Disclaimer: Look at this story. Why would Tamora Pierce write a piece of crap like this???
Chapter 5 – Battles and Worries
Hours later, Kel was wide awake in bed, trying to get a grip on her thoughts. She had been lying like this for hours, trying to figure out what to do and what had gone wrong.
What she hated most was the fact that she wanted more than anything to be able to admit to herself that nothing was wrong, and that she might as well give it a chance. But as soon as that thought crossed her brain, it was immediately discounted by about a million others. Of all the times she had been attracted to someone Neal, Cleon, Dom - none had worked out. What was to stop this from being any different?
And, when it finally did blow up in her face, it would be worse than before. Cleon and she had just gone their separate ways, but she was living in the same house as Sean. Which brought up another point - if they got romantically involved, how were they going to work that out?
But Kel knew that she had to stop fooling herself. Despite all her misgivings, deep down underneath her Yamani Lump face (which apparently had no effect on Sean whatsoever) she wanted to give it a shot. She knew herself well enough to know that this wasn't just another Neal-like crush. She didn't know if it was love, exactly, but she knew it was more than a simple infatuation.
Maybe I should just let whatever happens happen. It's not like it would be that big of a deal if it didn't work out. Hopefully Sean isn't fed up with me. She frowned at this last thought, then cleared all thought and emotion from her mind as she settled into sleep.
Kel dressed quickly the next morning, hoping to catch Sean before Deirdre (who usually slept in late) woke up. She didn't really know what she was going to say to him, but figured anything along the lines of "…" would suffice.
However, after practically bounding down the stairs, she found Deirdre sitting at the dining table, a mug of tea in her hands and an amused look on her face.
"He already left," she said, her eyes twinkling. When Kel sent her a purposefully bemused look, she outright laughed. "Oh come on. Don't tell me you dashed down here just to see me. Besides, Sean told me to tell you that he's patrolling today. Now, I wonder why he thought you'd be so interested in his whereabouts?"
Kel glared at her through her eyes. "Rhetorical questions don't suit you, Deirdre. Has anyone ever told you that it's unnerving how you See everything?"
"Oh this has nothing to do with the Sight. I can see what's between the two of you with my own two eyes. It's clear as daylight."
Slumping into the chair across from Deirdre, Kel sighed. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Not to everyone," the younger girl said consolingly. "To me, yes, but then I've learned to pick up on these things easily. Most don't realize that the eyes are the windows to a person's soul. And when the two of you look at each other, your eyes smolder," she added, smirking.
Kel shot her a wry glance and said, "You wouldn't happen to have any ideas for what I should say to him, would you?"
At this, Deirdre shrugged and began clearing up her dishes. "Just tell him how you feel. He won't care about any fancy noble words. He wants you, Kel. Just let him know you want him back." With that, she got up and walked to her room, leaving Kel even more lost than she had been when she'd woken up.
"Kel! Kel!" Kel turned around from her students, who were currently working on archery, to find Deirdre running toward her. At the sight of the frantic look on her face, Kel's stomach dropped. "Raiders are coming from the south! They'll be here in less than an hour!" With that she put her hands on her knees, trying to regain her normal breathing pattern.
Kel turned around to her archers. "Alright, get to your positions, just like we talked about." As they scattered, she asked Deirdre, "You wouldn't happen to know where Sean or Desmond are, would you?"
"I've already told Desmond, he's at the wall. But…" her eyes suddenly turned wide and fearful, "Oh Kel! Sean is out - he's patrolling!"
A fleeting feeling of panic threatened to rise up inside of her, before she was able to suppress it and become a commander once more. "I'll send a scout to notify him of the raiders. You should get inside the house." Deirdre nodded and began walking quickly away.
Kel rushed up to the wall, passing a volunteer scout along the way. She gave him his orders, which included orders for Sean, and practically ran the rest of the way to Desmond.
"Sean is out there," he said as soon as she was within hearing range.
"I know, I've sent a runner. I told him to stay put and harass their sides while he can, and to pull back here if needed." Desmond nodded and looked out across the fields. Kel nodded to her archers, who were arrayed across the wall and went about making sure everyone was preparing, earning a few "Yes, Mother" comments along the way, which she grinned at. The runner she sent, whose name she now remembered was named Torin, had not returned, but that was to be expected. He had probably stuck with Sean's patrol, rather than risk riding back to the town.
Then, after what seemed like all too soon, alarm horns sounded, signaling the sight of the raiders. Kel and the others along the wall knocked arrows and, on Kel's command, they loosed. Seven raiders and their horses fell. Her archers were excellent shots.
Kel soon lost count of all the arrows she had knocked and loosed, as well as how many raiders had fallen, though the number seemed to be about twenty. She smiled as she saw a group of Valens assaulting the outskirts of the raider group. Her smile disappeared, however, when she saw one of the patrollers fall to a raider's sword. From this distance, she had no way of telling who it was.
"Kel, should I have first squad confront them?" Desmond's voice brought her back to those within the town.
"Yes, third squad will get mangled if we don't." Desmond nodded and headed down to lead the squad out the gate.
Ten minutes later the battle was over and Kel was helping to organize getting the casualties to the healers. Whenever anyone walked close to her she looked up, hoping to see Sean coming toward her. She still couldn't get the vision of that man falling to the ground out of her mind. She tried to tell herself that he didn't look a thing like Sean, but she knew that there was no way she could even have made out the color of the man's hair, much less his facial features.
As she was helping a woman with a long gash along her forearm into a healer's arms, she heard a quiet voice, almost at a whisper, behind her.
"Kel?"
She spun around quickly, and would've wept to see him before her, had it not been for her Yamani training. "Sean!" she rushed up to him. "Where have you been? I saw someone get hit and I couldn't find you! I thought-"
She suddenly found herself silenced by a searing kiss. It was enough to make her forget the fact that there were people bleeding all around her. Then, Sean's friends were cheering and making raucous comments, and Deirdre was smirking nearby. She brought her arms up around his neck when he began to pull slightly away and deepened the kiss.
When they finally broke apart, they were both breathing hard. Kel's eyes were crinkled in a way that Sean knew as the equivalent of his own tomato-colored blush. He looked sheepishly down at her.
"Come on, lets get out of here." Kel opened her mouth to protest, but he had already grabbed her hand and was leading her away from the crowd that had gathered.
"That's right, Sean! Take her someplace nice and private!!" shouted one of the members of his patrol. Sean shot a crude gesture at him.
"Sean," Kel said once they were away from most of the townspeople. "We should - I mean I need to make sure everyone is okay and that everything is in order and-"
He smiled back at her warmly, faint amusement in his eyes. "Don't worry about it. Desmond will take care of everything."
"I just don't think… Wait, where are we going?"
"Home."
"Home? What do you mean 'home?' Sean, what will people say!?"
"I don't care what they say." He paused at the door. "Do you?"
Kel looked into his eyes. She saw love, hope, and… apprehension. "No," she said finally. "No, I don't care." He grinned at her and opened the door of the house.
As soon as she had crossed the threshold, he had the door closed and her pinned up against it and was kissing her in a way that made it hard for her to think, much less breathe.
When his hand began to fumble with her tunic, she lightly pushed him back. They were breathing heavily and Sean's eyes were dark.
"I'm sorry," he half whispered. "I… I'm sorry." He wouldn't meet her eyes.
Haltingly, Kel put her hand on his cheek, willing him to look at her. When he finally did she said, "Don't be. It's just…I'm not ready for that. Not yet anyway."
Sean nodded. "I didn't mean to be so forward. It's just… well I never thought you'd come around. What made you?"
Kel smiled at him and said in a teasing voice, "Well, I figured maybe you weren't as bad as I made you out to be."
He laughed then, a real whole-hearted laugh, throwing his head back and hugging her. "Ahhhh Kel. I should've almost died sooner," he said, getting a laugh out of her in return.
YOU ARE SHOCKED TO SEE AN UPDATE! YOU THOUGHT I DIED!! Hahahahah you wish. Oh man, this is the fluffiest chapter EVAR. I love it! You love it!! WORSHIP ME MORTAL FOOLS!!!
I have no excuses. Well, I do, but it only applies to the last couple weeks - and it is that my beta was refusing to let me write this in the light of my new Harry Potter fic. The good news is that since now she is on my case the HP fic will be frequently updated. The bad news is, my other fics suffer and she will now kill me for updating this (in fact she is yelling at me right now). I am SO sorry!! I hate people don't update quickly and I never wanted to be one! Not that it makes up for it. Anyway, I'm having issues right now, but once I've got my new job and homework schedule figured out, I promise I'll come back to the fanfic writing fold.
EnchantedBlood: I just want you to know that the only reason I got around to updating is because of your review. LMAO. Reviews make me update, in case it isn't obvious from my quick delivery. Thank you so much for your review and for motivating me to start writing this again!
Mel: Do not even think about coming over to my house and murdering me just because I worked on this fic instead of my HP one! Suck it up. You will probably kill me at school tomorrow. I can feel it. ::cringes::
rootless californian: Kel didn't explain it then because it didn't fit into the scene lol. And I couldn't make them get together too soon! I need to drag it out more to make it more realistic. And of course, for the simple pleasure of seeing you lot suffer. Anyway, she'll be explaining it next chapter, never fear. And I'm glad you like my other fic! I need to update that soon, but I'm too lazy, lmao.
imperfectionist-angel185: It's just Sean that she falls in love with. But who would want anyone else? I mean, he's so dreamy!!!
Living People: Lol, I did understand that, so I guess I'm a genius. I get the dividers now, in case you couldn't tell.
Lady Aioria: Aaaaaah! Thank you soooo much!! I can't wait for a Juliet Marillier section. But unfortunately I don't have my fanfic for it actually WRITTEN yet (and my beta won't let me – she says I have to update only this one), so it'll either have to wait or someone else will have to do it. In any case, thanks for the info! 3
Zella: Well, it started from a conversation we were already having, about how awesome guys in fantasy books are, and then it turned to Sevenwaters men. I didn't like Niamh at all either. She was all whimpering and weak and it just pissed me off. OMG. Child makes me mad with the lack of ACTUAL romance. I was expecting there to be more after that final battle dealie but NO. Pssh. I feel SLIGHTLY sorry for Eamonn, but he was still a traitor and all that, so I don't feel THAT sorry. But I guess he proved himself in the end, ne? I haven't read Wolfskin. I'm a little dubious about it, since it's about a guy. I usually read heroine books, lol. I need to read it though. Unfortunately I have a list of books that I need to read anyway, and it takes up 1 ½ pages. Literally.
LadyQueenscove: I love the fluff. I go back and read my own fanfics just for the fluff. Well…he looks kinda like Neal. But Neal didn't go for Kel, so of course Sean came in! Do they make a cardboard cutout of Dan? I so want one!!! LMAO. Maybe I should just print out a huge picture of him and stick it to my wall. How did he get so hot all of a sudden?? He's a little boy with bad acting in the first two movies then INCREDIBLY HOT with better acting skills? LOL. ::sigh:: I wish he would come to California…I would so meet him and make him fall in love with me.
Rubber Duck: We're all busy, aren't we? Or at least that's our excuse, lol. Well, I was a bit dubious of how fast it was progressing, but 1) I couldn't think of any filler and 2) it's going to be a long fic anyway, and drawing it out will just make it longer. Lets all pretend she's been there for many many months, shall we? I'll put in more fluff to make up for my sub-par relationship-building skills. And I totally understand, don't worry, I welcome constructive criticism just as much as "OMG AWESOME" reviews. I'm looking forward to her meeting the others too. Oooooh there will be a roe between her and Jon….::grins knowingly:: Yes, I did at that time have the fifth chapter up, but it was being really weird. I couldn't access it either. I don't know what was happening.
PsychoLioness13: Thank goodness, I was totally worried that everyone would be like "Kel's never like that!!!" But then again, Kel's never been in a situation like this, and besides, she's changing. I know, those first few lines are hilarious.