Anyone who read the last chapter before I changed it, I have changed the girls name. It was Bandelle, which I decided I didn't like, and I changed it to Perrin. So if you see Bandelle, it means I've missed it when I went over this chapter again and changed it. Sorry, and just tell me and I'll change it.
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Kel gave the horses to Tobe when they returned to the camp. He took Kel's horse willingly, but paused when he saw Perrin. "My Lady!" He whispered to Kel. "My Lady, who is that girl?"
Kel shushed him. "Don't ask questions, Tobe. I will tell you what you need to know." She said sharply.
"But my lady, she is Scanran! I don't mean to be rude, my lady, but the refugees talk to me – I am one of them, they trust me – and they will not take well to a Scanran girl."
Kel stared down at the young boy. "Tobias Boon, I told you to take those horses to the stables." She said, her hands on her hips.
The young boy looked up at her hardened face and knew there was no changing her mind. "Come on, Hoshi. I'll give you some oats." He said, taking the reins again and walking away, stealing glances at Perrin as he went.
Kel walked back over to where Merric and Perrin were standing. The girl looked considerably more frightened now that she was inside the camp's walls, but Kel wasn't worried.
She took the girl by the arm and marched her to headquarters, pausing only to ask one of the soldiers wandering around to bring some breakfast to her office. Kel sat Perrin down in the chair opposite her desk and made sure that Merric had a guard posted at the door before taking her own seat behind her desk.
"Well, Perrin, I know your first name. I don't know anything else about you, and I don't like that."
Perrin stared at her.
"Welcome to New Hope," Kel said, not losing her stride whatsoever, "I am Lady Keladry of Mindelan, Lady Knight of Tortall. This is my camp. Would you like a place here?"
Perrin narrowed her eyes at Kel. "Why are you offering me this?" She asked, leaning forward slightly as if she were inspecting the knight.
Kel shrugged. "Why are you not accepting it?" There was a deep silence between the two of them. "Why don't you tell me why you're going to Corus? It's a very odd place for a poor Scanran to be going."
The girl looked away. "It's the largest city in the realm."
"So?"
"I was sure I could find work there." She looked away again. "Let me go." Kel shook her head, and Perrin spat on the floor in front of her.
Kel sighed. "I can't let you go. I would if I could, I promise. But it's difficult. There are reports to write, information to gather. For example, why Corus? It's more than the work."
Just then, Tobe came in carrying a small tray of bread and tea. "Thank you, Tobe," Kel said when he put it down on the desk. Tobe opened his mouth, but Kel raised her eyebrows and he closed it again.
"Eat." Kel said after Tobe left. The girl ate. A lot, and quickly. Kel was surprised at how she was not getting sick from eating so fast. "Now talk." Kel said, when the girl was done eating.
"I have nothing to say."
Kel sighed. "Very well," she said, pushing out her chair and walking over to Perrin. She took the girl by the arm again and marched her into the square, fumbling with the keys that hung from her belt. Upon finding the proper key, Kel opened the stocks and out the girl in.
Leaning down so the girl could see her, Kel spoke. "I'm sorry to do this to you, but you spit on my office and you refused to give me the information I know you hold. I am a gentle leader, or at least I like to think of myself as one. But I am only gentle when I am treated with respect. Respect me, and I will respect you willingly."
The girl stared at her. "Why not just have me killed? I know it's what you're going to do."
Kel ran her hand through her hair. "You haven't quite done anything wrong, you see. You've been forced to make some difficult decisions, and maybe you've made some bad choices. Everyone does.
"Look, I want to help you. I want to give you a job and a place to sleep, and a family, if you will take it, but I can only do that if you tell the truth."
Bandelle looked away from Kel again and clenched her fists. Kel noticed that her knuckles were split and bloody. Had she been fighting?
Shaking her head, Kel stood up and walked away. "I'll be back for you at lunch and we'll see what we can work out." She called over her shoulder to the girl.
With a sigh, Kel walked back to headquarters. She already knew this girl would be trouble. But Kel knew she had been fighting, she knew she had secrets. Kel didn't like having her in the stocks, she was just a child, probably only twelve or thirteen. But Kel didn't have time to worry about an enemy child who had stumbled into Tortall without knowing the language or the people or the landscape.
She couldn't give this child to one of the refugees to watch. They wouldn't understand her and she wouldn't understand them, and no one would be able to control her. Kel, deep in thought, felt herself hit something as she turned the corner into headquarters.
"Ouch!"
"Oh, I'm sorry-" Kel looked up. "Dom."
He looked up, rubbing his forehead. "Don't worry about it." He said quickly, rubbing his forehead once more and turning away from Kel and walking around the corner.
"Dom-" Kel called out, and he turned. "I'm sorry."
Dom looked at her for a moment. "You said that already."
Kel smiled weakly. "I know."
They both looked at each other until Kel turned away from him and stepped around the corner into her office.
Eurgain was waiting for her there. "Morning, Lady Kel." She said, standing up. "I'm sorry I wasn't here this morning, I just found out about this girl a few moments ago."
Kel shook her head. "Never mind. Eurgain, I need you to do me a favour."
"Of course." Eurgain said, sitting down and taking out her book and a quill. "Ready."
"The girl in the stocks. Perrin. She has secrets. She won't tell me the real reason why she is in Tortall, and she has seen some fighting. Her knuckles were bloody, and I want Neal too check her over for bruises and cuts in any other places. If he can't check her over without taking her out of the stocks, then you can take her over later. But she doesn't come out of the stocks, do you understand me?" Eurgain nodded, and Kel continued. "She knows something. I don't know what, and I don't even know if it's important. But I want you to find out. Do you speak Scanran?"
Eurgain nodded. "I'm not fluent, but I definitely understand it."
Kel nodded. "You are going to keep an eye on her. I know it will be difficult, but I just don't have time to do it myself, I've got a camp to run."
Eurgain nodded again. "Of course, Lady Kel. I'll do what ever I can."
Kel stood up and walked to the window. She could see Perrin in the stocks, unmoving. "She's just a child, Eurgain. I don't know how she got here." She said, shaking her head.
Eurgain smiled. "Well, Lady Kel," she said standing up and looking out the window beside Kel, "I certainly didn't know you when you were eleven, but from what Merric and Sir Neal have told me, you would have made that walk yourself, given the proper reasons."
Kel laughed. "That's a good point. I told Perrin I'd let her out at lunch. I want you to talk to her this morning and have Neal check her over. I'll be there at noon and I will interrogate her myself. Oh, and if she asks any questions, answer them, to your own discretion. I want her to be comfortable, to trust us. Especially if she asks questions about yourself. I doubt she will, but I just want her to know that we are not keeping anything from her."
Eurgain nodded and went to the door. "Anything else I can do for you, Lady Kel?"
Kel shook her head. "That's all, Eurgain. Come report to me before lunch. And document every single thing Perrin asks or says."
Kel sat down behind her desk. It was already getting late in the morning, probably close to nine o'clock. She was behind in her work. She had been so ahead of schedule that morning, but this girl had thrown everything out of order. Kel worked at her desk for a long time, before realizing that she had not actually eaten yet that day.
After stopping in the kitchens for a roll, Kel went to the infirmary to check with Neal. "Kel!" Neal said when she came in. "Lovely to see you." He said, standing from behind his desk and walking over to her. "I hear you have a new child to take care of."
Kel frowned at him. "You've only heard?"
Neal shook his head. "Don't worry, I checked her out. You were right, she's been fighting. Knuckles bloody, a bit of a black eye that's faded, probably some interior damage that I can't see until I do a real check with her in the infirmary instead of the stocks."
Kel nodded and crossed her arms. "Fine. I'll give her to you as soon as I'm done questioning her."
Neal looked at her. "What in the name of Mithros is going on, Kel?" He asked. "Who the hell is she?"
Kel sighed. "I don't know, Neal. I'll tell you when I do."
"That's not good enough, Kel! You can't have this Scanran girl running around here-"
"She's not running around Neal, she's in the stocks-"
"You bloody well know what I mean!" Neal said, almost shouting. "The refugees are asking questions. They can tell that this girl is not one of their own. They aren't doing their work, they are going to start questioning your motives for having her here, Kel. You have to solve this now."
Kel frowned. "Don't you think I know that, Neal? I wanted to let her go, I tried to tell her that. I can't. Do you know how much trouble I could get in? She knows something. And there could be a lot more trouble if I didn't keep her and figure out what she knows!"
Neal looked at her for a moment. "I believe you, Kel" He said, "I really do. Just be careful. This girl could be a lot of trouble."
Kel smiled. "Thanks, Neal." She turned and walked out the door of Neal's office into the main room of the infirmary, Neal following her. "I don't understand why everyone is making such a big deal out of this girl. Even I am. And I will figure it out, don't worry." She looked around the infirmary. It was almost empty, four or five beds filled at the back of the room, a man getting a bad bruise on his arm, most likely a horse bite, healed by one of Neal's healers.
"I'm going to go see what I can get out of her. I'll come by later with Perrin, and you can have her for as long as you need."
Neal nodded. "Good luck, Mother." He said with a grin. Kel rolled her eyes and walked out.
She met Eurgain on her way to the stocks. "I didn't get anything out of her, Lady Kel, I'm sorry. She wouldn't say more than two words to me." Eurgain said apologetically.
"What were those two words?" Kel asked.
Eurgain smiled. "I got her name and I got that she came from the capital."
Kel stopped in her tracks. "What?" She cried. "She came from the capital?"
Eurgain nodded. "Yes, Lady Kel. It was all she said, I assumed she'd told you that as well."
Kel marched over to the stocks and stood just out of spitting distance. "What time is it?" She asked, staring at Perrin, who was trying to look up, but quickly gave up.
"Noon."
"Thank you." Kel said, taking out her keys and unlocking Perrin. The young girl stood up, rubbing her wrists, glaring at Kel. "Alright, Miss Perrin, you are going to sit down and tell me absolutely everything there is about you, or your predictions are going to come true and you are going to find your head rolling."
Perrin stared up at Kel, her eyes wide. She knew Kel was serious. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, until Perrin finally spoke.
"My name is Perrin Rathhausak, and I have come from Castle Rathhausak."
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Ooh, suspense! Huzzah! I'm terrified! Well, I hope that nice cliff hanger made everyone very, very happy. I know it did for me! It took me such a long time to figure out who this girl was going to be, and then it suddenly seemed so simple… why didn't I think of it before? Heehee… I'm excited to keep writing…
Atlanta Enchanted: Oh, the dead parrot. Love that one so much… "he's not dead, he's pining for the fjords!" "He's nailed to the bloody perch! Polly want a cracker! Polly want a cracker!" Oh, that's a classic. Anyway, that's almost exactly how I pictured it, too… though it didn't seem nearly so Monty Python-esque when I thought of it.
Goddess Usagi: that probably would be a good idea… heehee
Annmarie Aspasia: okay, okay… updates… and I'm glad you like it.
Wake-Robin: thank you!
Lady of Masbolle: ooh, India… shiny! Is it all destructed and shit? The papers said India, then they said Thailand, and they got all confusing, and I'm not too great with the geography stuff, so I don't even know if they're close to each other… oh well. I hope everything gets better for them. (Did anyone else hear that thing saying Canada was giving $75 million to the U.S.'s $20 million? Go us and our powers of helping! Booyah!)
HeartKel: I haven't decided yet. I never write Tobe into my stories very much because I just don't know his character well enough, but I don't know if I would write in a replacement for him…
Heartdamoose: I never thought of her as a creepy kinda person. Secretive, yes, intriguing, yes, but I never really got the creepy vibe from her. But I guess it's true, she is sorta creepy when you think about it.
Alenor: yay for resolution!
FanFictionFantom: ooh, shiny!
Rowenhood: yeah, I tried to write it that she was actually over Cleon himself very quickly, she had just told herself that she wasn't allowed to be over him. She was hating herself for getting over him, and was thus trying to force the bad memories back into her mind without realizing it. It's all psychological and shit. Doesn't make much sense.
Ari: Kel may be hurting Dom, but your spelling and grammar is hurting me. No offence to you, the whole AOL speech drives me sort of crazy. I understand made up abbreviations (heck, look at my last few paragraphs), but there comes a point where it just becomes undecipherable. Anyway, on to your review (which, while I may have been crazy rude, I very much appreciate)! Dom definitely won't fall in love with the Scanran girl, she's just a kid… I can't tell you if it will be happy or if Kel and Dom will end up together because I honestly don't know yet. But if you really want a good way to find out, look at the other stuff I've written. You may notice a pattern: it's all exactly the same. So you pretty much know what to expect, right? And you post stories by creating a username, going to document manager and putting in your first chapter (just follow the instructions, they're really easy), then you go to create story and put in the information it asks for. When you want to update, just put your chapter in the document manager and then do the update chapter thing. It's pretty simple.
Mage Light: yay for reading!
Well, that's all for today… my fingers and my legs and my back hurt from my incredibly un-ergonomic chair I've been sitting in all day, and I think I need some sleep. Good night!
"He was a cowboy, mister, and he loved the land. He loved it so much he made a woman out of dirt and married her. But when he kissed her, she disintegrated. Later, at the funeral, when the preacher said, "Dust to dust," some people laughed, and the cowboy shot them. At his hanging, he told the others, "I'll be waiting for you in heaven--with a gun.""
I feel like I've already used this quote, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Who cares, anyway – it is such a kick ass quote that it is still super funny every time you read it.
Happy New Year!