5) Quitting

"Of all the stupid –" Alanna growled a series of curses that Coram would have been proud of as Maude glared up at her from her sowing.

"Really Alanna – your vocabulary is hardly fit for a stable boy, let alone a lady," the older woman informed her as Alanna stood up to prevent any tea from staining her shirt after knocking over her cup– but unfortunately she couldn't save her work from just that fate.

"Aargh! It's just that I had nearly finished!" she exclaimed as she picked up her essay by a corner that was not soaking and shook it sending drops of tea flying everywhere.

"You do realise you wouldn't have to do the extra work if you had simply behaved." She eyed the flying drops of staining liquid with distaste. "Is that so hard to comprehend?"

"Goddess! Fine! I give up!"

"Ah - finally! I knew that you would see reas-"

"Get packed Maude! We're going!"

"Wha-?" Maude started but recovered quickly – "I hadn't though you were one fore giving up Alanna…"

The girl simply glared.

"And to think that you wanted to a knight when you can't even handle a convent."

Alanna knew she was being provoked and so she simply chose to walk out. She headed straight for the First Daughter's quarters. She planned on letting that old dingbat know exactly what she thought of her, her precious convent and it's inhabitants.

Just as she stormed down a corridor and turned the corner she ran into Thom, literally.

"Watch where you're going" she snapped as they picked themselves off the floor. "What are you doing here anyway?" she demanded of him.

"Hey – you're the one who crashed into me! In fact, I was looking for you." He stopped when he realised that his sister was not exactly in a mood for polite conversation. He studied her face as she glared daggers at him. "Aaah. Giving up are we?" he teased as she turned a familiar red in irritation.

"AAARGH! What is it with everyone and accusing me of giving up! Mithros! For your information, brother, I was planning on leaving the convent in protest!"

"Yeah – that and showing everyone how well you handle giving up." he quipped and then immediately had to throw up his hands to block her punches of retaliation. "Hey! Stop! Listen – What did you think it would be like? You of all people knew it wasn't going to be pleasant. No one said that learning to be a lady was easy – it's not like knight training where you only have to build upon what you are already used to, Alanna."

She still looked as stubborn as a mule so Thom chose to use a different approach.

"You're acting like some soft lady who quits at the first sign of trouble – and we all know that you are nothing of the sort. Show everyone that you can handle exasperating little girls as well as dagger-wielding attackers. Besides - I won't ever let you forget that you gave up if you leave now…"

Alanna realised that at least her brother's last sentence was true – she would never live it down. She sighed and stopped trying to give Thom a black eye.

"Look, at least give it a couple more weeks. We haven't even been here a month yet."

Thom accompanied a deflated Alanna back to her rooms, just in case she decided to ignore his speech and storm out of the convent.

"Maude – I'm giving it a couple more weeks. But, if it doesn't get any better, I'm going to be out of here faster than you can accuse me of quitting! In any case, someone has to keep Thom out of trouble."

Maude smiled but said nothing as Alanna closed the door between their adjoining rooms.

It wasn't until Alanna sat down and kicked off her slippers that she realised that Maude had not done any packing at all – she merely replaced the empty bag under her bed when Alanna mumbled her decision to her. Alanna muttered curses under her breath and wished fervently that Maude did not know her so well.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Only after Alanna had finally resigned to life within the convent walls did thing noticeably improve. Although she still did not get on too well with her very prim and proper teachers, she no longer held her lessons in contempt and subsequently discovered that she enjoyed a couple of them: not sowing – never sowing, but namely only history and geography. Compared to her amphibian wielding days, she had much improved.

This improvement was also noted by the First Daughter, and so after two weeks of punishment study that lasted into the early hours, Alanna was called to the First Daughter study again.

This time she was greeted rather friendlier than the stern frowns she was used to. "So Alanna. You have finally adjusted. I thought that you might take a while to get used to our way of life. Hopefully now you are more open minded to becoming a lady?"

Alanna frowned.

"Perhaps not quite yet." She smiled. "You need not attend any more extra study periods. You have improved greatly and have shown both your teachers and I that you do in fact possess some - potential." Her eyes twinkled. "I do believe that Saethea is looking for you to discuss a certain prospect of trip to the market."

Alanna was dismissed and hurried back to the girl's quarters to find Saethea.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hey! Alanna! Have your punishments been finally taken away?" Saethea shouted down the corridor.

"Yeah! At last! I thought I would never see my hand free of ink again! The First Daughter said you wanted to talk to me about going to a market?" she asked expectantly.

"Well - I noticed that since you were getting restless, that I would take an opportunity to show you the City of Gods Market. What do you think?"

"Great! I can finally get out of this hellhole without incurring the wrath of the old dingbat. It's about time."

Saethea laughed and both went to discuss their little excursion.

A/N I'm trying to get on with the plot- it's taking rather a bit longer than I though it would though. Bear with me! And incase you've forgotten already - review! Review! Review! (pretty please with a cherry on top!)

p.s. Chpt 6 will be coming very soon - just as soon as I get into intelligible order...