Chapter 02:   Sponsors

With a deep sigh Sam left Bery's room. 'I wonder why it's always me who gets stuck with mentally supporting people. Hell, most of the time all I hear is how cold and distant I am, too direct and so on.  But when they start to become really whiny and I tell them what I'm thinking, everything is well again. It's strange, when exactly is it fine for me to say what I think, and when is it not? At least she didn't try to hug me. I just feel … odd… hugging everything in sight, like Cori does.'

Suddenly she heard someone sniggering next to her and turned around… to face her worst nightmare: Twins. She just had to look at those two and immediately knew from the twinkle in their bright blue eye that those girls meant mischief. Both were already clothed in the page's uniform, and having the same short black hair and identical features they resembled each other so much, that you couldn't hold them apart by merely looking at them.

Sam eyed the girls as if to decide if they meant a threat to her or not. 'Life here will be difficult. The day becomes better with every minute passing. And we haven't even met the boys yet.'

One of the girls bounced towards her, grinning like a maniac and stretched her hand towards Sam. "I'm Aidan of Crystal Lake. That's my little sister Ariadne. Nice to meet you."

Sam eyed the offered hand carefully for any traps before shaking it. "Samira of Pinehollow. Nice to meet you, too." 'I hope…'

The twins seemed highly amused by the cautious way Sam acted towards them. The other little girl joined her sister and shook Sam's hand as well. "You can call me Ria. She's Danny for anyone except our mother. How about you? Sami? Mira?"

Sam flinched barely visible at the newly invented nicknames. "Sam would be fine, thanks."

Both twins exchanged a grin and Ria continued. "Well, since we are in the same boat we should stick together, you know. Those boys won't stand a chance against us. We are five after all."

Sam smirked and nodded. "Yeah, that's right. The other two will join us soon, I hope at least." She looked back at Bery's door thoughtfully, then turned around again. "I think helping each other out will make it a little easier for us. Oh! There's Cori."

The door next to Bery's had opened and Cori stepped out, a disgusted look on her face.

Sam blinked in surprise and asked. "What's the matter?"

Cori looked up at her cousin and the two small girls next to her, watching her intently. "I really don't know what the cleaning standards at the palace are, but considering the condition of my bed it's lousy." At the blank look of her cousin she continued. "There is some sort of … glibber in my bed. Ugly green glibber"

After looking at her cousin for a long moment, Sam slowly turned her head towards the twins who suddenly looked like the innocence incarnate. "Sticking together, ne?"

Finally it was time for supper, and like usually on the first day the pages gathered around Lord Padraig, the first-years in nervous anticipation of what was awaiting them now.

'Well. Here we are.' Sam was watching the other pages.' Quite a few first- year, I'm impressed. It will be interesting who will sponsor a girl. Could be difficult to find an acceptable sponsor for each of us five. Cori, Bery, me, the twins ... wait a minute.' Sam looked surprised at Aidan and Ariadne. 'Do I have a problem with my eyes? One, two ... Three?' Sam nudged Cori softly to get her attention and whispered. "Do you see what I see?"

"Depends on what you are seeing." Cori's eyes followed the direction Sam was pointing at. Then her eyes widened. "Oh gods! Triplets."

Sam nodded in silent defeat. 'And here I thought we couldn't be in more trouble with twins. Now we have triplets. I wonder what those three will be doing this year. I just have the feeling that they mean trouble, I just can't help myself.'

"Now it's time for the first- year pages to get a sponsor." Lord Padraig looked around, waiting for the conversations to stop. When he had everyone's full attention he pointed to a red haired boy in the first line. "Your name and the holding of your family."

"Rabanus of Blue Mountain." The boy was taken immediately by a page called Kyle of Nenan.

Then Lord Padraig pointed to one of the triplets. "Aaron of Crystal Lake."

"Now I understand why they were separated at the girls' wing. One of them is a boy," Cori whispered excitedly. She didn't seem to share her cousins wariness towards the triplets, she seemed to be more excited about the idea.

After Aaron got his sponsor, it was Aidan's turn. The silence stretched as soon as Aidan had said her name.

'I knew it would be difficult.' Sam looked around. 'Come on. We only need five of you.' Then she noticed some of the boys discussing, a few of them seemed to feel obviously uncomfortable. Finally one of them said. "I will sponsor her."

Lord Padraig was looking at him. "Colin of Agate Coast sponsors Aidan of Crystal Lake. Well, who will sponsor Ariadne of Crystal Lake?"

"I will sponsor her."

The training master seemed surprised at the fast answer. "Quentin of Agate Coast sponsors Ariadne of Crystal Lake."

Sam quickly shot a glance towards the two sponsors. Good, no twins, just normal brothers it seemed. They didn't need more like the triplets.

Next turn was Bery's, who's sponsor was called Milan of Ivy Towers. After her followed Corvina.

"I will sponsor her."

"Lachran of Mindelan sponsors Corvina of Kourell."

Cori seemed quite pleased with her sponsor. Sam had to admit he looked quite friendly.

At last it was Sam's turn, the last one of the girls. When she said her name, she saw that some boys where pushing another. Finally this boy said that he wanted to sponsor her. 'They have already decided who of them will have to sponsor the girls beforehand,' Sam realised.

Then she heard Lord Padraig say: "Nathan of Malven sponsors Samira of Pinehollow"

After the sponsors and their first-years had introduced themselves, the herd of pages started to follow Lord Padraig to the huge dining hall.

Cori glanced worriedly at her cousin who faced her sponsor, her face calm and impassive. They didn't even talk to each other, only measuring each other with cool calculating eyes.

She started when her sponsor put a hand at her shoulder and smiled warmly at her. She had to admit she already liked the boy very much. He was nice, friendly and as the nephew of Keladry of Mindelan he sure as hell wouldn't have any prejudices towards female pages.

His friend was Milan of Ivy Towers, a good natured guy with a messy mob of chestnut hair and friendly grey-blue eyes, Bery's sponsor. The other girl seemed to be much calmer and less self-conscious right now. Cori hoped she was fine again, not just putting up a façade.

"Don't worry." Lachran smiled at her reassuringly. "He is not as bad as everyone thinks. He can be a quite nice guy, and he surly won't harm her in any way."

Cori looked up in surprise. "How do you know?"

"He was my sponsor last year." Lachran glanced to the older page thoughtfully.

Cori followed his example and asked curiously: "Are you friends?"

"No. Not really. He doesn't have any close friends. He separates himself too much. He's always so cold and distant. You can't really get to him, you know." Lachran shook his head and sighed. "He's in his third year now, and it was a hard time, being a Malven. Some of the other pages don't think that he belongs here, and they show him that he is unwanted, but he never gives up. It's really amazing…"

"But how can he afford the training? And how will he be able to afford the high costs every knight has? I mean, for most of the less rich families it is hard to send their sons to the palace, but his family is still being punished for the treason and supposed to be quite poor. "

"I don't know. He never told me." Lachran sighed. "Well. Let's talk about other things. Welcome to the palace. After supper Mil and me will show the two of you around. So now let's go and eat, I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse …"

Cori smiled and followed him. "Thank you. Call me Cori." As much as she tried not to, she just had to  ask. "You're related to Keladry of Mindelan, aren't you?"

Lachran laughed. "I knew this would be one of the first things you would ask. Yes, she's my aunt."

"Is that the reason you chose me?" Cori asked seriously. She wasn't entirely sure if she would like it if that was the case.

"In some way, you could say so. Some of the other boys have ... a low opinion about female pages. My aunt did have problems with guys like them, when she was your age. You would have been in great trouble if they had chosen you. And you looked quite nice and friendly. That's why I took you, not one of the others."

Cori was torn between being pleased at his answer, and worried about the other girls. "Who are those boys? Has one of them chosen one of the other girls?"

Lachran shook his head. "No. None of your friends are in danger. Quentin and Colin, Quentin's older brother, are my friends as well. Mil and Quen are second- year pages, like me, and Colin is his last year as a page. He's nice, too. Things have changed, slowly, but they have. After all those wars… Now people are getting used to women fighting. It was necessary when the men were abroad in war. And some of the other boys have mothers who fought one way or the other when their fiefs were threatened" He looked at Cori and laughed again. "Now I'm stopping, this stuff is to heavy to discuss right now. Let's get some food already."

After all the other pages had left, the only two persons remaining were Sam and Nathan, who still stared intently at each other.

Suddenly, Nathan turned around barked: "Follow me." Then he stormed down the corridor without looking back, following the others. To his surprise the girl followed him without a word of protest, or a complaint about his rude tone. But she didn't even look angry, only calm and thoughtful. 'Well, let's see what plan she has to get rid of me. After all she won't like to be stuck with The Malven, won't she?'

So he waited for her to talk, to come up with some plan to stay away from him as much as possible. But she didn't say anything to him. Not when they arrived at the dining hall. Not when they got their food. Even after the prayer she ate quietly, without disturbing his thoughts. Hell, he could nearly say she was a pleasant companion, not so nosy and annoying like the other, but her silence mad him nervous and he observed her with veiled distrust. Suddenly he spoke. "Don't you ever talk?"

Sam looked up. "You don't want to talk."

Nathan gaped at her. 'I don't want to talk? What the …? What kind of answer is that?' He shook his head in confusion and sighed in defeat. "How shall I call you?"

She glanced at him from beneath her bangs. "Sam."

"You will call me Nat." As if she would talk to him that often. But she had to know the name of the guy she would soon be making fun of in the near future or, if she had more dignity as the most, would avoid like poison.

Sam only nodded and continued eating. They had so much more space than the others. Nat had taken a place as far away from the other pages as possible, and some of them were staring intensely at them.

Nat stared furiously at his plate, eyes narrowed, his jaw clenched. 'No! I won't do it. I won't do that to her. I'm no ones marionette. They wanna to play games? Not with me.' He looked up at Sam, studying her delicate face intently. She intrigued him, he had to admit. She had been acting different to everybody else he met yet. He pushed back the traitorous glimmer of hope rising within him. No. He wouldn't fall for her act, she might be different, but not that much. 'They told me to get rid of the Mindelan boy. And I didn't. And I will do nothing against her as well. I might be a Malven, but I do have my pride, and I will never lower their level… I wonder how they will punish me this time.'

Suddenly Sam raised her eyes abruptly, he nearly jumped in surprise, and their gazes locked. 'She has strange eyes. Intense… What colour is this? Very dark green …' The longer he returned her gaze, the more the more shades of colour he could make out '… moss green eyes... never before… is that golden mixing with the green …' Nat became more and more nervous under her gaze, and shook his head. 'Snap out of it already. Stop contemplating her eyes' colour like some lovesick fool.'

Sam narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then she lowly let her eyes wander around until she stared back at the three boys sneering at them. 'They have such cold eyes. It had to be expected to met some of their kind. They consider me their enemy. What a pity. There are not worthy to be mine. Cowards, needing the protection of their herd to attack someone weaker in the darkness. Maybe I will have to take care of them. Touch those who belong to me, and you'll regret it.'

She turned back at Nat. "What did those guys want to achieve by making you choose me?"

Nat gaped at her, again. He really needed to stop that, letting himself be taken by surprise by her. "How ... ?"

"I saw them pushing you before you chose me. You looked trapped, haunted. And you look beaten up."

Now that was a new one. Firstly he had thought he had no visible bruises, secondly he had never thought anybody would give a damn about it. How did this sneaky little girl … "Nobody has beaten me up. How did you get that idea?"

"The way you move. You are stiff and maybe even hurt. Not bad, I think, but enough to show."

There was no pity in her eyes, only acknowledgement. He really hated being pitied. The only feelings he ever caused were hate and pity. Oh, yeah, disgust, how could he forget about that one? But he didn't see them in Sam's eyes…yet.

"I fell down."

Sam raised her eyebrows an inch in disbelieve, then shrugged and returned to her meal.

'She doesn't even try to make me confess that I didn't fall. Lachran has asked me all day about such things. She knows that I lied and she accepts it... Good, isn't it?' He sighed deeply and finished his meal. 'Let's wait until the others have talked to her. Then things will change, soon.'

After the meal, a great tour around the palace was in order, for the first-years not to lose their way that easily. Cori, Bery and their sponsors went together. Milan was making them laugh with his funny jokes and stories, about anyone and anything in the castle.

Cori really liked the boys. 'We will have so much fun together. Even Bery is in a better mood now. I knew Sam would be successful. She knows people. I wonder what she said to her.' Cori sighed. 'She won't tell me. She never does.'

Suddenly their heard footsteps, approaching fast, then a boy raced around the corner, coming to a halt in front of Lachran and gasped out breathlessly. "Did you see my first- year?"

Lachran blinked in surprise. "You have chosen one of the triplets, Colin, haven't you?"

"Yes. I chose Aidan…Danny. But she … she vanished."

"How can a ten year old girl vanish?"

"I don't know. I turned around and … she was gone. I called her but I didn't get an answer. I even asked our three 'friends' if they have seen her, but they denied."

"Who are these friends?" Bery asked intrigued.

Milan frowned thoughtfully and answered. "Some of the third- year pages. Damian of Windshole, Kajus of Grealok and Ruben of Espial." He looked at her seriously. "Be careful whenever you meet them, especially when you're alone. They don't like you girls."

"They don't even know us." Cori was shocked, but not really surprised.

"That doesn't matter to them. Believe me. Be careful." Lachran's mouth was a grim line.

Suddenly Colin looked behind them and exclaimed. "Here you are!"

He raced quickly to a black haired triplet, who stared at him innocently, and griped its arm. "Do you have the slightest idea how easy you could have gone astray? Why do you think you need sponsors? Not to get lost. Do you have the slightest imagination about the trouble the both of us could have gotten into, because of this stunt of yours?"

Suddenly he heard an angry shout behind him. "Hey, brother! What are you doing with my first-year?" Colins younger brother Quentin joined the group. "I've searched for her for at least an hour. Ria that isn't funny at all…"

"But that is Danny, not Ria… I think. I've just found her…"

Quentin looked confused. "You have lost your triplet, too? But how do you know who of them it is?"

Now Colin looked unsure, and both boys turned their eyes to the triumphantly grinning triplet. "Ok. Who are you, little one?"

"I'm Aaron." Hell, even their voices were identical at this age.

Colin groaned out. "Aaron! Where is your sponsor?"

Suddenly the group heard a torrent of curses and found Robert of Rose Hill, sponsor of Aaron of Crystal Lake, stalking towards them. His head was red of fury. "Oh please let this be the annoying little brat! Aaron, you are sooo ripe for the beating of your life…! Is this my first-year or yours, Colin?"

Colin nodded surprised.

"Don't let him slip away! I will have to talk to that little ..." A number of insults followed.

"Do you know how long I searched for you? Can you imagine what Lord Padraig would have done to me if I had lost you?" Suddenly he stopped. He looked at the two brothers. "Wait a minute. Didn't you sponsor the sisters of this little weasel?"

The boys nodded. "Then, where are they."

Both brothers slumped slightly in defeat. "We lost them."

Robert started to grin and rubbed his hands in contentment. "Veeery well. I'm not the only idiot around here. That makes me feel better, well, a little bit at least."

Quentin looked sourly at the older page and barked angrily. "I'm so glad to help you with catching your triplet, but what about us? We still have to find the girls, damn it!"

"Ok, Ok. You caught mine, I'll help you find yours. Let's go looking for them." He looked at Aaron, eyes narrowed to angry slits and hissed.. "And you will stay with us." Then the four turned around, discussing which direction to turn to and went away.

Cori, Bery and their sponsors watched the retreating group incredulously.

"I think we've chosen the better ones." Milan whispered to Lachran who nodded amazed and agreed.

Sam was waiting for Nat. He had told her that he had something to fetch from his room and that he would return in a minute. That had been half an hour ago. 'Will that guy ever return? I really don't like to wait..' Sam watched her surroundings in annoyance. Ten minutes ago she had seen the sponsors of the triplets together with Aaron running after Danny… or Ria. Sam thought it was Danny, although from that distance it was hard to say. She shook her head and groaned silently. 'He said I have to wait and he seemed serious about it. If he doesn't want me to see his room I have to accept that, but … could he at least hurry up.' She heard a soft noise at the end of the corridor. Her eyes started to search for the source of the noise. Again! Somebody moaned. A movement in a dark corner, and Sam could make out the stiff figure of her sponsor, walking towards her very slowly. "Nat!" Sam was running to him. He looked really bad, his hair rumpled his clothes in complete disorder and his stance slumped and rigid. "Who has beaten you up?"

"I fell down."

Sam frowned. "On both sides of your body? You need a better excuse, you know."

Nat swayed slightly and Sam caught him before he could fall to the floor. "Do you need a healer?" She asked softly.

"No healer. I have my own ... connections. Nobody has to know it." Nat ground out.

Sam looked seriously at him. "If that's what you want, I won't tell anybody."

"Thank you." Nat got lowly back on his feet. "I'll go now."

"Can I help you, somehow?"

"I can do this alone. I'm used to it. Good night." Nat turned around abruptly and went away.

Sam watched him until he vanished from her sight. 'He came here because he knew I was waiting. And he was beaten up by the boys who pressed him to be my sponsor. I'm sure about that.' She turned around and went to her room. 'He doesn't want to talk about it. I have to respect his wishes.'

Someone was knocking on Sam's door.

"Come in, Cori."

Cori entered the room, a puzzled look on her face. "How do you always know it's me?"

"Nobody knocks as friendly as you."

Cori looked confused. "Really? Even when I'm angry?"

"Yes, even then."

Cori shook her head in disbelieve. "Well, I only wanted to ask if you're, well … fine."

Sam smirked. "Nat didn't bite me."

Cori blushed. "I didn't want to … assume things. I only wondered ... I'm sorry."

Sam smiled kindly at her. Of all the people she knew, Cori was one of the few members of her family she really loved. The kind of love she would feel for a sister, if she had one. "Nat is a … nice guy, I think. We will get along fine."

"Lachran is nice, too. I think we were lucky. The boys told me that we might get problems with some of the third- year pages."

Sam looked at her. "If they hurt you they will be the one with problems."

Cori smiled and embraced her cousin and whispered. "Don't get into trouble because of me. You are only ten. They are thirteen. I know what you are able to do, but your life is hard enough without making even more enemies because of little old me."

Sam sighed and returned the embrace carefully. "I think we already are enemies."

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Ok, this is it for the second chapter. So, watcha thinking? Is it too long? I think it's longer than the first one, which one is better?

I'm pretty busy at the moment, and I spent a sleepless night rewriting this. It might take some time for me to update again, because now I need to concentrate on my lectures at University.

Thank you very much for your reviews! I try to give my best to match your expectations.

QueenofConnaught: I'll try to read your fics as soon as possible, my free time is very limited at the moment, and I try to get through with the chapters as fast as possible. I've already peeked your fics and have to say they sound really promising.

Soul Generator: Danke für dein Review, hat mich echt gefreut. Die überarbeiteten Kapitel scheinen ganz gut anzukommen. Ich hab festgestellt das mein beta die alten anscheinend nicht richtig korrigiert hat, ich finde immer mehr Fehler. Diesmal habe ich etwas unter Druck gearbeitet, aber ich hoffe es ist trotzdem gut geworden.