Title: Best Warrior
Author: Heiress
Rating: PG
Pairings: Not yet decided
Summary: Everyone knows how Alanna's secret was revealed through that one stroke in the duel with Duke Roger. Well what if that stroke had been completed in another battle, at another time?
Disclaimer: This all belongs to Tamora Pierce. I own nothing at this plot though I do have rights on the plot later on.
Suggestions for further plot developments are welcome and much appreciated. Flames will be doused with my muse's tears.
Chapter the Second
:: the red-haired whirl-wind ran into the next room and slammed the door behind her. A second too late Jon ran to force the door and the issue but was only in time to hear the lock click into place. ::
Alanna stood just beyond her door, trembling with a draining combination of fury and fear. She could almost feel Jon on the other side of the door, trying to decide what to do after his squire's sudden outburst. After a moment, she heard the faint shuffling sounds of him walking away from her door and then a low, groaning, creak as he sat at the chair in front of his desk.
Alanna pulled back from the door with a relieved sigh, she had been afraid that Jon would continue to push the issue, but it seemed that their unspoken taboo for entering each other's rooms after dusk had held. She crossed the room on shaky legs to collapse onto her bed.
Faithful leapt onto the bed after her and draped himself across her stomach. : That was stupid: Alanna, exhausted as the adrenaline drained out of her body, merely grunted. : How articulate:
With a groan, the girl propped herself up on her elbows and glared at the cat lying on her abdomen. "What was stupid?"
Faithful rolled over onto his back so that his violet eyes looked into Alanna's own. : Although that "rant and retreat" ploy may have distracted Jonathon long enough for him to forget about questioning you, it also effectively trapped us in here:
Alanna sat up the rest of the way, knocking a disgruntled Faithful to the side of the bed in the process and ignoring the ensuing yowl. "Damn!" she muttered. The cat was right.
There were only two doors leading from Alanna's room, the right hand one led into Jonathon's room, and the other, far more used door led into the study that their rooms adjoined to. Due to the "Y" shape of the prince's suite, the only way out of the apartment was through the study, in which Jon was oh-so-conveniently sitting in.
"Damn." She repeated, more vehemently.
: You said that already:
"You shut up." Alanna flopped back down onto the bed, admiring the situation that she had gotten herself into. On the bright side, she wouldn't be stuck in here permanently. Being the Heir, Jonathon usually had court functions to attend to. Unfortunately, it was only half-past six and the parties didn't generally start until nine or ten.
If she hadn't lost her temper, she wouldn't have had this problem. As it was, if she tried to leave while Jon was still here, he would probably stop her to try and figure out why she reacted so strongly. Jon was good about things like that, sorting out differences and patching up arguments, it would probably make him a good king. In the meantime, it often made him an incredibly annoying friend.
Storming out doesn't work that well when someone follows you, asking if you've been feeling stressed lately, or if you feel that people expect too much of you. At least this time she hadn't pissed him off enough that he used Royal Authority to get her back out.
There was a soft sound in the next room and Alanna instantly froze, the sliding of cloth on wood, a shifting of weight on old floorboards. She listened to him walk across the study and mentally tallied up the time that she had been locked in here. Counting the tense moments waiting for him to leave her door, and the lethargic period that followed, Alanna was surprised to find that it had been two hours. Jon must be getting ready for the banquet tonight, luckily, pages were the ones who served at banquets, not squires, so Alanna would not have to face her knight-master for the rest of the evening.
The door to Jonathon's room clicked shut. "Do you think that it's safe to leave?" Alanna asked the cat.
Faithful briefly stopped batting at invisible dust motes and rolled over onto his stomach to look thoughtfully at his mistress. : I doubt that he would see you but light as you are, the floorboards will still creak. And, unless he is indecent when he hears you, he will follow after. You should wait until he has left.:
"You're right, Damn it."
: You really should find something new to say:
"Shut up."
: You said that already too: the cat gave her a superior smirk and rolled over to scratch his back against the bedspread.
The girl glared at the gloating cat but changed the subject. "I know that it's better to be cautious and bored that caught but I am sick of waiting, and if we are going to be waiting until Jon is ready than I am going to be dead of boredom and old age before we get out of here! I thought that it was the court ladies who were supposed to take forever getting ready, not the men."
: As prince, most of the eyes of the court will be focused on him, waiting to see a weakness that they can exploit. If he looks sloppy, they can say that he does not have enough respect for himself, the court, or the country. If he looks too nice, they can say that he's a dandy and a fool.
He has to strike the perfect balance between the two. Strong, but not oafish; dressed well, but not flamboyant; neat, but not prissy; polite, but not false. He has the weight of a kingdom on his shoulders, and all are gathered to make him trip and fall:
Alanna stood frozen, Faithful rarely said so much, so seriously. She never really thought about politics and court intrigue. After all, she was training to be a knight, not a diplomat. But Jon had to do both, all of the time, with people always watching. She didn't know if she would be able to handle something like that. Maybe I should-
A small black head bumped against her ankle. : Listen: Faithful hissed. Alanna cocked her head.
"I don't here any-"
: Shush! :
The girl stopped talking and focused all of her attention beyond her door and into the next room. She was about to tell Faithful that he was imagining things when she heard it. A faint scuff of leather against wood, the subtle creak of a floorboard. Jonathon was ready early.
She froze, waiting for the moment when Jon would knock on the door and try to discuss their differences and reconcile after their argument. Alanna prepared to blithely ignore her prince, and realized that no such knock was forthcoming. She listened again. The noises were still there and they were leading away from her room.
He's sneaking out she realized. He's figur4ed out that pushing the matter isn't going to change my mind so he's going to leave me alone!" Even as this thought occurred to her she heard the hinges sigh a the outer door was opened and then the abrupt snick as it was shot.
Alanna stood frozen for a few seconds longer before cautiously approaching the door. She resisted the urge to run out through the study to the freedom of the hallway. Common sense telling her that the Prince, not being in the same hurry she was, could still be in the hallway, or that he might have forgotten something and might suddenly come back to fetch it. She forced herself to wait five more tortuous minutes in her makeshift prison before reaching for the doorknob.
The girl glanced back at Faithful to see of the cat was going to come. He barely even noticed as he stared intently at the door, whiskers angled down and and tail twitching in an expressaion of feline confusion.
: Something's not right: he muttered.
"Is it dangerous? Do you know what it is?" Alanna said, turning around in her surprise.
: No and no, but something is not as it should be:
"Well if you can't give me a more definite answer than I am getting the hell out of here!" She glanced back but the cat had resumed his glaring at the exit. Alanna shrugged at her pet's sudden absorption and again reached for the doorknob.
Faithful's sudden warning hiss of : Wait! : reached her just as she threw open the door-
-and nearly ran into the Crown Prince of Tortall, who was lounging against the doorframe and staring right at her.
: Told you so:
A/N- In In the Hand of the Goddess it suggest that Jon's apartment is two rooms, His and then, through a connecting door, hers. I took the liberty of changing it so that it was more similar to Raoul and Kel's setup in Squire, except that Alanna's door doesn't open out onto the hallway.
Suggestions for further plot developments would be immensely appreciated and spoilers cannot be given because I don't know what will happen either.