All right, I just adore Neal, so I had to make a fic about him and Kel. Hopefully this works…

Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize, and most likely nothing you don't recognize. No wait…. I made up Lebour off the top of my head, cuz I couldn't remember any of the names of places in Tortall.

"Kel, this is ridiculous," Neal ranted, running a hand through his messy brown hair. "You just leave while we're studying without an explanation, are away for an hour or so, and come back, like, like this! Why won't you tell me what happened?!"

Keladry of Mindelan stood in front of her best friend, mouse brown hair disheveled, nose dripping blood, covered in bruises, and a large purple mark framing one hazel eye, which was growing larger by the minute. She shrugged sheepishly, wincing with the pain. "I did tell you, I fell down."

Neal rolled emerald eyes. Gods, he is gorgeous, thought Kel. "Kel, I know you, I'm the one who taught you say that. It might work with the Stump, but not with me."

"Listen, will you help me or not?" Kel asked impatiently. "Because as long as I'm getting in trouble from Lord Wyldon, I'd rather not be in such a sorry state."

"Fine. I don't know why I do this for you, maybe if I didn't just heal you, you'd stop getting yourself halfway killed several times a week!" He touched a cool hand glowing green to Kel's forehead. The injured girl sighed as her pain slowly started to melt away. She hated lying to her friends like this- especially Neal. If only Joren and his stupid cronies would give up on their pointless torturing of the younger pages. But if they weren't going to give up, she wasn't giving up on her patrol either. Kel looked up at Neal's face, screwed up in concentration, and couldn't help but smile. I don't like being in love, she thought, nothing will ever happen, he'll never like me. He'll always be mooning over prettier girls, like Daine or some other court girl. In her thoughts, Kel conveniently forgot that she possessed quite a beauty herself. Not a typical beauty like that of the fine ladies of court, but something deeper. There was so much meaning to be found in her determined face and dreamy hazel eyes. "All done," Neal said, rubbing his own head tiredly. "You must have taken quite a beating tonight. That was harder than usual. You'll still have to face the Stump though, I'm afraid. It'll be hard for anyone to miss those bruises. "

Kel scowled. "I did not take a beating!" she insisted in vain. "I fell."

"Whatever you say, Keladry dear. Anyway, I am exhausted! And we have the knight from Lebour coming to watch us tilt tomorrow… I'm doomed…" And with that melodramatic comment, Neal slipped out of Keladry's room.

Kel undressed and flopped onto her bed, but unlike most nights, she didn't fall asleep right away. What was she going to do tomorrow? Lord Wyldon would most likely be furious, and assign her extra chores. And what was she going to do about Joren? Her current plan obviously wasn't working. Kel worried on this tangent for several hours. Finally she drifted into a light sleep, only a few hours before dawn.

The next morning, Kel felt like she had been kicked all over. Which was reasonable, considering that she had. She made her way to the line, trying to sneak past Lord Wyldon with her head down. Alas, she had no such luck.

"Page Keladry, I would like to see you in my study immediately after breakfast," he ordered as she slouched past. Hearing this, Kel stopped and bowed, her face Yamani smooth. I'll never give him the satisfaction of upsetting me, she thought grimly. But she was upset. All the extra chores she had been assigned over the last couple of weeks had begun to catch up with her. It was showing in her fighting.

As she sat down with her friends, they looked at her, then Neal who just shook his and shrugged, and then back at her. "Kel, what's going on?" Asked Raold, concern in his eyes.

"Neal, eat your peas and stop putting them on Cleon's plate. They're good for you," Kel said, completely ignoring the young prince's question. Neal took his peas back from a glaring Cleon, who hadn't been paying any attention to his own plate since Kel had sat down.

Raold tried again, "Kel, if you need help with something, we're here for you. You don't need to suffer all this."

Kel swallowed the rest of her water. "Nothing is going on!" she snapped. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see Lord Wyldon." And with that, she stormed out of the dining hall.

The shocked members of the table simply stared at each other. That is, all except for Neal, who quickly scraped his peas onto Kel's plate that she had left on the table and hurried after his friend.

So? Should I continue? It would get fluffier in chapters to come. Press the pretty little button that says "GO" at the bottom left and tell me what you think in a REVIEW!