"Not so mighty now, are we Sergeant Domitan?" that voice rang though his head, subconsciously urging him to open his eyes. He looked up to see her face, she was kneeling above him, and smiled, she was so close, 'I could kiss her, she's so close…' Dom didn't even scold himself at these thoughts anymore, he had found that the more he tried to squash them, they just seemed to multiply. She laughed at him, offering a hand, 'she asked for it,' he thought and reached for her.

The second his hand was in hers, he pulled her down next to him, laughing at her furious gaze. "I'm sorry, Kel. Forgive me?" he was fluttering his eyelashes, trying to pretend to be a contrite court lady and making large, sweeping bows from his sitting position.

"No, Dom, never. That was a childish trick," despite her harsh tone, she was grinning through her old Yamani mask. Her years as a squire in the King's Own had worn it down, and she barely used it anymore, even amongst friends. Now she was truly a laughing, good-humored Tortallan. Not a tight-lipped Yamani woman.

They sat there for quite some time, just smiling, thinking and guessing at what the other was thinking. "You know Dom, I hold you entirely responsible for this mess."

"Why thank you, my friend Keladry. Now as long as I'm responsible, I'm taking a nap," he leaned back in the soft grass, Kel's beautiful face before his closed lids.

Some minutes later, something hit his nose softly. He opened his eyes slowly, nothing was within his vision, so he resettled himself and closed his eyes, preparing for the next attack. When it came his eyes shot open and he sat up quickly, getting a mouthful of the yellow daisy in Kel's outstretched hand.

He sputtered, daisies did not taste good. Kel was laughing at him, pointing what was left of the stalk at him and trying to cover her mouth. "What was that for?" trying to keep his temper, but failing, he could never be mad at Kel.  He grinned as she shook her head, unable to speak, "You know, daisies taste bad, I'd like to see you eat one." He spat out another petal and looked at her.

"You won't get that pleasure, I'm afraid. And what did you want me to do? I was bored and you were asleep." She crossed her arms in mock-indifference.

Dom's mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of things she could've done besides picking daisies, most of them involved his arms around her. He laughed aloud at some of the other thoughts, "I love you Kel," he murmured to himself as he lay down again.

Kel blinked at the sleeping sergeant, completely astonished, 'Does he know that he was speaking out loud? Does he want me to answer him? Does he even know I heard?' this was a nail-biter for Kel, true; she had always had feelings for Dom, 'but is it love?'

What woke them next were the horns of New Hope calling for soldiers. The gates were being closed for the night. Kel and Dom sat up, rubbing their eyes, then ran for it, laughing all the way.

"Dom? Kel? Is that you? Where have you two been all day?" Neal had walked up, fists on his hips, "Do you know how long Raoul's been looking for you Kel, he was talking about some meeting and how if you didn't show up, I forget, he mentioned something about jousting until your arms fell off?"

Kel blanched, turning pale, "Gods! I forgot, I was supposed to meet with Raoul hours ago," she wasn't the only one that had fallen victim to Raoul's threats before and no one enjoyed the consequences much.

"Well, Meathead, I'll tell you what happened." Dom had stepped forward with a whisper of "follow my lead, we'll have some fun," and a large wink to Kel.

"-You see, we went out walking…" Dom stood there talking for minutes, elaborating on a very long, fabricated tale, and occasionally asking Kel to add her input.

By the time they had finished, the bell for supper had rung, Kel and Dom glanced at each other, grinning. They turned heel and raced to the hall, leaving a very stunned Neal in their wake.

That night as Kel was cleaning her teeth, someone knocked on her door. She opened it to find Neal, apparently he had believed every word of Dom's story.

"Kel? This may seem childish, I know, but tell me if anything in Dom's entire story was true," he waited for an answer, but all he got was peals of laughter from Kel. She was rolling on her bed, almost in hysterics, Neal just stood there puzzled.

When Kel finally contained herself, "Neal, you are a Meathead, we made that up completely. If you asked me to remember what we did this afternoon, it wouldn't even be close to what Dom and I made up."

He sighed, sinking into a chair, "Thank the gods," he sat for a minute, then got up and started for the door, "Oh, by the way, a messenger came in half an hour ago, we leave for Corus in two days."

She sighed, "Thanks, Meathead," all she could will herself to do before falling asleep was finding the bags she would need. She curled up under the covers, wishing away the cold autumn night.

She woke up before dawn the next morning, as usual, to practice her weapons. She had a small crowd of children wit her just before breakfast, they were so absorbed in learning that they didn't notice when she came around to fix a grip or change a stance.

By the time the bell rang, all the students were exhausted; Kel looked at them, almost bursting with pride before setting off to wash.

Dom was in the hall when she got there, bleary eyed and picking at his food, while Neal looked fresh and alert. 'This is great, just perfect,' he thought to himself, 'why did I have to tell Meathead? Now everyone in the whole stupid fort will know,' he shook his head, trying to will himself more awake. He looked up as someone slid onto the bench across from him.

Kel was studying his downcast mood, "What's wrong with you two?" she asked finally, "Neal's usually the grump in the morning," she had an eye fixed on either of them, waiting for an answer from one of them.

"Nothing, just tired," Dom said with a fake yawn. He was already feeling more awake with Kel near him.

She seemed to accept it, with a shrug she turned to Neal, "Well, Meathead, what about you? You're certainly excited today."

Dom kicked Neal under the table as a warning, "Well, um…" he began, messaging his shin, "we're going to Corus tomorrow," he looked as though he thought he was brilliant.

Kel glared as Dom yelped, "What?!"

"Neal, you told me that last night, you're lying to me and I can tell," she was tapping a boot now, completely suspicious.

"Well then... Yuki! I can see Yuki in Corus! That's it!" Neal had begun to sweat; he had never been good at lying to Kel.

"Fine, fine. If you don't want to tell me," she looked at both and shrugged again, "I can take a hint." She got up, passed her tray back to the servers and headed out the door.

"What did you do that for, Meathead? And why didn't you tell me you were leaving for Corus?!" Dom was hitting Neal's head in the vain attempt to get an answer out of him.

Dom walked out of the hall a few minutes later, after dishing out some bruises to Meathead, to look for Kel. She was on the practice courts, beating the stuffing out of the practice dummy. He walked over and watched, amazed at her speed and agility. No emotions escaped her face, this was where she belonged. She belonged in the rush of adrenaline that accelerated movements and heightened senses on the battle field, in the thick of it all. Dom simply leaned against the fence and waited for her to finish, when she finally stopped she was still breathing lightly, not even thoroughly winded.

"I'm impressed, that was very good," he vaulted over the fence and walked up to her, "Kel, I'm sorry about…in there, it's just-"

"No need to explain," Kel cut him off waving a hand.

"What? You know? Who told you?" Dom was confused now; did Kel know about his crush on her? His stomach menacingly sank, and he felt slightly uncomfortable.

She gave him a look, "I know how hard it is to keep secrets around here, Dom, especially with Meathead running loose." She wiped her forehead across her sleeve, "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about our trip to Corus, I only found out last night."

"It's ok, Kel, really. Did Meathead tell you why you're going though?"

"He never told me, why the sudden interest, Dom? Going to miss your beloved cousin?" she was teasing him, he made a face.

'Not, really, I'll only miss you, Kel,' his mind had the perfect words, but his mouth never wanted to cooperate when he was around his crush. "I need someone to lighten the tension; he would make a delightful court jester. But he mentioned meetings and supply something-or-others and walked off to pack. Odd fellow, isn't he?"

"Weirdest of our year, that's for sure," she chuckled, remembering back all those years.

Dom looked around checking for people watching them, he saw none, 'Here it goes, I should tell her now before she leaves for Corus.'

He opened his mouth, but someone beat him to the words, "Kel!" it was Lord Raoul, he had finally found her. "Mithros you're good at hiding."

"Not hiding, milord, evasive tactics," she smiled up crookedly at him.

"Well, will you come and see me as soon as you're free?" he gave Dom a grin, "I'm sure Dom will excuse you." He didn't notice Dom's growing glare.

"Alright, we'll talk later, Dom, ok?" she gave him a smile, disarming the argument he had been setting up.

"Of course, Kel, of course we'll talk later," he shoved his hands roughly in his pockets, turned and stalked away.

Unfortunately for Dom, he didn't get to talk to Kel, Raoul had kept her in a meeting through dinner and Neal had decided to leave earlier than planned for Corus, 'probably to spite me,' Dom thought bitterly. He read Kel's hasty goodbye note and apology before punching his pillow angrily. 'Mithros, I let her get away again!'