Disclaimer: Own nothing but plot and characters you don't recognize
A/N: Sorry people, been really busy, and I haven't really had time to work on fanfic ducks thrown tomatoes, but I made it up with a long chappie! No but seriously it was vacation and I went to Maryland! And report cards came out…. blah blah blah. To cut it short, I had no time.
The Palace
Ria stared in awe at the palace, at its amazing architecture, beautiful design, and wonderful horses.
Neal saw Ria look at the horses and thought wryly, 'Well, that would be the first thing she would look at, wouldn't it.' Love for horses had run through the family, and it figured that it would be the first thing that she would look at. Neal had been planning to give her a horse for her next birthday, but now that this came up (A/N: Such amazing Neal drama, I love it : P), he would just have to buy the first one she fell in love with. If she was allowed to fall in love with one.
Neal sighed. He did not like Padraig Ha Minch. He was cruel to peasants, hated nobles that weren't from the book of silver, at the very least, and couldn't stand the idea that girls could be pages. Though Wyldon had been a Stump, he had been fair, and he held the same respect for everyone that came his was, noble or not, although there was that exception for Kel. He sincerely didn't need someone like Padraig harrying his daughter since she would have enough of that when she was older, if she was a knight.
When she was a knight, Neal mentally corrected himself. She would survive the Ordeal and everything else that came up... she had to. Neal felt a sharp prodding on his knee.
Startled, he pulled out from his musings. They had arrived at the palace's inner courtyard, and the servants had come and gone with the luggage, and now a footman was beckoning for him and Ria to follow. Ria was standing at the foot of his horse, her arms on her waist and her foot was tapping the carved stone. Her impatience was the exact picture of her mother when Yuki got annoyed.
That was the thing. Whenever Ria was good, witty, Yamini, and charming, she was Yuki's child. Whenever she did something clever, or learned something new, she was Duke Baird's granddaughter. Whenever she did something dangerous, or brainless, she was his child. Usually she was his child, for the first reason. Now she would need to be all their children/grandchild, if she was to survive this new test.
Suddenly a movement caught the edge of his vision. Ria had narrowed her eyes. This always happened when she got angry. At first she would not yell, nor scream, just narrow her eyes. After a while of that, then came the yelling. If the yelling wouldn't have normally have unnerved you, the narrowed eyes would sufficiently scare you into submission. No tantrums, no screams, not yet. Ria was not a patient person.
Neal smiled wryly. "Sorry for my wonderful daydreams. I was dreaming about your mother, her wonderful eyes, wavy hair…."
Ria made a face and groaned, then skipped up the steps without waiting for her old boned father to follow. They walked to their rooms, a nice set of rooms, not the best, but not the worst. In the middle of unpacking his much-wrinkled clothes, Neal received a knock on his door. Outside stood a page, red in the face, probably from a lot of running.
"My Lord, the King and the training master request your audience in his highnesses study. You and you're daughter, of course. His highness was wondering if you would be as polite as to come now. Also his highness told me to tell you that Roald says that if you don't get over there now he'll dunk your sorry head in a bucket of water and recite your old poetry about the court beauties to Yuki."