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

Chapter 7

Kel and Roald quickly made their way to the Grand Hall to meet Daughter Sandra. They arrived a few minutes early so they stood in the foyer just chatting about things.

"So Kel, I was wondering..." He trailed off.

Kel rolled her eyes, "Yes Roald, you were wondering..."

Roald chuckled.

"What do you want me to tell everyone? Or, should I be saying, what do you want me not to say?"

Kel sighed, before saying in a troubled voice, "I don't know. Well, obviously, I don't want you to tell them who I am, but other then that, I trust your judgment."

She gave him a small smile which he returned. A bell clanged overhead, signaling the 4th bell of the afternoon. Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody entered the hall at the end of the third ring. Kel smiled at them as they came closer.

"Right on time. As usual."

Kel curtsied a greeting, which they returned.

"Lady Melody, may I present His Highness Roald of Conte, Prince of Tortall...Roald, this is Lady Melody, Daughter Sandra's assistant, I trust you have met Daughter Sandra."

"Yes," Roald replied, bowing to Lady Melody who curtsied back gracefully, he took her hand and gently kissed her fingertips, murmuring, "It is a pleasure to be introduced to such a beautiful young woman."

Kel tried to catch Daughter Sandra's eye but she was too busy watching the pair to see how Melody would reply.

Melody let a slight flush come to her face before curtsying again, saying "No. The pleasure is all mine."

It was then that Kel saw the twinkle in their eyes, giving away the fact that they were putting on a show for Daughter Sandra, who was seemingly oblivious. Kel couldn't help but smile.

The rest of the night went smoothly, with Roald seeming like the perfect partner. He never got her flustered and was, as always the perfect gentleman. Roald walked Kel back to her rooms. When they got there he gave Kel a brotherly hug and wished her luck for the second part of her exam tomorrow.

Kel smiled, thanked him and bade him goodnight before retiring to her room. She changed quickly and quietly, not wanting to wake Lalasa up. She climbed into her nice, warm bed thinking of what tomorrow would bring. She fell asleep quickly, her last waking thoughts being if she finished her exam early enough she would only have to leave Roald to fend for himself until lunch time.

Kel woke with the sun next morning. She quickly got dressed and pulled out her glaive. For the next hour she was uninterrupted but when the breakfast bell rang she reluctantly put away her glaive.

She turned and was surprised to see Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody watching her carefully from their spots pressed up against the door.

They both looked at her cautiously before Daughter Sandra said in a dry voice, "Remind me never to get Kel angry would you Melody."

"Of course Daughter Sandra," replied Melody, her eyes wide but twinkling.

Kel hastily bowed to them, mumbling a quick "Good Morning."

Daughter Sandra waved her off into her dressing room.

"Be ready as quick as you can, we want to be out of here as soon as we are sure that all the Pages and Squires are at breakfast...we wouldn't want to run into anyone now would we?"

Kel shook her head, but rolled her eyes when her back was turned. She stepped into the dressing room to find Lalasa sitting on her bed, looking like she hadn't had much sleep. Kel quickly close the door behind her and sat down next to Lalasa. She waited for Lalasa to say something.

When after a few minutes Lalasa had still not been able to make a full sentence, Kel sighed and pulled her up off the bed saying, "Come help me get ready, maybe you will be able to loosen your tongue a bit if you're doing something with your hands."

Lalasa smiled in relief.

After a few more minutes of silence Kel sat down in front of her vanity, fully dressed and waiting for Lalasa to style her hair. As Lalasa worked, Kel started with her face paint, lightly applying lipgloss and blush, bringing out her natural features. Lalasa decided to pull Kel's hair up in a ponytail as usual, but with a midnight blue ribbon to match her shift. She left wisps hang down, framing her face.

Kel got up and moved towards the door to the main part of her room but Lalasa stopped her, asking in a small voice, "If your view on someone changes unexpectedly does it mean that you are fickle?"

Kel sighed with relief, she had been worrying that someone had been trying to hurt Lalasa again, she was glad that it was something so small.

"It depends what your view of the person in the first place," Kel said, smiling down at Lalasa.

"Do you want to tell me?"

"Well, do you remember what I told you about my...uh...feelings towards Neal?"

Kel heart sunk. "Yes Lalasa I do."

"Well..." her voice suddenly sunk down to a whisper, "I realized that I don't like him that way anymore, one day he was reducing me to a nervous wreck just by speaking to me but now...I am completely unaffected by him, which I must say is a relief, it would have never worked out between us, but does that make me fickle because my feelings changed so quickly?"

Kel smiled, shaking her head, "Lalasa, just because your feelings changed without warning does not make you fickle and I would love to talk to you more about this but I have to get going, I don't want to keep Daughter Sandra waiting."

Kel quickly grabbed a bag form the corner of her dressing room and put her pages uniform in it.

Then she walked out, joining Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody. They quickly left, Kel following them through the maze of the palace, trying to find some type of mark that would help her in her return journey.

About 10 minutes later they arrived, in Kel's opinion, at a pretty plain looking door. Daughter Sandra pulled out a key and twisted it right, left, left right, right, right. She opened the door and waved Melody and Kel in. As soon as they got inside Melody headed straight towards the door on the other side of the room.

Kel took in the room. It was a plain room, with wine-red coloured walls and gold curtains that were almost see-through. Kel moved towards the window. They were at least 4 floors up. Kel clutched the window sill almost by impulse, but she wasn't as scared as she used to be, her heart started pumping a bit faster but at least she could still keep a firm grip on her thoughts.

She turned around as she heard a door open and thus, noticing the straight backed brown chair and writing desk sitting in the centre of the room. So this was where she was to be taking her exam. Lady Melody offered Kel a glass of water, which Kel accepted. It was then that she noticed that both Lady Melody and Daughter Sandra were out of breath.

Taking pity on Daughter Sandra, Kel took her arm and lead her to the only chair in the room, the one accompanying the writing desk.

When Daughter Sandra started to refuse Kel said, "I refuse to start my exam until both you and Melody have your breath back. Have some water, it will help."

Lady Melody stood leaning against the wall and after surveying Kel said, "How come you're so fit?"

Both Kel and Daughter Sandra turned and looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Oh, right." She said, abet embarrassedly.

When both of them had caught their breath they left Kel in the red room, moving into the room that lead across from it, saying that she knew what to do.

After they had left her, Kel sighed and moved towards the desk. She placed the bag with her pages uniform in it under the desk and started working.

Kel finished in good time. She dashed to the window, shielded her eyes and judged, by the position of the sun that it was nearing lunch time. She quickly changed in to her pages uniform and then called Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody in from the other room.

They did not bat an eye at her changed appearance but sensing her urgency to be off, Daughter Sandra quickly gathered up her work and began reading it. She also carefully checked her embroidery.

After ten minutes Daughter Sandra put down Kel's work and drew Lady Melody over to a corner of the room, where they started conversing in whispers. Kel assumed it was to make a decision to see if she passed overall. So she went and stood politely next to the window, trying her hardest not to listen to them.

The lunch bell rang. Kel sighed, now she was going to make an entrance, but at least she would have time to drop off her dress. She turned just as Daughter Sandra and Melody stopped talking. They approached smiling. Kel who had been getting increasingly nervous wiped her sweaty palms on the front of her breeches.

Their smiles grew when they saw her wipe her palms, the only sign that she was nervous, as she had her Yamani Blank face on.

"Well done Keladry. You've passed. With flying colours I might add."

Kel's face broke into a huge smile.

"Lady Melody and myself are still going to come to your room tomorrow night so that we can talk about the arrangements for your presentation to court and such things, make sure you are ready, Roald may come if he wishes, he might know of more events that are going to happen as well as the usual ones. Now off you go, I'm sure your getting hungry."

Just as Daughter Sandra finished speaking Kel's stomach gave a great rumble. Kel grinned sheepishly and with a quick bow and a stumbled 'thanks' Kel scrambled out of the room. Reaching her room in record time, she dumped her stuff and ran towards the dining hall. She paused outside the door. Not even breathless. Never the less, she took a deep breath and opened the door.

The sight before her nearly made her gasp. She quickly pushed her Yamani mask into place and walked calmly towards Lord Wyldon, giving a quick wave to her friends who were spread over the back two tables of the hall.

"Hello Mindelan."

Back to Mindelan I see, thought Keladry.

"Care to explain as too why you are so late too lunch."

Keeping up with the role of having gone to see her family, Kel replied, "I just got back. Sorry to have created a disruption My Lord."

He looked at her, a weird emotion playing across his face. He gestured out towards the eating area, "I doubt you've disrupted them much."

Kel looked out over the hall and she had to agree. It seemed as if the most of the court ladies had joined them for lunch. It amused her to see her friends and colleges trying to flirt with the ladies.

She murmured quietly, "It looks like they all need a lesson on flirting."

Lord Wyldon had a twinkle in his eye when he heard that despite his gruff voice saying, "It is time for you to be seated Page Mindelan."

Kel bowed to him and then went to the kitchen door where one of the kitchen staff stood waiting patiently for her to come collect the plate off her hands. Kel took the plate with a smile and a "Thank-you."

Just before she started to walk away the girl asked in a soft voice, "How did your exam go Milady?"

Kel just gaped at the girl, her mask forgotten.

"How did you know about that?"

The girl just smiled, "We servants overhear things and this just happened to be one of them," after a slight pause, "We were all rooting for you to pass, even if those boys you call friends do not notice how pretty you are, we do."

She offered Kel a small smile. Kel beamed back at her, carefully making sure her back was towards the boys.

She replaced her mask and as she turned to go she said in a soft voice, "I passed."

The reality of it hit her. She passed. She felt like jumping up and down and whooping, but for some reason she felt they Lord Wyldon would not approve and they she would attract many strange looks.

She settled for letting a small smile grace her face. As she passed Joren's table she saw a foot stick out trying to trip her. She merely stepped over it and shot Joren a dazzling smile, while he just scowled back at her, not wanting to retaliate in front of his 'lady' friends. Joren knew that Kel knew that he would not be mean to her in front of his friends and that infuriated him to no end. The ladies he was sitting with were covering their smiles with their hands.

They were friends of Kel's, and even so, they were friends of Joren's as well it seemed. Kel's smile deflated back to its original size and she continued her journey. Calling out silent hello's to many of her friends among the court ladies. As she was nearing the back of the hall she began to get the slightest bit worried, she still hadn't seen her cousin. What if...

She reached her table. No-body seemed to have noticed her. That was when she saw her cousin. She was sitting between Neal and Roald, Neal flirting with her and Roald with his back to her, talking to Lady Anais. Judging by the fact that there was so much room between the two lovers Kel guessed that their relationship was not yet out in the open.

She saw Lady Denali watching them carefully, as if watching for a clue. Kel smiled. She had always thought that Lady Denali was the quiet observer of the group. She stood there waiting for someone to notice her. Not to her surprise it was a court lady that noticed her first. Lady Lynette to be exact. She gave a quiet sort of squeal and jumped up hugging Kel who hugged her back.

She dragged her over to where she had been sitting before and made her sit next to her. Only when Lady Lynette had cleared her throat a few times did her friends notice she was there. She couldn't help but roll her eyes. The conversation on this table of her friends turned to her. Neal was sitting at the other table.

"Kel your back!" exclaimed Owen, "That's jolly!"

Everyone one but Kel rolled their eyes.

"Thank you Sergeant Obvious," said Faleron in a sarcastic voice, before turning to Kel and saying in a normal voice, "Welcome back Kel. Did you sort out all you problems?"

The court ladies were all focused on Kel, waiting for her answer, and her double meaning.

Kel smiled. "Yes. I sorted everything out."

With that most of her friends turned back to who they were talking to before but Lady Lynette stayed focused on her.

She then said in a whisper, "So you passed everything?"

Kel nodded, her face glowing with happiness.

"Congratulations! If we didn't have to keep this quiet I would be squealing and jumping up and down."

"That's what I was tempted to do when I actually realised what had happened, but of course by that time I was in the hall so I couldn't do anything but smile."

Lady Lynette nodded and turned to start talking to Merric who had been waiting patiently for them to finish their whispered conversation.

"What was that all about?" he questioned.

"Nothing," chorused both girls.

Kel's stomach rumbled again, remind her of how hungry she was. She started eating as quickly as she could, while still keeping her manners in check. When she had a break she surveyed the table with contentment, not really minding that she was not included in the conversation. Her eyes danced with amusement as she watched her friends failed attempts to flirt.

Her eyes then moved to the next table over which consisted of Roald, Lady Anais, Cleon, Neal, two other court ladies and her cousin, Camellia. Her eyes instantly hardened at the sight of her, almost as if feeling Kel's gaze Camellia turned around, and when she saw Kel she smirked, so small that it was nearly invisible, but Kel saw it.

Neal, turning around to see what Camellia was looking at, considerably brightened at the sight of Kel. He waved at Kel and beckoned her over. Kel shook her head and pointed at her plate of food then gestured at the empty place beside her. Neal looked torn. Camellia pouted at Neal trying to sway his decision. Kel did nothing, but Neal saw her look at what Camellia was doing then look back at him, she wasn't going to try and help him, she was going to let him make his own decision.

Neal was thankful of that. Inside he was torn. It's like being torn between two beautiful women. Well, actually it is. Neal froze. Where did that come from?

Neal tore his eyes away from 'Ellia's' incredibly appealing pouting face to Kel's dead blank face. He slowly shook his head and turned around, feeling incredibly guilty and feeling as if he had betrayed Kel. In doing so he missed the triumphant look that passed across Camellia's face and the smirk she shot at Kel.

However, Roald did not. Roald sent Neal a look of disbelief. Even though Kel had not out rightly told him, he had noticed the hostility between her and her cousin, even if none of his other male friends had. Neal had the good grace to look guilty, but it instantly vanished when Camellia turned her attention back to him. Roald glanced over at Kel.

Kel sat there, feeling heart broken. She didn't know why it mattered to her so much, but it did. It felt like Neal had betrayed her. Maybe if it had of been some other court lady Kel could have dealt with it, but not her cousin. Just the fact that Neal had picked Camellia over her made her feel as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest, and the fact that he didn't even look a little bit remorseful felt as if her heart had shattered and the pieces were lying on the floor.

She quickly put on her Yamani blank face, but she knew her eyes gave her away. Kel was more than relieved that none of her friends had seen what had just gone on between her and Neal. Kel felt shattered.

Lady Lynette turned and catching sight of Kel's no longer smiling face immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

It took Kel a while to answer but when she did her voice was flat, emotionless, and it was clear that she intended it to be that way. She didn't want anyone to know how much Neal's rejection hurt her.

"Nothing. It's nothing." She replied, trying to smile a little.

Neal's heart nearly broke hearing Kel reply to Lady...What is her name? Lyndelle...Linda...Lynette! That's it! Neal was pulled out of his thoughts by Ellia putting her hand on top of his hand where it had been lying on the table. She gave him a significant look but Neal did not understand what she wanted him to do so he returned to his own thoughts.

Straight after dinner that night Kel pulled Roald aside and told him of what Daughter Sandra had said to her. He instantly agreed to come. After all their friends had left they approached Lord Wyldon cautiously.

"Excuse me...My Lord?"

"What is it Mindelan?"

"Well, tonight I have one last meeting with Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody and Daughter Sandra said that I should bring Roald along and we were wondering..."

"Get on with it Mindelan."

"Well you see My Lord, we were wondering if, just for tonight, My Lord, if we could bend the rule saying that no male may be in Kel's room without the door being open, for we would not want anyone to overhear what may be said."

They both looked at Lord Wyldon expectantly for his reaction. After much deliberation he said in his gruff voice, "Only when Daughter Sandra and Lady Melody are in the room may that rule be bent. Understood?"

"Yes My Lord." They both answered.

They headed to Kel's room only to find a short note from Lady Melody saying that Daughter Sandra and herself would be delayed by and hour so that Kel should not expect them until then. Kel and Roald exchanged looks. This meant that they would have to go study with their friends for nearly a whole turn of the clock.

Kel grabbed her books and waited outside Roald's room for him to grab his then they both proceeded to the small Library where the study sessions took place. When they arrived Kel was still laughing slightly about a joke Roald had just told, the noise alerting everyone to their arrival.

"What took you two so long?"

"We had to go see Lord Wyldon." Replied Roald smoothly, both of them taking their usual seats next to each other, across from Neal.

When Kel sat down she looked up and caught Neal's eye, just the sight of him made Kel's stomach start jumping around. She lowered her eyes and pulled out her books.

"So Roald, where were you at breakfast." Asked Cleon in a would be natural voice.

"Avoiding us were you?" asked Faleron.

Roald looked down and mumbled, "Something like that."

Kel slipped her mask into place to stop her smile coming to her face. She had an inkling as to why Roald would skip breakfast and true to her prediction, Faleron's next question proved her correct.

"Trying to stop us questioning you about that beautiful court lady you brought to show off to us yesterday hmm?"

Kel chocked at the word beautiful and made enough noise to make everyone look at her suspiciously, to cover up she merely said, "I never saw Roald as the type to show off, maybe he just wanted to check on some of his students."

"His students?" questioned Neal.

"Oh. Didn't you know that he helps two first year Pages with their sword fighting? Quite generous of him in my opinion, getting up early three mornings a week just to help the younger."

She gave Roald a smile. The rest of her friends' mouths were hanging open. She leaned across the table, put two of her fingers under Neal's chin and closed his mouth. The others, getting the idea all closed their mouths.

"So Roald," said Owen, "Do tell us about that jolly girl you brought to training yesterday."

All of Kel's friends turned their attention away from Kel and towards Roald. "Well..." he started, giving Kel a nervous glance, who gave a slight nod to show that she trusted him, "She is a soon to be court lady..."

"What do you mean 'soon to be'?" asked Merric, who had so far been the quietest of them all, much to Kel's surprise.

"She has been at the palace for oh...three years? But it wasn't until recently that she had been told that she had to become a court lady. Her mother sent her a letter saying that she would be taking lessons with Daughter Sandra and there was no choice in the matter, so she took the lessons and now, five months later, Daughter Sandra has deemed her ready and she has taken an exam. You see," he explained, "As she did not have to time to do the training over the 6 years spent at the convent she would have to take an exam to show that she was ready, and I guess, I was part of that exam."

Silence followed.

"Are you trying to say..." Cleon said slowly, "That this incredibly beautiful girl has been right under our noses for three years...three long years and none of us have noticed her?"

Roald pretended to think about it, "Yes, that would be about it!"

"Oh," was his reply. It took all Kel's self control to not burst out blushing, as it was she could not keep a small amount off her cheeks. Two of her friends had just called her beautiful, even if they did not know it. It somehow felt wrong.

"You know," started Kel casually, "She might not have been as beautiful as you all think," all eyes turned towards her, "I mean, Roald is the only one that can judge isn't he? It sounds like none of you saw her up close."

All eyes turned back to Roald, who said in a quiet voice his eyes never leaving Kel's, "She is incredibly beautiful, not only on the outside but on the inside too."

Neal was the only one that seemed uncomfortable with Kel and Roald staring into each others eyes. He glanced around and as no-one else seemed to find it disturbing he pushed the thought away to see was would happen next.

Kel replied with a small, "Oh."

Roald smiled at her, "Be sure to tell her that for me won't you Kel?"

Kel nodded, turning back to her work.

"You know her Kel?"

Kel looked back up at Esmond, who had asked the question. She nodded slowly before saying, "She and I are friends."

Everyone jumped when there was a loud knock on the door. Neal being the first to recover called out, "Come in!"

Lady Camellia breezed into the room, smiling prettily. Everyone hopped up to bow to her but Kel remained stubbornly seated, earning herself strange looks from all her friends except Neal who was utterly entranced by Lady Camellia's presence.

Camellia looked around the group, her eyes lingering on Neal, before her eyes landed on Kel.

"Ah Cousin Keladry!"

She moved over to greet Kel who stiffly stood but complied with the family tradition of kissing both cheeks of the other person in greeting.

"Were you looking for me?"

"Yes I was in fact, a delightful young page was out delivering the letters and seemed to include your letters with mine. Here you are."

"Thank-you."

Said Kel trying not to look to eager. She was expecting a letter from Matt any day now telling her when he would be arriving at the castle. She instantly recognized his writing, without further ado she ripped open the letter and began reading. A small smile graced her lips as she began reading.

She was halfway through the letter when she realised that Camellia had moved so that she was in a position to see the letter clearly. She folded the letter in half with a snap but not before Camellia could see the first line. "

To my dearest darling Keladry, what a beautiful way to start a letter and was that Yamani writing that followed it? I can say that I would believe you if you told me that the letter wasn't from someone close to you."

She raised her eyebrows.

Kel realizing the game she was playing quickly thought of a way to win.

"Oh yes. He is very close to me this one."

Her eyebrows raised higher.

"He?"

Smiling, Kel said, "Yes, He."

"I see. And does this 'friend' of yours have a name?"

"Yes." Kel replied, but after that remained silent.

"Would you care to share this piece of information?"

"No."

Camellia looked shocked. She couldn't ever remember anyone saying an outright no to her.

Kel looked up from the letter she was silently reading again.

"I believe that is all you wanted?"

Unable to say anything more Camellia walked out of the library, abet less gracefully than what she had entered. Kel sat down. She saw that the rest of her friends were still standing. She motioned for them to sit down, knocking some of Roald's books off the table in the process.

The bang seemed to bring her friends back to life, except for Neal who was looking at the door that Camellia had just exited. Kel sighed, reached up and tugged down hard on Neal's sleeve bring him back down to his chair. He looked up at Kel dazedly. Kel just shook her head and returned to her work. Encouraging her friends to do so as well but it was at least ten minutes before things turned back to normal.

Later that evening after all the Pages had returned to their individual studying. Roald leaned over to whisper something in Kel's ear. It seemed that he could not wait to get Kel alone to find out whether or not she passed her exam. The rest of their friends did not know this. They all exchanged puzzled looks.

While Roald was whispering in Kel's ear Kel suddenly let a loud

"Oh" and jumped up.

"Roald quickly, pack up your books!"

"What's the matter Kel? What's wrong?" said Roald as he hurried to pick up all his fallen books from the ground.

Kel, now slightly hysterical, said in the calmest voice she could, "We're late."

Roald's eyes widened. "Why didn't you say so?" he demanded.

He grabbed Kel's hand and dragged her out of the library running as fast as he could, with not even a backwards glance at their friends.