Chapter8 - Obstacles

Disclaimer - None of the characters, etc. belong to me. They are all Tammy's.

Joren waited in his tent impatiently. Lord Paxton had retired a while ago but the Lump had yet to arrive. Finally he gave up and prepared to go to sleep. Settling in his bedroll, he heard a voice outside his tent calling him. Grumbling, Joren put on his robe and opened the tent flap. Kel scrambled in. "What took you so long?" Joren whispered furiously.

"Lord Wyldon and Duke Baird were talking in Lord Wyldon's tent. I couldn't leave until they went to sleep, in case Lord Wyldon caught me"

"Fine. We need to discuss what to do next."

"What do you think we should do?"

Now she was getting annoying. "I don't know, Lump. Why did you think I'm asking you?" he whispered, closing the tent flap.

"Don't call me Lump, Joren. If this is going to work, we have to get along."

Why did she always have to be right? "Fine then, Keladry."

"My friends call me Kel."

'And am I your friend?" he asked earnestly as he looked at her questioningly. "Because I don't want a Lump for a friend."

Kel let her Yamani mask slip to reveal her uncertainty."I think you're the only friend I have at the moment. Do you want to be my friend?"

Seeing her vulnerability in her eyes, Joren suddenly felt a desire to comfort Kel. "I want to be your friend Kel." He pulled her to him and stroked her hair as if she were a child. She hesitantly put her arms around him, still not completely sure she could trust him. Slowly, she pulled away from him. "We still need to talk Kel."

":I know."

"When do you want to get married? I can have it arranged for a few days after we arrive in Corus."

"I want my parents there."

"It's almost winter Kel. That can't happen unless you wait for a few months and we don't have that time."

"I guess not." Kel hid her disappointment. "I still have to tell them though."

Joren nodded. "You can write to them once we've reached Corus."

"What about your parents? When will you tell them?" Kel asked curiously.

He sighed. This was a discussion he didn't want to have. "I'll write to them once we reach Corus as well. Although I want to warn you Kel, don't expect a warm welcome. My father would most likely disown me once he finds out. The only reason he might not is because I'm his heir and you might be carrying my son. Even so, he'll make your life a misery when we're at Stone Mountain. We won't stay there often however, I think it would be best if we stayed in Corus most of the time, seeing as I won't be at Stone Mountain often myself." Joren fell silent after this speech, waiting for Kel to respond.

"You've thought through this a lot, haven't you?" Kel seemed surprised.

"I never do anything on impulse Kel, I always think everything through before doing it."

"Never?" Kel looked at him. She gestured at her stomach. "Are you telling me you planned this?" Her voice held a teasing note to it, even though her face was serious.

"Oh, of course Kel. Didn't you know? I'm secretly in love with you. By getting you pregnant, not only do I stop you from being a knight, I get to keep you as well." He laughed softly, pulling her to him. "Well, not always, but something like this… I don't want to do something we'll both regret," Joren said seriously.

Kel nodded. "I should go now," she said, pulling away.

"You don't need to go yet." Joren kissed her.

"No." Kel pulled away.

"Why not?" Joren asked. "You're already pregnant and nobody will know if you leave now or later."

"It's not a good idea Joren and I'm not interested."

"Not interested? You seemed fairly interested that night in the tunnel, Kel, and I also want a wife who is willing to share my bed."

Kel grimaced. "We're not married yet."

"We might as well be." Joren kissed her teasingly, trying to get Kel to respond. Finally she did and he pulled her down onto the bedroll.

Ages later, he was roused as Kel moved to leave. He kissed her. "Goodnight." It would be best to get closer to Kel, even if not for the same reasons as before. Hopefully, they would be able to get along.

"Goodnight." Kel left the tent.

The next morning, Kel felt a lot better. She supposed it was because she had told Joren and settled everything. It definitely did not have anything to with her spending the night in Joren's tent, she told herself.

At lunch time, Neal noticed Kel's cheerfulness. "I'm glad you're feeling better, but why don't you eat?" Kel had been skipping lunch so she didn't get such terrible morning sickness.

Briefly, Kel thought of telling him, but decided against it. While he was her best friend, she wasn't sure that she wanted to talk to another male about it yet. It had been embarrassing enough talking about it with Duke Baird and Joren. She wanted to talk about it, tell somebody about her wonder at the new life growing inside her, her growing sentiment towards her child, how she was almost certain it was a boy. But she doubted Neal was the right person to tell. So she would wait until they returned to Corus, where she could tell Lalasa. "Did your father tell you I was fine?" Kel instead replied teasingly. "I'm not hungry."

"Kel you should eat something. You might get hungry later otherwise."

"I don't think so."

"Kel, for once I agree with Queenscove." Joren had come up from behind her, holding two plates of food. He handed one to her. "Eat. You shouldn't be skipping meals."

"I get sick if I eat lunch Joren," Kel replied calmly.

"So you're not eating lunch ever again?" Neal remarked incredulously.

"I will, just not yet." She offered the plate to Joren.

"No. I talked to Duke Baird this morning and he said you couldn't afford to skip meals." He pushed the plate in her hands towards her.

'Why were you discussing Kel with my father?' Neal asked suspiciously.

Joren's eyes widened. "Uh, I wasn't discussing Kel, just how some women like to skip meals so they look thinner. But knights need strength and need to eat. Especially females who want to try to be knights," Joren said hastily.

Kel's face went blank. She missed the rest of the conversation. For some reason, that last bit hurt, and she knew it wasn't just that she had started to trust him. Joren turned to her as Neal walked away, muttering about arrogant squires. "You haven't eaten yet Kel. And you're being a Lump again."

She sneered at him. "I'll never be a good knight to you, will I? And you ruined my one chance to prove you wrong. I would have been as good a knight as you will be, if not better. But I'm a girl, so I couldn't possibly be any good at fighting, could I?" With that, she walked away, leaving Joren staring at her retreating back, shaking his head.

A/N - Thank for reviewing guys. Special thanks to Rosie eisoR and Tuathail for betaing for me. I'm still looking for a beta, so tell me if you're interested. Please review!