Alright, please tell me who you think Torah should end up with! The choices are Zamar, Rikash, Jakkin, or Jassikam. Please, please send in a review and tell me! If you don't review, I will be very sad and not post another chapter! (Okay, I probably will because I love writing about Torah. She's really interesting!) If you don't review, I will cry and get very mad!

By the way, I really am Tamora Pierce. (If you actually think that I'm serious, then you have problems!)

Okay, here's the next chapter, The Lightning Queen! Fanfare!

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Torah gave Nashi one last hug. Nashi was already crying. Torah giggled and wiped a tear off of her cheek. "I'll see you again, silly. Be good." She kissed Nashi's forehead.

"I know! But it won't be for awhile! I look awful, don't I?"

Torah laughed. "Hurry up' you'll be late!"

Nashi would be riding back to the convent with some of her friends. Torah sighed and rested her head on her mother's shoulder. Torah giggled when a tear fell out of her eye. Her mother looked sown at her, and Torah burst into tears.

"Torah, what is it? You haven't cried since you were three!" Kali hugged Torah around the shoulders. "Would you like me to write to Numair and tell him that you'll be a day late?"

Torah shook her head. Kali sighed and stopped walking. She turned Torah around to face her. "This isn't about Nashi leaving, is it?" Torah shook her head. "Is it about you and Zamar?"

Torah nodded before submitting to her tears. "Ma, I-I think I love him. He's not like my other boys. I really love him. I don't just want to flirt with him, Ma. I love him. I gods damned love him, Ma!"

"So what's the problem?" Kali sounded amused. "Are you afraid of love?"

Torah shrugged. "Ma, it isn't love that I'm afraid of. If I were to stay in Carthak with him, I would be married to him the day I turn fifteen. Carthak needs an heir. What if something were to happen to Kally and Kaddar? What if something happened to me and Zamar?" Torah sighed and wiped away her tears. "I'm not ready to be married. Also, also I think that we moved from being friends to in love entirely. I don't see him as a friend anymore. Ma, am I not supposed to marry him? I'm not sure that I want to be an empress."

Kali sighed. "Torah, dear, I'm not sure. I know that you both love each other. I know that you would both want to get married now. Dear, would you both be happy in ten years? Would you still love each other then?"

Torah opened her mouth to say yes, but she closed it again. Zamar and she were so alike. They were both flirts, both had bad tempers, and were too proud. Were they too alike? "We're too alike, Ma. Would we still be able to work it out?"

Kali smiled. "I don't know. I think that you would certainly be happy for a little while. I married a man who was my best friend. He still is my best friend. That's probably the reason it worked out. We're so different. Sure we argue, but what couple doesn't?"

Torah sighed. She felt a few more tears running down her cheeks. "I don't know what to do, Ma. I hate being in love!" She burst into tears again. Kali sighed and hugged her daughter around the shoulders again.

"Come, we're nearly at the university. Let's go into your room and talk." Torah nodded and led her mother down the halls where the two of them could talk in private.

"Darling, I think that you need to slow down with your romances. You've kissed nearly all the men at Court on the cheek. I know that you've flirted with them all. You have kissed half of them on the lips once, some even more than once. Now you're talking about getting married. You're only fourteen."

Torah was still crying. "I know, Ma. It's just so fun. I need romance to keep me alive. It's all I have. Ma, I only have three friends here. One is my cousin, and one only likes me because of my powers. I only have Rikash here. I don't know why he likes me. My own brother won't talk to me, because he's embarrassed that I'm the Court flirt. Ma, I don't know what to do! Help me!" Torah threw herself onto her mother and began sobbing heavily.

Two figures burst into Torah's room. "Torah, we had heard that you were back! Why didn't you-" Torah looked up to see Mel looking panicked. Rikash was behind her looking shocked. Torah gave them a timid little smile and started to sob again, throwing herself onto Kali.

"Aunt Kali, what's wrong with her? Is she okay? She hasn't cried since she was nearly kidnapped when she was three!" Mel sat down on the bed. Kali sighed. She looked down at her daughter. Torah was asleep. Kali gently pushed Mel away from the bed. She laid Torah under the blankets.

"Well, you know how she was friends with Prince Zamar since she was like five? Well, lately they've been feeling more for each other. Poor Torah is a flirt. She has always felt in control of her life. She's not sure if it'll work out between her and Zamar. She hates the unknown. It made her cool, calm nature fall apart."

Mel sighed and touched her cousin's forehead. "I'll come around tomorrow and make sure she's okay." She kissed Kali on the cheek. "Goodnight!"

Mel took Rikash's hand and dragged him to her room. It seemed that Torah wasn't the only one who was upset. Rikash looked depressed. Mel didn't want to hurt him, but she had already hurt him once by not telling him that Torah would break his heart too.

"Rikash, you can't blame her. She doesn't even know that you like her. She doesn't know that you were worried about her every second she was gone. She didn't see your face when you walked into the room and saw her crying." Mel sighed and looked down. "It's all my fault. I didn't tell you that she breaks hearts. She can break a heart in a second. She doesn't realize it. She thinks it's fun. I should have told you that it was only a matter of time before she broke yours."

She looked up at him warily. He looked dejected. He looked Mel in the eye. "I know. I should have told her. But what am I supposed to do now? And what do you mean that she's broken a lot of hearts?"

Mel sighed. "Okay, this'll take a while. It's a pretty long story. Sit down." Mel moved over to her bed and sat down. Rikash walked over to the nearest chair and plopped down in it.

"Since we first met, Torah had been a beauty. It was she who got all the attention and was allowed to break rules with no punishment. She was allowed freedom that no one else was. Not from her parents of course, but from the king and queen, from her friends. You couldn't blame her for it. She was the nicest cousin I had. We were close friends since the time we met.

"When we got older, we both started taking an interest in boys. All the boys would swoon around her, though. None of them thought anything of me. I still couldn't blame her. She was so nice to me, and she stuck up to me when no one else did. However, since she was a favorite of some of the flirtiest ladies in the palace, she was kissing boys at age ten, maybe even earlier. She would flirt with them, get them to kiss her, and then ignore them when they talked to her the next day. There are only four boys that she hasn't done that with."

"Who?" Rikash asked.

"Prince Jassikam. They are friends, and he is her prince. There is also Jakkin. They are really good friends, and he is a great kisser, so I've been told. Then there's her friend Prince Zamar. He's a prince, they're friends, and she apparently loves him." Mel chewed on the end of one of her curls thoughtfully.

"That was only three!" Rikash said.

Mel nodded. "Yes, I know. The last one is you, Rikash. I don't know why she hasn't. It might just be because you two are friends; it may be more."

Rikash smiled a little. Mel sighed. "You can't blame her for being that way. She grew up with all of those flirts hanging around her. She grew up with whores. She has never matured past that."

"I don't blame her. I should tell her soon, then."

Mel smiled. "Yes. Night, Rikash."

"Goodnight, Mel."

The next day, Torah woke up early due to a fact that a strawberry was dropped on her head. She got up and yelled, "Toma!" The pink lightning dragon gave a laughing sound. Torah jumped as it said, "You sure get worked up about that!"

"You-you talked!"

"Yes." The lightning dragon sounded amused.

"But-but you're only lightning."

"Not anymore. I may be made out of lightning, but I'm in the shape of a dragon and living with humans. I'm no longer lightning. You should get up. There's a storm coming. I thought that you might want to learn some stuff about weather magic."

Torah stripped her nightgown off and put her blue robe on over it. The dragon thing was confusing her, but she was too tired to argue. They went up to the roof and watched the storm come in.

"Weather magic is very rare. If someone has it, it's usually only a small amount. You, Torah, have a large amount. I'm going to teach you what to do with all of it. We are going to fly and join the storm."

"I-I can't fly."

The dragon groaned. "Order the winds to pick you up! Come on; it isn't that hard! Command the winds!"

Torah raised her arms and called on the wind. Nothing happened. The dragon sighed again. "You need to command the winds! They aren't as gentle as the rain and not as nice as the lightning! Try again!"

Torah scowled at Toma. Her friend was a snob. She raised her arms to the sky and commanded the winds to pick her up. A second later, she was in the sky. Her mouth fell open. Toma laughed and followed Torah.

"Close that mouth of yours. Now, let's see. Let's go visit with my cousins. We can go visit the Thunder. Be careful, though. They may be invisible and harmless, but their strong voice could cause you to lose your concentration and knock you out of the sky. Command the thunder."

A moment later, there was a loud bang. A deep rumbling voice said, "You called, young cousin and Lighting Queen?"

Torah frowned. "Yes, we did, Why am I the Lightning Queen? I am only Torah."

The thunder laughed. "No, you are the Lightning Queen and the Promised One. You shall be the one who shall rule over the winds and us storms. You shall be our queen. You are the Lightning Queen."

Torah raised an eyebrow. "Okay…I guess so. Where should we go now, Toma?"

The pink lightning flew around. "Follow me. It's time to have some fun! We're going to fly around the storm!"

Torah flew over to her. The two off them met up with the rain. "Look, it's the Lightning Queen!" It said. The rain started poured harder. "We must show her our best."

After that, they went to visit the lightning. The lightning was the only part of the storm that Torah liked talking to. It didn't call her Lightning Queen. That was a really ridiculous name!

After a while, Torah checked where the sun was in the sky. "Oh no! Toma, we were supposed to be at breakfast a half hour ago! We have to get back! Come on! Good bye, Storm!"

"Goodbye, Lightning Queen!" Everything yelled. Torah and Toma flew straight into the breakfast hall, unaware that they were still soaked and flying. Everyone gasped and looked up at them. Torah lost her hold on the wind and she was dropped right in front of Numair. Torah winced and bowed. To her surprise, she heard laughter. She looked up slowly. Numair was laughing his head off.

"Novice Toralina, that was the funniest thing I've seen yet. Why don't you run to your rooms and change, as you are soaking wet? After that, you can come down here for a quick breakfast. Thom will be fine with you missing a little of his class. Go on."

Torah bowed and scurried out of the hall, muttering to her little lightning dragon, "You know that this is all your fault, right?"

"Of course." Toma said smoothly. Torah rolled her eyes and changed into another robe.

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Not my favorite chapter. I don't really like the Lightning Queen thing, but it's just my way of saying how powerful Torah is. I'll explain more next time.

PS. These are the robe colors:

Novice – blue

Intermediate – green

Adept – red

Master – white

Powerful Sorcerer – black