I'm actually a little sad to have reached the end. This has been a very fun fanfic to write. Once again, thanks to everyone who reviewed and kept me writing. I don't think I could have finished in a month without your encouragement.

The characters are all Tamora Pierce's even if I have snuck in and named some of their children.

Training Grounds

Kel used Kefira's blanket to wipe the sweat from her hands as she finished the walk from her quarters to the training grounds. None of the pages had arrived yet. Lord Wyldon shot her an appraising look when he saw that she had brought her baby with her.

"It's astonishing what a baby can sleep though, my lord," Kel said mildly as she fastened Kefira's sling tightly across her back. Lord Wyldon merely raised his eyebrows and watched as the pages came trouping into view.

Kel studied the pages as Lord Wyldon introduced her. Most of their expressions were neutral, though a few frowned and a few smiled. One of the smilers looked as though he were related to Merric, perhaps a nephew or a cousin. The two female pages, who stood next to each other at the end of the row, beamed shyly at her. As soon as he had finished speaking Lord Wyldon stepped back to let her begin. She started them drilling in hand-to-hand combat and then walked among them correcting stances. Within a few moments she had managed to forget about Lord Wyldon's watchful gaze.

The morning sped by quickly as the pages practiced with staffs, spears, and swords. Kel saw that a number of conservatives had gathered on the sidelines to watch her and she was careful not to spend any more time with the female pages. There would be time enough for that when all the conservatives got tired of watching her or were assigned by the Crown to do something more useful.

Kefira began to fuss as Kel lead the pages to the stables for their riding practice. "Tobe," Kel called, knowing he was working there with Daine and thinking that she would have him carry Kefira up to Neal. There was no response from Tobe.

"TOBE," she shouted.

There was a frantic whinnying and a large chestnut pony galloped across the paddock, jumped the fence, and stood trembling before. Puzzled, Kel walked over to the pony and laid her palm on the large white blaze that covered his nose.

"Can you get Daine and Tobe for me?" she asked. The pony continued to stand before her, quivering and regarding her anxiously. Kel noticed that all the pages were staring at her to so she ordered them to tack their horses and mount up.

Numair came running out towards the stables, carrying his baby and glaring at the large crow which flew above him shrieking. Kel looked from him to the pony in bewilderment and realized that he looked just as confused as she did.

"Do you have any idea where Daine is?" she asked.

"I thought she was with—oh," said Numiar as he spotted a horse galloping towards them at full speed. It was Hoshi and Daine was on her back.

Daine leapt from Hoshi's back and rolled under the fence. She stood and laid a hand on the chestnut pony's neck. "Everything's going to be all right," she said in a reassuring voice. "It might take a few hours, or days, but we'll get you sorted out."

"Where's Tobe?" Kel asked. "I thought he was with you."

"He's right here," said Daine.

"But—" said Kel

"Do you mean to say?" asked Numair.

Daine nodded at the pony, which had begun pawing nervously at the ground.

"You've turned my errand boy into a horse?"

Daines lips twitched and Kel suspected that she was biting them to hold back laughter. "Actually," the Wildmage said calmly, "he's turned himself into pony. You see, Kel, we have a shape-shifter on our hands. That's why I got a friend to fetch Numair."

"Whatever do you need me for? You know far more about the technicalities of shape shifting than I do at this point." Numair looked from Daine to Tobe with concern.

"Yes, well you see, I didn't expect him to shape shift soon, and he's gone and shifted all the way—only, he's having a little trouble figuring out how to shift back into his human form. So I need your help with that, with reminding him that he's supposed to be a human boy."

Tobe walked over to Kel and butted her chest apologetically. "Don't worry, Tobe," Kel said in an awed voice, "I'm sure Daine and Numair will have you back to normal soon." Kel gentle stroked Tobe's nose before asking, "you will won't you?"

Daine nodded quickly. "Though I do think Tobe is going to prove a challenging student."

"It serves you right," said Numair cheerfully.

Lord Wyldon coughed loudly and Kel was reminded of her duties. She looked regretfully at the squirming Kefira.

"We'll take her," said Daine, kindly. "She can't be any more difficult than Sarralyn and it seems only fair since I'm responsible for Tobe's, er, current state." Despite these words, Kel found herself passing Kefira into Numair's arms, not Daine's, before running off to oversee the pages' riding practice.

Five Years Later (give or take a month or two)

Kel smiled with satisfaction as she listen to the rhythm of her pages' staff practice. She forced herself to focus on the pages' work, but she couldn't keep from glancing over to a corner where Dom sat watching four girls too young to be pages go through a staff practice of their own. One of his off duty men sat with him and Kel was much amused to see that the young soldier had an arm wrapped about Lalasa's waist as she sewed. Dom looked from Lalasa to Kel and winked.

Kel kept an ear on the happy shrieks of the little girls as she moved among the pages correcting their grips. Eventually there were a few pained shrieks as the girls grew tired and knocked each other's fingers. Kel shot Dom a sympathetic grimace as she watched him pull Kefira into his lap. Then she turned and directed the pages to begin their spear work.

"Da! Da!" one of the girls shrieked. Kel turned and saw Neal's daughter, Nessaren, running across the courtyard. Smiling, she watched Neal scoop her up and threw her over his shoulder. He carried her back to the other girls, who were hurrying to gather around "uncle Neal". Within minutes he had healed all of the bruises on their small fingers and was watching in amusement as they tried to get Lalasa to teach them to sew. This resulted in more than a few small fingers being pricked by needles.

"Needles aren't very safe toys for small girls," Dom said once Neal had dealt with these injuries. "Why don't you go pack to playing with your staffs?"

So, the girls continued with their staff practice while the pages moved on to sword practice. They ceased only when Lord Raoul came striding into view. He was greeted in much the same way that Neal had been. Although, she noticed that Dom's soldier quickly removed his arm from Lalasa's waist. When Kel looked over a few minutes later, she saw that he was sitting on the ground with his daughter and her friends climbing all over him.

"Tell us the story about my Ma and the griffin," Kefira asked.

"And then a story about my Ma and the wolf-pack," said Sarralyn.

Kel found that Daine and Numair had joined the gathering when she returned from dismissing the pages for their afternoon meal. Tobe had joined the gathering too, as a pony, and he was allowing the girls to take turns being trotted about on his back. Tobe pawed quickly at the ground when he saw Kel.

"That's enough," Daine said. And Numair pulled Sarralyn off Tobe and spun her around before setting her on the ground. Dom shook out a large blanket and laid it over Tobe's back.

Before Kel could blink, a blanket-wrapped young man stood before her. Although not exactly tall, Tobe had grown into an athletic and wiry adolescent.

"They gave us the afternoon off," he said. "We're leaving for summer training tomorrow and I wanted to come and say good bye to you."

"You're really going to join the Riders?" Kefira asked, sadly.

"Yes," said Tobe. "Cheer up, think how useful I'll be if anyone needs a spare mount."

"I'll miss you," Kefira said, wiping tears from her cheeks. "Just like I miss Da when he has to go away."

"We'll all miss him, sweet," said Dom as he scooped Kefira up, "but we can't let that stop him from setting out on his own adventures." Dom reached over and clasped Tobe's shoulder. Tobe nodded at him and clasped his forearm. "Just think of all the stories he'll have to tell you when he visits," he whispered in Kefira's ear.

Kel walked over to Tobe and kissed his forehead. "I had to do that before you told me you were too old," she said, hugging him.

"Thanks, for, well, everything." Tobe grinned at her.

He allowed Daine to kiss his cheek and Neal, Raoul, and Numair to clap him across the shoulders before transforming back into a chestnut pony and trotting away to gather his things.

Kel blinked back tears as she watched him go. Dom came over and slung his free arm around her shoulders.

"Can I be a Rider, just like Tobe, when I grow up?" Kefira asked.

"If you want to," said Kel.

"What happened to your plans to be a knight like your Ma?" Dom asked.

"Can't I be both?"

"That would be difficult," said Neal.

"I'll have to think about it then," said Kefira.

"Let's decide what we want to be after lunch," said Nessaren. "I'm hungry."

"Your daughter is a very practical young lady," Dom told Neal. "It must come from Yuki."

Kel and Daine worked hard to stifle their laughter as they watched the four fathers carry their daughters to the mess hall for lunch.

Reasons to go to a women's college:

The joys of living in an environment where the word beautiful is used to describe a women who is passionate, intellectual, and kind-hearted.

Wow, I can't believe it's over. Though it might not be because I am considering writing a series of one-shots about Training Master Keladry. (And this fanfic was originally going to be a one-shot before my muse went crazy on me.) I won't be updating as frequently as I am starting back to school on Monday and I'm trying to work on original stuff at the same time, but I'm excited about a few of the events I've imagined Kel tackling as training master.