Hey Everyone:
New chapter! There will be only 2 more chapters after this one as I had decided from the start that my story would be over Midwinter only...and Midwinter's End is getting closer! Don't worry however :) as I will be starting straight up with a new story called Jascy as soon as Midwinter Luck has finished. I can't give you any details yet though as it could spoil the ending of this story (they are surreptitiously linked though Jascy is not KD based)! In the meantime, enjoy!
By the way, page breaks are not functioning today, so it's lines of X's instead :)
Thanks to my reviewers:
Drop Your Oboe: I agree, it wasn't very smart, however firstly Alanna didn't choose Merric, Neal did. Secondly Alanna probably didn't know who Merric was and didn't think to check hair colour after he was chosen and thirdly I needed it (mwahaha) because without some clue it was entirely unfeasible the Scanran assassin would have worked out who Kel was. Thanks for your review!
Phoenix Fanatic: Neal and wickedness just mix so nicely, don't they? Hehe
Acanthopis: Thanks! It's always nice to know people are happy when they read my stories :)
Lela-of-Bast: I hope you're feeling better...though I've taken so long to update you're probably long over your cold! Thanks!
Sydelle Rein: Thanks for your review!
Gewher: OMG you can so TOTALLY be my No.1 fan! Seriously...my fic may have made your day but your review has made my month! Thankyou so much :)
Craazyladyy: Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. LoeyTobe is a bit different...but it was a fun side-plot to write!
Dances With Waves: Thankyou very much :)
HappeeGoLuckee: I dunno...since he was collecting the bets there wasn't much point betting with himself? Thanks!
meganidge: I'm not evil really, honest :) Up the top I have some info as to new stories/how long for Midwinter Luck etc. Thanks for your review!
Zen16: Thanks I'm glad you're enjoying my story :)
ChooChii: A little belated but here you go!
Madame-S-Butterfly: Thanks for the review!
SarahE7191: The mystery explained! I'm not sure about the Order...I might slip it in :) Thanks heaps!
alynawatlovers: Thanks very much!
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Chapter 8
As they were strolling down the laneway Yuki prodded Kel. 'Isn't that the girl from Haven, what's her name, Louise?'
Sure enough Kel saw Loey down a shadowy laneway…kissing Tobe.
Kel made a big effort not to burst out laughing for some reason. Oh well, she figured. I did the same thing at their age…and this morning.
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Half an hour later the four of them were confronted by a man not much younger then Kel, with light brown hair and matching eyes. In either hand he held a sorry-looking teenager…namely Loey and Tobe.
The man spoke. 'I've been told these two lovely people belong to you, Keladry. A pleasure to meet you, but I must require that they do not hide under any more tables in any more top secret meetings. I'm busy enough at the moment without having to return young hooligans to their keepers.'
Kel just gaped at Loey and Tobe, so Dom stepped in. 'I'm sorry, they wont bother you again,-?'
'Keatin Ulysses, Ranger. Good day.'
With that the man dropped his hold on Loey and Tobe and went on his way, hands stuffed into the pockets of his breeches.
Loey and Tobe began to tumble out their apologies and innocence until Neal threatened to sell them to the slave traders. They shut up rather quickly after that.
Dom turned to Kel, grinning as usual as he whispered in her ear. 'You know, I feel like taking a leaf out of Loey and Tobe's book.'
Kel stared, and then whispered back. 'You want to get dragged by the ears all over Corus by some crazy Ranger because you were found under the table in the middle of a top secret meeting? That's your idea of fun?'
'Absolutely. Not to that extreme – but losing those two vagabonds, the Meathead and his Yamani Lily could be an excellent start to an excellent evening in the city.' Kel rolled her eyes but agreed. It was about time she had a bit of fun.
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Within three minutes they managed to lose the others, thanks to Dom's ingenious method of creating pandemonium. Dom poked a warhorse, promptly making the horse rear up and knock over a stall selling bubble bath. All the jars of bubble bath slid onto the cobblestones and cracked, and more than a few jars crashed into the huge fountain in the middle of the city square. The fountain overflowed in seconds with mounds of bubbles, covering everyone standing in its way better than a brutal snowstorm. Dom grabbed Kel's hand and they emerged from the bubbles, roaring with laughter, and snuck down a few random streets to be sure of losing the others.
When she recovered her breath from laughing so hard, Kel asked 'How could all that possibly have happened from one little poke?'
'What can I say?' Dom told her 'I'm a genius when it comes to pranking, creating disasters or causing general mayhem.'
'Aah, I see,' Kel said back 'What's your secret, oh great pranker?'
'Easy. Find the thing with the shortest temperament in the immediate vicinity – usually its Neal or the Lioness – and poke it.'
They doubled over with laughter, and straightened up to find themselves in the Dancing Dove.
The barman looked up, 'A Midwinter beer for you and your lady, my Lord?'
'Yes, thanks.' Dom replied 'And call me Dom, please.'
The barman looked surprised but genuinely delighted. A nice noble, that wasn't someone you came across everyday.
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Kel and Dom passed the next few hours having uproarious fun with whoever happened to be hanging around.
Highlights included arm wrestles (Dom came a very credible fourth, Kel came second and was rewarded with a huge tankard of beer); games of Quas (like Poker, except the person with the highest value set of cards lost and was promptly given a dare.) This was topped off by a fair share of kissing, since Kel was dared to kiss any guy in the room for three full minutes after coming up with a five straight in Quas. Thankfully the darer must have thought she was single, though he seemed to cotton on after Kel and Dom went quite past the three minute mark.
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Later that evening, almost drunk but not quite, they made their way back out to the festival. They gorged themselves on sticky buns, chocolate and fairy floss while watching the spectacle. Kel was dragged onto one of the many stages and convinced to join in a play, in which she played a fair noble court lady who kept fainting all the time. Kel was laughing so hard she nearly died, and she almost did die during one of the faints when she nearly speared herself on her own sword.
Afterwards, Dom was engaged by a fire-eater to have a go at eating the fire himself, which ended with Dom's hair a little singed after being chased around by a bunch of mad fire-eaters wielding fire-sticks because their prey got away.
At midnight there was a spectacular fireworks show. Kel and Dom stood with everyone else in the square, cheering for the best fireworks and blocking their ears when they popped too close.
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It was well past midnight by the time they both entered the palace grounds again after a long and slow stroll back from the city square. Eventually they made it halfway up the grassy hill leading up to the palace, when Dom pulled her down onto the grass and Kel happily obliged, content but tired.
They lay there, side by side, enjoying each other's presence as they struggled not to fall asleep.
'Look,' Dom told her, pointing up at the starry sky 'There's Faithful, Alanna's cat.'
Sure enough a twinkling constellation in the sky etched the form of a cat. It was beautiful, and Kel enjoyed just watching the twinkling stars in the night sky. She hadn't felt this free, this happy, this totally worn out yet thrilled and excited, for such a long time. Quite possibly, she had never enjoyed herself quite this much.
She let out a happy sigh and fell asleep on the spot, Dom promptly doing the same.
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'Mithros, they're letting just any freaks of nature into the palace grounds now!' Neal exclaimed loudly overhead. 'Do you two have any idea how long it has taken me to find you?'
Kel and Dom grunted, still nine tenths fast asleep. This apparently set Neal off into a long tirade.
'When we lost you yesterday afternoon I figured you'd find your own way back then you weren't back for dinner at the palace but Yuki said don't worry so this morning I went to knock on your door Kel and nobody answered so I freaked out and ran to Dom's rooms ready to kill him, but he wasn't there and neither were you lucky for him so I searched the practice courts the mess the Riders barracks the great hall you weren't there so I asked Raoul Alanna my father our yearmates then I went back to The King's Own barracks still no sign of you ran into Lerant who mentioned that there were two people asleep on the front lawn of the Tortallan Palace and I thought to myself no surely not but I 'd checked everywhere else so naturally HERE YOU ARE so if you wouldn't mind could you get off your lazy bums and join me in the mess where you can explain your whereabouts for the last day and hurry up because lunch is nearly over.'
'Neal,' Dom started slowly, blinking as he opened his eyes 'Civilised people use wonderful inventions called commas and full stops in their sentences, because it makes them even slightly possible to understand and raises them above the level of sarcastic Meatheads.'
Kel had so far latched onto only one word, which made her sit bolt upright and regret it afterwards when her back made a loud crack. 'Did you say LUNCH? It's past MIDDAY?'
'Yes, it's two-thirty.' Neal told her, resigned as he offered her a hand up but not to Dom.
As they strolled through the halls towards the mess Neal asked 'So now that we're all fully awake, mind explaining your little rendezvous in the King's front garden?'
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King Jonathan sighed loudly and sat back in his chair in his private study. 'I suppose there is no possible way for me to convince you otherwise.'
His answer was short. 'No.'
'Then I shall announce the change of command at tomorrow evening's ball.'
The considerably bigger man got up and left resignedly, murmuring words of thanks.
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Loey found Kel after lunch. 'Sorry about yesterday,' Loey told the older girl 'Hiding under the table was fun, but that Ranger guy was not.'
Kel shook her head in laughter. Was she like that when she was fifteen? Surely not. 'So…Where's Tobe?'
Loey giggled nervously. Lady Kel knew already?
Kel smiled. 'Yes, I know full well you were doing more than hiding under tables yesterday. You're welcome to do what you like, don't worry, Tobe is no longer in my service and you are no longer under my command.'
Loey's eyes twinkled, though her lack of Yamani training made her relief evident. 'And of course, if you said anything else you'd be a bit of a hypocrite.'
'What? I'm 21! You're 15! How does that make me hypocritical?'
By this point Loey had tears of mirth in her eyes. 'I was actually referring to your own rendezvous around the city without telling anyone. But obviously you got up to more than hiding under tables too.'
Kel blinked, then recovered. 'You are a bad, bad girl Loesia Miller.'
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Thanks for reading, please review!
StarryEmeraldNights