Disclaimer. I own nothing that you recognize. I DO however own Rosine. I wish I owned them, cause then I ought to be a millionaire..but no such luck. On the good side, only 6 more day's till I get to go see the Goddess (Tammy!) herself! yay! and on my birthday no less! (okay, sorry for getting off track!)

~*~

"Phew, Kel, that was quite a workout." Domitan groaned as he and Kel headed towards their rooms for baths before dinner. (Not together, of course.) All afternoon, they had gone through relentless practice and drills, focusing on archery, as the next morning was her 'showdown' with Cleon.

"Thanks for working with me Dom," Kel said, suddenly wondering how many people would be by the stables the next morning hoping that Kel would end up making a fool of herself. "I hope things go well tomorrow, I can't disgrace you, Neal and Yuki, and Owen, or myself. I need to prove myself again. Do you think I can do it?" Kel asked tentatively.

"Of course I think you can do it, dearest lady knight. You are so close to perfect it's scary." Dom said with a grin. "You would never let another knight with an over-inflated ego keep it that big."

"Oh stop it, I'm blushing," Kel said only somewhat sarcastically. "I'm starved now, I'm going to go wash up and then head to dinner, meet me there?"

"Have no doubt Kel. I'll see you there!" Dom said with a smile as he headed off towards the men's baths. Kel headed in the opposite direction with a lot on her mind. As she stopped by her room to grab a change of clothes, she realized that she hadn't seen Jump for awhile. Or maybe she had. She had had a lot of stuff on her mind lately, she pondered, but couldn't help but wonder just where her faithful companion was. With a sigh, she picked up her change of clothing and headed towards the baths knowing that the steam would feel good to her muscles.

~*~

Walking into the baths, Kel was relieved to find that there were no other people in the bath. Climbing into the deliciously hot water, someone else walked in. Kel hoped it wasn't Rosine...she'd had enough confrontation for one day. With a sigh of relief, Kel realized that it was Yuki. She hadn't been able to talk to her alone for a while.

"Yuki, Hi!" Kel called, and then listened to her voice echo against the tile walls. Usually unable to look at things around her like this, Kel looked up at the ceiling and saw a delicate mosaic of a scene from what could only be the council of the gods. Kel could identify Mithros in the golden armor, and the Mother Goddess with hair blacker than ebony. She saw the god of dreams and the Graveyard Hag, many of which Daine had told her about. Thinking again of how different the Yamani islands were from Tortall she smiled. She would be the one with the advantage.

As she entered the water, Yuki headed towards Kel looking very self-conscious. Kel had to laugh. When she first arrived at the palace in Tortall, she too was shocked at the fact that women bathed together in a communal pool. Besides getting used to being the only girl in the training program, she also had to learn to bathe with others. As they washed themselves, they had the best round of girl-talk she had since she last saw her mother. Kel finished before Yuki, and quickly dried herself and dressed, deciding to wear her deep green gown that was almost a black, with the sky-blue under gown, smiling at the colors, they were two of her favorites. She deftly pulled her hair back into a ribbon that matched the blue perfectly and gave a little sigh of contentment. She'd never be a beauty, but good enough for her purposes. SHE wasn't trying to seduce every man in Tortall, unlike that little harlot, Ros-- 'Stop it Keladry, she chided herself. You're starting to sound like Rosine yourself!'

"Yuki, do you mind? I'm going to head to dinner."

"Of course not Kel, go on ahead, I'll meet you there. I need to talk to Nealan for a bit anyways. Go on, you must be starved." With that, Kel headed towards the mess not really paying attention to her surroundings, so much so that she ran smack dab into Owen.

"Gosh," Owen said, looking flustered. "I'm so sorry Keladry, I watching where I was going---Gee, you look really nice, Kel. Where're you going in that getup?"

"I WAS going to dinner!" Kel said, suddenly unsure of her dress. "What's wrong with my dress?"

"Nothing at all!" Owen quickly amended. "I'm just not used to seeing you in a dress....It's sort of like me wearing a skirt!" Kel had to cover her giggles at the thought, although pink would be a good color on him.... "But you really do look pretty Kel, you should wear dresses more often, I mean when you're not riding or fighting or killing bandits or any other jolly stuff. I don't know how you girls put up with all that cloth around you!"

"Well Owen, if you are so sure that you do approve of my attire, can we please head to the mess? I'm starved!"

"That's just what I was going to say, Lady Keladry," Owen said, suddenly sounding as if he was trying to sound much more formal. "May I accompany you Lady Knight?" Owen inquired offering his arm just as all the pages had been taught in Master Oakbridge's etiquette.

Stifling a giggle, Kel took his arm, just as she had seen the court ladies do, and headed off to eat.

~*~

As Kel and Owen dug into their dinners, Kel saw Dom, Neal, and Yuki walk in. She half-stood to wave them over, and they acknowledged the table before grabbing some food. As Neal slid in across from her, Kel quickly noted that he hadn't picked up very many vegetables. "Neal," Kel made sure there was plenty of warning in her voice. "What have I told you about eating your vegetables?"

Before Neal could respond, Owen interjected, "I eat my vegetables!" And then blushed a bright red immediately after, as soon as he realized that he was the only one to have spoken up.

Feeling bad, Kel amended, a bit late, "So do I....Neal? We're waiting!" With a sigh, Neal got up and headed back to get some vegetables, mumbling under his breath all of the way. The events of the day finally catching up with her, Kel hurried to finish her meal, and politely excused herself when she was done to go back to her rooms.

"I'll come with you Kel!" offered Owen, and Kel didn't see any reason to turn him down, so she agreed. The walk back to her rooms was slow and amiable. Kel didn't realize how much she had missed Owen in the time he was a squire. As they reached Ke'l door, she turned around to say goodnight to Owen. When she turned, he planted a shy kiss on her cheek, and while yelling "Goodnight!" over his shoulder, retreated to her rooms.

'Great,' Kel thought, 'Just great. If someone had told me two weeks ago that I'd have three men kiss me within three days, I would have laughed myself silly. Now I'm not quite sure who would be doing the laughing.'

~*~

A/N - Yes, I know this was kind of a weak chapter. I sort of got stuck. You see, Kel is a very confused girl now. Dom, or Owen? who will she pick?? (okay, okay, I don't know myself, but it's all good!) This chapter kind of went downhil from dinner...some, or all, of the dialogue got sort of cheesy, just don't sue, remember, I own nothing you recognize!