I'm back. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Feliz Navidad. Did I cover everything? If I didn't I apologize. I'm finally updating aren't you proud? We've had stupid finals for the past week. Just too clear up something, Gwylla is fourteen, I'm modeling her after a friend of mine.

Disclaimer: It's all Tamora's even though I wish to death it was mine.

Gwylla's POV

Kel came through the door, panting. "Stables… On fire…….. Huge blaze………. Need help…" Gwylla gasped and jumped to her feet and grabbed the pitcher full of water for her wash basin.

She headed towards the door and stopped when she realized that Dylan wasn't following her. Gwylla turned around and saw him still sitting on her bed, where he had sat down a moment before Kel had come barging in.

"Well! What are you waiting for? Find some water and come help!" she demanded of him. He nodded numbly and got up to follow her.

Gwylla rushed as quickly as she could without spilling any water, through the common room and bar and out into the courtyard to the blazing stable.

She ran up to the rest of the folks helping fight the fire and began quickly passing water form one person to another. Dimly, she saw Dylan run passed her, into the burning building and come back out with a horse. Then she concentrated on the burning heat.

With such a great force of people working against it, the fire dwindled down to a few wandering flames and lots of smoldering embers. The building was destroyed but according to reports, most of the horses had been saved.

As Gwylla watched some of the men put out the rest of the flames, dazed and tired, Kel came up to her, looking as weary as the rest of the people in the small courtyard.

Her voice hoarse from the smoke, Kel told Gwylla that she had better go to bed, since the next day they would be going to the palace for her and Dylan to become squires.

Gwylla smiled and stumbled up to her room. The next day, she awoke to sunlight, with no hint to the horror that had happened the night before except for the acrid smell of smoke in the air.

She smiled as she remembered that their group was going to the palace today. She was finally going to be a page! She threw on a pair of breeches and a tunic and went to check on her horse, to make sure that it was fine after the fire.

Soon, Kel came to tell her that it was time for them to leave. Gwylla mounted her horse easily and followed Kel and Dylan once they were on their mounts Hoshi and Amaan.

As they neared the palace gates, Gwylla got more and more nervous. What if she didn't make it through page training? What if she wasn't suitable? Kel had assured her a while ago that nothing would go wrong, but Gwylla disagreed. Everything could go wrong and probably would.

A servant met the small party at the gates and led them to the training master's office. The servant knocked lightly on the door and it was at once opened.

"Thank you for bringing them to me Lalasa." the man standing in the doorway said to the maid. The girl bobbed a curtsy and walked quickly down the corridor.

The tall man stood aside, inviting their group inside the room. Kel gave Gwylla a gentle shove and she stumbled into the room, with Dylan right behind her.

For the first time, she got a good look at the man that was the royal training master. She gasped. The tall man looked exactly like her mother. She had often been told stories of her uncle, Ma's twin brother. What was his name again? Alan?

The man looked at the boy and the girl with an amused look. Gwylla bowed, her head, worried about what he was going to say.

"I am Lord Alan of Pirate's Swoop. You are?" he finally said, after a moment of silence.

"I am Gwylla of Pirate's Swoop, daughter of Alianne of Pirate's Swoop. Your niece." "This is an interesting turn." Lord Alan said. "I never heard that Alianne had a daughter. Of course, I suspect you'll be using your alias? What was it? Pines Peak?"

Gwylla nodded, amazed that even her mother's twin brother knew all this. "This is Dylan of Masbolle." she added as an afterthought. She finished speaking and wondered why she hadn't just given her alias, that she had always been instructed to use.

She had just felt compelled not to lie to this man, that it would be a bad idea. She glanced at Dylan and saw him staring at her.

"You lied to me." he muttered. "You've been lying all this time." He continued to mutter to himself in disbelief, not facing her anymore.

Lord Alan watched the small exchange with amusement. "Do you have to find everything funny?" Gwylla snapped at him, and then she covered her mouth with her hands before she could say anything else. "I'm so sorry sir." she said quietly.

Lord Alan just smiled again and said, "Lalasa will take you both to get your palace clothing. Then she will show each of you your quarters." He rang a bell to summon the maid.

Dylan glared at Gwylla one last time before he turned to follow Lalasa. Gwylla sighed and resigned herself to at least a week of loneliness.

Dylan had told her that he could hold a grudge forever and it seemed that he could.

Lalasa took the two to the ground floor of the palace and outside to a small but impressive building to get their uniforms. They weren't as bad as Gwylla had thought they would be.

Dark blue tunics, with black leggings would fit well in training. She was amazed that Lord Alan would let female pages wear tight-fitting leggings.

'Oh well. This should be interesting.' she thought. Once she had been fitted for five sets of clothing and a dark blue dress for formal occasions she looked around for Lalasa so that she could find her room.

She searched though all the clothing rooms and still couldn't find the girl so she gave up and set out on her own through the maze of palace corridors. She started jogging so that she could cover more ground.

She turned a corner and ran into a tall, dark haired man.