Disclaimer: We all know that I own Sierra, Sam, Aelia, Kevin, ECT. ECT. This is obviously a story with OC's set in Tamora Pierce's settings using T.P's characters such as Kel and Dom as secondary characters. So I suppose this story is half and half, but you know who owns what. I take no credit for Tamora Pierce's work.
Authors' Note: I know, I know I haven't updated in a little while, but with school, soccer and class trips I have not had much time for the computer, or fanfiction for that matter. Anyhow, thank-you for the reviews - please keep them coming! Also, I know I do not have 5 reviews yet, but I want to get this chapter finished - maybe I'll have more when it is done. So if you reviewed and I have not replied in my Reviewers Responce, I will include you in the next chapter. And please review, I know by the gits that you are reading!
And now to my Reviewers...
klutzyspaz: Thanks. So I have 32? lol
maddimus3: Thanks. I know the chapters aren't extremely long, but sometimes I find when I write really long chapters that they tend to drone on and on and end up boring people.
Drop Your Oboe: Yes, it is quite a long time - although how realistic it is a don't know - most adopted children find out that they were adopted much sooner then sixteen years. But obviously it is just a story - and I will probably be putting more backround in later on, but for now... Anyways, thanks for the good review :) I hope you keep reading!
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Of Gowns and Lessons
Sierra re-read the parchment that Sam had only just delivered to her.
In Exactly Seven Days, on the Last Day of Summer
Lady Sierra of Mindelan,
Daughter of Sir Keladry of Mindelan
Will be Granted a Ball in the Favour of
Entering the Adult World of the Nobles of Corus
Please arrive Before the Sky Grows Dark,
Between 6:00 and 7:00
Dress in formal wear
Sierra placed the parchment on her bedside table and sighed. She knew that her mother, after many discussions, was planning a ball for her, but the reality struck hard. It was not that Sierra did not wish for a ball...as a child, it had been her greatest dream. Yet she knew that the gossip would rise, and fingers would be pointed in her direction. Also, from her mothers' knowledge, the palace servants were not invited.
Which means that Sam won't be there. Thought Sierra sorrowfully as she inspected a fingernail dryly. It had occured to her that she should try harder to make friends with some of the noble children, but after a week with Sam, she realized that it would be hard to get used to their lowly attitude towards servants, or the family that she came from.
It had been just the night before, after Sam had finished showing her the passages of the palace and Sierra had received an invitation to her own ball, that Sierra had begun to wonder about Sarrah and Leon back in Wilmné. She knew that Sarrah and perhaps Leon would definately miss her, but it would have been an oddity for the villagers to notice that she was gone. Yet in a way, Sierra somewhat missed them, however much they had never gotten around. It was unbelieveable that one day she had been a peasant in a peasant town with little money, a small cottage, and regular parents, and now she was a noble in Corus's palace with a large amount of money and for parents, the second Lady Knight since the Lioness and an unknown father.
Which was just another question that pondered her thoughts.
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Stuck between to curtains secured by strings, Sierra examined herself in the small mirror attached to the rough curtains. The dress that Kel had picked for her was excuisite - a long slim cream and rose gown that expanded at her waist to end up as a formal ball-gown. The back went down halfway through Sierra's back, where small threads zig-zagged from one end of the dress to the other.
Opening the curtains, Sierra hoped that Kel would think the same - she definately did not want a new dress after this piece of art. A small smile swept across Sierra's pale lips as she listened to Kel gasp in content and exclaim how beautiful the dress was. Even the tailor, a women by the name of Lalasa, grinned thoroughly at the greatness of the dress.
It was then that Sierra pushed aside her worries and allowed the anticipation of the ball overwhlem her.
After a few more minutes, Sierra had picked a pair of pale, almost white, rose heels, dangling pearl ear-bobs, and an assortment of necklaces as accessories. After paying, and Sierra changing back into a pale green dress, Kel and Sierra headed from the shop to the palace, small chatter erupting along the way.
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"Okay. So when Wyldon retired..."
"Eglee ( AN: I can not remember the name of the man that exceeded Wyldon when he retired...) exceeded him." Sam finished, smiling thoroughly at Sierra's progress. After only a few hours of explaining, Sierra was almost completely normal with all the names of the important people at court.
"So... Raoul, Kel's knight-trainer is still man of the King's Riders?"
Sam nodded in agreement and added, "He is near retirement soon, as he is near his fifties. So is Sir Alanna, yet I doubt she will ever give up her place - her stubborness exceeds her common sense."
"Okay. So a curtesy to all nobles, the higher in rank they are, the longer I should curtsey?"
"Right. If you don't know - then guess. Also, complimenting nobles on their occupation is necessairy to gain their likliness...they enjoy feeling important." Grinned Sam as for the third time in less then a minute he pushed a few to many grapes into his mouth.
"You pig!" Laughed Sierra, taking one of the grapes and aiming for his head, where she smiled as the grape hit him right in the temple.
"That hurt! And I know I'm a pig." Retorted Sam as he aimed another at Sierra, which she ducked from and began, "You su..."
At that moment, there was a knock on the door and Kel entered, gracefully ignoring the grapes that lay on the floor by Sierra's chair. "Hello Sierra. Hello Sam." Smiled Kel as she herself took a grape from the bowl. Sierra could not hide a smile, along with Sam, and soon the laughing began again.
"Wha... did I do something?" Questioned Kel as she looked questionably from Sam to Sierra, and then back again. When nobody answered, she continued.
"Then I did. Well anyways, if you are not busy, may I speak to you for a moment Sierra?"
"Oh - yes. Sorry Lady Keladry. I shall leave." With swift moments Sam was out the door.
"I didn't mean he had to leave!" Thought Kel allowed, and Sierra smiled. Whenever a noble was around, Sam got extremely proper, yet when he was around her, he was normal.
"That is okay. We were done anyways."
When Kel shot Sierra a peculiar look, Sierra retorted, "Not that! He was explaining to me the names of the nobles, their ranks, and how to act towards them."
"Oh. Okay. Yes, it is good that somebody helped you there - I completely forgot!"
"That is okay." Replied Sierra, still content from earlier.
"Well anyhow, I just came to organize some part plans with you."
"Oh...okay."
"Well then, we shall start with dishes. Embroided with roses or daisies."
"Roses. Definately."
"OK. Then what menu do you wish for - the soup, salad, then potatoes and lamb OR the bread and soup, the vegetables, and for the coarse, boiled potatoes, rise, and chicen."
"The second choice, please."
"Great choice. Dinner then dance, or meetings, dinner, and then dance?"
"Second."
"For appetizers, types of fish or types of dips."
"Dips."
"And lastly, the music?"
"You can pick. No matter."
Kel smiled and pushed the notepad into a pocket of her breeches. "Almost the same assortment as my first ball."
What do you know. Thought Sierra to herself, wondering for the first time the similarities between Kel and herself.
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Authors Note: REVIEW! REVIEW! Please. Anyhow, how was it. Sorry for forgetting Wyldon's succedor's name. Tell me when you review! Next Chapter - the Ball!
Fire of the Elements
