Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, places etc. They all belong to Tamora Pierce. I own the plot though! Anything you might find familiar is probably a quote from TP's books. Hang on, I own: Ked, Salin, Jamil and Ked's Warrior Lord, Lord Parrton.

A/N: Right. This is a corrected version of the chapter. I've been going through correcting the chapters, so if you find any mistakes, let me know! I've tried to sort out everything, but I'm no where near perfect so I'm sure you'll be able to find some mistakes. I've completely changed Kel's reactions because everyone was saying that she was completely OCC, and quite frankly, I agreed. On with the story…

Chapter Eight: Family

Kel sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her hazel eyes.  It was starting to become obvious that midwinter was approaching, the room was chilly. Kel started to stand up, yelped and leapt back onto the bed as quick as possible; the stone floor was freezing! Steeling herself, she ran nimbly across the cold floor and over to the hearth. She quickly lit the fire, and pulled on her clothes. Then she took down her practise glaive from the rack and gave it a swing. Satisfied that it was in working order, she moved the chairs and the desk to the corner of the room, leaving a large empty space of floor. Kel readjusted her grip on the glaive so that she was holding it tight enough to keep it in her hands, but loose enough to allow her to swing it easily. Then she stepped into the middle of her room.

Kel launched herself into the most common practise dance, completing it with ease that came with many years work. Her glaive spun so fast it was a blur, but one that Kel was completely in control of. She finished only inches away from the wall, and was about to launch into another dance when a voice startled her.

"If I'd ever thought about attacking you, I'd think again," the voice remarked without its usual dryness.

Kel turned around, a grin on her face. "Neal, it's nice to see you." She saw his face, and took a step back. "What's the matter?"

His face was white, and his emerald eyes shone with something that looked out of place on him, worry. "They just read the order for the Chamber," he said, his voice trembling. "It's my turn in three nights."

Kel looked at him sympathetically. She knew the Chamber was bad, that it found your flaws and ripped them open, but that was all she knew. No one could talk of it, no one would talk of it. The Tribulation was a different matter, you could talk about that, but people rarely did. It was bad; you could see your future in it, what was coming up. Some said you could feel yourself dying. She didn't know what to say to Neal. "You'll be fine," she murmured quietly. "Now, forget about it for the moment, and come to breakfast with me."

Neal nodded, and followed Kel out of her room.

They met Dom in the mess hall, and he clapped Neal on the back. He'd heard the news too. "Just try not to scare the Chamber too much Meathead." Dom piled food onto his plate, and started to eat.

Neal managed a grin, and followed suite.

There was a tap on her shoulder, and Kel turned around. Standing behind her was the giant redhead.

"So, how's the King's saviour today?" he asked a wide grin on his face as he sat down.

Kel rolled her eyes. "Kel is fine today thanks."

Cleon sat down opposite her. "So what did the King want yesterday?" he asked curiously.

"He tried to reward her," a quiet voice informed him from the other side of Kel. Kel turned to see Roald.

"Hey Roald. How are you?" Kel asked.

"I'm fine thanks. How are you? Shouldn't you still be in bed?" Roald asked suspiciously.

Kel glanced over to where Neal was. "Probably, but don't say it too loud, or Neal'll make me go back to bed and I don't want to."

Roald smothered a grin, and Neal looked at them in askance. "You don't want to know," Roald told him.

Neal sighed, and turned back to his conversation with Merric.

"So Kel, what did the King offer you?" Cleon asked.

"Em…land, money, a title, an honoury knighthood, and land and money for my family," Kel said.

Cleon whistled under his breath. "He really does like you, doesn't he?"

"Well she did save my life, and the life of my mother and father, didn't she?" Roald said. "But father said you weren't going to accept it."

Kel nodded. "I don't need to be rewarded, but I told him to ask my family what they need."

"That's nice," Cleon observed.

"They need it," Kel said bluntly. "Mindelan needs repairs, and badly. At least, it did when I was last there, but that was seven, maybe eight years ago. You'd probably know better Cleon. What was it like when you last went?"

"The roads have been repaired, but there's still a lot of work that needs doing," Cleon replied honestly.

"And – my parents, how are they?" Kel asked hesitantly.

"The last time I saw them they were fine Kel," Cleon reassured her.

Kel half smiled. "Good. I'm glad." Then her eyes widened. "I forgot! It's today!"

"Em…yes Kel, it is today, it isn't yesterday, or tomorrow," Neal said with a bemused expression on his face.

"No, I meant it's today my family arrive!" Kel said happily. "They're coming to see me."

"Who's coming?" Cleon asked. As Inness' ex-Squire, he knew Kel's family well.

"Em…I don't know," Kel realised. "Mama and Papa obviously, Anders might come, I don't know. I don't think Adalia will come, when she last wrote, she said that she was getting married to some person from Nond."

Cleon nodded. "Yeah, she got married to second son, Francis or something like that."

Dom stood up, and gave his tray to the kitchen staff. On his way out of the room, he placed a hand on Kel's shoulder.

"I'll meet you at noon for some practise at the Own's yards," he said quietly, his voice deliberately pitched low so that Neal shouldn't hear.

"Sure, I'll see you there," Kel said as he walked away.

Neal cleared his throat. "What did I just hear about you practising?" It seemed that Dom hadn't spoken quiet enough.

"I'm meeting Dom to practise," Kel said.

"You shouldn't be practising. I shouldn't have let you get up in the first place," Neal said sharply.

"You didn't object to me practising this morning!" Kel retorted.

"I wasn't in any mood to object!" Neal growled. "You will not practise."

Kel just stared at him.

"Okay," he gave in. "You can practise, just don't over do it so I have to heal you again!"

"I promise," Kel said and got up to give her tray to the kitchen staff.

"What are you doing now?" Neal asked, getting up with her.

"Don't know," Kel said. "My Warrior Lord said he wanted to see me at the eleventh bell of the morning. So I've got three hours to spare."

"You can come with me then. I've got to look after Owen's horse for him. He's ill, so said I'd do it until he was better."

"Sure," Kel agreed.

- - -

They were brushing down Owen's horse when there was the sound of chatter, and the stable doors burst open and the pages tumbled into the stables, sedately followed by Wyldon.

"Queenscove, what are you doing in here?" he demanded.

"I'm grooming Owen's horse for him, my Lord, just until he's feeling well again," Neal replied.

Kel stood up from the other side of the horse.

"Ah, Mindelan," Wyldon said uncomfortably.

Kel winced. There was no hiding from anyone who she was now. Everyone knew exactly who she was since she saved Jon's life. "Yes, my Lord?" she asked.

"Can I have a word with you in a minute?" he asked slowly.

"Of course, my Lord," Kel replied politely, slightly confused.

Wyldon nodded to her, and then turned to the pages that had been standing staring at Tortall's new hero. "Get a move on! There'll be plenty chances to gawk at Lady Kel in the future."

Neal grinned at her. "He's calling you Kel now."

Kel swatted him. "Probably because the King insisted that he treats me with respect now." She followed Wyldon out of the stable and stood watching as he instructed the pages in staff combat.

He strode up and down the lines of the pages, correcting faults and occasionally praising them.

Kel saw a boy who was holding his staff wrong. She vaulted over the fence and approached him.

"What's your name?" she asked.

The page looked startled that she was talking to him. "W-Warric, my Lady. Warric of Mandash."

"I'm Kel," she said. It was probably unnecessary to introduce herself, no doubt he knew exactly who she was. "Now, you're doing that wrong, you're hands aren't in the right place."

"Well where do they go?" he asked, regarding his hands with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Here." Kel repositioned his hands on his staff. "Right, run through the drill again, keeping your hands in the right place."

Warric started to swing his staff quickly.

"Stop!" Kel yelled. "Your hands are in the wrong place again. Pass your staff." She took out her belt knife, and roughened up the wood where Warric's hands should stay. "Keep your hands there, and do the exercises slowly until your hands stay on the rough part for the whole exercise, only then can you speed it up."

Warric nodded, and started the exercise slowly.

"You teach well Keladry," a voice said from behind her.

Kel turned around and saw Lord Wyldon. "Thank-you, my Lord."

"I just wanted to apologise for not allowing you to continue your page training." He sounded oddly humble and it wasn't a tone that suited him.

"It's okay, my Lord. I enjoy what I do now," Kel said honestly.

Wyldon nodded, "And congratulations on your actions at the ball."

"Thank-you, my Lord." A bell tolled in the castle, and Kel looked towards the sun. "I need to leave now, my Lord. My Warrior Lord wishes to see me now."

"Okay, and…well done Keladry," Lord Wyldon said awkwardly.

- - -

Kel sat in a chair opposite Jamil.

"Are you sure you're feeling fine?" Jamil asked doubtfully.

Kel nodded. "Yes, my Warrior Lord. I'm fine."

Jamil sighed. He obviously didn't believe her, but knew he'd be here all day trying to get her to admit to being unwell. "Very well," he said. "What did you say to the King? Have you chosen the honoury knighthood?"

Kel shook her head. "No, my Warrior Lord. My loyalty is to the Yamani Islands, I couldn't possibly be a knight and a Yamani Warrior."

Jamil allowed a grin to slip through his mask. "Well done Kel. I know that must have been a hard decision to make."

"It was, but I'm happy with my decision." Her voice was the same as always, a quiet tone with the usual Yamani evenness.

"Good. Now, we need to decide when we're going back to Yaman. Your Tribulation isn't for another six months so we don't need to go back quite yet, but we need to decide when we will go back," Jamil explained. "Because we will need to find someone else to guard the Princess whilst we are gone."

"Well," Kel said. "My family are coming to stay at the palace for a while, and I would like to see them because I haven't seen my parents in ages."

"Will your parents be coming to see your Tribulation?" Jamil asked.

"I hope so, my Warrior Lord," Kel replied.

"Then we can all go to the Islands together. That way you will see more of them."

"Thank-you, my Warrior Lord."

"You may go know Kel. I think your friend is waiting for you." He looked out the window to where Dom was standing at the fence to the practise yard.

Kel bowed, and left the room.

- - -

"I win!" Kel said, victorious for the second time.

Dom grinned at her, and lowered his sword. "I'm going to have to challenge you to something that you can't do!"

Kel shrugged. "If you want to."

"Kel!" a familiar voice yelled.

Kel spun around to see Anders limping towards her. "Anders!" she cried and ran over to him. He hugged her, and stood away from her.

"You've grown," he said at last.

"I know." Kel grinned widely.

"And who is this person that you've been torturing?" Anders asked as he spotted Dom and his sword.

Kel beckoned to Dom, and said to Anders, "This is Domitan of Masbolle, sergeant of the Third Company of the King's Own Guard." Then she turned to Dom. "This is my brother Anders."

"Pleasure to meet you," Anders said as he shook Dom's hand.

"And to meet you," Dom replied.

"Where are mama and papa?" Kel asked eagerly.

"They're coming; they came by carriage though, so they were slightly slower," Anders explained.

Kel grinned. "Come on, let's go meet them." She walked off, with Anders trailing behind. Suddenly she stopped and turned back to Dom. "Aren't you coming?"

"I…" he started to say.

Kel sighed, and ran over to him. Taking him by the hand she tugged him with her. "Honestly Dom, we'll be late to meet them if you take much longer!"

"But are you sure you want me to come with you? Don't you want to meet them on your own?" Dom asked worriedly.

"No," Kel said simply. "I haven't seen them in ages, I feel like I hardly know them anymore. Come on!"

- - -

They stood in the courtyard waiting for the Baron and his wife to arrive.

"So how are you Kel?" Anders asked.

"Do I have to assure everyone I'm okay?" Kel asked exasperatedly. "I'm fine."

There was the rattling of carriage wheels, and a carriage entered the courtyard. The driver got down and opened the door and Kel's mother climbed out gracefully.

"Hello Kel," Ilane of Mindelan said quietly.

"Hello mama," Kel replied as she bowed Yamani style to her mother and then to her father as he climbed out of the carriage. "Papa."

"You're a proper Yamani woman now, aren't you?" her father commented.

Kel shook her head. "No papa, I'm a Yamani Warrior."

Her father grinned. "True. And who's this?" He gestured to Dom.

"This is Dom, one of my friends. He's Sergeant of the Third Company of the King's Own."

Dom bowed to Piers, and then to Ilane. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

Piers nodded. "And you. It's nice to meet some of Kel's friends."

"You remember Neal mama?" Kel asked. When her mother nodded, she continued, "Well this is his cousin."

Ilane smiled. "And how is Cleon?"

"Fine mama," Kel replied. "Shall we go inside?"

- - -

"Your family are nice," Dom commented as they waited inside the chapel waiting for Neal to exit the Chamber of Ordeal.

"I know," Kel replied quietly. "I just wish I could see more of them." She turned so she could see the door to the Chamber. "Do you think he'll be okay?"

"I think so," Dom said. "He's tough, he'll survive."

Kel glanced over to where Duke Baird sat, his face taut. By his side sat Yuki, Kel's Yamani friend, and Neal's current love.

"He'll be fine," Kel repeated over and over. She couldn't bear the thought of losing another friend. Losing Ked, Salin, and Jhedy was bad enough.

The door to the Chamber creaked open, and Kel tensed. Dom looked at her and saw her worry; he placed an arm around her shoulder and held her tightly.

Neal stumbled out of the Chamber, in a bad state, but alive.

"See," Dom said gently. "He's fine." He took Kel's hand, and they went to help Duke Baird carry Neal to his rooms.