Disclaimer: All characters and places that you recognize are not owned by me.

Chapter 6

It was the day of her exam and Kel was extremely nervous. Daughter Sandra had even managed to talk Lord Wyldon around so that she could have to day off to prepare herself.

Kel didn't really see what the point was. Unlike the other court ladies she could be dressed and ready in 15 minutes, having her hair and face paint done. But today she would have to take her time.

Daughter Sandra would be coming to watch her getting ready, making sure she did everything right. Then she would be taken to the Grand Hall, in other words to where all the important feasts were held...and where the entrance staircase was.

When Kel had informed Daughter Sandra of who she had chosen to complete her exam with (Roald), she and her assistant Melody had exchanged looks before Melody had commented, "Friends in high places Lady Keladry?" raising one eyebrow.

In reply Kel had said, "I suppose you could say that, and how many times do I have to ask you to call me Kel?" with all the act and grace of a court lady, once again justifying Daughter Sandra's decision to let Kel take her exam after only five months, instead of the originally planned six. It was obvious that Kel's childhood upbringing in the Yamani court had helped her grasp many of the ideas of the Tortallan court; after all, some of the customs were similar. For the exam she had to enter the Ballroom using the staircase, be escorted to the empty monarchs throne, curtsy, dance two dances with Roald, one slow, on fast, and have a meal of sorts with him where she would demonstrate her manners and conversational skills.

Kel had been informed that she would be presented to court two months after she had passed her exams. She would know within the week if she had passed this exam, the practical one. She also had another exam tomorrow, one in which she would have to write a letter to a courtier, a business letter and a response to these two different types of letters. She would also have to demonstrate her skills in sewing and embroidery.

Lord Wyldon had said that she would be proclaimed absent on these two days as she had some family problems to deal with. If Kel thought about it, it was true, it had been her family that had wanted her to take these lessons and it was now a problem that she had to miss training because of it.

The only part that Kel was extremely happy about was that she was excused from class for the next two days. Which means that she didn't have any homework to worry about. Kel smiled happily at the thought.

After an hour of sitting in her room Kel was, to put it mildly, bored. She had made her bed, feed Jump and her sparrows, cleaned her room until it was spotless, put out the dress she was going to be wearing, decided exactly what shade lip paint and eyeshade would go with her dress and she had written letters to all her family members, including her evil sisters-in-laws. She had even put on a simple dress so that she would be used to not being in breeches when it came time for her first exam.

She had also given Lalasa the day off to go see her friend Tian but now she was regretting it, she had no one to talk to! Well, at least no one that could reply, Jump might be good company when she was out on a walk in the forest but when she was feeling feminine wanted to do something really unlike herself and gossip he was useless, but he seemed to agree with her on one thing.

That Camellia is up to something. The last time she had seen her she had been flirting with Kel's friends, drawing their attention away from her and she had known Kel could do nothing about it but in the end she had pointed out that Kel looked a bit lonely, doing all those exercises by herself and practically made her friends feel guilty for leaving her. Kel had been seething for the next hour.

She had thrown herself into her hand-to-hand combat exercises so fiercely that even Owen had realized that she was angry. When they had asked what was wrong all of them had quailed under Kel's, rarely seen, glare, leaving her alone.

On her way out she heard Merric mutter, "It must be that time of the month."

Kel had paused, opened her mouth to scathingly reply, "No. That's next week," but shut it again, and without answering, continued to her room, muttering something and no matter how hard her friends tried, they couldn't catch what she had been saying.

Though to Kel, it did prove one thing. They did realize that she wasn't their 'sexless' friend but she had still seen their faces when Merric had said that. He was shoving it in front of their faces that she was in fact, a girl. Oh well, they'd get used to it, this brightened Kel's mood considerably. Kel had an inkling that Roald had been doing that too, forcing them to realize what was right in front of their faces.

The thing that had really puzzled her friends was that at dinnertime she was back to her normal self, if not smiling a bit more. In answer to Neal's questioning looks she said, "I just got some good news today, that's all."

Her friends satisfied with her answer, had relaxed and enjoyed Kel's rarely seen smile as much as they could.

Lalasa had informed Kel before she left that she was over Neal (to Kel's relief) and that it had only been a silly crush, but she still felt for him. He had been the first male that she had met that had been nothing but kind to her and had yet to hurt her, besides her Uncle Gower of course.

Kel smiled at the memories before sighing, once again bored. The good news that she had received had been a letter from Matt, informing her that he would be traveling to Corus within the next month to see her. He had passed his Shang ordeal.

Kel had been ecstatic at the thought of seeing Matt and relieved that he had passed his ordeal but frustrated that he refused to tell her his naming, saying that he wanted to do it in person. She had received that letter two weeks ago; she hoped he was coming soon.

They had discussed in the many letters that they had written to each other about how much they valued their friendship and how they wanted to make it clear with each other that they saw the other as only a friend, but neither could deny they fact that they cared for each other deeply and would do anything to help the other.

She sighed. She knew what she felt for Neal was more then a friend but she didn't want to jeopardize their friendship by telling him. She'd ask Matt about it when he came to see her. A bell rang overhead. Kel's stomach rumbled. She sighed, then wondered Is that what you do when your bored? Sigh? Kel sighed again but grinned at the same time. I suppose so.

She sat and waited patiently for a servant to come and bring in her lunch. Lord Wyldon had decided that if she was to be absent for two days then she should be absent from meals as well. Kel thought that it was just not to arise suspicion, but who knew how Lord Wyldon's mind worked.

Kel's lunch arrived and after tipping the servant, she dug in. Lady Melody arrived half-way through Kel's lunch to tell Kel that Daughter Sandra had decided to let her look over Kel's dressing as she was going to talk to Lord Wyldon about 'borrowing' Roald for the exam.

Kel was almost certain that she held something over Lord Wyldon. He seemed to comply to her every wish. Kel mentally shrugged; maybe they had some history together or something. She made a mental note to ask Daughter Sandra about it after the exam. She didn't want to fail one of her exams if it was a touchy subject and Daughter Sandra thought she was being too bold for a court lady.

When Kel had finished her lunch, Lady Melody quickly moved her empty dishes to her desk and popped her head outside, politely asking a first year page to fetch a servant before going down to practice.

She thanked the Page, closed the door and turned to Kel saying, "I'm sorry it isn't a long time Kel but you only have forty-five minutes to get ready and changed."

Inwardly Kel breathed a sight of relief. At least she wouldn't have to draw out her getting ready process too long, she was so relieved that she didn't question the sudden change in the timetable.

As she was getting ready, Kel asked Melody how Roald was going and if he had to get all 'prettied up', as she liked to call it. Melody giggled.

"Yes he has to get all prettied up…but he should be used to that, being the crown prince and all."

Kel sighed, " I suppose so."

After a few minutes silence, Lady Melody spoke up again, "I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous."

"You're nervous! What do you think I'm feeling then?" exclaimed Kel, and after a slight pause added, "Why are you nervous anyway?"

Melody sighed. "I'm to be presented to court the same time as you, that was the one drawback of taking this job. I couldn't be presented to court until the person that Daughter Sandra had been teaching was deemed ready."

"And that makes you nervous because?" asked a confused Kel.

She sighed again. "It means that my skills as a lady have never been really tested and that I've never met the crown prince…" she trailed off, "I've heard that he's a real piece of eye candy," she giggled, "is it true?"

Kel laughed and fitting in between fits of giggles said, "I suppose you could say that," she paused, as though suddenly enlightened, "In fact, you could probably say that about all my friends! But more about some than others," She said, pictures of her incredibly handsome green-eyed best friend flitting across her minds eye.

She quickly brought her thoughts back to the present and concentrated on applying just the right amount of shimmer to her cheeks. She declared herself ready with ten minutes to spare. She stood and made her way towards the door, following Lady Melody, but paused when Melody stopped and turned with her hand still on the doorknob to face Kel.

"You are to stay here and wait for His Highness to come and collect you, you will first accompany His Highness on a leisurely walk where you must engage him in conversation," she paused before smiling, "He shall be assessing you on your conversational skills." Kel paled, she wasn't ready for this! She had only prepared herself for the exam tonight. She didn't want to have to improvise any more conversations than what she had to.

"But I thought I was getting tested on that at dinner!" Melody watched Kel's reaction amusedly.

"You are."

Kel looked at her confused.

"Daughter Sandra decided that she wanted an outsider's opinion of you and who better to do that then your 'escort'?"

"Oh," was Kel's reply as she visibly relaxed.

Melody turned and with her back to Kel said, "I'll take my leave now, Roald should be hear soon, but remember, he might be a bit late because he has to make sure that no-one sees you exiting your room."

As Melody was walking out the door Kel said, "But what if we run into my friends? Won't they recognize me?"

Melody just shook her head, smiling, before walking out without answering. Kel sighed.

"But they would recognize me wouldn't they?" she murmured to herself.

She quickly ducked into her dressing room, leaving the door open so that she would hear if Roald knocked.

She turned to look at herself in the floor to ceiling mirror that Daughter Sandra had insisted that she have installed. Kel had protested consistently for the week before it was installed, trying to think of as many reasons as possible as too why she shouldn't have it, but in the end it have proved useful on many occasions.

Kel slowly took in her appearance. Her eyes moved over the green dress that hung about her body, clinging to every curve, finishing with gold flecks inter-laced in the bottom half of the skirt. Her neckline was moderately low, showing a decent sized cleavage for a girl of her age. The backline dipped, revealing the tan that she got from working outside everyday. The sleeves were tight with a slit from the wrist to the elbow causing the fabric to settle round her elbows when she was dining, keeping the fabric out of her way.

The hem of the sleeves, backline and neckline was flecked with gold. A pair of forest green high heels completed the outfit. Kel's gaze switched to her carefully applied face paint. Her pale green eyeshade accented and brought out the green flecks in her eyes but contrasted with her light applied pale red lip paint. Last but not least she had very lightly applied shimmer to her cheeks. Her hair had been thoroughly washed, until it shined, light or no. Kel had decided to leave her hair out curling the last two inches lightly. As her hair tumbled down her back she wove some gold glitter through the bulk of her hair.

The overall picture was stunning. Kel smiled happily, she was very please with her appearance and if she thought about it, her friends were so used to not seeing her in a dress that they would actually have to see her up close to recognize her but she still wondered what they might think of her dressed as a girl.

She heard a faint knock on the door from the next room.

"Kel. It's me," called Roald, his voice muffled.

"Coming!" she replied.

With one last glance at her reflection she moved towards the door, slipping into, 'lady mode'. She cracked open the door, checking that it was Roald and that he was, in fact, alone.

When she saw that he was she said, "This might come as a bit of a shock."

She opened the door fully, revealing herself, dressed up how her friends thought she would never be dressed of her own free will.

"Oh Kel, I'm so sor-" Roald's mouth dropped open.

Kel smiled slightly. She quickly took in Roald's image. Dressed in shirt, tunic and breeches in the royal colours she had to admit that he was quite handsome, she could fully understand why some of the court ladies swooned at the sight of him.

She reached out to quickly straighten him up. Roald seemed to come to his senses when she was straightening his collar. She briskly moved onto his hair, running her fingers through it, making it lie flat.

"Thanks Kel," her murmured, "That's why I was so late, I couldn't get it to lie down."

He reached up to pat it nervously but Kel slapped the hand away. "No problem," she said smiling.

Suddenly turning serious Roald offered his arm to Kel, his eyes twinkling, "Shall we go milady?"

With a small curtsy, Kel said, "Why certainly Your Highness,"

"Please, milady, for you it's just Roald," said Roald a small smile playing on his lips.

Kel inclined her head, "Only if you call me Kel."

"Agreed," said Roald, letting out the smile he had tried to contain.

The next twenty or so minutes was spent wandering aimlessly around the castle; their chit-chat light and happy.

When it came time for the third bell of the afternoon to ring, Roald turned to Kel nervously and said, "Would you mind if we went down to the practice courts? Only for a bit of course," he gave her a small smile, "I doubt anyone would be close enough to recognize you anyway, Wyldon would realize it was you and not let anyone near."

Kel nodded reluctantly, agreeing with his last comment especially.

They walked down to the practice courts in silence before Kel said teasingly, "So, any particular reason you want to go down there besides to show off the court lady that you just had to meet? Do they even know what you have to do today?"

Blushing, and choosing not to answer her last question Roald said, "Well, that was one of the reasons…another was that I've been helping two first year pages with sword fighting, they went to Cleon first but he loaded them off to me, saying I was better," Roald shook his head, "I bet he just didn't want to get up early to teach them."

Kel couldn't help but agree, Cleon was like Neal in the way that he really appreciated his sleep time, but that was where the similarities ended in Kel's mind. She regarded each of her friends as individuals, and liked them all for their different personalities. It was the different traits of her friends that made their group so well liked among the pages, and what had helped Kel to be accepted so easily with the majority of the groups.

When they were nearly halfway there, Kel interrupted the silence they had fallen into.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"What question?" said Roald, abet nervously.

Kel sighed, exasperatedly. "I asked if you told any of our friends what you were doing today."

"Oh. That question…well…umm…"

"Spit it out Roald," when silence answered this, Kel sighed again before stopping and turning to face Roald fully before saying, "I won't be angry if you did, they are going to have to find out one day remember."

Roald started walking again to create a distraction. He averted his gaze to their walking feet before answering.

"Well, I kind of let it slip to Neal and the others at lunch why I was missing afternoon training, they had been bugging me about it all morning mind you, and you of all people would know how annoying Neal can get at times, and how incredibly persistent and persuasive he can be, but that's besides the point. I said that I had to meet a new court lady and then Owen, being who he is said that if a new court lady was arriving from the convent they would have had a chance to greet her and of course that is true so I had to tell them that it was a girl at the palace that had been receiving private tutoring from Daughter Sandra but then I wouldn't say any more…thinking that I had already said too much…" he trailed off and when Kel didn't immediately speak he plowed on, "besides I hadn't had a chance to talk to you about how much I should or shouldn't say and don't you want to know what they think of you? Their true opinions? Even though they won't see who you are because they will be too far away too see your face,"

Kel cut Roald off by saying in an amused voice, "I said before that I wouldn't be angry with you…I don't think I've ever heard you babble so…am I really that frightening?"

Roald nodded seriously before saying in a sincere voice, "Sorry Kel, but we do need to talk about it, after they see you today, they are going to ask me A LOT of questions about you tomorrow and I don't want to tell them too much, that's you job, and they, Neal especially would rather hear it from you than from me."

Kel sighed, "I know but I doubt they would recognize me today anyway, I look nothing like what I usually do…Lord Wyldon even had the palace tailors spell my Pages uniform so that my figure is disguised," Kel shook her head, "I'll tell them before I'm presented, definitely, they will need some time to get used to the idea," she paused thoughtfully, "but I think I'll tell Neal first, I'll have to explain to him why it's you doing my exam and not him."

She sighed, thinking, 'besides the fact that I wouldn't be able to hold a decent flirtatious conversation with him without blushing or concentrate when it came time for the dances' she mentally shivered, 'we would have to dance so close'

"It's all so complicated." She said out loud. "I'll tell him as soon as I know that I passed both my exams."

Roald put a reassuring arm around her shoulders, glancing in her direction before saying, "He won't be happy you know, that you've kept a secret from him for this long, the comment your cousin Ellia said about Matt being you best friend affected him a lot, he wasn't himself for at least a week or two but from what I heard he was receiving comfort form an anonymous court lady."

Kel's ears perked up, she had heard that too but she didn't know for sure who he had gone to. She had narrowed it down to either being her cousin Camellia or a married Lady that he was on good terms with, but the possibilities were endless.

"I know," she said sighing, "but he's been keeping things from me since the middle of first year, and in first year it was just the two of us remember? The Scholar and The Girl. We were nearly as close then as what we are now, we told each other everything, and I mean everything." She shook her head sadly, "that's more then two years Roald, two years!"

Roald smiled slightly and slipped his arm from her shoulders to her waist, "Well, I'm glad you know about our court life at least. Now you can help us with all our girl problems! And every time one of the guys comes to me with their problems I can send them to you! Aren't you excited?"

In the driest, dullest monotone she could she said, "I can barely contain my excitement."

Roald chuckled and Kel laughed.