Disclaimer: I still do not own Tortall or its inhabitants. The plot is mine though. So jolly good for me.

A/N: I will be adding dates after every break, because I will be jumping from time to time. In my author's notes, you will find out when this occurred by order of plot. This chapter follows immediately after the break in the last. Still in First Test.

Chapter 2: Unwanted Guests

Early Spring, the 14th year of the reign of Jonathan IV, and Thayet, his Queen, 453 H.E.

Something large had landed on the table by Numair, and the legs had given out. The people around the table acted differently. Some pushed forwards to see what happened, and some flew backwards away from potential danger. Daine was about to follow others towards the back of the room before she remembered Numair was right in the thick of it. She elbowed her way to the front of the crowd and saw a dog pile of people.

The pile diminished as most of the people stood up and started moving around. The crowd backed up, and Numair cast the spell that would freeze the guests in place, like he had done with the pages just two months before. Daine was about to speak in their defense, and explain that they probably meant no harm when she noticed that all of the men had a sword at least. She wouldn't risk anyone's life. Once the audience began to figure out that the guests couldn't move, things began to calm down. The King sent many of the people to another room, leaving only mages and warriors in the room. A smaller table was brought in to replace the broken one, and the broken one was dragged out to be repaired.

Daine studied the visitors while the change was taking place. There were four men, three women, and five children, all very young. They made no noise, and Daine knew it was because the spell was heavy and made it very hard to do so. Three men and the women were dressed in finery. By the way they stood in groups it was apparent that they were couples. By the rings on their fingers it was apparent that they were married.

One couple consisted of a muscled man with dishwater blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair was cut above the shoulders, but was long enough for him to pull back into a horsetail at the nape of his neck. He was of average height, leaning towards the shorter side. His brow was creased and his lips pursed. He looked rather upset though his body was relaxed. Daine knew he would likely be ready to fight if the purpose of this spell wasn't to make movement very difficult. The woman near him was petite. She was so pale she almost seemed sickly, and had auburn hair that cascaded down most of her back and blue-green eyes. There was nothing striking about her but she was far from unattractive. She stood, halfway between the man and an infant, no more than a couple months old, lying on the floor. She seemed to be frightened, throwing looks at the crowd before looking back at the infant, only her eyes moving. Daine could tell she was worried about the silent child. There was another child, a little girl, sitting on the floor, crying silently, and leaning against the man's leg. She seemed to be about four years old and scared out of her wits.

The male part of the second couple looked vaguely familiar. He seemed to be a bit confused, but unthreatened overall. In fact, he seemed rather comfortable with the situation. He had dark brown hair that was obviously in need of a trim, as it nearly fell into green eyes. It was also apparent that this man commanded the gift. His partner was short, and a bit plump. She had hair as black as ink that was up in an intricate bun, hiding its true length, but Daine could tell it was very long. Two shorter locks curled under her chin. Her eyes were so dark that they appeared black. The woman looked foreign, but Daine wasn't sure where she came from. Daine could not read the girl. It was obvious that she was hiding her emotions, but instead of hiding one emotion with another, she showed no emotion at all. There were two children that obviously belonged to the woman and her husband, one a boy and the other a girl. They seemed to be the same age, so Daine assumed that they were twins. They were younger than the oldest child of the first couple, but not by too much. The twins were trying to imitate their mother's emotionless state, but if Daine looked carefully, she could see tears building up behind their eyes.

The last couple consisted of a thin man. He was no twig, but though he had muscle, Daine knew immediately he was no warrior. He did, however, carry a sword like the other men. He seemed to be the most upset. By no means was he panicking, but he was worried, and it was noticeable. He had light brown hair that was cut above his ears and brown eyes. His skin was pale, but not ghostly white as the first girl's skin. He topped his partner by about an inch. He was around average height but she was tall for a girl. She had light brown hair, lighter even, than her husband's, but not by much. The hair hung loose and just brushed her shoulders. Her eyes were large and brown, and she was tanned and freckled. This woman seemed to be masking her emotions as well. Sitting on one of the man's feet was a young boy, not yet two years old. He looked like he had been crying earlier, but had recently stopped.

The fourth man, the only unmarried man, was dressed in everyday clothes, but it was apparent he was noble, or at least rather wealthy. He had a mean look about him. His hair was long and pulled back and his eyes were a dark blue color. Unlike the first man, who seemed to be on guard, but not hostile, this man would have been ready to attack if the energy that he would have had to expend was not such a tremendous amount.

Finally when, the small council room was set up, the people were to be released from their bondage. Seven chairs were brought in, as well as some tumbling mats. The mages lined the chairs up in a semi circle where Numair had been standing. Each chair faced the King and Queen. The chairs were separated into two groups, a group of three and a group of four. The group of four was placed closest to the center of the table, while the group of three was off to the side just a bit. They were all in sight, and focused around the table, but the group of four chairs was easily more visible than the group of three. It was obvious that the four who sat in those chairs would be held under more suspicion than the three in the other chairs. The tumbling mat was placed in front of the group of three chairs.

Two mages entered the spell's field, unaffected, and led the three women to the chairs. As the women sat, some of the men sighed in relief. It was obvious that they felt beyond aggravated about having no say in what happened to their wives. Daine was upset that the women were so easily shoved off to the side when she knew that women could be just as dangerous as men. She then realized that none of the women seemed to be armed, and they, in fact, appeared to be no more than regular court ladies. The men were then seated in the four seats. At this point the adults were partially released from their bonds. They would be capable of talking and moving their upper bodies to a certain degree, but the lower half remained immobilized. The mages then took the children, with the only exception being the infant, and placed them on the mats before releasing them entirely from the spell. The infant was placed, squalling into its mother's arms. The mother looked very relieved. One of the twins, the girl, immediately began to rush to her father, but the moment she stepped off the mat, she was immobilized once more. The mage picked her up and placed her back on the mat.

"Now," King Jonathan began, "we apologize for the bondage, but until we are sure that you present no risk to the people here, you will remain bound. We do, however, promise that so long as you prove to be no threat, you will remain unharmed. Furthermore, you're children will not be harmed at all. It that understood?" The captive adults all bowed their heads in agreement, and some answered with a polite "Yes, Your Majesty". Jon smiled and continued. "We all know how you got here, from our point of view. Explain yours."

Early Spring, the 14th year of the reign of Jonathan IV, and Thayet, his Queen, 453 H.E.

Kel could not believe what was happening. One moment she had been dancing with Aiden and worrying about Mikale, the next she had been slammed into the floor and then held captive by a spell. She looked around while King Jonathan ordered some people out, and had a different table brought in. To her left were Neal, Yuki and the twins. To the right stood Garvey of Runnerspring, a woman that Kel assumed was his wife, and their two children. Further down past Garvey was a man she had not seen in a while. He was not easily recognizable at first, but with time, Kel knew that it was Vinson of Genlith.

Kel then turned her attention to those unaffected by the spell that made it so impossible to move. She recognized most of the people, if only in passing, and wondered how they had appeared in the room. Some had not even been present at court while others had been in the ballroom just moments before. It had to be some sort of magic, and since no one was doing magic in the ballroom, it had to have been the people gathered around them. They, however, did not seem to expect company, leading Kel to believe that something had gone grievously wrong.

Neal looked nothing short of amused, and that calmed Kel down somewhat. If he wasn't worried about the magic, she would not be either. Yuki looked worried, but not overly so, she was wearing the Yamani mask, but was not as closed off as she would have been if she had been overly worried. Aiden was not able to hide his fear, and she knew why he was scared. He was good when it came to weapons, courtesy of having Lord Wyldon of Cavall as a father, but he was a scholar and had never actually seen real battle. Garvey was on the defense, his wife stuck in the open, and Vinson was ready to attack. All the children were upset, except for Mikale. They cried silently as making any noise was difficult. Mikale sat happily on Aiden's foot, his eyes red from the crying he had done earlier. Kel had left him with a nursemaid so that she could make an appearance at the ball, thrown in celebration of the naming of Roald's third child and first daughter. He had put up a fight, not wanting his Mama and Papa to leave him with the nursemaid at all. He was content that he was with her again.

The people outside the spell were conversing quietly. Kel figured they were trying to figure out what had gone wrong and what to do. Kel hoped they would figure it out soon. She was confused. She had just seen some of these people, and now they stared as if they didn't recognize her, or any of the others. And furthermore, they seemed to be different. Younger. And that made Kel wonder all the more what had happened.

Finally some chairs were brought in as well as a tumble mat that was usually used for fighting in the palace. She watched as the chairs were set up and all the women, including herself, were helped into the chairs. Then the men were brought to their chairs, and the children were left on the mat. She was upset when only the children were freed from bondage, as she knew what kind of trouble they could get into if no one stopped them. She was, to say the least, relieve when Hanamiyo, was frozen as soon as she left the mat. She nearly laughed at the shocked look on the little girl's face. One of the men lifted her and sat her down next to her brother, Asaharu.

It was that the King began to speak. As she listened she only grew more confused, then ashamed. She had no once thought that those people might harm the children. Had they wanted to the children could have been all but dead, and she was worrying about them running about the room! It wasn't until Neal began to speak that Kel remembered that the king had asked a question.

"We were at the ball, my wife and I were dancing, the twins were staying with a maid in the rooms. One moment we're in the ballroom, the next thing we know there is red light, magic of some sort, and now we're here. That's all there is to it Sire." Most of the others nodded in agreement. Vinson was the only one who did not.

"And you?" the King asked when he saw that Vinson had not nodded.

"I was home, doing paperwork. Otherwise the story is the same." Vinson looked pained to be agreeing with the others.

"Nothing spectacular has happened lately? Something outrageously abnormal?" The King asked. Everyone shook their heads. "What was the ball for?"

No one answered at first. Shouldn't the king remember if something abnormal happened, or the birth of his eldest son's third child? Finally when no one answered, Kel spoke up cautiously. "Your Majesty, it was a ball to celebrate the naming of your granddaughter."

The King blinked once, twice, three times. "My children are not old enough to have children. You must be mistaken."

Garvey spoke up. Though he felt nothing for most of the captives, he was interested in saving his own skin. "Prince Roald is nearly thirty, Sire." The room looked at him as though he was crazy.

"Thirty?" The king repeated.

"Yes, Sir," The captured group assured him. Neal decided to add on. "Technically he is only twenty-eight."

The king was silent, obviously deep in thought. "Fifteen." He said suddenly. The room turned to look at him. "Roald will not be twenty-eight for fifteen more years."

At this Sir Gareth of Naxen chose to speak up. "We were attempting to look fifteen years into the past. It may be possible that we pulled people from the future fifteen years back."

Kel saw Neal's eyes widen in understanding. And figured if he believed the group in front of them, she could as well. After all, they apparently meant no harm, or they'd have been hurt already. Instead, they had only been temporarily paralyzed by magic. A method of defense in this case. The people in the room were not prepared for surprises like this, and most knew that not all surprises were good things.

The rest of the unbound group took the idea into consideration. "Why would it do that?" Alanna asked, turning to Numair. "What went wrong?"

Numair looked thoughtful. "Nothing in the activation, that much I'm sure of. But something had to have gone wrong somewhere."

"Daine?" Alanna asked. "You were there most of the time, any idea why it didn't work?"

Kel saw Daine shake her head quickly. "I can't really say. I don't know how it was supposed to work. Or what kind of work went into it."

Everyone at the table nodded, accepting the answer. There was silence once more as everyone tried to think of what could have caused such a reaction.

A man Kel recognized as Hirailt of Aili spoke up. "It is sensitive magic. There were not major disturbances during the activation, what about during the creation?"

Numair shook his head and opened his mouth to reply negatively when Daine suddenly shouted "Yes!"

Everyone turned to look at Daine and Kel noticed a slight blush spread over her face, and watched as Daine ducked her head. "Well?" Lord Wyldon asked once it became apparent that she wasn't going to answer.

Daine hesitated even more before answering uncertainly. "A handful of pages got into a fight."

Kel watched as Numair adopted a thoughtful look. She knew now that if he didn't make an effort to remember something as it occurred, he probably wouldn't remember it immediately. "Oh." Numair said quietly, it was obvious he recalled the fight and agreed that it was likely the reason for the current predicament. Kel wondered briefly how a handful of pages could mess something up so badly. "I remember. Queenscove and the girl. Three others. They aren't in the classes for the gifted, and don't stand out as much as her, so I'm not sure of their names. I stopped them and sent them off."

"When was this?" The king asked.

"The night that the project was finished. Two months ago." Numair answered. "When it didn't show any permanent adverse affects, I didn't give it a second thought."

"Do you remember the fight?" The King asked Lord Wyldon.

"The probationer and her group have not been fighting as much lately, but about two months ago, if I remember correctly, they were at each other almost constantly." Lord Wyldon said carefully.

"Is it possible that the pages could have caused this reaction with the magic?" The Queen asked.

No one answered immediately, but Kel could tell that most of the mages were contemplating the possibilities. It was Alanna who spoke next. There isn't much we can speculate about if we don't know how the crystal was made."

"It is possible." Numair said. "But the most likely outcome would be that the pages were linked to the crystal."

"Linked how?" This was asked by someone Kel didn't know.

"I am no positive. It will require research." Numair said.

"Fine. I want every available mage on the case though." The King said. Meanwhile the guests will be put up and guarded. I want volunteers to accompany them to their rooms. At least one mage, there is one gifted person among them."

Kel, though she was not well versed in the rules of the gift, knew exactly why some of the people were brought back. She was bright enough to realize that each member of that fight, it stood out vividly in her mind now, being the only one broken up by Numair, was here with a spouse and children if there were any. The only one missing was Joren and he was dead. If she had known her fighting would have gotten her into this kind of mess she might not have fought. No, she knew that was a lie, she'd just have been careful to avoid any highly magical areas.

Kel and Aiden were given a set of rooms. They were not too fancy, like those for high ranked guests, but they were a far cry from page's and squire's rooms. They were similar to her rooms as a knight, but a bit more elegant. They were obviously guest quarters meant for lower ranking nobles. They were also rather isolated. Kel knew that some parts of the palace were used only when there a great many people residing at court. This usually occurred when holidays fell around certain events like royal marriage, births, and coronations. The reason, Kel suspected, that these were given to the visitors was because it was isolated and easily guarded. They were too high up to go out a window, and there was only one other exit off the hallway. A set of giant double doors where guards were posted. The time travelers were given rooms at the very end of the hall, so that the guards would be well aware of any approach.

Before they were left alone, Sir Gareth made an announcement that if they needed something they should send one, and only one, person to the guards with a note. They would be brought three meals a day and provided clothing and other necessities. They were allowed to visit each other but not allowed to leave the hallway. As Sir Gareth left Kel and Aiden headed over to Neal's rooms to figure out what exactly was going on, and what they were going to do.