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

Chapter 8

Kel and Roald skidded to a stop in front of her room, still holding Roald's hand, she pulled out her key and opened her door. They walked inside, carefully leaving the door open a smidge, and sat down, puffing heavily.

After a few minutes Roald commented, "There's a note on your bed Kel."

Kel got up and retrieved the note. As she picked it up, a note that was underneath it fell to the floor she bent down and picked it up reading that one first.

"Daughter Sandra can't come tonight, she will meet us at the same time tomorrow."

Roald nodded, "What's' in the other note?"

Kel shrugged and began reading. By the time she had finished she was shaking with anger. As Kel struggled to get her mask back into place and not to let the absolute anger that she was feeling show on her face, but it was too late. She grabbed her glaive and stalked outside. Roald followed Kel all the way to the practice courts trying to get her to tell him what was in the letter, which she still had clutched in her hand.

They were half-way there when Roald said, "uh...Kel? Shouldn't you have turned back there to go to the practice courts?"

"Yes," she shortly replied.

Roald trailed after her uneasily. He realised now that they were heading back towards the library that their friends were in. Kel paused just outside the door and turned to Roald.

"Hold this. I might loose my control."

And with that she turned and walked through the door.

"Mithros Kel! This thing is heavy!" was Roald's only reaction.

Roald walked into the room to see all of Kel's friends staring at her. Her anger was pulsing around the room.

"Are you all listening?" she growled.

Her friends gave her meek nods.

"Good."

She walked over and sat where she had been sitting only a half turn of the clock earlier. She turned towards Neal.

"I just received this from my cousin Camellia."

She waved the letter in his face, "It confirms my suspicions that you," her lip curled in disgust, "and her, are courting. I thought that we were best friends. Wouldn't you tell me when you were courting my cousin?"

Before Neal could come up with a reply she continued, "I wouldn't think so, after all, you have never told me before."

Neal looked at her gob smacked.

"Yes Neal."

Came Kel's icy reply, "I'm not as ignorant as I seem. In fact," she looked around, making eye contact with all her friends we all looked down ashamed, "the only person who has told me about any of their relationships is Roald, and for that, I trusted him."

All heads turned towards Roald who looked sheepish and was still struggling to hold Kel's glaive off the ground.

She let her Yamani Mask slip as she whispered to Neal, "You couldn't even tell me when you were courting my own sister."

She looked away from Neal and tried to inconspicuously wipe the lone tear that was in her eye.

"Right now you know that I know all your secrets. Don't try to hide them from me again."

All her friends said a meek, "Yes Kel."

Then suddenly Roald spoke up, "Isn't there something else you want to tell them Kel?"

"Right," she mumbled under her breath.

"Some of you may have noticed that I have been disappearing a lot lately?"

Her friends exchanged confused looks and Kel's heart broke with each exchange, her friends truly didn't care if she was there or not.

"Well, I have been."

She closed her eyes so as not to see their reactions.

"About five months ago, my mother wrote a letter to both Lord Wyldon and Daughter Sandra. She wanted me to learn the female way of the Tortallan Court, and that's what I have been doing," she continued before they could say anything, "I have learned to dress, dance, talk and eat like a Tortallan Lady, because I couldn't do six years of training I had to take an exam to prove that I could be a Court Lady. I had the exam over the last two days and I've passed. So that means that I am going to be presented to court in the next month. I think Daughter Sandra wants to present me at Midwinter."

"But that's in two weeks!" exclaimed Roald.

She sighed, "I know."

Kel waited patiently for her friend's reactions. After hearing nothing for a couple of seconds she cracked open an eye. All her friends were looking at her, mouths open, with the exception of Roald of course. Suddenly a hint of a smile appeared on Cleon's face, it quickly turned into a full-out grin. He started chuckling. Kel face went blank.

Roald frowned. "What's so funny?"

Between chuckles Cleon said, "Do you really expect us to believe that the court lady that we saw you with the other day was Kel?"

Comprehension dawned on the rest of her friend's faces and they all started laughing. Kel looked like she was going to cry. Roald looked uneasily at Kel.

"For one she had long hair. Two she had great curves and no offence Kel but you're a bit up and down. Three, again, no offence Kel, but this girl was beautiful. How stupid do you think we ar-"

"Stop." All eyes focused on Roald. He looked furious.

"I will not let you talk about Kel like that. For your information that was Kel. You've never seen her like that because her hair is always up in a horsetail and Lord Wyldon had her uniforms spelled not to show any of her curves."

Kel stood up slowly. She walked over to Roald. She held out her hand and he handed over her glaive. She turned to face the rest of her friends, whose eyes raked her up and down.

"If that's what you think of me, then I'm going."

Cleon stood, "Come on Kel, it's not like you have ever given us a reason to believe you're a...well...girl!"

"Oh haven't I?"

"No you haven't!"

"Actually she has," said Roald quietly, "the first time we met Lady Camellia, Kel implied that she had been kissed, many times her friend Matt."

Kel merely shrugged and was about to walk out the door when her cousin appeared in the doorway. The sudden appearance of her cousin reminded her that it was her fault that all of this had started. It was her fault that she had lost her friends.

Kel said in the coldest voice she could muster, "You're in my way."

Camellia ignored her comment.

"Cousin Keladry! Good to see you again so soon, I trust you have gotten my letter?"

"Oh, you mean this one?" said Kel in a sweet voice holding up the letter.

Camellia smirked, "Yes that one."

Kel looked at her calmly before throwing the letter up and the air and using her glaive to cut it up into tiny pieces. Her glaive was merely a blur. The shocked room watched as the pieces fell to the ground. Kel pushed her way past Camellia and out the door, glaring at her as she went past. Camellia audibly gulped.

After Kel had gone Roald frowned at the pieces of the letter. He sat down at the table and began rearranging the pieces so that he could read it. Using his magic he made it whole again.

His frown deepened.

He turned to Camellia and said, "You may go now."

Camellia couldn't defy a royal order so she gave the boys a cheeky wave, making more than one of them sigh, they seemed to have forgotten what Kel had said about her and Neal courting, and Neal a seductive wink, before walking out the door, hands on hips. Silence followed her departure. Roald passed the letter around the table. Everyone was shocked at just how malicious Camellia had been to Kel, to them, she was a beautiful court lady, with perfect manners that never got flustered and always had something to say.

But looks can be deceiving thought Roald amusedly.

Kel stood in the middle of one of the quieter practice courts. She had her back to the door and her glaive was currently resting between her legs as she pulled her hair back into a neater horsetail. All that getting angry had nearly made her hair fall out of its horsetail. She pulled out her glaive and got into a fighting stance. She decided to start with the simplest of pattern dances.

She heard footsteps behind her and she knew that her friends had found her. But she didn't care. She only increased the speed and difficultly of the dance so that she would have to concentrate on it. She could nearly hear her friends mouths drop behind her. She lost her self in the pattern dance, never once loosing her timing. After a couple of minutes she had sunk so deep into the dance that she no longer needed to concentrate. She let her mind wander and in doing so she became aware of her surroundings again, as her dance turned her around so that she was facing her friends she feigned a look of intense concentration.

She inwardly smiled. Her friends were all keeping well back and it seemed that only Roald and surprisingly Faleron had regained control of their emotions. It was actually quite funny. She turned so her back was to them once again. She heard footsteps coming up behind her. She inwardly frowned. The footsteps were too light to be any of her friends, they were all really heavy footed and Kel was only different form them because her glaive required other of her. She sensed some one that was well muscled, she could tell by the way she could hear his shirt moving against his body as he moved. She assumed it was a He as she was the only female in walking distance that had proper muscles.

She was brought out of her musings when she heard the footsteps stop. From what she could tell from her training in the Yamani Islands, he was within distance of her glaive. He was either very trusting of her or had brilliant beyond brilliant reflexes and trusted himself to get out of the way in time if she decided to attack on him.

All of a sudden she heard the stranger say in a deep, velvety, masculine voice that she recognized, "Kel."

She froze. Her glaive fell from her hands. She turned around slowly, her mouth open and her eyes wide.

The stranger held out his arms and said, "This is all I get for a welcome? I thought I deserved a hug at least!"

She gave a soft, almost...girlish squeal and ran towards the stranger. Her friends watched dumbstruck as she jumped into his waiting arms. Her legs went around his waist and her arms went around his neck. He laughed as he caught her and spun around before stopping and giving her the biggest, tightest bear hug she had ever received. When they pulled back and looked at each other, Kel's friends, through their confusion, were surprised to see that Kel made no move what so ever to change the position she was in.

Roald, as always, being the first to recover, said in an almost murmur, still not taking his eyes off Kel, "Well you can't say that she has never given us no reason to think that she's a girl now can you Cleon?"

He received no answer.

Kel meanwhile had broken into a massive grin. The man who was holding her was quick to return it.

He buried his face in her neck and said in a muffled voice that the boys had to strain to hear, "I've missed you so much. I'm never going to leave you again."

Kel sighed, "Don't lie. You know as well as I do that we both have very different lives now."

The man sighed. "I know."

Kel unwound her legs from his waist and loosened her grip around his neck. He shifted his hands so that they were on her waist and gently placed her feet on the ground. Kel stood back and looked over her long-time best friend. His darkish blonde hair had grown so that it was long enough the just brush the tip of his eyebrows if he tilted his head a certain way and his blue eyes were twinkling with happiness. His body had certainly filled out since she had last seen him. A small smile graced her lips and she saw that he was giving her the once-over as well.

"So did you pass?"

The smile on Kel's face widened as she nodded. They hugged again.

"So are you going to tell me what your naming is?"

"No."

Kel pouted, "Why not?"

Kel's friends could see the man struggling with his resolve although they could not see Kel's face. They exchanged looks. Since when did Kel have any control over the male species? They turned their attention back towards the pair.

"Because there is going to be a ball in my honor tomorrow night and you are going to be my partner, so you will find out just before we get presented."

Kel's mouth dropped open.

"What did you say?" she said in a strangled voice.

Kel's friends exchanged looks of relief, this was the Kel they knew. Roald was sporting a knowing smile though. He knew what was coming next.

Kel hit the man over the head and said, "You just turn up here and expect me to go with you? I don't even have a suitable dress!"

The man smirked and said, "Yes."

Kel sighed deeply, "You know me too well Matt."

All of Kel's friends perked up. They looked at the stranger in a new light. So this was the Matt that Camellia had been talking about. A few looks were shot at Neal who looked like he had had his heart broken into two. Roald patted his back sympathetically, before nodding to the other and striding over to where Kel and Matt were standing.

Kel turned around as she heard them coming over. Her smile flickered and her Yamani Blank Face slipped back into place. Mat seeing this quickly stepped up behind her and coiled his arms around her waist, giving off a protective air. Roald and Neal were the only ones who did not falter in their steps, although it was for different reasons. One wasn't paying attention to Matt and one had nothing to fear.

When they reached them Roald said in a clear voice, "They have something to say to you."

Kel nodded and waited for someone to speak. Neal spoke up first.

"I'm sorry Kel, I will never keep things like that from you again. Please forgive me?"

He held his arms out in hope of a hug and Kel broke into a smile and wriggled out of Matt's arms and into Neal's. Matt looked over Neal and seemed to be in deep thought.

"Of course I forgive you Neal," Kel said, "How could I stay mad at you for long?"

Understanding passed over Matt's face.

The rest of Kel's friends muttered an apology to Kel who quickly accepted them; she hated fighting with her friends.

"Oh! I nearly forgot. Boys, this is Matt. I'm sure you've all heard of him."

She rolled her eyes, all her friends should remember the incident with Neal and Camellia at dinner that night. She quickly banished that thought. It brought back memories of the other times when Camellia had been at dinner. Painful memories.