Here is the next chapter of Different Destiny. I tried to get it out as soon as possible for making you wait so long for the last update.

So without further ado….

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Alanna found the more time she spent at the University the more she didn't mind working there. She had little to due for daily chores and got most of the rest of the time off.

She still hadn't made any friends her own age besides Thom, but she was able to spend time in the stable with the horses.

One day after she had finished up on all of her chores she had wandered down to the stables.

Here it was where she ran into Arram for the second time. He was in the stall of a pony that was ridiculously small for him to ride.

She watched him try to coax the pony with an apple so it would let him get near it. The pony didn't seem to care about the apple, but would lash out with its teeth at the boy when he tried to get near it with a horse brush.

"I hope you aren't going to ride him," Alanna said startling Arram so much he jumped into the air and into the pony's biting range.

"For your information I am here for punishment. I have to clean this infernal beast, and it won't let me near it," Arram replied.

"Have you ever worked with horses before?" Alanna questioned. At the shake of his head she sighed and said, "Fine let me help you."

As she stepped into the stall the pony tried to take a bite out of her but she sidestepped the gnashing teeth and grabbed the brush from Arram.

"Now you just need to show him who the boss is. Don't let him bully you around," Alanna said while walking up to the pony and brushing in smooth even strokes. After a few minutes she handed the brush back and commanded Arram to try.

He took the brush from her and nervously got near the small animal. It was comical to watch an almost six foot man nervously approach this tiny pony. He reached out the brush and put it on the animals back carefully. Then he started to move the brush in small strokes. All the while the pony just watched him as if he was crazy.

"I'm doing it," were the next words out of his mouth.

Alanna just watched as he finished up grooming the horse without fault.

After he finished he thanked her quickly and said, "It was nice of you to help me with that and if there is anything that I can do to help you with to repay you all you need to do is ask."

"It was no problem, I love working with horses out in the stables. Now my brother that is another matter, he would have left you there to try to groom him yourself," Alanna answered. "He would much rather work with his gift any day."

"He has the gift. Has he ever trained it?" Arram asked.

"Well our old village healer trained us together but she couldn't teach us anymore when we left. Now we can't get anymore training anyway," said Alanna glumly.

"So you have the gift too. How much do you know?" he said, seeming to take interest in the twins' magic training.

"Mostly healing and such things. Maude told us that we had more gift than she did, and that we should seek to be trained more but Father wouldn't let us," she told Arram. Then she suspiciously asked, "Why do you want to know?"

"It's nothing really. The crown just usually doesn't allow slaves with the gift to be this close to people connected to the crown. Especially, if they are trained to use their powers."

"I didn't know that. Anyway I don't think they even know that we have the gift," Alanna replied uneasily.

"Don't worry I won't tell. You saved me from that abominable beast. Even if I told just Greg, he wouldn't care. The worst he would do to you would be to set you free in the lower city. Now if it were Ozorne that I told he would try to figure out how powerful you were, and if you would be of use to him," said Arram dismissing the thought of anything bad happening to Alanna or her brother because of their gifts.

"Thanks."

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When Alanna told Thom of her newest run in with Arram Draper he got an evil glint in his eye.

"Alanna what if we use our gifts to get out of being slaves. Most of the people here at the University are common people. If we had a strong enough gift maybe they would teach us," Thom ranted.

"Brother dear, if we were to tell them how do you know they wouldn't just throw us out on to the street. Arram said they didn't like to have slaves with the gift around the royals. It doesn't quite help our case that we are from Tortall," Alanna explained exasperated.

"Alanna, that is a wonderful idea, did you know that there is a professor from Tortall working here at this very moment?" said Thom gleefully. "I don't know his name but I overheard a servant complaining about bossy, know-it-all Tortallian professors."

"You know what Thom, it just might work. If we could tell him who we are he would get the crown to release us," Alanna said, starting to catch on to the way Thom's mind was working. "The only problem is we have to figure out who he is without alerting the others."

"We had better get started then sister dear."

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A/N: I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter so nicely. I would especially like to thank SpectralLady, and Darth Tater for correcting my mistake. For all those who caught it that I referred to Arram Draper as Numair Salmalin I am sorry and have fixed the mistake.

I have one question for you guys. A while back I found someone who made a timeline about when everything happened in all of the books and in what orders. If anyone knows of this it would help me write way faster, and I could update more often. (Hint, Hint) If you could leave me a review of who wrote this or what the title of it was it would help me a lot. If not I will have to look up everything in the books and that will take forever.

ColossalSky