Thanks once more to my wonderful, amazing, and terrific beta, Em. You are such a good writer...I'm shocked that you are on here, and not out writing in the real world! I have her to thank for adding all these wonderful bits to my story, making it flow wonderfully. She really softened the many sharp edges it contained, and I love you for it!

Chapter One: Letters

Kel discovered that the palace was incredibly dull with no one there to talk to. Yuki had left to visit the Yamani Isles almost a year ago, and all the other ladies Kel knew were staying elsewhere. So she practiced. Practiced until she nearly collapsed, heeding neither the pain from her shoulder nor the healers' warnings.

She had been at the palace for just over a week when she got the first letter from Neal.

Dearest Kel,

Things are rather boring here without you. No one ever listens to me. Well, no one calls me Meathead or forces me to eat my vegetables either, so there are some good things about being ignored. Though very few.

I told the cook that she might want to try to make something actually resembling food this morning. Do you know what she did? She grabbed a cooking knife! I was shocked! She pulled out a knife on me, friendly old me, who only tried to give her some friendly advice. So I left. After all, I didn't want to injure the poor woman. We do need her, I guess, even if her food does not taste like, or even look like what it is supposed to be. I can't tell the difference from the meat and the vegetables! It's wrong, that's what it is! Everyone hates me! They all want me to die of starvation and boredom!

Anyway, there hasn't been any real fighting since you left. A few skirmishes out in the forest, but nothing important. Oh, I forgot to tell you! Elan, one of the foot soldiers, punched that jerk Craig in the face today! It was amazing! Twas wonderful to see that man to be taken down a notch.

Craig was another foot soldier, but he thought that he was better than everyone else was. He constantly acted like everyone else was stupid

His nose was bleeding all over the place. Fortunately for him, I wasn't the one who healed it. I would probably have been tempted to make it worse. Karl, the one who healed him, thought about doing it, but he decided that we need all the men we could get.


By the way, you need to quit working so hard! I know all you're doing is practicing. And don't scowl at me. There is much more to do in the palace, you know. Go to the library!

He was right, she was scowling. He knew her way to well. And of course he would say go to the library. He hated practicing.

Well, I have to go if I want to send this off today. Write back soon!

Your impatient, bored, lonely, and starving friend,

Neal

She laughed lightly at the letter. Kel had missed her best friend over the time she had been gone. She was glad he had written. Quickly she walked down the halls to her room to pen a reply.

"Sir Nealan, you have a letter," said a voice from behind him. He grinned, knowing who it was from.

"Okay. I'm going to my rooms," he informed the soldier, taking the letter.

"Oh, letter from your wife?" the man questioned with a knowing smirk.

"Nah, she's busy. It's from Kel." He quickly stood up and walked the few steps to his room, glad to get away from the noisy mess.

Meathead,

I really wish you would stay out of trouble. Insulting the cook's cooking? You know that all army food tastes like that. Don't complain. And do eat your vegetables. I know you miss being called Meathead, so don't act like you don't, either. We all know how you feel about your nickname. I'm sure no one wants you to die, but it seems as if you are giving people good reasons to hate you. Can't you play nicely with the other children for once, Nealan?

I'm glad someone finally kicked Craig off of his pedestal. Probably the best thing that's happened around there in a while. He was too arrogant for his own good, really. And you most certainly would not have done anything to make it worse. Karl is right- we need as many men fighting as we can get. So don't do anything stupid! Or is that just too hard for a Meathead to comprehend?

Also, there isn't really anything to do here besides practice. And may I remind you that we are at war? So I need all the practice I can get. However, I will go to the library, if you wish. I'm going down to the city tomorrow. I wish Lalasa was here, but she went to Galla, I believe. The Queen there asked her to make the Crown Princess a gown for her upcoming marriage. I believe Queen Thayet and King Jonathan will be attending the ceremony. I'm not sure. If they are, they'll have to leave soon.

Love always,

Kel

Neal's heart began to pound as he read the 'love'. What was going on? It almost seemed as if-no, that wasn't possible. He was just lonely. That was all it was. That's all it could be. Right?

He tried to ignore it by turning his attention to the rest of the letter. It was very rude of her to imply that he was always in trouble. Even if it was true. He stuck his chin up defiantly. She probably found the incident very humorous, he thought as he wrote his answer.

Kel,

It was very rude of you to say that I always get in trouble. And that situation was not humorous at all, by the way! You may find it funny, but you wouldn't have found it quite so humorous if I had injured the poor woman instead of leaving, or if she had chopped me up into tiny little pieces and put me in the stew. That really wouldn't have surprised me. You wouldn't laugh then. You would be without a best friend!

Also, it was impolite to imply that I do not get along well with others. It is actually the exact opposite! They do not get along with me! They do not understand my sensitivity and sarcasm. So you should not lecture me.

As I have already told you, it is impossible to distinguish the meat from the vegetables, so I eat it all. Everything tastes the same, anyway. It's not like it matters. And yes, I love my bloody nickname. I wish that every bloody person in the whole bloody country would call me that bloody name. It's not like half the bloody people do anyway.

To address another of your comments, I never do anything stupid, and I do not see where you got the idea that I might.

Good, you should go to the library. And yes, I did get some idea that we were at war. I think I saw some Tortallan idiots fighting some other morons in red, earlier.

I personally think you are lucky to be at the palace. You have that lovely library, you can eat decent food, you can sleep in your own chambers, and you get to relax. A word of advice, though: If you want to come back sooner, though I don't see why you would, you need to stop working so hard and do what the healers tell you. Believe it or not, they do know what they are doing. I, of course, would know this, as I am among their distinguished ranks. And I know you would prefer working until you fall over, but your shoulder does need time to heal.

Anyway, things are still extremely boring here. There's nothing to do in my spare time, so, believe it or not, I practice. I know, I know, but please don't die of shock quite yet! All of my practicing will be to no avail if I can't show it off to my best friend. And I have nothing better to do. Well, I sleep a lot too. But you can only sleep so long, you know. I'll talk to you later.

Love,

Neal

It felt weird, writing that. Yet somehow, it seemed right. Neal did love her.

In a friendly way, of course. Between two friends. Two best friends, he reassured himself. That was all it could be.