1Disclaimer: sorry, not mine.
A/N: sorry for the slow update!!!!!! there's really no excuse for why it took this long other than that I'm lazy. But thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers who put up with me being so slow. I really appreciate all of your comments and compliments. School's starting for me pretty soon (August 10th actually) so I don't know how long it will be till my next update. It'll probably be awhile because school will be really hectic at the beginning. But I'll try to hurry, I promise.
Chapter Eleven: Practices and Departures
Kel entered the practice court the next morning only to find that the princess, Yuki, and the queen were already there, Yuki and the princess assisting the queen with her glaive. She approached slowly, not wanting to interrupt them.
Yuki saw her approach and called in Yamani, "Kel! Finally! We were beginning to wonder if you had been abducted by raiders!"
Kel responded, also in Yamani, "I almost was, but I managed to escape Neal's philosophical babble in amazing time."
Yuki laughed and then turned to the princess, whom Kel was sure she recognized, and said, "Princess Shinkokami, may I present Lady Keladry of Mindelan? She just arrived from the convent and will be accompanying us on our travels."
"Thank you, Yuki," the princess said, "but I believe I already know Kel. Don't you remember? We used to play together in the Isles."
Enlightenment hit Kel. "Shinko!" she bowed before continuing, "I knew I recognized you! Since when are you the Yamani princess?"
"The second princess, actually. The emperor didn't deem a Tortallan alliance significant enough to send the first princess overseas."
Kel nodded at her words, but knew that even a second- rank princess was important enough to secure their alliance for years to come.
The princess continued, "How is your family, Kel? I haven't seen them in years."
"Neither have I," Kel replied, "I received a letter from Mama a few weeks ago saying that they would like to come to court to meet you and your delegation, if you would allow it."
"Of course!" Shinko exclaimed, "I would love to see Baroness Ilane again. Maybe if she comes then we'll have enough people to play a game with our fans."
"I will write to her and tell her of your response. Perhaps they can be here before we set out in two weeks."
Queen Thayet, who had been quietly waiting while the Yamani girls and Kel were reunited, cleared her throat softly. Shinko gasped when she realized that the Tortallan queen had been left out of their conversation, which had been conducted entirely in Yamani. "Your Majesty, I am terribly sorry. We got caught up in our conversation and didn't realize that you were standing there." she explained.
"It's perfectly alright," the queen replied, "I enjoy hearing the Yamani language. Perhaps someday I will learn and be able to converse with you."
"We would be glad to teach you," Yuki said, "in fact, we will start right now." She picked up her glaive from where it was resting against the fence. "In Yamani, the glaive is called the naginata. Our fans are called shukusens. They are used not only as decorations for our kimonos, but also as deadly weapons." To demonstrate her point, she found a wooden staff and, flicking her fan open, slashed it across the staff, cutting it into several different pieces.
Queen Thayet looked in awe at the pieces scattered on the ground and then declared, "I think I will stick with the glaive for now. Of course, I'm not very good with it, but practice makes perfect!"
With that, the ladies took their places to practice, Kel with Yuki and Shinko with Thayet. They moved apart a bit so that each couple would have room to practice without endangering the others.
Once they had warmed up, Kel asked Yuki as they continued sparring , "How is the princess? Does she like it here?"
"She is well. And she absolutely loves it here. With all the trouble in the Isles, she's very happy to be away."
"Trouble? What trouble? We've had no news of problems here."
"The emperor's trying to keep it quiet, as he doesn't want to disgrace himself."
"Yes, as I remember, the emperor never was one to display anything causing his embarrassment." She thought back to all of the people she had seen publically executed for even the slightest action against the emperor.
"Well, the emperor received false information about Shinko's family. He now believes them to have been planning a coup. He gave her the choice of public disgrace or permanent exile here. Obviously, she chose to come here."
"So is this whole engagement to Roald just a cover for her exile?"
"Oh no. The engagement is part of her exile. It makes her leaving look more logically and realistic to the Yamani court. And the emperor does want an alliance with Tortall. The Copper Isles are threatening attack since the emperor chose another over their princess to marry his son."
"No wonder the emperor wants to keep all this quiet. If anyone else found out he would be humiliated."
Yuki nodded and continued her attack. Kel defended, though unsuccessfully. In the end, Yuki had her glaive blade held lightly at the base of Kel's neck.
"Looks like you're a bit out of practice, Kel." Yuki commented, removing her glaive and resting it by her feet.
"It's been a long time since I've had a decent sparring match."
They waited patiently until Shinko and Thayet were finished with their match. Kel noticed that Thayet was actually quite good with her glaive. They would have to make their practice session a daily event. After arranging to meet daily at the same time, the group parted and went their separate ways; Thayet to meet with petitioners, Yuki and Shinko to meet with their delegation, and Kel to begin packing for their travels and to write a letter to her mother.
Again, sorry for updating so slow. But, hey, at least I updated. Review and let me know what you think!!!
Betsy
A/N: sorry for the slow update!!!!!! there's really no excuse for why it took this long other than that I'm lazy. But thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers who put up with me being so slow. I really appreciate all of your comments and compliments. School's starting for me pretty soon (August 10th actually) so I don't know how long it will be till my next update. It'll probably be awhile because school will be really hectic at the beginning. But I'll try to hurry, I promise.
Chapter Eleven: Practices and Departures
Kel entered the practice court the next morning only to find that the princess, Yuki, and the queen were already there, Yuki and the princess assisting the queen with her glaive. She approached slowly, not wanting to interrupt them.
Yuki saw her approach and called in Yamani, "Kel! Finally! We were beginning to wonder if you had been abducted by raiders!"
Kel responded, also in Yamani, "I almost was, but I managed to escape Neal's philosophical babble in amazing time."
Yuki laughed and then turned to the princess, whom Kel was sure she recognized, and said, "Princess Shinkokami, may I present Lady Keladry of Mindelan? She just arrived from the convent and will be accompanying us on our travels."
"Thank you, Yuki," the princess said, "but I believe I already know Kel. Don't you remember? We used to play together in the Isles."
Enlightenment hit Kel. "Shinko!" she bowed before continuing, "I knew I recognized you! Since when are you the Yamani princess?"
"The second princess, actually. The emperor didn't deem a Tortallan alliance significant enough to send the first princess overseas."
Kel nodded at her words, but knew that even a second- rank princess was important enough to secure their alliance for years to come.
The princess continued, "How is your family, Kel? I haven't seen them in years."
"Neither have I," Kel replied, "I received a letter from Mama a few weeks ago saying that they would like to come to court to meet you and your delegation, if you would allow it."
"Of course!" Shinko exclaimed, "I would love to see Baroness Ilane again. Maybe if she comes then we'll have enough people to play a game with our fans."
"I will write to her and tell her of your response. Perhaps they can be here before we set out in two weeks."
Queen Thayet, who had been quietly waiting while the Yamani girls and Kel were reunited, cleared her throat softly. Shinko gasped when she realized that the Tortallan queen had been left out of their conversation, which had been conducted entirely in Yamani. "Your Majesty, I am terribly sorry. We got caught up in our conversation and didn't realize that you were standing there." she explained.
"It's perfectly alright," the queen replied, "I enjoy hearing the Yamani language. Perhaps someday I will learn and be able to converse with you."
"We would be glad to teach you," Yuki said, "in fact, we will start right now." She picked up her glaive from where it was resting against the fence. "In Yamani, the glaive is called the naginata. Our fans are called shukusens. They are used not only as decorations for our kimonos, but also as deadly weapons." To demonstrate her point, she found a wooden staff and, flicking her fan open, slashed it across the staff, cutting it into several different pieces.
Queen Thayet looked in awe at the pieces scattered on the ground and then declared, "I think I will stick with the glaive for now. Of course, I'm not very good with it, but practice makes perfect!"
With that, the ladies took their places to practice, Kel with Yuki and Shinko with Thayet. They moved apart a bit so that each couple would have room to practice without endangering the others.
Once they had warmed up, Kel asked Yuki as they continued sparring , "How is the princess? Does she like it here?"
"She is well. And she absolutely loves it here. With all the trouble in the Isles, she's very happy to be away."
"Trouble? What trouble? We've had no news of problems here."
"The emperor's trying to keep it quiet, as he doesn't want to disgrace himself."
"Yes, as I remember, the emperor never was one to display anything causing his embarrassment." She thought back to all of the people she had seen publically executed for even the slightest action against the emperor.
"Well, the emperor received false information about Shinko's family. He now believes them to have been planning a coup. He gave her the choice of public disgrace or permanent exile here. Obviously, she chose to come here."
"So is this whole engagement to Roald just a cover for her exile?"
"Oh no. The engagement is part of her exile. It makes her leaving look more logically and realistic to the Yamani court. And the emperor does want an alliance with Tortall. The Copper Isles are threatening attack since the emperor chose another over their princess to marry his son."
"No wonder the emperor wants to keep all this quiet. If anyone else found out he would be humiliated."
Yuki nodded and continued her attack. Kel defended, though unsuccessfully. In the end, Yuki had her glaive blade held lightly at the base of Kel's neck.
"Looks like you're a bit out of practice, Kel." Yuki commented, removing her glaive and resting it by her feet.
"It's been a long time since I've had a decent sparring match."
They waited patiently until Shinko and Thayet were finished with their match. Kel noticed that Thayet was actually quite good with her glaive. They would have to make their practice session a daily event. After arranging to meet daily at the same time, the group parted and went their separate ways; Thayet to meet with petitioners, Yuki and Shinko to meet with their delegation, and Kel to begin packing for their travels and to write a letter to her mother.
Again, sorry for updating so slow. But, hey, at least I updated. Review and let me know what you think!!!
Betsy