Fools Rush In
Five days had passed since Duke Baird's collapse and ultimate, untimely death in front of the isolation room. Much speculation had gone on about just how the Duke had died. He had seemed in perfectly good health one moment and had gone unconscious the next. Alanna had come to Corus as soon as she had heard about the mysterious death of her former squire's father, and she had helped Neal perform a sort of autopsy on the body.
They found nothing mysterious.
Kel, meanwhile, had hunted down Garvey and had him pinned against the wall.
"Why did you kill him?" she demanded, her voice icy.
"Kill who?" Garvey asked as his face scrunched up in confusion.
"Gee, I don't know, Garvey." Kel glared at him and slammed him harder against the wall.
Garvey stared at Kel as if she had lost her mind. Suddenly, he remembered what she could possibly be talking about: the death of her best friend's father. "You mean, why did I kill Duke Baird?"
"Wow, you do have some mental function!" Kel cried sarcastically. "Why did you kill him?"
"I didn't," Garvey frowned. "Why would I do that? My orders lie strictly in harassing you, not killing the chief healer of the palace."
"Duke Baird was my best friend's father," Kel said through gritted teeth.
"Suppose he was," Garvey replied thoughtfully. "But I didn't kill him."
"Give me one reason why I should believe you," Kel demanded.
"You can write to Bardev and ask him yourself. He gives me my orders as much as he gives you yours," Garvey snarled. His temper had begun to flare.
"Do you swear on the Master's life that you didn't kill Duke Baird?" Kel demanded as she narrowed her eyes.
"Yes." Garvey kicked her off. She stumbled backwards, her fists clenched. "Don't accuse me of killing anyone. You know I don't do that."
Kel barked out of a laugh. "Right. You don't kill anyone. That's a wonderful joke, Garvey. How did I not know to accuse you? I know you would have done anything if only the Master wanted it."
Garvey's eyes lit up dangerously. "True. But I didn't kill this time. You should choose more carefully who you accuse of doing what, though."
"Do you not understand that you like to kill and I know that, and I know that you and Bardev and the Master would stop at nothing to make me your puppet?" Kel asked him. "You...you seemed the perfect choice for me to accuse."
"Righteous Kel," Garvey taunted. He turned and walked off, shimmering and disappearing. "Guess it was just the old goat's time to go, regardless."
"Bastard," she growled.
"Oh, by the way," Garvey's disembodied voice said. "The Master has bought the Abscador Scroll from the Bazhir." Kel didn't let herself breathe a sigh of relief. "However, your friend stays with us. He may return, but he will answer to us."
Kel closed her eyes and clenched her fists again. "Merric," she whispered.
"Have fun, Kel."
"Bastard."
Neal and Alanna had taken to filling in at the infirmary in the chief of healer's absence. The King still had not appointed a new one, due to his own grieving over Duke Baird. Neal had written to the steward at Queenscove, equivocally telling him to consult Neal rather than Duke Baird on matters of the fief. He still had not gotten an answer back, but he didn't quite care.
It seemed the only things Neal quite cared about these days were Kel and healing people in his father's place.
"Neal," Alanna said gently, taking his shaking hands away from the shelf of potions. "You should rest for a little."
"Nonsense," he snapped. "I'm fine, Alanna." He jerked his hands away from Alanna and reached for the potion again, ignoring the fact that he could hardly hold the bottle still, let alone pour it accurately.
"'An unfocussed healer means a patient's fatality,'" Alanna quoted.
"Dammit, Alanna! Leave me alone!" Neal glared at his former knight master.
Alanna glared up at him, her violet eyes as hard as crystal and sparkling with concern for her former squire. "Working yourself to death won't erase your father's," she explained to him quietly. "You have a lot of people depending on you to stay healthy and well, and the more you work yourself to the bone trying to make up for the life taken from you, the more it increases their chance to die. The more you make everyone worry about you. Neal, I've stayed here and worked with you when I could have gone home. You weren't the only one affected by Duke Baird's," she paused as he flinched, "death. I'm worried about you, Neal. Kel and Yuki are worried about you too. All of your friends have come to me, asking me to take care of you, and I've tried, but you won't let me."
"What part of 'leave me alone' did you not hear, Alanna?" Neal demanded. He tore his eyes away from the violet fire in front of him, shakily pouring a dose of pain killer for a page who had fallen off of his horse and cracked a rib. He rubbed at his bleary eyes and blinked away the fog, making sure he had poured the correct amount. Luckily, he had. Neal picked up the cup and walked over to the patient's bed, sitting on the side and handing him the cup. The page looked at him warily, not trusting the potion's foul smell. "It won't kill you, Justen. Your ribs hurt, don't they?" the boy nodded. "Then drink up. It'll stop the pain."
Justen drank the potion, trying his hardest not to spit it out as soon as it entered his mouth.
"Good," Neal praised him and ruffled Justen's hair lightly and took the cup over to the basin of dirty utensils.
"Neal, please," Alanna pleaded. "I just want you to get a little bit of sleep. Then tomorrow you can get up bright and early, sunrise even, and come straight here. I just want you to sleep for a little while."
"You should get some sleep," he replied gruffly. He splashed his face with cold water from a basin of clean water.
"I slept last night. You didn't. You need sleep more than I do," Alanna argued. "Don't make me put you to sleep myself."
"I'm fine," he insisted.
Alanna sighed. She stood for a moment, staring him down. Finally, she spoke. "I need to use the privy."
"Go," Neal waved her off. He cleaned his hands in the water he had just splashed his face with and walked over to the isolation room. Seaver still lied inside, looking ghostly pale and sallow against the bed. Alanna left the infirmary as Neal entered the isolation room. "Good evening, Seaver."
"Maybe for you," Seaver answered hoarsely, grinning barrenly at him. "I heard you fighting with the Lioness outside."
Neal shook his head. "Sorry. Did we wake you up?"
"No," Seaver responded. He coughed deeply and looked up at Neal sheepishly. "What do I have, healer? Speak truthfully."
Neal sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I really wish I did. I don't know how to treat you if I don't know what you have."
"Did you see anything like this during the war?" Seaver asked.
"No," he replied. "The only thing I can do right now is treat your symptoms. Speaking of which, how did that potion help you?"
Seaver and Neal continued their conversation, eventually ending with Neal taking Seaver's pulse and listening to his heartbeat and checking his other body parts. "Well, you seem fine except for the things you told me about," Neal concluded. "I think the only thing I can do for you at this point is make you as symptom-free as I can."
"Thanks, Neal." Seaver grinned, settling back on his pillows and falling asleep.
Neal left the isolation room and changed his robes, burning the others in the small hearth off of the isolation room. He stared at the fire a moment, mesmerized in his fatigue, and nearly jumped a mile when someone laid his or her hand on his shoulder.
"Neal," Kel whispered.
He looked at her. In the flickering shadows of the flames in the hearth, the bags under his eyes barely visible in normal light seemed to engulf his cheeks, making his eyes two abnormally large, luminous jewels on his pale face. A chill swept over Kel's body and she found herself in Neal's arms, holding him tightly. She found that in her effort to protect Neal, she had neglected to protect herself from the old feelings she had for him. She had an idea of whether or not he returned her feelings because he had kissed her twice now, and he used to look at her with longing, loving eyes before his father died.
He kissed the top of her head.
"Neal, come with me," Kel said softly, taking his hand. She led Neal to his quarters and escorted him to his bed. She turned to leave, but he tugged on her hand and she found herself in his bed. "Neal..."
"Shhhh," he told her quietly, pulling her against him. "Sleep."
"Here?" Kel asked incredulously. "Neal, what if Yuki--"
"She doesn't have a key," he mumbled against her ear, sending shivers down Kel's spine. "As long as no one knows, they can't care."
So Kel gave in and rolled over, tucking her head under his chin. When she heard his breathing become long and even, she lifted her head and gently pressed her lips against his. "Goodnight, Neal. Sweet dreams."
She nestled against his chest and heard him echo her, "Goodnight, Kel. Sweet dreams."
Kel woke up in Neal's arms, feeling safe and warm and almost as if her heart would burst from content. Despite the heavy dread and cold inspired by Duke Baird's death, she took great comfort in the fact that she could feel so loved and wonderful in the company of Neal of Queenscove.
She turned her head to see Neal staring at her, the spark of the love and longing he felt for her dancing playfully in his eyes. She saw that just the night she had spent simply sleeping in his bed had chased some of the shadows from his mind and heart.
"You kissed me last night," he said quietly.
She blushed, suddenly very aware of Neal's arm around her waist. It hadn't left that position all night, she guessed. "Yes I did."
The ghost of a smile graced his lips. "Yuki will feel very murderous at the both of us when I tell her what we've done."
Kel snorted, a very unladylike sound. "Yuki doesn't have a 'murderous' bone in body. The one who will like to murder us is your cousin."
"True," Neal conceded. "I don't want you kissing him anymore."
Kel rolled her eyes. "Neal, don't be silly."
"Seriously. I don't want you kissing him anymore." He gave her one of his pleading, kicked puppy looks.
"I can't just stop kissing him," she looked away from him. "He'll get suspicious."
"Who cares? I don't like it," Neal pouted at her.
"Neal," she sighed.
He glanced to his window and heard the clock tolling the hour. Nine o'clock in the morning. "I should get up and go help Alanna in the infirmary."
"I think you should take the day off," Kel replied.
"Oh?" Neal asked. "And do what? Watch everyone mope around wearing black and mourning for someone they never knew personally? No thank you. I'd rather not waste my time."
"You need to make preparations for your father's burial," she told him quietly. "I told you. I'll help you if you want me to do so. But you need to have a memorial or something to let everyone speak their mind of what they knew of your father. He touched everyone's lives, Neal."
"Nobody knew him though," he argued. "Nobody knew him except me, my mother, Alanna, the Royal Family, and you. Why should I let everyone make a mockery, a travesty out of his death?"
"Don't be so selfish," Kel berated him. "As chief of the healers, everyone knew him a little. Everyone knew of him or knew him, so just let them think they're grieving. You won't lose anything by it. You can just have his funeral at Queenscove and have a memorial service here."
"You are very intelligent," Neal told her. "Seriously though. I feel wasted sitting here. Er, lying here. I promise I won't make you come get me so late tonight. Not that I mind you coming and getting me. I just hope I didn't kill anyone last night. 'An unfocused healer means a patient's fatality,' as the Lioness tried to tell me last night."
Kel chuckled. "Okay, okay. You win. Go to breakfast with me?"
"Of course," he replied.
Dom and Yuki had waited for Kel and Neal in front of the mess hall, talking and neither voicing the idea that Kel and Neal had spent the night together. Quite frankly, both of them refused to entertain the idea in their mind, let alone tell the other. They both wanted to believe that their significant other had developed into something more than friends.
"Neal!" Yuki cried, seeing her fiancee turn the corner. She refused to acknowledge the fact that Kel walked with him. Besides, he may have just run into her in the hallway. The fact that they walked together, Neal smiling--something Yuki had tried her hardest to manage--could all just be coincidence.
Dom suspected otherwise as he waved to Kel. Neal hugged and kissed Yuki as if Kel hadn't kissed him last night, and Dom hugged and kissed Kel as if she hadn't kissed Neal the night before. Yuki and Dom both missed the glances Kel and Neal spared at each other and led them into the mess. The mess had long since cleared of its inhabitants, but remainders of breakfast still sat on the tables for the late wakers. Kel and Neal somehow managed to sit side-by-side as they had at the disastrous supper the previous week.
Neal reached under the table periodically to squeeze Kel's hand. He felt somewhat guilty in doing so right in front of Yuki, but his hand seemed to have a mind of its own. In fact, so did Kel's hand, it seemed. She squeezed back every time he did.
"So," Neal said congenially. "I feel better after a good night's sleep. How about you three?"
Playing innocent, are we, Mr. Queenscove? Kel thought wryly. "I feel wonderful."
Neal smiled discreetly at her.
"It's damn cold in King's Own barracks. I hate October," Dom grumbled.
"Don't you need to go back to the desert soon?" Yuki asked.
"Yeah. But Raoul said I could stay as long as needed too because of Uncle," Dom answered. "Speaking of which, when will the funeral be, Neal? And where?"
"You'll know when I decide," Neal replied evasively.
"That translates into 'I don't know,'" Kel reiterated.
"You should hush up," Neal growled playfully.
Yuki cleared her throat and took a sip of juice. Neal stopped playing with Kel and turned to her. She had forgiven him for calling her Kel while they had fooled around. In fact, the apology scene went something like this:
Neal approached Yuki outside her quarters and said softly, "Hello."
"Sir Neal," she replied stiffly.
Ouch. "I need to talk to you."
"I can't imagine about what," she told him coldly.
"I wanted to apologize to you about the other night," he had continued.
Yuki looked at him sharply, her almond-shaped eyes glittering with amusement. "I don't care about it. I know that she was on your mind. You told me that you and her had had some trouble recently. I understand."
"But--"
"Sh. It's okay."
And Neal had not since tried to tell her what he had wanted to tell her. She wouldn't listen, for one thing. So he would just have to do what Duke Baird had done and wait until she got suspicious enough of him and huffed off. He didn't want her angry with Kel, but it would have to turn out that way. Apparently, they literally couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
In fact, Neal wouldn't be surprised if Kel tagged along and went to the infirmary with him.
Once Neal finished his breakfast, he ruffled Kel's hair and kissed Yuki on the cheek. "If any of you need me, I'll be in the infirmary with Alanna."
Alanna thought, at first, that Neal had gone mad from lack of sleep when he walked into the infirmary and greeted his patients cheerily, as well as his coworker. She outright asked him if he had gone mad, too.
"Nope!" he answered laughingly. "I just had a good night's sleep."
Alanna rolled her eyes. "See? I told you it would do you a world of good."
"Just had to add the 'I told you so' didn't you?" Neal asked her dryly. He then set to work with his patients, checking lastly on Seaver. He tried out a spell Alanna had taught him during his squire years that he had forgotten until then. It spelled his clothes for protection against the highly contagious germs in the isolation room.
As he emerged from the isolation room, washing his hands in the basin, he heard someone sneak up behind him. Kel, he thought immediately, even as her hands clamped over his eyes.
"Guess who," she whispered in his ear, his skin tingling.
"Gee," he said softly. "Could it be..." he took her hands from his eyes and grinned. "Kel."
"Cheat," she accused. Kel flipped her short hair over her shoulder and felt gooseflesh break out on her arms at the way he watched her each and every move.
"I think I'd like to argue the 'cheaters never win' theory," he told her suggestively.
"You..." Kel put her hands on her hips. "Are insufferable."
He ducked his head in acknowledgment. "Didn't we go over that a week or so ago?"
"I believe we did," Kel answered.
"Keladry, Nealan!" Alanna barked from nearby. "Quit flirting--" both of them turned bright red. "And make yourselves useful. You're worse than my children!"
"For such a small woman, you sure make a lot of noise," Neal teased the first lady knight. She made a rude gesture at him and went about her business, leaving Kel and Neal to snicker behind her back. Neal measured out some potions for Alanna while she checked on some patients, and he said to Kel, "How does the Monday after next sound?"
"For what?" Kel asked, holding the cup for him as he poured the potion into it.
"Father's burial," he sighed. A dark shadow crossed his face, making him seem much, much older.
"That sounds fine," Kel agreed. "Shall I ask my mother to write the announcements? Or do you want your mother to write them?"
"I still haven't told her," Neal set the bottle upon its proper shelf. "I want a small burial, Kel. Nothing very fancy. Father didn't like fancy. Always said it was a waste."
"He was right," Alanna piped up, joining the two. She took the potion Kel held and looked at Neal. "For Justen?"
He nodded. "Do you think you can come to Queenscove the Monday after next for Father's burial?"
"Yeah," Alanna agreed. She left again.
"I'll make a list," Kel continued. "And you can tell me whether or not I should tell Mother to invite them."
"I'd like that," Neal told her.
Alanna came back and knocked Neal on the back of the head. "Will you help me today or will you just stand there talking with Kel?"
"I can't do both?" he asked cheekily.
Alanna stood on her toes and knocked him on the back of the head again. "Get a move on!"
"Ow! Alanna!" he whined, picking up one of the cups he had just poured potion into. Kel held up the bottle he had poured into it, helping him remember who it was for, and he carted it off.
Alanna watched a silly smile spread on Kel's face and chuckled. "I see you fancy our young Queenscove."
Kel blushed. "Not really."
"I used to say that about my best friend," Alanna examined the cups. "And I ended up marrying him."
Trying to come up with something to say, Kel's mouth moved without sound, looking something like a fish.
Alanna chuckled. "Think, child."
"...Not a child," she mumbled.
"Then stop acting like one," Alanna patted the young lady knight on the head.
"I can't fancy him," Kel said finally. "He loves Yuki."
"Does he? Maybe you should ask him," Alanna advised. "And perhaps you should get to work on that list, Lady Queenscove."
Kel turned bright red. "I beg your pardon, Lady Alanna! They call me Keladry of Mindelan, not..."
Alanna laughed and walked out to the beds again.
Alanna insisted Neal take an extra hour for midday once the bell rang and, surprisingly, Neal agreed. He used the hour to meet with Kel in the library to decide on the list of those invited to the burial at Queenscove and came up with the Royal Family, Kel, her father, her mother, Lord Raoul and Buri, Duke Gareth the Younger, Alanna, Myles, Dom, and Dom's family. Neal found the list larger than he had originally wanted, but he found that those on it knew Duke Baird the best out of the palace.
For about ten minutes after the half hour they had taken to make the list, they sat in silence. Kel played with her pen and tried not to look at Neal, the Lioness's words ringing fresh in her mind. Should she really ask Neal the obvious question of whether he loved Yuki or not? She and Neal had kissed a couple of times, so what? Neal may just have acted on impulse. She had taunted him into finding some inventive way to make her shut up the first time, and he had just come off of a rather large wave of grief the second time. And the night before? Kel had kissed him...why had she done that? Hadn't she talked herself into loving Dom? Or did Alanna tell her what she couldn't admit to herself? Had she fallen in love with Neal?
"Kel," Neal said suddenly.
Startled from her thoughts, she looked up at him. "What?"
"Help me find this book I need to find," he requested.
"Does this book you need to find have a title?" Kel quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Probably," Neal replied.
"Neal!" Kel cried, finding herself pulled up from her seat gently by her wrist. He led her to a less-used part of the library, hidden in the shadows of the sunlight streaming through the windows and the torches lit in the places it didn't. "I can't see a thing over here."
"That's the point."
Kel found herself seized and pressed gently against the wall. The next thing she knew, Neal had pressed his lips against hers and now kissed her. And she had taken to kissing him back.
They stood in the shadows of that particular library aisle, in the darkest part of the shadows, making out like a couple of teenagers until the clock outside tolled the hour. Quite frankly, Neal thought they didn't have enough time.
Kel looked up at Neal, thankful the shadows hid her flushed cheeks and overbright eyes. She smiled at him and fought back a fit of giggles by resting her forehead on Neal's chest. "What the hell did we just do?" she whispered.
Neal chuckled softly himself. "Had one hell of a friendly kiss, I'd reckon."
"Shh," Kel told him. She could feel that her lips had swollen. "Don't you need to go back to Alanna now?"
"Shit, that's right," Neal sighed. "Meet me here after curfew."
"What?" she asked. "We can't!"
"Remember what I said last night? 'As long as no one knows, no one can care?'" he reminded her. "Just meet me here, will you?"
Kel sighed and gave in. "All right, all right. Now go, before the Lioness chews you out for being late."
Neal kissed her lightly one more time before dashing out of the library.
Neal returned to the infirmary, giddy. Alanna had literally never seen her former squire like this, even after he and Yuki had first started courting. "All right," she said after an hour of Neal on his high. "What happened?"
Neal chuckled. "Nothing."
"Looks like a whole lot of giddy for nothing," Alanna replied. Neal hardly acknowledged her scrutinizing stare. "Something must have happened!"
"Oh, doesn't the curiosity kill you?" Neal teased. "Luckily, I can keep secrets."
Alanna laughed loudly at that. "You, keep secrets?"
"Yes," Neal scoffed. A page wandered in then.
"Sir Neal?" he asked.
"I've been summoned," he told Alanna and emerged into the main room of the infirmary. "Why, if it isn't James of Tridelta. What troubles you?"
The little page from Tridelta's face lit up. "You remember me?"
"Of course I do," Neal motioned to the chair sitting against the wall on his right. "How's the finger?"
James flexed his finger for Neal. "Good as new."
"Great," Neal answered, nodding. "You sound like you have a cold."
James sniffed and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his shirt. "Yes, sir. I do."
Neal touched the page's forehead, his fingertips lighting up with an emerald green. In moments, the page's symptoms disappeared, the cold erased from his blood stream.
"Thank you, Sir Neal!" James grinned.
"Off with you," Neal gave the boy a gentle shove on the back towards the door.
James ran off as Alanna came up behind Neal. "You have a way with the younger ones," Alanna observed.
Neal shrugged. "I never noticed. Kel says I have a way with everyone."
Alanna laughed, clapping him on the back. "You mean you have your way with everyone."
"Oh, ha ha," Neal answered dryly. "I love you too, Alanna."
Supper passed uneventfully. Dom had asked Kel to eat in the King's Own mess with him, and she had agreed; Yuki had asked Neal to eat in her chambers with her, he had no choice but to concede. Now that Neal had arranged a date for the funeral of Duke Baird, he had alerted Raoul, who had told Dom to return to the desert the next day. He had asked Kel to eat with him for that reason.
Neal returned to the infirmary after supper, giving Alanna the evening off. She had worked harder than he had today, and he didn't want her collapsing on him. He had anticipated the fact that she may fight him on this, so he approached Jon and asked him to request the Champion take the evening off. Not one to fight a royal decree, Alanna had glared at Neal and grumbled and gone off to her quarters.
As the curfew bell tolled, Neal finished checking on Seaver and told the healer coming on duty about the spell Alanna had taught him as a squire. He then walked off to the library, slipping in quickly and finding Kel already there, in the same aisle they had kissed in earlier. He smiled when he saw her, summoning a small, dim green light.
"I didn't think you would come," he whispered.
"Of course I came. Have I ever broken a promise to you?" she whispered back.
"Did he kiss you?" Neal asked skeptically. Seeing Kel flinch, he knew the answer before she nodded. He narrowed his eyes. "But he's leaving tomorrow, isn't he?"
"Yeah," Kel sighed. "We won't see him again until Queenscove. Should we invite Yuki so she doesn't feel left out?"
"I don't want to talk about her right now."
He swept her up in his arms and couldn't help but grin when he felt her arms snake behind his neck and her hands clasp at the nape. He kissed her lightly, slowly moving his lips over hers. And much in that fashion, they proceeded to make out yet again.
Merric wandered onto the palace grounds on foot. He walked with a confident swagger, pleased to find only the sentries on duty and no one else on the grounds as well. The last thing he wanted was Kel or Neal rushing up to him and greeting him. He felt like scum enough as it was. He didn't want to obey the Master anymore than Kel did, but instead of making threats on his servants' lives, he decided to simply fold and let them take what they wanted from him.
Apparently, the Master had underestimated Merric's ability to feign sincerity. He also failed to see when Merric had manipulated the--man? woman? being?--into spilling all of its secrets. He knew the why, who, and how of the Master's plans, and he only regretted not having the opportunity to wheedle the when and where out of the Master too before it sent him off.
Obviously, Merric couldn't deliver this information to the King and Queen yet. Not without the when and where, in any case. The why, who, and how would just remain useless information without the particularly vital parts. It would be like having arms, legs, and head without having a torso to hold it all together and a brain to make it function.
Merric stole into the shadows of the courtyard, slipping into one of the side doors and tugging at the string holding his cloak around his neck. He felt a presence brush past him--Garvey. He winced, yanking at the knot on the cloak, and finally, having enough of its incessant irritation, pulled out a dagger to cut it off when the strings seemingly untied themselves.
"You're welcome," Garvey said gruffly. He remained invisible to the palace but quite in plain view to Merric, as Merric had had his own weapons carved with the runes that Garvey's had.
"My thanks," Merric replied awkwardly. He remembered when Joren, Garvey, and their other little friend--he couldn't remember his name--used to harass him as a page. Before he started having group study sessions with Kel and Neal and everyone else. He lowered his voice and studied Garvey for a moment. He had an ugly "Y" shaped scar on the left side of his face. "How long does she think I've been gone?"
"Since Bardev gave her the time limit," Garvey shrugged. Merric pictured Bardev in his mind: two glittering eyes surrounded by darkness and shadows. He had never seen all of Bardev, and he somehow doubted anyone but the Master had. "Why do you care?"
"Just wondering how much of a shock I should pretend to go into," Merric answered coldly. He pretended his heart had turned to stone so he could slip into the role of Ruthless Puppet Merric. "Did she leave the palace at any time?"
Garvey shook his head. "Not at all. Don't reckon she cares about you much, Hollyrose." His fingers brushed over the hilt of his sword out of habit. Thanks to the sword, he could walk, undetected, around the palace. It shielded him from the prying eyes of people and animals. He, like Merric, also wore a charm around his neck: should he try to betray the Master in any way, he would experience a rather painful, bloody, horrible death. "Or she's just a silly girl with a sword."
Merric barked out a laugh. At a simple thought, he felt the heavy blanket of magic veil him from sight. He and Garvey could run screaming down the hallways, tap-dancing, and making rude gestures at people and go unseen and unheard. They could, however, make someone hear them, as Garvey had done with Kel back when he had harassed one of the lowliest servants of the Master. He had let Kel see him and hear him, but to others--except for the servant as well--would not see him and would not hear him. Magic of the Abscador Scroll.
"I'll keep that in mind. Where is she now?" Merric wanted to know.
"Last I saw her she had sneaked into the library with that Queenscove fellow," Garvey shrugged.
Merric nodded, then veiled himself from even Garvey's sight. Garvey let out a frustrated growl and stormed off in the opposite direction, not bothering to disappear from Merric's vision. A pity, too. Merric could just run up behind him and run him through with his runic sword. Then again, he would also die, writhing in agony on the floor, shielded until someone happened to run into him. So Merric whisked off to the library.
He saw no signs of Kel or Neal until he listened as hard as he could. He heard...giggling...and other associated kissing noises. Arching an eyebrow, Merric followed his ears until he found Neal and Kel tucked in a corner of the library, having the time of their lives with free reign over the other's mouth. Having no idea whether to find himself disgusted or happy for his friends, Merric retreated to his rooms on the other side of the palace.
Dom entered the King's Own barracks, finding his squad's beds emptier than ever. He would soon join them again, but he wouldn't have his Kel until the burial of Duke Baird. He knew that Neal would invite her, if only because they had known each other forever.
Dom heard something crackle underneath him as he sat on the bed. He reached underneath him, pulling a wad of crumpled, somewhat dirty piece of parchment off of the bed.
"What's this?" he wondered aloud, suddenly glad that he was the only one in the barracks at the moment. He unfolded the parchment. "'Dear Yuki,'" he read aloud. "Whoa." He scratched his head and shrugged. "'I would like to apologize..' blah blah blah...'I have fallen in love with Kel'?!" Dom jumped off of his bed, hitting his head on the bunk above him but not caring. "Neal's in love with Kel?!"
