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A few days later, a knock was heard on Kel's door a couple hours before the noon bell. She frowned, wondering who it might be. She rolled her eyes. Probably Yuki begging me to go to the dress fittings with her, Kel thought. She shuddered. Dress fittings meant dresses. And dresses, meant…Kel winced at the thought…balls. She opened the door.
"I told you, Yuki, I-" Kel stopped abruptly when she saw who it was. A familiar dark-skinned Bazhir stood at her door, looking bored.
"I'd hate to tell you this, but I'm not Yuki," he stated in a deeper voice than she remembered. Kel shook out of her shock, before opening the door and inviting him in. Zahir accepted, walking in with the same arrogance as she remembered, only a lot more so. There was also a small scar on his arm that she didn't recognize.
"What happened to your arm?" she asked, gesturing for him to sit in a chair while she got up and made tea. His handsome face betrayed no emotion as he glanced at his arm.
"I got it in the war," he stated shortly. Kel shook her head. She busied herself with pouring the tea- it was her favorite. It was a special kind of tea; the herbs needed could only grow in Yamani Islands. Therefore, it was extremely expensive. She gave him his cup and sat down across from him, sipping quietly.
Zahir was looking at her surreptitiously, but his eyes showed no hostility. Kel dismissed the look as a way to see if she had changed at all since they had last met. While he was looking at her, she used this moment to examine him herself. He was still the most kingly looking Bazhir she had ever met, but something seemed to have changed. He wasn't as unfriendly as he was before, but he wasn't making any moves to accept her yet. His hair was cropped short just past his ears like they had when they were pages.
She cleared her throat, and Zahir's calculating eyes met her calm ones. He had the nerve to look away, a faint blush staining his features. Kel continued to sip her tea as the Bazhir regained his lost pride.
"So, Kel, what have you been up to lately?" he asked. Kel jumped slightly. Her name on his tongue sounded weird to her ears. She had never heard him say it before. In their page years, he would either call her 'Lump' or 'The Girl'. He continued as if he hadn't noticed. "Have you committed treason anytime soon?" he said in a wry sense of humor. Kel chuckled, which surprised him greatly. She had never shown any kind of emotion as long as he had known her. Known as in fought, he thought to himself.
"Nope, not since I killed Blayce," she said, and smiled at him. The Bazhir gave a small smile back.
"So the Yamani Lump does show emotions. Now this is something I need to write down," Kel rolled her eyes. They continued to create a conversation, until the noon bell rang. Both jumped- they had lost track of time. They made their way down to the mess hall, chatting like old friends. When they entered, an eerie silence settled over the people. Everyone knew about Kel's old relationship that she had with Joren and his cronies in her page and squire years. Kel slipped on her Yamani Mask, and Zahir sighed.
"Here we go again, with the mask," he said, making a motion with his hand that resembled annoyance. Kel rolled her eyes, as the conversations started up again and the mess hall wasn't so quiet.
"Whatever, lets go eat," she gave his arm a tug before walking to where the stacks of trays, plates, napkins, and cutlery was. She grabbed every thing that she needed, reminding Zahir to grab vegetables. The Bazhir grumbled something about women who were too bossy. She gave him an innocent smile while he glared at her. She made her way to where Neal was waving her over while Zahir went another way to sit next to Quinden, who Neal had once so charmingly put, should never have passed. Of course, he was only joking, he never wished death upon his peers. As soon as she sat down, Neal began pummeling her with questions.
"When did he get back? Is he mean to you? I swear, Kel, if he laid one finger, just one, on you, I'll-" he said before she interrupted him.
"He got here today, Neal. He was kind of stiff at the beginning, but after he relaxed, he isn't really that bad. And no, he did not hurt me, so stop threatening him! I can take care of myself, you know. Plus, he's my fiancé, which means you have to get along with him, okay?" she scolded. The whole table stopped talking as Neal fumed to himself.
" 'Get along with him' she says. Who does she think I am? A god?" he muttered. The table was still silent, until Owen piped up.
" 'Fiancée?' he asked, "when did you two get engaged?" Kel rubbed her forehead. She hadn't told the table yet, just Neal and Dom. "I thought you were with Dom!" Both she and Dom flinched at this.
"My parents betrothed me a few days ago, so we had to break it off," she said, putting on her Yamani Mask. It still hurt her, and the day that she had broke up with him, she had cried all night. Faleron looked at her curiously.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner? Then we wouldn't have been so surprised to see you walk in together, talking," he pointed out. Kel sighed. Did he always have to ask such good questions that she didn't feel like answering?
"I suppose I didn't want you to go off onto a rampage, like Neal did," she said, shooting a glare at her best friend, who was still muttering to himself. Faleron laughed at this, so did Owen.
Faleron of King's Reach was handsome, with dark hair and just as dark eyes. He was easy going, and he knew more Tortallan law than every one of them. He was also the cousin of Merric, another one of Kel's friends.
Merric of Hollyrose was a guy who had the reddest, straightest hair that she had ever seen. He had pale blue eyes and a long broad nose that was covered in freckles, and his skin still had only the barest hint of a summer tan, though they were well into July. He almost had a fiery temper like the lioness, but his was more restrained. He sat next to Owen.
Owen of Jesslaw was one of the cheeriest, feistiest, people Kel had ever met. He seemed to love the word "Jolly" with a passion, and could always cheer her up with his impish remarks. He had startling grey eyes, just like her old sweetheart, Cleon.
Though Cleon was posted somewhere up North, but she could still make out his face as if he were right there with them. Cleon of Kennan was a big, cheerfull looking readhead who was one of Kel's most trusted friends. He had the build of a tree, and just as hard as one also. He and Kel had dated for a while, even though he was betrothed, and had lived in hope of him being able to talk his parents out of it. It didn't work, and they were forced to break up.
Neal's fiancée, and Yamani flower, as he called her, sat next to Neal. She was a plump, peppery Yamani and was as stubborn as a mule. She had the dark hair and almond eyes like all of the Yamani, but there was something special about the way she acted around Neal or Kel. If not for her complexion, then you would never know that she was raised in the Islands.
The rest of Kel's friends were stationed somewhere up north, near the Scanran border. This included black haired, black eyed, Seaver of Tasride; Esmond of Nicoline, who's normal powdering of freckles she was sure had thickened.
Dom sat on the other side of Neal, engaged in a heated battle with his cousin. Kel's and Yuki's Yamani habits took their place, being quiet. They listened to the cousin's bicker over what was more disgusting- spinach or broccoli.
"Broccoli is so much grosser than spinach, Neal! Its all flowery, and, just, ewwwwwwwy." Neal snorted.
"Nuh- uh. Broccoli is way better than the spinach. It's all juicy, and icky and it just sits there like a lump. Pardon my figure of speech, Kel," he nodded to her before continuing to bicker.
"That's enough, children. I have a compromise- both spinach and broccoli are icky," Kel said, imitating Neal's voice. The two cousin's thought it over, before nodding their heads in agreement.
"I suppose," Neal said. "but spinach is still grosser!"
"Is not!"
"Is too!"
"Is NOT!"
"Is TOO"
"IS NOT!"
"IS TOO!"
"IS-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the whole mess hall shouted. Neal and Dom blushed sheepishly.
"They're all out to get us," Neal muttered.
"Yes, but more me than you," Dom added. Neal looked at him.
"No they aren't!"
"Yes they are!"
"NO!"
"YES!"
Kel sighed. It was going to be a looooooooong lunch.
Hello, my lovelies! Thank you's are going out to:
Nolee- geez you're weird…I almost had Neal do a self-conversation, but I decided against it! Lol. Oh yeah? Well, Coconuts are so much better than Banana's! yeah, you heard me, I said it! GO COCONUTS!
Dreamerdoll-thanks, I'm glad that you like it- I was kinda hesitant on putting this out…
Kassi- I'm glad that it sounds good, but tell me if anyone is OOC, okay? I need to know these things…
Mepb- there, I changed it so that Kel took it a little harder.
Keladry of Masbolle- I hope that you like this K/Z fic!
Abused guard- oh, yes, fun things are gonna happen with Kel and Zahir!
Dragon shadows- I hope that's a good interesting!
Ossini- Yes, it will be a K/Z!
Kore Yan- I love putting peps in suspense!…but I don't like it happening to me!
Gwen- You think my writings supurb?! YAY! No one's ever said that to me before! :::does a little dance:::
Pinky- notice how I never said they were in love…but w/e, I changed it so that Kel took it a little harsher…
Emikae- oh, yes, great fun! I love writing (can you tell?)!!!!!
Mustang Gal- I updated a.s.a.p. lol! Thx for ur review!
Erkith- I did a search on both Yahoo! and , and none came up. I think that everyone just forgot about the hott Bazhir…he's MINE.
MysticMoonEmpress- YAY! My story's cool! U just made my day!
OK, peps! Review!