AN: Ok...School is over and thus, the chapters are beginning to be typed at home...have fun with that, but this one is late cause My account was frozen and there's an accompaning rant but I'll let you live without it...Enjoy
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Alex, and a few other minor characters thus far...maybe even Jon too (not that Jon....you'll see)
Never before had Alex seen anyone's eyes be that icy. Immediately she did her best to school her features to blankness.
"You're late." The voice was, if anything, colder than the eyes. Alex would have shivered if every muscle in her body hadn't already been tense. This must be the training master. Her mind racing back to the books, she prepared herself for what was to come as the training master spoke again. "What are your excuses?"
Unnoticed in the back, lost among the taller boys, Lady Alanna flinched, knowing this was her fault. At the time, she had simply wanted to see how Alex would react under pressure, so she had not told her the signal for dinner. Of course, she had forgotten how harsh the new training master could be. She regretted that decision now.
"No excuses...sir," Alex replied, looking at her shoes, her eyes tracing the words written around the toe in shiny black sharpie. She wanted so badly to retort but knew instinctively she couldn't afford to be as impertinent here as she had been with the King.
Had she looked up she would have seen the man raise a silvery blond eyebrow.
"Fine, meet me at my table after dinner to assign your punishment. Tardiness costs lives. Now, name and fief?"
Restraining giggles from hearing Lord Wyldon's favorite phrase coming from a man who possessed to much hair to be the retired training master, Alex almost missed the second part of the question. Fief? Oh well, she could make something up.
"Alexandra Woodward of Maryland." She announced, deciding "Maryland" sounded better than "Rockville." Her brief moment of triumph was clouded by the training master's narrowed eyes.
"Maryland?" He repeated, skeptical.
"Maryland," A voice confirmed from the back. Alex almost collapsed with relief as the sea of pages parted, revealing Lady Alanna standing there like Moses, Alex's own savior, who wouldn't understand the exalted compliment being bestowed upon her.
"Sorry Alex," the Lady strode over, placing her hand on Alex's shoulder, facing the training master. "Miss Woodward is here under special circumstances. Any questions need to be directed to His Majesty."
At this last part, several of the pages' eyes widened and the training master's eyes narrowed further. But no one said a word. Finally, he nodded, gesturing over to the pages imperviously.
"Who will sponsor her?"
As no one moved, Alex had a painful flash back to Kel's first day and her ordeal in being sponsored by Neal. The seconds stretched, feeling like minutes. Finally, a girl stepped forward, raising her hand slightly.
Alex looked the brave one over. She had long dark hair, cut in a Japanese style, as well as the classic Japanese dark skin and slanted eyes. The eye color, however, was slightly un-oriental, being a deep green: as if it couldn't decide between green and black. Her nose was also long and didn't broaden until the tip, definitely a European nose. She wore a Japanese cut shirt, loose cotton breeches and tall boots, like something out of a pirate's movie, but much better color coordinated. The thing that drew Alex to her the most, however, was the smile she flashed Alex before turning, with a straight face, to the training master.
"I would be honored to sponsor Alexandra milord." The training master's mouth tightened imperceptibly.
"Very well, Queen's Cover. Everyone, to dinner." With that he turned and strode out the door, all pages, but Alex and her new sponsor, following.
After everyone had left, Alanna turned to Alex.
"You had me worried for a second. I was thinking you'd have one of your anti-authority rants."
Alex grinned at the comment, while the other girl looked confused and curious at the familiarity between the two.
"You haven't heard the worst of them yet. Besides, that was only against a friendly monarchy. Though, now that you mention it, it might not have been a good idea to have His Lordship direct his questions to His Majesty. I get the impression he doesn't like me much."
Alanna rolled her eyes. "Jon'll defend you, or I'll know why. Well, I leave you in good hands, I suppose." She strode off down the hallway in the opposite direction.
"Goodbye Lady Alanna," both girls called back dutifully. The other girl then turned to Alex.
"In the immortal words of my father, 'I suppose I'm being rash and peculiar again'. You seemed awfully friendly with Aunt Alanna," she said, offering a hand as she added. "I'm Lily by the way."
"Alex," was the return as Alex searched her memory for the familiar quote. Neal! He was of Queen's Cove! He said that when he chose Kel, and he had been Lady Alanna's squire, so it would make sense that Lily called Lady Alanna, 'Aunt Alanna' It also made the Japanese...no make more sense.
"We'd better get going. I'd hate to make you late twice in your first ten minutes." With an even wider grin, both girls set off down the hall.
For Alex, it was a maze nearly identical to the one she'd faced following Selma. Her sense of direction was horrible and the Palace would cause no end to problems. This was not something she was looking forward too, though with any luck, she'd be able to just follow Lily around until she got the hang of it.
Reaching their destination, Alex followed Lily's example in grabbing a tray and allowing servers to heap her plate, cafeteria style, all the while stifling her "I can feed myself" argument and instead offering a polite smile and "Thank you" to each one. This apparently pleased them because they beamed back, causing the boy behind her to give her strange looks.
Finally, the two reached the table. About to plop down, Alex noticed everyone else still standing. She sighed in resignation, and took the opportunity to study each member of Lily's group, people she hoped to become her friends too.
On the far left was a tall boy with a shock of red hair and too many freckles. Beside him, slightly shorter was a stocky girl with darker hair in braids. She was followed by another boy, who was unusual in Alex's eyes in that he was completely non-descript. Anyone one looking at him would forget him instantly and he had no defining features, except for the intelligence that burned in the back of his eyes.
Across from those three were twins with dirty blond hair and dreamer's hazel eyes. It was next to there two that Lily sat, and had motioned for Alex to sit next to her.
Last to approach the table were two boys and a girl. The first boy had a tumble of brown curls, medium height and cloudy gray eyes. The girl looked to be the closest to Alex's age of 10 and was a strawberry blonde with suspiciously familiar purple eyes, but much more height.
But it was not the Lioness' granddaughter that caught Alex's attention, but the last boy, who finally settle directly across from her. He was tall, and obviously not done growing. His black hair was thick, and slightly unruly, flopping in his eyes. The Yamani descent was obviously there, in the shape of the eyes and the naturally tanned skin, but not as strong as Lily's. He had high prominent cheekbones and his eyes.... Alex couldn't help but stare at the deep Caribbean Blue of those eyes. It was more than their color though, it was the intelligence, and the command, just a light that caught Alex's breath and gave her an unusual feeling in her chest.
At the sound of the Training Master's voice, Alex snapped out of her reverie, and looking back at the boy, some of that initial feeling was lost, but Alex had the feeling that whatever it was, it would come back again later. Shaking her head at her folly, Alex forced herself to listen to the training master.
"Mithros please protect us, your warriors all, in times of clouded doubt and unknown enemies. Preserve the peace and prosperity that has blessed us and blesses us now."
"So Mote it be" was the chorused reply.
"Amen" Alex muttered, never fond of group prayer, but sensing the gods might come in handy, since she was in a place where they were very much active. Lily gave her a strange look as they sat down. Alex wondered what it meant, but didn't have to wait long to find out. As they started to eat, Lily asked:
"Amen?"
"Yeah," Alex replied, relieved to have something to say. The table had been strangely silent compared to others in the mess hall; she hoped it wasn't because of her. "It's a little like 'so mote it be', but shorter, and happier. Its more of a 'thank you' then a 'please.'"
"A 'Thank you'..." the redhead queried hesitantly.
"Sure, " Alex paused, waiting for a name.
"Christobal, Chris, of Hollyrose," Chris supplied.
"I'm Alex," Alex offered back. A voice from somewhere along the table whispered "We knew that." Alex looked questioningly around. "Excuse me for being raised right," She returned sarcastically, before continuing. "Anyway, it's a good thing to thank God, after you ask for something, regardless if He gives it to you. Which He usually doesn't. But we're alive so if nothing else, say thank you for that."
"God?" the twins asked simultaneously, before adding in "Pierre" and "Daniel of Masbole."
That gave Alex an idea, something that made her grin insanely. "Sorry to change to subject, but are you Lady Keladry's sons?"
"Yeah," They grinned their identical grins as Alex smirked to herself. Kel did end up with Dom, perfect, just as Neal obviously ended with Yuki, if Lily were any way to judge.
"Cool," She replied, drawing more confused looks, which she ignored. Alex just wasn't in the mood to explain every word of slang that spit out of her mouth. "I'm Jewish, to answer you're question about the singularity of my God. It's a monotheistic religion."
Eyebrows shot up around the table, as Alex remembered once again that here there was proof of their deities. Well, she was certainly not going to changer her beliefs simply because she landed under some other gods' jurisdiction. Well, maybe she would, under divine pressure, but not now. She looked down at her plate, playing with her food. When Alex look up again, she met the intense blue eyes of the boy sitting across from her.
"Where are you from?"
"Rockville, Maryland, The United States of America." Alex announced, getting bored of the redundancy. Then she wondered whether it had been wise to say anything at all. She shrugged off the feeling, Lady Alanna had never said not to tell, she justified to herself. There was a flicker of a question in his eyes but before he could ask it, he was interrupted. Lady Alanna's granddaughter began to speak, something Alex was to find out that she did a lot of.
"Hello! My name's Eleni of Olau. Grandmamma said you gave his Majesty a lecture on the weak points of a monarchy."
The eyebrows, which had been raised over Alex's religion, went, if possible, even higher. The boy grinned.
"Really," He asked, previous question forgotten. "Enlighten us."
"Well...it, it wasn't exactly.... I mean..." Alex stuttered, at the unexpected attention. She quickly shook herself out of it though. She was an American citizen, show some pride.
"I'll tell you what I told him," she began, as confidently as she could, all eyes on her. "This hasn't happened yet, but what happens when someone's born who isn't fit to rule?"
"That doesn't happen. Princes are trained to be Kings. The way the system works, a prince is fit by the time he inherits." Was the rebuttal from the boy.
"That brings nature v. nurture into the equation. Can how someone is raised cancel out their nature? Example: King Henry the 5th was a great King. He unified England, conquered over half of France, and despite the fact that his father had been a bit of an upstart King, England flourished. His son, King Henry the 6th, was trained by the best of tutors, all ready to inherit this great kingdom. But when the time came, he was weak. His counselors and his wife pushed him around and eventually restarted the War of the Roses."
"Well something obviously went wrong in the training." The boy shot back.
"How do you know? Henry V wasn't trained at all, he spent his young adult life in a tavern with a drunk knight."
"How do you know?"
"History!!" The boy only raised an eyebrow. Alex desperately racked her brain for a way to win this argument. Then she began to grin wickedly and spoke one word.
"Ozorne"
The effect on the table was astonishing, just as it had been intended to be. Everyone started muttering and nodding quickly in agreement with Alex. The blue-eyed boy looked startled, but only for a second, returning "Kaddar."
Just at that moment, the training master stood up, which appeared to be the cue that dinner was over. Alex looked at her nearly untouched plate, shaking her head ruefully. While she was glad for an end to the discussion, since she was losing, she was going to be hungry later.
Standing up to leave the dining hall, Alex found herself walking next to her debate partner. Knowing she wouldn't make friends if she was as stubborn as she found herself being in the past few hours. Alex offered a truce.
"I think you won that round." She conceded and was rewarded with a grin.
"It wasn't exactly fair. Grandfather warned be about your earlier conversation with him. I did have time to prepare." Was the startling reply.
"Your grandfather..." Alex repeated slowly, before turning bright red and muttering "You're not a prick."
The laugh he let out was genuine. "No, I hope not."
Alex couldn't help but laugh with him at the ridiculousness and extreme embarrassment of her situation.
"My name's Jonathan, by the way." He added after he managed to get himself under control. "Ironic isn't it."
Alex just grinned, and upon noticing that they had stopped in front of the dais, gave a sloppy salute and turned to face the training master. Bowing to him, she waited for him to speak.
"I don't believe we were formally introduced. I am Lord Quindin of Marti's Hill and I am your training master."
AN: Wow super long chapter...don't expect more like it. It's a very bum, bum buuum ending which I like. I'm not very creative and that's why Jon is named after King Jonathan but they will be referred to in that manner so you will always be able to tell which is which from not on.
Now R&R and thanks to those who already have:
Myrddin Emrys: Thank you for making an exception. You're right, it still hasn't hit her yet, she will have a big crying scene but I think I'm going to take pity on her...you'll see. But thank you
CrazyDolfin: you're right, it's not all correct. I got it off this site which seemed not to be able to translate certain words but I'll be able to update it cause I'm taking Latin next year in school, thanks for you're great review and I love your stuff
Review and you will get you're personalized response too :-)