Sorry it took this long to update this story, this one of the ones that fell through the cracks when I was transferring everything to the laptop. I hope you find it worth the wait. And I had to make an extra chapter, the chapter after this one is the one I had been intending to write next, it would have dragged on too long if I hadn't split it up, and I have a lot planned for the next chapter.

Ch 6 A Disguise to make.

That night at dinner Lorilyn told her parents about the newest piece of court gossip. Lord Fenish's daughter Herah was giving a masquerade ball in five days. She told them about the things some of the court had planned to do while they were anonymous. "Oh Dorian, you're invited too" she added.

"Thanks" he said wondering how he could get out of it, but then again maybe I could bring some friends. "Can we bring someone" he asked his sister.

"Yes, I believe the invitation says you can bring a couple of friends, it adds to the mystery if even the hostess doesn't know everyone there" she said.

He was thinking about that the next day at the collegium. He looked for Gareth finding him heading for the salle. "Gareth, I've been looking for you".

"Why" he asked.

"I've been invited to a masquerade and I need to be saved from boredom, could you come with me" he asked jogging to keep up with the other boy.

"I don't have a costume and can't really afford to pay for one" he said.

"That's alright, when I get mine I'll just one for you. The Fitting is tomorrow morning, if you stay over at my place tonight you could get fitted" he said.

"I don't know" he started to say.

"Please, you'd be doing me a favor, I don't know how I could stand it without at least one other intelligent person to talk to" he pled.

Gareth laughed "Alright I'll do it".

"Thanks I owe you one, where should we meet" he asked.

"How about by companions field, I'll be visiting Fianna after classes, you could meet her" Gareth said.

"Really, that would be great" Dorian said.

Dorian ran to his next class excited to actually be meeting a Companion.

Dorian couldn't wait for classes to finish so he could meet Garath's Companion. He did concentrate fully in weaponspractice, even if he was helping Alberich he knew he was getting no breaks in the class, and when he thought about it, he wanted none. He remembered the stories the weaponsmaster at the keep told about the wars he had been involved in and knew he needed to have the kind of training Alberich provided.

When the other boys complained about how hard Alberich was he just smiled, not saying a word. They would learn or not he thought to himself.

Finally the time came to go home, he wasn't worried about bringing a friend home, especially a future Herald. His mother had told him the other day that he should bring some of his friends to visit. And Lorilyn had been bringing friends home from the first week they had come to Haven. He felt in his pocket for the apple he had gotten from the kitchens for Fianna. He liked the sound of her name.

Soon he rounded the corner and saw the fence enclosing Companion's field, He saw a figure in grey standing by a Companion and realized it must be Gareth. As he came closer he saw he was correct. "Gareth" he called jogging up to join them, he saw a bag near the fence.

Gareth turned and waved him over "Come meet Fianna, she's been wanting to meet you".

"Really" he said surprised, it had never occurred to him that any of the Companion's even knew he existed.

"I told her about your invitation" he said turning back to her.

"Oh" he said flushing, he should have remembered Herald's do talk to their Companions. "Do you mind if I give her a treat" he asked.

"You can ask her yourself" he said with a smile.

Dorian pulled the apple out and held it near the fence "Would you like an apple Fianna".

She nodded her head and stepped dainily forward, reaching over the fence and gently took the apple from his hand, her nose was soft he thought before she raised her head and munched the apple.

"She tells me to thank you" Gareth said.

"Your welcome" he said to her directly.

She stepped forward again and nudged her head under his hand "She likes her ears scratched" Gareth said. Dorian obliged not really ready to believe he was actually touching a real Companion.

Finally Gareth said "Don't you think we should start out to your home".

"Oh sure" he said, giving Fianna one last scratch. "It was nice meeting you" he said.

"She want's you to know she enjoyed meeting you too" Gareth said, picking up his bag.

"Goodbye" he waved to her as they walked to the gate nearest to his house.

"How far is it to your house anyway" Gareth asked, looking doubtfully at the grand houses on the street they were walking on. He had been born on a farm in southern Valdemar and had been impressed with Haven, never having seen a city before in his life, he had gotten used to the city, but places like this still awed him, it seemed strange that one family would live in a house like these.

"It's not far" Dorian said, his voice bringing Gareth from his thoughts. At the next crossing he pointed to a large building on the corner, as large as it was it seemed swamped within generous lawns ans gardens. It was hard to see exactly behind the tall stone wall surrounding it.

"You live here" he gasped gaping at building, he had known Dorian was highborn. But he hadn't expected this.

Dorian sighed at the look on the other boy's face, it was one of the reasons he had never invited anyone here. He wasn't content to let people judge him for his families wealth, he wanted a friend who liked him for himself. He had hoped Gareth wouldn't be impressed, though when he looked at the house through new eyes he could see the other boy's point.

He wished the ancestor he had been named for hadn't been so keen on status, he himself wouldn't have cared if the place was much smaller and blended in with the other buildings.

"About three hundred years ago, this wasn't a good neighborhood, there was a fire that burned down this section of the city" he said and Gareth looked at him curiously. "My ancestor Lord Dorian" he grimmaced at this. "he bought up all of the burned area and built this place, he wanted to have the biggest house in Valdemar, barring the palace of course".

Gareth still looked at him a little doubtfully, Dorian sighed again "Please don't judge me for someone else's vanity" he asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not used to seeing places like this" he said.

"It's just a house, no matter what size it is" he said. "You know" he said pausing as a thought came to him. "Next time you come here you could bring Fianna if you want, we do have a small stable in the back or she could stay in the gardens if she wanted to".

"That would be nice" Gareth said absently not really heeding what he said as he stared at the house they were approaching.

"Heyla Penn" he said to the gatekeeper.

"My Lord" the man said, then looked at Gareth.

"This is Gareth, he's a friend from the Collegium" he said.

Penn nodded and opened the gate for them, closing it once they were through.

Gareth looked at him "You have a gatekeeper" he asked.

"Yes, the gate is always locked and someone needs to be there to open it for the family or for things like deliveries" he said.

"That makes sense" Gareth said.

Dorian laughed "We're not snobs you know, there are good reasons for everything we have here, if we had been status concious we would have been in the palace in the rooms we have there".

Gatheth flushed "I'm sorry, I haven't spent much time with highborns".

"Highborns are people too, no matter what some of them would have you believe" Dorian said.

Gareth laughed "I know what you mean" he said, thinking about some of the more obnoxious blues.

"That's one reason I wanted you to come with me" Dorian said with a grin.

The next morning Gareth tried to roll over and get up, but this bed was much bigger than the one in his quarters, for a moment he was confused before remembering where he was. He looked around the room, he had been too tired to notice much last night, but he was curious now, he wondered how the highborn lived.

He heard a knock on the door and sat up as the servant entered. "Lord Dorian wishes for you to join him for breakfast in the green room" the servant said as he started the fire in the small fireplace in the corner.

"Green room" he asked.

"After you are dressed, I'll guide you there" the man said.

"Is there some place I could wash up first" Gareth asked.

"Yes, I'll show you where the bathing rooms are when you are ready".

After he was dressed and ready for the day Gareth followed the servant to where he assumed the green room was.

Dorian looked up from the book he was looking at, a man Gareth didn't know stood by his side.

"Gareth, these are some ideas for costumes" Dorian said, holding up the book.

Gareth nodded and walked over to the pair "who's this" he asked.

"Fenrick Herrelson, he's the family taylor" he said.

Fenrick smiled "It's not often I get to have fun with this, court gowns can be so boring after awhile, but I can have fun with these".

Dorian looked up "I'll have to sneak you into court sometime, you should check out some of the tayledras clothing".

"Could you, I'd be eternally grateful, I'd give you my firstborn, my last born, anything you ask" he gushed on getting a little more absurb with each word he uttered.

Dorian laughed "I don't want Jeren, you keep him " he said with a grimmace.

Gareth smiled uncertainly not quite sure what was going on. Dorian looked over at him and laughed at the look on his face. "Don't worry, he didn't mean it. He's just a little strange".

"Fenrick laughed "And next you'll be telling him it's from all the dyes I use" he said good naturedly.

"You said it" he answered before they got down to business and started looking through the book of sketches. Soon they had picked their costumes for the party. Dorian would be going as a Herald and Gareth as a great Lord. They had both laughed over the reversal of roles. And Fenrick was rubbing his hands in glee over all the things he had planned to make.