*****MAJORLY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE!!!! OKAY, I PLAYED BLONDE AND FORGOT NEAL AND DOM WERE RELATED. SO HENCEFORTH IN THIS FIC THEY ARE NOT! UNDERSTAND? GOOD.*****

sorry, I'm a blonde. Please refrain from throwing eggs. But I suppose that if my blondness really bug ya you can throw fruit.

~Chapter 9:Erica du Noteva le Torecl~

Lia sighed as she slipped into a bath. She'd had a long day, a very long day. She'd chased pickpockets, a monkey, and a gang of thieves. She'd had to chase that stupid monkey over half the roofs in Haven. Jumping roofs was hard. Her muscles had drawn taught and just walking hurt. She still couldn't understand why a monkey was in Haven/

Someone was knocking on her door. It was dark out and most people where sleeping. Lia chose to ignore it, maybe they would go away. He heard them leave something at the door and walk away. Lia slunk underneath the water to wash all the soap off her. 

She slowly pulled on her clothing, it hurt. Her muscles stretched and pulled under her skin. She had to teach tomorrow, which meant she had to practice tonight. She opened the door the box was wiggling. Lia eyed it nervously. She moved the box into her room with her foot and kicked the lid open a little dog popped out. It was a little black dog and it roamed around her room before sitting at her feet. Lia couldn't help it she bent over and picked it up, it licked her chin. It seemed she had a new pet.

Lia wasn't sure what to name it. She finally decided on Jaelik, it meant dog in Carthaki. So very creative of me she thought. She curled up into her bed with her new friend. She would practice in the morning.

~~:~~

"Lia, Lia get up." A wet cold feeling that spread across her body awakened her.  Erikk had backed up remembering how she had reacted last time she had been awakened like that. "Get dressed, your going to be late for lessons. When did you get a dog?"

"Last night, what time is it?"

"You have five minuets." He said grinning as he walked out of her room. Lia groaned and pulled on her clothes, and grabbed her swords, pulled on her boots, picked up her dog and ran out of the room.

"You made it. And here come the trainees." Erikk said. Lia was shocked; the group of kids coming towards them was the same group of kids she had chased around the city yesterday. They also had that stupid monkey. And that disgusting boy who had hit on her. Jaelik sat at her feet looking around.

She noticed that all of the kids held swords. One of the girls held hands with a two or three year old girl who walked next to her, hr head bobbled around trying to look at everything at once. She had blond hair and big gray eyes; her sister had the same eyes. The kids came to a halt in front of her.

"Are you teaching the sword?" One of them, who looked like he might be the leader asked.

"Yes, now if you could all pick from this barrel of wooden practice swords and line up in rows of five we can begin."

"Excuse me, lady." The girl with the little girl asked. "I had to bring Carri with me, and I don't want her to get hurt. Do you know where I could put her?"

"What's your name?"

"Renne, Lady."

"Okay, you can put her next to Jaelik my dog, he'll make sure she doesn't get hurt. Is she your sister?" The girl nodded her head.

"My mum left us a year ago, Carri's only three."

"I'm sorry." Lia said and gave her a hug. Shanki smiled and set her sister down next to Jealik. Erikk nodded at me and I began the lesson. We worked the kids hard, but they didn't complain. We stopped when the bell for midday rang.

Erikk and I panicked; we were supposed to be at a meeting half an hour ago. We sent the kids to the mess hall for lunch and ran to Kel's library. As we barged in everyone in the room turned to look at us. Sweaty bodies coated with a layer of dust.

"So nice of you to join us, have a seat, please." Kel said, before she continued talking about crop increase rates. Nether Erikk or I said a word during the entire time. When the meeting ended Kel looked at us.

"Now, your next class is the gypsy group. One thing to note about gypsies, if they give you anything or invite you anywhere, say yes, it is a terrible insult to say no. They are also very graceful, use that the their advantage, don't try to change it."

~~:~~

Kel had been right, these kids were very graceful, and they caught on to things very fast. One of the girls, Kantianzi had taken a fancy to Erikk, which scared him to death. Erikk said that one of the boys liked her, Lia didn't believe him.

Her days took on a small pattern. Jaelik grew fast; he was now the size of a small hound dog. Lia continued training both groups of children. Shanki continued to get better and better at the sword and with that grew in confidence. The pain of her mother leaving her slowly ebbed away.

She and Kantianzi became friends, and at the end of August Lia was invited to a traditional gypsy celebration. Of course Lia accepted, she didn't want to be rude.

~~:~~

"Lia, you came." Kanti said, she was in the traditional gypsy maiden attire. A tight fitting top with the sleeves that fanned out, and a skirt that was ruffled all the way around with a slit high up on the side.

"C'mon we've got to get you ready." Kanti said. Her mother and grandmother were already looking her over and pulling clothes out of trunks. "Stand on this stool. We'll figure out what colors you look best in." The three gypsy woman ran around the room, holding fabrics up and throwing them down again. Lia finally ended up in a cream shirt with a dark green bodice over the top of the shirt and a black skirt. They brushed her hair out so it was wavy, her hair had been braided for so long that she had forgotten how long it was. They put silver armbands on her arms and one around her thigh. Lia was shocked. She had never thought she would look this good.

Kanti's grandmother did some spell on Lia that made her slightly dizzy, but when it was over Lia knew all of the traditional gypsy dance steps.

"Ready?" Kanti asked. Lia looked in the mirror once more she reminded herself of the noble girl she had once been.

"Definitely." So the two walked to the gypsy square, Kanti telling her all the while about which boys to avoid and so and such. Lia wasn't too worried about being bothered by boys; she had a dagger strapped to one of her legs.

The square was magnificent, colored lights hung above casting colored shadows all over. She saw a couple of the kids from her class and smiled at them it took them a while to realize who she was but after they did they laughed and pointed her out to their parents. After most people had arrived the eldest got up and told the tale of the festival.

It was a time of great sorrow, when our country was invaded by Scarned raiders. They took over our country, our land, and our cattle. They took our children and made them work as slaves.

But then a Champion arose. With great power he found places where we could live, spells to protect us. He discovered the magic that lay within us. And we lived peacefully for thousands of years.

        

Until recently, when the iron beasts rampaged. And we were forced to move from our homes. And a Champion arose. And she killed the iron beasts, and saved us all.

And now we wait, for the next Champion to arise. And the next will come soon, for evil brews beneath us. . .

Lia was entranced, it was a wonderful story. She wondered who the next Champion was, she remembered what that priest had said, maybe it was her. Lia shook her head, she couldn't be a Champion.

"C'mon Lia, lets dance." Kanti said pulling her out onto the square and into the dance line. Soon Lia was to busy swaying with the music, the dance they where doing caused them to switch partners every few minuets.

"Lia?" She looked up to see a started Erikk looking at her.

"Hi."

"Why are you here?" he asked surprised.

"Kanti invited me." Lia quickly looked at her feet trying to make sure she didn't fall over.

"Do you like it?"

"Oh, it's wonderful. Bye." She said as they switched partners.  Lia watched amused, as Kanti tried as hard as possible to get Erikk to pay attention to her as they danced. Lia's next partner was one of the one's Kanti had told her to stay away from, Lia caught Kanti's frantic eye signals. Obviously he didn't recognize her because he tried to grab her behind, which Lia did not appreciate, so she kicked him in the groin and moved on, no problem.

Lia had fun that night, she danced with Erikk a coupe of times, a few or the other girls followed her example and just started kneeing boys.

The teenagers stayed and danced until early morning, some of the adults stayed and talked and fell asleep in the chairs they were sitting in. Lia and Kanti walked back to Kanti's house. Lia said goodnight and started walking back to her room, this was one of those times she wished it wasn't in the center complex. It took fifteen minuets to get back.

Lia pushed her door open to reveal a terrible mess. Her room had been torn through again, Lia let out a frustrated squeak. Unfortunately it was a very loud squeak. And she heard people all along the hallway.

Lia ignored the noise, flipped her mattress back onto the bed, pulled on the covers and fell asleep.

~~:~~

"Lia, wake up." Erikk looked around dismayed at the state of her room. Lia looked so peaceful sleeping. She reminded him of a gypsy princess after the Champion had rescued her. He remembered what the old Priest had told him, he was a Champion or he was going to be.

Lia woke up to Jaelik licking her face. She groaned and looked out her window, the sun was high, and the noon bell was ringing. She jumped out of bed and looked around for her clothes. Catching her reflection in the mirror, she was still wearing her gypsy clothes. She smiled and pulled them off carefully. Changing into breeches and a shirt she ran to the mess hall.

"Ah, look sleeping beauty has graced us with her presence. We are dearly blessed that thou has come to eat with us." Alex said.

"Be quiet." Lia said stealing Alex's plate of food.

"Hey, I was eating that."

"Not any more. Why didn't you get me up for lessons?"

"I tried, you wouldn't wake." Erikk said.

"Really? How were lessons?"

"Good, they missed you." Lia just nodded and continued to stuff food in her mouth. The bell rang and she and Erikk went to teach, Lia wasn't sure what John and Alex did all day because she never saw them teaching. But it didn't really matter.

A week later Erikk, Alex and Lia were in her room going over food orders when John stormed in. He was red in the face and he had a piece of parchment clutched in his hand.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked

"I've got to get married." He said

"To who?" Erikk asked.

"Erica du Noteva le Torecl, Emperor Kaddars daughter. The Empress of Carthak."

"I suppose it's a good alliance for Tortall. Her people love her. They'll do whatever she asks of them." Erikk observed tapping a pencil against his chin.

"But I don't know her. I don't know anything about her other than her political stance!"

"When are you getting married?" Lia asked trying to hold her concentration on the numbers she was counting up.

"The summer after I'm knighted. The wedding on some island that's in between our contries. Then We do a loop around Tortall for one year and then a loop around Carthak for a year." He moaned. Two years of balls and court games and. Oh it would be insane!

"Wow, that's a long time." Alex observed. "Girls, think of all the pretty girls." He was screaming at the top of his lungs, and rolling around the floor. Lia was quickly grabbing the papers out of his way.

Erikk and Lia were watching John as he flopped on her bed. Alex was still cackling about girls. Lia was relived that she didn't have to go on progress as a lady.

"Maybe you should get to know this Erica. Your parent's arranged marriage worked out just fine." Lia said reasonably.

"I guess, she's coming to Haven, she didn't want to interrupt my work, she'll be here next week, I'm going to go hit something.' He said as he left the room. Lia heard a strangled cry of 'girls' before it was quickly cut off. Erikk was sitting on Alex, he looked very proud of himself. Lia rolled her eyes and went back to work.

Lia and Erikk were teaching a class when Alex came running towards them yelling about girls. Lia and Erikk understood immediately and dismissed the class and followed Alex to the courtyard where a carriage was just pulling in. John came running into the courtyard, he was dirty and had a group of kids following him who were just as dirty. They all swarmed around him as his future wife stepped out of the carriage, she was all dressed up, she looked like a porcelain doll. John just about died.

Then we heard laughing, one of her handmaids was laughing hysterically, and then the Empress started laughing. The handmaid stepped forward.

"I'm sorry; I just had to see what you would do. I'm Erica that's my best friend Tayniate. I'm sorry." She said still laughing.

Alex found this amusing and was cackling. Tayniate was sitting down holding her sides. Erikk was trying not to laugh. Lia was smiling; she didn't need to worry about John not liking Erica.

Erica was wearing breeches and a shirt, like a sensible person would have. She had black hair that was done in tiny braids tipped with silver beads. She had dark brown eyes that sparkled and dark chocolate skin.

"Welcome to Haven milady." John choked out.

"Don't call me a lady, it makes me feel like a noble." Erica looked around. "So who's giving me the tour?" John said he would show her around and walked off in a general direction, John followed her looking flabbergasted. When they were out of hearing range the entire group of onlookers started laughing. Tayniate looked highly amused.

When most people had left, Alex walked right up to the handmaid Tayniate and introduced himself as the Official Adviser of the Heir of Haven. Lia and Erikk immediately went up and tried to get him to go away.

"Alex," Erikk tried. Alex kept talking. Lia and. Erikk rolled their eye's.

"Alex, introduce me to your friends." She said grinning.

"Well, this is Erikk of Haven. I think that's what we finally decided on." They had been discussing this in great detail for a few days now. They had decided on Ertikk of Haven.

"And Yazlia of Queenscove, the current girl page."

"Oh hi!" Tayniate said shaking hands with her. "Yazlia, I heard you specialize in Knife fighting, would you like to go with me sometime? I'd like to see how good you are."

"Sure, that would be fine. I teach classes every morning and afternoon so anytime in the late afternoon is fine." Tayniate thought about that for a second.

"I have meetings all day tomorrow, but the day after is fine. I'll have to talk to you again later, the delegation leader needs me, it was nice meeting you all." she said before running off to talk to an old balding man.

"She seems nice." Erikk commented.

"She's more than nice! She's a goddess. More than that, she's the essence of perfection." Alex kept talking but Lia had tuned him out and started talking to Erikk about what they were teaching to their students the next day.

Soooooo, what did yah think? I thought it was a little boring personally. So review and leave me to contemplate your thoughts.