Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoy this.

A Pleasant Surprise

Tori woke up and stretched. The wedding was drawing closer and Tori was getting sick of all the plans that were coming about. They were just boring and meant less time doing things she wanted to do. It wasn't that big of a deal, she was going to see her brother get married to the woman he loved, so it worked. She just didn't understand why they had to have her there when she didn't even give any opinions.

But the closer the wedding got, it meant something else was getting closer—seeing Blake. Perhaps this time they could actually spend time together. She remembered the kiss right before she had left his castle. That was something that she hadn't anticipated, but she really liked it. Besides he actually liked that she could spar, it was something that she was proud of, so him liking it only helped to like him more. He did seem like a really great guy, and they were starting over, so it was good.

After getting dressed and tying her hair back she quietly headed down to the stables and as always no one stopped her. In fact, besides the normal guards and certain servants no one else was up, until she got to the stables.

"Blake?"

The young man turned around and smiled when he saw her, "I hoped you would be getting up this morning."

"I thought you weren't coming for a couple of days."

He shrugged as he walked closer, "Well, we made it here late last night, so do you want any company?"

After nodding the two of them went to their own horse and got them ready for departure. Blake looked like he had more on his horse but Tori shrugged it off as the two rode off.

They spent a good couple of hours riding. They would race each other, or let the horses play; sometimes they just wanted to walk, other times they would run. Soon enough they were back down to walking their horses through the woods and they were talking.

"So, how long have you done all this?"

"Done all what?"

"Everything."

"You mean riding and sparring?"

"Yeah."

"Since I was 7."

"Wow, didn't expect that. Young age, that's better in training, which shows."

Tori blushed and looked away towards the trees. "What about you? When did you start?"

"Five."

"Five?"

"Yeah. We got physically ready once we were about four, and then we actively started when we were five."

"Actively?"

"When we were four, it wasn't all the time. At the age of five it was placed into our every day schedule."

"A lot of training. I suppose that's why you're considered one of the best." Tori shut her mouth and looked away, knowing she was red in the face. She couldn't believe that she had just said that.

Blake didn't say anything, what were you supposed to say besides thanks, which wasn't what he wanted to say to her. Soon they got to a clearing. Blake finally looked at her when he stopped his horse, "Do you want to spar?"

"Okay."

So the two got off their horses and began sparring. They continued for a couple of hours. The two played well off the other. At one point Blake put down his sword, "Hang on."

"What?"

"That move, that's the third time you've done it, and each time it throws you completely off."

"I'm doing it the right way."

"Yeah, for someone else. Here, do you mind." He asked.

After a few seconds Tori nodded and Blake went to stand behind her and went through the same move but a little differently. Tori had to concentrate extra hard so she wasn't distracted with how close he was.

Blake slowly walked away from her disappointed that he couldn't touch her more, "How's that?"

"It works a lot better, thanks."

"No problem."

The two soon returned to sparring. Afterwards Blake brought a bottle to Tori so she could drink first, "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He said with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

After they rested for a bit more Blake stood up, "Come on, there's a hill that I think we should check out. Although I'm sure you've already been there." He held out a hand to her which she took. Once up they were just as close as they had been when they had kissed. They stood there for a few minutes before both turning away and getting on their horses.

Blake looked over at Tori, "I'll race you."

"You're on."

They both took off, never loosing the other person out of sight. They finally got to the hill where they both declared it as a tie. Blake turned slowly around, "It's a good view."

"What are you going to do with it?"

He jokingly laughed and then turned towards the north where he could see a castle in the distance. He got quiet as he thought he knew what it was, "Is that…"

"King Jacob's Kingdom."

"Elizabeth." He said in barely a whisper.

"Yeah, it was her kingdom."

Blake looked at her, "What do you mean? It was Hunter's fault?"

"No, it's not that it at all. I was just commenting, I think it's sad that she's dead. She was really nice."

"You don't blame Hunter?"

Tori shrugged her shoulders, "I wasn't there and I still don't know much about it, so…"

"Hunter said he couldn't do anything; that was it."

"Weird." She looked up at the sky, "Oh no; I didn't realize the time. It's lunch time."

"Hey, calm down. Are you expected by your Father?"

"Not that I know."

"Alright then." Blake went over to his saddle and pulled out some food, it was only bread , butter and some chicken, but it was food.

"You brought lunch?"

"In case we were out here longer than planned."

"I can go on that."

"Good."

Soon they had spread out the blanket Blake had brought and were sitting down eating. As they were eating Tori looked down at her piece of bread—there was a fly on it. She shooed it away and then tore off the little piece and threw it off to the side.

"Hey." Looking she saw that it had landed in Blake's hair. As he pulled it out she started laughing, "You think this is funny?" He asked looking at her in amusement as she nodded. Blake then grabbed a piece of the chicken and threw it at her getting it mixed up in her hair.

Tori's mouth dropped open and she picked up another piece of the bread and soon the two were throwing their food at each other instead of eating it. They then started running around throwing little pieces of food at each other and laughing. Blake caught up and grabbed onto Tori, who noticed him coming and at the same instant she turned to get out of his grasp. Instead the two ended up tumbling down the hill finally landing half way down with Blake on top of her.

The two looked at each other as they got on their knees. Slowly their lips met in a searing kiss. Blake cupped her cheek with one hand as his other one was right near her waist. It didn't take to long for Tori to settle into the kiss and move one of her hands to the back of his hand. Her other hand lightly touched his arm as the two shifted to a standing position.

The two finally pulled away from each other slowly. "So," Blake moved a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"So." She smiled causing Blake to smile.

Tori pulled herself away from Blake's eyes to look at the sky, "I think we should head back."

"Yeah you're right."

He once more helped her up after getting up and the two cleaned up and headed back to the castle.