customary response. They both then removed their helmets and went to grab drinks of water.

"Alanna, what's going on out there? You aren't fighting nearly as precisely as you normally do."

Instantly an invisible shield seemed to spring up around Alanna. "What do you mean?" she asked defensively.

"You don't seem like yourself. Either something is bothering you, or...well I don't know, but something has to be wrong." Gary said, not letting Alanna's defense fool him. He had known her too many years for that.

A shadow flitted over Alanna's features. "It's nothing Gary, just womanly troubles," she said, hoping to embarrass him into silence.

It worked for the time being, but Gary knew that he would persist until he found the true cause of Alanna's uneasiness.

"What do you say we break for the day," Gary suggested, tactfully. He didn't want to bruise Alanna's pride along with whatever else was nagging at her.

Alanna sighed with relief. "Sounds good," she said, and quickly returned the practice sword. "Do you want to eat lunch?" She asked, almost hoping that he would say 'no' so that she could sulk in private.

"Of course," he said adamantly. "Who else would I eat with? Who else would you eat with?" He almost didn't notice the tears forming in the corner of Alanna's eyes as she laughed falsely and hurried back to her rooms.

~*~

Once in the safety of her own room, Alanna quickly closed the door, and leaned against it, sliding down it until she looked nothing like a strong knight in shining armor, but was only a crumpled rag-doll tossed to the side after a child had tired of it. Acting like everything was okay took a lot out of her. She quickly gathered herself together again, and headed towards the fire. She knew she shouldn't, but she was a woman, and by nature curious. She spoke the word of power, and the window opened into Pirate's Swoop again. The bed was empty now, but mussed. Alanna began to wonder if she had been imagining the picture earlier until she spotted an article of clothing discarded in the corner.

A very feminine article of clothing.

Well at least I'm not going crazy. Alanna thought, retaining a wry sense of humor even under the circumstances. She hurried to change, leaving the scene burning in the fireplace. After she dressed, she added more wood to the fire. It wasn't a hot day, but if the fire went out, she would have to restart the whole ritual. After that, she went to straighten up her room. She didn't want to get complacent being at the palace for the two more days she would be staying.

"Alanna, are you ready for lunch?" came Gary's voice from the other side of her door.

"It's open, come on in," she called.

Gary walked in, and sat down on her bed. Then he noticed the scene glowing in the fireplace. "Playing sorceress again, Alanna?" he asked with a grin.

"It's nothing," Alanna muttered, and went to recite the incantation to hide it. Just then, George walked into the scene with the giggling woman in his arms. The same woman Alanna had seen the night before. George dumped the woman onto the bed, with a mischevious grin. As the scene before Alanna began to unfold, she finally closed the portal, and turned around apprehensively, chewing on her lip. Gary must have seen the whole thing.

Gary's eyes were as big as saucers. "That was George." He stated needlessly. "With another woman. In your bed." He was dumbfounded. He had thought that Alanna and George were getting along well. Then he saw the tears forming in her eyes. Apparently, so had she.

"I didn't want to say anything, Gary. I didn't want to bring you, or Jon into this. It's not your problem, it's mine." Alanna said, strengthening her will. She wouldn't be treated like a fragile piece of glass.

"But, Alanna," George protested, "You had to have known we'll stand beside you."

"No!" Alanna blurted out. "Don't tell Jon. Not yet anyway He's got enough on his mind without my trivialities to think about. But what should I do?" she asked with a note of desperation.

"I don't know," Gary answered truthfully. "Can you go on with your life regularly knowing that while you're away George is cavorting with another woman?"

The look in Alanna's eyes was more than enough of an answer for Gary. Alanna's temper was nearing its boiling point.

"Okay, so we're not going to go on like this with George. What are you going to do? Nothing violent please, Alanna," he reminded her. "Think of your children."

Alanna took a deep breath. Gary was right, as little as she would want to admit it. "I guess for now, there's nothing I can really do about it, is there? I'll send him a letter today, I suppose."

"Don't do anything you'll regret," Gary warned.

"I won't." Alanna promised. Even though George has already done something he's going to regret. "I'll meet you in half an hour? I want to be able to send the letter out with the next available courier."

"That'll be fine." Gary turned to go. "Alanna?"

"Huh?" she grunted, rooting through her desk for some paper and pen.

"Just so you know, even if George isn't there for you know. I always will be." Gary quickly left, leaving Alanna quiet, with more to think about. Oh well, she thought. Life never has been easy

Dear George, (she wrote)

I will not be home for at least four months. Jon is taking Gary and me on a tour through Tortall to help increase the number of pages. If you need me, contact me through the fire, or send a letter.

Give Alianne and Thom my love. Remind Thom to continue practicing his sword-work, and Alianne to work on her Yamani. Make sure they know that I love them, and tell them to send me letters.

I hope you're having the time (and woman) of your life while I'm away.

Take care,

Alanna

As she sealed the letter, Alanna tried to keep her few tears from spilling down her cheeks. She succeeded, except for one, which blurred her name, rendering it nearly unreadable.