DISCLAIMER – ALL OF TORTALL BELONGS TO TAMORA PIERCE NOT ME!

This doesn't actually have a plot yet but I hope you like it. Jenny is the Lady Squire in the title, Alan is Alanna's son and Jasson is the Prince. They are all in their last years before they become Knights

Sneaking out of the palace was never a very clever idea at the best of time but when you were trying to do it with two very drunk young men and were none to sober yourself it was a really terrible idea.

'Come on Jen'

'I'm coming, does it not look like I'm coming or did you just think I stuck my leg out of the window to fell the breeze?

Simon went off into a fit of the giggles at the idea of Jenny sticking her leg out of random windows all over the palace just to take the air. Jasson was less disposed to laugh but then he hadn't had as much whiskey.

Eventually Jenny did the only thing she could think of (her other leg seemed set on staying inside) and sort of fell out of the window hoping someone would catch her. As usual Alan was there to catch her. It always amazed her how Alan managed to be in the right place at the right time.

'Thanks'

'No problem' Alan flashed her that lazy smile which made him one of the two most sought after men at court – squire or not.

Jasson, Alan and Jenny were used to the night time antics that went along with being a squire but Simon and Neil were uninitiated in the ways of sneaking out quietly. At the minute they were making enough noise to wake up all the palaces light sleepers. Jenny wasn't looking forward to the night ahead – she always got left with looking after the younger one and then at some point Jasson. He got horribly drunk and the amount of times she had to sweet talk Provost's men wasn't worth counting. Luckily she was good at sweet talking.

Jenny was a bit of an anomaly. She was perhaps the first girl ever to become a page because her father or to be more precise her grandfather had told her to. She didn't look like a Squire – she was far to tall and thin to ever look like her bulky peers and she kept her hair long. When she but on a dress she looked just like the other ladies of the court but she didn't act like them, after all there had to be some perks to being beat up on a regular basis. She found she had all the freedom that young ladies envied so much and she was determined to enjoy it. It had been made abundantly clear to her that she was not expected to marry and so her reputation wasn't of much use to her. So she wasn't out their crusading to prove that women were just as good as men; she was falling out of windows late at night so she could go drinking with her friends.

Neil and Simon were terribly unsteady on their feet tottering all over the place and frequently falling into flower beds. As Jasson seemed to be enjoying himself telling them off Jenny dropped back to walk with Alan. Ever since they had met in their first year Alan and Jenny had been friends – or at least they had according to Alan – it was just the Jenny hadn't realised it.

When she had been approached by bullies on her first day at the palace instead of trying to hit them like the new girl squires generally did in the tradition of Lady Keldary, Jenny had insulted them until they were blue in the face and then walked away. When they had dived after her she had quickly got out of the way and let them dive right into the floor. It was agreed that this was just unknightly but when her sponsor had pointed this out Jenny had laughed right in her face. After that she had never got on well with any of the girls or with most of the boys. Alan liked her though cause she always had something smart to say but that didn't mean she wasn't as sour to him as to everybody else at first. When Alan and Jasson become popular Jenny liked to believe that a little of it had rubbed off on her. Actually she was popular in her own right, she was an exemplary swordswoman and very beautiful but most importantly she was always up for a laugh. The three of them had quickly become the most popular pages in the palace and now they were Squires there was no end to what people were prepared to do to win their notice.

Alan was quiet on the walk down to the city but that wasn't unusual. It was nice to be around Alan sometimes he had a nice presence. Jasson on the other had acted like he had just this minute been stung by a bee most of the time, his presence was not restful even if he did come up with the worlds best practical jokes. Right now he had on hand clapped over Simon's mouth and the other over Neil's. Walking past the guard tower was always the likeliest place to get caught and even Jenny couldn't talk her way out of that one, not that she hadn't tried.

They managed to get passed without being noticed a began the descent towards the cities drinking houses. They went by several likely looking places. The first time they had done this they had been seen by Padraig Ha Minch there training master. After that the had learnt to go to the slightly more disreputable places where they wouldn't come across a noble. The 'Goblet and Pig' was the weirdest name for a tavern that any of them had ever come across which was why it was their usual haunt rather than any superiority in the service. At the minute there was a brawl off to one corner and someone was trying to smash a chair over someone else's head. They weren't having much success but they were certainly putting a lot of effort into the attempt.

Neil and Simon were looking less confident now they were actually here and Jenny realised it was time for a top up. She dispatched Jasson to the bar to get in the first round and lead everyone over to a table. A girl in a red dress swayed her way over to them. Jenny could count on one hand the women she actually got on with and this was one of the. Sarah