A/N

None of these characters belong to me.
Some may, characters that I make,
But most of them belong to Tamora Pierce.
I owe all credit to her, and all the great authors who inspired me to write.

The First Snow
Chapter I - First Snow

Keladry of Mindelan, often referred as Kel by her friends, scuffled across the courtyards, her brown boots hardly making a noise in the soft december day. All was silent except for a few sparrows twittering by her side, and a dog that seemed to have had some rough days. Kel stopped going in the middle of the courtyard, stopped, and looked up, her arms spread wide. She sighed.

"Do you have anything against the sky?" drawled a familiar voice in Kel's ear. She turned to find Nealan of Queenscove, her best friend, called Neal, more often called Meathead.

"Did you have any problems looking for ladies to flirt with today?" She scowled back, her lightly freckled nose wrinkling at him. He was disgustingly cheerful, with holly leaves woven in his brown hair. he looks cute today.. No, what am I thinking? Kel thought, as she glared at the 5-year older knight. She had Dom.

Dom.

NOW the story went along differently. She sighed as she thought of Dom, devilishly handsome. But Dom didn't seem to matter much to her today. She looked at Neal and wondered about how darn cute he was today. Kel shook her head. Why did she keep thinking of these things?

She didn't even realize that Neal had been whispering Dom's name again and again to her while she absentmindedly daydreamed. Scowling, she cuffed him across his holly-decorated head and stomped inside the castle, while Neal followed, whimpering.

:..+..:..+..:..+..:..+..:..+..:..+..:

Kel went to her rooms and took off her heavy clothing. She jumped up and down a few times to regain her body heat only in her shirt, tunic, and breeches. She shuddered and looked in her closet.

Picking through her dresses, shirts, and other clothing, she found just the item she had been looking for the Midwinter Ball. She drew a pale green chiffon dress out, with a full, blossoming skirt. There was one problem with this splended dress.

The neckline was way too low for her enjoyment.

She looked miserably at the clock. There was half an hour before she had to go down to the Midwinter Ball. She sighed and began to dress.

Domitan of Masbolle, sergeant of the King's Own, grinned as he saw the faint mist ahead that indicated Corus, capitol of Tortall. He came just in time for the largest ball of Midwinter. He wondered how Kel was. It was over an year since he had received contact from Kel.... Kel. HIS Kel.

"Thinking about Kel, Seargeant?" Raoul of Goldenlake, Kel's former knight-master and Commander of the King's Own, asked, his black eyes twinkling with amusement.

Dom sighed. "No, Sir. I was thinking about how good it would be to have a nice warm bed for once."
Grinning at himself, he urged his horse onward, eager to reach Corus before Nightfall.

Kel was huffing by the time she finished getting into the dress. At least she looked nice. She looked herself in the mirror and dusted her dress. Kel ran a brush through her hair and lightly put cosmetics on. A knock came from her door, surprising her so much that her hairpins dropped out of her mouth. She hurried to the door and opened it.

"Hi," Neal said as she invited him inside and closed the door.
"Where's Yuki? I thought you were going to escort her to the ball."
"She's down already."
"Oh."

An awkward silence followed, until Neal cleared his throat.

"I thought you might want to check on me before you let me down to the ball." he said, grinning.

Kel swept up to him and rearranged his brown curls into a better shape. She smells nice. Neal thought as her fingers traveled around his head. what am I thinking? No, I possibly couldn't.. Neal tried to laugh himself off. What was he thinking of? Kel was his best friend. Best friends didn't have thoughts like this.

Kel gave him a light hug, being finished with his hair. She tapped her best friend's nose as he blushed. Blushed? Another awkward silence followed as Neal tried to get over his dizziness and Kel was trying to find out what to do. Somebody knocked on Kel's door again, and sounded as if in a great hurry. Glad to have something to do, Kel again went to the door and opened it.

"Hello", Dom said.

A/N

I know! I know I suck at stories, this is my first-ever fanfic that I ever wrote. You don't have to rub it in. Reviews please, even criticisms! Hopefully, the next chapter will get better..."Hopefully."