Sorry I haven't updated, but I was on a lovely and refreshing vacation miles away from any computer, leagues away from anyplace with an internet connection. Anyway, here it is, the next exciting and riveting (not as much as, say, 24 or VeggieTales, but sort of riveting all the same) installment of Taina's story. Read away, my birds!

Disclaimer: It's mine, all mine! Don't you know that by now?

Oh, and I'm not sure if Magewhisper is Neal's horse when he is a page, or if that is really his mount's name when Neal becomes a knight, but I think it is. If I'm wrong, please correct me. Not that it will make much of a difference, because Magewhisper is not a crucial part of this story, at least I don't think she is, but corrections are always nice to have. Sometimes.

Sorry too that it is short, but it's just a filler. I'm working on the next part now, but you don't get to read it till later. Anyway, you can read this now.

Neal trudged from Magewhisper's stall. It had taken him longer to rub her down today, maybe because he had been jumpy and preoccupied. He had only known Taina for one day, but he was very worried about her.

Somebody (namely Joren) could hurt her easily if that somebody really wanted to. Hopefully no one (namely Joren) would try anything while she was looking for a job, but he obviously had troubles that didn't apply to others, ones Neal couldn't even guess at.

Funny, he mused. I didn't spend that much extra time taking care of Magewhisper, but everyone has already left. At this, he quickened his pace, hoping not to be so late to lunch that The Stump gave him more punishment work on top of everything else keeping him busy until Midwinter.

Unfortunately, he started off too quickly, and tripped over a stone lying in the middle of the grass. Neal, from his close proximity to the ground, heard it begin to groan and thought his disturbing the rock had begun an earthquake. Before he had a chance to get up, black rushed up to fill his vision and he experienced the feeling of his legs being ripped apart from his torso. Little did he know that as he lost consciousness, another page was going through the same difficulty.

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Kel rubbed her forehead, trying to puzzle out everything that had happened in the last two days. Taina had showed up, and Neal hadn't come to any morning classes. Now, the day after her arrival, Neal disappeared sometime between physical training and lunchtime. It was possible that he had left to help Taina find a job in the city, but he hadn't mentioned it to her. He hadn't told her much of anything since Taina came, in all honesty.

I wish Yaminis knew how to remove feelings beside just hide them, she complained silently. Being jealous of Taina is stupid. She didn't decide to be here, and I'm not even sure he likes her.

"Does making a face help you to think better?" Lalassa disrupted Kel's thoughts as she softly teased her friend and mistress.

"I wish," Kel muttered. "I have no idea about Neal or Taina or anything! They're both gone, and I figure it must have something to do with her, but that could just be me feeling bitter towards her. I wish I could just push it all aside and evaluate everything without cursed emotions trying to have their sway!"
Lalassa laid down her sewing and looked the younger girl straight in the eye. "You're not a Vulcan, and be thankful for it. Life would be so dull. You have to tackle this new challenge and treat it with the same fervor you do everything else. I know you can do it, mistress."

She gathered up her mending and retired to her pallet after giving Kel a reassuring pat. "Get some rest."

Kel nodded and returned the smile, mulling over everything her maid had told her, and forget to finish her arthimetic assignment because she was so busy trying to discover what 'Vulcan' meant.

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I didn't know any of this until later. I was actually trying to find my first job. In Tortall, unlike Florida, you don't have to be 16 to get an actual paying job. But there I was, wandering around the city, hoping to find something I could do so that I wouldn't be any more of a burden on Neal that I was already.

Just around lunchtime, I saw a theatre. I repeatedly kicked myself (mentally, of course) for not having thought of finding one sooner. My career, I am sure, lies on the stage somewhere, either acting or singing or something. I love and am fairly good at pretty much all of it. I practically ran up to the door. If I was going to get a job anywhere, it would be here.

All my thoughts of Corinth, Neal, Kel, Joren, even being caught in a different universe then my own flew from my head.

That is, of course, until I heard a deep thunder in the earth and the world started spinning before my eyes. I felt like my body was being stretched out on the racks, and everything faded to pitch black. I was headed someplace. Again.