Alanna finished healing Rispah to the best of her ability and left the infirmary. Now that she had the free time to think she was wondering why someone would want to murder Rispah. She was the lady of the Rouge, but why would they go to all the trouble of acquiring Hurrok saliva which, is very expensive and dangerous to get.

Then she understood it. 'The arrow would have pierced me if Rispah had not hugged me before she left' Alanna realized in horror. 'So the question is who wants to kill me, and why?'

Alanna was aware that she had enemies, but the thought that one had almost hit her with a fatal arrow, especially in so trusted a place as the Dancing Dove irked her. 'I need to talk to someone about this' she thought in an almost panic.

She headed off to the servant's wing to see if she could find Coram. When she got to his rooms she knocked on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again, but to no avail. She gave an angry muffled yell and started to stomp off when she heard someone call out her name. "Alanna?" She turned around and saw Coram walking towards her.

"Where were you?" She asked him rather rudely. He looked at her disapprovingly and said "on guard duty if you must know". "Oh, sorry" Alanna said sheepishly "I was looking for you". Coram opened the heavy wood door that led into his room and bade Alanna follow him in.

"So what is it that you're needing me for?" He asked her patiently. Alanna drew her breath and told him what had happened, from Rispah being shot to her suspicions. "So, you think someone is trying to kill you?" Coram stated more than asked. "Have you talked to Jon about this?"

"No, now that you mention it, I haven't seen Jonathon at all since we got here..." Alanna trailed off to her own thoughts. "Well perhaps you'll be wantin' to be seeing him them. Unless there's any special reason that you wouldn't be wantin' to see him" Coram said slyly. Alanna simply scowled at this remark and left his rooms.

Alanna was strolling around the palace grounds when the bell chimed for supper. She was going to meet Myles in his rooms for supper and she could then ask him where she could find Jon. From the time she left Coram she had been looking for Jon and strangely enough could not find him anywhere. It was beginning to make her uneasy.

She let herself into Myles' sweet of rooms and made her way to the study. He was already there sitting at a table set for two with a very generous amount of food laid out on it. She sat down and started eating. After satisfying herself she asked him where she could find Jon.

"It's kind of strange actually. Jon spends most of his time in the throne room, just sitting there occasionally seeing people. No one knows what has gotten into him, although there are rumors. Some people-servants mostly who wait on the King have said that Jon mostly only talks to some strange man. I don't know how true this is, but it unsettles me for sure. Jon certainly hasn't been acting like himself."

"So how can I see him?" Alanna asked rather anxiously. "You have to go to his steward, I think his name is Oleron. He will tell you if and when you can see the king. I don't know how successful you will be seeing as they have only admitted me once."

"Hmmm, well I'm off to bed, see you tomorrow... hopefully" Myles laughed at this comment and bade Alanna goodnight.

The next morning Alanna set out first to the infirmary to see Rispah. When she got there Duke Baird assured her that there had been no change in her, which from her standpoint Alanna took as a good thing. She changed her bandages and after a few words with Duke Baird and after assuring him that she would be back later she left.

She went about asking people where she could find the steward Oleron. She was directed to a small office set directly beside the throne room. When she arrived there, there was already someone else there. She walked over until she was standing directly behind him to form a line of sorts. He appeared to be in an in depth conversation with the steward. Alanna caught a few snippets of their conversation.

"Still no change" the man asked quietly. "None milord" the steward answered back. The man was about to reply when the steward said very loudly and audibly "Yes?"

Realizing that he was talking to her Alanna jumped and started to blush slightly. Regaining her composure Alanna said, "Umm yes, I was wondering if I could see the king?" "You'll have to fill out one of these and return it by three this afternoon" the steward drawled.

"Thank you" Alanna said forcefully. She turned to address the other man only to see that he had left. "Umm, the man you were talking to, who was he?"

"Just a servant, nothing for the likes of you to worry about" the steward said turning back to his paperwork.

Alanna left the office wondering 'why, if the man was a servant was the steward who would be higher ranking than him addressing him as a noble?'

She wandered around until she found an empty office and sat down to fill out the papers that the steward had given her. On the form were questions such as her name, rank, relationship with the king and other petty questions following suit. Then the last question-Legitimate reason for seeing the King'

Alanna didn't like this question. Why did she need a 'legitimate' reason for seeing her best friend and ex-lover? She filled out the last question as well as she could and dropped the form off at the stewards office.

A/N Sorry I haven't updated for awhile! I've had really bad writers block. I hope I made it up to you with a longer than normal chapter! As always read and review!