Hey, you guys, I'm sorry I didn't update sooner. I have terrible writer's block, and have been busy for such a long time it's not even funny. So if this isn't up to my usual standards, I'm sorry, I still kind of have that writer's block.

Syl Rose: Yeah, I wasn't expecting her to be that way either. It was kind of shocking. I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while, I've had the terrible writer's block disease. Yes, Cami's had trouble, but that's why she needs to be queen: she wants to stop the trouble! You should put a profile, and start writing one of your own stories. That'd be great!

Zerrin of the Wind: Glad you enjoyed it! And Cami will usually be okay, jsyk. Update your own story too! I love it!

Darkjdeg: I know it's sad…but it has to be, or else the happy parts won't seem…well, happy! I find myself wanting to cry more too these days, but never over a story really-which is weird, because all that I do practically is read-but more over movies and plays. I cried during a high school's presentation of The King and I-they were absolutely amazing, so good, they should be on Broadway-and during the movie The Phantom of the Opera. I'm obsessed about that too. And join the club, I'm hyper too. Well duh, who isn't? And that's too bad you can't update for a while…I want more! And about Tobe and Cami…you'll just have to see for yourself.

TPFreak: I love your username. It's perfect. And I feel so special, I love new reviewers! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep updating your story! It's amazing! Yay, I love rewiews!

On top of cloud 9: Dumb computer! –swings fist at your computer, misses, and accidentally breaks lamp-oops, sorry…I'm happy you liked it! I love this website; everybody makes you feel so loved, except for the MarySue Patrol, which goes around saying how sucky everyone's stories are. Update your own stories!

Now, I warned you, writer's block happening. Don't be to harsh on me-holds up arms as if to shield blows-. Well, the adventures of Cami continue!

OK, I HAD to read this chappy. Don't blame me. My cousin was reading it, and she sent me an AMAZING end romance scence. So, I must ask you to reread this chapter. Thanks.

Cami put Sarra back down, blinking away tears so the little girl wouldn't notice that she was crying. One escaped and traveled down her pale cheek, leaving a mark.

"Cami?" asked Sarra, her usually cheerful face creased with worry. "Is you ok?"

"I just got some dust in my eye," Cami lied, and wiped her shirt sleeve across her face, trying to look like she was getting a piece of dust out of her eye, while really blotting tears.

"Oh, ok!" Sarra's frown disappeared, and she bounced towards a door that Cami suspected was the little girl's room. She grabbed the doorknob and tugged. Nothing happened. She yanked again; the same reaction. Frowning, she looked at her father. "Daddy, the door's stuck!"

"Oh, sorry," Cami said. "It's locked. I'll get it-" She started towards the door, but Numair got there first. Not literally, but he raised a finger and suddenly the handle turned.

"Thanks Daddy! Bye Cami!" Sarra scampered in her room and closed the door behind her. Once she was gone, Numair turned to Cami.

"That was quite a feat of magic you performed there," he pointed out quietly.

"Thanks, but it was nothing really," Cami said, her cheeks turning pink. She wasn't really used to getting compliments…

The soldier turned to look at her, his face covered in sweat. "I'm not here to baby-sit!" He yelled. Cami cringed; his breath smelled like raw onions.

"What, Cam, you don't like it?" The soldier turned to look at her-now a him, for in the bandit group she was disguised as a boy by the name of Cam-. He breathed in her face as long as he could, nearly suffocating the girl. "You better get to work, or else you'll be beaten hard, and I'll do the job myself, breathing in and out in your pitiful little face."

Cami turned away, and raised her axe to chop more firewood. A rough hand grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her.
"I wasn't finished," hissed the man, and pulled her up. Cami shrank away. "Scared?" He looked over all the men, and yelled, "Look, the swine Cam is scared!"

Laughter bellowed out among the trees, and Cami turned pink as she watched the men chortle and chuckle, stopping their work to stare at her.

"Silence! I didn't say to stop, did I?" The soldier roared. He looked at Cami. "Did I, boy?" Cami didn't answer, and the soldier twisted her arm more. "I said, did I?" Cami kept her mouth firmly shut. A sharp crack and Cami screamed in pain.

"No, sir…you didn't…" Cami said quietly, tears running down her face.

"That's better." The soldier threw her down on the ground. "You've got latrine duty, Cam. At midnight. And if you don't show…there's more where that came from." The soldier spat on the ground and walked away.

Cami grabbed the axe, and continued chopping, pretending each log was the soldier's leering face.

Cami shook herself; Numair was talking. "Wh-what?" she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

Numair smiled kindly at her. "I said, of course it was. I don't know if even I could have pulled it off." He leaned closer. "What exactly did you do?"

"Well, do you remember my dream with Irnai in it, and how I was floating in a room?" Cami began.

"Mmhmm." This time the mage looked truly interested.

"I wanted to try floating like I did then. So I bewitched the air to think that Sarra was lighter than it was, and so she started floating," Cami explained.

"That's brilliant! Maybe I could try the same thing…I could make a potion, or maybe an amulet…" Numair began muttering to himself, and grabbed a quill, ink, and parchment, and began writing furiously. He started hopping in his seat, grinning. "This is perfect!"

Cami blushed again, and she heard a peculiar noise. Actually, it wasn't too peculiar, for she heard door handles turning every day, but nobody stepped out of the door.

"Maybe with these symbols…" The mage, engrossed in his ideas, seemed not to have heard it.

Cami shook her head. Was she hearing things? She could have sworn she had heard a doorknob turn.

"Uh, honey, why are the doors locked?" Daine's voice floated down the hall, but she couldn't be seen.

"Sorry about that, magelet," Numair said, and he sent tendrils of his black Gift to unlock all the doors. Daine stepped out of one, clad in a simple shirt and breeches.

"Aren't you late for a meeting or something?" Daine asked, looking at Numair disapprovingly.

Numair looked astounded. "Great Mithros, I am!" He grabbed his paper, pecked his wife on the cheek, and rushed out the door.

Daine shook her head and sighed. "He's wonderful, but has an awful tendency to make people wait while he forgets them." Then she blinked and added, "Come on in this room," She pointed to the door that she had previously exited out of. "And we'll get started. Today we're working with my dragon, Kitten."

Cami's eyes went wide. "A dragon? A real live dragon?"

Daine laughed. "A dragonlet is more like it. And yes, we're working with her. Don't treat her like an animal. Just because she can't talk to me and you doesn't mean she's dumb. In fact, she may even be smarter than us. In any case, she loves compliments."

…

Cami left the Salamin's quarters, head pounding and hands aching. She had memorized and done so much that she ached in places that she needed three mirrors to see. Growing plants, talking to different animals, making maps, everything. Why did she have to make a map? They had plenty of map-makers here, get one of them to do the damn job!

She stumbled into her room, which was lit by only a few candles. A steaming bath lay in the center of the floor as always. Cami stared at it in bliss. I love baths, she thought dreamily.

When she turned to lay out her nightgown, she groaned. A globe shimmered innocently on her dresser. "Not again," she muttered, and glared at it, as though that it would make it go away. Suddenly it rose in mid-air and expanded. All the candles were blown out, leaving the girl in pitch-black, save for the glowing orb hovering in mid-air.

A pair of eyes appeared in the middle of the globe. "Ah Cami," a male voice whispered tauntingly. "I thought that we would meet again."

"Again?" asked Cami fearfully. "Who are you?" She backed off, and banged into her water basin, spilling scalding water down her leg. She screamed.

High, cruel laughter echoed throughout the room. "Who am I?" the voice asked. "Why do you ask? You should know by now." The voice waited a few minutes for Cami to answer, but it was apparent that she had no clue. "I am the Black One!" the voice screeched in annoyance. "Duh!" Suddenly the voice sounded familiar, but Cami couldn't recall it. Then it resumed its whispery tone. "Who am I? It's more of a matter of who are you? A student, a mage taught by Numair Salamin and his wife? There is much more to you than meets the eye, and I intend to find out."

"Why do you care so much?" Cami asked angrily.

"Oh, don't speak like that," the voice said. "Or else the memory I sent you will seem like a harmless pinch compared to what I could do with you."

"What do you want from me then?" Cami whispered. "I have nothing. Nothing."

"Just stay out of my way," the voice said. "And don't anger me. I'm watching, always watching." As an after-thought, it added, "Or you'll regret the day you were born on this wretched planet."

The globe exploded, and the candles were re-lit. Cami sank down in her bath. What could possibly happen to me?

…

Tobe lay on his bed. He hadn't seen Cami in ages, at least not really seen her. And he missed her. She's in so much danger these days, Tobe thought. With the Black One, Maggur, and the memory globes. And she doesn't even know it. She's too busy with everything. She doesn't have time for distractions. Distractions like me.

But she could be killed any day, he argued with himself. And if she is…I'll never forgive myself if I haven't told her. Told her that I love her.

She wouldn't have you anyway, he thought miserably. You're a commoner, plain and simple, even if you do serve a knight. She's going to be a queen one day. She needs someone with higher status, some money, and stuff like that. Like that Jal guy. He's going to be a knight one day. You're not going to amount to anything higher than a knight's servant or a hostler.

I don't care! He yelled at his pessimistic side. This time, I can't chicken out or anything. I can't wait. I'll probably have to leave soon, since Kel's always busy, so I gotta do it now. It's now or never.

But how? How am I going to get her alone, or at least some time when she's not busy? She's almost always busy, between lessons, page stuff, and worrying about Maggur, there's no time. None. I'll have to wait until her next day off, and that could be ages.

Too bad, he told himself firmly. Her next day off, I'll…I'll…I'll think of something.

…

The next few weeks Cami was extremely busy. She had a ton of lessons with Numair and Daine, and she also had to take her page-though she wasn't going to be one-training. Her favorite class was the one that Merric taught. He was nice and funny, and he never got inpatient or angry. He had a lot of cool new tricks, and Cami worked hard to master them. It made her feel really good about herself when she was finished.

The only thing she didn't feel good about was not seeing her other friends. She saw Irnai sometimes in her dreams, and she knew that Gydo and Violeta were really busy with something, though they wouldn't tell her what it was. It was Tobe she missed the most. He had things to pass the time, like helping the old hostler Stefan with the horses and things, but she missed talking and laughing with him. Lately when she saw him, she felt weird, almost like she didn't know him as well, like he was more of a stranger than a friend. She also felt some other weird emotion, like her stomach flipped when he smiled. It was weird, so she tried to put it out of her mind as much as possible.

Summer was at it's end, and fall was beginning. Page training became harder and harder, and she always liked the meals at the end of the day. Later, after that, she, Amoret, Bys, Chevi, Lyron, Fanog, and Phiran had a study group. Tobe came sometimes, but not often. One night, they were all sitting around in chairs in the library, bored. They had finished all their work, and just sat around talking.

"Hey Cami," Amoret said, smiling.

"What?" Cami looked up from her doodle.

"You know, I think you like Tobe," she said, grinning mischievously.

"What? I do not!" Cami said indignantly.

"Come on, admit it," said Lyron, grinning too. He and his friends had joined the group after the fight. They actually were pretty nice.

"Yeah, we've seen how you look at him," added Chevi.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Cami said.

"Yes, you do," said Fanog.

"Why are you all looking at me like that?" Cami said, and sent a blast of air at him.

"Hey, no fair! I'm not a mage!" he said.

"But I am!" said Phiran, and he sent his red gift, tickling her uncontrollably.

"Stop it!" said Cami, through giggles.

They paid no attention to her pleas, and descended on her.

"Cami, admit it," Amoret said, smiling.

"I'll tell you if you get off of me!" she gasped. They got off, and looked at her eagerly.

Cami stood up and ran around the library. "Not a chance!" she yelled, and the entire night was spent running around as rain pattered on the windows.

The next morning it was Sunday, so the pages had the day off. Most of Cami's friends had work to do, so she decided that she would go down to the stables to see Tobe. Not because I like him or anything, she said to herself as she trotted down the hill. Because we're friends, pure and simple. And it's a beautiful day out.

"Hi Tobe," she said brightly. He was in Moondust's stall, grooming the horse. He jumped, and turned around.

"Oh, hey Cami," he said, and smiled. Cami's heart flipped over. Stop it! She told herself. "What're you doing here?"

"It's Sunday," she told him. "I have the day off." The boy's blond hair had grown a bit, so it was just long enough to flop into his blue eyes. She felt a strange longing to brush it out of his eyes.

"Oh," he said, and leaned against the stall door. "Hey, do you want to ride the horses? There's a great spot near here."

"Sure," Cami said, and grabbed her horse's tack. "I'll saddle up Moondust while you get Sunfire ready."

Soon they were trotting through the forest. Sunbeams came through the leaves of the trees, playing over their bodies as they rode.

"Just over this hill," Tobe said, and they emerged at the top, out of the woods. Cami gasped. They were on top of a huge hill that overlooked the entire forest and palace. The sky was a bright blue, with only a few clouds in the distance. There was a single tree that provided enough shade for both of them. On the other side, the sun glinted off a smooth glassy surface of a large lake. A breeze ruffled through their hair, and Tobe sighed. "I love this place. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes." That was all Cami said, and it seemed to sum up the entire beauty of it all.

They slid off their horses, and sat under the tree, talking and laughing. It felt great to just be with Tobe like before, swapping stories and telling jokes. She almost wished that it could go on forever. They sat that way for ages, until the sun was setting. (my cousin heather, the amazing heather, whatever you may call, not including psycho, this is her part, and it is so amazing it's scary.)

The scene was beautiful, Tobe thought. But Cami was even more beautiful than anything he had ever seen at this point. He had to tear his eyes away from her as quickly as they fell on Cami. He didn't want to be caught staring ... that would only push him to tell Cami the true meaning of the ride. And Tobe wanted to set the scene himself, on his terms.

"I love the sunset. I haven't had the time to just sit and watch it in a long time." Cami bit her lip. A long time meant long ago when she was just Cami, not Camilliana, hier to the throne of Scanra and and Elemental. "I've forgotten how beautiful it is."

Tobe had to bite his tongue to keep from saying, "yes, you are,". That was probably the corniest word in the book. And Tobe didn't want to be corny. He wanted to be perfect. But he only had so much self-control, so he couldn't help but give Cami a love-sick gaze as he said, "Yeah, I know what you mean."

Cami blushed. Tobe jerked his eyes away from her so hard that he almost broke his neck. Why, Cami wondered, did he have to keep doing that? It was so disconcerting, and made conversation awkward.

Tobe and Cami sat in an awkward silence. Once or twice she tried to break the ice, but Tobe would just jerk away, keep talking, but jerk away. And that became a sort of unintentional torture.

The boy sat on his horse desolately. What was he doing wrong?

"Um ... It's getting kinda late, I have classes tomorrow," Cami said hesitantly.

Tobe's mind raced. What could he say now? He had to say something. This girl meant more to him than he could ever know ... and he had to tell her that. "Since when are you a schooling person?" Tobe asked.

Cami's temper was on the verge of exploding until she saw the teasing gleam in Tobe's eyes. "Since I learned that class would keep me away from you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

They both laughed. In part because they both knew that nothing the other person had said was true, and also because the tension was broken. They went on talking and laughing as if they had been doing it all night.

Something clicked in Tobe's mind. Cami didn't need him to be perfect ... if (he thought with a painful twist of his heart) she needed him at all. Cami just needed him ... the way he was. That's why it hadn't worked with Loesia. She'd had this ideal picture of what they needed to be. But nothing was perfect. And Tobe understood that now.

The Scanran girl felt happier than she had in a long time. Here she was, horseback riding into the sunset with the guy of her dreams. And she had figured by now why Tobe had taken her here. Cami was 99 sure that he had wanted to tell her he loved her. But the other 1 still lingered ... and if she wasn't having so much fun with Tobe, that 1 would be driving her crazy.

Silence fell for a moment. but this time, it was not uncomfortable. It simply settled between them like a picnic waiting to be devoured.

Cami broke the silence. "Do you love me?"

Tobe's head almost did a full roatation. Did she really just ask that? How could it be, that she could get something like that out of her system, whereas he let it sit there and drive him crazy? Gosh this girl was great!

Cami was practically trembling. Did she really just ask that?

The horse-boy tried to say something, but words just seemed to get caught in his throat. His heart was slamming against his ribs. Then he looked into Cami's eyes. Tobe saw in them what he saw in himself. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Tobe let his heart take over. His head didn't seem to be doing him much good.

"I don't think I really know what love is," Tobe replied.

Tears began to bubble in the corners of Cami's eyes. She looked away, humiliated.

Tobe reached over and placed his fingers under her chin. Gently, he turned her head back towards him. "But if love means never wanting to see someone cry, if love means never being able to really be angry at someone, if love means that you always want to be there for someone, to catch them when they fall, to give them a shoulder when they cry, and if love means that someone can turn you entirely around without you having a single problem with it ... then, Cami, I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in the whole world."

In spite of it all, Cami laughed a little. His fingers on her chin sent electricity jolting through her body. "That was a cruel joke to play," she teased.

"But you'll forgive me right?"

"Why should I forgive you?"

"Because ... you love me too." Tobe didn't wait for a reply. His fingers on her chin moved to brush a strand of hair into her face and behind her ear. Then they slowly moved to the back of her neck. Tobe leaned in ... and touched his lips to hers.

Cami pulled back a little. "Yes," she whispered, "Because I love you." And then she gave in to Tobe's kiss once more.

Well, I hope that was an okay chapter. And yes, you got your wish, I am making them get together. I hope you don't mind mushy parts, because the beginning of the next chapter…well, you'll just have to see won't you?

I hope you love my cousin as much as I do, because she is the ultimate best cousin ever! I liked mine, but hers is really really good. I hope you liked it!

R&R!

Mel