Children: Chapter 3

Sponsors

That night, just before supper

Lord Alan was standing in the hall when Morgan came out of her room, meaning to head for supper. The other pages stood by their doors, so she did the same. After a few minutes, an older boy, whom Morgan guessed to be a third year, opened his door and came out. He looked at Lord Alan, who stared at him accusingly, and he muttered, 'Sorry I'm late.'

This appeared to be the last page. Morgan looked around the hall, and counted four other girls, ten boys.

'First years, come and line up here. The rest of you, over here!' the lord bellowed, pointing to the places the pages were to stand. Morgan went to stand in front of the training master, as did one girl and three boys.

'Now, as some of you already know, tonight we will choose sponsors. A sponsor's job is to show a new page around the palace, to help them to make friends, and to help them with their homework. So, to start off, who would like to be Evan of Tasride's sponsor?'

Two older boys raised their hands, and Lord Alan pointed to one. 'Kennan. You are Tasride's sponsor.'

The brown haired boy came to stand behind Evan. 'Who would like to be Kaira of Mage's Tower's sponsor?'

Morgan looked at the girl closely. She hadn't seen Kaira for a long, long time. This was Daine and Numair's youngest daughter, and if Morgan remembered correctly, was a year older than herself. Kaira's sponsor was a long, lanky fourth year whose name was Aiden, from King's Reach. Next was Davion of Jesslaw, whom Morgan knew. His sponsor was Faris of Martis Hill. Then it was her turn.

'Who will be Morgan of Masabolle's sponsor?' a boy and a girl raised their hands. 'Adelaide of Tirragen, you are Masabolle's sponsor.'

The older girl walked over and stood behind Morgan. She gave her a warm smile, and Morgan smiled back.

The last boy's name was Kain of Nicoline. His sponsor was Michael of Stone Mountain. As the pages dispersed, headed for supper, Morgan turned to Adelaide.

'Hello,' the girl said. 'My name's Adelaide, but my friends call me Adie. I don't believe we know each other, but my friend Davion recommended you.'

'Oh. I don't know Davion very well, but his father and my mother are friends. Shouldn't we be heading to dinner?' Morgan asked, realizing that they were alone in the pages wing.

'Of course. Alan will be mad if were late. And I'd hate for you to have punishment work when it's your first night here. C'mon, this way.'

'Who's the boy who is sponsoring Evan?' she asked. He had seemed a bit different than the rest. In charge.

'Leone, or Leo. He's a friend of mine. Big headed, but he's a good friend. Why do you ask?'

'Just wondering.'

They had reached the Hall, and they got their trays and food. Morgan followed Adie to a table with Evan, Leo, Kaira, Aiden, Davion, and Faris, along with two other boys Morgan didn't know. They both sat down, and Adie introduced her to everyone.

'This is Aron of Hollyrose and this is Cassius, or Caz, of Naxen,' she said when she reached the last two boys. They both smiled at her, just as the others had, and she smiled back, just as she had done. She was happy to have so many friends already, and could tell she was in for some interesting times.

Alianna

A new page arrived at the palace but a few days after Morgan arrived. In fact, there were two. The first was a third-year, a red-headed girl from the Copper Isles. The second was her younger brother, a first-year, his name being Nathan. His sister's name was Alianna.

A day after these two arrived, training started. Morgan soon learned that her mother was right; this was HARD. Her morning was filled with reading, writing, math, deportment, or manners as the nobles practiced them, and history. By the time she got to lunch, she had a poem to read and write an essay on, four math problems to be completed by tomorrow, and she had to read a chapter in her etiquette book. And she was only halfway through the day.

She followed Adie to a table where noone else was sitting, and she wondered why they were sitting alone. But then, Adie waved her right hand over her head, and called, ' 'Anna!' Morgan looked where her mentor looked, and saw the red-head girl named Alianna, with her brother Nathan following. Alianna grinned when she saw Adie, and hurriedly made her way to their table. Nathan stumbled along behind her, looking a bit lost.

'Goddess! I thought I'd never see you again, Adie!' Alianna exclaimed as she sat down. 'And you're Morgan, right? Grandmother told me quite a bit about you this summer while I was staying with her and Grandda. You're a first-year too, just like Nat. Maybe you can help him with his math. Mithros knows I can't.'

Morgan looked a bit puzzled, but then realized who this was. 'You're Alanna's granddaughter?' Alianna nodded. 'She's told me quite a bit about you, but she never called you Alianna; she called you Ally.'

Alianna nodded. 'That's her nickname for me. Mother's always been Aly, so now Im Ally, or maybe just a little Aly.' She smiled, a familiar gleam in her eyes. Then she turned to talk to Adie, catching up with what had happened over the summer. Meanwhile, Morgan talked to Nat, and learned that he, too, had learned to ride from the famous Lioness...

Of Mathematics and Horses

'I have a little sister. Her name is Kaerinda. She's but a year old.'

Morgan nodded. 'Mother's pregnant. Uncle Neal says that it'll be a girl. She's supposed to be born in a few months after Midwinter. I'm not sure when exactly.'

The two sat in the library after supper, trying to get some work done. Morgan helped Nat with his math, and he helped her with her poem. They got along well, and they both were about halfway done with their work.

'My younger brother is six. I think he wants to be a knight, too, but I wouldn't be surprised if her became a mage. He's got the Gift, as do I, but his is much stronger than mine is. Right now, Uncle Neal, Alanna, and Duke Baird are all training him at one time or another, depending on where they are and where he is. I suppose it's hard to train with the Lioness, but it can not compare to learning to ride from her. He was lucky; Uncle Anders and Mother taught him.'

And so the conversation went on, until lights out. Then, they discovered that they had only finished about three-fourths of what they were supposed to have, but were too tired to do anything about it. So the two went to their rooms, and Morgan fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

A bell that hung in a tower high over the page's wing woke Morgan at dawn the next day. Moaning, for she ached all over, she bathed her face in cold water. She dressed quickly and went out into the hall, to find Adie waiting for her. She waited with Alianna, and they all waited for Nat. He appeared soon, fighting to keep his eyes open. Alianna and Morgan where the only ones who seemed to want to talk at breakfast; clearly, Alianna hadn't inherited her grandmother's hate of mornings, while her brother had. Adie had warned her at supper the night before that she didn't get along with the morning, so Morgan wasnt surprised that she didn't talk to anyone.

'There's no living with her 'till midday. She's about as bad as grandmother. The only difference is that Adie isn't as good with a sword,' Morgan nodded, remembering a time her da had said something that hadn't faired well with the Lioness, and her temper was much worse so early in the morning.

After breakfast, they all headed off for mathematics, then reading and writing, where Morgan was assigned a longer poem with a longer report for not finishing the report on her previous poem. Then there was history, where Morgan almost fell asleep, thinking about Sir Myles, who had once taught this class, and was quickly brought back to reality by a sharp snap on her desk when the Mitharian preist who now taught this class slapped his ruler on her desk. This happened quite often in history class, whether to her or one of the other pages in the class.

After lunch, the pages had their first day of combat training; they hadn't started yesterday because one of their teachers was not at the palace yet. So, first, they headed for the stables. Morgan, of course, already had her gelding, Nightfire. He was pure black, and some of the pages admired him, wide eyed, as she groomed and saddled him. Nat, on the other hand, didn't have a mount, so he was to use a spare. There were several to choose from, and he picked a small bay mare, by the name of Novia, the Yamani word for friend. After receiving Alianna's approval, Nat groomed and saddled his mare. Once all the youngest pages had picked their horses, and everyone had their mounts saddled, Lord Alan, who had been supervising, led everyone outside and then yelled,

'Mount-up!'

The pages did so, and someone said, 'Has anyone ever mounted down?'

Lord Alan turned to the fourth year who had asked. 'Actually, Queenscove, I believe I recall an incidence where your father did.' The boy turned red, and Morgan smiled. This was her cousin, Bryce. And Morgan remembered her mother telling that story.

That day all the first years had to do on their horses was ride them around the yard at a walk, without falling off. This proved difficult for some pages, but for her, and, Morgan noticed, Nat, it was simple. The older pages practiced jousting. At the end of this class, while all the pages groomed their horses, Lord Alan called for Morgan and Nat.

'Since the two of you already know how to ride, and very well, seeing as you were both taught by my mother, you will join the older pages tomorrow and learn to joust,' he nodded to them, and they both went off to finish grooming their horses.

For the next class, the pages headed for a practice court near the stables. Here stood Eda Bell, the Shang Wildcat, and her partner, the Shang Ox. Here they were to learn the art of hand to hand combat. Once thought of as an art of fighting meant for commoners, knights now used it almost as much as they used their sword. The new pages first lesson was how to fall. Morgan knew quite a bit about this, but purposely didn't show it. Her mother had said quite a bit about not bragging.

After that, they headed to yet another training yard, where Lord Alan was handing out staffs to the first- and second-year pages. The third- and fourth-years went to a separate training yard to practice their sword fighting. Morgan received a staff from the training master, and then Alan paired second-years with first-years. He showed the pages what each of the blocks looked like, then each of the strikes. Then, slowly, he called out, 'High, middle, low,' while the pages tried to keep up. This was fairly new to Morgan, who had only used a glaive before, and she had just as many bruises as all of the other pages afterwards. Except Nat. Apparently, the staff was his weapon of choice, along with a dagger.

Next came archery, which Morgan had a little experience in. After the instructor was satisfied that she had a good eye and even better aim, he made her work on the way she stood. For an hour.

Archery was the last class of the day, and so the pages went to their rooms to wash and change for supper. Morgan fell asleep in her bath, and was only awakened when Adie knocked on her door. After she had dried off and dressed, the two headed for dinner along with Alianna and Nat. That evening, Kaira and Aiden joined them for supper. And, after supper, Kaira also joined Morgan and Nat in the library with her work.

The three pages work hard on their work, but somehow did not manage to finish it before lights out. So, the three tired pages parted, and all went to their rooms, longing for their beds and a good nights sleep.