Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is recognizable from the magical world of Tamora Pierce's Tortall.
This chapter is dedicated to my beta, SOPROL....this is the 40th Chapter she was my beta for. In her words, "We make quite a team!" Thanks for all your help, SOPROL!
Chapter Forty-Four: Kahlan meets the Coopers
(Aly's POV)
A month had passed since I had become a mother again. I had gone to sleep shortly after Kahlan. She was almost sleeping through the night, but not yet.
I hadn't woken up because of Kahlan, though. I just wasn't able to sleep anymore. I reached out until I found the small candle that sat on the small table on my side of the bed at night and once I found it, commanded my magic to light a small flame, bright enough that I could see where I walked, but dim enough to let Gareth sleep.
No flame came when I commanded, so I tried again. Still nothing. After three more attempts of nothing, I reached down inside myself to my magical core. There was almost nothing there! I fought down the wave of panic for a second as I fumbled around in the darkness until I found the matches I had kept close while pregnant. Gareth didn't want me to use magic at all, for fear of endangering my own health or that of the baby's when I went into labor. It had been irritating at the time, but now I was grateful to have them.
"Aly?" Gareth asked.
Great, while searching for the matches, I had woken Gareth up. The one thing I was trying to avoid.
"Sorry, Gareth," I said. "I wasn't able to sleep, so I was looking for matches to light a candle so I could go into the sitting room and read without disturbing you."
"Why not light it magically?"
"Someone leeched my gift."
I felt Gareth sit up quickly as I lit the match and put it to the wick of the candle.
"What?" he asked.
I blew out the match. "Someone leeched my gift. There is almost nothing there."
"But how?" Gareth said, "Only people really close to you, close as in blood-related can tap into your Gift. Alanna would never do that."
"No, she wouldn't do that." I said, getting out of bed. "Excuse me, I need to have a word with my son."
"Do you want me to come with you?" Gareth asked, "What if you are weak from the leeching?"
I smiled. "Gareth, one of these days you'll remember Alanna is more like me than her father."
Gareth grinned; he understood my subtle hint about me not being a fragile court lady.
"I am just so worried of losing you." Gareth said. "I lost you once before, I don't intend to let it happen again so soon after I finally got you back."
"Gareth, I'm not going anywhere dangerous, just to knock some sense into my Master son." I said, "And even if it was dangerous, someone has to be here in case Kahlan wakes up."
"Please Aly? Will you just wait a little? Until the sun is up?" Gareth asked. "Thom will still be here to have you yell at him tomorrow."
I sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I'll wait until tomorrow, but I still can't sleep, so I am going to go read until I am tired again."
Gareth nodded and laid back down to get some more sleep. I took the candle and walked out into the sitting room of the Naxen Suite. There was a blanket that Gareth and I had wrapped ourselves up in earlier that evening while holding Kahlan. It was All Hallows tonight, so the chilly weather of winter was not far away.
I lit a few more candles to give myself enough light to read by, blew out the small candle from my bedroom, and wrapped myself up in the blanket before picking up a book I had left out.
(No POV)
The following morning, after she had fed Kahlan and Gareth had left to train the pages, Aly took Kahlan and marched off to Thom's set of rooms. She none-too-gently knocked on the door. It was a few minutes before the door opened, and Thom saw her.
"Hello, mother," he said, "What brings you here?"
"Something strange that happened last night, Thom," Aly said, "I woke up in the middle of the night, and my Gift had been leeched away from me. Now the only people close enough to me to do that are you, Alanna, and Kahlan, and I think we both know it wasn't Alanna or Kahlan."
"Yes, mother, I did borrow your magic last night, but if you'd look into your core now, you'd see that it has all been returned. I borrowed Alanna's gift as well."
"What were you doing that involved all three of our Gifts?"
"I was just doing experiments."
"Experiments?" Aly said, "You caused me to be panicking half the night because of some experiments?"
"I assure you mother, I did not intend to make you panic." Thom said.
"You could have asked," Aly said, "I know I raised you to have manners."
Thom grinned that annoying, superior grin that he had been wearing since he came to the palace. Aly's hand itched to slap it off his face. "Mother, I am a Master. Surely I am too old for lessons on manners."
"You may be a Master Sorcerer, Thom, but you are also still my son." Aly said, "I will lecture you until the day I die if I must. What kind of experiments were you working on?"
"Just experiments," Thom said, "Don't worry, mother, I am fine, and I promise, I won't take yours or Alanna's Gift without permission again."
Aly eyed her son for a moment.
"I promise." he said.
Aly nodded. "Alright." She turned to leave, and heard Thom close the door behind her.
Later that afternoon, Aly decided it had been long enough since she had seen Eleni. She hadn't gone down since before Kahlan was born. Aly ached for a ride on her mare again, so she took Kahlan with her down to the stables and had a stable boy saddle her mare. He also held Kahlan while Aly mounted and passed her to her once she was settled in the saddle. Aly rode at a normal, gentle walk since she could only use one hand to hold the reins. She was cradling Kahlan in her other arm.
Eleni usually came to meet her, but not this time. The stable hand helped her and Kahlan down, and Aly asked if Eleni was here. He said she was, but had woken up this morning very tired and weak. He thought she might be sick. Perhaps she shouldn't have brought Kahlan. If Eleni was sick, Kahlan was still young enough that she would get ill easily. Aly decided she would see how Eleni was doing, and if she looked or sounded bad, she would promise to visit again when Eleni was healthy. She walked into Eleni's house and went upstairs to where she knew Eleni slept. The two women had talked in her bedroom before.
"Eleni, are you alright?" Aly asked as she entered the room. "What happened?"
Eleni grinned. "I'll be fine. I probed someone's magic late last night. They had strong guards up."
"Oh, Eleni, I am so sorry," Aly said, "That was Thom. If I hadn't already been to lecture him about it, I would be going to once I returned."
"Lecture him?"
"He leeched mine and Alanna's Gifts last night. Said he was working on some experiments, but wouldn't tell me any more than that. Are you sure you are alright?"
"I will be fine." Eleni said. "I just need to rest." Eleni looked at her and Kahlan resting in Aly's arms."So this would be your new child?"
"My daughter, yes," Aly said, "Eleni, may I introduce to you Kahlan of Naxen. Kahlan, I'd like you to meet Mistress Eleni Cooper."
"You named her after my mother?" Eleni asked.
"I hope you don't mind." Aly said. "It was just such a beautiful name."
"No, I don't mind at all. I am honored." Eleni asked. "May I hold her?"
"Of course." Aly said, passing Kahlan to Eleni.
"She's adorable." Eleni said.
"Yes, she is." Aly said. "Gareth spends every free moment with her that she's awake. He loves her so much."
"You are a lucky woman to have such a fine husband and a beautiful daughter to join your other beautiful and strong daughter and powerful son."
"And then there is my amusing step-son, and my powerful nephew, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law." Aly said.
"Little Kahlan is never going to get so much as a scratch on her, is she?" Eleni laughed, "She'll have so many people watching her that the second she stumbles, someone will catch her."
"If she'll let us. She's only a month old, and already she has shown that she will only accept her way of things. Alanna was the same."
"Will we be having a second Lady Knight in eighteen years time?"
"I'm not sure," Aly said, "Maybe."
One day, a few weeks after her visit to Eleni, there was a knock on the door of the Naxen Suite. Aly was with Kahlan alone, and so she got up to answer it.
"George!" she said when she saw him, a smile on his face. "How are you? Please, come in."
"Thank you, your Grace." George said.
"Call me Alianne, please. What brings you up to the palace? Surely you know how much the Provost wants to get you in shackles."
"I came to have a word with your son, but he wasn't interested."
"Thom? What did you have to say to him?"
"Are you aware he harmed my mother on All Hallows? He also tapped into Alanna's magic."
"Yes, he tapped mine to, and I went to see your mother the day after All Hallows." Aly said, a sharp tone in her voice.
"So I see you're not too pleased with him, either."
"No, I'm not," Aly said, "He is not the same Thom I raised, and I don't like this Thom at all."
"Have you talked to him? You are his mother."
"Unfortunately, the young master believes he is too old to follow the advice of his mother." Aly said with a sigh. She turned to George. "You mother told me you were probably glued to Alanna's side. You didn't by any chance bring her with you, did you?"
"No, Your-Alianne," George said, quickly correcting himself when Aly looked at him sharply. "Alanna is back to her adventuring. Although she told me before she and I separated that she would soon be an older sister?"
"Yes, and now she is." Aly said, "That is why I had gone to your mother. I wanted to introduce them. Alanna has a half-sister."
"Where is she? Spending a day with her father and the pages?" George asked with a laugh, "Is she trying to get a head start on her page training?"
"No," Aly laughed, "She is asleep in the nursery. Would you like to see her?"
"I won't wake her will I?"
"I doubt it, with your skills at sneaking being what they are." Aly said with a smile."Come on, I'd be proud to show her off to you."
George nodded and followed Aly into the nursery. Like Aly had said, Kahlan was fast asleep, covered in blankets worthy of royalty. George looked at the blankets and thought about how many families could have been fed for the price of those blankets.
"I know, they are flashy," Aly said, noting George's look, "But Lianne insisted. Her Majesty always wanted a daughter."
"What is the lass's name?"
"Kahlan," Aly said, "I named her after your mother's mother."
"I recognize the name." George said, "She's very cute."
"Yes, she is." Aly said. "But come on, let's leave so we can talk without waking her."
George nodded, but first reached down and gently stroked Kahlan's cheek. Aly smiled at the gesture.
"We'll make a father out of you yet, George Cooper."
"If only the lass I wish to have as my children's mother would realize she loves me as much as I love her."
"You wouldn't be taking about Alanna, now would you?" Aly asked smiling knowingly.
"How much do you know?" George asked.
"I'm sure it's not everything, but I know a fair bit of information about you and my daughter."
"Do you happen to know if she will want to settle down and get married and become a mother?"
"Give her time to have her adventures." Aly advised. "And then take a look at where she stands on those ideas."
"And where do you stand on those ideas?" George asked. "Of your blueblood daughter marrying the likes of me?"
"I only want my daughter's happiness." Aly said, "And I would look forward to calling you my son in-law."
George grinned, and the two continued to talk about Alanna until George said he should get back to the city. Aly saw him out to the hall, where he quickly disappeared.
Review Replies
sonotalady: I am currently thinking about doing a sequel with Kahlan, but I am not sure yet if I will actually do it...I am having a hard time coming up with ideas for it.
silver cat 777: thanks!
ES: Yuuup...that was a typo....thanks for pointing it out.
Trisana Sarrasari: Glad you liked it
Cry of the Wolf Child: I haven't gotten a chance to read the books yet, my sister has the first one still...I hope to borrow it and read it over the summer.
Soraya the All Speaker: I am glad you liked the chapter!
Anjalit2624: I am glad you liked the last chapter.
Miranda Cahill of Conte: I am thinking about doing a story for Kahlan, but ideas are not readily coming to me, so I am not sure if it will actually happen.
xXthenextbookwormXx: I plan to have Kahlan and Neal be close friends, yes. I agree, the palace (and all of Tortall, really) better run for cover!
iloveredshoes: I wasn't going to have there be a fight, but Aly was going to speak to Alanna abour rejecting Jon.
Tishica: Lol. That would be cute...I am glad you liked the chapter
LittleMissGiggles: Having Kahlan at the convent seems to be a popular idea with my reviewers! If I decide to actually write the sequel I am planning, I might have to keep that in mind.
spazzysassyangel: Thanks!
a happy camper: That is a thought I have had going through my head for a while now
scarletblusssh: I am glad you liked it!
StarVamp: I am glad you loved the last part of the chapter
thegypsy: I am glad you were happy with the outcome of the bith of Kahlan
AddiCullen: I laughed as I read you review....I plan to end this after Rampant, but I am also toying with the idea of a sequel, or more of a spin-off focusing on Kahlan. But I am not sure if I will actually do it, because ideas are scarce.
weilanna: I included a note about the name in the last chapter...it is the name of a character in a book series/tv series called Legend of the Seeker. The show is awesome, and from what I have heard, the books are better, but I haven't gotten a chance to read the books yet.
ALK: When it comes to things like character deaths, I don't answer questions about it. I like to keep some things a surprise, so you will have to wait and see if I kill anyone off.