With the hellp of Peebles I hope to give the lovely Tamora Pierce fans a fic with no grammatical errors (hopefully!)

Disclaimer: I don not know any of Tamora Pierce

Chapter One

Thom of Pirate's Swoop winced as his furious mother left the room, slamming the door. This was not the first time the occurrence had happened during Midwinter. His mother famous known in the Eastern countries and beyond, for formidable fighting skills as well as a similarly formidable temper to match it.

Thom sighed and rubbed his temples to try to relieve some tension. These all-too-frequent mother associated outbursts had been arriving daily since he had graduated from his sorcerer training and had earned his black robes stating that there were two powerful mages living in Tortall, and he was one of them.

He smiled and lightly thumbed his sleeve with pride as he thought about the long time he had studied to gain his status. It was especially important to him because he had to break away from being thought of as the Lioness' oldest son. He had achieved something on his own, through his own dedication and determination and he deserved recognition for that. The thought that he was more than a relation to a legend – even a legend himself- brought him a sense of freedom.

Lost in thought, Thom brushed strands of his red hair back from his eyes and stared out of the window on to a view of the King's Owns' and the Queen's Riders' stables. He loved his new rooms, which were given to him when he had accepted the position of teacher of Magical Warfare for pages and riders. They were much larger than the ones that the monks had and were furnished with a simple study area built of the best quality wood available in Tortall. However, it was the view he loved the most from time to time he caught himself gazing out and watching the constant goings ons of the country's defenders when he was supposedly marking papers or performing other teaching duties.

Late in the winter afternoon, the stables were quiet, as many of the off duty soldiers would prefer to and staying inside rather than heading out to suffer the cold winds and snow. Having nothing with the appearance of importance to distract him, Thom pondered his mother's visit.

It was to discuss his duty to his family. Translation: hurry up and get married! Lady Knight Alanna had taken a sudden interest in her son's status as a bachelor and was bothered that there was no lady in sight. He knew as he listened to an hour-long rant that this was not due to the fear of having no grandchildren, but of what had happened to Uncle Thom. She was scared that her son would follow her twin brother in becoming obsessed with magic to the extent that it would kill him.

He tried to explain to her, that he was aware of his uncle's past and that there was no need to worry, (he was careful and had a social life to persuade him to stop work and enjoy himself). He struggled to keep his voice down. He stated that he felt proposing marriage was going to the extreme and he was only twenty one…much too young to consider taking a wife.

Of course, this did not sit well with his mother, who could not or would not see his way and after another hour of shouting, Alanna of Pirate's Swoop stormed out of her son's room, making so much noise as she went down the hallway that Thom was sure that the dead would hear her coming.

He was fed up by this constant arguing. He would find a wife when he was ready; it just wasn't the right time to bring a woman into his life. A life which he hadn't explored yet, due to the large amount of time his studying took. He wanted adventure and to visit places before being pinned down to look after Pirate's Swoop and his own children. His mother had her way when she married his father, why could't he?

The number of ladies that flung themselves at Thom at each and every ball or social gathering was embarrassing and a little frightening. He knew from the sly glances and flirty comments of many that they wanted to marry him for his name and his position, not because they loved, or even liked, him. The back-stabbing nature of many of the court ladies was horrible to see and to be a part of it led to Thom missing a lot of interest the moment, prompting his mother to intervene.

Thom shook his head at his lose-lose position and sighed annoyed.

Knock! Knock! KNOCK!

The soft raps on the door were a blessing for Thom. Someone to distract me! Thank the Goddess!

"Come in," he boomed in his teacher's voice. He straightened his robes and tidied the papers on the table, waiting for the young person to enter. He was mildly surprised that any of his students would come and see him at the beginning of the holidays, but he had set them a difficult task to be completed for their first lessons after Midwinter.

"So this is where you've been hidin!" a friendly female voice drifted away from the wooden door. "I nearly got lost in the corridors but then I saw which direction your mother was stomping away towards and took a chance going the other way."

There, in his doorway was a familiar face from his childhood. Emilie of Queenscove was the oldest of Duke Baird's daughters, but younger than her brother, Neal, who had been his mother's squire a few years back. She had a quirky smile on her face inspired by Thom's expression.

"Emilie?"

"The one and only, Thom." She smiled as she moved towards his table and sat across from him. "I see you have embraced torturing the poor students. How are you, old friend?"

Thom grimaced at the question, thinking of his earlier encounter. "Could be better."

Emilie laughed at Thom and patted the seat beside her. "Come and tell me everything like we used to do when we were younger and let's see if I can't come up with a wild plan."

"I remember those visits to the palace. You and Neal always made it so exciting –running through rooms, hiding in the servants' access to escape early bedtimes and going to see the animals at night when we weren't supposed to." Thom chuckled as he thought back to when he was a clumsy, lankly boy with flaming locks that marked him out as one of the easily visible Lioness' cubs.

"Yes, well, I blame my dear Nealen for badly influencing us in those days," she looked up at him with a face full of innocence. "I would never have done half those things without him egging us on."

"Are you sure it was him?" Thom gave her his mock stern gaze. He was already feeling happier than he had in days. He couldn't believe Emilie was here, talking to him as if he hadn't been away for eight years. She had changed a great deal from the last time he had seen her. As she jokingly pondered a response, he looked her up and down and was surprised to note that she was a beautiful female; in fact, he would claim she was one of the prettiest young ladies in the Tortallan court.

She had inherited her father's dark green eyes, which sparkled like emeralds when she was in a mischievous mood, and her hair was brown like Neal's but had a distinct red tinge to it as well. She sat up straight in her chair as if it was a throne and easily displayed all the grace and manner of a perfect lady. He recalled that Neal had mentioned Emilie had gone to be educated in the convents as she didn't have the Gift, unlike her younger sister, Lessa, and did not wish to join either the King's Own or the Queen's Riders. Thom had been slightly surprised upon hearing her decision but too busy learning magic to comment on it at the time.

"What are you staring at, Thom", Emilie interrupted his thoughts, "Is there something the matter? Do you wish me to go? I know that Master Numair finds my endless chatter irritating at the best of times."

"No!" Thom said. "I was just thinking how much you have changed. You have grown up into a wonderful lady."

Emilie blushed, "Why, thank you. You haven't turned out to be the ogre I thought you would."

"That certainly is a compliment," Thom grinned at Emilie's discomfort.

"Anyway," Emilie said trying to change the conversation. "What have you and your mother been…emm…discussing?"

Thom's shoulders slumped once more and he mumbled, "I need to find a wife and get married before she slaughters me…"

"That's wonderful! Who is the lucky girl….wait, why are you not excited?" Emilie paused as she realised she got the wrong end of the conversation. "Your mother wants you wedded off," she half asked, half stated.

Thom nodded glumly and sighed. "It's not that I don't want to find some girl and fall in love…just not now." Thom turned round to face Emilie and whispered softly, "It's more that she is scared I will go the same way as Uncle Thom…and she doesn't even consider my feelings on the matter."

A comfortable silence grew and moments later, Emilie was patting Thom's arm gently to reassure him.

"I understand how you are feeling Thom," Emilie said quietly. "I have been at court for four years now and my aunt believes that I should have been married off ages ago. Your mother will probably cool off in a couple of months when she realises you are not obsessed with your power and looking for glory."

"I don't think I can survive months, Emilie," Thom groaned, "This is my mother we're talking about…the one famed for her temper? I'll just have to get married…."

"Or seem like you're interested in finding a wife," Emilie butted in "say that to find your perfect love, you must carefully take your time to find her. This means a lot of months of interacting with a large number of ladies to seek out a potential wife. And it would be terrible to find that after such a vigorous search there was no one that matched your requirements."

Thom stared at Emilie in amazement as he thought over the idea. To pretend to be looking for a wife would get mother off my back and I will have fun tricking all those annoying court ladies…yes, this will BE interesting.

"I'll need help," Thom announced, "I don't think I could pull this off by myself and, luckily, I have a very cunning friend sitting right beside me…." He looked across at to Emilie with a pleading look in his stunning violet eyes.

"I thought you would never ask!" Emilie clapped her hands and smiled brightly. "We have a lot of work to do!"

"What?" he asked, suddenly nervous.

"Starting with getting you ready for tonight's ball," she replied mischievously.