Note: thank you for bearing with me and for all the reviews. Heres another chapter. Sorry it took so long. I will try to get things moving quicker. Thanks for reading and have a nice day.

Issues

Tristan slept in the stables next to his horse. Lysander forgot to find him a room, or just didn't put forth the effort to find him one, but he did not care, he preferred sleeping in the stable anyway. He settled in a pile of hay in the back of the stable and thought about Kida's reaction. She seemed very upset to see him. He sighed and tried to sleep, the past few months had been very interesting ones.

Kida tried to sleep but her mind would not let her. Finally she gave up trying to sleep and got dressed to take a walk. She slipped out of her room and quietly prowled the halls. Distractedly, she walked out towards the stables; perhaps the animals could calm her nerves.

Why did everything have to be ruined? She had everything planned out and Arthur had to go and send some one to guard over her. She did not need a guard. She walked into the stable mumbling to herself. It made no sense to why everyone treated her like she would break now that she was a girl. She had been a girl all her servitude and was still alive, why should now be any different? Her horse stuck his head out towards her. Walking up to him he nickered at her in greeting. She grasped his head and stoked his nose.

"You are the only one who's not watching me," she whispered to him. The horse stared at her and nuzzled her hand. "Maybe it was a mistake to follow Liam that night. If I hadn't followed him none of this would have happened and I would only have Lysander hovering over me."

The horses whinnied and stepped closer. "It's just so frustrating; I just wish…I don't know what I wish." She placed her face into her horse's mane. "I wish this was all just a bad nightmare. I wish I could just wake up to find myself back at Mira's. No I don't. I don't miss Mira's at all. I was glad to leave. But…I am so confused. I had everything planned out perfectly, but it didn't turn out as I imagined it would. It's…I don't know what I think anymore. It's…" she sighed. What did she want? What would she do if she lived? What would she do?

Liam sat in his quarters thinking about his talk with Dag. He knew Dag was right but he couldn't bring himself to believe it. Something in him would not let him let go. He thought about Kida and how they use to play in the fields as children. He remembered how she would follow him around and always call his name when she was scared or in trouble. He remembered her smiles she gave to him when they raced through the plains and her gentle laugh as he tripped over his own feet.

It was a memory. A memory he did not wish to give up that made him hold on to Kida like he did. He did not want to loose the memories that kept him going this far. Maybe if he accepted that Kida was not the Kida of his memories that the last thirteen years would have been a waste, for the only thing that kept him going was the thought of returning home to Kida as she was not as she is.

Kida had changed. She was a stranger to him. No longer did she need him to protect her. He knew that, everyone knew that but he still could not let her go. It was hard for him to put down the illusions of Kida to pick up the reality. She was a harden warrior and could take care of herself. Heaven only knew what she had been through. He just felt as if he failed her and he did not like that feeling. He did not like it at all.

Tristan listened quietly as Kida spoke to her horse. This was the most he had ever heard her say. She was mad, she was frustrated, and she was confused. He listened closely as she voiced her doubts and fears. He felt like he was trespassing but hearing her debate with herself on the recent events did clear a few things up. It gave him a clearer understanding to why she left in the first place and treated him so coldly when he met up with her group.

It was odd that she did not start to cry, other women he met would cry to him about their woes but Kida just stated them matter-of-factly and talked herself through her thoughts. By the way she spoke to her horse like he understood he knew she did a lot of thinking to her horse out loud.

At first he thought he should let her know he was there but as she continued to talk he just listened. This Kida was so different from the Kida of Liam's stories. This Kida was odd and peculiar. The girl Kida was cute and nice but this one as a mystery and more intriguing. He remembered the stories Liam told about Kida and him racing through the plains and how Kida looked up to him for his protection. He could not even imagine this Kida doing that; she was so reclusive, everything she needed done she did it by herself. He sometimes wondered if Liam was mistaking when he thought this girl was his sister, but she admitted it as well so it had to be true. It was hard to believe that she and Liam were related. They looked nothing a like and their personalities were completely different.

He moved to look at her as she talked. She was dark haired and complexion, probably a result from spending all day out in the sun, her eyes were black and looked as if they were staring through you. He sat up to get a better look at her. He stopped. The straw he laid on rustled as he moved. He held his breath, hoping that she hadn't heard. She must have for she stopped talking and began to look around her, her hand on the hilt of a knife she kept at her side.

"Who's there?" Kida asked. She searched the shadows around her. She was sure she heard something. Her fingers gripped her knife as she began to walk around to inspect the corners. Something moved again and she looked towards the back of the stable. Someone was there. She approached the pile of straw in the back and kicked it. "Hey," a voice said.

She jumped on the person and wrestled him to the ground. He fought her. She twisted and turned to get an advantage but he kept twisting and turning with her. They rolled around until she found herself pinned down. "Let me go!" she snarled.

"Not until you calm down," the voice said. She looked up at the figure that held her down to find Tristan looking down at her. She tried to move but he held her down. "Are you going to calm down?"

She growled then jerked her head into a nod. He smiled and got off of her. "What are you doing here?" she snapped.

"I was trying to sleep until you rudely kicked me," he replied smugly.

"I didn't know you were here."

"I noticed."

She burned red. She hated it when people saw through her. "I was…Did you hear what I was saying?"

"Yes, one would have to be deaf not to have heard you."

"How dare you eavesdrop," she said. She did not know what was worse. Being found out by Tristan or having him hear everything she said.

"I won't tell any one."

"You…You…" she fumed. He was mocking her. Of course he wouldn't tell but that wasn't what she was upset about.

"Calm down, you're turning purple," he laughed.

She snarled then slapped him. "You just keep out of my way and forget everything you just heard." She turned around and stalked out of the stable leaving a laughing Tristan behind.

Tristan collapsed on the ground laughing. She was certainly an odd one. It wasn't as if she revealed any dark secret. He could not understand why she acted like he heard her tell some dire secret, it was just her doubts, everyone had doubts. When he was done laughing he stood up and brushed himself off. She certainly did put up a fight. He went back to his corner and lay back down. She would get over it; he told himself and settled in to go to sleep.

Kida's face flared red as she stalked out of the stable. She was so angry and embarrassed. No one had ever heard her thoughts besides her horse and she was not accustomed to getting feedback on them. She ran back to her room and locked herself inside. How she wished to strangle Tristan and wipe the smirk off his face. She did not like being laughed at.

Grumbling, she climbed back into her bed and fumed. The next time she saw Tristan he would certainly pay for making fun of her. She drifted off to sleep plotting ways she could get even with him.