A/N: Replies to reviews:

flammingirl – Thank you for the long review, heehee! It's nice to know I'm not the only one who rambles. Ooh! Ah! Gah! sound of Jaina Eowyn hitting herself on the head Didn't mean to tell you what happens! I took it out. Grr. I'm so stupid. Idiot! Sorry, won't do it again. I was just typing and… well, I guess I just typed it and… I'm making excuses. Anyways, I won't do it again, and if I do by accident, feel free to give me a good whack! Thanks.

flammingirl's reply - lol, i saw the update in my email and im like she already got the chapter up after just a day? lol, yea no prob for the long review, and thanks for the chapter that was practically just commentin on my review ;). lol, alright yea i can c how it just slipped cause ur so EXITED right? lol (makin up an excuse for u to add to urs :) ) lol, and yea agian, wats ur site? u keep sayin ull put up the pictures on "the site" but uve never given a domain name yet! lol, alright (sorry ive been so... "pushy" lately, i just dk ;) ) lol, alright heres another review :) keep writin girl!

My reply: Okay, the domain is solowriting. but I'm still working out all the bugs. It'll show up, but my div element got messed up, so it'll be hard to read. Just a note to all on the subject of updates: I will update these Review Reply things, so keep checking back. I'll also delete these before putting up the next chapter so you can still review it. Thanks!

Update: Okay, I have Solo Writing up now, but it's still in beta mode. Several of the pages are under construction on my laptop and will be transferred to my PC to be put up on the web soon. Once I work out the bugs with Bravenet, it will be fully operational. Here's the URL: http : solowriting . bravehost . com (take out the spaces) Just to warn you, I'm still trying to get the background to work, so bear with me.

A note to all: First of all, if you reply to the 'Replies to Reviews' thing I put up, I found that they don't get deleted when I delete the chapter, so if you want to review the REAL chapter that will replace the 'RtR' thing, you would probably want to do an anonymous review for the 'RtR' or something. Thanks so much!

And I WILL be putting up the pictures when I get them, but remember that it's up to you readers if you want to look at them, so if you want to keep seeing them the way you have been, that's fine. I totally understand how it could ruin how you see the characters (my mind wanders back to Lord of the Rings when it came out in theaters and how some of the characters didn't look like how I had thought of them, though I did like how all of them looked, but anyways). So it's up to you guys if you look at them, and if you do, remember that this is just how I see them, not how you HAVE to see them or something like that. Okay, you're probably tired of me, so I'll go away.

Chapter Nineteen: Confessions

The next day, my mum allowed me and Shean to take a ride (unchaperoned, thankfully) to a nearby flower field that I knew of to have a picnic. The cook got together a lovely spread and we rode down to the meadow and spread out the sheet that we were using as a picnic blanket next to the little stream that ran through the meadow.

"Mm, this is a nice little place," Shean commented as we laid out the food.

I nodded and reached for a piece of bread and we sat in contented silence for a while before Shean spoke.

"Val…" He started, looking over at me. I looked up from the sandwich I'd made. "Um, about last night," he stuttered. I nodded slightly, my face frozen, half afraid of what he was almost certain to say now. "I hope – I hope you didn't – I hope you didn't take it the wrong way," he finally managed, stuttering badly. I shook my head and looked away, staring up at the sky, hoping I didn't look how I felt. "You understand… right?"

I nodded again, still not looking at him. "It's okay, Shean, I understand. It was just… spur of the moment." I understood all right. He hadn't meant that kiss, and I'd thought he had. In fact, I'd rather hoped he had, because after my chat with Jenna the night before, I realized that I really did love Shean. But now it seemed he didn't reciprocate that feeling.

Shean touched my chin and turned me back to face him. I unwillingly looked back at him. "Good. Because this isn't spur of the moment," he murmured and I found our lips locked once again in a deep, tender kiss. My arms snaked around his neck and I felt his arms on my waist pulling me towards him as he deepened the kiss. We finally broke for air and I was centimeters from his face again, our foreheads resting on each other.

"Then you meant that?" Shean asked. My brow furrowed. "About not minding it when I kissed you last night?" He clarified. I smiled and shook my head lightly.

"No," I whispered, "I rather liked it. Though not as much as I enjoyed a few moments ago," I added flippantly. He grinned and I put my head on his shoulder and looked up at the clouds.

"Val, can I tell you something?" Shean asked softly.

"Mm-hmm," I murmured.

"Val, I – I – I love you!" He finally blurted out.

I didn't move and simply whispered, "I know."

I heard him sigh. "You know, we really need to lay off with the Star Wars lines."

I grinned. "No, it's true. I was talking with Jenna last night while you and Jer were chatting and she gave me the opinion of an interested bystander."

He looked slightly confused. "You guys went somewhere?"

I looked heavenward and rolled my eyes, then looked back at him. "Man, when you get into a discussion, you get into a discussion! And I love you too."

Shean shook his head as if to clear it and laughed. "Man, that conversation sure went off track. But thanks."

"Huh?"

"For returning my love."

"Oh. You know, we can't tell my mom, otherwise you'll find yourself the new Prince of Kyrria like that." I snapped my fingers.

Shean smiled fondly and put his arm around me. "I wouldn't mind that, you know," he murmured, fingering my hair.

I stared at him, then shook my head and laughed. "I think you'd get tired of it pretty quickly!"

He shook his head. "I'd never get tired of you. After all, I put up with you for three years."

I laughed again and put my head on his shoulder. "No, I meant the responsibilities and the duties that go with the job."

"I think I could get used to those if I could have you."

I almost sat up, but didn't. "Is that…"

He laughed. "No, not yet. I just want to have you to myself for a while before we think about that."

I nodded, content with that. Then I had a thought and I grinned. "Hey, Shean, you never told me that you'd loved me from the first moment you saw me. Wasn't that supposed to be part of your confession speech?" I gave him a sly little grin.

He smiled down at me. "No, because I don't think I did. When I first saw you, I thought you were just a strange girl who must have been kicked out of a renaissance fair or something. I think it just kind of… happened, once I got to know you. You're not like most other girls, Val; you know that, right?"

I laughed. "Of course! Because if I was like all the other girls, I'd be in the popular group with all the other supernaturally pretty girls, huh?"

"Yes, you would be," he said solemnly, and I couldn't tell if he was serious or just playing with me. I grinned and punched him on the shoulder.

"That was a joke! I'm not very pretty and you know it!"

He turned a mock injured expression on me. "And here I thought you were beautiful!" He said in a hurt tone. I grinned up at him.

"Yeah, well, you just keep thinking that, flyboy."

"I will, your worshipfulness" he whispered and kissed me. I smiled and laid my head back on his shoulder.

We sat in silence and finished our lunch, then returned to the palace.

A month or so passed and the temperature quickly plummeted from the nice weather we had had in October once it hit November. Before we knew it, it was nearing the end of December and time for the annual New Years ball.

Shean and I helped decorate, and Éralla helped get underfoot (she thought she was helping, of course).

We had to dress up for the ball, of course, but my dress was similar to the one I wore for my welcoming ball, so I didn't mind. I still thought Shean looked sort of laughable in his dress tunic.

We all entered the ballroom pretty much the same way that we had for my welcoming ball, and I started the first dance, a fast moving one, with Shean. When that one ended, we danced a few more sets, then we grabbed a couple glasses of punch and went to lean against a door frame to talk and drink our punch.

"No, Jaina's stronger than Jacen," I insisted. Shean rolled his eyes.

"Val, remember everything Jace did in NJO? Can you really say that Jaina's stronger than him after all he endured in Vong hands?" He reasoned.

"Well, Jaya could have given in to the dark side, but she didn't. I wonder what Jacen would have done if their roles had been reversed." It wasn't a real argument, we were just seeing who was better at arguing.

"Well, how about a lightsaber match?" Shean asked. I shook my head.

"They already did that in Shadow Academy, dunderhead," I reminded him. "They're evenly matched in lightsaber combat, but that doesn't mean they're evenly matched in the Force, or in anything else, for that matter."

Shean sighed and handed me his glass, then banged his head (lightly) on the door frame, and then turned back and took the cup back. "There, all better," he announced.

I laughed. That was a custom of ours: we would bang our heads on a wall, door, whatever was handy three times when we were frustrated or something. After three years of that, we'd ended up with foreheads that could take headbuts pretty well.

We both took another sip of punch, and then looked up as we heard a giggle. One of the other girls that I knew was standing in front of us and glancing back and forth between us and the top of the door frame. We wrinkled our brows at her.

"What?" I asked.

"See what's hanging over the door?" She giggled.

Shean and I both looked up and my eyebrows jumped. It was a sprig of hollythorn, a plant that people in Kyrria and a bunch of other kingdoms traditionally hung up around their house that acted like mistletoe: if you were caught with someone while you were under the hollythorn, you had to kiss them. By now, a few of the other girls had gathered to watch too.

I glanced at Shean out of the corner of my eye. I didn't mind having to do it, of course, but I didn't want my mom to find out. Oh well, just so long as we didn't get too into it, we could just say that we'd been caught under the hollythorn and the others had made us do it.

We had our backs turned to the others, so Shean gave me a wink and kissed me. It was quick, but it was nice. All the girls gasped, having assumed I'd just give him a kiss on the cheek or something. We gave them all 'looks', and they quickly turned and walked quickly away to go do something.

"Come on, let's get out of here before my mom hears anything about this, or we're dead," I whispered and we put our punch glasses on the table to get taken back to the kitchen and wandered out into the garden again.

"Should we go view the stars again?" Shean asked, gesturing in the direction that the telescope lay.

"No, you're too tall for me to see anything," I replied, grinning slyly, referring to when he'd adjusted it so he could see better. Then Shean suddenly grabbed me up under the arms and lifted me off my feet so that my head was level with his.

"Now are you tall enough?" He asked in my ear and I could hear a grin in his voice, though I couldn't see his face.

"Aah, Shean, put me down!" I cried, laughing and struggling. I accidentally connected with his shin and he quickly put me down, hopping onto the nearest bench with a very pained expression on his face.

"Ooh, Shean, you okay?" I asked, squatting down to examine his leg. I had a hold of it and was checking it when he suddenly jerked it away and I went sprawling on my back.

"Hey, what was that for?" I cried indignantly. Shean was on the bench laughing his head off.

"Y-you should have seen your face!" He crowed as I sat up, glaring at him. I rubbed my back.

"You know, that hurt," I muttered.

Shean was still laughing as he started to stand up, then winced and quickly sat down again, looking down at his shin. I got onto my knees and went back over to examine the leg again.

"Mommy, kiss it for me and make it all better!" Shean asked in a fake teary, whiny imitation of a five-year-old, putting on a mock-pitiful face and jutting his bottom lip out in a quivering pout.

I grinned evilly to myself and started prodding his shin. "Tell me when it hurts, sweetheart," I cooed in a sickly sweet voice.

"Ow!" Shean cried and I stopped.

"All right, I'll kiss it there." I bent down and kissed it. I could smell his feet, but I tried to ignore it.

"That's all better, Mommy, but now my elbow hurts," Shean whined. I reached up and grabbed the offended piece of arm and kissed it. "How 'bout here?" He asked softly, pointing to his cheek. "That hurts too."

I rolled my eyes, but gave the proffered cheek a peck. Then Shean grabbed me and kissed me full on the lips. I jumped and pulled away, startled by the quick movement, and Shean laughed and slowly pulled me back. I relaxed and let him pull me onto the bench beside him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Love you," I murmured as his arm came to encircle my shoulders.

"I know," I heard as I closed my eyes and I smiled.

A/N: So, what'd you think? I'd love to know! (yes, that's a shameless hint to hit that little button at the bottom of the page that says review, heehee) Sorry, I'll try to stop with the blatant hints to review now and let you do it.