Welcome to chapter 50 of LTM! Enjoy!

Kamaria was going from Strategy to Mathematics with some reluctance when someone called her name down the hall. "Mm?" she replied, turning, and seeing…

"Oh, hello, Herald Nessa," she said, a bit nonplussed as to why she was being addressed by the usually incredibly focused woman. "It's good to see you."

"Come with me," said Dean Nessa without preamble, shutting her eyes briefly. Kamaria Sensed the edge of Mindsent message, but heard none of the contents. "I'm afraid we have a bit of a problem on our hands," she continued, opening her eyes and beginning to stride along, taking Kamaria's arm in a firm grip.

"Oh?" was all Kamaria could think of to say. Nessa stopped in the stairwell, glanced around for anyone listening, then dropped her voice to a whisper. "You see, a new Trainee came in today-her name's Lani, Chosen by Meira, if you know who that is, but…" she trailed off.

"Yes?" prompted Kamaria.

Nessa sighed. "She hates men. Not-" she added, holding up a hand as Kamaria opened her mouth-"just by resenting them. She actively loathes men. She got here today, but it took her a month or so to get here, and we got this from Meira in time to avoid having a man meet her." Distractedly, Nessa ruffled a hand through her hair. "I'd like you to be her mentor and try to find out why. The bond isn't close enough between Lani and Meira to talk at all well; Meira's doing what she can, but Lani doesn't have much Mindspeech."

"Why me?" Kamaria asked after a few long moments.

Nessa ran her hands through her hair again. "Well, to put it bluntly, because you're short."

This was the last thing Kamaria had expected to hear. "What?"

"Because you're short," repeated Nessa, "I hate to be so superficial, but Lani's tiny, and you're the only one her age short enough for her to feel non-overpowered. Also, you're lifebonded; yours and Alain's total devotion to one another is completely obvious. I'm hoping this will soften the edges for Lani; if she can get used to Alain, it might bring her out of whatever this is."

"Are you going to try a Mindhealer?" Kamaria wanted to know, shifting her books from one arm to the other.

Nessa shook her head. "Not as of yet; we don't know her, she doesn't know us, and from what Meira's told us Lani won't even admit there's a problem."

"But it is a problem," said Kamaria, thinking this over, "She won't be able to get Weapons-trained if she's entirely focused on hating Rhi-"

"And she won't be able to get Farsight training either, because you're still a student and the other female Heralds with Farsight are in the Field," added Nessa. When Kamaria blinked, she said, "Lani has Farsight; not as strongly as you do, but it's woken. We're not entirely sure why."

Kamaria rubbed her own head with her free hand, the tint of blue hair catching her eye momentarily until she shoved it behind her ear. "So you want me to become her friend, find out why she hates men, and try and stop her hating men," she said, trying to summarize what the Dean wanted her to do.

"Also, if you can, find out why her Gift awoke early, although that isn't as immediate as the rest."

"Right," said Kamaria, shifting her books again, "I'll get Alain to keep the boys away. What are we going to do for Weapons training?"

"We can't start her immediately," said Nessa, with a sigh, "Equitation will work because Meira will be in close contact with her and will keep Lani's attention off the Equitation Master, but we're just going to have to hold off Weapons for a while. Thank you so much for doing this."

"So, where is Lani?" Kamaria asked, lightly.

Nessa led her down the stairs, across the hall, and into her office, where a slight girl was perched nervously on the chair. The first thing Kamaria noticed was her incredibly vibrant scarlet hair; almost a shade to match Kenan's, in truth. The girl stood hastily and self-consciously adjusted the Grays she was wearing. Kamaria noticed with an internal start that Lani was even shorter than she was.

"Lani, this is Kamaria," said Nessa, moving behind her desk, "Kamaria, that's Lani. Lani, Kamaria will be your mentor; she'll give you the tour and answer any questions you have about the Collegia. She's sixteen, like you."

Kamaria extended a hand and shook Lani's firmly. "Bet you're feeling turned upside-down, aren't you?" she said, with a smile, gaining a slight sense of the smaller girl's nervousness.

"Just a bit," Lani said, her eyes flickering to Kamaria's blue hair. "If you don't mind me asking, why is your hair blue?"

Northern girl here, probably a farmer, Kamaria absently noted, feeling calluses on Lani's hands and hearing the accent in her voice. "I had a slight mishap with my friend Tara's ink-bottle," she said, dropping Lani's hand and turning towards the door, "Herald, I'll just give the tour now," she added over her shoulder.

Lani trailed after Kamaria into the hall. "Now, I doubt they've assigned you a room yet, so I'll just give you the basic layout of the buildings," said Kamaria, allowing Lani to set the pace.

Since classes were in session, none of the other Trainees were in the hallways, but Kamaria opened the shields on her Thought-Sensing enough to be able to tell if there was anyone who might bother them out of sight. Not so incidentally, this also gave her more sensitivity to what Lani was feeling.

"So the classrooms are on this floor, but there are also some in the Bardic and Healer's Collegia," Kamaria said, as she wrapped up the first-floor tour and led Lani up the stairs, "Now, the girl's side is over here, the boy's side is on the left, and the common room is between. And this-" she added as they passed the dormitories and eating room to the top floor-"Is the Heraldic Collegium's library. Healer's has their own, and Bardic of course has quite a large one with every song ever written by a Bard in there." Kamaria grinned at Lani, but the redhead was already staring enchanted at the books.

Kamaria set down her books on a table near the door and began leading Lani around the library, which was, unsurprisingly for this time of day, deserted. "Right, so here's the history section," she said, pointing at a section of shelves, "It's not that hard to follow the system; just put everything back where you found it. If you have to borrow something check with the Chronicler or the librarian; technically the Herald-Chronicler is in charge of the library, but generally whoever's in office is too busy to worry about it."

Just then Kamaria Sensed Jasen coming fast towards the library, and her heart dropped into her boots. Ohshitohshitohshitohshit- she thought, and tried to Mindspeak Jasen.

Unfortunately for her, the Heir was shielded too well for Kamaria to catch his attention, so she promptly whisked Lani away from the history and to the language shelves, which-she thought-were a safe distance from the doors.

Then Jasen rounded the corner and Kamaria winced before she could stop herself. "Oh, hello, Jasen," she said, looking hard at him and prodding at his shields with her mind. No luck. "What are you looking for?"

In the corner of her eye Kamaria noticed the formerly enchanted look on Lani's face turn to shock and then utter revulsion as she eyed Jasen poisonously. Kamaria moved carefully to stand half in front of the new Trainee.

"Hardornen storybook," said Jasen cheerfully, pausing in front of them, "I'm teaching a lesson, but I forgot my copy, so I thought I'd just run up and get it-hello, who's this?"

Kamaria mentally swore several pungent oaths with the vocabulary that had expanded considerably since she had become a Trainee, however pure the Heralds supposedly were. "This is Trainee Lani," she said, not moving and trying again to penetrate Jasen's shields-still no luck, his shields were strong-"Lani, this is Heir Jasen."

She did not move from in front of Lani, however, and Jasen, who had automatically extended his hand, instead turned it into a small bow. "Well, welcome to Herald's Collegium, Trainee," he said formally, "Excuse me; the book is behind-what?"

He had noticed the glare Kamaria had been giving him at last. :It's about time, she said acidly as he opened his shields to her hastily, :I was trying to get your attention. Lani hates men. We don't know why. But it's not a good idea for you to be anywhere around her. Or any man, for that matter.:

Aloud, she said, pulling one of the Hardornen books off the shelves that looked like a storybook, "Is this the one?"

:This had better be the one, she continued in Jasen's mind, handing him the book, :I have no idea what's going to happen with Lani now.:

:Would it do any good to say I'm sorry? Jasen wanted to know, taking the book and looking at it dubiously. "No, the one next to it," he said.

Kamaria yanked the book off the shelf and handed it to him. Jasen coughed. "The other next to it."

With even more force Kamaria yanked the book off the shelf and pushed it into the Heir's hands. :I'll talk to you later. Now get away; I'm Sensing Lani a bit and what I sense is not good.:

Jasen beat a hasty retreat, and Kamaria turned to Lani. Pretending not to notice the utter disgust on the redhead's face, she said, cheerily, "That was Jasen; don't worry, I was tongue-tied the first time I met him too!"

Belatedly Lani seemed to realize her expression and hastily smoothed her face, seizing on the excuse. "He is very...tall," she said, finally.

Kamaria grinned conspiratorially. "Us short people have our work cut out for us, no?"

The distraction seemed to calm some of the turmoil of seething emotions Kamaria could just barely sense, and Lani managed a smile. "Yes, we do."

Kamaria decided to provide a better distraction than books. "Look, want me to show you where the Companions stay?" she asked, leading Lani back to the door.

Lani's face lit up. "Of course! I've been wondering where Meira was!"

Kamaria scooped up her books, and they wandered out to Companion's Field.

She set her books on a bench as Lani hopped onto the fence and craned her neck, looking around, her eyes wide. "I've never seen so many Companions!" she gasped, looking from one to another, "How do you tell them apart?"

Kamaria laughed and climbed to the top of the fence as well. "You get the hang of it after a while. Your own Companion is always easy to find-here, I'll call Sitara and get her to bring Meira."

Lani nodded, still looking around. "I'm not strong enough yet," she admitted. Kamaria shrugged.

:Sitara, love?

:Yes? came the immediate answer.

:Can you come to the fence? I'm mentoring Lani; you can hear about her from Meira. Oh-can you bring Meira, too?

There was a brief feeling of assent, and several minutes later Sitara came plunging out of the trees, gliding over the grass of Companion's Field with the grace of a bird. She was closely followed by a tall, rangy mare, but Kamaria's Companion soon stretched her lead and arrived at the fence not even breathing hard. "Hello, my dear," said Kamaria in greeting, swinging off the fence to scratch Sitara's crest, "Meet Lani. Lani, this is Sitara."

Just then Meira arrived, prancing in place for a moment before the fence, and Lani jumped off and completely forgot Kamaria.

They returned for dinner early, so they could wash up, and in the washroom, Kamaria took the opportunity to Mindspeak Alain.

:Alain?

:Yes?

As soon as he answered, Kamaria gave him a 'bundle' of information regarding Lani. Alain took a moment to process it, then said, :Right, I'll keep the boys at a different table.:

:Thanks, love, said Kamaria, and cut off the contact as Lani asked her a question about chores.

"I'm no good at cooking," she warned, "But I can mend pretty well."

"Did you tell the Dean?" asked Kamaria, tossing her a towel.

"I told the woman who gave me the clothes," replied Lani, "Will that work?"

Kamaria mentally reckoned up how long it was likely to take for Lani to get settled and factored in her aversion to men. Since she was no good at mathematics, this took a while.

"Well, the first few days you'll probably just get settled in," she said finally, "But if you're competent with a needle, you'll probably get put in with the menders a lot. I'm not particularly skilled at anything, so they tend to just rotate me around. I'll swap someone for mending if you'd like me to stay with you, though."

Lani's shoulders suddenly relaxed. "Really?" she said, hopefully, "Having someone I know would help a lot."

"I'll get it arranged," promised Kamaria as they left the washroom and went into the common room, "I can probably swap with Jakob, once we figure out what your schedule is."

Kamaria claimed a table close to the door to the girl's side, and the other Trainees began filtering in. Alain, true to his word, herded the boys away from Lani and Kamaria with a slight shrug in her direction. The girls, meanwhile, immediately clustered around the newcomer.

Somehow, and Kamaria suspected the intervention of Alain, the tallest girls ended up sitting across from Lani and Kamaria, blocking the boys very effectively from view. The tiny redhead finally began to relax as the other Trainees introduced themselves and made their enthusiastic curiosity clear.

After dinner, Kamaria found that Lani had been placed in the room next to hers, no doubt by Nessa's request. After a bath, Kamaria got the day's work from Tara, who shared most of her classes, and went to bed.

She was shaken awake just after midnight to the sound of screams, and suddenly realized it was her who was screaming and Alain who was shaking her. "Kamaria! Kamaria, you were dreaming-Kamaria, what is it?" he said as Kamaria gasped for breath and scrabbled at the bedsheets.

Kamaria remembered and gasped again, flinging herself at Alain and beginning to sob into his shoulder.

"He was-he was screaming, he wanted to die-" she babbled between heaving sobs, "Gods, he wanted to die and they just laughed at him-they-they-"

"Shh," murmured Alain, rubbing Kamaria's back gently, "You, out," he added, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at the girls clustered around the door.

Slowly, Tara, Vera, Lani, and Rain turned away, shooing the other Trainees back. One of them closed the door.

"It's all right, Kamaria," said Alain, moving onto the bed and leaning against the wall for a more comfortable position, "It's all right, I'm here, it's all right."

Kamaria continued to sob into his shoulder, thoroughly shaken by the vivid dream she'd been having. Alain began humming in her ear, an unfamiliar song that she guessed was a lullaby.

At last Kamaria's sobs slowed and halted, and she pulled back a little, sniffling, and reached for a handkerchief.

"Here," said Alain, and frowned hard. The handkerchief on Kamaria's desk appeared with a pop in his hand as he Fetched it. "Hey, it's miniscule, but it should be good for something, hmm?" he said, wiping Kamaria's face and handing it to her. "Want to talk about it?"

Kamaria didn't, not really, but she knew obscurely that she would probably feel better if she shared it. "I was…I was in a prison," she whispered, her voice still thick and feeling somewhat raw, "There was a man there, chained to…" her voice faltered, "Chained to the wall, and there were people in hoods-"

She cut herself off, but the look on Alain's face said clearly as words that he knew what she was talking about. "He was screaming," Kamaria continued, drawing a shuddering breath, "He was screaming for them to let him die, but they didn't say a word, just-"

She shuddered physically this time, and Alain wrapped his arms around her. "It was just a dream," he murmured, rocking her slightly, "You're awake now; I'm here."

"But I-I couldn't do anything!" Kamaria blurted out suddenly, "I was just-I couldn't move, I was just standing there-"

Alain shushed her and began to hum again as Kamaria realized she was crying once more.

It took nearly a candlemark for Kamaria to fall asleep again, even with Alain's arms around her. Every time she drifted towards sleep, an image from the dream would flash in front of her eyes and she would jerk again to wakefulness.

When she did finally fall asleep, Kamaria found no rest in it.

Kamaria's first class the next morning was Farsight lessons, meeting as usual in Companion's Field, so she told Lani she could stay with Meira that morning. "I'm in trance the whole time; it's not very fun from the outside," she told Lani, yawning and feeling rather relieved that her hair was short enough just to finger-comb now.

"You have…Farsight?" said Lani, as they descended the stairs, Kamaria still nibbling a roll from breakfast. "What is it?"

"Basically, I can see things at a distance," Kamaria said, "Right now Kenan-that's my teacher-is having me find specific targets, which can get complicated. A few days ago he had me find his dagger, except it turned out his friend had borrowed it and he'd forgotten. It took me almost a candlemark to find it."

"Oh," said Lani. After a moment, she said, "What were you dreaming about last night? And who was…that boy?"

Kamaria shuddered. "I had…a rather horrible nightmare. Alain's my lifebonded. I don't want to talk about it. The nightmare, that is, not the lifebond."

Lani stopped and blinked at Kamaria. "You're lifebonded? Like Sunsinger and Shadowdancer?"

"Yep," said Kamaria, swallowing a bite of her roll.

Lani remained absolutely silent until they reached Companion's Field, where Meira was waiting for her. Kamaria waved and headed for the usual place by the Terilee where Kenan taught her, since the Herald preferred being outside.

"You look awful," said Kenan in greeting.

"Good morning to you too," said Kamaria, plopping down on the blanket Kenan had thoughtfully brought to shield them from the morning dew.

"No, really, you look horrible," said Kenan, "Are you sick again?"

"Nope. Bad dream," said Kamaria, shredding the last few bites of her roll and tossing them into the river. "Really bad dream."

"What was it about?" asked Kenan. Kamaria sighed.

"Look, I'll just link you in," she said, and opened her mind.

After a moment's hesitation, Kenan linked with her and Kamaria sent him through her memory of the dream.

Her teacher fell out of the link, and Kamaria winced as the snapped contact stung. "Ow!" she yelped, grabbing her head, "That-what?"

Kenan was giving her a very strange look with his blue-violet eyes. "Kamaria, I don't think that was a dream."

"Then what would it be?" asked Kamaria, rubbing her temples, "That really stung, you know."

"Kamaria, I'm pretty sure that was a Farsight vision," said Kenan, with the utmost seriousness.

Kamaria stared at her teacher.

Well, I replied to the reviews that needed replying to, and I hope you enjoy my latest plot twist! All you people who've dug your way through the absolute crap that is the non-rewritten stuff, thank you very much for the constructive criticism! I much prefer a long piece of editing advice than one or two lines of mindless praise that are mostly punctuation!

I hope you liked this chapter. Until next time! And I shall try to rewrite some of the earlier chapters, too!

-addendum- Someone asked why I don't write my own original fiction, and I thought this was worth addressing. I do write my own original fiction. I actually write quite a lot of it. It's just that this is fun for me to do because there's an established canon I don't have to muck with timelines for and also, it helps me improve my writing a lot! Hell, look at my older works and compare this chapter to it!

Anyway, toodles!