Aaaah! I am so sorry for making you guys wait so long and deserve to be given fifty lashes with a wet noodle from each of you. –grovels-
Here, have story! -points- Hopefully this will make up for it.
As it turned out, most of Alain's clothing was too large for Kamaria. It wasn't so much that he was a lot taller than she was, more that he was stocky, and it was blindingly obvious that these clothes didn't belong to Kamaria, hardly the impression they wanted to convey. "I give up," said Kamaria with a sigh after a while, fighting her way out of one of his tunics while he looked the other way, "Who do we know who is closer to my size, who won't ridicule me for the rest of my life?"
Alain looked thoughtful. "Mandel?" he offered.
Kamaria stared at him in horror. "Alain, he's taller than I am, and he would tease me about it for, oh, into the afterlife."
Alain blinked at her. "Really?" he asked, taking his tunic back from her as Kamaria pulled her Grays back over her shirt. "He didn't seem all that vindictive to me when I met him."
Kamaria rolled her eyes. "Believe me, Alain, he still brings up things that happened when he was four and I was six. Like the time I dropped his favorite cup and broke it. I love him dearly, but really, this isn't anything I'd relish him finding out about."
Alain drummed his fingers absently on his dresser, then snapped them. "I've got it! Kenan!" he said, triumphantly, "You're almost his height; surely there's something he's got that's too small!"
And so it was that the pair of intrepid lifebonded Trainees went wandering around the Herald's quarters, which seemed to hold a serious lack of short redheaded males. After getting lost twice from Herald Rosaleen's confusing directions, Alain and Kamaria ended up in front of what they thought was Kenan's door, and knocked.
Kiril opened it and stared at them. "Did Kenan send you?" he said, finally, face rather blank.
"Um. No. He's not here then?" said Kamaria hopelessly, "Aren't these his rooms?"
"As a matter of fact yes, but why are you two looking for him? I've not seen him all day, and it's hinds and hounds night tonight."
Alain and Kamaria sighed in unison. "He went off to research Farsight after my nightmare last night," said Kamaria mournfully, "Said he wanted to consult Jasen."
"And it's bad that you haven't seen him either, because we need to borrow his clothes," added Alain.
The look on Kiril's face was rather peculiar as he stared down at the pair of them. "I hesitate to ask this, but…why the hell do you want my friend's clothes?"
"We've been assigned to go down to the Rose Garden to find out if a Bardic Trainee is lifebonded or not, and Kamaria needs to dress as a boy because it's a tavern for shaych men," said Alain, helpfully.
Kiril stared. "You know what, come in," he said, after a long moment of silence, "I believe this requires some explanation. What?"
He stood aside and let the Trainees into Kenan's rooms. Kamaria looked around curiously.
Kenan's rooms were rather spare and lacking in decoration. The design of most of the furniture was distinctly foreign. There were a pair of incredibly battered armchairs near the fireplace, but the center of the first room was occupied by a very low table, surrounded by cushions. Kiril dropped onto a cushion and gestured for them to sit down. "Explain from the beginning," he said imperiously, "A Bardic Trainee is lifebonded-you know what, I'm not even going to try and understand this until you explain it to me."
Kamaria and Alain took it in turns to talk about their meeting with Nessa and the Bardic Dean, and ended with their 'mission' to go to the tavern and see the pair for themselves. Comprehension dawned on Kiril's face as Kamaria wound up the description of the Rose Garden, as well as distinct amusement. When she finished, he started laughing.
"Pardon," he said, after a few minutes while Alain and Kamaria sat in uncomfortable silence as he guffawed, "But that is a damned peculiar situation."
"As is this," came Kenan's bemused voice from the doorway, "I come into my rooms and lo and behold, there are a pair of Trainees and a friend of mine apparently choking to death on laughter."
Kamaria and Alain hastily whipped around. "Herald Kenan!" said Kamaria hastily, jumping to her feet, "Sorry-we came looking for you-"
"And Kiril let us in-" chimed in Alain.
"And then you showed up," finished Kamaria, face growing hot.
"Yes, I can see that," said Kenan, waving a hand and not commenting on the pair finishing one another's sentences, "But why are you here in the first place?"
"They need to dress up Kamaria as a boy," said Kiril, not bothering to stand, "So they decided to come steal-I mean borrow-your clothes."
Kenan raised an eyebrow, and his expression spoke rather eloquently without a single word needing to be said.
And so it was that Alain and Kamaria explained the whole tangle a second time, this time to Kenan, who found it just as amusing as Kiril did. "As a matter of fact I do have something that will probably fit Kamaria," he said, lips twitching in a smile, "A moment."
He darted into his bedroom, and came out a few moments later with a boy's tunic, a cap, and some breeches. He tossed them to Kamaria, who only caught the tunic. "Your shirt will do fine," said Kenan, "But-er, you'll probably need this as well."
Kenan tossed a roll of bandaging to Kamaria, who fumbled this catch as well, dropping the tunic, which Alain rescued. She looked at the roll, uncomprehending. "Um, why-" she began.
Her Farsight teacher looked a bit embarrassed, and made a vague gesture in the region of his torso. "Go on, now," he said, not looking at her.
"Oh gods," said Kamaria, and without even thanking him, fled.
Ramya and Sitara were distinctly amused to see Kamaria dressed as a boy, her chest bound flat and her blue-tinted hair stuffed under a hat. :You're still quite pretty, dear, teased Sitara, as Kamaria mounted, :I daresay you'll receive a proposition or two down there.:
Kamaria went crimson and smacked Sitara on the neck. "You shut up," she muttered, adjusting her cap. Alain, wisely, pretended not to hear.
The Guard at the gate merely waved them through after glancing at the Companions, and Alain and Ramya took the lead. :Got any idea where we're going? Kamaria asked, as a cart rolled between them and Sitara shied.
:Yes. There's a farrier right across from it my Clan used to go to when we stopped in Haven, replied Alain, waiting for Sitara to catch up before nudging Ramya in the sides again.
It wasn't very far into the city, although they had to spiral out a few times thanks to the circuitous layout of the streets, but Kamaria didn't see a tavern anywhere in sight when Alain dismounted. Ramya tossed her head to shift her reins before trotting away. "What are you doing?" she said, confused.
Alain raised an eyebrow. "We don't want them to know we're Trainees, remember?" he said, and Kamaria smacked herself in the forehead before dismounting.
:We'll be in range, Sitara promised, lipping Kamaria's tunic, :Good luck.:
"Thanks," said Kamaria, and turned to Alain.
He dropped into Mindspeech as they began walking. :We're going to need to act, he said, nodding to a vendor, :Um…can you say something and try to sound like a boy?
Kamaria said, experimentally, "I think there's a pebble in my boot."
Unfortunately, her attempt at a deeper voice sounded more as if there were a frog in her throat, and Alain merely snickered. "That's not going to work," he said, in a low voice, bending his head near her ear, "Er…it may conform to a stereotype, but once we get there hang off my arm and try a whiny high voice."
"Alaaaain, there's a pebble in my boot!" Kamaria simpered, doing her best to sound shaych. Alain winced as the tone hit his ear.
"A bit lower, maybe, but that might work," he said, finally, as they rounded a corner. "Here we are, er, Sivan."
Kamaria had no time to protest over Alain using her brother's name, but glanced at the Rose Garden before draping herself on Alain's shoulder and doing her best to act the brainless little twit.
There were two men on a bench outside the door, apparently just passing a flask back and forth, but Kamaria could tell, glancing sidelong at them, that they were trained warriors, probably hired to keep out any idle wanderers. One of them glanced up, looked both of them up and down, and returned to the flask.
They were in.
The tavern was…not what Kamaria had expected. For one, it was fairly well-lit, and for another, instead of the usual mismatched benches and long tables, there were very small tables scattered around the room, most of them with only two chairs at them.
The men inside were...different. Kamaria had never had much experience with shaych men. However, she didn't have much time to speculate, as a young man swept up to them and curtsied.
Kamaria quickly looked up adoringly at Alain to hide the utter confusion on her face. She felt very much the odd duck in this room, and tried to figure out why on earth the man hadn't just nodded, or something.
"Would sirs like a table?" said the young man. His voice was high, and his method of speech was hardly ordinary. Kamaria decided after a moment to copy him, and leaning up to whisper into Alain's ear, murmured, "Get him to talk as much as you can."
"Of course, my love," said Alain, with an odd little giggle she had never heard before, and turned to the man. "A table for two, please, and somewhere…inconspicuous would be ideal. What do you have here?"
Kamaria invoked her Farsight, just a little, so she could outwardly keep her attention entirely on Alain, and watched as the man led them to a table, chattering eagerly away about the different drinks they had, and oh their dinners were fabulous, the greens tonight were fit for the Havens…
At last he seated them at a table and took out a small slate for them to order what they wished.
Kamaria scooted her chair around the table to continue to clutch Alain's arm, and finally hazarded saying, once Alain had ordered a drink and some fruit after tactfully learning the price, "The Companion's Cloud sounds wonderful. Can I have that, oh please, Alainy-wainy?"
Somewhere in the back of her mind Kamaria felt Sitara go into absolute fits of laughter, and Alain pinned her with an intense look that said as clearly as words that he was never going to forgive her for that. Through a mouth set in a nearly terminally cheerful smile, Alain replied, "But of course, my little lere'nesha. Get that, please," he added to the man, who curtsied again and fluttered away.
As soon as he had gone, Alain leaned very close to Kamaria's ear and hissed, "Alainy-wainy?"
His tone of utter outrage made Kamaria giggle in spite of herself. She in turn whispered, "Well, could you think of anything better? What does lere'nesha mean, anyway?"
After a glance over Kamaria's head at the couple at a neighboring table, Alain began lightly kissing her jaw. :Kamaria, I have never heard anything so completely moronic. Lere'nesha is a Clan-tongue word for maple tree, it was the first thing that came to mind-that's beside the point. Can you find Ira and Mandar?
Kamaria, who was finding herself quite distracted by Alain's lips brushing past her own, took a moment to reply. :Oh-er. Maple tree? Why did you call me a maple tree? Hold on for a moment.:
It took her a little more effort than usual to bring her Farsight into play, distracted as she was, but once she had her Gift in motion, Kamaria allowed it to trail idly around the room.
"Not in this room," she muttered, hazily aware that her lips were tickling Alain's ear, "There's a door, though…hold on."
Kamaria carefully sent her Farsight through the door and found another room where people were dancing. Not even bothering to try and work this one out, Kamaria next tried the upper level.
She only had just enough time to recognize Mandar before she realized exactly what he was doing and yanked herself back to her body.
Kamaria felt Sitara go into fits of laughter again as she jerked in surprise, and Alain gave a slight yelp as her shoulder hit his neck rather hard. "Sorry," said Kamaria, and for the benefit of a passing few men, raised her voice in an imitation of their greeter's and said, "Oh, love, don't tickle me like that, not in-ooh!" She squeaked as Alain darted his fingers into her side and nearly fell off her chair.
"So what did you find?" said Alain as he steadied her, chuckling, and pulled her cap lower over her forehead.
Kamaria blushed to the roots of her hair. "Um. They were upstairs, alone in a small room, doing exactly what you think they would be doing alone in a small room."
Alain stared for a long moment, and then he too started to go an interesting shade of pink, when the young man bustled up with a tray of fruit and their drinks. "Sorry for the delay," he chirped, "The bartender is really very-"
Kamaria did her best to block the next part of the sentence out of her memory forevermore.
From the look on his face as their server fluttered off again, Alain was doing the same thing. Kamaria decided at this point it was probably best to drop into Mindspeech.
:That wasn't a long delay, how fast do they-she began, and instantly regretted it as Alain snatched up his cup and drained it in one gulp.
:Let's do our best to pretend we never heard that, he said firmly, as he took a berry from a bowl and nibbled at it distractedly.
:Agreed, agreed, I just traumatized myself, replied Kamaria, faintly, :Is Ramya laughing herself sick too?
Alain shut his eyes for a moment, but they flew open and nearly popped out of his head as Ramya, presumably, said something pithy. :Yes, she-you know, let's just leave it at yes, he said, obviously completely off-put by their string of unfortunately embarrassing events.
Kamaria, without even thinking, used some Farsight to look behind her and see what the pair at the next table were doing. "Hadn't you better feed me those?" she murmured, leaning on the table and blinking up adoringly at Alain, "While there's a delay, at any rate."
Alain took her meaning-they would have to wait for Ira and Mandar to finish what they were doing before they could see if they were lifebonded or not-and picked up part of a pear. "Open up," he said, holding the pear to her lips.
After a while Kamaria had a sip of her drink, Companion's Cloud, and liked it so much she immediately ordered another.
Then another.
Then, just for the hell of it, and since their server told them refills were free to such a 'pretty young boy', another one.
By the time Ira and Mandar wandered into the room and picked the table across from theirs, Kamaria was…tipsy.
Just slightly. She hadn't realized the drink was alcoholic, after all, they tasted so strongly, and they weren't even very big.
"Mind on the job," murmured Alain, turning back to her after having finished the fruit. Kamaria, after her first drink, hadn't been much interested, "Kam…Sivan?"
Kamaria beamed at him. "There they are," she said, only just remembering to keep her voice low, "Let's have a look."
Both of them turned their heads to watch Ira and Mandar for a moment. The moment turned into several moments, then to nearly two minutes before they looked at each other instead.
"I'm not getting anything," said Alain, finally, "Are you?"
"I'm not even sure what we're supposed to be 'getting'," giggled Kamaria, and hiccupped.
"Well, I don't think they…" Alain trailed off as he looked oddly at Kamaria. "What was in your drink?" he said suspiciously, and, taking Kamaria's glass, sniffed at it.
"I don't think it was very strong," said Kamaria, happily, running her finger through some cream they were supposed to dip the fruit in and holding it up. "Here. Have some."
Alain stared at her finger for a moment, then looked back at her face. "Excuse me, sir," he called as the server went gliding by, "What's in Companion's Cloud?"
"Oh, call me 'miss,' please," said the server, dipping another curtsy and fluttering his lashes, "There's a Rethwellan drink in that, or maybe Hardornen, I can never tell-I think they call it 'vodka'. Then there are a few additions of our own, because vodka on its own is just clear, and so uncolorful. Pardon me, sir."
Alain swore under his breath as the server wandered off. Kamaria stared after him muzzily for a moment, and decided not to ask about the 'miss'. "That's it, we're going home," said Alain, firmly, and left some money on the table for the server.
As soon as Kamaria stood up, she felt as though her head were floating slowly into the distance. "Whoa," she said, and clutched at Alain's arm, "That stuff was maybe a little stronger than I thought."
Alain glanced hastily around the room, spotted a side exit, and made his way toward it mostly carrying the giggling Kamaria. They were barely glanced at as Alain fumbled the door open and dragged his lifebonded into the alley.
Belatedly he closed off their mind-contact as he felt dizzy for a moment, and Sent, :Ramya, get over to the alley as quick as you can. We've seen what we need to see, and, er, Kamaria's drunk.:
The Companions showed up several minutes later. Upon taking one look at her chosen, Sitara declared affirmatively, :Well, shit, and went to stare into Kamaria's eyes.
:This isn't good, she said finally, and Alain felt a prickle of alarm run up his spine.
"What, is it reacting with the morel or something? I thought that was flushed out of her system-" he said anxiously, and yelped as Kamaria accidentally elbowed him in the stomach as she stumbled over her own feet.
Sitara tossed her head hastily, making the bells on her halter chime. :No, no, nothing like that! she said hastily, :No, it's just that it doesn't seem my Chosen can hold her liquor. I think you'd better double on Ramya, we don't have the straps for my saddle.:
"Typical," muttered Alain, half-annoyed, but half-relieved that it wasn't anything serious. "Ramya, it would help if you lay down."
They attracted some very odd looks on the way back to the Collegium, with Sitara idly meandering behind them, and the Guard on the gate stopped them outright with a raised eyebrow.
"Look, it's one thing if your Companions aren't objecting to taking you into Haven," he said sternly, eyes flickering from Ramya to Sitara, neither of which seemed particularly upset, "But I think I need to have a word with the Heralds if you're coming back drunk. Even if your Companions aren't bothered."
Sitara gave a whicker that sounded suspiciously like a giggle, and Alain sighed. "She had a few glasses of some drink that was so strongly flavored she didn't realize it was liquor," he said, "I assure you it wasn't intentional."
The Guard's other eyebrow rose to meet the first. "She?"
:Oh, that's just insulting, said Ramya, spoiling the effect with a mental snicker, :Alain, be a dear and pull her cap off, he'll recognize the blue hair at least.:
"At least the disguise was effective," muttered Alain, pulling Kamaria's cap off and, for lack of another place to put it, stuffing it down his tunic.
The Guard stared. "But-isn't that General Chantrea's daughter?" he whispered after a long moment.
"Yep," said Alain, "Don't worry, we were in disguise. And you know what-just don't ask, we need to go see the Dean anyway."
Shaking his head, the Guard waved them through.
To his dismay, Alain found that Kamaria could hardly walk anymore, and to make matters worse, she was mumbling the words, rather off-key, to a song he was sure her father wouldn't want her to know. Ramya and Sitara departed still snickering, and Alain was left to more than half-carry her through the building.
They got to the Dean's office without incident, but as Alain waited for Nessa to find Dean Brien, Kamaria's voice rose to a louder volume as she gleefully repeated the fourth verse, then the chorus, of the song she was singing.
Alain, after some attempts to dissuade her, gave up when they proved useless.
Just as he buried his face in his hands while Kamaria's off-key, slurred voice took the fifth verse with enthusiasm if not musicality, both Deans walked in through the door and stopped dead.
"She had four of some drink called Companion's Cloud," said Alain, voice muffled as he spoke through his hands, "She didn't seem to realize it was alcoholic; there's vodka in it and I can't get her to stop."
Nessa looked vaguely scandalized; the Bardic Dean, however, seemed vaguely amused. "I remember the girl who wrote that song," he said, as Kamaria took the sixth verse with amazing energy, "She, too, was drunk at the time."
"Have you tried mind-to-mind?" asked Nessa, pursing her lips slightly as she listened to Kamaria's slurring through the lines.
"Yes," said Alain, "But I'll try again."
He took Kamaria's hand and turned her face to his with the other. :Kamaria, he said, speaking aloud as well as mind-to-mind, :Kamaria, we need to report. Do you realize what you are singing, and just who is listening to it?
It took a few moments for Kamaria's intoxicated brain to pick up on this, but when she did, she swore inelegantly and shut up. Brien chuckled.
"What do you have for us?" asked Nessa, sitting behind her desk and steepling her fingers.
"Well, both of us observed them together for several minutes," said Alain, "We were lucky enough to have a table near them, and watched them for a while."
"And your opinion?" prompted Brien.
"Nope!" announced Kamaria, banging a fist on the armrest of her chair for emphasis, "They're about as lifebonded as you two are!"
Nessa and Brien exchanged glances. "Well, that will have to do," said Brien, standing up, "In the meantime I suggest you go dunk your lifebonded in some cold water and get her to bed."
"I'll send up some willowbark in the morning," added Nessa, as Kamaria mumbled a protest, presumably against the cold water prescribed, "She'll need it."
"Thank you," said Alain, fervently, hauling Kamaria up by one arm, "I'll probably end up sharing it, else."
Without noticing the slightly raised eyebrow of Nessa, Alain brought Kamaria up to the girl's side of the room, hoping to avoid notice.
However, Kamaria burst into song again halfway up the stairs, and Alain resigned himself to walking the gauntlet of giggles that was the female Heraldic Trainees as they poked their heads out of their rooms to find the source of the noise.
Thank you for putting up with me for so long; again, I deserve fifty lashes with a wet noodle. In my defense, I got swamped with end-of-the-year crap from school. Also, about the story-the scene in the Rose Garden was meant to entertain, not offend, and I sincerely hope I didn't insult anyone with how I portrayed the server. Yes, he is supposed to be incredibly flamboyant and transgendered; however, I didn't even give him a name, and it is very doubtful he (or maybe she) will ever appear again.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter; I tried to make it longer than usual! Now that I'm on summer vacation, finally, I don't expect there to be as many delays as there were during the school year!
Toodles!