Disclaimer: I don't own this; so don't sue me. (Speaking of sue, if you're out there reading this, well, stop. No, wait, not the rest of you. Sue! See how much you mess me up? No, not you all: sue! Oh, never mind.) On with the story!
Kai woke slowly, trying to ignore the slight throb in the back of her head or the bruises on her back and shoulders. Then she realized very quickly that she was on a horse. A moving horse. She shrieked, her head snapping back and hitting someone in the exact spot that still hurt. Whoever was sitting behind her dropped the reins, causing the horse to come to an abrupt halt that nearly tilted Kai out of the saddle. There were others riding around them, she noticed, all who stopped and appeared to be hiding grins.
"Stop," ordered a girl who Kai vaguely recognized. Then she mentally shook her head. How would she know a girl dressed as a squire? Hardly any of the squires came anywhere near where she and her friends lived, and if they did, they probably wouldn't waste their time talking to the likes of her. The squire glared at the others, who lowered their hands, but still appeared to be fighting laughter.
She glanced down warily at the horse. She hated horses. All horses. She had been injured by one when it reared suddenly in the street and its rider couldn't control it. Of course, commoners like her never rode the animals, but there was still plenty to fear without ever having been on its back. The horse snorted contemptuously, as if it knew of her cowardice.
"Don't like animals?" a voice asked behind her. She started again, having forgotten that there was someone else. Turning cautiously, she looked at the other, who had slid easily out of the saddle and onto the ground, which looked really high from where she was sitting.
He reached up and helped her scramble not so gracefully off the horse. "Don't like horses." She shuddered. "Too high."
"Scared of heights?" one of those still mounted asked. Then he grinned at the other girl. "Kel, you two could have so much in common."
"I'm not scared of heights I'm scared of them," Kai repeated patiently, nodding at the animal behind them, whose nostrils looked suspiciously flared.
"Yes, pay attention, Meathead," said the girl.
At that point, Kai was looking around, wondering where she was. This was obviously one of the larger roads out of the city, for she had been along on of these once before. There were almost ten people around them, leaving their high perches for the ground. They were all dressed in uniform, and Kel seemed to be the only girl. Suddenly, Kai remembered hearing about them in the inn where she lived: Keladry of Mindelan. She was said by some to be the first girl to follow in the Lioness' footsteps; the city had been abuzz with gossip when she had passed her first year and been allowed to continue, and again when she made it all the way to being a squire. There were bets being placed on whether or not she would be knighted; Old Sarla, one of the elders on the streets, said that they would have to let Kel through, or the king may have to fear his own champion.
Then, it quite suddenly occurred to Kai to wonder how she had gotten out of the city with a group of pages. It was Midsummer! She should be performing with her troupe; she had trained for this show for so long! She glanced at the sky, disappointed; they would have finished by now. And where was Danai? She would be so worried.
The memory of what had happened hit her at that point, and if her legs, after so much training, weren't already tense, she may have staggered. Sure, she was fine, but none of her friends knew that! Especially those who weren't on the good side of the law, and would assume that she had been mistaken for a criminal, or had been associating with them. They were always worried about capture, and some if them never told anyone their real names, not even their closest friends, for fear of betrayal.
She looked up, meeting the eyes of the one who had been behind her. He looked like he was about to say something, or introduce himself, but she interjected quickly, "I have to go back."
At that, his eyes clouded slightly, and he turned almost unconsciously to Kel, who was obviously the leader of their group, Kai thought. Kel frowned, marring her expressionless face. "You can't go back. Joren might come back, and if he does, he knows your face and what you do. We know that he won't hesitate to kill, and now you know his secret too. It's too dangerous."
"What about all you?" Kai asked. She turned to Kel, "You were there. Why don't you care that he may come after you?"
"I'm a squire. I can defend myself against a trained fighter. You are a dancer."
"I can handle myself. I wouldn't be alone. I have friends who can fight," she protested. "Who are you to control my life?"
Kel's eyes darkened slightly with guilt. Kai watched her, not noticing Neal quietly sneaking around the horse or Faleron's sad expression. Kel replied, "We are supposed to protect people. And it was partly my fault that Joren got chased behind that curtain, and otherwise you wouldn't be stuck in all this," she paused, giving a tiny nod. "I'm sorry." Too late she felt the hand on her shoulder before the too-familiar darkness snatched her once more.
Kel's POV
"Why'd you have to do that again?" Faleron demanded, glaring at Neal, who nodded at Kel.
"She wouldn't have come with us without us dragging her through the city screaming, and who knows how many friends she may have there who might be a little mad at us for 'kidnapping' her," Kel explained with a guilty glance at the prone form in Faleron's arms. "You just better hope she doesn't wake up again before we get her inside the palace,' she said with a grin. Faleron grimaced, rubbing her chin where the girl's head had collided.
"What will we do if Joren doesn't come back? How long will you keep her somewhere she doesn't want to be?" Neal asked her.
"I don't know!" Kel snapped. Then her voice softened, "I don't know what to do. We can't let her go back, and I don't want this poor girl's life on my conscience any more than it is already. We'll worry about that when it happens."
"It's not your fault that Joren killed someone," Owen pointed out. "Or that he decided to take a hostage. Stop blaming yourself."
"I guess you're right," she said quietly, remembering the scene that she had witnessed before, the dead corpse, the blood, the hunted look in Joren's eyes. What had pushed him to this degrading state? He had never been the kindest person, but she had never imagined that he would ever sink so low.
"Well, next question," Neal said with fake cheer. "Who gets to skip the festivities to stay with Faleron and the girl?" They all groaned, "Not me."
Kai woke again, wondering why this felt so familiar. Much more quickly than the previous time, she remembered everything. She had to leave, she decided, opening her eyes.
Unlike last time, she was on a cot in a room, which, though, plain, was fancier than anywhere she had ever been before. She was at the palace then, she thought. And what did Kel expect to do, keep her prisoner here or something?
She sat up, but felt an arm restraining her. "You're not supposed to be up so soon after a sleep like that, Neal said," the person who was stopping her explained. "Gifted sleep," he said at her confused look.
"So you'd prefer it if after I was forced to sleep by the mage, I could just do as you like and sit here and rest?" she asked sarcastically.
Just after the words left he mouth, she realized that a trained fighter might not be he best person to annoy. To her relief, he grinned. She glanced around, finding herself in a side room off another with a plate labeled with a knight's name. The room itself was simple a rather small considering the palace's reputation, but everything in it was of a fine make and good quality.
She suddenly realized that she, a street dancer, was sitting in the palace with a person she didn't know. Why not? She thought, and introduced herself, "I'm Kai," holding out her hand to shake as was customary on the street.
Apparently he'd never heard of that particular tradition, as instead of shaking her hand, he gripped her forearm. "Faleron." He saw her confused expression for the second time in as many minutes and said, "oh sorry, palace thing."
"I'll remember that," she said wryly, rubbing her elbow where he had touched it. She glanced out the window, estimating that it had been two hours since Joren had burst through the curtain.
The door opened, and Kel walked in balancing a tray cluttered with plates, followed by a girl that Kai recognized as a seamstress who frequently made dresses for the owner of the inn. That she puzzled over for a second. Did they want her to help the tailor? She couldn't sew to save her life.
"Oh," Faleron said, stepping forward. "Kai, this is Kel, whom you should remember," he told her with an ironic smile, "And her maid, Lalasa."
Kai stood and executed the curtsy that she had been forced to practice for shows by her dance teacher, suppressing a grin as she didn't fall on her face, as she could distinctly remember having done many times previously. She rose, feeling slightly lightheaded, probably from that sleep that Faleron had been talking about. Putting a hand to her head, she blinked until her vision cleared.
"I know, curtseying used to do that to me too," said Lalasa sympathetically.
"I think it was Neal," Kel commented.
"Don't go blaming him that she can't stand," warned Faleron. Kai listened, confused. Was he standing up for her? Why? And how was it Kel's fault?
"Well, next time we'll do it your way and drag a screaming girl through Corus and see who protests," Kel retorted with a sweet smile. Kai was still lost, but she tried not to show it.
Lalasa handed her some food, which Kai accepted gladly, realizing that she hadn't eaten since noon that day. Someone else came in the door, asking, "What's everyone in here for?" Then he saw that Kai was awake and grinned, "Wahoo, now Neal can stop looking guilty all the time."
"I do not look guilty, Owen," said Neal, following him inside the now-crowded room. "Although," he said quietly, studying her, "She should have woken up half an hour ago."
"Maybe it's you," Owen suggested. "You're…going insane and so you pour your Gift into unsuspecting victims."
"Shut up, Owen," Kel said. "Maybe she just doesn't have the immunity that most people develop. Have you been Healed before?"
"Of course," Kai answered, "Everyone has been. Well, not as often as most folk," she amended, wishing that she weren't so uncomfortable being under discussion. She turned to Kel, "I want to leave."
Kel raised her eyebrows. "You can barely walk and you want us to loose you onto the drunken streets?"
"So you want to hold me prisoner here?" she demanded. "How does this make you different than Joren?"
"Not prisoner," Kel corrected. "What if you were employed? Is that any better?"
"So you want me to work in the palace. That's really not that safe as people out there," she indicated the city through the window, "tell it."
"She's right," Lalasa put in, glancing at her employer. "They tell horrible stories in the taverns to keep girls employed there instead of up here."
"That doesn't matter, we don't want to get you a job in the palace," Kel said. "Well, it's in the palace, but not… Never mind. Faleron has graciously offered to employ you."
"Good thing too," Owen said, looking around with plain disgust at the disarrayed piles of clothes and weapons. "You've got your work cut out for you."
"Wait," protested Kai, "What if he doesn't come back? Joren? I don't want to stay here as a maid the rest of my life."
"We'll worry about that later," said Kel firmly. She herded everyone out the door, leaving her alone with Faleron.
He saw her appalled look and commented, "I never thought my room was this bad." Then he said seriously, "This really never was supposed to turn out like this, so don't blame Kel. I don't think she ever thought that even that jerk would go so low. This is all just temporary," he assured her.
"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "I'm grateful for this and all, but I have friends out there," she nodded again to the window. "And they'll be worried. They all saw what happened today, and those who didn't will hear exaggerated tales soon enough. And I can't be a maid. You haven't seen my room," she told him. Then she felt her eyes widen. Her clothes, pictures, jewelry, everything was in her room at the inn and if rumor were going around that she was dead then man of the thieves wouldn't have a problem stealing anything. Her locket was still there, she realized, eyes closed. The one with the picture of her parents in it that she had had to take off today in favor of another favorite that matched her costume. "I have to leave."
She stood up, heading for the door, but Faleron was there before her. She glared at him, then sighed. "What if I promised to come back by nightfall?"
"No."
"Are you just saying that because Kel said to?" she asked. "Why is she in charge?"
"She isn't. It just happens that she's right," he answered steadily.
"Look, I have to leave. My friends'll think I'm dead, all my things are still at the inn, and poor Danai will be out of her mind."
"Who's Danai?" Faleron asked.
"My best friend," she answered almost automatically. Then she realized that he was trying to change the topic, and scowling, said, "I'm wasting time. The sooner you let me go, the sooner I come back. And if you don't let me leave then I'll have to sneak out at night, and the streets are much worse after nightfall than during the afternoon."
He grimaced. "Fine. But I'm coming."
He was going to protest, but he seemed resolute, and she probably wasn't going to be able to make him stay here. Fine, she thought, I'll just have to lose him in the streets. "Fine," she said aloud, "But we're not taking a horse."
He rubbed his chin. "Let's walk," he agreed.
Kai rolled her eyes. She thought now in retrospect that Danai probably would have saved her things from the thieves anyway, but she wanted her things if they were going to force her to stay at the palace. She wasn't quite sure if that would compromise the fact that she had to endure the stares of the innkeeper's wife when she walked in, shadowed by an armed youth with obvious signs of weapons. He had firmly refused to leave them in his room, but Kai couldn't blame him: she had two small knives that she could use hidden in much less visible places.
Now she stared at her barren room; there had been no signs of forced entry, so her things hadn't been stolen. Slowly, she grinned.
"Are you happy that your stuff was taken?" Faleron asked from behind her. Now she did roll her eyes.
"Look," she pointed out the unscratched door and window, explaining that her friend had taken everything after assuming that she was dead. This led to another walk through the twisting streets. Faleron didn't seem to know the streets well, so she had been surprised when she hadn't been able to lose him among the myriads of maze-like alleys. She supposed that the knights-in-training were in better condition than the elders in the tavern rambled.
They reached Danai's apartments much quicker, mainly because Kai hadn't bothered trying to dart away again into the still-celebrating masses. It was still the same day, Kai thought, amazed. Had it been just hours ago that she and Danai had watched the acrobats tumble across the stage?
Her apartments were in the slightly older part of the city, where some of the buildings were crumbling, but Danai's landlord kept her home in good condition considering when it was built. Kai knocked on the third door in the ground floor hallway, tap tap, tiptop, just as she had for the past eight years, since she was six and she and Danai had met. Without waiting for an answer, she went in, then stopped.
"Kai!" Danai said, slamming into her, crying. "Wait, they said you were dead! What happened?" she demanded. "I got your things because the thieves would of been 'round 'soon as they heard that you were dead. That's what Mistress Fia is telling everyone anyhow."
"I know, she looked like she saw a ghost when I walked in!" Kai laughed. "Oh," she said, remembering Faleron still out in the hallway. "I have a really long story, but you probably won't believe it. This is Faleron," she introduced, dragging him inside. "Faleron, Danai."
"Kai, why do you have a man with knives-lots of knives- following you around?" Danai asked as if she was inquiring about the weather.
"Because he refused to let me come alone. I think some of tem are daggers though," she commented in the same tone.
"Are weapons common around here, then?" he asked, glancing down sheepishly at the three sheaths stuck into his belt.
"Yes, but most people hide them," Kai informed him with a roll of her eyes. She and Danai then proceeded to exchange news while packing up her few processions. Danai was appalled at Kai's story, but she agreed quietly that if Kai couldn't lose one in the twisting streets that she knew so well, it might be very bad to have any of them, especially a murderer after her. Then Kai hurriedly put on her treasured locket with the portrait of her parents in it, then changed into some of her normal clothes in Danai's closet. She came out in a green shirt matching her eyes and plain brown breeched that, like the others, only extended to midcalf, marking her clearly as a dancer."
"We have to leave," Faleron said with a glance out the small window. The sun was just setting on a very long day.
Kai thanked Danai, then hoisting one of the two packs over her shoulder, she promised to come back as soon as 'they' let her, with a glare at the squire standing nervously at the door.
It was hard for Kai to leave her friend's familiar face to return back to the palace, but she did it anyway, not wanting to show weakness in front of Faleron, be embarrassed by getting forced through the streets kicking and fighting, break her promise to return, or any combination of the three.
They stopped on the way to buy some pastries from the bakery, but when Kai would have paid, Faleron simply thrust a coin much larger than their bill into the man's hand and walked away without his change.
"Do you know how much you just gave him?" she asked, jogging to catch up with him.
"Yes," he said, slowing down a little for her. "I know the man. He has six small daughters and two sons not quite infants yet, and his wife…isn't good with kids," he put delicately. She gave a sympathetic glance back at the tired-looking baker, understanding after her own experiences with children.
They were stopped again on their brisk path back by a large crowd gathered around a stage. Kai jumped up to see what they were all watching, and, recognizing her friend Hedi doing her infamous flame routine again. Kai had seen it so many times that she could probably do it herself. When she was done, however, Kai cheered as loud as anyone near her.
"Can I go back and see her?" she asked Faleron, who appeared to be watching someone else in the crowd.
He nodded, but warned her, "Be back in twenty minutes or I'm coming back to get you. Don't forget your promise."
She slipped quietly through the curtains, no one noticing her entrance as she clearly was a dancer, thus, belonged here and was easily dismissed. Walking over to the flame twirler, Kai gave her the scare of her life when she tapped her shoulder.
"Hedi that was even better than the last rehearsal!" Hedi turned, her smile vanishing. Her mouth opened as if to say something; she blinked, and Kai had to grin at her normally unfazed friend. "One compliment and you goes into shock. Your self esteem must be lower than when I saw you last."
"Where have you been?" Hedi finally managed.
Kai returned a good five minutes later than she was supposed to, but Faleron hadn't noticed. He seemed to be deep in conversation with two other squires. One was tall, obviously a Bazhar, and the other was fairly normal looking, one whose face you might forget easily.
"Don't forget," the taller one was saying as she walked up. He cast Faleron a look that Kai had a very difficult time interpreting. Then the two melted back into the crowds.
"Who was that?" Kai asked innocently.
Faleron jumped as if he hadn't seen her arrive. "No one," he said a little too quickly. Kai quickly called up both faces in her mind, committing them to memory. This was important she decided, than, as they continued their walk up the street, she discreetly changed the subject.
"Where did you used to live before you came to the city?" she asked curiously.
"My family's fief is King's Reach, I lived there for a while, but I had been here before. Have you ever been out of the city?"
She nodded. "Once. To this small village half a day to the north. I had relatives who lived there."
Faleron glanced sharply over at the word 'had' but didn't comment. They soon got on the safe topic of career goals, which carried them all the way up to the palace and into the small room that Kai had been given off Faleron's room.
She settled down on her cot after arranging her processions around the small cell, wondering how she had gotten here and when she would leave.
A/N: ok thank you soooo much to my reviewers! You guys have no idea how happy I get when people comment on my stories. And to Ace Ryn Knight: we'll just say that Joren had overheard Kel calling Neal Meathead and had picked it up like that. I love Magic Steps, mostly because it combines fantasy, magis, and dancing. Who would have thought? Ok, I like Sandry too. That being said, review, or else! (I'm joking, don't panic.)