AN- VERY LONG CHAPTER, yay!!!!!!!!I couldn't resist. Tamora Pierce gave me
such a good opportunity, she left Roald's character open so I can use a lot
of artistic license on him (not that I wouldn'y anyways (I gave him a lot
of my characteristics. After a page, and 1.2 on Word plot starts again =)
Sorry I didn't fix the annoying stuff earlier. I just noticed, then got busy.
1 Back in Tortall
When they came back, the change was evident to everyone and soon Jaina and Roald didn't even try to hide it, they'd come to meals holding hands, and work out together in the morning and evening.
"They have been together for 3 months now." Thayet said, to the listening Jonathan, George and Alanna.
"They need The Talk." Alanna said.
They all had come up with The Talk, awhile ago so they would be ready.
"Agreed." George said. "Who is going to give it to Jaina, it is decided that George and I will give to Roald?"
"Just me." Alanna said, firmly. "It will be kind of unnerving getting the talk from your significant other's parent."
Thayet looked disappointed. "I am left out again."
"Sorry, Thayet." Jon said. "Alanna has a very good point though."
"You always take Alanna's side."
"So when do we give it to them?" George asked, wanting to avert an
argument.
"Tonight." Alanna said, firmly.
"This evening." Jon said, grinning at Alanna. "No seriously, they
should get some sleep before the ride."
Alanna grumbled an assent.
The next morning as they ride-"Did you get a talk last night too."
Jaina whispered to Roald.
"Yes." Roald said.
"Adults."Jaina said, shaking her head.
"I agree." Roald said.
Then Roald and Jaina were separated by Kally who rode in between the
two of them on purpose. She grinned at them and sung a bawdy song at
them, the adults were far enough ahead that she didn't have to worry
about getting in trouble. "Watch it, Kally." Jaina said.
"Make me."
"That's it." Jaina said, taking the bait.
Kally squealed and rode faster.
Jaina sped up too. Roald shook his head, he didn't like to get
involved in such games, they seemed too childish for him. Besides it
was fun to just watch. Roald's mind wandered and he thought of what
Jaina's family was like. He thought of what Jaina had told him about
them and tried to put faces to the names. He did this until he felt
cold hands on his eyes.
"Its your girlfriend." Kally shouted.
"Kally, that is the oldest trick in the-"
Kally started to laugh. "It was me." Jaina said.
Roald shook his head. "Another old trick and I fell for it."
Jaina laughed. "You have an awesome laugh, Jain." Roald said.
Jaina felt self-conscious. "Thank you." She said, a bit shyly.
"But you are awesome at everything as it is." Kally said. "And I so
enamored in love that I adore you for everything you do."
Jaina and Roald blushed.
The trip passed like that, with Jaina and Roald getting a lot of good-
natured teasing about their relationship, and now the were in Corus.
Jaina and Roald had been riding together, but now they, though they
tried to do it subtly, separated and rode with other people.
They had already agreed that while they wouldn't be obvious about
their relationship, they wouldn't try to hide it either. But riding in
together that would be counted as being obvious about it. Neither of
them was sure who was in Corus and who was not.
(AN-there should be another scene here. I just couldn't figure out
what to do with it. So I will skip it and add it when I think of what
to do with the story.)
6 months into second year Lord Wyldon had found Jaina's weakness, Luke
had tried to get her to work past it, but she couldn't. Jaina's
weakness was long drill patterns. Jaina could see that the training
master took sheer pleasure in exploiting it. But worse then the
physical anguish was the mental anguish.
One day she was down on the practice grounds, her ankle was bleeding,
she had been stabbed in the foot because she had tripped up on a
maneuver. She cried out. Kel, Roald, and Neal ran over. "Jaina!" They
screamed. "Are you okay, is anything broken?"
"Enough." Lord Wyldon said. "Your highness, Queenscove, and Mindelan
take her to the healers."
Roald, Neal and Kel bowed. Roald and Kel lifted her gently, Neal led
the way, opening all the doors they needed opened. "Father." Neal
called.
"Who is injured this time." Duke Baird called.
"Jaina."
Duke Baird came out. He examined Jaina's foot. "This is really bad,
how did you get it."
"Training." Jaina said, but it was obvious her mind was somewhere
else.
Lord Wyldon figured out her weakness, long drill patterns." Neal said
angrily. "He has been exploiting it. That was a drill pattern a squire
couldn't do."
"Neal, let me heal her foot then we can talk about Lord Wyldon."
Jaina was so lost in her thoughts that she forgot to take down her
mental shields part way.
"I can't get in." He said a few minutes later. "Jaina, let me in
please .Jaina.JAINA."
Jaina didn't respond.
"Neal, I am going to need you to help me, ok." Duke Baird said. " Her
shields are too high, so please supplement my efforts. I need to heal
her, she is going to loose too much blood otherwise."
Neal combined his gift with his father's to try and get through
Jaina's shields in vain.
"Wow." Duke Baird said. "These shields are as strong as Alanna and
Numair's."
"Maybe I can help." Roald offered.
But as Roald touched her foot Jaina came into the present. "Where am
I?" she asked.
"You are at the healers." Duke Baird said.
Jaina tried to get up and bow, she knew that was the protocol. But
Duke Baird waved it away. "Please, don't injure that foot more. You
have strong shields."
Jaina blushed. "Force of habit." She said. "Back at home they are a
necessity otherwise my brothers are always prying." She added, telling
the truth but not the whole truth.
"Ah." Duke Baird said.
Jaina concentrated, bringing her shields down, she had sporadically
seen Duke Baird and those little times were enough to convince her
that he would do his job then get out of her mind.
"Thank you." Duke Baird said, applying his Gift to heal her foot.
"This should be better by tomorrow. I am going to give a
recommendation to Lord Wyldon that he ease up on you just a tad."
Just then Jaina's shields snapped from her control. "Watch out." She
screamed, knowing from experience how painful it was to get "shield-
slapped".
Started Duke Baird pulled out. "What happened." He asked.
She gritted her teeth. "The shields came up from my control." She
said. "I am so dumb."
Jaina jumped off of the table and ran to her quarters. She lay on her
bed and sobbed. âE?I am not a true Jedi. A true Jedi would have been
able to do the maneuvers, and wouldn't have lost control of her
shields.
"Jaina, from what you have told me Jedi are sensible, AND human.
Humans have limitations." Roald said coming in.
"But even Jasa would've been able to do this."
"And Jasa probably has other limitations." Roald said. "Listen, Jaina,
you are an exceptional woman, but even the most exceptional person has
limitations or flaws." Roald stroked her cheek tenderly. "And I love
you." He whispered into her ear.
"Thank you." Jaina said.
Jaina and Roald said together for awhile.
"They are so in love." Kel said.
"Yea, but they won't admit it or consummate it remember?" Neal said.
"Something must've happened over the summer."
"What?" Neal yelped.
"Be quiet and look yourself." Kel said.
Neal peered in the room. "Fine." He said grudgingly. "Why wouldn't
they tell us though?"
"Why would they." Kel said.
"They should've."
Kel rolled her eyes. "Who actually does anything they should?"
"Stop being all philosophical."
At that time Jaina sensed Kel and Neal. "Oh no." She said.
"What?" Roald asked.
Jaina gestured outside and Roald went. He blushed a deep crimison.
"You should've knocked or said something."
"Then you two would've stopped, and how would we have gotten our hunch
confirmed." Kel said.
"Whatever. Now you know." Jaina said, getting up. "Can we go practice
some drill patterns?"
"No, we have other work to do. We can practice drill work later."
Roald said, taking her hand and making her sit.
Jaina made a face but sat down and worked.
The next morning she woke up early and practiced five or six drill
patterns quickly. She was going to get the drill patterns if it killed
her!
That afternoon Lord Wyldon said. "We are working drill patterns
again."
"Surprise, surprise." Neal muttered.
Lord Wyldon showed them a drill pattern and told the pages to repeat
it.
Jaina stumbled. She cursed seven times over in Corellian. "What did
you say?" Roald asked. "Or do I not want to know."
"Choose the second option." Nealan said looking at Jaina's face.
Lord Wyldon ignored Jaina except for a slight smirk. He showed them
another drill pattern, slightly harder this time. Jaina stumbled
again. His smirk got bigger.
I see what he is doing, Jaina thought, this like those political
tricks Mama told me about. He is going to try to get one so hard I
will fall flat on my face. I know I am not good at this so I just have
to stay calm, and try my hardest. That is all I can do. Even a Jedi
knows her limitations, I will not be held in by them but work with
them reasonably.
As she had guessed, the next drill pattern was even harder. Even
though she tried her hardest she fell.
Joren of Stone Mountain started it. "Look at the girl, she fell at
such a simple drill pattern. Why don't you go home now?"
"Your beloved training master must have 'ignored' them." Someone else
jeered.
Jaina felt herself get a bit angry. How dare they insult Uncle Luke,
she thought, how dare they insult the academy.
She calmed herself. She looked up to see Neal, Owen, and even Roald
ready to punch Joren and his friends. She picked herself up, purposely
jabbing an elbow into Neal to stop the comment on his lips.
Jaina saw flickers of respect on some of the teachers faces. Lord
Wyldon showed another drill at the same level. Jaina fell again. She
also got up again.
Lord Wyldon did it again, she fell again. This happened many more
times. With the help of the force, and supportive looks from her
friends Jaina managed to keep her cool.
Finally the training master ordered a cool-down drill pattern which
was very easy. Jaina didn't fall. As she left quickly so she could
take a bath. Falling repeatedly had made her muddy. Roald followed her
and when she came out he made sure no one was near and kissed her.
"You did it, Jain, you did it. Good job, Jain."
"I kept falling." "But you kept getting up." Roald said. "I am sure you will get it soon. It doesn't matter, you showed that you accepted your fallibility."
"Or maybe I am just a good Jedi."
Roald laughed, Jaina had told him enough about Jedi philosophy and training that he knew what she was talking about.
"Now let's go to the library, everyone will be waiting for us." Jaina said.
It took Jaina almost a year, for some reason she couldn't master those dratted drill patterns for a long time.
Her page years passed quickly, and very eventfully. Before she knew it, there was only one month before the examinations. 4th years were allowed a lot more freedoms, and the training was much more intense. They were used by the King's Own in a lot more direct combat. This incident happened on one of those meetings. Bandits were attacking too close to Corus for comfort so they were sending all available people out. As they were riding down Raoul got word that bandits were raiding 10 villages simultaneously.
"Scanra and maybe even Carthak have to have a hand in this." Raoul muttered. "They are getting too bold otherwise."
Then it got even worse Raoul got word that Spidrens were attacking somewhere else. "I feel like we are back in the Immortals War." Dom said.
"We are dividing up now." Raoul said, giving the signal to stop. "Your highness, you know I normally don't single you out, but because of how coordinated these attacks are my intuition tells me there is some big plan behind this. What better thing for Scanra or Carthak then to get a royal?"
"With all due respect Lord Raoul, I think I will be fine if you send me with another group. I give you my word, though, that if there is further evidence that this is a plot against me, or the Conte line specifically I will go back without complaint."
Raoul looked at Lord Wyldon. "All right, your highness." Raoul said at last.
"Jaina, Kel, Neal, Roald, please go with Dom and 3 others to the village Snakespeak, it is the farthest and worst besieged so set out now, please."
They bowed and set out. Dom swore as they got close. "It is pretty bad out here."
Dom assessed the situation. "I believe that we need to split off, one Own to one Page, we can sneak in the village easier."
"Forgive me, Dom, but I believe we should go in, in a line so we can communicate easier. We don't know the circumstances, if a lot of people have been kidnapped or something we should all be there so we can divide up then."
Everyone else nodded. Jaina didn't think it was a good idea, she had a very bad feeling about it. "Sir." She began. "I think your idea was the best."
Dom was going to order his original plan when he remembered the Crown Prince was with him. That added another dimension into his thought process. He couldn't freeze, he knew this moment could mean life or death. He quickly made the decision, he could better protect the crown prince if there were a lot of people around. "The second plan. Your highness get in the middle, one page on your left, right, and 3 kings Own in the front, I will be in the back."
"I have a bad feeling about this." Jaina muttered, obeying.
Sure enough, the bandits had been watching. The bandits signaled for archers. 2 archers were aimed for Roald. They aimed, and released. The King's Own saw the arrows coming. They pushed their charges out of the way. "Get yourself to cover, your highness." They yelled, knowing the Bandits already knew that the crown prince was there. Kel motioned to the pages, they formed a circle around Roald and moved him to safety. "Stay." Jaina told him. Jaina tried to deflect an arrow with her force sense, but she didn't have the precision yet. All she succeeded in doing was moving it a millimeter so it hit the left corner of the man's heart. They had to watch as the King's own fell. Soon Dom was the only King's Own standing. Jaina felt her lightsaber, this was the time, she thought, I need to save his life.
There has to be another way, she thought, this would freak them all out and maybe turn the Tortallans against her.
She took a quick glance around, the situation was grim. The bandits had them surrounded. Dom had called for help, but it wouldn't be here fast enough. She wished heartily for her father, mother, uncle, or at least Anakin and Tenel Ka. Anakin was a master puzzle solver, and Tenel Ka was a master strategist. Thinking of Tenel Ka made her remember a strategy she had taught Jaina. The best part of Tenel Ka's strategies were that they required less to no use of the force. "I have an idea, this is a strategy that one of my friends came up with." She whispered. "Dom isn't going to last much longer, we have to find away to help him and this village while not endangering our lives."
"We are ears." Kel said.
"Well, we know their objective is most probably Roald, luckily Roald is wearing a cloak. Roald give me that cloak, I am about your height. I will run out. You all act, pretend I am actually Roald, and try to stop me. At least some of their fire will be concentrated on me then, so it will lighten up on you."
"There is grave danger for you." Kel said.
Jaina shook her head. "There is a plan for that. The friend who taught me the strategy taught me how to deal with this too. I will be heading in the direction reinforcements will come from and other methods." One problem was it involved blasters and Lightsabers. "Trust me. It is our only hope."
"No." Roald said. "I will be my own decoy."
"Be reasonable." Jaina shot back. "You are the heir to the throne. Tortall will fall apart if anything happens to you. Believe me, I know how hard this is for you. You can't say the famous line, you've never been in this position, but you know I have."
Roald couldn't argue, especially when Kel and Neal joined in with praise for the plan.
"You guys, here is your attack formation." Jaina said, she drew the plan. "Now remember, this plan WAS drawn up for a different galaxy, and different fighting styles, I tried to compensate for that, but we don't exactly have the time to sit around and debate. So keep an eye open." She put on Roald's cloak, and she grabbed a cloth made it into a makeshift hat, so it covered her hair.
She ran out. Sure enough, most of the arrows and bandits followed her. She drew them far enough away from the fighting so later they couldn't see that they were tricked. One thing annoyed her, these were bandits, they usually didn't plan too well. This seemed to well conceived for bandits. Especially when she heard them say. "We have the Tortallan army in a bind, we have a lot of hostages, we even've some noble blood. They'll have to choose where to go first, reinforce ye, or get hostages. 'specially since Bandits aren't bound by the Nobles conventions."
Well, your plan is going to break down here, Jaina thought determinedly. Jaina checked for communication devices, bandits wouldn't have any, but she wasn't sure if they were actually bandits. She found none. She didn't want to rely on that too much so she didn't shed her disguise she just started fighting in it.
"Hey, his highness is decently feisty." One of the men said.
"Surrender, your highness, or it will just be worse."
Jaina didn't reply just continued fighting. With a double kick she knocked two of the men unconscious. "Uh oh, we don't like that." The first guy said. "Now we get even more ferocious."
Jaina smiled grimly in her head, just what I wanted. Thanks to Tenel she knew right where they'd attack. She hit back. She drew her sword then. She unarmed three of the men, knowing human instinct especially in people like bandits or mercenary armies makes you run, at least at first when unarmed. Bandits and mercenary armies are usually not adept at hand-to-hand combat. Sure enough they began to run.
There were only 5 left now, 2 she had knocked out, 3 were running. Good odds, she thought grimly.
She encircled them. She thanked Alanna for teaching her the double kick. She knocked out one more person with the double kick. She then used a trick her Uncle Luke had taught her, when the next guy reached out to pierce her with his spear she fell back. Then sprang up as he lifted his spear to gloat, she came up and punched him down. There were rocks below so he fell unconscious too.
She realized that she should hurry, she didn't know how many people were in the village. She fought triple speed and brought them down.
She shed the cloak and hat, hiding them, and went back. She found that they were doing well, but the enemy outnumbered them 4-1. The best odds the rebellion ever faced were 12-1, she reminded herself, we can do this. She rode faster. She let out a loud cry. The pages heard it and started to fight faster and more fiercely. Together they held the Bandits at bay and inflicted many casualties. But Roald's disguise fell off. The bandits saw their opportunity and got him. A few rode away with Roald. Jaina rode after them as fast as she could.
The other pages were so occupied with their other fighters that they couldn't go after Jaina and Roald.
Jaina rode hard and caught up with the bandits. She did a swoop maneuver, she tried to unseat a few of the bandits, unfortunately the man behind him saw it, so while she did unseat one man she got her back poked by another.
The pain debilitated her for a moment, then her engrained Jedi training took over and she didn't let it bother her. Jaina fought hard, and soon she was holding them off. She noted that they had a sorcerer in their midst, because Roald was asleep, and she knew that had to be as result of magic.
Sure enough a few minutes later someone sent a bolt at her, she used the force and deflected it.
The sorcerer's eyes widened. He sent another bolt. She deflected it with ease.
The fight went on for awhile. In a bit she got the idea of waking Roald up, this would serve 3 purposes, A) it might scare the bandits into retreat. B) it would give her some backup C) it would calm her racing heart.
Jaina needed a quiet moment to do it in, though, she didn't have the concentration yet that would allow her to do it without it. She also didn't want to drive them into retreat because the still had Roald. She was effectively stuck for the moment.
She kept fighting strong. Soon though she and everyone else heard the sound of hooves on the ground. She turned around and so many King's Own fighters. She knew they had made the sound for intimidation purposes. It worked. Many of the bandits dropped their spears and started to run. "Hey, we still have advantage." The leader shouted, trying to point to the horse that had Roald on it, but the fear of the legendary King's own was too great.
Jaina dismounted and carried Roald off the horse, she grunted but stood tall. "I have your advantage." She told the leader.
The leader snarled, and jumped off his horse to challenge Jaina. Jaina stood tall, with her sword unhitched. Before she could fight, though, another King's Own came and challenged the leader. "Just 'cause you have his highness, madam page, no other reason."He said, knowing that she could think it was because she was a female.
Jaina inclined her head, appreciating the gesture. She put Roald on her horse and rode him away to where her friends were. She saw that her friends were all alive, by some miracle, the force, she thought. "Jaina." Kel said, she ran to her and embraced her.
"Looks like you got off light." Jaina said.
"Yamani training." Kel said, simply. "You look like you got slaughtered."
"Thanks." Jaina said wryly.
"No, that is a compliment. It is a tribute to how hard you fought." Kel said. "I saw the number of people you were fighting."
"You saved the crown." Neal said, seriously. "No one can doubt you now."
Sorry I didn't fix the annoying stuff earlier. I just noticed, then got busy.
1 Back in Tortall
When they came back, the change was evident to everyone and soon Jaina and Roald didn't even try to hide it, they'd come to meals holding hands, and work out together in the morning and evening.
"They have been together for 3 months now." Thayet said, to the listening Jonathan, George and Alanna.
"They need The Talk." Alanna said.
They all had come up with The Talk, awhile ago so they would be ready.
"Agreed." George said. "Who is going to give it to Jaina, it is decided that George and I will give to Roald?"
"Just me." Alanna said, firmly. "It will be kind of unnerving getting the talk from your significant other's parent."
Thayet looked disappointed. "I am left out again."
"Sorry, Thayet." Jon said. "Alanna has a very good point though."
"You always take Alanna's side."
"So when do we give it to them?" George asked, wanting to avert an
argument.
"Tonight." Alanna said, firmly.
"This evening." Jon said, grinning at Alanna. "No seriously, they
should get some sleep before the ride."
Alanna grumbled an assent.
The next morning as they ride-"Did you get a talk last night too."
Jaina whispered to Roald.
"Yes." Roald said.
"Adults."Jaina said, shaking her head.
"I agree." Roald said.
Then Roald and Jaina were separated by Kally who rode in between the
two of them on purpose. She grinned at them and sung a bawdy song at
them, the adults were far enough ahead that she didn't have to worry
about getting in trouble. "Watch it, Kally." Jaina said.
"Make me."
"That's it." Jaina said, taking the bait.
Kally squealed and rode faster.
Jaina sped up too. Roald shook his head, he didn't like to get
involved in such games, they seemed too childish for him. Besides it
was fun to just watch. Roald's mind wandered and he thought of what
Jaina's family was like. He thought of what Jaina had told him about
them and tried to put faces to the names. He did this until he felt
cold hands on his eyes.
"Its your girlfriend." Kally shouted.
"Kally, that is the oldest trick in the-"
Kally started to laugh. "It was me." Jaina said.
Roald shook his head. "Another old trick and I fell for it."
Jaina laughed. "You have an awesome laugh, Jain." Roald said.
Jaina felt self-conscious. "Thank you." She said, a bit shyly.
"But you are awesome at everything as it is." Kally said. "And I so
enamored in love that I adore you for everything you do."
Jaina and Roald blushed.
The trip passed like that, with Jaina and Roald getting a lot of good-
natured teasing about their relationship, and now the were in Corus.
Jaina and Roald had been riding together, but now they, though they
tried to do it subtly, separated and rode with other people.
They had already agreed that while they wouldn't be obvious about
their relationship, they wouldn't try to hide it either. But riding in
together that would be counted as being obvious about it. Neither of
them was sure who was in Corus and who was not.
(AN-there should be another scene here. I just couldn't figure out
what to do with it. So I will skip it and add it when I think of what
to do with the story.)
6 months into second year Lord Wyldon had found Jaina's weakness, Luke
had tried to get her to work past it, but she couldn't. Jaina's
weakness was long drill patterns. Jaina could see that the training
master took sheer pleasure in exploiting it. But worse then the
physical anguish was the mental anguish.
One day she was down on the practice grounds, her ankle was bleeding,
she had been stabbed in the foot because she had tripped up on a
maneuver. She cried out. Kel, Roald, and Neal ran over. "Jaina!" They
screamed. "Are you okay, is anything broken?"
"Enough." Lord Wyldon said. "Your highness, Queenscove, and Mindelan
take her to the healers."
Roald, Neal and Kel bowed. Roald and Kel lifted her gently, Neal led
the way, opening all the doors they needed opened. "Father." Neal
called.
"Who is injured this time." Duke Baird called.
"Jaina."
Duke Baird came out. He examined Jaina's foot. "This is really bad,
how did you get it."
"Training." Jaina said, but it was obvious her mind was somewhere
else.
Lord Wyldon figured out her weakness, long drill patterns." Neal said
angrily. "He has been exploiting it. That was a drill pattern a squire
couldn't do."
"Neal, let me heal her foot then we can talk about Lord Wyldon."
Jaina was so lost in her thoughts that she forgot to take down her
mental shields part way.
"I can't get in." He said a few minutes later. "Jaina, let me in
please .Jaina.JAINA."
Jaina didn't respond.
"Neal, I am going to need you to help me, ok." Duke Baird said. " Her
shields are too high, so please supplement my efforts. I need to heal
her, she is going to loose too much blood otherwise."
Neal combined his gift with his father's to try and get through
Jaina's shields in vain.
"Wow." Duke Baird said. "These shields are as strong as Alanna and
Numair's."
"Maybe I can help." Roald offered.
But as Roald touched her foot Jaina came into the present. "Where am
I?" she asked.
"You are at the healers." Duke Baird said.
Jaina tried to get up and bow, she knew that was the protocol. But
Duke Baird waved it away. "Please, don't injure that foot more. You
have strong shields."
Jaina blushed. "Force of habit." She said. "Back at home they are a
necessity otherwise my brothers are always prying." She added, telling
the truth but not the whole truth.
"Ah." Duke Baird said.
Jaina concentrated, bringing her shields down, she had sporadically
seen Duke Baird and those little times were enough to convince her
that he would do his job then get out of her mind.
"Thank you." Duke Baird said, applying his Gift to heal her foot.
"This should be better by tomorrow. I am going to give a
recommendation to Lord Wyldon that he ease up on you just a tad."
Just then Jaina's shields snapped from her control. "Watch out." She
screamed, knowing from experience how painful it was to get "shield-
slapped".
Started Duke Baird pulled out. "What happened." He asked.
She gritted her teeth. "The shields came up from my control." She
said. "I am so dumb."
Jaina jumped off of the table and ran to her quarters. She lay on her
bed and sobbed. âE?I am not a true Jedi. A true Jedi would have been
able to do the maneuvers, and wouldn't have lost control of her
shields.
"Jaina, from what you have told me Jedi are sensible, AND human.
Humans have limitations." Roald said coming in.
"But even Jasa would've been able to do this."
"And Jasa probably has other limitations." Roald said. "Listen, Jaina,
you are an exceptional woman, but even the most exceptional person has
limitations or flaws." Roald stroked her cheek tenderly. "And I love
you." He whispered into her ear.
"Thank you." Jaina said.
Jaina and Roald said together for awhile.
"They are so in love." Kel said.
"Yea, but they won't admit it or consummate it remember?" Neal said.
"Something must've happened over the summer."
"What?" Neal yelped.
"Be quiet and look yourself." Kel said.
Neal peered in the room. "Fine." He said grudgingly. "Why wouldn't
they tell us though?"
"Why would they." Kel said.
"They should've."
Kel rolled her eyes. "Who actually does anything they should?"
"Stop being all philosophical."
At that time Jaina sensed Kel and Neal. "Oh no." She said.
"What?" Roald asked.
Jaina gestured outside and Roald went. He blushed a deep crimison.
"You should've knocked or said something."
"Then you two would've stopped, and how would we have gotten our hunch
confirmed." Kel said.
"Whatever. Now you know." Jaina said, getting up. "Can we go practice
some drill patterns?"
"No, we have other work to do. We can practice drill work later."
Roald said, taking her hand and making her sit.
Jaina made a face but sat down and worked.
The next morning she woke up early and practiced five or six drill
patterns quickly. She was going to get the drill patterns if it killed
her!
That afternoon Lord Wyldon said. "We are working drill patterns
again."
"Surprise, surprise." Neal muttered.
Lord Wyldon showed them a drill pattern and told the pages to repeat
it.
Jaina stumbled. She cursed seven times over in Corellian. "What did
you say?" Roald asked. "Or do I not want to know."
"Choose the second option." Nealan said looking at Jaina's face.
Lord Wyldon ignored Jaina except for a slight smirk. He showed them
another drill pattern, slightly harder this time. Jaina stumbled
again. His smirk got bigger.
I see what he is doing, Jaina thought, this like those political
tricks Mama told me about. He is going to try to get one so hard I
will fall flat on my face. I know I am not good at this so I just have
to stay calm, and try my hardest. That is all I can do. Even a Jedi
knows her limitations, I will not be held in by them but work with
them reasonably.
As she had guessed, the next drill pattern was even harder. Even
though she tried her hardest she fell.
Joren of Stone Mountain started it. "Look at the girl, she fell at
such a simple drill pattern. Why don't you go home now?"
"Your beloved training master must have 'ignored' them." Someone else
jeered.
Jaina felt herself get a bit angry. How dare they insult Uncle Luke,
she thought, how dare they insult the academy.
She calmed herself. She looked up to see Neal, Owen, and even Roald
ready to punch Joren and his friends. She picked herself up, purposely
jabbing an elbow into Neal to stop the comment on his lips.
Jaina saw flickers of respect on some of the teachers faces. Lord
Wyldon showed another drill at the same level. Jaina fell again. She
also got up again.
Lord Wyldon did it again, she fell again. This happened many more
times. With the help of the force, and supportive looks from her
friends Jaina managed to keep her cool.
Finally the training master ordered a cool-down drill pattern which
was very easy. Jaina didn't fall. As she left quickly so she could
take a bath. Falling repeatedly had made her muddy. Roald followed her
and when she came out he made sure no one was near and kissed her.
"You did it, Jain, you did it. Good job, Jain."
"I kept falling." "But you kept getting up." Roald said. "I am sure you will get it soon. It doesn't matter, you showed that you accepted your fallibility."
"Or maybe I am just a good Jedi."
Roald laughed, Jaina had told him enough about Jedi philosophy and training that he knew what she was talking about.
"Now let's go to the library, everyone will be waiting for us." Jaina said.
It took Jaina almost a year, for some reason she couldn't master those dratted drill patterns for a long time.
Her page years passed quickly, and very eventfully. Before she knew it, there was only one month before the examinations. 4th years were allowed a lot more freedoms, and the training was much more intense. They were used by the King's Own in a lot more direct combat. This incident happened on one of those meetings. Bandits were attacking too close to Corus for comfort so they were sending all available people out. As they were riding down Raoul got word that bandits were raiding 10 villages simultaneously.
"Scanra and maybe even Carthak have to have a hand in this." Raoul muttered. "They are getting too bold otherwise."
Then it got even worse Raoul got word that Spidrens were attacking somewhere else. "I feel like we are back in the Immortals War." Dom said.
"We are dividing up now." Raoul said, giving the signal to stop. "Your highness, you know I normally don't single you out, but because of how coordinated these attacks are my intuition tells me there is some big plan behind this. What better thing for Scanra or Carthak then to get a royal?"
"With all due respect Lord Raoul, I think I will be fine if you send me with another group. I give you my word, though, that if there is further evidence that this is a plot against me, or the Conte line specifically I will go back without complaint."
Raoul looked at Lord Wyldon. "All right, your highness." Raoul said at last.
"Jaina, Kel, Neal, Roald, please go with Dom and 3 others to the village Snakespeak, it is the farthest and worst besieged so set out now, please."
They bowed and set out. Dom swore as they got close. "It is pretty bad out here."
Dom assessed the situation. "I believe that we need to split off, one Own to one Page, we can sneak in the village easier."
"Forgive me, Dom, but I believe we should go in, in a line so we can communicate easier. We don't know the circumstances, if a lot of people have been kidnapped or something we should all be there so we can divide up then."
Everyone else nodded. Jaina didn't think it was a good idea, she had a very bad feeling about it. "Sir." She began. "I think your idea was the best."
Dom was going to order his original plan when he remembered the Crown Prince was with him. That added another dimension into his thought process. He couldn't freeze, he knew this moment could mean life or death. He quickly made the decision, he could better protect the crown prince if there were a lot of people around. "The second plan. Your highness get in the middle, one page on your left, right, and 3 kings Own in the front, I will be in the back."
"I have a bad feeling about this." Jaina muttered, obeying.
Sure enough, the bandits had been watching. The bandits signaled for archers. 2 archers were aimed for Roald. They aimed, and released. The King's Own saw the arrows coming. They pushed their charges out of the way. "Get yourself to cover, your highness." They yelled, knowing the Bandits already knew that the crown prince was there. Kel motioned to the pages, they formed a circle around Roald and moved him to safety. "Stay." Jaina told him. Jaina tried to deflect an arrow with her force sense, but she didn't have the precision yet. All she succeeded in doing was moving it a millimeter so it hit the left corner of the man's heart. They had to watch as the King's own fell. Soon Dom was the only King's Own standing. Jaina felt her lightsaber, this was the time, she thought, I need to save his life.
There has to be another way, she thought, this would freak them all out and maybe turn the Tortallans against her.
She took a quick glance around, the situation was grim. The bandits had them surrounded. Dom had called for help, but it wouldn't be here fast enough. She wished heartily for her father, mother, uncle, or at least Anakin and Tenel Ka. Anakin was a master puzzle solver, and Tenel Ka was a master strategist. Thinking of Tenel Ka made her remember a strategy she had taught Jaina. The best part of Tenel Ka's strategies were that they required less to no use of the force. "I have an idea, this is a strategy that one of my friends came up with." She whispered. "Dom isn't going to last much longer, we have to find away to help him and this village while not endangering our lives."
"We are ears." Kel said.
"Well, we know their objective is most probably Roald, luckily Roald is wearing a cloak. Roald give me that cloak, I am about your height. I will run out. You all act, pretend I am actually Roald, and try to stop me. At least some of their fire will be concentrated on me then, so it will lighten up on you."
"There is grave danger for you." Kel said.
Jaina shook her head. "There is a plan for that. The friend who taught me the strategy taught me how to deal with this too. I will be heading in the direction reinforcements will come from and other methods." One problem was it involved blasters and Lightsabers. "Trust me. It is our only hope."
"No." Roald said. "I will be my own decoy."
"Be reasonable." Jaina shot back. "You are the heir to the throne. Tortall will fall apart if anything happens to you. Believe me, I know how hard this is for you. You can't say the famous line, you've never been in this position, but you know I have."
Roald couldn't argue, especially when Kel and Neal joined in with praise for the plan.
"You guys, here is your attack formation." Jaina said, she drew the plan. "Now remember, this plan WAS drawn up for a different galaxy, and different fighting styles, I tried to compensate for that, but we don't exactly have the time to sit around and debate. So keep an eye open." She put on Roald's cloak, and she grabbed a cloth made it into a makeshift hat, so it covered her hair.
She ran out. Sure enough, most of the arrows and bandits followed her. She drew them far enough away from the fighting so later they couldn't see that they were tricked. One thing annoyed her, these were bandits, they usually didn't plan too well. This seemed to well conceived for bandits. Especially when she heard them say. "We have the Tortallan army in a bind, we have a lot of hostages, we even've some noble blood. They'll have to choose where to go first, reinforce ye, or get hostages. 'specially since Bandits aren't bound by the Nobles conventions."
Well, your plan is going to break down here, Jaina thought determinedly. Jaina checked for communication devices, bandits wouldn't have any, but she wasn't sure if they were actually bandits. She found none. She didn't want to rely on that too much so she didn't shed her disguise she just started fighting in it.
"Hey, his highness is decently feisty." One of the men said.
"Surrender, your highness, or it will just be worse."
Jaina didn't reply just continued fighting. With a double kick she knocked two of the men unconscious. "Uh oh, we don't like that." The first guy said. "Now we get even more ferocious."
Jaina smiled grimly in her head, just what I wanted. Thanks to Tenel she knew right where they'd attack. She hit back. She drew her sword then. She unarmed three of the men, knowing human instinct especially in people like bandits or mercenary armies makes you run, at least at first when unarmed. Bandits and mercenary armies are usually not adept at hand-to-hand combat. Sure enough they began to run.
There were only 5 left now, 2 she had knocked out, 3 were running. Good odds, she thought grimly.
She encircled them. She thanked Alanna for teaching her the double kick. She knocked out one more person with the double kick. She then used a trick her Uncle Luke had taught her, when the next guy reached out to pierce her with his spear she fell back. Then sprang up as he lifted his spear to gloat, she came up and punched him down. There were rocks below so he fell unconscious too.
She realized that she should hurry, she didn't know how many people were in the village. She fought triple speed and brought them down.
She shed the cloak and hat, hiding them, and went back. She found that they were doing well, but the enemy outnumbered them 4-1. The best odds the rebellion ever faced were 12-1, she reminded herself, we can do this. She rode faster. She let out a loud cry. The pages heard it and started to fight faster and more fiercely. Together they held the Bandits at bay and inflicted many casualties. But Roald's disguise fell off. The bandits saw their opportunity and got him. A few rode away with Roald. Jaina rode after them as fast as she could.
The other pages were so occupied with their other fighters that they couldn't go after Jaina and Roald.
Jaina rode hard and caught up with the bandits. She did a swoop maneuver, she tried to unseat a few of the bandits, unfortunately the man behind him saw it, so while she did unseat one man she got her back poked by another.
The pain debilitated her for a moment, then her engrained Jedi training took over and she didn't let it bother her. Jaina fought hard, and soon she was holding them off. She noted that they had a sorcerer in their midst, because Roald was asleep, and she knew that had to be as result of magic.
Sure enough a few minutes later someone sent a bolt at her, she used the force and deflected it.
The sorcerer's eyes widened. He sent another bolt. She deflected it with ease.
The fight went on for awhile. In a bit she got the idea of waking Roald up, this would serve 3 purposes, A) it might scare the bandits into retreat. B) it would give her some backup C) it would calm her racing heart.
Jaina needed a quiet moment to do it in, though, she didn't have the concentration yet that would allow her to do it without it. She also didn't want to drive them into retreat because the still had Roald. She was effectively stuck for the moment.
She kept fighting strong. Soon though she and everyone else heard the sound of hooves on the ground. She turned around and so many King's Own fighters. She knew they had made the sound for intimidation purposes. It worked. Many of the bandits dropped their spears and started to run. "Hey, we still have advantage." The leader shouted, trying to point to the horse that had Roald on it, but the fear of the legendary King's own was too great.
Jaina dismounted and carried Roald off the horse, she grunted but stood tall. "I have your advantage." She told the leader.
The leader snarled, and jumped off his horse to challenge Jaina. Jaina stood tall, with her sword unhitched. Before she could fight, though, another King's Own came and challenged the leader. "Just 'cause you have his highness, madam page, no other reason."He said, knowing that she could think it was because she was a female.
Jaina inclined her head, appreciating the gesture. She put Roald on her horse and rode him away to where her friends were. She saw that her friends were all alive, by some miracle, the force, she thought. "Jaina." Kel said, she ran to her and embraced her.
"Looks like you got off light." Jaina said.
"Yamani training." Kel said, simply. "You look like you got slaughtered."
"Thanks." Jaina said wryly.
"No, that is a compliment. It is a tribute to how hard you fought." Kel said. "I saw the number of people you were fighting."
"You saved the crown." Neal said, seriously. "No one can doubt you now."