A/N:I'm sooo sorry it's taken so long!!! I have school exams coming up and I haven't even studied yet!! I am gonna fail French!!!!
ok, because I am too lazy to write everyone's screen names, I'll call you all reviewers 1, 2, etc. you'll know who you are.
Reviewer 1: thank you for the note about accepting anonymous reviews. Unfortunately, I have no idea how to change the settings so that they're accepted. Help?
Reviewer 2: I realize that you and I both agree, that Kel is SUPPOSED to have mastered hiding her emotions. In the interest of the story, let's just say that this is a very rough emotional time for her. Sorry if you disapprove, but the emotion thing is only going to get worse. Don't you think it's boring to read about a character who might as well be talking in archaic third person for all that she is interesting?
Keladry of Shang, Chapter 4: Revelations
That night there was a ball in honor of Prince Roald's birthday, and Kel decided it was time to reveal her identity to the court. For that, she needed to look good, so she wandered around the Corus market and finally settled on a dress. Wearing an uncomfortably revealing blood-red dress with silver embroidery, she was awe-inspiring.
The ball was full of the usual things: knights, gentle ladies, gossips, flirts, and bored intellectuals. But when a gaping and appreciative herald announced that Lady Keladry of Mindelan (who conveniently forgot to mention that she held a Shang title) had arrived, a hush fell over the rowdy the crowd. They all knew that she had been the lady page, but they had not known how gorgeous she had become. Keladry of Mindelan descended the stairs, while her audience watched in utter silence. When she reached the bottom, the court snapped out of its trance. Roald immediately offered a hand to Kel, who took it and smiled.
"Kel?" Roald asked, dazedly. "It's really me, Roald. I'm back, "Kel said.
"Kel!" Neal, Owen [A/N: just pretend Kel knows him], Seaver, Esmond, Faleron, Cleon and Merric raced over. Neal hugged her and whispered, "I knew you'd come back."
Kel, her friends, Lady Alanna, her parents, who had known that she had gone to Shang, but didn't know about her title, Their Majesties, and Lord Wyldon gathered in the King's study.
Kel surveyed the group. "I'll make a long story short. I've been training at Shang," she informed them. Lord Wyldon and the King paled. "So you are a Shang apprentice?" Thayet asked, beaming at Kel before glaring evilly at her husband. Kel shook her head and Thayet turned back. "You quit?" she asked, crestfallen. Kel shook her head. "Then—wait. You have a Shang title?!" Kel nodded.
"Impossible! Noble girls are neither knights nor Shang!" Wyldon exclaimed. Kel's eyes narrowed dangerously as she glared, and he glared back. Wyldon was one of the only people she didn't even bother trying to hide her emotions from. She loathed him with a passion.
"I'll have you know, my lord, that I am the only one to ever hold the highest Shang title," Kel hissed, finally breaking her silence. Lord Wyldon became red in the face, and very angry.
"Liar! There is already a Dragon; as well as a Griffin. And it is rumored that the Unicorn is now a more honored mythic animal than the Dragon."
"I outrank Kylaia," Kel explained condescendingly to Wyldon.
"How can you outrank Liam's successor as well as Kylaia al Jmaa?" Alanna asked.
Kel sighed. "I'd better start from the beginning."
[A/N: I know, it sucks and it's short—please be nice!