A/N: Here is Chapter 2! Thank you to all my reviewers, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: All of it is Tamora Pierce's.
Whispering Winds: Chapter 2
They couldn't be doing this to her. They couldn't. Kayla was lying spread-eagled on her bed, raging at the ceiling. Next to her, Danika looked on with wide blue eyes as Kayla silently raged. Stopping for a moment to collect her thoughts, Kayla fought the tears that threatened to spill over. She didn't want to leave Tyra; she was comfortable here. She didn't want to leave all that was familiar to her for a place she had only visited once. Unlike her famous mother, Kayla had no desire to go looking for adventure.
"Are you okay?" The question came from Kayla's open doorway, and she sat up in surprise. Danika leapt off the bed to greet Kyianna as she stepped into the room.
"No," Kayla muttered, but she met her cousin's gray eyes with her own blue-green ones as Kyia sat down on the bed.
Princess Kyianna was Kaelyn's second daughter, and was a beautiful as her sister. Her dark brown, almost black hair streamed down her back, and her gray eyes were sympathetic as she took her best friend's hand and squeezed it. Around her neck, a black cat pendant with silver eyes swung gently from a fine silver chain.
"Kay, don't you want to go to Tortall?" Kyia asked, concerned.
"No," Kayla retorted, "but you do, so why don't you go in my place?" This was true. Kyia knew that as a second-born princess, the best she could do was to be married off to some foreign prince. She wanted to become a court lady, and after hearing her mother's stories of the Tortallan court, she had decided that Tortall was where she wanted to go.
Kyia dropped her head, excitement making its way into her voice as a blush heated her cheeks. "I am, in a way," she murmured, and Kayla looked up, ecstatic.
"You can go in my place," she said, laughing with relief. She wouldn't have to leave Tyra after all!
But her hopes were dashed as Kyia shook her head slowly. "I can't," she murmured softly, "my mother is letting me go with you, but I'm going to become a court lady, not another monarch."
Kayla shook her head, blue-green eyes flashing in anger for the second time that day. "You were presented to the court three years ago," she pointed out, reminding her cousin of the ceremony that signified they were allowed to have suitors. It was also the ceremony that marked the giving of the cat pendants, a new tradition started by the four monarchs.
Kyia looked up, gray eyes solemn. "That was Princess Kyianna being presented to court," she protested. "I want to be presented as Lady Kyianna of Tyra, where I won't get the immediate respect of the courtiers. I want to be judged for who I am, not because of my rank!" she exclaimed, sounding desperate.
Kayla shook her head. "I don't know what I'm going to do," she murmured, "I don't want to go to Tortall to get married to a prince I met once—three years ago!"
Kyia opened her mouth to say something else, but a new voice interrupted her.
Kyia, could I talk to my daughter alone?" Both girls looked up. Queen Keianna stood in Kayla's open doorway, magnificent in a blue gown. By the looks of her outfit, she had just come from a council meeting.Kyia immediately got off the bed, and nodding to her aunt, murmured, "Of course, Aunt Kei." She paused for a moment at the door to give Kayla an encouraging look before heading down the hallway to her own rooms.
For a moment, mother and daughter stared at each other. Without moving from the doorway, Kei murmured, "So, you don't want to go?" Her voice, trained for years to carry over a room of noisy courtiers, echoed in the bedchamber, even though she didn't speak above a whisper.
Kayla glared at her mother, blue-green eyes sparkling with rage. "Of course I don't want to go!" she spat, ignoring the warning look her mother gave her.
"Kay…" Kei tried to reason with her daughter, but Kayla wasn't done yet.
"I never asked to leave! I was never consulted! Why can't you let Kyia marry Prince Jasson?"
Kei sighed and walked into the room, sinking gracefully down on the bed. "Kay, your father and I were debating whether or not to form an alliance with Tortall, but given my background with them, we thought it best."
Kayla listened, silenced, as her mother continued. "The best way to make an alliance was to marry into the Conté family. You seemed to like Prince Jasson when we visited three years ago, and we decided that having Kyia go along with you would give you someone to talk to about Tyra, to comfort you when you got homesick."
Kayla glared at her mother. "Kyia may be coming with me," she agreed, "but I'm not you, Mother! I don't want to go racing off after the first adventure that comes my way, and end up miles away from home to rule a country I know nothing about!"
There was silence after this outburst, and mother and daughter avoided each other gazes'. Kayla was sullen, stroking Danika's silver fur, while Kei was expressionless; only the surprise and shock in her blue-gray eyes showed how hurt she was.
Gazing calmly at her daughter, Kei said firmly, "If you won't go to Tortall, then the only other option would be to put you in the convent."
Kayla sat up, eyes wide. "What?" She gasped. She had once heard her mother tell ancouncil memberthat sending her daughters to a convent was a last resort. "Why?"
Kei gazed back at her daughter, trying not to laugh at the wounded expression on Kayla's face. "Well," she said, shrugging, "you still need to learn etiquette, and if you're not going to get married…" she trailed off at Kayla's horrified expression.
"I learn etiquette here!" Kayla protested, shocked. "I don't need to go to the convent!" Grasping for anything that could save her, Kayla glared at her mother and accused, "You never had to go to the convent!"
At this, Kei couldn't hold it any longer—she grinned at her daughter. "That's where you're wrong," she told her daughter, who stared at her in shocked amazement. "I was sent to the convent when I refused to learn court etiquette."
"What?" Kayla couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her mother, the one who had taught her Rouge tricks, how to fight with daggers, hand-to-hand combat, and some Shang techniques, had been sent to the convent?
Keianna nodded. "I refused to learn etiquette, so my family sent me to the convent when I was sixteen." She nodded to her daughter, and then smirked, suddenly looking seventeen again. "I was there for two weeks before I was sent home."
Kayla gaped at her mother. "You were sent home from the convent?"
Kei's grin was broader now as she shook her head. "I left. I hated the classes and the schedule. The Sisters of the Goddess were nice enough, but it was stifling. So one night I got up, saddled my horse, and went home." She grinned at the memory. "My foster-mother was furious when she found me back at the fief the next day, but she stopped fighting me on trivial things after that." Kei shook her head, smiling wryly. "I think she just gave up."
Kayla nodded, silenced by her mother's tale. She looked up, and though her blue-green eyes held fear in them, she was determined. "I'll go," she murmured, meeting her mother's gaze squarely. "I'll go to Tortall."
Her mother nodded. "You will," she agreed, and then she leaned forward, a slight smile on her face. "I promise I'll come to your wedding." As Kayla rolled her eyes, Kei rose from her perch on the bed, and grinning at her daughter one last time, swept out of the room.
Swiftly changing into her nightgown, Kayla sheathed her dagger that still lay exposed on the small table and placed her clothes on a chair. Extinguishing the fire and candles, Kayla crawled into bed, exhausted. She lay in bed, Danika next to her head, and tried to drift off to sleep. A half an hour later, she was still awake. Giving up on sleep, Kayla climbed out of bed, changed back into her breeches and shirt, and leaving her hair where it rested halfway down her back, opened her door.
The hallway was dark, and she made her way by memory and feel to the closest outdoor practice courts. The brisk night wind chilled her, but she climbed up onto the top bar of the fence that surrounded the practice court. The cold light of the moon shone down, turning Danika's fur to the purest silver.
"Kayla?" The voice behind Kayla made her jump, and she twisted around in surprise as a figure emerged from the shadows of the doorway. Her hand immediately strayed to the dagger on her belt, but as the figure passed into the moonlight, Kayla relaxed.
"It's late." Shyam Alden stood beside her, concern in his hazel eyes. With his lean figure, he looked like a shadow, the moonlight glinting off his graying hair. He continued, "You should be in bed. What are you doing out so late anyway?"
Kayla looked up smiled at her tutor in the Shang arts. "Just thinking."
The Shang Wolf smiled grimly. "Your parents told you the news?"
Kayla nodded. "Yes." Shyam picked up the audible sadness and frustration in her voice, and rested a hand on her shoulder.
"They're only looking out for you," he murmured softly.
Kayla growled something under her breath, and then burst out, "I never asked to leave Tyra and go to Tortall!"
Shyam gazed into her troubled face. "You don't like Tortall?"
Kayla shook her head. "I like the country well enough," she admitted, "I just never asked to marry a prince I don't know."
Confused, the Shang Wolf asked, "Didn't you meet him?"
Kayla grinned wryly. "I may have met him, but that doesn't mean I know him that well."
Shyam shook his head. In silence, both looked out over the practice courts. It was a few minutes before the silence was broken again. The Shang Wolf turned to Kayla. "Would you like to practice?"
It was kind offer, but Kayla had to refuse. "I can't, Shyam," she said. "I really need to sleep. I just came out here to think. "
The Shang Wolf nodded, and Kayla swung down from the fence, calling softly for Danika. The cat rubbed affectionately against Shyam before bounding off the fence and into the shadows after her owner.
"Jamal, she doesn't want to go!" Keianna sat before her mirror, brush in hand. Jamal appeared from where he was changing behind the wardrobe, and came up behind his wife, studying her concerned expression in the mirror.
"Kayla?" He asked, resting his hands on Kei's shoulders.
"Yes!" Kei snapped, irritated. Sighing, she set down the brush, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again. Her blue-gray eyes were tired. After that stressful family meeting, there was a council meeting, and after that there was her discussion with Kayla.
Jamal pressed his lips softly against the crown of her head. "Kayla isn't you, Kei," he said softly, "she's not the adventurous type. She likes it here."
Kei grinned wryly. "She told me that herself, quite forcefully I might add." She sighed again, then twisted around to face her husband. "I thought this would be a good match." She admitted, searching her husband's eyes for some reassurance. She bit her lip, looking doubtful. "Did I make a mistake?"
It was Jamal's turn to sigh as he squeezed her hands. "Darling, I don't know. The best we can hope for is that Kayla will get used to the idea."
Kei nodded. "I know," she murmured, and then she looked uncertain. "Who should I send with them?" She asked. "I can't send two unarmed girls out alone."
Jamal grinned. "Kyia and Kayla are sixteen. You and Kaelyn have taught them well. And if I recall correctly," he murmured, drawing asmile from Kei at the memory, "you were only seventeen when you went charging off into danger alone."
Kei grinned, and then sighed. "I know," she murmured, "but I still worry."
"If it worries you so much," Jamal told her, "send Shyam with them. You know you can trust him with the girls." Keianna nodded, and she looked reassured.
Seeing the worry melt from her face, Jamal grasped her hands and gently pulled her to her feet. Kissing her softly, he murmured, "You've done enough worrying for today, my dear. Now it's time for bed."
Kei nodded, blue-gray eyes content as she allowed her husband to lead her into the bedchamber.
On the other side of the palace, Kayla finally drifted off to sleep, her nerves soothed by a silver tabby's purring.
A/N: Good? Bad? Tell me what you think!
