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 Ten: Pirate's Swoop

Thom of Pirate's Swoop sighed and looked at his mage's robes in disgust. They never seemed to be clean, dirt just seemed to be attracted to them. It was really quite a pain, how was he meant to look like a grand and imposing mage if he had dirty robes on?

But, he thought to himself, it was his fault they were dirty this time. He hadn't meant to leave them in the stables, he had just forgotten that they were there. He had come up with an interesting new theory concerning the metal machines and he had needed to write it down before he forgot.

Thom looked at himself in the mirror and sighed again.

"I'll never get any magic done if I'm this tired!" he complained.

"Well you know the answer to that, don't you?" a wry voice commented from the doorway.

Thom turned around to see Sir Nealan of Queenscove, his mother's ex-squire. Only the Goddess knew what he was doing back here. Thom considered himself one of the lucky ones. He had hardly seen Neal, he'd been too busy in the City of the Gods to come home.

"Go and sit in that nice sea you've got down there," Neal said, gesturing out of Thom's window to the Emerald Ocean. "That should sort your problem out."

Thom scowled, and for a moment looked just like his mother did when she was in a bad mood. Neal said as much and was promptly pushed out of the door by Thom.

As much as he hated to admit it, Neal was right. So, after much grumbling, Thom made his way down to the beach and sat in the cold sea.

At least my robes will be clean now, he thought sardonically as he shivered at the cold and tried to prepare himself to do a big magical working.

An hour later, it was all he could do not to curse. It seemed that the Gods were not with him today. Not only had they made Neal suggest he sit in this freezing water, it didn't seem to be doing any good! He couldn't even muster up enough power to do any serious magic.

Sighing, he stood up and waded out of the water while wrapping his drenched robe tightly around his shoulders. Looking up at his parent's house on the top of the cliffs in front of him he swore quietly. It was such a long way up. He had two choices, walk the long way around, or climb the cliff. He didn't feel like doing either of them, but he wasn't going to spend the night on the beach.

Suddenly a small noise caught his attention, quite a high pitched noise, almost like a baby whimpering. Cautiously, he tried to locate the sound. To his surprise it was a young woman, she was soaked through, and was coughing.

"Hello?" Thom asked quietly.

The woman didn't react.

Sighing, Thom picked her up and slowly made his way up to Swoop where he unceremoniously dumped the woman on one of the beds in Swoops infirmary then went in search of Maude.

- - -

Thom knew eavesdropping was a bad habit, but it was one he had picked up from his father and sometimes it was a very useful skill.

"Please, just tell me what you know. You must know something!" Thom heard the young woman ask desperately.

"You need some sleep, you've had a rather serious healing. Go to sleep," Thom heard Maude say. From years of experience he knew that Maude was hiding something from the woman, but what?

The door opened, and he struggled to get out of the way as Maude stepped out into the corridor.

She grinned at him. "She's awake, as you probably know, but she's not to be disturbed."

"Who is she?" Thom asked eagerly.

Maude sighed. "Must you be so nosy Thom?" She looked disapprovingly at him but answered his question anyway. "Keladry of Mindelan."

"I've heard mother mention her, wasn't she the one who wanted to become a knight?" Thom asked curiously.

"Yes," Maude replied, and started off down the corridor. "Remember, leave her alone!"

Thom looked hurt. "Why would I disobey you Maude?"

Maude raised her eyebrows. "You've done it so many times that I can't even begin to count!"

Thom scowled at her.

He waited until she was around the corner then slipped quietly into the infirmary.

"Hi," he said to the young woman.

She looked up at him, her eyes lifeless. "Hi."

Thom inwardly cursed, he knew that look. Only the Goddess knew how many times he had seen it. The soldiers wore it when they came back from the Scanran border, after they had seen so much death that they had almost lost the will to live.

"I'm Thom," Thom said, offering his hand for her to shake.

"I'm Kel," the woman said, shaking his hand. "It was you rescued me, right?"

Wordlessly Thom nodded.

"Well I guess I owe you thanks then," Kel said, trying to sit up in her bed.

"It doesn't matter," Thom said shrugging. "But…what were you doing in the sea in the first place?"

Kel smiled grimly. "Long story."

Thom looked at the sun. "It's barely noon, I think you have time to tell it."

Kel looked away. "I – I'd rather not."

Thom raised his eyes but said nothing.

"But…" Kel said, she seemed to be considering something.

"If you tell me why you were in the sea, I may be able to help you with whatever it was that you wanted to know," Thom said slyly.

"You were eavesdropping!" Kel accused.

Thom shrugged. "It's useful sometimes, how else am I meant to know what's going on?"

Kel grinned slightly. "I guess you have a point," she conceded.

"I know I do," Thom said pompously. "Now, what were you doing in the sea?"

Kel tried to prevent that line of questioning. "I thought the healer said that I needed to rest? You shouldn't be disobeying a healer."

Thom shrugged. "I've been disobeying Maude since I could crawl, I hardly think I'm going to suddenly have a change of heart!"

Kel sighed as she realised that she wasn't going to be able to avoid his questioning. "I was on a boat headed for the Islands," she said quietly. "A band of the Emperor's Chosen Warriors boarded our boat, they killed my father and tossed me overboard and left me to die. My mother and Warrior Lord were still on the ship when the Warriors took the ship towards the Islands. That was the last I saw of them."

Thom was quiet for a while then he asked, "What was it that you wanted to know?"

Kel took a deep breath. "I – I want to know what happened to my father. Yes, I know he's dead, but where's his body? I don't think it was on the boat when it left, so that must mean they threw it overboard. It must have washed up on a beach somewhere, I want it back. He needs a proper burial."

Thom nodded slowly. "I can understand that, but…"

"But what?" Kel asked suspiciously.

"His body could have washed up anywhere! It could be anywhere on the Tortallan coast line, in fact, what's to stop it having washed up in Scanra?" Thom pointed out.

"I have this," Kel said quietly. She tried to get out of bed, but fell to the floor.

Thom frowned at her. "Maude will kill me if she finds out I let you even attempt to get up! What did you want?"

Kel pointed to the shirt she had been wearing when Thom found her. "That."

Thom threw it at her.

She reached inside the front pocket, and pulled out a small ring. "This was my fathers, he gave it to me only a few days before he died. I've heard of stories of mages being able to find a person through something that was theirs. Do you know a mage that could do that?"

Thom sighed. "I could try, I'm a mage. There would be a few problems though."

"What?" Kel asked quickly.

"I don't know if it works when the person you're looking for is dead, and, well, I don't know whether I could actually look for your father at the moment." Thom looked down at his feet embarrassed.

"You don't have the power to do it?" Kel asked cautiously, not wanting to embarrass him further.

He grinned at her. "I do, but not at the moment if you understand."

"Not really, no." Kel admitted.

"Normally I would be able to do that, although it would be a bit of a stretch. But I've been sent home from the university to rest, I sort of…em – well, why don't we just put it this way. I was doing some rather big workings, and I became tired and lost control of the power that I was using. They sent me home to recover and so that they can rebuild that particular wing of the university, but I've been very, very tired for a quite a while now. The best I can manage is lighting a few candles."

"Ah," Kel said. "Well, do you know anyone who might be able to help?"

"Mother might be able to, but she's at the Scanran border, so she can't help…"

Kel interrupted him. "At the Scanran border? Who is she?"

Thom looked at her strangely. "You really don't know where you are?"

Kel shook her head. "No, I only woke up this morning. Where am I?"

"Pirate's Swoop," Thom said shortly.

Kel's eyes widened in surprise. "You're the Lioness's son!"

Thom grinned, he was used to that reaction. "Yes, I am."

"I met her at the palace."

"You duelled with her?"

Kel grinned. "Yeah, beat her as well. Neal says I cheated because I used a Yamani move, but…"

Thom grinned widely and steered the conversation back to it's original subject. "Anyway, as I was saying before. I can't do it at the moment, neither can mother, but Uncle Numair could. He found Aunt Daine that way during the immortal's war," Thom said, thinking out loud.

"Well, could you ask him?" Kel asked hesitantly.

Thom nodded. "Sure. I'll get a messenger bird."

- - -

A week later, Kel attempted to sit up as a very, very tall man walked into the room.

Thom smiled at her, and took his usual seat by her bedside. "Kel, this is Numair Salmalin the best mage in this realm." He turned to Numair. "Uncle, this is Calawabi Keladry of Mindelan."

Kel's face turned to stone. "No, I'm not a calawabi anymore. I'm obviously a traitor."

Thom turned to Kel. "Stop that, you know you never did anything traitorous."

Kel just looked at him.

"Am I missing something here?" Numair asked, surprise showing in his face. "The message I got told me that I was needed to find someone."

"You're not missing anything, sir," Kel told him quietly.

"We were wondering if you'd be able to do us a favour uncle. We need to find a body," Thom explained.

"A body?" Numair exclaimed. "What have you got yourself mixed up in Thom? I imagine your mother doesn't know about this yet?"

Thom shifted uncomfortably. "No, she doesn't know I'm home from the university actually. But, it's not what you think it is, honest."

"Well what is it then? Because looking for a body sounds more like Provost work."

"If you have time, I was wondering if you would be able to find my father's body," Kel said quietly. She was looking at the floor, and Thom realised she was crying. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Numair bit his lip. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"The Emperor tried to have me and my family killed," Kel said shortly. "My father was killed, and his body chucked into the sea, I want to find his body."

"You have a focus?" Numair asked.

Kel handed over her father's ring.

Numair nodded and pocketed the ring. "I'll get back to you when I have some results."

"Thanks," Kel said shyly.

"It's no problem," Numair replied.