Hey Everyone:

Much longer chapter this time! Enjoy! Review replies are at the end this time because they're nearly as long as the first two chapters :)

StarryEmeraldNights

Disclaimer: All characters, places and objects belong to Tamora Pierce. Everything else is mine!

Chapter 3

Last Chapter:

The two were, by this time, face to face, each waiting for the other to deliver the next insult. Neal obliged happily. 'Were you, by any chance, aware that you're standing right outside my door? And consequentially, not only would it be entirely rude of you to not pay me a visit now...' Neal grabbed Dom by the elbow and shoved him through the door '...but would you care to explain that most interesting episode, say, oh, twenty minutes ago?'

Dom blanched. Why him, why? Not only was he totally caught out, but he was starting to act like Neal...and that wasn't a good thing by anyone's standards.

Neal and Yuki's rooms was decorated mostly in Yamani style, with just a few hints here and there of anything Tortallan - and Neal had had to fight even for those. The decorative shukushens and Yamani tapestries that lined the walls were fine by him, but the complete absence of chairs and one very, very low table still sat badly with Neal. Neal liked chairs, as he had told Yuki, but Yuki had calmly asked if he liked chairs better than he liked her. That shut him up, anyway.

Meanwhile, Dom began to realise just how much Neal had deduced from the incident in Kel's doorway from the fact that Neal locked his door from the inside and pocketed the key. Neal then pointed to the very, very low table which he usually avoided at absolutely all costs apart from very formal occasions because it gave him a severe backache. Yeah, thought Dom, it was about then that he realised how much Neal had deduced.

So Dom sat. Neal paced.

Neither said anything for several minutes.

Once again, it was Neal who felt obliged to break the silence.

'Soooo...' he began, like an officer brandishing a whip 'Soooo...' Dom stayed quiet, enjoying his last few moments of peace. It was a bad idea; Neal had developed a temper over his four years as squire to Alanna the Lioness.

'Fine then, if you're going to be so dim-witted and dumb, I'll give you a dim-witted and dumb version of events!' Neal then launched into one of his fantastical tirades, complete with wild hand gestures and descriptive faces while being totally void of any pauses. Dom, all credit to him, stayed silent through its entirety.

'So I get woken up at some grossly small hour by some bloody bird that goes and crashes right through my window, spraying the bed with glass, and then flies off without so much as an apology! So at five-thirty in the morning I haul myself out of bed, step on a piece of broken glass, heal the wound which even I admit makes me excessively grumpy, and then I get dressed, and after much groaning and consideration I decide to take a walk. So I'm walking down the corridors, happily oblivious, round the corner, and suddenly I find YOU hitting on my BEST FRIEND so obviously that a fifteen-year-old girl can tell. So, here we are Dom. Start talking, or you'll become a bloody bird yourself except I'll throw you out the other way.'

Dom gulped. That was a very real threat. Neal lived five stories up.

Baron George Cooper sighed as he opened the letter on his desk. Outside the window, the sun was now rising from the bay of Pirate's Swoop. Lazily George picked up the knife on the end of his desk and stabbed the hilt of it into the letter's seal. The plain red seal broke, revealing the Tortallan emblem on the hidden seal underneath. The letter was genuine.

It was about three lines into the translation of the coded letter from one of his Scanran spies that George realised just how serious this information was. He re-read it three times, and then burnt it completely. Within twenty minutes he was ready to set off for Corus. It was six-thirty in the morning, but it would take until at least two o'clock the next afternoon to get there, even if he rode without rest. George groaned. He hated it when he couldn't do things fast enough. He had to see Keladry of Mindelan yesterday, but he would have to wait until tomorrow before he was anywhere near the capital.

'Have you met Evin yet?' Kel asked Loey as they walked towards the Riders barracks. After that interesting incident with Dom half an hour before, Kel had offered to give Loey the tour of the palace. She was dressed in a white shirt, navy breeches and a pleated skirt that hung a little above knee height. With a thick navy cloak bordered in her house colours of cream and blue, Lalasa had informed Kel that she looked the very height of fashion. Kel found this a bit hard to believe, although all the women Riders had now started wearing the same thing most of the court ladies wouldn't be caught dead wearing such a short skirt, even over breeches. But it suited Kel nicely, and Lalasa did seem to be the one in control of the fashions these days.

Loey answered. 'Evin? He's the Commander of the Riders, right?' Kel nodded. Loey continued eagerly 'Do you know him? Can you introduce me?'

Kel smiled. 'I can try, but I don't know him very well. A pity Commander Buri retired, Buri is a good friend of mine.' Stopping a little short of the Riders Barracks, Kel explained: 'This is where the Riders all live, and their mess hall is here to, I've eaten here once before. They share their training grounds out the back of the barracks with the King's Own.' Kel pointed to another large building not far away, above which flew a blue flag with a silver crown and sword.

Loey smiled almost evilly as she said 'That man who was in your doorway this morning, isn't he with the King's Own? I remember seeing him at Haven.'

'Dom?' Kel said, thinking inwardly that she had better be very careful about what she said 'Yes, he's a sergeant with the King's Own, I've known him since I was squire to Lord Raoul.'

Kel opened the main door of the Riders barracks, ushering Loesia in before her.

He just had to pick the one girl that every single knight in the castle was protective over. Yep, he just had to pick that one girl...

By the time he'd finished convincing all her friends, Dom thought gloomily, he'd either be very dead or consider convincing Kel a piece of cake.

'It's not that I don't like you' Neal reasoned, sitting down and slightly calmer now because Yuki had returned 'But gossip is the palace's life blood, and according to that gossip you've slept with at least half of all the court ladies. I've no doubt, of course, that if Kel wanted to she could kill you very easily if you ever hurt her. Actually, I'd be more worried for your head, and for my own head once father finds out his nephew's been murdered.' Neal's sarcastic grin was now truly evil. 'So, you see, I'm in a bit of a dilemma. Please, convince me, or I'll kill you very dead if you so much as look her way ever again.'

By this point Dom was quite red. He didn't know where all that gossip had started - though he suspected Meathead had added a little fuel to the fire - but he did know that the vast majority of it wasn't true. Alright, so, sure, he flirted mercilessly with every single court lady that fluttered her eyes in his direction. But that didn't mean anything. He'd been twenty-one when he first met Kel, and had liked her - a lot - almost immediately. He didn't dare say anything when Kel was still a squire. Dom winced even thinking about what Raoul would have done to him. And then King Maggot just had to go and start a two-year war to give them both plenty of distractions.

So it wasn't exactly his fault, but the palace gossip was pretty far from the actual truth. Dom began to wince again as he considered his options. He was perfectly aware that there was no way Meathead would let him near Kel without a thorough convincing. But that thorough convincing would mean correcting something he really wasn't sure he wanted to correct, let alone giving Meathead some bait on which to ransom him for the rest of his life. Was Kel worth it? Yes, he thought. Definitely worth it.

Closing both eyes so he didn't have to witness Neal's reaction, Dom said 'Meathead, I think it's about time I corrected those rumours.' Dom bypassed magenta and turned purple. He would never, ever be allowed to live this down. 'Actually, I've never slept with anyone.'

'Lady Knight!' Kel turned in the direction of the voice, and realised with a jolt that it was the Queen who was speaking from the end of a table in the Rider's mess hall. Next to Thayet sat Buri, Commander Evin, Onua, Daine, and Miri, Evin's second-in-command. Kel walked down one the aisle, whispering into Loey's ear who the speaker was. Kel had to stifle a laugh at the way Loey's eyes practically popped out of her head. Reaching the end of the table, Kel inclined her head 'Your majesty,' then addressed everyone in turn 'May I present a friend of mine, Loesia Miller. Loey comes to train here at the end of Midwinter.'

Loesia attempted a curtsey, and pulled it off reasonably well. The table erupted in questions. Still a little dazed by the fact that she was standing approximately thirty centimetres away from the Queen of Tortall, Loey explained 'I'm from Goatstrack originally, but I lived in Haven and New Hope during the war with Scanra. My lady taught me to use a glaive, sword and bow, and suggested I joined the Riders since I was fifteen.'

'Can you ride?' asked Onua, the horsemistress.

Loey shook her head. 'There weren't no horses to spare for teaching, my lady. I'm eager to learn though.'

'Come then, and don't call me 'my lady,' its Onua,' the horsemistress told the girl, getting up and placing an arm around her shoulder. 'The new recruits' horses arrived yesterday; let's see if I can't find you a good match.'

Loey nodded eagerly, while Daine said 'Kel, your hairs out! It looks lovely; you should wear it like that more often.'

Oops, thought Kel, I forgot to put it up. 'I don't like it down much' she told Daine.

Loey piped up 'Dom did!' and then scampered out of range of Kel's sword, just in case.

All of the women's eyes were suddenly on Kel. 'Dom?' asked Miri slyly 'The King's Own Sergeant?'

Kel didn't think she'd ever been more embarrassed in her life, and vowed to teach Loesia a very valuable lesson when she got back from the stables.

Neal didn't say a word. How could he possibly say anything to that?

He did, however, realise several things. Firstly, that Dom would never admit to that unless it was true, and secondly that he would never admit to that unless he really liked Kel.

Dom had, by this time, cautiously opened his eyes. He gathered from the fact that Neal wasn't attempting to kill him that he had won the battle of wits. Neal decided he had better do something then just sit there, so he started laughing. Neal was very good at laughing when there wasn't anything funny to laugh about. He had had a lot of practice. Clutching the table for support, Neal had a good fit while Dom stared at him.

The fit was cut abruptly short however, by the sudden arrival of a shukushen buried two inches deep into the wooden table, half a centimetre from the tips of Neal's fingers. Apparently Yuki had been listening in more than Neal had thought.

Bustling over, Yuki was the very picture of seriousness as she plucked the shukushen from inside the table and whacked Neal with the blunt end. Ignoring her husband, Yuki addressed Dom. 'So when are you going to ask her out?'

Dom eyed Yuki slightly suspiciously, knowing she was Kel's friend 'I haven't really thought about that yet.'

Yuki smiled way too brightly for the general conversation. 'Well you had better hurry up about it, the ball's tomorrow night.' Dom opened his mouth but Yuki cut him off 'And since you're no doubt wondering-' Yuki looked him up and down '-I'd be giving you a ninety percent chance of success.'

All Dom could think of to say was 'Can I go now?'

Wordlessly Neal handed him the key, apparently desolute at the idea of losing his best friend to his cousin. Dom ran before Neal could say anything.

Once Dom was out the door, Yuki whacked Neal with the blunt end of her fan again.

'Just in case you failed to realise...' Neal was back in his sarcastic drawl '...even the blunt end of that thing is very painful.'

'Be happy then. I'm almost positive Kel's liked him for ages, the least you could do is be civil.'

Yuki opened the shukushen with a snap and flicked it across the room, where it caught on its hook in the wall with absolute precision.

Neal muttered several generally incomprehensible strings of language, out of which it was possible to catch sarcastic re-runs (his specialty) of 'Kel's liked him for ages,' 'I think its about time I corrected those rumours' and a final '...bossy little thing!'

His best friend and his cousin were going to be going out together. This was bad. This was very, very bad. But the more Neal thought about it, the situation did present several amusing possibilities...

Perhaps there was a little midwinter luck hanging around in the air after all.

StarryEmeraldNights

GunapitheSunrose: I like the second chap better too. Ditto on the pity Dom part :)

Madame-S-Butterfly: Neal does seem to have a bit of a habit of turning up exactly at the most inconvenient time :)

SarahE7191: I agree...you just have to love Neal. So many amusing possibilities... You won't find out about Gydo until the next chapter though :)

Jedi Knight Bus: There will be a plot! Technically, there already is a plot: several very important things you had to get from this chapter and the last chapter. Thanks for reviewing!

Drop Your Oboe: I pity you deeply...those nightmares would be very scary. But don't worry; Dom won't turn into another Neal. Neal has plenty of sarcasm for both of them :)

Indiaj: I swear, as soon as I wrote that French plait bit, I was like...someone is soooo going to pick me up for that. I was right! But I couldn't figure out any other name for the hairstyle, and that was just how Loey popped into my head. Have changed it though.

As for the June birthday bit...here is a replay of what happened inside my head when I read that: At first I was like, I could've sworn Kel's birthday was in the summer holidays? And then I checked, and sure enough it was, and for me in Australia summer holidays are the six weeks after Christmas (I'm assuming Midwinter is technically Christmas). But then, Christmas for me is practically the middle of summer, not the middle of winter. Then I was like, most of my readers are from the northern hemisphere so midwinter IS January. But who knows what calendar Tortall is on? Did Page actually say June, or just summer (In my copy it only says summer, but that could be because it's the Australian edition)? And if midwinter was in my middle of winter, a June birthday would pretty much work except that wouldn't make sense because its your summer and...

So in the end I gave up, and just deleted the line. My brain just couldn't take it :) Thanks for reviewing, and the headache:)

Hidden Fairy: Glad you liked it. This chapter was much longer! (Thanks to Indiaj the reviews are nearly as long as the first two chapters :)...)

Music Nerd: Ooh, I have FCP! Thanks :)