Kel was distraught. She had never been so harsh with Dom. She had never missed him more than she did at that moment, even though she had seen him only moments earlier. It struck her as odd that Dom did not seem angry or despaired by Kel's remark, only slightly put out, or maybe disappointed. He didn't hate her, she thought.
Leaving her thoughts behind her, Kel went to look for Eurgain, finding her in her rooms, fervently copying her notes onto separate sheets of parchment. Kel let her be and went to find Neal. He would be almost done with Perrin now, and he certainly couldn't keep her in the infirmary.
"Ah, Kel, perfect timing!" Neal said almost too cheerfully when Kel stepped into his examining room. He instructed Perrin to stay put and led Kel into his adjoining office. "My suspicions were right." He said. "The knuckles, the shiner, a banged up knee, a bent nose that looks like she has pushed it back herself and a cracked rib that she won't admit to.
"She's been in a real fight. Something she's not telling us about, Kel." He sighed nervously. "This wasn't her running away from two separate guards with a knife in her hands. I just don't know why she'd lie about it."
Kel nodded. "I'll try and speak to her later. Do you need her for anything else? I suspect that she may be here for some time, and since the children have practice in a few minutes, I thought I'd take Perrin along."
Neal nodded. "Go ahead." He looked at her sternly. "Just be careful, Kel."
Kel smiled. "Don't worry, Neal, I'm not going to get into any trouble."
Kel took Perrin out into the square where the children were gathering for their before-dinner practice. "Okay, everyone," Kel said loudly, "this is Perrin. I'm afraid she doesn't speak the same language as all of you, she speaks Scanran. But I hope that you can all still include her in your activities."
The girls all looked up at Kel. She smiled and nodded, and the girls stepped forward and introduced themselves to Perrin, one by one.
As Kel watched, one girl appeared at her side, not integrating herself with the other girls. Kel looked down. It was Irnai, the seer girl.
"Why did you tell them she doesn't speak Tortallan?" She asked.
Kel frowned. "Because she doesn't."
Irnai looked up at her calmly. "Yes she does." She said happily before she turned and walked to join the other girls who had already introduced themselves and were getting their practice weapons.
Kel's mouth fell open. "Sorry girls, I am afraid that you will have to practice without me today. Maybe you can get someone from the Own to help you." She waded into the rabble of girls and grabbed Perrin by the arm. "You, on the other hand," she said fiercely, "are coming with me."
Moments later, Kel had sat Perrin down in her headquarters and called Dom, Merric, Neal, and Eurgain back.
"Speak." She said. "Tell me why you lied."
Perrin looked confused. "I don't understand," she said, still in Scanran.
Kel narrowed her eyes. "You speak common tongue. Tortallan. Tell me why you lied about it."
Perrin stared up at her. "I didn't lie to you!" She said.
Kel frowned. "My patience is growing rapidly shorter by the second, Miss Rathhausak! Now tell the truth."
"I didn't lie." Perrin whispered in Tortallan. "I didn't."
Neal and Merric glanced at each other behind Kel. What was going on?
Kel sighed. "If you didn't lie, tell me what you did do." She said calmly.
Perrin glared at her, but knew that again, she was beaten. "I never lied to you. I never said I did not speak Tortallan. But I pretended I did not. I don't know why. It just seemed like the right thing to do." She looked down. "I'm sorry."
Kel sighed. "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"
Perrin looked up at her with blank eyes. "No." She said after a minute.
Kel stood up and walked to the back of the room where Neal was standing. "What do you think?"
Neal shook his head. "It's incredibly likely that she is lying. Why would she tell the truth? To her, we are the enemy. Her enemy. Why should she trust us?"
Kel nodded in agreement. "You talk to her, Neal. You're better at this than me, and you understand her injuries and what they could be from."
Neal nodded. "I'll do what I can. May I speak to her alone?"
Kel nodded. I'll leave someone at the door, just in case."
"Let's go." Kel said, signaling to Merric, Dom and Eurgain to join her. They all walked out, leaving Neal and Perrin alone.
"Kel, I'm on duty in fifteen minutes. May I be dismissed?"
"Oh, me too, Kel, I've still got to finish those letters so you can send them."
Kel nodded and dismissed both Merric and Eurgain, then turned to Dom. "Well," she said, "I guess that leaves you. You are on guard until Neal dismisses you. Have fun."
She turned and walked into her room.
She was reviewing her schedule of the day and seeing how much of it she had actually missed when someone knocked on her door.
"Come in." She said.
"Actually," a voice said from the other side of the door, "I think it would be easier if you came out."
Reluctantly, Kel rose and opened the door. "Dom," she said with a frown, "aren't you supposed to be guarding the door?"
He smiled weakly. "I am. That's why I asked you to come out."
Kel crossed her arms over her chest as she stood on one side of the door, Dom the other. "Fine. What do you want?"
Dom shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "You tell me."
Kel looked him in the eye. He stared straight back, his eyes boring into hers. Why was he putting her through this? She had told him she did not want to be his lover. Why was he persisting?
"I don't know what you want me to say," she said finally, shaking her head.
"Anything, Kel, just say something to me." He said desperately.
Kel couldn't help but feel sorry for him – he was pleading with her, desperate. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Dom, but I can't. This isn't where I should be right now. I should be concentrating on the havoc that is being wreaked on my camp."
"Aren't you ever going to think of what is best for you?"
"What is best for me," Kel said hotly, "is no matter to this country. The king is not concerned with one knight, he is concerned with the hundreds of refugees and soldiers living within the confines of this camp! He is concerned with his people!"
"You are one of them!"
Kel was almost yelling now. "That is not important! We are in a war, Dom! No one has time to think about these things!"
"You can't fight a war when you are unhappy! You most of all should know that!"
"You are the one making me unhappy!"
Dom opened his mouth, then closed it again. "You may not have noticed this," he said calmly, slowly, as if he were choosing each word with all his heart, as if every word were to be his last, "but life gets a lot more difficult for both of us when we try to be enemies instead of lovers."
Kel ran a hand through her hair. "This is ridiculous, Dom. I've told you time and time again, I don't have the time or the energy to spare to think about you."
"You think about me more now than you ever did."
Kel frowned. "How would you know that, may I ask?"
Dom shrugged. "Because I do the same for you." He said calmly. "Now, if you will excuse me," he said, as Neal opened the door to Kel's office and brought Perrin out, "but I have some work to do now." He turned and walked away.
Neal looked at Kel, concerned. She stood where she was her brow furrowed, her arms crossed. "Are you alright, Kel?" Neal asked.
Kel looked at him and smiled bravely. "I'm fine." She said. Why did their partings all seem to end with Kel standing there, dumbstruck by something that Dom had said?
It had only been a day since their parting, but that reunion had only lasted a day in itself. How long had it been now, not counting yesterday, since she had spoken kind words with Dom? How long had it been since she had truly been happy?
Neal made Perrin go and sit in Kel's office while he spoke to Kel. "I was correct, she was in a fight. Four guards at once. She refused to go into detail, but she killed them all. She said they made her angry. I have reason to believe they may have hurt more than just her surface, Kel. Who knows what goes through those men's minds when they see a twelve year old girl walking alone."
Kel grimaced, but nodded. "What are we going to do with her tonight?" She asked. "We don't know if she is safe to leave with refugees. She is scared, and she could be dangerous. We have no jail to place her in, but I certainly do not want her sleeping in the stocks.
Neal shrugged. "Any spare rooms you can lock her in?"
Kel shook her head. "None. The men of the Own are already doubled up. I'm not putting her with Eurgain. I don't think she could deal with it." She sighed. "She can stay with me, I guess."
Neal frowned. "Is that the best course of action? Why don't you put Eurgain in a cot in your room, and lock Perrin in Eurgain's room?"
Kel opened her mouth to give a reason why this was a bad idea, but none came to mind. "Oh." She said. "Maybe that is a good idea."
So, that night, Kel found herself sitting on her bed, deep in conversation with Eurgain, who was sitting on a cot across the room from Kel.
"So what are you going to do about Dom?" Eurgain asked calmly.
Kel's face went red. "What do you mean?"
Eurgain grinned. "Don't think I don't know about your little rendezvous yesterday. I have my spies. And they happen to be Neal."
Kel sighed. "I don't know any more. It's complicated." She did her best to explain it to Eurgain, and then tried to change the subject. "What about you?"
Eurgain let out a dramatic sigh. "I asked him if he loved me or if I was just here as the only noble girl he could get his hands on, and he told me. He wants to take me home with him after the war. Whenever that may be."
Kel smiled. Why was everything now working out so well for everyone but her? The two women fell asleep soon after, both exhausted from a long day.
-----
Dom didn't try anything when she saw him in the hallway of headquarters the next morning. It seemed that their shouting match had tired both of them out, and neither of them were much in the mood for another one.
Kel walked down the hall and unlocked the door to Eurgain's room to allow Perrin out for breakfast. The girl was sitting cross legged on her bed, looking at Kel.
"I was wondering when you would come." She said. "I thought that maybe you don't like getting up early around here."
Kel smiled weakly. "I need to speak to you, Perrin. Please, sit down." She said, leading the girl into her office. "I would like to offer you a place here at New Hope." She said. "I know you are used to a palace, but I can't let you continue to Corus. Your message was sent last night, the king will know in two days. There is nothing more for you to do. I cannot allow you to leave, either way, so your choices are to either accept my proposal, or be considered an enemy of the Crown and be placed in jail.
"I am sorry to have to offer you this ultimatum, but I honestly do not have a choice. I just need to know if you will cause trouble, or if you can live peacefully in one of our barracks."
Perrin looked up at her. "I can live peacefully." She said. "But I will not sleep in the same room as one of your men."
Kel nodded. "Fair enough. The barracks are divided by families, so there are both men and women, but you will have your own corner, with curtains around it, if you wish."
Perrin shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry, my Lady," she said, surprising Kel, "but I can't."
Kel sighed and rubbed her temples. "Should I assume that Neal was correct about your experiences?"
Perrin nodded slowly. Kel could see the fear in the young girls eyes. Rage welled up inside of Kel. How could men do that to a young girl? How could they be so heartless as to ruin a young girls future, to ruin her life? Kel knew of girls who had been raped when they were young. Few of them were ever able to marry, too afraid of the love that could be directed towards them. Too afraid of the intimacy that marriage assumed.
"I cannot leave you in that room. It belongs to Eurgain. I have no individual rooms to give you right now. I could give you a bed in the infirmary, but sometimes there would be men there. Really, the only choices are in Eurgain's room with her, or in my room with me. I would need your word that you would not try anything while we slept, though."
Perrin nodded quickly. "Please, my Lady, I would not cause trouble. I promise.
"I will be good. I will sleep in your room, and you will not even know I am there, I swear it."
Kel furrowed her brow.
"W shall see where this day leads us, Perrin."
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I am uber unhappy with this chapter. I wrote it in my notebook, then promptly lost my notebook. I can just never write it as well as I did the first time. Argh.
I hope you all don't mind, but I am feeling rather monosyllabic today. Sorry in advance!
Annmarie Aspasia: thank you!
Gray Eyed Fighter: Yay! Bestest friend! Ooh… groveling… I like groveling! I did slip? I thought I went back and changed them all… oh well. I tried my bestest.
Queenofdakittys: Thanks!
Rowenhood: Yeah… this one took me ages, too.
Mage Light: yay!
Jennyvre Moss: yeah… harsh.
Atlanta Enchanted: Don't worry, only from the room. She doesn't want him to leave.
FanFictionFantom: you don't get it? It's just saying how you can tell kids god is crying because of how horrible they were. It makes them sad! Okay, I am evil, I'm sorry…
Smiles28: yay yay yay!
Seirien: yeah… sorry bout that. Heehee. I still don't know. I have written five chapters since then, but it's only been one day! I didn't realize that. I read the old chapters to see how much time had passed for one of Kel's monologues, and I was like, say what? One day? The hell?
Lady-kitty: he he… I am teh evil! (yes, the teh is supposed to be there…)
Lady of Masbolle: cow man. Good insult, I like it!
Nicecupoftea07: Oops. Sorry, he's dead! What can ya do?
AJ 4EVA: some day…. Some day. Maybe. If you're really, really good. REALLY good.
FanFictionFantom: I never went with the Neal thing. I dunno, it sort of wierded me out. Meh.
Wake-Robin: drama!
Alenor: oops, more lying! Bad Perrin! Yeah… Kel's being a bit annoying, really.
Lotr luvr: there's nothing wrong with crying over fictional characters. Fiction is supposed to invoke feelings in a reader, not just tell a story. It makes me feel special!
PsychoLioness13: yes, that would definitely be icky. Eww. Ick.
"As the evening sky faded from a salmon color to a sort of flint gray, I thought back to the salmon I caught that morning, and how gray he was, and how I named him Flint."
-unolimbo