A/N: Hello reviewers! Once again, thanks for all your amazing reviews! Thank you Lady Swathi, for putting my story on your favorites. blush I am honored. Sorry Syl and RunnerNDA, this story is going to end. Ok, ok... I might do a sequel. We'll have to see if my creative juices are up to it. And redbird-flying-away, you make me laugh. Not intentionally, I don't think, because where I come from we use that phrase when someone is thinking... impure thoughts. And thank you Elentariel. :-) I'm glad too. One more chapter after this, folks.

---

Sunlight brushed her eyelids gently and they fluttered open. Light instantly gripped her with a panic, for she never woke up with the sun, especially now that it was well into winter. It was the last two days before midwinter, to be exact, and the daily routines of the pages were still going strong. She got out of bed and the room spun as she walked forward. Tripping on the edge of her nightclothes, she tumbled forward and gripped the edge of the desk with all her strength.

"I'm going to be sick," she mumbled to herself and grabbed the wastebasket.

"Kimi?" a voice called through the door. "We're going to be late."

"Patrik, I'm sick!" Involuntarily she proved her story by making loud retching noises into the wastebasket.

"It doesn't sound good. I'll go get a healer." Kimi returned to the bed after unlocking the door so the healer could come in. She threw up the contents of her stomach, which thankfully wasn't much since she hadn't eaten since the night before, and tried to keep her body from shaking. Kimi turned away from the door and wrapped herself up tightly in the blankets. She knew that as a healer she shouldn't get sick, but that obviously wasn't a good enough reason for the sicknesses that took over her body often enough.

A cool hand brushed her cheek and Kimi turned to face the healer.

"Da!" she cried with a shivering jaw. "You're here."

"Yes, Kimi," Neal said. "The healers called me here early because of a disease that has infected the city. Congratulations, you've caught it."

"Oh, Da," she said. Her mind was unable to concentrate on any one thought except that her Da was here to save her, and that the last words she had said to him was that she didn't want him as a father. Her mind was filled with gray smoke and she couldn't think clearly; but she felt so regretful she knew she had to apologize.

Neal put a hand to her temple to check her temperature and she began to cry. "Oh, Da, I'm so sorry. I love you, and I should never have said those things…"

He shushed her gently and smoothed her hair back from her head.

"No!" she said. The tears were flowing down her face freely now. "It wasn't right, and I never wished that it was true, ever! You're the best father, and I hope you'll forgive me…"

"I know, Kimi. We were both angry. Relax now, I am going to heal you." Kimi nodded, but then motioned for the wastebasket again. She did not feel well at all.

Neal placed his hands on her, and Kimi watched his green magic flow into her body. After a while, Kimi fell into a deep sleep.

When he was finishing up cleansing her body of the sickness, Neal looked down on his daughter and smiled. He brushed a tear from her face and murmured, "My brave girl," and got up with the intention of seeing other patients. It was several minutes before the next page was seen to.

---

When Kimi woke up several hours later, her father was gone. She could still taste the aftertaste of being sick in her mouth, and she sat up to get some water. After washing out her mouth and splashing her face with cold water, Kimi felt better but still very weak.

There was a note on her bedside table from her father. Kimi, it read, Good morning. You have slept all day and through the night. I have excused you from the last day before the break, so don't feel obligated to get up and get dressed. I will check on you after I've made my rounds. –Your Favorite Father."

His signature made her laugh until she realized what he must have meant behind it. She had wished for another father, but then apologized. Yes, that was definitely a note from Duke Nealan of Queenscove. She shook her blushing head and smiled slightly.

There was a knock at the door and Kimi called for the person to come in. Expecting her father, Kimi was surprised to see the Shang Falcon come into her room.

"Hello, Mistress Falcon."

"Hello, Kimi. I've heard you've been ill. Are you better now?" Kimi beckoned Hatsumomo to take a seat but the Shang continued standing. As manners demanded, Kimi started to rise from her bed to stand.

"I am still feeling weak, but I am recovering."

"Good. Don't stand for my benefit. If you are sick, lay down." Kimi got back into bed immediately.

Hatsumomo took a deep breath and made her beautiful face become completely emotionless. "I did not come for you yesterday because I was packing," she explained. "But I am glad I did not come because of your illness. I do hope you are able to get up early on your own without me, since I will not be able to see if you can."

"What do you mean? Where are you going?" Sitting up, Kimi prepared herself for bad news.

"I am leaving. The Shang do not like to stay in one place for very long and I am one of the worst. The pages already have another Shang teacher when they return from Midwinter break, so do not worry about that." Hatsumomo took another breath and calmly studied the girl before her. "And I felt it was time I let you stand on your own two feet. I have instructed you and helped you to the best of my ability, but now it is time for you to not depend on me. I believe you can do it, and so I am leaving. You don't need me anymore, Kimi."

"What?" Kimi cried. She could feel the back of her eyes start to sting with the beginnings of tears, but she refused to cry in front of Hatsumomo; it would only shame her. "But –"

"You know all the exercises you need to practice and you can do them all. I have faith you will do well here, Kimi, if you put your mind to it and try your hardest."

"You're certain you have to leave?" Kimi asked in a resigned voice.

"Yes."

Kimi sat in silence. There was nothing she could say to convince the Shang to stay in Corus. "I need to return the sword I borrowed from you, then," she said, and pointed to the sword leaning against the wall. Hatsumomo picked it up and bowed to Kimi, and Kimi bowed in return.

"Goodbye, Kimi," Hatsumomo turned and opened the door. "I hope our paths cross again."

"Me too. Goodbye, Mistress Falcon."

---

True to his word, Neal returned to check up on his daughter near noon.

"Good, you're finally up. Do you feel rested now that you've slept for more than twenty-four hours, or do you want me to come back later?" he asked dryly.

"I'm good, Da, thanks." Kimi replied. She tried to make her voice as dry as his. She looked down and began pleating the bed sheet. "I really did mean what I said earlier," she said quietly. "I didn't mean what I had said, and I am so sorry I said it. Mum said you were really upset."

Neal smiled uncomfortably. "I was, but you apologized. I understand you were upset and angry with me. No harm done."

Kimi breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. Now I just have to find a way to make up things with Mum."

Neal looked at her with raised eyebrows. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
Shock spilled into her features at she raised her eyes to his. "Mum didn't tell you?"

"No…" her father replied slowly.

"Wait a minute. You were there. What do you mean you don't know?" Kimi demanded.

"What are you talking about, Kimi darling?"

"I am talking about Jon's birthday banquet. I refused to wear the kimono. I lied to Mum. I know she was upset by it. I abandoned my Yamani heritage." Kimi stared incredulously at him.

"Oh, that." He blinked at her. "She was upset?"

Kimi shook her head and rolled her eyes. Neal had never been sensitive to Yamani displays of emotion, and though it had gotten better over the years, he was still sometimes clueless.

"Yes, she was very hurt by it," she explained. "But you see, I am no longer embarrassed by it, but I don't know how to tell her." Neal gave her a questioning look.

"There was this boy who called me all sorts of names, made fun of me, and picked fights with me because I look Yamani," she said quickly. She did not want to go into detail about what he had called her and done, because Neal had his protective moments of his friends and family, and the things Frantisek had done would set him off. "So, I got upset and I wanted to fit in, so I tried to be as Tortallan as possible. It hurt mum, I know it did, but now I understand that I made a mistake and Mistress Falcon helped me see that."

"Wait, who's Mistress Falcon?"

"She's Hatsumomo, the Yamani Shang," Kimi said.

A knock interrupted their talk and Neal got up to answer it. "Your Grace," said a second year page politely, "please, Ulric needs to see you. He's really sick."

"Yes, I'll be with you in a moment." He turned to his daughter. "I'll visit you in a little while, but I have work to do."

"I know," Kimi replied. "I think I am going to sleep anyhow." And when Neal left, that was exactly what she did.