A/N: Alrighty then, I don't know exactly the Ordeal is supposed to take place, but I'm putting them during the Midwinter dinners. That alright? If anyone objects . . . I'm really sorry, though you can inform me for future references. This one is short but sweet. Overall I think you'll like it.

So after you read this you may find me to be an incredibly bad, rushed writer, or you may be happy . . . I'll finish this thought at the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own this. It belongs to Tamora Pierce. Well . . . except for the plot, uh . . . certain characters and this neat little hat I've got here! Oh, wait thats not in the story . . .

x..:..x

Midwinter crept closer. Arra had talked to Lianne more during that time, though she couldn't help but think about Liam as she did so. Liam had done as she asked and stayed away from her, or maybe his knightmaster had taken him away. Either way he would need to come back for Midwinter. For it would be his last moments as a squire and the time he would move into Knightdom.

As much as she denied it, even to herself, she had been attached to him and with the coming of Midwinter she feared for him.

Nadia, too, had dropped in a few time with thanks and sometimes a few baked goods. Arra decided she liked the girl. She'd spoken more with Kel, also.

As much as she hated it, she found herself softening to the thought of Liam. Like water dripping onto a rock, her hate for him was being slowly eroded away.

"Arra, try to make a shield." Lindhall was going over things they'd done before. Arra had done most of the other things but she seemed distracted. Lindhall commented once on how surprised he'd been that she learned so quickly.

Arra sighed and summoned up her Gift creating a sparkling shield of crystal blue fire. It stayed in tact for a few minutes before it flickered and dissapeared.

"Arra are you all right? Perhaps you should come back another day. Today your mind seems to be on other things." He smiled kindly at Arra. She smiled back but took his advice and left all the same.

He shouldn't be on my mind this much! It's not fair, this is exactly what I wanted. To be away from him and now I've pushed him away too far.

Even with all of the work she herself piled on she never felt busy enough. She split everything up onto a daily schedule except for one thing, going to the library. Sometimes there was people in there but usually there wasn't. Most people were too busy getting ready for Midwinter.

A year or longer I've been here. How did I get here? The time passed me by so fast. Though, most of it happened while I was in bed sleeping my days away. She sighed and headed back to her room, she needed to get ready for the first day of the Midwinter dinners. I don't know how I'm going to get through it without the after dinner spars though.

This time her company proved to be more interesting. As last time she sat with Hakuin, but this time at her table were also seated Kel and a few of her knight friends she did not know.

"Arra, these are some of my friends, Sir Nealan of Queenscove and his wife Yukimi noh Daiomoru of Queenscove. And this is Sir Merric of Hollyrose." Kel introduced.

Arra bowed to each in turn, changing her bow to Yamani style for Yukimi, and smiled. A bell rang and they all took their seats for the first meal. Arra herself was engaged in conversation.

"Arra, I hear you defended a young woman?" Nealan asked.

Arra laughed lightly. "Nothing more than a friendly spar. Though I think maybe he could use a little more practice on the side." The table laughed. Though Kel turned to Yukimi and talked in Yamani. I wonder if they know I can speak that? Damien had taken it upon himself to teach them all sorts of languages. She wasn't completely fluent, but she could speak and understand well enough.

"What do you think of her Yuki?" Kel asked in the Yamani language.

"I do not know what to think yet." Arra smiled. This was going to be interesting. Throughout the meal they made comments to each other, sometimes Hakuin would join in also. Arra would listen and wait for a good moment.

Neal, as he preferred to be called, sighed and spoke to Arra and Merric. "I suppose the three of us are the only ones left out of the loop. Yuki has tried to teach me Yamani, but I'm no good. I can catch glimpses of words but thats about it."

Arra smiled. Not willing to let anything away.

Hakuin made a particularly funny comment in Yamani almost making Arra lose all etiquette. She half-laughed into her soup which turned into a cough and her face became red.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded a faint smile on her lips that made the three known Yamani speakers suspicious. Near the end of the dinner Kel brought up the same question as before to Yuki.

"I . . . I like her. Perhaps we should invite her to our morning practices." She said.

Arra decided now was a good time as ever. "I would love to but between everything I have to do I am very busy. Thank you for the offer though." She said casually in Yamani. All five heads turned to her in surprise while she took another bite of the food in front of her. She smiled. Neal laughed.

"Well, don't we all feel odd?"

Sometime after that the dinner was called to an end. Arra thought about going to the practice fields as she had last year but instead went to the library.

I wonder who takes the Ordeal tonight? She didn't even know when Liam would be taking it. For all she knew he might be there now. Her heart constricted but she pushed the feeling aside.

She took out a book. She remembered so clearly her own Ordeal she had taken when she was only fifteen. Though it seems so long ago at the same time.

(flashback)

Arra walked up in very light simple breeches and a shirt. This day her life would change.

They went through ceremonial words and placed her before a large white box that sat upon the sand. Even if the Shang themselves did not have magic they used it for their Ordeals, which they held in a very empty part of the desert. She squeezed her eyes shut and walked into the hole that formed in the magic that let her enter.

Compared to the complete whiteness of the magic the inside was so completely dark and cold. For a moment she thought perhaps her eyes were still closed but she soon found they weren't. For a while nothing happened but then something started to shimmer in the blackness. It continued until if formed a whitish vapor. Then it moved, or rather, attacked her.

In the first, she hadn't expected it. It flew straight towards her it passed through her and at first she didn't notice anything. But then Arra began to feel a burning, searing sensation flow through her very veins in the part of her body the vapor had touched. She wanted to scream and cry, but just like a knight's Ordeal she could not make a sound. Each time it did that she tried to attack it by punching and kicking. Arra even tried to dodge but the vapor moved impossibly and would find her anyways. And each time brought a different sort of pain one that stabbed, one that slashed, one that burned.

Arra wearily realized something. It was what most, if not all, Shang feared, something that could not be beaten. Something that was inescapable. Finally, just as she was sure she would die of exhaustion and shear pain the hole opened again and she barely made it through. That is why they use magic. Because we do not fear real opponents. But magic is a constant, while many factors can contribute to any other type of opponent.

Her hair was damp, though other parts were soaked in sweat. As soon as she was out she fell and Damien caught her, wrapping a sheet around her. The sun peaked out over the horizon with an array of oranges and reds.

"Congratulations, my little chickadee, you've done it."

She smiled though it was a weary, faint one not even having the energy to get angry with him for calling her chickadee. Just one more year, that's it. She thought as he picked her up and let her rest, for tomorrow in the morning she would be off to wander for a year before she received her Name.

(End Flashback)

Arra realized she was staring blankly at the opposite wall and shook herself out of her reverie. But I never did get my Name. She thought before she continued to work.

She rather liked her company in the Midwinter dinners this year better than the year before. The days past quickly up until night when she would wonder, Is Liam inside the Chamber now? And then the mornings when she would wait with plenty others only to find that Liam was none of those faces.

Arra resided in the library once again with a book open though she wasn't reading it, instead she paced from one side of the room to the other. There was no one in the library at that time so when she heard the door open she turned her attention to who opened it but was not ready for who stood there.

"Liam?"

He smiled a faint sheepish smile, one she never thought she'd see on the prince. "Hello, Arra." He said quietly, was he nervous? "My Ordeal is the day after next." He stated.

Silence followed for a few moments before he took a few more steps into the room and spoke again. "I . . . I just needed to see you again," He whispered, then he really did come close to her but she herself could not move. Had he gotten taller? It seemed so as he stood not three quarters of a head but a full head a over her. He baffled her senses like no other man had been able to, why was she so susceptible to it now? "I don't know if I'll be different when I come out of the Chamber and I don't know what will happen so I just wanted to . . . see you again." He came close carefully and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Midwinter luck Arra."

With that he turned around to leave the room. Her insides screamed. She was letting him leave, why! Finally her voice worked though not as well as she would've hoped. "Liam wait." He half turned around wearily as if not sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. She winced, she deserved that, the last few talks which sadly had been months before hadn't been very kind.

Like the unclenching of a muscle she let go of everything and her emotions recognized the relief. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer then pulled him down as she reached up and met his lips in a soft kiss.

When she broke it she found Liam in a dazed state a faint blush upon his cheeks. Was there one present on her too? "Midwinter luck, Liam."

The edge of his lip quirked as if he wanted to smile. "And what were you thinking?" He asked just as quietly as he had spoken before. She remembered herself asking him almost the same question before.

"Thinking is overrated." She said before she reached up for another kiss to which he answered. He started slowly, carefully deepened the kiss as if he were coaxing out some beast he meant to tame. He wrapped his arms around her and her hands found their way to the back of his neck as she noticed in the circle of his arms she felt completely warm and safe.

His kiss was different from any she had ever experienced. Why had she not taken better note of it before? She could feel his passion pour into her very bones from the connection of their lips, it burned hot straight to the marrow making her want to fall but Liam kept her up.

They broke the kiss but stayed in the embrace as she rested her head on his chest.

"Arra," Liam breathed. "Just tell me one thing. Please. Just tell me this isn't a dream, that this is real, that your not just playing with me."

With a pang Arra realized that it had been her. She had been on his mind, and for her to reject him once and then after a long period of separation suddenly want to kiss him must seem imaginary. Instinctively her arms around him tightened just a fraction. "This is real, Liam, this is real."

Liam unhooked one of his arms from around her and used it to make her meet his eyes. His hazel eyes. A carefully relieved smile spread over his face. He pushed a strand of hair away from her face and once again kissed her.

For this moment they forgot everything. Liam forgot that she was a commoner and he a prince. He forgot about his Ordeal. There was only the two of them together.

The next two days they could not meet. He spent his time alone, thinking about everything. And when the time came for his Ordeal to begin Arra could feel her insides constrict into knots. She fought to keep her thoughts steered clear of Liam and only barely succeeded. Later that night she sat with a closed book before her, she'd given up on trying to pay attention to it hours ago.

I need to get sleep. . . but I can't. Though sometime during the night she must've fallen asleep because she remembered waking up though it was still very dark out. She rushed to her rooms, scrubbed her face and changed her clothes and waited in the back row. This time it was more full, of course, he's their prince. Even more people started to come in just as the sky turned lighter though there was no sign of the sun just yet.

But finally, there it was, the sun showed a blinding streak of shine. Instantly, priests ran to the door and opened it. Out fell Liam, his face was deathly pale and stark white against his sweat soaked black hair. He panted heavily as they placed warmer coats and sheets over him. Then his face went up and he searched the room. His eyes slowed down over his parents, there was something in his eyes Arra noticed, fear. It receded a bit as he found some people in the crowd then he found her, sitting in the back row shaking into her clothes. He smiled faintly and finally sagged completely against the people holding him up.

That was the only look she got from him that day. But it was enough to both relieve her and scare her further. He'd survived, yes, but that look in his eyes troubled her.

She didn't go to his ceremonial knighting, decided she hadn't gone to any of the others and someone might see something suspicious in going to his. Instead she sat in the library. Like she had so many other days. Except this time concentrating wasn't so hard.

The book named many different ways that the Gift could be used in while another one named how many different types of mage and magic users there was. It was all fascinating. The door to the library opened but she didn't look up. The cushion next to her sunk with the weight of a person and yet she still didn't look up.

"What are you reading?" Liam asked leaning in to see.

"I see you got away from the mob that I was sure would be following you." She said turning another page. She flicked her focus to him. "You should be resting."

She turned to him completely and noticed he was still rather pale. She took the book and leaned into him putting the book on her lap to read. Just as she was about to start reading he pulled her to him, kissing her with need. Almost as if making sure I'm really here.

It took him going into a crisis, for me to see anything for him . . . I'd hate to see what needs to happen for someone else.

x..:..x

A/N: Lots o' fluff. Good-o. The next two chapters will mostly be about the two of them and Arra's thoughts. Sorry to say, not too much action. Just wait a couple chapters, we'll get there.

So continuing from where I started at the beginning. I'm not really one of those kind of people that likes the stories where the two never get together, one loves the other one OH! Now your too late they don't love you anymore, well I hate you too . . . etc. There is just soooooo much more I can do with a story than just have a confused character. You have to put that confused character in interesting situations. Plus! . . . . no wait I can't tell you that. So, I went from an evil writer to an incredibly kind one. Here you go.

If any of you ever think my rating is too low I'd appreciate it if you informed me and I'll be sure to change it. Thanks! REVIEW por favor!