Author's notes: I would like to point out two very interesting things that keep popping up in my reviews. I guess I should put up a little FAQ on this one:

Q: Is this a K/N?

A: Yes.

Q: Where's Yuki?
A: In Corus, for the time being.

(Please refer to "Chapter One: MIA" for further details discussing these two questions.)

Also, in answer to Kenta Divina's statement about how Neal could have used Cane to track the mages, Neal didn't know who to look for. All of chapter two (Chasing Shadows) was about how Neal couldn't make head nor tail of any of the leads he got, and he still never got a good look at the kidnappers, even in chapter three (For the Sake of Kel) when he almost caught them.

Parting Ways

Neal carried Kel awkwardly over to the carriage and rapped on the door. He received no answer. Frowning, he knocked louder, still given the silent treatment. "Your Grace?" Neal called. "Your Grace, it's me--Neal."

Jeraldine peered out of the window, the crown of golden curls and her wary eyes visible. Her dog, finally revealing itself for the first time since she joined Neal and Merric, yapped noisily. "Nyda, quiet!" Jeraldine hissed and looked at Neal, who raised an eyebrow at her. Grabbing the dog, she opened the door. She turned her nose up at the scruffy Kel and rolled her eyes. "Picking up strays now, Sir Neal?"

"Shut your mouth," Neal growled murderously. "You may do whatever you want to Merric, and say whatever you want to me, but don't you dare insult Lady Knight Keladry like that ever again."

Jeraldine dared not to argue the dangerous glint in Neal's eyes and simply moved out of the way as he laid Kel onto the seat opposite of her. "Who is this?"

"My best friend," he said quietly, but his mannerisms suggested more than a friendly love. The way he gently swept her hair from her eyes and caressed the side of her face led Jeraldine to believe that he either was in denial, or didn't want either Kel or Jeraldine to know about it.

Jeraldine had been about to offer to do something to help when Kel illuminated in green light. She could do nothing but gape as Kel came to and pushed Neal's hand away.

"Stop it," she said, gasping for a moment and then pulling herself into a sitting position using him. "Neal, you'll drain yourself dry trying to make me at my full strength."

"I just don't want you dying on me. I came out all this way, left Yuki a few days before our--"

"Oh Goddess! The wedding! Neal, you left her?!" Kel weakly hit him on the arm.

"I didn't want to get married and not have you there, Kel," he said defensively. "You only get married once."

Jeraldine raised her eyebrows into her hair, releasing her struggling Nyda. Sir Neal, betrothed? The very idea seemed preposterous. "Nyda," Jeraldine said commandingly, watching the white puppy wag her tail at Kel and lick the female knight's hand. "Nyda, leave her alone."

"It's okay," Kel offered Jeraldine a smile and managed to lift the puppy onto the seat next to her, kicking Neal as she swung her feet down.

"Ow," Neal mouthed, rubbing his leg.

"Born as Keladry of Mindelan," Kel offered her hand to Jeraldine. "But they call me Kel."

Jeraldine nodded, rather than take Kel's hand. "Duchess Jeraldine of Magistra, and that puppy is Nyda."

"A pleasure, Your Grace," Kel murmured, rubbing her bleary eyes. "Neal, I need air."

Neal helped her from the carriage. "Can you lean against this while I go get Seiryn?"

"Yes," Kel conceded. "But I don't need to lean against anything."

Neal looked at her, aghast, but shook his head at her tenacity as he walked off to retrieve his mare. She stood, pawing at the ground, and whinnied when he grabbed her bridle. "Hey girl," he said. "Let's get going now, right?"

She whinnied in agreement as he led the mare back to the carriage, attaching her once more to the yoke. He found Kel standing stubbornly in place, without leaning against the carriage. "Kel," he tapped her.

She whirled on him. Kel blinked rapidly, hand raised to protect herself, had the voice belonged to someone else. "Neal."

He rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand firmly, knowing fully well that she needed more healing than simply what her tried to give her.

Kel blinked stupidly at her hand, which glowed once more with emerald light, and felt the warmth of his healing spread throughout her body. Unconsciously, she closed her eyes and leaned against him, basking in the magic. The back of her mind told her not to let Neal tire himself out healing her, but she couldn't help it. She felt comfortable and safe, two things she hadn't felt in more than two months. "Neal," she murmured.

Neal couldn't quite figure out how to react to this. He knew he would have to stop the flow of magic soon, he could feel his reserves draining quickly, but he didn't want to let her go. She felt so perfect in his arms, never as Yuki had.

Yuki! his mind screamed at him.

He abruptly stopped his Gift and jerked away from her, mumbling something about a moral dilemma, how the gods hated him, and marriage. Kel frowned, confused. She felt better, at least. She walked around to the other side of the carriage and climbed up to the seat to perch next to Neal.

"Ready to go, your Grace?" he called over his shoulder.

"Yes, Sir Neal," she replied.

Neal urged Seiryn onward.


Neal missed Merric's pessimistic, reluctant comments. Somehow, he felt that being with Kel would have felt a whole lot easier if he had his other best friend with him. Neal chuckled to himself, the first noise he had made since he lost his wits earlier. Cane chirped next to him, perched happily on Kel's shoulder. Mace had decidedly gone with Merric, not wanting to deal with Nyda and Cane.

Merric had become his best friend over the trip. They balanced each other out, he mused.

"Neal?" Kel said quietly, her face Yamani blank.

"Yes'm?" he answered as quietly, his eyes clouding with confusion again.

"Did I do something to make you upset?" She didn't look at him, only leaned back against the railing.

"No," he replied stonily.

"You're acting funny," Kel commented.

"Don't I always?" he countered, risking a glance at her, an eyebrow raised.

"More than usual," she murmured and looked at him.

His eyebrow settled in line with the other one. His emotions felt too turbulent at the moment. The flare, the swelling in his chest that made his heart beat faster, that he usually felt when he thought of Yuki had disappeared somewhere over the course of the past few weeks. However, he felt it now. He felt it now, sitting so close to Kel that he could feel her breath on his face when they looked at each other. He felt himself drowning in her misgiving eyes, eyes as fathomless as the ocean.

Dammit, Neal! he yelled at himself. Stop it! She's your best friend! You can't be in--

"No," he whispered, looking away from her quickly. His heart thumped loudly in his chest, he could feel his cheeks grow warm, blushing like a little girl.

Kel frowned. She didn't understand what was happening to Neal. He looked so tortured, and when she tried to find out what made him feel so wretched he wouldn't tell her. "No?"

Seiryn whinnied when Neal gripped her reins too hard. Automatically loosening his grip, he seemed not to hear Kel's question. He felt too pained, too perplexed. He felt smothered.

"No?" Kel repeated again.

You can't even admit it to yourself, his heart yelled at his brain.

He snorted, oblivious to Kel for the moment.

But you're in love with Yuki. Betrothed and all that, his brain argued.

"Fat chance now," he murmured.

"Neal?" Kel touched his shoulder.

He yelped. "Mithros, Kel! You could warn a fellow before you haul off and interrupt his thoughts like that."

"I've been trying to ask you a question for the past few minutes," she huffed, perturbed.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Nealan of Queenscove!" Kel cried in her no-nonsense voice. "Listen to me! I don't know what is wrong with you, but you're worrying me! I love you, dammit! You're my best friend. Tell me what's wrong!"

After her outburst, so uncharacteristic of Kel, Neal sighed and uttered four words he thought he would never say to her: "I can't tell you."


After that, Kel had grown so frustrated with Neal that she climbed inside the carriage with Jeraldine. However, she found she couldn't stand Jeraldine's brooding anymore than she could Neal's and tried to take a nap. As soon as she had felt herself drift off, Jeraldine had started sniveling and weeping, which Kel couldn't stand. So she ended up sitting next to brooding Neal.

She tried once more to strike up conversation. "How did you wind up with Little Miss Weeps-a-lot?"

"Merric and I stopped in Port Seadawn on our way to Pirate's Swoop because we needed money," he answered. "Merric got us a carriage and we decided to escort a noble somewhere, charging one gold noble a day. She's been a pain in the rear end ever since."

"Where did Merric go?" Kel pressed, eager to keep the conversation going because it meant she didn't have to sit with the Brooding Buddies.

"Prince Roald ask our knight of Hollyrose to get some scroll if we came across it. We found this old man with a map to it and he set off to find the scroll just before I found you and your kidnappers," he explained.

"I see," Kel said as she nodded. She looked to the trees around them, then at Neal. "So why does her Grace seem to cry so much?"

"Oh last night she and Merric seemed to have...reconciled I suppose you could say," he said draftily, shrugging.

"Reconciled?" Kel didn't understand.

"Merric didn't sleep in his bed last night," Neal said suggestively. "And I don't think the future Missus of Hollyrose would find it very proper if you slept in my room tonight. You may have to share a room with her."

Yes. Good idea. Out of sight, out of mind, his brain babbled.

"That's ridiculous," Kel rolled her eyes.

"Not really, considering that she hails from Magistra," Neal shrugged.

"Out of sight, out of mind"? Have we forgotten that she dominates your thoughts twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week? his heart said haughtily.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Kel wanted to know, quirking an eyebrow at him.

"Daughter of the duke, from Magistra...a very proper lady, Kel," Neal concluded.

"But you just said that she slept with Merric last night," Kel argued. "And you failed to mention anything about them marrying each other."

"But she also made Merric and me stay in another room," Neal replied.

Kel sighed. She wanted to stay with her best friend, not some snitty, sniffling heir to a ducal fief. "Well, I don't care what 'Her Grace' wants. I'll be sleeping in your room tonight."

Neal just nodded, sinking back into his thoughts. He had come to the conclusion that when he took Kel back to Corus, he would have to break off his engagement with Yuki. He could feel the freedom at his fingertips, and until then, he would just have to keep his paws and his flirty words off of Kel. He only wished he could stall the constant, rapid racing of his heart when she sat near him.

Kel sighed. "Maybe we should stop soon. Seiryn looks tired."

"Hn," Neal agreed. "Grab the map out of my bag, if you would, m'dear."

She took the map from his saddlebag, pleased to hear his "m'dear." "Do you need to look for something?"

"The inns and wayhouses should have a little mark on the roads. Do you see the fork in the road in the upper fourth of the map?" he asked.

"Yes," Kel said as she found it.

"The one between Trebond and Magistra?" he pressed.

"Yes, Neal, I'm not an invalid," Kel told him.

"What's the closest wayhouse to that?" he inquired, slowing Seiryn to an easier pace.

"We've already passed that and two inns," Kel replied. "I remember. We're three miles from the next wayhouse, give or take a half-mile."

"Thank the gods."


When they reached the wayhouse, Neal took care of which rooms they would occupy while Kel and Jeraldine ordered food for themselves and their male companion. Kel's stomach growled loudly, demanding the food she could smell but not taste. Jeraldine simply refused to admit any hunger she may have felt, staring forlornly down at the table, picking at the folds of her dress. When Neal finally joined them, Kel patted the seat next to her, which he promptly took.

"What did you lovely ladies order for my supper?" Neal asked of them.

Kel smiled, glad to see him in a better mood. "Steak, some vegetables, a fruit salad, and some brandy."

Neal winced at the mention of vegetables. "Kel..."

"You spent a lot of energy on me today, not to mention you sat and baked in the sun all day, and ran off my kidnappers," she argued. "You will eat your vegetables if I have to ram them down your throat."

"Alas, anything for my lady," he surrendered.

Kel rolled her eyes. "I know you must feel better because you're trying to finesse me into doing something."

"You know you missed it," Neal joked, grinning widely. Jeraldine studied the two of them, curious. She could see the way Neal looked at Kel, the way his eyes shone like the sun for a moment every now and again, then clouded over with confusion, but his smile never faded.

"Somehow, I think Merric would have irritated me less if he had found me instead of you," Kel commented, looking at him sideways from the corner of her eye.

Jeraldine stifled a knowing giggle. Neal and Kel, oblivious, continued their subtle flirtation. Jeraldine came to the conclusion that they obviously did this unconciously, for neither of them brought up the fact that they only jested and Kel failed to mention Neal's fiancee.

One of the kitchen wenches scuttled out of the kitchen, juggling three plates of food. "Steak and the fruit?" she asked breathlessly, her dirty hair falling in her face.

"Mine, if you please," Neal held up his hand as the wench set it down rudely in front of him.

"Roasted chicken with the vegetables?" the wench attempted to toss her hair back out of her eyes but it fell back. Kel raised her hand and the wench set it down. "And this must belong to you. Have a nice supper."

She hurried off and returned moments later with their beverages: brandy for Neal (he hadn't had the heart to tell Kel that even though he technically didn't heed to the healers code at the moment, he still didn't drink brandy; it did funny things to him, funny things he couldn't afford with his tumultuous emotions), fruit juice for Kel, and a glass of cold wine for Jeraldine.

Kel ate ravenously, shovelling food into her mouth as civilly as she could manage. Shooting a dirty look at Neal when he chuckled amusedly at her, she waved her knife threateningly. "Just because I haven't had much to eat over the past few weeks doesn't mean I can't kick your ass just as badly as I did before," she told him.

"I think living with those bandits made you lose your keen sense of speech, love," he announced.

"Oh, remind me to tell you something about 'those bandits' when we go bed," Kel replied.

Jeraldine looked up, startled. "Do you mean to say you will sleep in Sir Neal's chambers this evening?"

"Yes." Kel nodded, painfully aware of her lack of proper Common.

"My word," she breathed, shocked. "Is...is this commonplace for those of Corus?"

"Well," Neal intervened, "we just thought that we would give you your privacy, and since Kel might as well be my sister..."

"I see." Jeraldine averted her eyes to her food, picking at it with her utensils.

"Oh!" Neal pulled the map of Tortall from his boot and laid it out on the table, having finished his meal between the conversations. "Your Grace, I need to discuss something with you."

"Certainly, Sir Neal," Jeraldine straightened in her chair, peering at the map.

Neal pointed to a dark triangle on the Great Road North, and a matching one on the other side, a small road leading northwest. "Merric," he said, with his finger on the northwestern road. "Us," he tapped the triangle on the Great Road North. "How long do you reckon we've been on the road, your Grace?"

"Five days, I suppose," Jeraldine answered.

Neal nodded. "Magistra," he said and pointed to a blue dot that represented the ducal fief. "Us," he once more tapped the dark triangle representing the wayhouse, "and unless we cut across into the forest here, where we have a high chance of getting robbed or Mithros knows what else, we have at least another six days of trekking across Tortall to do."

Jeraldine frowned. "Certainly we can make it faster than that?"

"Unless you know a shortcut, I'm afraid that's what we're left with," he answered helplessly. He really had meant to get her to Magistra in ten days. Against his avarice, Neal told her: "I won't charge you for the extra days we spend on the road. Merric and I promised you there in ten days and we failed to do so."

Kel remembered Neal saying they picked up Jeraldine in Port Seadawn and drew a path from Port Seadawn to Magistra in her mind. She gave an unladylike snort and shook her head. "Ten days from Seadawn to Magistra? Your Grace, no disrespect intended but, ten days from Point A to Point B isn't pushing it, it's downright impossible, even cutting straight across Tortall. I should know, Gherash and Udaan could only do it in twelve, and that was cutting straight across Tortall."

A bit offended, Neal rolled up his map and stuck it back in his boot. "Well, Gherash and Udaan weren't Neal and Merric, who managed to cover from Port Seadawn to here in five days."

"Do you know where we are?"

"Not...exactly."

Kel rolled her eyes.


Neal sat in the lobby of the wayhouse around midnight, having had far too much brandy than he should have. His head felt light and unattached to his head, floating somewhere in the vicinity of the chimney. His throat burned from the gulps he had taken to try and calm his nerves, and his fingers and toes felt more than slightly tingly.

"Liver, don't fail me now," he muttered, taking another sip of the brandy.

Neal finally rose from the chair he had taken up residency in, he stumbled towards the front door, slamming into the wall next to it as his attempt to reach the doorknob failed. He winced at the noise it made, hoping the concierge didn't yell at him for making so much racket.

"Air," he said, thinking he had said it internally. "Cold air."

He somehow managed to jimmy open the door and found that, much to his chagrin, the night felt sticky and humid. "Dammit..." he swore and stumbled out of the door anyway, falling forward as he tried to pull the door closed behind him. He winced as it slammed shut, thinking that the concierge would never allow him or Kel into the wayhouse ever again.

"Kel," he murmured. He managed to make his way over to a bench sitting beside the pond on the wayhouse's property. He looked into the waters reflecting the night sky and his face, mussed and drunken as it was, and he pouted. His reflection turned to Kel's in his alcohol-addled mind and he smiled. "Kel."

He reached over to touch the reflection and pitched forward onto the bench. "Ow."

He picked himself up again and peered into the reflection again, still seeing Kel. "Kel, there's somethin' I gotta tell you," Neal said seriously to the reflection, none the wiser all he saw was a mirage. "See...I've fought this feelin' since I started lookin' for you...I don't love Yuki anymore...don't give me that look, jus' hear me out..." he cleared his throat. "I know who I really love now." He took a breath and slowly let it out. "I love you."

With a sudden stroke of brilliance, Neal's Gift took over and flooded his veins with most of what was left of his magic stores, detoxifying his body in an instant. The moment Neal regained sane, conscious thought, a headache the size of Tortall assailed his senses.

"Great Mother Goddess and Mithros in the realm beyond," he muttered. He reached into his magic and found it at almost nothing. "For the love of..."

Sighing, Neal pried himself from the bench and walked slowly into the wayhouse, opening and closing the front door with near silence. He trudged up to his room slowly, trying not to push his muscles too hard. He quietly slipped into the room he shared with Kel, shed his clothes without regard for where they landed, pulled his night clothes on drowsily, and flopped into bed.

He didn't sleep long though, because something warm and almost as long as him curled up in his bed next to him.

Neal's eyes went wide as he looked over his shoulder at Kel's head.

Sleepwalking? he wondered, slowly rolling over, headache forgotten. He didn't want to wake her up, aware that she probably had only slept when her body had demanded it while with her kidnappers--Gherash and Udaan, he reminded himself.

Neal touched her shoulder gently, resulting in her scooting closer to him and his chest, effectively pinning his arm underneath her. Well...

"Dom..."

Neal refrained from stiffening at the name of his cousin, murmured in Kel's sleep. Dom?! Why...why would she dream about Dom?!

She snuggled further into Neal's chest, rolling over and nestling her head over his heart.

...She dreams about Dom...when I'm the one who loves her...

Tentatively, Neal raised his hand and placed it on the back of her head, stroking her hair gently and drifting back to sleep.


"Kel..."

Kel groggily opened her eyes, blinking against the blinding sunlight bouncing off of the lake in front of her. Her hair felt longer than it should have, down to her waist she soon discovered. Blond tresses that caressed her well-muscled shoulders and slim waist swirled with her every move. She discovered she also wore a black satin dress.

"Kel..."

A voice on the wind called to her, familiar.

"What? Who whispers my name?" she looked around, finding she couldn't see anywhere about her, the lake blinding her so fully she couldn't make head nor tail of anything.

"Finally, you hear me," the voice wrapped around her, cornering her.

The voice made Kel's skin crawl. A man's voice...but who?

"Shame on you, Keladry of Mindelan," the voice said, smothering her. "You fail to remember my voice? Have you not heard it for that long?"

Kel frowned, and suddenly the face of a familiar she had never hoped to see again became all-too-clear in her mind. "You..." she breathed, forcing her face to become Yamani blank. "What have you done to me? Why do I have such long hair? Why do I wear a dress?"

"I have made you the future queen of the Old Land, at my side. As my queen, you must comply with certain rules--such as your hair and your way of dressing. Believe me, my queen, you look stunning," the voice told her confidently.

"I don't want to be your queen!" Kel cried. "Especially not yours."

The voice chuckled. "You don't have much choice, Keladry."

"I will not obey you," she growled rebelliously, her Yamani face slipping away into a heated gaze directed at nothing and everything at once.

"You don't have any choice."

Kel narrowed her eyes. She knew she dreamed at the moment, but this dream lasted far longer than it should have. The words came across too clearly, she felt the slimy touch of the invisible source of the voice as if he truly did touch her while awake, and it didn't have quite as much of a surreal quality as most dreams did. She also had stopped dreaming since her Ordeal with the Chamber haunting her.

The harder she glared, the clearer her surroundings became until suddenly the light from the lake extinguished and left her in near darkness. She looked over her shoulder and saw a torch illuminating half of a tall body.

"Dom..." she wondered, squinting. "Dom?"

The torch blew out and darkness engulfed her.

When Kel opened her eyes again, she realized she was awake. She didn't feel as if she had slept at all either. Her skin crawled and she found herself pressing closer to the body she slept next to and almost on. Her mystery bed companion snored lightly, his hand cradling her head against his chest, and sleeping quite soundly. In an instant she knew: Neal. Of course--not only did it make sense because she had shared a room with him, but she would know the feel of Neal's hand on the back of her head anywhere. She also knew of his newly formed snoring habit, which he didn't realize he had developed. Kel would have to tell him when he woke up.

Kel felt safe lying next to Neal. She didn't know exactly how she got there in the first place and surmised she had sleepwalked over and invited herself under his covers, but she couldn't say for certain. She just wished that her heart wouldn't beat so fast. She thought she had controlled that reaction from fear a long time ago, especially fear from a...nightmare? Warning? She didn't know what had happened in the supposed dream. She knew that voice though, but she couldn't remember anymore, and simply the fact of knowing that he could visit her dreams anytime made her wish insomnia upon herself.

Unconsciously, Kel murmured Neal's name just loud enough to startle him from his slumber.

"Huh?" he asked ingeniously, his eyelids drooping so heavily they still covered most of his eyes. He glanced out of the window, taking more time than necessary to close and open his eyes. He yawned and scratched his chin, the whiskers from not shaving the day before making a noise like sandpaper against his calloused fingers. "Kel..." he yawned, dropping his hand from the back of her head to around her waist. "Why'd you wake me up? Have a nightmare or somethin'?"

"I didn't mean to wake you up," Kel muttered, wiggling her hips uncomfortably. She didn't like his arm around her waist, no matter how comforting he meant it. It just seemed like too much of an intimate position: even sleeping in the same bed seemed too intimate to Kel, but she was comfortable.

"I heard you whimpering about Dom," he mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"I don't whimper," Kel said defensively.

"Sure you do," he argued. "What did you dream about?"

Kel looked at her hands, then continued wiggling her hips, trying to get his arm to leave their current position. Fortunately and unfortunately, Neal caught the hint and pulled his arm away. "I...I don't quite know myself..." she admitted. "Someone..." she stopped. "I don't remember anymore," she lied. "I just remember that I had heard the voice somewhere before."

"Strange," he murmured, rolling over. "Do you remember where you were? Or if anyone else was there? Why did you say Dom's name?"

"At the end...I thought I saw Dom," Kel told him, sighing. She looked out the window. "It's almost dawn."

"Yeah," Neal agreed. "So, do you remember anything else?"

"No," she lied again. She watched him turn his back to her. She instantly felt cold. "Sorry."

"Just a dream, Kel," Neal soothed her, his eyes closed. "You don't need to worry about it."

But what about the Chamber and last summer?! her brain yelled. You should tell him, Kel! You'll only push him away! Although, it seems too late to salvage that.

"You're right," Kel agreed quietly. Within moments, he had gone back to snoring. She sighed and turned her back to him. She had just put a rift between her and her best friend in the world.


Later that morning, when the sun had risen fully, Neal packed up Kel, Jeraldine, and all of their things into the carriage and hitched Seiryn to the front. He rode in silence, trying to eavesdrop on Jeraldine and Kel's conversation about who loved who. Maybe he could catch some hint about who Kel aimed her affections at at that moment. He wanted to know, so he could tell himself that he had to love Yuki.

However, he heard nothing interesting. Just as Kel had started telling Jeraldine a story about how she used to have a crush on Neal's cousin, Jeraldine began to sob about Merric. Neal, by then, had taught himself how to tune out Jeraldine's weeping, insensitive as it may be. He just didn't like to hear her moan and cry about the exact same thing. Luckily, Neal wouldn't have to put up with it for much longer. He felt his death lying about a day's ride ahead: if he could stand her whining for that long. He may have to kill himself before then. Or maybe he could coax himself by saying, "It's only a little bit longer. It's only a little bit longer."

He was also sure that Kel wouldn't appreciate it very much if he stranded her with Jeraldine.

"Five more days, not counting today's ride," Neal muttered to himself. "Maybe quicker. Definitely quicker. I can't stand this for five days. Four days would be much quicker." He pulled out the map and held Seiryn's reins in one hand as he traced a shortcut in his mind. He knew of a small road that cut a day's ride out of the journey, and knew it would come up soon. In fact, he could see the subtle opening now. "Let's go, Seiryn," he said, pushing her a little faster.

Cane flew out of the body of the carriage to chirp angrily at Neal's sudden increase in speed. "Sorry!" he apologized. "I found a shortcut, Cane." Cane flew around his head. "Hey! And quite frankly, I'd like to cut a day out of our journey, if you don't mind."

Cane fluttered back into the carriage as Neal wheeled into the shortcut. Someone had built a small fence on either side of the dirt path, which meant that this small road was used more often than the last time he had used it himself. Hopefully he could get Jeraldine to Magistra within four days, omitting this day's ride. "Such a shortcut. Cuts out two days with one day's ride. Maybe I can find another one..."

"Neal!" Kel poked her head out the window of the carriage.

"Yes, my lady?" he answered.

"When did we leave the main road?" Kel asked.

"About five minutes ago. Observant today, aren't we?" he teased her.

"Oh, shut up Neal," Kel pulled her head back into the carriage. He heard Jeraldine giggle and Kel said, loud enough for Neal to hear, "Neal's just a big dolt with no brains."

"Oh, Kel. I think you've bruised me for life," he answered drolly.

"Why do I not doubt it," she replied just as dryly.


The next four days afterwards proceeded in much the same fashion. They actually arrived at Magistra without any problems, and Neal found he could put up with Jeraldine's moaning as long as Kel comforted her, and it stopped happening so often during the second day.

"Well," Neal said as he pulled the carriage through the main street of Magistra to the ducal castle. "Welcome home, Jeraldine."

"Home," she whispered as Neal helped her from the carriage. He held the door open for Kel as well, who just rolled her eyes and followed Jeraldine into the castle gates. Neal pulled the carriage into the stables, introduced himself, and waited while two of the servants took Jeraldine's things into the castle.

Neal ran around to the gate and caught up with the girls. "Oh, I can almost taste the gold nobles," Neal said to Kel. Kel hit his arm and sighed at his affinity for money. "This means I don't have to kill any animals to eat tonight!"

"You didn't have to kill any animals with Jeraldine in your company anyway," Kel pointed out.

"Yeah, but before then," Neal told her. Jeraldine looked up as her father entered the room.

"Jeri!" her father cried happily.

"Father!" Jeraldine ran to her father and hugged him tightly. Kel and Neal stood awkwardly in the background, just looking at each other, then at the Duke of Magistra and his daughter, then back at each other again. They didn't want to ruin the reunion.

"Who did you bring with you, Jeri?" the Duke asked.

Jeraldine turned to Kel and Neal and cleared her throat. "May I present Sir Nealan of Queenscove, Knight of Tortall, and Lady Keladry of Mindelan, Knight of Tortall. Sir Nealan escorted me from Port Seadawn to here in nine days."

Neal bowed to the Duke with Kel. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance, your Grace."

Kel, in turn, said the same thing.

"Sir Merric of Hollyrose accompanied Sir Neal until the fork between the road to Magistra and the road to Trebond. Father, I wish to speak to you about Sir Merric, if you would listen once our guests are settled," Jeraldine said formally.

"Of course," the Duke nodded. "A pleasure to have you in our home, Sir Nealan, Lady Keladry. I am the Duke of Magistra, Raslon. Should you need anything, alert one of the servants and they will fetch it for you. It would honor me to have you stay the night with us, and the day after, if possible."

"It would be our honor to spend the night, Duke Raslon. However, we will need to leave tomorrow morning," Neal responded. "Our sincere apologies."

"My sincere regrets," Duke Raslon answered. "I will have a servant show you to your rooms momentarily. Firstly, they need to be prepared."

"If at all possible, may Sir Neal and I share a room?" Kel asked of Duke Raslon.

"Certainly," Duke Raslon agreed. He called a servant forth and instructed her to prepare a room for Sir Neal and Lady Kel. Within fifteen minutes, the same servant came back and swiftly showed the two knights to their room.

"Supper will be served at half an hour after the sun sets," the servant told them. "Dress appropriately."

"Thank you," Neal nodded. Once the servant left, both Neal and Kel flopped onto the bed. "I am so glad we're finally without Little Miss Whines-a-lot."

"You can say that again."