Kel was tested every day. Every day she was offered a proper bed, a cup of warm wine, a toilet. Every day, she refused. Rhian was getting angry. She had taken to offering Kel the world every day; innumerable riches; the finest silks and furs; jewels and gold; dogs and fine wines. Kel bit her tongue until it bled, not allowing herself to show any want. All the while that Rhian was offering her this, she was giving Kel less and less. Soon she was given only a small cup of water and a crust of bread to eat, and no chamber pot. She was surviving only on the hope that she would someday go home.

Winter came and went, the temperature dropping lower than Kel thought she could bear. Slowly stripped of her clothes, finding herself left naked on the stone with a small, thin blanket she was given. She knew it was given only to keep her from death, but that did not matter to her. She gulped her cold water that she was given every day quickly, before it froze, dreaming that it was wine or cider. She worked out a system for those cold winter nights, that she often used in the daytime as well. She lay on the stone bench, wrapped in her thin blanket, and she covered herself with hay to keep the heat in. She sang to herself. She did not want to forget and fall into Rhian's trap, so she sang. She sang every song of Tortall she knew, singing herself to sleep every night.

Away, away, afar from here,

A nightingale sings break of day,

Away, away, away from this fear,

I long to go back home today.

Years from now, when I am old,

My body has weakened

And my heart grown cold,

I will still go home to Tortall.

She would never desert Tortall. She would get home some day.

She saw many things from her window in the castle, far more than they should have allowed her to. She learned that she was in Castle Rathhausak, and that whoever was leading now was planning an attack. Men were gathered from the far corners of Scanra, way into the north where few dared venture. The army was growing. A massive reserve of men, 40,000 at least, preparing to attack.

But where? Galla was probably the closet place, but Tortall was easily the greater threat to Scanra. She had plenty of time to think about it. She had plenty of time to think about everything, in fact. More and more often as she sat in her room, she found her thoughts wandering towards Dom. He could occupy her mind for hours; his face his body, his voice. She tried to forget him, to think of other things that hurt less, but lost love is not a thing easily forgotten. She did not even know if she still loved him. It was hard to know when she could not even see his face. She had told herself that she would talk to him, but now the idea seemed even more ludicrous.

She did not know if she would ever see him again.

-----

The cold air nipped at their faces, their horses trudged painfully on the frozen roads. Winter was coming, but they weren't any closer to finding Kel. They journeyed far into Scanra, through villages and towns, past farms and fields.

They sang merry songs and spoke idle chatter, but in their hearts, they knew they were journeying towards the black.

"Where are we going to look?" Neal asked anxiously. "There is the entire kingdom of Scanra to look through, we are looking for one woman, who will probably be very well hidden!"

Alanna looked at him gravely. "We will start where we are, at the road, and travel in a zigzag through Scanra until we find Keladry. If you believe that this is a hopeless trek, than you may leave and go home."

Neal looked down. "That's not what I meant." They heard him mutter.

Merric rode up beside Neal and grinned. "Don't worry, Neal, we know you want Kel back just as much as the rest of us, maybe even more. She was your best friend."

"Is!" Alanna and Owen cried together.

Merric winced. "Is, I meant is!" He said quickly, recovering his deathly mistake.

They spoke of their plans for a long while, deciding which direction to go, what their disguise and excuse for being there would be, should they ever be caught. Dom stayed silent though all of the talk.

He did not know why he was there. Everyone else was there for their friend. They were there for Kel, there so they could see her face again.

If he had the choice, he would not have come.

He knew it was selfish of him, but he could not bear it any longer. His comrades spoke greatly of their memories of Kel, of what she had done for them that made them search for her.

Dom should have had more reasons than anyone. He loved her. Was there any reason greater, any reason more glorious? If there was not, why did he wish he was at home in his bed?

Kel had left him. She had cast him out, shunned him, she had punched him, for god's sake. He had been trying to protect her. He had been trying to love her. But that was not good enough for her. Lady Keladry, Protector of the Small, Lady Knight of Tortall – she had not wanted help. She wanted to be left alone to her fate, left alone to the forces that would some day take her, as they did every knight. If she could not fight them off herself, then she would die.

Of course he did not want her to die. Of course he wanted to save her. Of course he wanted to get her back. Of course he wanted to tell her he was sorry, to tell her he loved her. She was just so bloody stubborn. She did not want him rescuing her, so why should he die trying to?

"It's not true." Neal said, sitting down beside Dom. Dark would fall soon, and they would have to extinguish their fire. Everyone was huddling close to it, feeling the last draughts of warmth emitting from it. But Dom was sitting on a freezing log, looking at the icy river at which they were camped.

He looked up at his cousin. "What's not true?" He asked, engrossed in his own thoughts.

"She would want to see you here." He said. Before Dom could look at him in shock, Neal continued: "You're questioning why you are here. Kel doesn't love you anymore, she doesn't care for you; why would she want you to come out here with her friends? But she would. It would be worse if she was rescued and found that you were not there, that you had not the care nor the necessity to give your heart to her, even after she shunned you." He smiled at his elder cousin. "When she comes out of wherever she is, she should see you."

Dom chuckled. "I don't know how you do it, Neal." He said. "Either you understand absolutely nothing, or far more than anyone ever could. You are an enigma, my dear Meathead."

Neal clapped him on the back. "And you wouldn't have it any other way."

Dom stood up. "I'm going to bed."

-----

"We will be going west off of the Smiskir Road towards Kimtir. It is a large- by Scanran standards- town. There is hope that we will find Kel there."

"Well of course there's hope." Neal said dryly. "We aren't going to find anything bloody else there."

Faleron clapped Neal on the back. "Cheer up, mate! Maybe you can find a nice Scanran lass to give you-"

Alanna slapped Faleron on the back of the head. "If you finish that sentence, you will never see the light of day again." She said sharply, her eyes flashing.

"Careful, My Lord!" One of the men of the Own called out. "Those redheads are feisty ones!"

Merric batted his lashes. "What can I say, I have a lot to live for..." Faleron punched him before he could finish the sentence.

This time, Dom did not sit to the side in thought.

He stood with his friends, proud to be on the journey to bring back the Protector of the Small.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am actually really happy with how this section of the story worked out. I did not have it in my original notes, but I realized that I would be going to fast, so I added in more about their trip to find her – it was supposed to be them going to towns and such, meeting folks, but this just all fell into place. I loved making Dom all angsty and shit!

J9482002: ok, ok!

Lady of Masbolle: Haha – I like that! "he's turning blonde." That is so good! Wow, I'm easily amused...

ShadowPirate: Actually, it is way fun – the first part of this chapter with Kel took me almost three days to write – and the rest took me less than an hour. And I want to keep going!

Wake-Robin: Wahoo!

Alannalovingwriter: I know they're evil, but hey, this one is not a cliffie, right?

Dreamerdoll: I know, I know. She is a serious profanity. But what goes around, comes around – wait, that isn't what I meant at all. What I meant was, nobody's perfect. Where did that first one come from?

AJ 4EVA: of course!

Mage Light: thanks!

PsychoLioness13: I actually thought about that, quite a lot. I was not going to have Raoul go at all, and I didn't realize I had put him in at all until I looked back at the end of this chapter to check something. I agree, he really shouldn't be there and I am taking him out. Bye, bye, Raoul! And for Alanna, she cannot be refused. The king cannot tell her what she can and can't do; she would just go. The point was that none of them were really supposed to be go, they just refused not to. And the squad is under the command of Dom, that is why he is there.

Animelover8831: I did not know that Corus had walls – I have not read the immortal series, I vaguely remember making up some thinly veiled excuse as to why they were there.

Macko: well, it is sort of a 'life is just going to get worse for you if you don't, I can give you the world if you do' thing. It is almost like she is trying to gain her trust, because she is letting Kel come to it herself. Make sense? It is a smart plan, but it doesn't really work on strong willed people.

Zero-chads-girl: thanks, I will!

SO/JV: grr... damn you and your paying attention! Stop that! and I am sure your story is not bad. There is no such thing as a bad story; only a bad writer. Jokes, that's a lie too. There can be badly written stories, but that doesn't make them bad- get my drift?

Nessa: ooh, I'm so scared... you don't know where I live, right? Because I usually don't give out my info to strangers – wait, are you that creepy person who keeps phoning me and breathing heavily into the mouthpiece? OH GOD, SAVE ME NOW! Haha, just kidding. They already arrested that guy.

"Probably the earliest flyswatters were nothing more than some sort of striking surface attached to the end of a long stick."

Enjoy!

-unolimbo