Chapter 6: A Question of Loyalty
A/N: Just a filler until chapter 7, which should be much longer. The coin-tossing part may seem a bit modern – I don't know how if they would have had this method in Tortall. Please read and enjoy! And review .
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Kel and Dom were sitting in the sunny courtyard at the palace, a day before Kel had to leave for the Islands. However, there were still some things that needed to be sorted out before she left, and Kel was determined to do a certain one of them. Unfortunately, Dom wasn't too thrilled with the idea.
"I don't see why he has to know, Kel. After all, he spread that rumour about Adele and me." Dom lounged on one of the elegantly carved wooden benches, staring up at the azure sky.
"You know how word spreads in the palace. If one of us doesn't tell him, then he'll find out himself, and he'll be livid." Kel stated truthfully, poking him in the ribs. Dom winced and rubbed his chest tenderly. "Besides, he's my best friend."
"Well, tell him yourself, then!"
"No…he's your cousin!"
Dom sat up and grinned. "You've fought bandits and evil mages, but you're scared to tell your best friend that you're with his cousin?"
Kel glared. "You're scared too."
Dom sighed but didn't argue. "Settle it with a toss, then." A more traditional way would be to have a match, but he had no intention of risking limbs or life against the second Lady Knight. By her smile, Dom knew that Kel had realised his thoughts. He produced a coin out of his pocket and flipped it high into the air. "Your call."
"Heads!"
The coin spun before their eyes, twinkling in the sunlight before plummeting to earth. Dom snatched it out of the air with the ease of practise, then flipped it onto his palm. Kel peered closer.
Dom smirked. "Tails."
Kel scowled at him, then inspected the coin. "I bet you fixed it somehow."
Dom gazed back at her innocently. "Me? I would never do such a thing!"
She sighed and flicked his forehead – a common Yamani gesture for saying the recipient was stupid. "You don't care about me at all, do you? If I come back with my clothes set on fire, it's your entire fault."
"I think it's more an issue of you caring for me," he told her, trying not to smile. "You want to look out fro my physical and mental health, don't you?" When Kel scowled at him, he said more seriously, "Neal is family, but that means he can do whatever he wants to me. You, on the other hand, are his best friend. He cares for you."
Kel smiled crookedly. "Yes. But do you? You should be the one placing his neck on the line, not me."
Dom caught her by the hand as she walked past. He stood to face her, hand turning her head to face him. "You know I care for you," Dom said softly. His lips touched hers, assuring her of his statement.
Kel broke free of his kiss and glared at him, grumbling to herself about sly and inconsiderate sergeants as she headed off into the palace to find Neal. Dom waved to Kel cheerfully as she reached the doors, infinitely glad that he had taken the opportunity to learn a few gambling tricks from his Player friend Evin.
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Kel steeled herself for the worst as she strode up to Neal's door. Neal was her best friend, yes, but he was not known for great self control. She took a deep breath, calming herself, then knocked tentatively on his door.
A few seconds later the door opened to reveal a tired looking Neal. Kel felt sorry for him - unlike Kel, he had not had a break since returning from the border, instead spending his days receiving tuition from his father regarding magical injuries. Still, he smiled when he saw her. "Hello, Kel. Did you need something?"
Kel looked insulted. "I'm your best friend, not a Crown official."
Neal grinned. "Sorry. Do you want to come in? Better leave the door open, though. The Stump's back as well."
Kel accepted his offer and sat down on one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs provided by the Crown. "I thought his Grace told you not to call him that."
Neal took a place close to her on the chair in front of his desk. It was scattered with books opened to pages containing texts in tiny print and complex diagrams. "He said not to let him catch me with that name on my tongue. That's different."
She looked at him disapprovingly. "You knew what he meant."
Neal shrugged. "Oh well. So what did you want to talk to me about?"
Kel shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "It's about me and Dom."
"What about you and Dom?" Neal raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Well…"
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Dom was waiting for Kel's return when the palace exploded. The said explosion, in modern times, was very similar to that of a volcano erupting, or perhaps a nuclear bomb. Even from the courtyard, he could hear Neal shouting an impressive collection of expletives he suspected Neal had learnt from his stay in Scanra. He winced in pity for Kel. Then he realised he should be feeling sorry for himself. She would do nothing short of murder him when she got back.
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Kel watched her friend anxiously as he recovered from his rather extensive bout of shouting and cursing. She made a half-hearted attempt to soothe her best friend. "It can't be that bad, can it?"
Kel regretted her words the moment they came out of her mouth. Neal swelled to the proportions of a bantam hen before he remembered that the door was still open and calmed down enough to hiss his reply. "It can and it is that bad! You're my best friend! And my cousin! Domitan of Masbolle, of all people!"
"What do you mean, 'of all people'?" Kel asked suspiciously.
Neal took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. He massaged his temples for a moment before he answered. "Because my dear cousin is renowned for chasing rich court ladies, not Lady Knights. It's not that you're ugly or barbaric or anything like that," he added hastily as Kel opened her mouth to make an indignant response. "It's just very…out of character for him. And it's not that I don't like of the idea of you two being together…well, yes I do, but only for that reason." Neal looked confused for a minute, then shook his head. "I just want you to be careful around Dom. I don't want you to be hurt by him."
Kel grimaced at Neal's blunt comments, but knew that they were true. But She wasn't about to let Neal win so easily. "If he never really loved me in the first place, then he wouldn't have taken the pains to confess in the first place," she pointed out. "And like you said earlier, he could have any of the ladies now that he's here. But he still chose me, didn't he?"
Neal didn't answer for a long while. "When you go on your little trip – that will be the test for Dom's loyalty. With you gone, and all the ladies fawning over him…then we'll see."
Kel couldn't disagree with that. They sat in silence for a while, then out of the blue Neal suddenly asked, "So if it all goes well…do you plan on getting married?"
Kel studied an embroidered wall hanging of Neal's grandfather with the fascination usually reserved for the Dominion Jewel. She felt her cheeks grow hot. "We're not that far…"
Neal grunted. "Good. Imagine, then we'd be related!"
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Fifteen minutes later, Kel returned to the courtyard. To Dom's relief, she did not look nearly as murderous as he had thought she would look. "So how did it go?"
Kel shrugged and sat down on the bench. One of Kel's sparrows, Arrow, landed on her palm, cheeping. She stroked his feathers gently. "It wasn't as bad as it could have been, once he got over the initial shock."
Dom grinned. "I heard the explosion. What did he say?"
Kel hesitated, but then told him what Neal had said to her. However, she kept Neal's idea about her trip being Dom's test of loyalty to herself.
Dom shook his head. "He's just paranoid…I think we'll be all right, once he gets used to the idea. Besides, I'm smarter than that. I don't want to lose any body parts to you or any of your over-protective friends." He stood up and offered his hand to her, exactly as he had less than a week ago. "Come on, I'll help you pack for tomorrow."
They spent the rest of the afternoon in Kel's room, packing things that Kel would need for her trip. Lalasa, who would usually help her with these sorts of things, was busy organising her finances from the sales of Midwinter purchases, so Kel preferred not to bother her, instead enlisting Dom's help to squash everything into one packing case. Though it took longer than she thought it would. Mainly because Dom kept causing…interesting...distractions.
It was nearly dusk when they finished. Looking around the room, Kel found it looked oddly empty without most of her possessions.
"You'll be back soon enough," Dom assured her gently, as if he read her thoughts. He toyed with the thunderstone in his hands. Its smooth, polished interior caught the light, showing off impressive blue markings.
Kel nodded. It was odd. In a few years, the palace had grown to be her home almost as much as Mindelan was.
A crash of several heavy somethings jerked her from her reminiscing. Kel looked up quickly to catch Dom frozen in place by her shelf, a large heap of books piled at his feet. Loose pieces of paper fluttered to the ground. He looked innocently at her. "I didn't do it!"
Kel rolled her eyes and helped Dom replace her books to their original positions. "I'm lucky this brick didn't fall on my foot," Dom grunted as he heaved a particularly heavy volume onto the shelf. "How many dictionaries can one need, anyway?"
Kel hid a grin, though not very well. "Well, it's your own fault for collapsing the whole thing in the first place," she scolded. She noticed the slip of paper in Dom's hand and came to peer over his shoulder. "What were you after?"
Dom showed her the thick sheet of art paper. It was a faded, dreamy watercolour painting of a Yamani mountain scene, much like the one that she had given Roald for one Midwinter. "Did you paint this? It's really good!" Dom sounded genuinely impressed.
Kel shook her head ruefully. "I'm willing to bet Jump paints better than I do." The scarred dog looked up at them and thumped his tail on the floor. "This was done by my mother. If only I could have inherited that talent…"
Dom smiled mischievously. "Since you don't seem to have any other ones."
Kel glared at him and Dom started laughing. "You know, I'm starting to think Neal's right! You won't miss me at all, will you?"
Dom stopped laughing. "You know that's not true, Kel," he said, sounding hurt. He caught her hand, kissing her teasingly until she finally relented and kicked him out of her rooms, saying she had to finish the last of her packing.
Dom snorted as he turned the corner of the corridor. He knew Kel better than that by now, and suspected that she wanted to have a nap instead, without him wreaking havoc to the rest of her room. Still, she was more than entitled to her rest after all she had done in Scanra.
Now the problem was what to do for fun for the month she was gone.
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A/N: So how was it? It's just a lead up for chapter 7…which I am working on right now! I promise!
Warrior of Destiny: Ehehe…well I'm not too sure if it's okay. My beta isn't online right now, so it probably isn't too good…
Lena-jade: I'm glad you think so.
Pheep: Ahahah. I'm happy you reviewed! And thanks for reading my other fics too, you were extremely encouraging. Are we the only anime otakus in the TP section? Seems like it. I sense a Takuto fan.
warrior of tortall: Hehe. Thanks.
Dragon Shadows: No, I'm afraid we still have a while to go before the last chapter Please bear with me.
nebulia: keke…I thought I heard it somewhere before…sigh I'm getting so unoriginal. Thanks for your review!
DrStrangeLove007: Sorry it took so long!
dreamerdoll: Ahaha. Thanks very much!
Wake-robin: Thanks!!
Daughter-of-faeries: I had hoped it didn't sound like a soapie.
Lady Angelique of Mystiqu: lol…sorry I took so long!
The ORIGINAL Meathead: This chapter was mainly for you! Of course there's gonna be more chappies! I need more reviews!
Alannalovingwriter: Ehe. Sorry! I'm glad you like it.
A/N: And thanks again to Kit for beta-reading and it's thanks to her that this chapter is up now!
Kit: You're welcome. TT I'll just ignore the fact you're a perfectionist and this is the THIRD time I've posted up this chapter. You're lucky you're such a good writer, you know that?
Now…review! …please?
Thou shalt click the pretty buttoneth.
V
