Aether Winds

Chapter two- Changing Times

By- IceWind

A/N:

This is my first fanfic for The Protector of the Small books by Tamora Pierce. The names, places, things, ect, all are credited to her. This fanfic is set in an alternate universe. I.E: Joren is NOT dead, Cleon and Kel are not together (hehe), and other incidents that have I messed up on and don't feel like making it exactly like the book. Please REVIEW *grins* and as long as its not flames on how Kel and Cleon should be together or something of that trivial nature, flames are fine. This story is PG-13 for anything that might come up lol.

It takes me some time to set up stories and get it to good parts *shrugs* but I'm trying for this story to get through the early explanations and things fast.

Important: Whom do you want Kel to end up with? Joren or Dom? *coughs* and no its only them, no Roald, Neal, or Cleon please. Right now I'm leaning more towards Joren…. ^. ~ Can you blame me? More people seem to want to have Joren anyway, sooooo… *grins*

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Kel clutched the crystal in her hand, eyes confused and slightly frightened. Sound of chirping filled her ears, breaking her out of her reverie, and she glanced out of her window. Several sparrows chirped and watched her with expectfull eyes, waiting for her to stop what she's doing and feed them. With a start, Kel realized that it was already morning, and that she should start her morning routine. She gave a groan and decided to get up and start her day instead of wondering about things which she doesn't have the first clue about.

She grabbed some spare bread she took last night and opened the window. Several sparrows flew in, scattering throughout the room, each one waiting patiently. She gave them their breakfast and started to get ready to start the day, nudging Jump with one foot as she was doing so. Kel frowned at the sleeping dog and nudged him harder until he woke up. With a smile she started to whistle softly, glancing back at the crystal, thinking to herself that she should bring it with her, but it would probably get lost.

Suddenly a soft glow effused over a nearby silver necklace on her drawer and it floated up towards Kel. She blinked and gave a soft yelp, falling back a couple of steps and letting go of the crystal. The crystal formed into a small pendant and attached itself to the necklace before floating before Kel and stopping in front of her. Kel reached out with a shaky hand, but the necklace ignored it and flew off to attach itself around Kel's neck. She stood still for a moment wondering if it would choke her to death to, but it seemed to stop moving.

"Goddess… this day is getting weirder and weirder," the bells chimed several times, Kel absently listened to it before yelling, "DAMN it is NOT my day!" At that she forgot all about her necklace and ran out of her room, grabbing her practice glaive and muttering under her breath. She raced towards the practice yards and reached it, stopping by the fence and breathing heavily, looking around and silently hoping they would be late also.

A las… it was not meant to be… a hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, there Neal, Cleon, and Owen stood with their practice swords, all three of them smirking and slightly sweaty. Neal snickers, "Aww Kel, where were you? I mean, you're the one ALWAYS going on about how we're ALWAYS late."

Kel stood there blushing lightly, fiddling with her practice glaive, while looking at them all.

Cleon drew closer and looked at her face closely, "Wait! By the gods! Kel is BLUSHING!" he starts to laugh hard. Neal and Owen look at each other then Kel more closely, Owen grinned, "Now that's something I'd never thought I'd see."

Kel gave them all a scowl, putting on her Yamani 'lump' face, "Say that to me while we're fighting."

Neal eyed her and gulped quietly, "ehhhhh….."

Owen patted his shoulder kindly, "As I have said before, its good knowing ya." Cleon started laughing again in the background, mimicking Owen's movement and patting Neal's other shoulder, "Yeah, when Kel gets mad, she gets MAD."

Kel glared at them both, "I was talking to all of you." She laughed silently to herself at the now awakened, panicked expression on her friend's faces. She gives a smirk and points her practice glaive at Neal, "Your funeral first."

~

She wiped a hand across her sweaty face and looked at her now totally exhausted friends, "Finished already?" Kel gave a smirk, and refused to show how tired she really was from beating the three knights in a row.

A mocking voice from nearby cut short any of their replies, "The fool three-o got beaten by the girl again? No wonder they're only considered second rate knights in court." Joren of Stone Mountain came into view and leaned casually against the fence, obviously finished with training himself, by the sweat on his clothes.

With pale blond hair cut to his ears and light blue eyes, he was considered one of the handsomest men at court. Even after a tiring fight he looks good, Kel thought to herself, though it's too bad it doesn't change his attitude. She scowled at him, pushing her hair away from her eyes, "What do you want Stone?"

Over the years Joren and Kel had come to some kind of an unwritten agreement. He doesn't try to beat her up or do anymore childish tricks anymore as long as she stayed away from him, not to mention that the tricks usually don't work. Kel wholeheartedly agreed to this and avoided him as much as possible. Now they only met by accident and after exchanging a few insults they moved on, ignoring the other once more.

Joren eyed her for a moment, smirking as he saw that he was making her uncomfortable with his scrutiny. He ignored the other three knights who were listening in and said to Kel, "Well lump, the king wants to see us both…" he paused for a second then added in, "and no I do not know for what, so hurry up and get changed. Don't want to be late. " With that he turned on his heals and headed for his room to get changed, frowning to himself in thought.

Kel stared at the spot he had been in surprise, she says in a slightly high voice, "The king wants to see me? Now?!" She yelped, "I can't be late for this!" and left at a dead run once again, leaving three surprised knights at her wake.

Neal watched her go and turned to empty place Joren had once stood, saying belatedly and indignantly, "Stone! We are NOT second rate knights!"

Cleon blinked and muttered, "Wonder what the king wants."

Owen scratched his head, confused, before finally saying, "We look like bloody idiots standing around, lets pounce on Kel afterwards to see what the king said, and Neal…"

Neal turned to look at him, his emerald green eyes questioning, "What?"

"Next time you tell Joren off," Owen paused, his eyes glittering with amusement, "Do it to his face."

Cleon started to laugh while Neal sputtered, annoyed. Neal then hit Cleon on the arm with a scowl, "I'd like to see you make Joren mad and tell him off." Cleon paled slightly and stuttered some excuses.

Owen, watching them with a slight grin, answering for Cleon, "And get him mad at us all? You know he'd be able to murder us without blinking, and with us unable to stop him," he gave a soft sigh, "He and Kel are the top two knights I know, as much as I hate to admit it about Joren. Come on, we'll go bother Kel later." He started to walk back to the palace.

Neal ran after him yelling, "When did YOU suddenly become all sensible? You're like Kel!"

Cleon grinned and just followed his two friends.

~

Kel fingered her crystal necklace as she walked, not ran, towards the throne room where she would meet King Jonathan. She might be a little late, but she refused to look like she rushed to get there, though I did to get ready.

Kel had decided to serve the crown and its monarchs to the best of her abilities even though she still bore a slight grudge against the king for making her take the probation year. But she doesn't usually show her grudge and if she could save the kings life, even if she gave up her own, she would do it without thinking twice about it. She does this because of her duty; the king knows and respects that, though he still wished to win her over to his side.

Something which will not likely happen, she reflected to herself as she reached the doors to the throne room, next to them Joren was standing, looking as calm and perfect as usual. She walked over to him, smoothing down her tunic while doing so, and looked at him questionably.

He turned to her and smirked, "Lump…"

Kel interrupted with a cross glare at him, "Don't call me that Joren."

Joren appraised her with his eyes, arms crossed and he leaned casually against the door frame, "And why not… Lump?" His mouth tilted up to one side.

She glared at him, ignoring the strange glances she was getting from the footman. Definitely mocking me… and says warningly, "Stone…"

The doors moved swiftly to allow them in, cutting Kel's words off. The footman went in to announce their presence to the monarchs; King Jonathan and Queen Thayet, everything running according to protocol. Kel hastily checked herself over to make sure nothing was amiss and followed Joren inside the room and there they both bowed to the Jonathan and Thayet.

As they both straightened Joren abruptly said to the majesties, "Why did you call me?" His eyes betrayed his impatience with them all.

Kel gaped at his audacity, nobody speaks that way to the king and queen, it wasn't… proper nor right.

Jonathan raised one brow up at Joren's question, not angry, just amused with what he said. Thayet, his queen, just smiled, as amused as her husband was. They were known as the best looking couple in the land, though it was apparent why. With Jonathan's black hair and sapphire blue eyes many ladies chase after him, even though he has a queen, and with Thayet's beautiful body, face, and mind, she was said to be the most beautiful in the land. Jonathan looked at both Keladry and Joren, choosing his words with care, "I have decided to send two of our best knights out to Scanra. There you two will become our…" he stopped, thinking about what to say, "representatives to their court." He watched the two knights to see their reactions.

Kel's eyes widened, I'm going to Scanra?, suddenly another thought flashed to her mind, I'm one of his best knights????, she noticed the king look at her particularly closely, and she put on her Yamani face on, washing all emotions away.

Joren's face held nothing for anyone to see, he just nodded to Jonathan and Thayet, accepting his mission. Only his eyes betrayed something, and they were filled with contempt as they glanced at Keladry.

Jonathan watched his two knights carefully, looking for any signs of weakness in them, he finally nodded when he saw that they were accepting the news and went on, "You will carry this.." He nods towards a servant which brought up to Joren a letter, "and hand it to their king." He said with finality, "We want peace between us, but I also want you two to watch. You are dismissed." He waved a hand casually at them.

Joren and Kel both knew what he meant by that, be careful when you spy on the Scanrans… if caught he would deny all claims to making his two knights do the work, it was just how these things went. The two both bowed once more before exiting the room, each one thinking about the trip.

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A/N:

Remember to REVIEW!!! I hope you guys like the second chapter… errr it's not the greatest, I know, but I need to get this story moving faster.

My e-mail address is flyby311@hotmail.com and put Aether Winds, so I know what the e-mail is about. Anything you want to add/criticize/comment/whatever you guys just review it… please? Thanks for listening to me ramble for that you get a lolly *hands person a lolly*