The doorman came into the room and headed for the King, after listening to the doorman, he excused himself from the small meeting and walked into his private chambers.

He only waited a minute before Keladry of Mindelan and Nealan of Queenscove entered. They stood before his and bowed deeply in unison.

"Sire," Neal addressed the King solemnly, but his eyes were bright with mirth, "Kel and I have some important news."

"What kind of news Sir Nealan?" Jon was intrigued, leaning forward in his chair. After all, many people in the palace and the city were saddened to learn of the sergeant's death.

"Well, I say it's the kind of news that will make a lot of people very happy." That snagged his attention again, nothing was cheerful in the palace anymore; no one spoke without need or enjoyed themselves anymore.

"What is it? Are you two getting married?" despite his good intentions, the King was horrible at guessing things.

This was not something Neal had expected, his green eyes went very wide with shock. "N-no, your majesty! Kel's my best friend, not a…" he cleared his throat and Kel elbowed him, hard, "Never mind, we have news of my cousin Dom, Domitan of Masbolle."

He was flushing and smiling shakily as Dom walked into the room. Dom stopped in between them and Kel heard Dom tell his cousin, "I heard that, Meathead," out of the corner of his mouth as Kel took his hand warmly.

The King was boggled, this man was supposed to be dead. The cause of the gloominess of Corus was alive again. Here he was, plain as day, standing before him. "How is this possible? We had reports of you going missing in action."

Dom sighed, but told his story for the third time to the King.

After hour's worth of conversation, Jon let them go. He called together all of his counselors including Sir Myles of Olau, Sir Lady Alanna of Pirate's Swoop, Lord Raoul of Golden Lake and Malorie's Peak, Gareth-Gary-of Naxen, and more to decide how to announce the news to the court.

Raoul was overjoyed to hear that Dom was alive, he loved the boy like a son and had been almost as bad as Neal for moping around the palace. He left the room whistling, glad that he didn't have to find a new sergeant for the Third Company.

That afternoon ran every nerve of Kel's Yamani patience, she and Dom spent the afternoon occasionally talking, but mostly kissing. But whenever Dom was about to get romantic an old friend would burst in and embarrass them all.

Dom growled, "This is so annoying, every time…" he trailed off and looked at Kel. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled, "It's just, well, what I'm trying to say is 'is the whole palace trying to keep us apart?'"

He was frustrated, 'Because of me getting knocked out they almost wasted all those kisses,' he thought, 'but that doesn't mean I'll stop trying.' Dom was determined to sweep her off her feet that afternoon.

Kel was staring at him blatantly, as though he had lost his mind. Slowly she got up and walked towards the door.

"Wait! Where are you going?" he grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him. There was too much pleading in his voice and he knew it, he bowed his head, blushing a little, "I mean," he said in a softer voice, "you don't want to leave, do you?"

"Dom, don't be silly, I'm not leaving. If you hadn't noticed, there are locks on your door," she was smiling, "you were implying that you wanted privacy, and that's what I'm getting you."

When she reentered the room he pulled her down into his lap and kissed her full on the lips. He leaned to whisper in her ear, "Kel, you are a genius," before putting his head down to kiss her neck. She had shivered in delight, either at his words or on the soft, brief kisses he trailed down her neck.

They were disturbed some time later by fervent knocking at Dom's door. Contradictory to the rushed knocking, Neal was leaning lazily on the door post, as if he hadn't a care in all Tortall.