Disclaimer: Tya, Kalerik, Lathander, Lysan...Mine. Everything else.....not mine.

Chapter Ten -- Gah! Males!

The boy's eyes glowed as the fire engulfed his body. It lit the surrounding trees on fire. The people could do nothing but watch as the fire engulfed the village and everything they worked for.

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Neal sat in his room fuming. Kel had actually gone off with Lathander! What if she came back with burns all over her. He fought down the urge to blush as he thought where the burns could be.

"Neal!" Alanna walked in looking at her squire. "Why are you sulking?"

"I am not sulking." Neal said indignantly.

"Yes you are." Alanna replied. "Did Tya break your heart?"

"Tya? No." Neal said without thinking and just afterward realized his mistake.

"Not Tya?" Alanna asked grinning. "Who then?"

"My heart wasn't broken at all." 'I don't think.' Neal muttered still half off in dream world.

Alanna snorted. "Let's see your heart has already been broken by so many people. Who hasn't broken it yet....Kel!"

"What?" Neal jumped and looked over. Kel was standing in the doorway. She smiled politely.

"Come in." Alanna smiled and gestured her in. She took one glance at Neal and flashed him a knowing smile before walking out.

"I was just going to go straight to the mess but..." Kel trailed off when she noticed him glaring at her. "What?"

"You just went with him." Neal said quietly.

"Yes." Kel replied sliding her ever famous mask in place. She had a feeling he was going to start yelling.

"What if something had happened!" Neal cried. 'OK calm down. She could kill you before you knew what happened.'

"I can handle Lathander." Kel replied evenly. She thought back to him kissing her and fought down a blush. Her fingers went unconsciously to her lips.

Neal watched her and could tell she was fighting the urge to show some kind of emotion. He sighed. "What if something had happened?"

"Nothing did." 'Not the way you're talking about' Kel looked steadily at him. He had been running his fingers through his hair. "We should head down to the mess." she muttered.

"What did you want to tell me?" Neal asked curiously. He straightened his hair and clothes and walked toward her and the door.

"There's another tale." Kel whispered and opened the door. Neal snapped it closed again.

"What?"

"There's another version." Kel replied looking up to meet his green gaze. 'Mithros, he's......'

"Did he tell you what was in this other version?" Neal asked and ran his fingers through his hair again.

"No." Kel replied. "I didn't get much from him. Just that there was another version, and that I had to be prepared for something..."

Neal studied her. "What aren't you telling me?

"Nothing." Kel replied. "We're going to be late getting to the mess. You don't want Tya to wonder do you?" She opened the door and Neal shut it again. "What?"

"You can't deal with this on your own." he whispered to her.

'You can't just deal with Lathander.' one part of her mind snapped to her. "I'll keep that in mind." she said to Neal and opened the door, slipping out.

Neal stared at the open door. "Mithros." he muttered. "She's...." he stopped and walked out. Kel hadn't waited.

'You don't want anyone to help you with Lathander because you want to protect him.'

'No.'

'Yes. You still remember what it was like for you before.'

'Before Tya.'

"Kel?"

Kel snapped from her thoughts and saw Cleon standing in front of her. She groaned inwardly she'd had more than enough males for the night.

"Kel are you OK?" Cleon asked standing next to her.

"Yes." Kel shook her head. "Sorry I was just thinking."

"OK." Cleon smiled. "Walk to the mess with me."

"OK." Kel replied.

They headed down toward the mess. Then she remember what Lathander had said. 'Tya was with that redheaded fellow.' She pushed the thoughts from her head. Just Lathander being Lathander.

She sat between Cleon and Faleron and across from Neal and Tya. She pushed her food around her plate thinking.

"Kel." Tya said worriedly. "You didn't eat lunch. You have to eat something now."

Next thing Kel knew Neal's hand was on her forehead. She jerked back.

"I'm fine sorry I was thinking." Kel muttered. Everyone looked at her waiting for her to eat something. She picked up a roll and started to eat it and everyone went back to their meals.

"Kel?" Faleron turned to her. "Are we practicing tonight?"

"Yes of course." Kel replied sipping her juice.

"Great!" Faleron replied grinning.

"I think I'll go get ready." Kel replied. "See you guys later." She got up and walked out.

"Tell us the rest of the story!" Cleon demanded as soon as Kel was gone.

"OK." Tya shrugged pushing her long black hair over her shoulder. "So Lathander fell in love with her. Lathander fell hard. Kel wasn't really interested at first but he really wouldn't leave her alone. She started talking to him and little by little she liked him too." Tya paused and sighed. "It didn't last very long. Lathander fell for me too."

"What?" Cleon asked startled. "Both of you?"

Neal drifted off thinking about when he asked Kel who Lathander was and if he's been courting anyone. She'd turned and looked at him and said 'Tya' quietly.

Yes." Tya sighed at Cleon losing her patience and quickly. "Yes he did. I think he broke Kel's heart but she never did show it. She was just emotionless around him after that."

"How could he do that?" Faleron asked quietly from off to the side.

"Wow everyone's paying attention huh?" Tya laughed. "Well don't tell Kel that you know. I don't think she'd be happy with me. She seems to be quite content with hating Lathander."

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Neal headed to the practice courts with Owen, Merric, and Faleron. The other chatted happily about what kind of throwing they'd hopefully do tonight. He was thinking. A thousand questions swam through his head.

What really happened tonight?

Why didn't Kel tell him about Lathander?

What in the name of the dark god this is other version of the tale was.

They entered and saw Kel practicing her glaive. She turned and twisted. Only Neal seemed to noticed her movements slow and stiffen when she switched to her left hand. He shook his head and cleared his throat. Kel stopped and turned.

"Sorry." she said quietly.

"That's fine!" Merric said eyes wide. "That was wow!"

Kel smiled sheepishly. She pulled out the leather bag and handed them each three stars.

"Wow you have so many." Faleron noted.

"They're great long range weapons." Kel replied. "OK I want you three to....."

Neal watched her show them a different throw and stand back to watch them do it. He sighed and picked up the spear leaning on the wall. He twisted it a couple of times and worked on one of the patterns she'd showed him before. Halfway through he felt someone come up behind him and shift his hands. He stopped and jumped.

"Sorry." Kel replied quietly. "You were doing well so I didn't want to stop you but you shifted your hands." She picked up her glaive. "Hold it here."

Neal followed her example. "OK."

"Now turn it and finish the dance." Kel instructed and stepped back to watch him do it.

Neal's hands fumbled and he almost dropped it. Kel raised her eyebrows. "You haven't dropped it in days." Neal simply nodded and shifted back into position. When he had finished Kel picked up her glaive and walked over to him. "Take this." she handed it to him and took the spear.

"Whoa!" Neal said as it fell into his hands. "It's heavy."

"Yes." Kel nodded. "Now do the first dance I showed you and mind the blade please I don't want to take you to your father in pieces."

"He'd know it was my fault." Neal muttered and tripped over the added length of the pole. Kel sighed and helped him up.
"Becareful." Kel sighed and handed him the glaive.

As the others were leaving Neal hung back to talk to Kel. "Aren't you coming?"

"No." Kel shook her head. "I need to work with my left wrist it's stiff."

"I noticed when we walked in." he replied. "You shouldn't push too hard."

"I've trained much harder than this." Kel replied. She really needed to think. She looked around before finally resting her eyes at the floor.

"Kel please." Neal began. "What happened earlier? You had that same look on your face when you said the burn was an accident you were lying." he paused. "What did he do?" Neal asked. He slid two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to look her in the eyes.

'Mithros..' Kel thought looking into the emerald pools looming inches above her.

"Kel trust me, please." he whispered. His fingers slid up to her cheek. 'Goddess what am I thinking?'

'Stone...Stone...Stone..Stone....Emeralds...Gah!' Kel thought fighting the blush from her cheeks. "I..I do." she murmured.

"Neal! Are you still here?" Tya entered the training courts to find Neal standing in the center flushed. Kel was going at a practice dummy. "Why are you all red?" she asked slinking up to him.

"Practice." Neal replied quickly. Tya nodded and draped her arms around his waist.

Kel glanced at Neal and Tya. Tya's arms were around him. 'Of course.' she thought. 'Kal, Cleon, Dom, and Neal.' She then realized Neal hadn't moved yet. She glanced at the pair. Neal uncomfortably slid his arms around Tya.

Kel turned and hit the dummy. The head went flying off and she sighed.

"Kel?" Tya's voice rang toward her. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

Kel froze and didn't turn to look at her. "No." she lied. She fought all emotion from her face and turned around. "I just really need practice."

Tya rolled her blue eyes and sighed. "You trained twice today at least. Just like Kalerik always said, you're going to kill yourself."

"I doubt it." Kel replied and turned back to the headless training dummy.

"Well me and Neal are going for a walk. Have fun." Tya replied. Neal looked bewildered but Tya smiled and pulled him toward the door.

Neal's eyes met Kel's. Was she disappointed? Or was that just exhaustion? He smiled slightly to her and she turned around. He sighed and allowed himself to be dragged out.

"Damn it!" Kel muttered and punched the dummy.

"Whoa!" Dom exclaimed from behind her. "Did you knock that thing's head off?"

Kel turned around and saw him standing behind her holding the head with a foolish grin. "Yea."

"What did Meathead do to bother you?" Dom asked curiously putting the head back on.

"It's backward." Kel said.

"What?" Dom asked bewildered.

"The head." Kel grinned and pointed. Dom looked at it and realization struck him.

"Oh." he chuckled. He fixed it and turned to her. "What did he do?"

"Why do you ask?" Kel asked lifting her glaive from the floor.

"Well he looked as miserable as you did when I walked in." Dom noted with a nod.

"What's going on with you and Tya?" Kel asked suddenly.

"Trying to change the subject?" Dom asked with a grin. Kel couldn't help but smile. "I'm pretty sure she's using me for something." he nodded.

"What?" Kel asked trying to hide her surprise. Finally a man who figured it out.

Dom shrugged. "She's beautiful yes. I don't see what she sees in my Meathead of a cousin but she's not really interested."

Kel nodded. "Congratulations you're the first to figure it out." she added dryly. She swung the glaive quickly.

"Not getting along?" Dom asked raising his eyebrows.

Kel shrugged. "Not really. I just found out a few things I wasn't happy with."

Dom nodded. "Ah. So what's going on with you and Kennen. Dare I saw you're courting?"

Kel shrugged again. "I'm not sure." she replied. "He's obviously interested but-"

Dom cut in. "You're not sure you are." he nodded. "I saw him with Tya."

"I figured." Kel replied swinging the glaive again.

Dom watched her wide eyed. "That is a very large blade."

"Yea." Kel muttered. She grabbed her leather bag of stars. "I'm sorry Sir Domitan but I think I'll head to bed now."

"Dom please!" Dom exclaimed. "Yes I should probably go to sleep. Raoul will probably kill me."

Kel smiled nodded and walked out.

'So everyone knows about Cleon and Tya.' she thought. 'Lathander wasn't lying...maybe he was telling the truth about all of it.' She immediately felt disgusted with herself. 'Lathander proved he isn't trust worthy.'

'Are you sure? He sounded really sincere.' one part of her brain noted.

'It's all an act no different than Tya's act with all the men.' said the part she thought to be much more sensible.

'I don't think that's the case.' the other replied.

Kel sighed getting really annoyed with this arguing. She went to her room and changed into a nightshirt before going to bed.

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The next morning found her in the practice courts. She had gotten up hours earlier and sleep refused to claim her again. She swung the glaive trying to relax.

"Kel?" a voice behind her asked.

Kel sighed and stopped. She turned around. "Yes?" Neal stood behind her looking grim.

"Uh. There's something I need to tell you. Come to think of it I'm not sure why I'm telling you this?" Neal began babbling.

"What is it Neal?" Kel asked impatiently.

He cleared his throat. "There's been an attack...."

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Dun Dun Dun. Is our Kel beginning to like Lathander? Speaking of sorry loyal Lathander fans he wasn't in this chapter.

OK well there you go. Cliffie I know....I couldn't help myself it was a perfect place to end it... .;

I know this chapter took a while sorry I was working on some of my stories. I would promise another chapter soon but school starts in six days. I will try to get at least one more chapter up by then but my house gets so crazy around now (Me and four siblings) so I will try.

Thank you:

Jumping-Jo: I suppose you'll just have to wait and see where it goes. I hope you'll like it.

Know-it-all: I'm glad you like it. I hope I can update quickly.

Oceanspike: I'm pretty sure anyone could write better than I can. . I'm thrilled you like it so much!

Ti-Ti: I think everyone is beginning to like Lathander.

Lizai: I updated. I'll try to get going faster for the next chapter. Yea Kel and neal do need to get a clue don't they.

CrazyLittleKiwiFruit: I'm happy that you like it!

Ossini: It's ok...I think I may have to.....that can't be good.

MistyFox14: Thank you Thank you Thank you

Alianne of Conte: All in good time!

CTHKSI: Thank you

VanillaChocolate: Thank you!

Soccerchick08: Thanks. I'm glad I can make up characters as hatable as Tya and as likable as Lathander

Kore Yan: I was thinking about that. If I can't fit enough of their history in the fic I'm going to write a prequel about them...I think. I'm glad you like it!

BloodSoakedTiger: I think that's what stalkers do....but I'm not sure i don't have much experience in that area. I'm glad you liked it.

Chicken Puffs: I'm sorry I couldn't update as fast. My muse tried to abandon me and when I caught her she inspired me for the wrong story! About the rest of it all I'm going to say is..........

Wake-Robin: I'm glad you think so! I hope you'll like the rest of the story.

Wow!!! Thank you everyone! I never thought I could write anything people would like so much.