COTA: lol, thanks for reviewing, and yes I know I repeatedly spelled it wrong in the first 8-9 chappies, I'm working on going back through and fixing it. It just takes so long. I'm glad you like it thou! J

Fluffy The Teddy Bear Slayer: .

Dontreallymatter: I know, but spell/grammer check won't pick it up because minute is a word! Lol, thanx for reading!

Tigress of Shang: lol, I know, I love being evil. Lucky you, there is some fluff in this chapter, I am so ashamed. *author walks away shaking head*

White-wolf: lol, lucky you Erikks still here, I haven't killed him, yet…

Peachblossomluver: I'm glad you like it! And, yes, there is some fluff in this chappie. Just some…

Xirleb70: Yay! You still like it! Yay! Lol, I do think the chappies are getting better to. I re-read some of the earlier ones and was terrified, they're horrible! Lol!

Cami of Queenscove: Tom Cruise is yummy… Anywayz, I'm still not sure who she's gonna end up with… I'm slightly perturbed by how romancy this is getting, I don't like it. It wasn't supposed to be this way! Ahhhh!

big friendly walrus: hehee, you're the first person to flame me hehee. Anyway, If you could tell me ehy you don't like it that would help me.

Kali: I'm glad you like it! Thanks for reviewing!

Well, lots of reviews from chapter 13, you are all wonderfull! This chapter contains, ug, fluff. Now fluff is not a bad thing, it's just not some thing I ever saw myself writing. So please leave some comments. Read and Review, the latter being the most important! hehehe

~Chapter 14: The Necklace~

She woke up to cold water slowly dripping on her face. Rolling over she groaned and mumbled. Now they were poking her. She flapped her hand.

"C'mon Lia. Wake up. I know you want to." She opened one eye to glare at her intruder. It was Erikk.

         "What time is it?" She moaned.

         "Ten thirty." He said smirking. Lia groaned and rolled off the bed. Her feet thumped as she slowly dragged her body across the floor. Her muscles stretched and slowly began to work again.

         "So what you been up to?" She asked him.

         The next few days went by in a blur of time. Lia was spending time with Erikk and her parents. Max had been sent to work with the wildmage and he would spend hours talking about it if she let him. Lia unfortunately had to figure this out the hard way and had stayed up passed midnight listening to him talk about it. The twins had stayed behind and before she had realized her concept of time had been scrambled it was the last day of midwinter.

         Walking to The Imperial suites as people had taken to calling them. Lia just thought of them as her friend's rooms. They had wanted to see her earlier than usual, they wouldn't tell her why. Knocking on there door, it opened to reveal a beautiful dress on a stand.

         The dress was a deep burgundy red, like red wine. It was embroidered in color changing red thread, in the nonsense patters that were quickly becoming a symbol by which she was recognized. The sleeves were tight on the upper arms and then flowed into classic bell sleeves. The edges of everything were edged in silver. The corset would be tight, but oh so pretty. The neckline was low, but not so she would be uncomfortable. She hadn't noticed Erica and Nia hovering in the shadows.

         "Do you like it?" Nia asked.

         "It's beautiful, who's it for?" Lia asked looking at them, eyes wide.

         "It's for you silly, put it on." Erica said laughing.

         "I don't think so; you ladies must get clean first, into the tub, with you." Gabriella, the princess's head servant said herding them towards the bathing room.

         Lia slid down into the hot water, hissing as the water stung her skin. She bit her lip, waiting for her body temperature to adjust. It only took a few seconds. She listened to Nia and Erica talk about the new fashions, and about the gall of Lady something or other wearing that dress it was so low cut, and she didn't have a big enough shelf to wear it.

         "Lia, we saw three of four ladies wearing that fashion you started, Very chique." Erica said.

         "I was thinking about wearing it myself." Nia said.

         "And now you are going to wear that red dress, you're a trend setter." Erica said grinning.

         "Sometimes I think you're testing me out with all these new fashions." Lia said smiling.

         "We would never." Nia said in mock anger. At that moment, Gabriela walked in.

         "Alright ladies, move out." She said herding them out of the bathroom into the dressing room. The maids put face powder all over her face, then cheek rouge and a shimmer silver powder over her eyelids. The put a red pomegranate lip rouges on her lips.

         Then they twisted parts of her hair up in a bun and braided some of the parts that fell out before curling all of the small wisps of her hair around in tight spiral curls.

         Lia put the dress on, layer upon layer of it.  When she had it all on she looked into the mirror, oh goddess. She thought, somehow these dresses kept getting more and more elaborate. How am I going to pull this off?

         "You're sure I can do this?" Lia asked.

         "Positive, you look radiant." Nia said. "Let's go." She said pulling Lia out of the door. They walked into the dining room together. Lia automatically went towards her parent's table. Erica grabbed her arm.

         Uh, you're sitting with us." Erica said.

         "What?"

         "You're sitting with us. It's a simple concept really." Nia said smirking.

"I can't, I can't deal with all of those proper ladies. I will not: I can't. I just can't." Lia whined at her friends. Her eyes: large and pleading. They just smiled and pulled her to the table. They set her down in a chair and spread their skirts out before sitting down gracefully.

         "Too late." Erica whispered. "Hello and good evening ladies. Lady Yazlia will be joining us tonight." They all looked like they didn't even recognize her. That was a good thing; the longer she remained anonymous the easier the night would go.

         "So, Lady Yazlia. That's quite a fashion statement you're making. The red is so, red. Where'd you get the idea?" Lady Heralit asked, with quite a large, supposedly, polite smile.

         "The idea just popped into my head you know how that is. And as for the color, I like to be drastic." Lia said with that same smile. Lady Harlait smiled and dipped her fingers in the finger bowl.

         Lia joined in the conversation with the ladies. They were talking about the Lady Veronica, obviously she was wearing a very controversial dress, or at least that what the servants were saying. She walked in at that very moment, all of the ladies at the table gasped. Lady Veronica was wearing a tight, very low cut dress. If she breathed to hard she was going to pop out of her dress. The skirt hung straight to the floor and the sides where slashed up to her mid thigh. It was very revealing, like she didn't want to remain a mystery.

         "Oh my! What a whore!" Lady Barnita gasped.

         "What is she doing?" Lady Garnet said.

         "I don't know. Oh, she's coming over. Behave ladies." Erica commanded. "Veronica, how are you?" Erica asked.

         "I'm good. How are you?" The lady responded, very politely.

         "I'm good. I like your dress it's original." She said smiling brightly.

         "Really? I hate it. My mother brought it up from Galla. She insisted I wear it. It looks like they are going to start soon; I had best be going. Nice to talk with you again." She said before leaving. 

         "Oh, that poor dear," Lady Sari said washing her fingers in the finger bowl. Lia turned to wash her fingers. She gasped. It was Erikk. Maybe he won't recognize her. Too late, his eyes lit up when he saw her.

         "Lia?" he whispered, unbelieving.

         "Yes." she said smiling.

         "You, you, you're sitting with a bunch of ladies gossiping." He said blinking. Lia smiled.

         "Yes, I am, squire." she said raising her eyebrows and turning back to the conversation. They were talking about how horrid Gallan fashions were.

         She watched as Erikk returned to the kitchens and talked to her friends. They looked over at her and then laughed and shook their heads. Erikk just grinned and returned to the table with their dinner. He placed it in front of her and winked. Lia smiled, he was so, graceful. She thought before gasping. How could she think that? What was wrong with her? Erica shot her a worried glance that Lia ignored.

         Lia looked around the room quickly and noticed she wasn't the only one dining tonight. Jasson was eating with people she assumed where his parents. The man, she assumed was his father, was waving his fork around and whispering fiercely to his son. His mother would look up every few seconds and glare at him. Lia immediately felt sorry for him, this was why he'd been so worried about. It was also probably why she hadn't seen him all week.

         "Thank you." She said as Erikk delivered the first course, some kind of salad with shrimp and crab mixed in. Eating gave Lia a chance to examine her guests. Most of them were in lighter colors.  Lady Harelit was in a pastel purple dress. A little overdone maybe, there was lace everywhere. It looked like she had been wrapped in it.

Lady Sari was dressed in a gauzy blue. It was tight around the waist and fell to the floor in shining gauzy layers. It was very pretty and went well with her light blue eyes and pale blonde hair. Erica was wearing a dark hunter green dress. The skirt flared out in a bell and was open in the front to reveal dark brown petticoats. Nia was wearing blue. The bodice was tight and the sleeves where tight to the elbow where they cut open and fell straight down and were hemmed with tatted lace.

         Lia didn't know the rest of the ladies names. They all seemed very proper and polite. None of them seemed like they would try for knight hood. They were perfectly content to sit and gossip there days away.

         The second course came while Lia was carrying on a conversation about shoes. Erikk tried not to laugh at the look on her face. Only someone who knew her would notice. He smiled encouragingly before leaving. The third course was a new cake; the cooks called it cheesecake. They had put a cherry sauce on top. Lia loved it; it seemed to melt in her mouth. All chatter at the table stopped. They were to busy eating. As soon as she was done Lia excused herself.

         Lia walked through the ballroom and out onto a balcony hidden behind a curtain. It was a clear cool night and Lia relished the clean air. She stood there for a while. She sighed she should probably go rescue Jasson from his parents.

         She slipped back into the ballroom. Almost everyone had entered by now. Spotting he and his parents she made her way over to him.

         "Excuse me, would you like to dance?" She asked politely, it took a second for him to recognize her.

         "Oh, um. Yes of course." He said guiding her out into the dance floor. 'Thanks.' he said looking at his glaring parents as the disappeared behind a group of people.

         "Not a problem."

"I didn't recognize you at first."

         "No one is: it's lots of fun."

         "May I step in?" A gentleman asked. Lia didn't get a chance to answer as he was already swirling her away. She mouthed 'sorry' to Jasson before she was to far away. The man she was dancing with was babbling about some army he led. Lia knew he was lying. She knew and could recognize the leaders of all the Tortallen army's. Lia quickly excused herself and escaped to her balcony. Lia inhaled. It was already late at night. She heard someone come through the curtain behind her. Some one had found her secret place. She turned around: it was Erikk.

         "Hey." She said.

         "Hey, you seemed to enjoy your dinner." He said grinning sarcastically.

         "Oh, yes. I enjoyed myself immensely." Lia said grinning. Erikk smiled. The orchestra started playing a waltz.

         "Care to dance, Milady Yazlia of Queenscove?" He asked stepping towards her arm extended, smiling.

         "I'd love to, thank you Squire." She took his arm and put her other arm on his shoulder. They were hand in hand, his arm around her waist. At peace together, she inhaled that Erikk' scent she loved. Lia loved being with him, he seemed to make everything better. It was easier to deal with things when he was there. She didn't realize he thought the same.

~~:~~

         The next morning Lia set out to find the priest. She needed to speak with him. Actually talk, not listen to him babble about some stupid prophecy. She wanted to know where she was going, whom she had to deal with, and how she had to do it. Lia was tired of preparing for a destiny she knew nothing about.

         Spotting a door she recognized she opened it and quickly stepped into the room. The walls were still lined with books and the big window was still dusty. The priest wasn't there. Lia was disappointed.

         Her eyes drifted to the bookcases: The History of Torment, A History of Humans, The Book of Wincho. Nothing useful. Until she spotted something with her name on it: The Book of Queenscove, their collapse. That was interesting, her house hadn't collapsed yet. Picking the book up Lia leafed through the index. It listed the names of important nobles of the house and on which pages to find their accomplishments. Lia was surprised to find her name on the list somewhere near the middle. There were pages of names after hers.

         Opening the book to her page number, she found everything after the first paragraph blank; the entire rest of the book was blank. Lia let out a frustrated groan.

         "One cannot know too much of one's future." A voice said behind her. Pulling out her boot knife Lia was up and flipping around in a second. Seeing it was the old priest, Lia sat back down defeated.

         "How much can I know?" Lia asked after a moment. He seemed to ponder for a moment.

         "They that will go with you know what to expect; so the advice I give you is to follow your heart and think with your head." He said smiling before he disappeared. Lia hated when he did that. He probably knew it too. That's probably why he did it. Lia groaned,

         'And what kind of advice was 'follow your heart and think with your head'? You can't do both at the same time. Your heart and your head say diffract things, they never agree. Lia growled and opened the door. Pulling off her boots Lia flopped onto her bed and fell asleep.

~~: ~~

         The next day, Lia got on her horse and rode back to Haven leaving behind the confusion of her future. The ride to Haven was much easier then the ride from Haven. It was cold, but the sky was clear and the air clean.

         Arriving at Haven Lia unpacked the two dresses she had collected and put them into her wardrobe with her green dress. Lia couldn't believe she actually owned all of these dresses. They were gorgeous. Smiling she slipped out of her room and down to the kitchens. Borrowing a chunk of bread and some cheese, she walked back out of the kitchens and headed toward Maria's.

         Life went on through the winter months and into the spring. Trees blossomed once again and flowers grew. People returned to the fields to plow and sow seeds once again. Lia hardly noticed.

         She was busy doing things, running errands, teaching, being taught. She had been put on plow duty, and, at the moment that was what she was doing. She watched as Carri ran behind a plow throwing seeds as Jaelik ran behind her. Lia jumped as a horn blew, once, twice, three times. Spidrens.

         "Fall back! Back to the city. Leave the plows." Lia watched as people picked up children and ran. She looked around to make sure everyone had left when she heard a scream. Carri was standing in front of a spidren, talking to it. 

         Lia pulled her sword out of its scabbard and ran towards it screaming all of the disgusting curses she knew at it. She picked Carri up off the ground.

         "Hey, I found it first. I get to keep it." The spidren said advancing forward. Lia just looked at it horrified. "C'mon, hand it over." It said reaching for Carri with tentacle like legs. Carri shrieked and Lia cut off its head with a practiced sweep. She turned around and ran so the blood would not burn her skin, Lia wasn't that lucky. As she was running back she felt it burn the skin of her back. She bit her lip and kept running. She saw Renna screaming and David holding her back. Lia's vision was blurring. She made it through the defense walls and saw Lady Maria pushing her way through the crowd. Someone pulled Carri from her arms before she collapsed.

~~:~~

.

         That years page tests went off without a hitch. She scored near the top in everything but archery, but even did relevantly well in that. None of her friends dressed like a female. Her so-called enemies only elbowed her once or twice. All in all, it had been a good week, and at the moment she was getting ready to go home. She had one last lunch to go to and them she was leaving. Someone knocked on her door.

         "Yeah?" She asked waiting for an answer.

         "Ya' ready? We're about to go." Jasson asked from the other side of the door. Lia looked around her room, she hadn't brought much with her, only things she had known she would need. Satisfied she wasn't going to forget anything she slid her dagger into her boot and left.

         "So you're sure you're gonna go home? You don't want to spend a summer with us?" Arron said. Lia made a face.

         "Positive, I want to go home. I want to spend a nice quiet summer around the least amount of boy children possible." Lia said. All of her friends tried to look offended; they didn't do a very good job. Lia just laughed at them.

        So now she was riding away from Corus, towards home. Towards her beautiful room with it's purple walls and yellow bed. She wanted her books. She wanted to watch her brother play with the wolf pack.  She just wanted to be home.

         She finally stopped Shanti and made camp for the night. Cooking herself some dinner she heard a sick break behind her. Pulling out a throwing star she whirled around.

         'If you try to hit me with that thing again I'll smack ya.' Came a drawling voice from the darkest possible shadow. After a second, Lia put it away. At the same time an old woman walked into the clearing. "Ya know last time ya left a hole in my dress? Not very considerate are ya?" She said before sitting down before Lia's campfire. Lia's mind raced to remember the first time she'd gone to Haven. She blanked.

         "You were the one who followed us?"

         "Not us, you." The lady said stirring Lia's soup.

         "Why me?" Lia was confused.          

         "Because girlie, you are important, very much so. It's about time someone told ya exactly how much. On you rests the future, with you comes great change. Respect that." That was the last thing she said before disappearing.

         "Suddenly the world is full of people who just disappear.

~~:~~

         Lia awoke to a soft breeze and the sounds of birds. She moaned. Her three months of peace and tranquility were over. Tomorrow she had to leave for Haven.

         "Why didn't I just go to the convent? I could have slept in every morning. Always been clean." Lia paused.

         "Never been able to breath properly, never getting to eat anything. Had stupid men fawning over your remarkable beauty; what kind of a life is that?" Lia looked up. It was Erikk. He had been in and out of Queenscove all summer as he was her father's Squire. He had his own room even.

         "Why are you here?" Lia said putting all of her anger, spite, disgust and loathing into the question.

         "Now, Lia darling. Is that anyway to greet a man?" She glared, he grinned. " I was instructed to wake you."

         "I'm awake."

         "Yes but once I leave you will cease to be so. I was instructed not to let that happen. So get dressed, wear something nice." Evidently he remembered the multiple times he'd seen her in her favorite tattered shirts and breeches that Lia refused to let be thrown away.

         "No." She said clearly. He reached for the water basin. Lia screeched and ran towards the dressing room. She quickly slammed the door behind her. She could hear Erikk chuckling to himself.

         Once in her closet Lia examined her dresses. She had a few very fancy dresses she had had made for the series of balls at Haven. They were having a midwinter festival at Haven this year so Lia wouldn't have to go to Corus. Which Lia thought would be great fun.

         Examining her dresses once again. She had a few that would be too small, and then in the corner she had a few that her mother must have put in her closet before she arrived. Picking a light gauzy green dress she slowly pulled it on. Looking at herself in the mirror she realized she must have been growing again. Sighing she walked into her room.

         "Ready?" She asked, not noticing the shocked face of Erikk. He quickly recovered and offered her his arm. They quietly chatted about nonsense things all they way to the dining hall. Anyone who didn't know them would have thought they were a proper noble couple, and yet, they were far from that.

         Walking into the small sunroom was they ate breakfast she was surprised to find a pile of presents and decorations. Her parents and siblings were bouncing and clapping her hands. Falia was there to. Lia blinked, she had forgotten it was her birthday. She resigned herself to the fact that she was going to have a birthday party. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate their effort. She just wasn't in the mood.

         After an elaborate breakfast Lia was feeling a little more birthday partyish. Upon opening her presents, she was finding she was getting a lot of books. She got a Yamani steel dagger and an armband of knives, both from Raven Armory. She also got a few skirts and breeches, and a lot of tunics and shirt. Obviously, her mother didn't approve of the state her clothes were in. Lia had to admit they were a little worn. Okay, they had a few holes in them. Maybe a lot of holes, but she could still wear them. She grinned as her mother said her old clothes had been taken away and that the servants would pack her new ones. Lia just nodded and smiled.

         "Now shoo. Enjoy your last day here." Her mother said pushing her out of the house. Lia turned and looked at the closed door behind her. She shrugged and walked away. She didn't know where she wanted to go. What does one do on their last day at home? She decided to wander.

         She wandered through the stables, the vineyards, and the kitchens. She wandered through her mother's flower gardens. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she ran right into Erikk. As they collided, she made a thumping sound before she hit the ground. Erikk laughed before pulling her to her feet.

         "You need to pay more attention to were your going." He said.

         "Only a little." She said brushing herself off.

         "Um," he said looking nervous. Lia had never seen him actually nervous. She waited patently for him. "Here, it's your birthday present." He handed it to her quickly.

         "Thank you, you didn't have to get me anything." She said smiling at him.

         "Open it." He said, even more nervous now. Lia smiled and pulled the red ribbon off that was tied over the shiny gold paper. Carefully undoing the paper she found a brown box. Slowly she slid back the wooden lid. It was lined with white silk. Pulling the silk revealed a silver charm. It was an emerald teardrop held in place with ornate silver designs: those nonsense designs that symbolized her. Emeralds were rare, very rare. They symbolized health and protection.

         "Oh, Erikk. Thank you!" She gave him a hug. "This is, wonderful. You really didn't have to."

         "Yes, I did. And you're welcome. Don't lose it." He said.

         "I won't. I would cry." Lia said smiling. Lia clasped the chain around her neck.

         "Absolutely beautiful." The dinner bell rang. "Shall we?" He asked.  Lia nodded and they made their way back to the dining room.

~~:~~

See what I mean? Ug, I'm disgusted with myself, I'm gonna go hide in a dark corner, never to return again…

Review and I may return…

~Ana~