Disclaimer: Okay, you and I both know that I don't compare to Tamora Pierce.
As she slammed the lance into her opponent's shield and sent him flying, she heard the sound of clapping on the sidelines. She flipped up her visor to see Raoul grinning like a maniac. She was unable to keep the smile from her face, and turned to her opponent, who lay on the ground. He groaned.
"That's it. I'm done with getting bruises from you. I've got enough to last me another lifetime," he said. Kel rolled her eyes and dismounted.
"Honestly, Neal. You'd think that by now you would have become immune," she said sarcastically, giving him a hand up. She didn't need to see his face to know that he was pouting. He lifted his helmet off, revealing exactly what she had thought.
"Humph. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go bathe and spend the rest of the day with my Yamani Flower," he drawled, hobbling off, still in his armor. Kel shook her head, and lead Peachblossom toward Raoul, murmuring complements to her wonderful horse.
"You wanna go for a real challenge?" he said. Kel groaned.
"Not really, but I know it'll make me better," she commented, and watched as he went to go get his mount. She patted Peachblossom on the nose.
"You know, it's not ladylike to go jousting," a voice said behind her. Kel winced at the scorn in his voice. She slipped on her Yamani mask before turning to face Zahir.
"Well, in case you haven't realized it yet, I'm not a typical lady," she said, no emotion in her voice. Zahir rolled his eyes.
"Well, since we are moving to my tribe after we get married, I'd hoped you would become more…" he trailed off, searching for the right word, "Feminine." Kel stiffened at the word.
"I am a knight of Tortall, Zahir," she said, struggling to keep the anger from reaching her voice. Unfortunately, it did waver a little, but Zahir didn't seem to notice. "That means that I don't do 'womanly' things." Zahir looked at her.
"Please do this, Kel," he said, surprising her by the softness in his voice. She raised her eyebrows at his almost pleading gesture. Seeing that he caught her attention, he continued. "My tribe will think that you're not good enough. They'll go back on the marriage, and we can't do that, Kel. We need it so much." Kel sighed.
"How about a compromise?" she said finally, dimly registering the fact that Raul was coming back from the stables. Zahir hesitated, than nodded reluctantly. "We'll talk about this later. Come to my rooms after dinner." Zahir nodded again, and went off. Raoul grinned, his helmet in his hand.
"Ready for some flying lessons?" he asked. Kel mentally groaned, her smart part of her head screaming, asking her what she was thinking. She shook it off and mounted Peachblossom, and went to the end of the lane.
Picking up her lance, she whispered, "Charge." Peachblossom thundered down the lane, and Kel stood up slightly in her saddle. It felt so perfect, the way the wind smacked against her body, the way the lance was angled, and she could see Raoul coming at her with extraordinary speed. And then, her body dimly registered pain in her side as she was lifted off the saddle, and she felt like she was taller than she ever was before. She just barely remembered to slap the ground in time, and rolled onto her back, gasping for breath. Peachblossom snorted as she got up, brushing herself off. What happened? She thought, it felt so right. Oh yeah, now I remember. She thought of how she had spotted Zahir leaning on the fence, and that had caught her off guard. She looked over to where she had spotted him. He wasn't there.
Kel shook her head. She was beginning to imagine things. She heard Raoul's mount come trotting over and she took off her helmet.
"What happened, Kel? I've never seen you lose it in the middle of a joust before. What caused you're abnormal determination to flicker?" he dramatized. Kel snorted, momentarily reminded of Neal.
"Nothing, My Lord," she reassured, wincing at the fact that she called him "my lord". He hated formalities. He took off his own helmet, and frowned.
"'My Lord'?" he repeated, dismounting. There was a lot of him to dismount. At 6 ft 3, Raoul still towered over her. His coal black eyes showed confusion. "You haven't called me that since you were my squire. I think that the force of the ground knocked the sense out of you. A bath, and then off to bed with you." He commanded. Kel shook her head.
"I'm fine, Raoul. I think that it was just a weird moment. But I think that I've had enough jousting for today. Maybe tomorrow we could do it again." Raoul nodded as Kel led her mount away towards the stables. As she brushed him down, she ran through her earlier conversation with Zahir.
I hope he doesn't expect me to wear anything…inhuman," she thought, thinking of dresses. She involuntarily shuddered. She could feel her anger rising. If he thinks that he can just command me, and I'll do it, than he's wrong. She continued to think enraged thoughts, not even noticing that the brush was being pressed down firmer and firmer onto Peachblossom's coat. That is, until he stepped on her foot. Kel yelped and dropped the brush.
"Sorry, Peachblossom. I didn't mean to hurt you," she said to her horse. Peachblossom snorted once, and then turned his head, indicating that she was forgiven as long as she would be careful. After she had finished, Kel went to go take a wondrous bath.
A/N: Yay! Sorry that its so uneventful, and now its time to thank my wondrous (I love that word) reviewers!!
Dreamerdoll: :::rolls eyes::: whatever. Do as you wish, and go "do something drastic", just as long as you review first! Oh, and you have to finish ur stories two!
Nolee: don't worry, I have a new idea for a k/j fic, and that rating will be bumped up to R! yay! I'll talk to you about it tomorrow with the details. Or the next time we IM each other. Okay, um, whats this about you marring another girl? Specifically, Miranda? You're weird…u said she was just a "side-dish", off of Joren! I LMFAO when she told me about that! GO YOU!
Gwen: yes, Mia tormentors! Mwahahahahaha!
Keladry of Masbolle: of course I'll read it! You just have to tell me ur penname and stuff!
Pinky: NUH UH! Spinach is soooo much grosser. I love broccoli!
Kassi: I LOVE both of them! GO NEAL!…and Dom.
Fugitive: don't worry. I hate it when peps make Joren's or Vinson's or whoever's relationship with Kel too fast. It drives me insane!
Kendrie-PsychoMuffinEater: don't steal the plot, but you can steal the pairing! I'm trying to start a new trend: K/Z fics! Will you join the recruits of Me, Gwen, and Sammy?
Kore Yan: Patience. The fluff shall come.
Living People: thanks.
Dragon shadows: I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long!
PsychoLioness13: yummmm! Cookies! Well, as I said before, I'm trying to recruit new peps to write a k/z fic! Come join us!
Hawiiangirl:yay! I'm on author alert! I'm on author alert! Ahem…
Mepb: define "choppy" for me…thx.
Ossini: I LOVE Zahir! HE'S MINE!
Queen-of-sapphires: thanks for telling me. :::shrugs::: they pretty much ARE kids to me… w/e. I love them for it!
Mystic Moon Empress: I'm glad I made ur day!
Lynsi: actually, I let Nolee have Joren. I'm WAY more interested in hott, foreign men. :::drools:::
Allimba: is that a good interesting or a bad interesting?
Emikae: thanks. I'm glad you think it was funny…I don't really like this chapter, though…
Jumping jo: I'll add ur idea next chappie!
Glaive grl: I guess he did. :::shrugs::: I made this chappie a little more realistic. Its so hard to get his character down because Tammy barely mentions him in the PotS series…
BloodSoakedTiger: where did you get that name? It's very…interesting…
Sora Icefreeze: I hope that's a good woah…
DaughterofDeath: here! A new chapter!
Hessel: thx lots!
Lady Angelique of mystiqu: here, I kept up my end of the bargain. I updated, and you got YIM. We're even. Oh yes, but my ruler is better than ur straw!
OMG, guys! 44 reviews??!! GASP! That's a new record! Keep going!