GETTING UNHITCHED
I'd like to state for the record that I do not own a copy
of the books. As such there are bound to be plenty of canonical errors (as well
as all the other regular kind). Feel free to correct, shout or laugh at me.
This is pure fluff, except when its not. Roger doesn't exist in this story.
Hope you enjoy - plotless.
Disclaimer : I do not own any of Tamora Piece's characters or settings. I just
like to sneak into her toy box and play with them once in a while.
Imogenhm, maria, wackywierdo, Lizzy : thanks.
Tenshichild: lets just say Thom is very suspicious and imaginative so I don't even want to think about what he thought the girls were doing in George's room ;-)
LuthienRhiannonCat5: You'll just have to wait and see about the pairing. And it might even be A/somebody besides Jon and George!!
Mango Sam & Caitlyn: yes, the pranks are mostly at an end. There is one prank in this chapter although it doesn't get the intended reaction.
Caitlyn, how did you guess? One of your suggestions are correct but you'll have to wait and see which one.
Chapter eightAlanna and Calisto sat, on a couch in a spare room at the palace, staring up at Thom apprehensively. Thom stopped pacing and turned to them with a sigh.
"You two have acted like immature little brats since you arrived at the palace and I might have let it slide before because it did no harm but this time it was in front of the whole palace including the King and Queen. You ruined a perfectly good ball for nothing," Thom said stonily. "I'm not trying to spoil your fun or be a party pooper. I enjoy a good prank myself once in a while but sometimes I wonder if you ever think about the repercussions of your actions. Calisto, you knew that your gift wasn't working properly, what if instead of making a green fire you made a real one? People could have been hurt. Besides all that the two of you made fools of yourselves."
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't changed our dresses and blocked my gift," Calisto blurted before Alanna could stop her.
"So, your totally irresponsible and childish actions are my fault, are they?" Thom was furious.
"Ye- " Alanna placed her hand over Calisto's mouth before she could continue.
"This is the fault of all of us," Alanna said. "Your fault Thom for changing our outfits, your fault Calisto for letting it get to you and accepting the Lords offer to dance so you could annoy Thom and my fault for putting the idea to set fire to hall into your head."
Thom opened his mouth then closed it and stormed out of the room. When he was gone Alanna removed her hand from Calisto's mouth. They sat in silence until finally Calisto got up and held her hand out to help Alanna out of her chair.
"Well at least we got rid of the Lords. They were the only ones dumb enough to fall for the fire," Calisto said grinning. Alanna laughed weakly and they made their way back to their rooms tiredly.
***
Alanna yawned and turned over. She wondered what time it was. She should probably get up, as she hadn't trained for days. She stretched, yawned again and pushed the covers of her but made no effort to get up. She was just being lazy. Alanna groaned and got out of bed but didn't start training. Instead she walked over to her trunk and drew out a pair of knitting needles and the wool she had started using yesterday. She had decided to apologise to Thom by making him a jersey. Unfortunately on her first attempt she had gotten herself tangled in the wool and her second attempt had looked somewhat like a tea cosy that had been run over by a carriage…several times. She had resorted to using her gift after a little encouragement from Calisto who showed her the right spell. She set the needles to work using the incantation Calisto had taught her. She stood and watched the needles moving as if by ghost hands for a moment, the jersey was almost done, and then began to train. After a few minutes the needles stopped their work and Alanna went over to check the overall result. She looked at it with approval. It was beautiful. She hadn't known she was so good. She went back to training but was interrupted almost immediately by Calisto who came barging into the room. She walked straight over to her jersey and began to inspect it thoroughly.
"What are you doing?" Alanna asked.
"Well, your Gift isn't as good as mine and I was just checking to see if you'd done the spell right," Calisto said haughtily.
"Have you been spending time with Delia because you sound amazingly like her right now?" Alanna raised an eyebrow.
"Really?" Calisto asked eyes widening with happiness.
"Yes?" Alanna said uncertainly.
"Great!" Calisto enthused.
"Um…why is it great that you sound like Delia?" Alanna knew Calisto was a little insane but she hadn't known it was this bad.
"Think how much fun it would be to kidnap her and take her place," Calisto beamed, "We could make her do really weird things. Like eat nothing but carrots and dress only in yellow. Everyone will think she's gone crazy. Well, crazier anyway."
"No Calisto," Alanna said slowly, "We aren't going to kidnap anyone. Thom was right we have to grow up. A prank once in a while doesn't hurt anyone but a prank every day gets boring."
Calisto stared at Alanna. She opened her mouth as if to say something but nothing came out. Alanna walked over to her friend and took the jersey out of her hand.
"Thank you for checking to see that the stitches were all done right. Now I'm going to go give this to Thom. You can either choose to come along or stand there and continue to gape like an idiot," Alanna walked out the door.
After a few moments Calisto appeared at her side but she remained silent. They reached Thom's room and Alanna put her hand on the doorknob before screaming, "You better be decent and if you aren't hide under the covers or something. I'm coming inside!"
Alanna and Calisto burst into the room. Thom was standing in the middle of the room in only a pair of pants, he stared at them shocked. Calisto coughed. Alanna looked over at her and rolled her eyes, Calisto was looking at the floor and blushing. Thom pulled on a shirt and looked at them angrily.
"Yes?" he asked.
Alanna stepped forward and looked at her brother solemnly, "I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about last night and to give you this," she held out the jersey for him.
Thom smiled took the jersey from her and enveloped her in a hug, "Thanks," he said drawing away. He put the jersey on turned to look at himself in the mirror.
"It's wonderful," Thom looked really touched. "Lets go down to breakfast," he suggested.
Alanna knew that this was a peace offering and she nodded happily, glad that they were on speaking terms again. Just as they reached the door Thom made a strange noise. Alanna turned towards him curiously. The jersey, which had fit his frame perfectly, began to shrink. His hands tugged at the hem as he struggled to remove it. As the jersey became tighter Thom began to panic. He fell to the floor still struggling valiantly to get the jersey of. It was then that Calisto intervened, waving her hands and causing the jersey to disappear. Thom's expression changed to one of fury and he just stood where he was, glaring, obviously expecting an explanation.
Alanna instantly realised that the spell Calisto had given her to create the jersey must have had a shrinking element hidden in it.
She turned to Calisto furious, "After everything I told you!" she shook her head and stormed out the door.
***
Calisto walked over to the bed and sat down, burying her head in her hands. After awhile she sighed and looked up at Thom. He looked as if he was going to start another one of his lectures and Calisto quickly interrupted him.
"Please don't be mad at me again, Thom. It's bad enough Alanna is," she looked at him with huge puppy-dog eyes.
"How can I be angry at you when you're looking at me like that? I can't resist those eyes," Thom grinned. (A/N Is he flirting?! :P)
Calisto looked down at the ground, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Actually I've been thinking about you a lot lately," Thom went on, Calisto raised her head to look up at him expectantly.
"It's weird, at first you annoyed me but I now that I've gotten to know you…"
"Yes?" Calisto asked expectantly a smile on her face.
"You feel just like another sister to me," Thom was pacing the room while he said this so he didn't notice the murderous glare Calisto gave him. She quickly rearranged her features to that of curiosity when he turned back to her. "You're not like any of the other Ladies, you're actually quite fun to be around."
"I feel the same way, Thom," Calisto said then she added slyly, "You're just like a sister to me too!"
***
Alanna finished another series of complicated kicks and punches and sat on her bed. She wished that she hadn't screamed at Calisto. She had been upset because of the prank but they had just gotten back onto friendly terms and she hoped that she hadn't ruined that. She flopped back exhausted. Maybe she'd had enough practice for one day. She closed her eyes and was nearing sleep when she heard a knock on her door. Her eyes opened wide and she shot out of bed. There was a servant at the door and she looked at him curiously. He bowed and handed her two letters. Alanna smiled happily. One was from her father who she hadn't heard from since she moved to the Palace and she couldn't recognise who the other was from.
She opened the letter that wasn't from her father first.
Alanna
How are you? Adjusting to Palace life. Hope you have continued with your training. I'll be at the Palace soon to check up on you so you'd better be prepared.
Yours
An old friend
Alanna smiled recognising the handwriting; glad that she would soon be seeing a familiar face. She always enjoyed visits from the Shang warrior who had trained her although she had no doubt that there were other, more important reasons for his trip to Tortall besides wanting to see her. She put the letter from Calan aside and reached for the one from her father.
My Dearest Daughter
I apologise for not having written sooner. I hope that this letter finds you well and that you have enjoyed your stay at the palace so far. I have no doubt that you have been behaving with decorum as befits a young lady of your position in society and that you have brought honour to our family name. I have some news that I hope you will accept gracefully. In my dealings with our neighbour, the young Lord Helmsbury, I have come to realise that he is a man of honour and integrity with a family as well established as ours. He is also seeking a bride and since I have had no word from your brother of any forthcoming suitors at the palace I decided to offer him your hand in marriage. He has accepted my offer to have you as his fiancé and will be arriving at the palace soon to meet you. This engagement will only strengthen the relationship between our too lands and will do much to bring harmony to our peoples.
Sincerely
Your father
Alanna read and reread the letter, her eyes boring holes into it willing the words to disappear. Her happiness at finally getting something from her father had evaporated. She stared at the word fianc. She was betrothed! But how? Why? Didn't she even get a choice? She remembered seeing Tristan at the ball but had never imagined that this might be the reason he was visiting the palace. Although Tristan of Helmsbury had lived so close she had never spent much time with him when she was growing up, as he was a few years older than her. She didn't even know him.
Alanna got of the bed, changed quickly and ran out the room. She had to find Calisto. There must be something she could do about this situation but she was too upset to think clearly. She was positive that once she told Calisto, her friend would come up with a plan. The first place she checked was the library but that was empty. She decided to search likely places where Calisto would be. The kitchen, her next choice, was brimming with people but they were all cooks. The grounds were empty but for a few squires who were practicing. She even snuck into the medical storerooms because she knew Calisto sometimes 'borrowed' stuff from there to practice her magic, but Alanna couldn't find her anywhere. She thought of doing a locator spell but it would take too much of an effort. If Calisto didn't want to be found that was fine. She was probably with Thom again Alanna though angrily. She began to walk back to her room dejectedly. Halfway there she turned around, she wasn't going to sit on her bed crying and wallowing in her own self-pity like some Lady. She began to walk not knowing or caring where she was going as long as she didn't have to think. If she didn't think about getting married she didn't have to accept the fact that she was getting married. Alanna stopped and looked up. Why did she always seem to end up here? She pushed open the door and stepped into the Dancing Dove like she had so many other times. But this time she didn't head immediately towards George. She ordered the strongest ale available. Just as she was about to take a sip George interrupted her, "You really shouldn't drink that," he said taking the glass out of her hands.
Alanna didn't notice at all just sat there looking at nothing. George looked at her face and frowned.
"What's wrong?" he asked concernedly.
Alanna said nothing she didn't even acknowledge that he said something. George waved his hand in front of her face. She didn't move. It was as if he wasn't there. He called her name and shook her slightly. Still nothing. He got up and did a little jig in front of her. She didn't laugh or even glance at him. He was considering getting on the table and singing her a song when he saw the piece of paper clasped tightly in her hand. He eased it out and read it eyes growing wide.
"You're getting married!"
***
{A/N There's a change atmosphere from this chapter on, an actual plot appears (at least I hope it does).
Things are getting more serious. I thought that Alanna and Calisto had to at least be made to think about the consequences of their pranks. Its all fun and games until you accidentally make someone inflate and bounce around the room…actually that would be fun too…argh! You know what I mean!!
Next chapter: How is George going to react to Alanna's news? Will he freak out, or maybe he won't care at all…
We meet Alanna's intended, Tristan, who we have seen fleetingly in the last chapter. Thom talks about his feelings for Calisto!}