DISCLAIMER: Neal, Yuki and Queenscove all belong to Tamora Pierce, however Yali and the plot are mine. all mine!

~*~Chapter One ~*~

When Sir Nealan of Queenscove was approached by his only daughter and eldest child and told that she was going to apply to train at the Palace to become a knight, he was greatly shocked and very apprehensive. His first instinct was to forbid it.

"Oh really? Are you? I don't think so, young lady! You will do no such thing!" He told her sternly. However Yalinni was prepared for that and had her arguments ready.

"I will so! Aunty Kel did, and look how she turned out! I want to be like Aunty Kel!"

"Oh no! Kel had already done a lot of training in the Yamani Isles before she started! There's no way you could stand the training!"

"Yes I could! I've trained to be a Yamani lady too! Mama made me, remember?"

Damn it! She had him there and she knew it!

"Plus, I can ride, and I can do archery and even a little bit of sword work! I can do it da!"

Giving up on that line of argument, he changed tact, "I don't understand! Yali, you were never interested in these things before; I thought you were happy to go to the convent and train to be a court lady."

It was true she had always been perfectly content with her life as a young lady in training. "I was." She said simply.

"Then why did you change your mind so quickly?" he asked, obviously very confused by his daughter's behavior.

"Well, it's just so. boring!" She said, "I mean. sitting there all day doing needle work. sure it's alright sometimes but I've been doing it for years. I'm sick of it! I want something different! And I'm the right age for it now, all the boys my age will start this year."

"Starting something new because you're bored is alright sometimes but I don't think you should commit yourself to eight years of hard training, then a life time of harder work just because your bored!"

"But da, it's not just cause of that! I want to do this because I want to help people, to protect them!" she said, her voice almost pleading.

He smiled wryly, "You sound just like Kel when you say that!" He drawled.

"Well it's true! And anyway, it's not like being a girl's a big thing anymore! I won't be picked on as much as Kel was. It'll be fun!"

She was right about that. More girls had gone through the knight training over the years since he had become a knight. There still weren't that many compared to the amount of boys, but now the palace was set up for it and the prejudice had died down quite a lot. There was even a girl's page uniform for special occasions. However it would still not be fun, it was a lot of hard work. When Neal mentioned this to his daughter her only reply was, 'Life is what you make of it.'

This was a very profound comment, coming from a ten year old. He was stunned to silence for a few minutes, thinking.

Yali used this time to work him around, she was running out of arguments now but she thought she could get him with this next one. 'Mama thinks it's a good idea!'

Neal was shocked by this, his wife hadn't told him that he had spoken to Yali about this, 'Oh really? Does she? And when did you speak to her about this?'

Yali wavered, the truth was she hadn't actually talked to her mother about it, she just assumed that she would agree since she was Yamani and the Yamani trained young ladies to defend themselves, plus her mother was friends with female members of the Queen's Riders who rode, practiced archery and sword combat. 'Well.um.I haven't actually asked her yet.but I know she will agree with me. I mean she encourages me to learn to defend myself.'

'Defending your self and becoming a knight are two very different things, being a knight means you protect other people. in doing so you are putting your life on the line. it's too risky for you. I'm sure your mother would agree with me.'

Yali was running out of arguments, she needed help. She had an idea that might work but she'd needed time to plan it. So instead of continuing her conversation, which she could tell was about to turn into an all out argument she simply replied, 'Well, anyway, I'm going out riding this afternoon so I better go get ready.' And with that she skipped off, heading in the direction of the stables.

Neal stood stunned by his daughter's sudden surrender, he knew he should be reassured by the fact that his daughter seemed to have given up but instead it made him uneasy. Past experience with the child told him that she does not give up this easily and that she will try another tactic next. He knew she was up to something, but what? He sighed, resigning himself to waiting and finding out later.

~*~ AN.~*~ So. how'd you like it? Should I keep going? I don't know. Please review and give me some advice! Thanks!