DISCLAIMER: I hate writing these. I mean what's the bloody point. You lot are smart enough, at least I hope, to figure it out. SO GET OFF MY BLOODY CASE!!!!!!!!!!! That was a shout out to the Powers That Be.

Okay, now that that's out of the way. You know the few people that read this story actually liked it. This was just me throwing random ideas into TextEdit, to fulfill a promise I made. Cool!

The whole deal that I wrote about Tyra. Well I remember reading that it was in fact a republic merchant country. When I remember where I read it, I'll get beck to you. But the rebellion thing, you see about that when I start my next story, 'Tyne of Tortall'. You'll see.

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It was nearly Midwinter. The snow was knee deep in parts. It was dark early, and by the time Neal reached Kel's rooms, the sun had already begun to sink, and the moon had begun its course.

Kel wasn't in her rooms, nor was she in the indoor practice courts. He checked the libraries, only to find them devoid of any Kel.

He was walking along a corridor which overlooked the outdoor archery range, when he heard the snap of a bow. 'Who would be practising outside so late in the middle of winter?' he thought.

Looking outside, Neal saw a familiar brown haired girl in a dress. With a sigh, he walked outside, and looked at his best friend.

Kel was holding a bow nearly as tall as her. Her face was set as she raised the Yamani bow and took the long arrow between her thumb and forefinger. It took her a moment to steady the bow, then shoot.

"Kel, what in Mithros' name are you doing?"

"I'm thinking, Neal" she said without looking up.

"Keladry, you're up to your knees in snow!"

"It helps me think."

"It's very cold out."

"I live in a northern fief, I'm used to it." She shot another arrow at the target.

"It's late."

"It's quieter. I can concentrate."

"Kel, you can barely see the target."

"It makes me focus harder." She shot another arrow.

Neal took this pause as an opportunity to take Kel by the shoulders and spin her around. "Kel, listen. I haven't seen you in over two years. Now you come back only to take one glance at us and run crying from the mess hall. Now I see you outside at night in the middle of winter shooting knee deep in snow, not even wearing a cloak over a thin dress, shooting a bow that you don't even like, or remember how to shoot. And you can't even tell me what's wrong? Kel, I'm your best friend!"

Kel lowered her bow. "Neal, maybe we're not the best friends we once were. We're not as close as we were as pages, and maybe we're just not the 'best friend' type."

Neal was shocked. "Kel, how can you say that? Who offered to sponsor you when no one else would as a page? That was me.

"Joren also offered, and no one asked you to. In fact I remember people, namely Wyldon, telling you not to."

"Who helped you with homework? Who showed you around the Palace? Who helped you with bullies? Who stood beside you through your entire first year, when no one else would? Me, me, me, and me again."

"Neal, I never said that we weren't friends, but I'm also friends with Esmond and Seaver, and I don't tell them everything. We're just not as close."

"Kel, who was willing to redo four years as a page, after already being too old, just so that you could find Lalasa? Who followed you to Scanra, risking treason and execution. If that's not a test of our friendship Kel, than I don't know what is. how can you, after only two years apart, say that we aren't close anymore?"

Kel looked up into Neal's brilliant green eyes. "So Neal, how's Yuki?"

Neal looked and blushed, "She got married two years ago. Her parents arranged a wedding with a rich Yamani noble. They didn't want her marrying a foreigner."

Kel's eyes hardened, "I knew that Neal. Do you want to know just how I knew? Dom told me. Domitan of Masbolle, your cousin."

"He would know. He seems to always know everything about me."

"I shouldn't have heard it from Dom." Kel's voice was calm, but cutting and icy. "I should have heard it from you, Nealan. you say that we're close? That we're best friends? Why didn't you tell me when your betrothed of a year leaves. Where were you when the refugees were kidnapped? You only came after I had already left. Where were you when Cleon got married? There are some things, Nealan, that I can't say to you anymore."

Kel turned and left the courts, leaving a stunned Neal behind her. She ran to her rooms, and locked the doors. When she was safely inside, she collapsed on her bed. She didn't cry, her Yamani training had taken hold.

"Kel, Keladry of Mindelan open this door." Kel heard the voice of Buri, commander of the Queen's Riders through the door. Slowly, she walked up, and swung the door open. Waiting impatiently outside were Buri, Daine, Alanna, and Shinko.

They walked in, closed and locked the doors, and forced Kel into a chair.

"What was that about, Keladry," Alanna asked. "My former squire came to me asking me to talk to you after having found you shooting arrows at night in over a foot of snow."

"We talked about this last time i found you doing this," Buri added, "I told you that if you needed to talk, you should come to one of us, and not try to kill yourself outside shooting a bow that you don't even like."

Shinko knelt in front of her friend. "Kel, please tell us what's wrong. And why you can't tell Neal,"

Kel's voice was soft, "I can't tell Neal, because he doesn't understand. He's a man, and not a particularily sensitive one at that."

"We know that, Keladry," Alanna said smiling.

"It was just the fact that." Kel paused to collect her thoughts. "The past two years have been tiring at New Hope. Every week there was a raid, sometimes three times a week. I never had any time to talk to my friends, or even think about everything. Merric said that I fell into my own shell, and I suppose that he was right." she trailed off here, and looked up.

"Continue, Kel. We won't judge you here." Shinko's calm voice steadied her.

"Well, I never spoke to anyone anymore. All I ever did was work. I just threw all of my effort into running New Hope, and didn't give a thought even to my own health. When the war finished, and I was finally able to come out of it, I found that my friends had changed a lot more than I had thought. I didn't fit in anymore."

"Keladry," Daine spoke for the first time. "Your friends would accept you no matter how much they had changed, or how much you had changed."

"Nealan was very upset about your argument." Alanna put in.

Kel continued more softly. "Before I came to New Hope, I had broken off with Cleon of Kennan. He had to be married to a rich heiress to save his fief. I didn't think much of it when it happened. I think that I wasn't in love with him anymore. I thought that it was for the best. When I saw him today with his betrothed, it all hit me at once. The fact that he would never be with me again. The fact that our friendship would never be the same. And then when I saw her, I saw that she was everything he could want. Beautiful, long blonde hair, perfect skin, ringing laugh, and he looked so much in love with her. It just struck me all at once that I will never be that, or have that." She lowered her head.

"Kel, don't say that." Alanna's gaze had softened. "I'm a Lady Knight, and I still found love and happiness. I promise that there is someone out there for you. You will have that."

"It's easier for you to say," Kel said miserably, "You have Baron George. Her Majesty has His Majesty, Commander Burriam has my Lord Raoul, Daine has Master Numair, and Shinko had Prince Roald. All I have is a fickle heart."

"Now Kel, I don't want to hear you say that" Buri said calmly, "You are going to stop crying, come with us to dinner, apologize to Neal, who is extremely hurt, and you will come with us in a dress to the Midwinter Ball tomorrow." Kel nodded.

Alanna and Buri each took one of Kel's elbows and lifted her from her seat. They pulled her from the rooms and led her forcefully down the hallway.

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TO ALL MY REVIEWERS:

Sorry for the weird chapter. My idea well for 'A Rider From a Lady' is still a little on the dry side, so this will not be a long story, i hope, and I will try to get a few more ideas soon.

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