A/N: Oh, you all made me feel so happy I just had to be kind and update soon! I'm getting a bit bored with this fic so I need all the ego-boosting I can get.

Hey Jossie- I absolutely love the Sword of Truth series too! Yep, it is Zedd that says 'the toasted toads truth'. Zedd's great. I'm only on the third book, Blood of the Fold. Talking about toads, I found one this morning in my shed only it was grey and not moving or blinking or anything and I thought I'd killed it, shutting it away all night but apparently some toads are grey and when I came back later he moved and breathed and then hopped away.

Hey Jennifer- thanx for saying my story's the best you ever read- that's really encouraging!

Jessica- sorry, but I cant promise nothing happening to Dom. Actually, I can tell you that I am pretty mean to him soon.

Keita- No, I haven't read Lady Knight yet. If you have, please don't tell me what happens!

Ok, that's that for now.

Chapter 11- The Notes? The Beginnings of Regret? Oh, whatever.

Kel walked out of her washroom, towelling her hair dry and humming to herself. She was in a daydream, having not yet remembered last night's escapade. She stopped still, frowning at a letter peeking underneath her door. She bent down and scooped up the parchment. When she saw the hand writing that spelt out her name, she dropped the towel, her breath catching in her throat , all of last night came flooding back to her in a rush. She sat down on the bed and, her hands shaking, she unfolded the note.

The words Dom had wrote stirred up sadness and regret and sorrow and self-something-or-other. She felt sorry for herself ; even if she had wanted to take back her words she couldn't- he had gone away because of her. She had lost his friendship because she had been too scared to try.

Kel let the letter drop to the floor, wiping her tears away. She sank down on the bed, curling up in a tight ball.

~*~

Two days later...

Kel flopped onto her bed, yawning. Since Dom's squad had left, she had been asked to take a watchpost on the wall. As she didn't mind, she had accepted. Now she was feeling the consequences of rising early, taking her morning shift, working out, taking her lessons from George and surviving on little sleep.  At least all the work and tiredness kept her from concentrating on Dom too long. Just thinking of him brought tears to her eyes.

Groaning, Kel rubbed her eyes. Just then, there was a knock at her door. Kel sat up and called out sleepily, 'Come in.'

A maid entered and bobbed respectfully. 'My lady, before he left Sergeant Domitan asked me to give this back to you.' She held out a book. At Kel's frown, she added, 'He said you lent it to him.'

Realisation struck Kel and, despite the mention of Dom, smiled. 'Thankyou,' she said as she stood up and took the book from the maid.

'Pleasure, my lady. I only apologise for not having delivered it straight away- I hope this has not caused you any inconvenience.'

'Not at all,' replied Kel. 'Thankyou,' she repeated, handing her a coin. The maid bobbed again and left.

Kel didn't look at the book in her hand, she was oblivious to everything because she was too fed up and upset. Dom was parading through her head- driving her to the brink of either crying or hitting something. Hard. Dom, Dom, Dom, Dom, Dom. She often debated with herself about what she had done, what she had said. And sometimes she thought she had done right, sometimes wrong. But she kept trying to convince herself that she was a knight of the realm now and had a duty that came before everything else. She had seen by Cleon's death that in getting mixed up in romantic situations caused great pain and with this great pain you neglected everything more important- your duty. She couldn't dare to risk that again. But really, deep down inside, Kel knew it was because she was afraid of being hurt again. Her pain at loosing Cleon was great yet her feelings for Dom were already far more acute than they had ever been for Cleon. They were stronger than any she had felt for anyone.

Maybe she was scared of the depth of her feelings, maybe it was something completely different altogether. Whatever it was, she had felt the need to stop their relationship before her affections ran any deeper. She had the scary notion she was falling in love.

In her frustration at herself and her feelings, Kel threw the book across her room. It was supposed to land on her desk but instead, it slid across and fell to the floor with a bang. Kel glared at it as if it would somehow jump up, beg for mercy and then settle back where it should be. Unfortunately, it didn't move and there was no high-pitched begging squeak so Kel crossed her room and bent to pick it up. As she straightened, something fell out of the book and floated gracefully to the ground. Curious, Kel snatched the paper up. At first she had thought it was something she had slipped in- a bookmark perhaps but she clearly saw this could not be when she recognised Dom's scrawl.

To give in to the pain will only bring greater suffering.

Kel's voice caught in her throat. She choked back tears; after all, it didn't have to mean anything. But then again, it could mean a lot.

She turned the paper over. There was more. It read:

'Doubt will build a wall around you. It is a traitor. It will neglect you your heart's deepest desires and betray you. But be assured, love will never betray.'

Kel knew Dom hadn't made that up himself- it had quotation marks around it and she had often heard Neal recite it out of one of his favourite philosophy books. But having it wrote here, at this time, by this person and maybe on a note intended for her, meant much more than Meathead's ramblings. Kel could feel the tears slipping out but she couldn't think to wipe them away; she couldn't think at all- her mind was numb.

Carefully, still holding the precious paper, Kel began to put the book away. Then a thought came to her. She hesitated, decided to follow her hunch, and pulled the book back out. Holding it upside down, she shook it. Her heart skipped a beat when another piece of parchment fell out. Gods, Dom knew her well!

This time there was only one short sentence and when Kel had read it, she sank to the floor and cried herself to sleep. What had she done?

In my heart we'll always go on and you will be safe in my heart, forever.

~*~

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