Sorry about the long wait for this chapter—I have officially entered the Ph.D. pit of doom (oddly enough it's kind of cozy in here). This chapter picks up just a few days after the previous one (in which Selena realized she was pregnant, Rissa found friends in the desert, Fira was assigned punishment duty for her attempts to redecorate the palace, and Vina was sent out to deal with raiders) and it contains characters and a setting created by Tamora Pierce. Enjoy!

"Just one kiss," Vina said, but she tangled her fingers through Karyna's and stepped closer. "You have guard duty."

"One," Karyna agreed. She pressed her lips to Vina's cheek. "It's late."

"I know," Vina muttered. "That didn't count."

"This doesn't either, then." Karyna brushed her lips over Vina's other cheek. "You should get some sleep."

"I'm not tired," Vina lied, yawning.

"Really?" Karyna chuckled and ruffled Vina's hair.

"Just exhausted." Vina kissed her shoulder—"definitely doesn't count," she mumbled—and buried her forehead against it. "I've missed you."

"I know." Karyna sighed and pulled her closer. "I still miss you."

She was right, Vina thought. They'd been sent out immediately after Vina returned to the palace—so quickly that Vina hadn't had a chance to pack clean clothes, much less talk about her horrible visit to her family. They were already on the third day of their mission and this was the first chance they'd had to speak.

"This is good though," Vina murmured. "I just need a moment of normal."

"Normal?" Karyna repeated, tapping Vina's thick-enough-to-be-somewhat-arrow-proof leather jerkin and gesturing at her own Rider gear. "I think you might have the wrong girl for that."

"Well," Vina said, "it's just a matter of what one—"

"Well, what do we have here?"

It was Berin, the young knight who'd delighted in besmirching Rissa's reputation. And the man who'd just supplanted Vina's father as her least favorite person.

Vina glared openly at him. Karyna stepped away and resumed her guard duty stance.

"Evening." Sir Locksley coughed quietly as he approached.

Vina took a second to gauge his face. It looked ready to furrow with disapproval. She couldn't tell if he knew about her relationship with Karyna, but she suspected that he didn't want to.

"I was just returning from the erm—"she gestured vaguely towards the women's latrine because she suspected he wouldn't want to hear about that either—"and I thought I would just check in with our guard and make sure there haven't been any disruptions to report."

"I see." He nodded, his face as enigmatic as ever. "Very thoughtful and conscientious of you." He smiled. "But you should get some sleep," he added. "We'll all have a long day tomorrow."

"Of course," Vina smiled politely, but rolled her eyes at Karyna. "Good evening, sir."

Locksley nodded. Berin grinned smugly.

Vina stalked away, adding a lost kiss to the list of irritations Berin had cost her.

PDPDPD

Rissa watched quietly as Basim tended their small campfire.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I would have suggested that we turn around earlier, but I really thought we'd have enough light to get back before nightfall at least until we spotted those hares…"

"This is fine," Rissa assured him. "I don't mind sleeping in my cloak and at least we had plenty to eat." She gestured lazily at the remains of the hare they'd roasted.

"True," Basim agreed. Then he sighed. "My family would not approve of my keeping a young woman out overnight."

"Ah," Rissa mused, "so I am a woman according to your rules." She realized she was flirting and bit her lip to keep from smiling too broadly.

Basim frowned—thoughtfully as though he were truly considering the matter. "I think you're usually a circumstantial man because you've been following that set of rules. I wouldn't have been allowed to invite a woman hunting. But I'm not sure how well the circumstantials hold up in this situation since…" he shook his head.

"There are rules governing the breaking of rules." Rissa dug out her cloak and drew it around her shoulders against the cooling night air. "And there are rules about which people can break which rules."

"In your home too?" Basim grinned and offered her dried apricots from his pack. "Then I suppose you are well-acquainted with the laws of rule-breaking and the ways of rule-breakers."

"Intimately so," Rissa agreed, nibbling on an apricot.

"Indeed?"

"My friend Selena is a noblewoman—a knight, like me—but she married a common smith."

"Ah," Basim remarked, "a refreshingly bold violation of the old 'like must wed like' law."

Rissa smiled and decided that if she couldn't stop flirting with him she would at least be disarmingly honest. "And my sister's lover is a Rider without any noble ancestors to her name."

"Two rules at once," he mused. "Your sister must be ambitious."

"I don't think Vina thinks of herself as a rulebreaker—that's me, I suppose—she'd probably just say she's in love."

"With this woman?" Basim's voice was neutral, as though he were merely clarifying his observation so Rissa simply nodded. "And you?" he continued.

"I prefer men."

"I'm glad to hear it, though I had already assumed so." He turned to replace the apricots in his pack and Rissa suspected he was concealing a smile. "I of all people know that you aren't your twin. But I meant to ask which rules you've broken."

"Oh," Rissa said. "I'm not as interesting."

"I'm interested," Basim insisted.

"I'm not a virgin," Rissa blurted, surprising herself.

"I'm not either," Basim remarked mildly. "Though I think that only counts as a minor infraction." He shrugged. "My story is simple: she had to marry someone else since he had more goats to offer her family."

Then he turned to tend the fire again as though giving her permission to speak freely and without scrutiny.

"I was almost engaged to him," Rissa said. "Not officially, but we had an unspoken…And then he needed to marry immediately and I realized that—after all my training—I couldn't just stay home and help manage his estate and have children. So I broke it off because I didn't want to be a wife and mother." She bit her lip to stop herself from saying too much more.

"Is that why you are out here, living almost as a man?"

Rissa shrugged. "It was time for a change."

"Rissa, I'm not really sure you break rules. I think you've just been writing your own."

Rissa smiled, oddly flattered, and shrugged. "I wouldn't want to run a country with them, but I suppose they work well enough for me." She frowned. "Except when I run up against your desert rules."

"I don't mind." He reached over and set a hand on her shoulder. "In fact, I'd like to hear—what rules would you write for me."

"I wouldn't try to restrict you that way." She glanced down at his hand and realized how wonderful the warmth of his fingers felt. "But I might write some for us."

"Such as?" he tilted his head attentively and let his hand drift to her elbow.

Rissa wrapped her own hand over his arm. Basim was leaner than Byrn, but just as strong. She swallowed hesitantly, burying memories. He was also her best and only friend in the desert. He'd always respected her space and now he understand why she'd come here on her own and he seemed to appreciate her reasoning. He'd asked her a question and he deserved an answer.

"This," Rissa murmured and she leant forwards to kiss him.

"I like that one," he said, pulling her into his lap. "I will be careful not to break it."

"Good," Rissa said. "But I think I need to remain almost a man most of the time."

"Of course." He clapped her companionably round the shoulders and then kissed her cheek. "Otherwise we wouldn't be allowed to go riding or hunting together anymore."

Rissa smiled and settled against his chest. "Then what would we talk about at night?"

"I suppose I'd have to irritate you by blathering on about how your eyes resemble stars."

Rissa laughed and then swallowed. "So you understand that we can't rush into…everything."

"My twin will tell you that I am not a man to rush into anything." He tucked a bit of hair back for her. "Except for danger."

"I suppose I should have a chat with your twin at some point," she said lazily.

"No fair," he informed her. "At least you've met him. I didn't even get to see your twin when she visited."

"She looks just like me," Rissa protested, teasingly.

"Still, I practically know more about her sweetheart than about your sister."

"Alright, in exchange, I'll tell you about the time she 'accidentally' flung a goblet of wine into Lord Dorset to get him to stop pestering me." Rissa stretched out her legs and made herself even more comfortable against his chest. "When we were squires we went to a party held for the parents of pages training at the palace…"

PDPDPD

Penelope was in the smithy, chatting with Selena about diaper rash and Shang dragons, when the two pages arrived to fulfill the work punishment they'd been assigned after hanging girls' clothing on suits of armor.

"Good afternoon," Jarif said when Jeck gestured him through the smithy door.

"We're here for our punishment duty," Fira added.

"Weren't you supposed to be punished separately?" Penelope asked from the corner.

"Well," Fira answered, "theoretically we were initially ordered to spend three hours polishing armor and three mucking out stalls separately. But since our Training Master didn't see fit to reiterate this specification when we renegotiated our punishment chores, we assumed it would be more efficient to offer Jeck two sets of hands at once."

Penelope nodded thoughtfully. "And you've never thought of studying law."

Fira shook her head vigorously. "Just carrying around all the books would be exhausting."

"You might reconsider before the afternoon is up," Jeck warned them as he passed each page a bucket. "I need five buckets of coals from each of you under that forge."

They nodded and set to work without complaint. Jeck barely had time to squeeze Selena's shoulder and ask if she needed anything (and be informed that if he and Jason were going to take turns asking then they ought to space their questions out by at least twenty minutes) before Fira tapped his elbow and asked what was next.

He set them to sorting salvageable from hopeless nails, which did make Fira sigh, though very faintly.

"Talk or something," he told them. "It is tedious, but it isn't meant to build character."

Jarif grinned and turned to Fira. "Who do you want to be your knight master?"

Surprisingly, this question did not improve Fira's mood. "It doesn't matter," she said. "No one will want me."

"Because you're a girl?" Jarif asked carefully. He seemed to know he was treading on dangerous ground.

"Because I'm the training master's daughter," Fira said. "So people will either think I'm not capable and I'm only here because of her. Or they won't want me because they'll feel all this extra pressure not to get me killed."

"Trust me," Penelope put in, "all knights feel tremendous pressure to keep their squires safe. I don't think there's room for any extra about it."

"Still," Fira said, "I'm not going to be anyone's top pick." She threw a nail into the hopeless pile with a little more violence than necessary and tapped Jarif. "Who do you want to be your knight master?"

Selena caught Penelope's eye and then tilted her chin speculatively towards Fira.

Penelope grinned and was about to mouth an affirmative when Dalton, who'd been watching Althea, stuck his head through the smithy door. "Pen, she's been fussing for the last ten—"

She'd crossed the room and scooped Althea out of his arms before he could finish.

He grinned in dazed relief and waved at Jeck. "Don't go too easy on them. They did temporarily deface royal property."

PDPDPD

"Well," Jeck said, surveying all that Fira and Jarif had done, " I think it's fair for you to leave a few minutes early since you didn't take a break. You've certainly set a good example for my apprentice," he added, glancing pointedly at Sara, whose rather lengthy break seemed to have coincided perfectly with Jason's.

Sara grinned cheekily back at him and made her own pointed glance toward Selena, as though to reminding Jeck of all the time he'd wasted wandering off to check on her. Selena winked at Sara.

"Are you sure?" Fira asked. "Because we could clean the—"

Jarif covered her mouth with his hand. "Thank you, sir—er, Jeck." He shrugged and both pages started for the door.

"Fira," Selena called, coming to a sudden decision. "Could you stay a moment? I've a favor to ask."

Fira was accustomed to being used as a messenger by people who wanted to communicate with her parents and she shrugged resignedly and told Jarif she would meet him at the stables.

Selena motioned for Fira to sit beside her on the bench

"Is this going to be another of those you-just-don't-have-enough-confidence lectures?" Fira asked. "Because those are the exact opposite of helpful and I've already done a lot of eye rolling this week."

"No." Selena smiled. "Those usually just gave me one more thing to feel inadequate over or made me want to punch the person talking to me. Which sometimes made me feel guilt for having unchivalrous impulses."

Fira smiled and lifted an eyebrow, indicating that she was willing to listen.

Selena smiled back. "Something you said earlier suggested a solution to a problem I've been trying to solve for the last few years."

"What did I—"

Selena held up a hand to silence her. "Most new knights get a squire soon after earning their shields," she said. "So I'm already a year or two behind schedule. I'm not exactly the sort of mentor most squires plan on. And now that—"

"Wait," Fira said, a smile sneaking across her face. "Are you saying I could—"

Selena nodded, grinning at the thought that they already seemed to understand one another's unfinished sentences. "I would very much appreciate it if you would be willing to be my squire."

"I think so," Fira said, dampening her enthusiasm for fear she'd appear unserious. Or hear Selena change her mind.

"We'll throw in free armor," Jeck said as he stopped by to touch Selena's shoulder.

"Probably then." Fira nodded speculatively and then let a grin streak across her face.

"I'll give you a few days to change your mind and then I'm going to talk to your mother," Selena warned. "And I reserve the right to change my mind if you aren't carrying out your current duties…including getting into mischief with your friends."

They shook hands briefly and Fira departed for the stables.

PDPDPD

Vina found Karyna leaning against a tree, watching the woods as she waited for a pair of Rider scouts to return.

"Hey, finally."

Karyna smiled and gestured for Vina to sit beside her.

"Sorry about last night," she said.

"Don't be. Locksley doesn't need to know about us."

Vina shrugged. "Not while he's putting such a concentrated effort into remaining unaware. Though I'm a little worried Berin might…"

But Vina never got the chance to work out just what she was worried Berin might do before one of the scouts emerged from the woods and dismounted.

"The whole band's coming up through the woods," Jess said. "I'd say there's about forty headed in our direction. And they don't look like they're coming for a pleasant supper."

"Right," Vina muttered, standing up. This was urgent enough to warrant interrupting Sir Locksley's dinner. "How long?"

"Some of them are drinking and half are on foot," Jess said, "so it's hard to tell, but I'd guess an hour."

"Thank you," Vina said. "Please get—"

"Where's Goff?" Karyna cut in, "he was supposed to stick with you." And Vina realized guiltily that she'd been about to issue a Rider orders—something that might undermine Karyna's authority.

"I'm going to go inform Locksley," Vina said as Jess started explaining that she'd lost track of the other scout.

She found Locksley and Berin eating together beside his tent and told them what Jess had reported. Locksley immediately summoned the entire camp and outlined his plan for their counterattack. It involved dividing the knights and Riders and then having them trap the enemy against the hillside , but it overlooked the possibility that the bandits themselves would likely break into groups.

"Sir," Vina said. "Have you considered spreading the Riders out in the woods to round up stragglers. It might be safer than…" She quickly swallowed her words when she saw the disapproving glower erupt across his face.

"I understand that you wish to protect your…friends among the Riders," Locksley said, "but you cannot allow yourself to be blinded such cares. I expect you to pass along my orders," he added, before walking off to retrieve his horse.

"Captain." The word felt odd in Vina's mouth. It wasn't what she called Karyna. It reminded her terribly of all the Rider captains she'd seen killed in the course of duty.

Karyna met Vina's eyes and nodded. Berin was busy nearby, but probably listening to both of them.

"Take your riders around and meet us around the other side of the hill." The order made even less sense when she heard herself repeat it. The Riders weren't a cavalry unit for charges across open meadows. They were good at spreading out and tracking small groups of through the woods.

Karyna's nostrils flared briefly and she opened her mouth as though to protest. Then she closed her eyes briefly. "Will do."

"Take care," Vina said. It was as close as she could come to I love you.

"Of course." Karyna passed close enough to casually brush arms with Vina on her way by. I know. It's alright.

PDPDPD

Vina was still gritting her teeth in anger and avoiding Locksley's eye as she took up her position beside him. She kept her eyes on her hands, reminding herself not to clench her horse's reins too tightly. He'd only been doing his job.

Then there was a grunt beside her and Vina looked up to find that the raiders were swarming from the hills and that one of their arrows had already lodged in Locksley's throat.

Berin took command immediately and to Vina's (almost disappointed) surprise he proved quite competent at spur-of-the-moment defensive tactics. (She didn't mind too much, given that he forgot to be unpleasant while he was busy saving all their lives.) He got the knights organized (though he largely overlooked the Riders) and, within another hour, all the bandits had fled or been subdued.

Without waiting for orders from anyone (since it technically was no longer clear who ought to be giving them) Vina quickly started searching the chaos. She nearly tripped over Jess, whose thigh was gushing blood through a long gash, and abandoned her search and knelt to staunch the blood. In Vina's mind, Jess was still the scrappy fourteen-year-old who'd had the audacity to tackle Penelope, and it rattled her to see the girl hurt.

"Thanks." Karyna briefly wrapped an arm around Vina's shoulders, before checking Jess's injury. "Here. The bleeding's slowed enough for me to bandage it if you need to go check in with the other knights."

"I should." Vina got clumsily to her feet and took one last look at the two of them, bloodied and tired, and walked reluctantly away.

The news that greeted her wasn't good. In addition to Locksley's death, five Riders had been killed, and several knights and Riders had serious wounds.

"It's mostly your fault, you know," Berin told her.

Vina blinked, but didn't argue. If she'd stood firm against Locksley, if she'd convinced him to change his mind, things might have happened differently. And Jess might not have been hurt.

"If you hadn't been trying to arrange things so that she could show off," Berin continued, raising his voice a little so that the other knights would be sure to hear, "then you wouldn't have argued with Locksley. And if you hadn't been distracted about not getting your way, you'd have kept him from getting shot."

If I'd actually managed that, Vina thought bitterly, you'd have called it pure dumb luck. But she couldn't muster her voice to say it because her traitor tongue seemed to think Berin was correct.

"That's the trouble with two women together," another knight added, "neither of you thinks rationally."

Berin smirked at Vina. "At least your sister finds men to—"

"We've discussed her before," Vina said sharply, hoping he would remember that she'd socked him in the jaw on that occasion. "I take it I'm dismissed for the time being."

He nodded. "I've no need for your input. Go tell your incompetent Rider captain to gather her bodies and get her group ready to ride."

PDPDPD

Claiming a sudden concern for returning Locksley's body before it deteriorated too much in the late summer heat, Berin kept them at a pace that seemed like a compromise between fleeing and making a forced march. Between assisting the injured and keeping their prisoners under guard, Vina had no time or energy to butt heads with Berin. She simply kept her head down and her teeth gritted. She tried not to look at Jess's pale face and spoke as little as possible.

By the time they arrived at the palace—well past supper time and long after dark—and staggered into the stables, Vina thought she'd remembered her final exchange with Locksley at least a hundred times, combing through the details to determine just how culpable she was. She'd watched him slump forwards again and again in her mind's eye and wondered what she could have done differently.

She poured all her energy into currying her horse, but she couldn't shake the images from memory. She started violently when a hand clasped her shoulder.

"So," Karyna murmured, "I know you'll have duties at the palace, but maybe after—"

"Don't remind me of my duties," Vina snapped. "I've walked away from enough of them for you."

"You've used me as an excuse to duck out of unpleasant obligations," Karyna corrected, easily matching Vina's angry tone. "You can't claim you're sacrificing anything for me that you wouldn't gladly give away."

"And you've used me to bolster your position in the Riders." Vina threw her horses' brushes into the storage bin beside his stall and slung her gear over her shoulders

"How can you say that?" Karyna demanded reaching for her shoulder and then turning aside. "I haven't asked to exert any 'noble influence' for me. I never asked to become your pet project. You know I tried to avoid getting promoted for your sake." She sloshed water into a bucket for Vina's horse. "Maybe that was a mistaken experiment."

"Was it for my sake?" Vina asked, stepping angrily away. "Or because you thought you couldn't handle it?"

Silence stretched between them for a few seconds, broken only by the incessant pawing of Vina's horse. Even the other knights seemed to have slowed their own chores as they listened, which only flustered Vina more.

"I guess I can't," Karyna said. "Not when I'm forced to follow irrational orders from people like you." She dumped a scoop of grain in the feed bin for Vina's horse and stalked away, leaving Vina blinking away tears of shame.

You're either missing a spine, a heart, or a brain. Vina could practically hear Rissa hissing in her ear. Possibly all three. She's right be furious with you for following along with Locksley and getting her people killed. Then you listened to Berin and let him change the way you treat her.

Vina couldn't think of a single reply to this imagined commentary so she burst into a run to avoid it. She was at Penelope and Dalton's door before she remembered that they had a baby now and she shouldn't be disturbing them just because she was too upset to think of sleeping. Then she heard Althea howling inside and decided it probably wouldn't make a difference.

PDPDPD

Penelope rolled out of bed in response to her daughter's cry and was halfway to the cradle before she realized she was awake. It was the same kind of instinctive reaction that had once had her reaching for weapons.

"Stay there," she said when she saw Dalton lifting his head. "One of us should be getting some sleep."

"That could be you." He yawned and climbed out of bed to kiss Penelope's cheek and smooth back Althea's hair. He glanced back at their bed. "Then again Bandit seems to be doing enough sleeping for all three of us." Their dog had just stretched all four limbs—twitching with dreams of rabbits—out so that he took up most of the mattress and he was snoring loudly enough to be heard over Althea's wails.

"Shush," Penelope murmured beginning to pace soothingly around the sitting room.

"Hello." Vina's voice was so ragged Penelope almost didn't recognize it. She exchanged a worried glance with Dalton as he moved to open the door.

"Vina," Dalton said, reaching for her elbow when she hesitated in the doorway.

"Thanks," she croaked, trying to muster enthusiasm as Penelope stepped closer. "She's adorable."

"When she's quiet anyway," Penelope muttered fondly. "She's certainly loud at the moment," she added, though her daughter's volume was gradually decreasing. She continued pacing as she surveyed Vina. "What happened?"

"Our commander got shot…I fought with—because Berin blamed me for what…" Vina realized she wasn't making any sense and forced herself to slow down and confess with detail and in chronological order. At least she knew that she'd be in good company if she dissolved into sobs.

They listened with the saintly patience of new parents who know they're going to be up all night anyway, letting her talk herself out as Althea drifted from crying to quiet blinking.

…but it's hard when you're stuck between someone who's supposed to be in command and someone you love." Vina shook her head, wishing she hadn't finished with something so close to an excuse.

"Of course it is," Penelope agreed, gesturing for Dalton to check and see if Althea's eyes were still open. "But the solution is also simple. You just have to realize that there are rare occasions—emergencies, formal events, etcetera -when rank and rules really matter."

"But they're not the basis for your relationship," Dalton added, stepping up beside Penelope, kissing her cheek, and shifting Althea into his arms so that Penelope could rest while he paced with the baby.

"And the rest of the time," Penelope said, sitting beside Vina and offering her a handkerchief, "you relax and run on your own rules. And that means you argue occasionally and then apologize."

"And Vina," Dalton whispered because Althea was asleep at last, "don't be afraid to speak up out there. You and Karyna know what you're doing and you don't tend to take unnecessary risks."

"It might actually be easier once you're in command of missions and not just a middleman," Penelope agreed.

Vina nodded gratefully.

"And just ignore the gossip," Dalton told her, "because if you can't, I'll have to kiss Karyna to give them all something else to talk about."

"Then I'd run away with Penelope and they wouldn't talk about anything else for a month," Vina said, mustering up an almost-smile as she left.

PDPDPD

Karyna was sitting crosslegged beside the door. She waited until Vina reached it before lifting her head.

"Hey," Vina murmured

"Hey." Karyna swallowed and tucked back the hair that had escaped her braid.

"Where's your key?" Vina asked, trying not to read too much into the fact that Karyna hadn't let herself in.

"I came to apologize," she said, getting to her feet.

"But you were right." Vina felt herself blushing with shame.

Karyna shrugged and ducked her head. "Only about the last part."

"No," Vina said, "I shouldn't have…" she sighed.

"Just kiss her already," Keith said, sizing them up as he passed by with a bottle of port in one hand and a meat pie in the other.

They blinked at one another and Vina reached out to grasp Karyna's elbow.

"Let's make tea."

Karyna nodded gratefully and used her own key to open the door. While the water boiled, they opened the windows, bundled all Vina's dirty clothes together to be laundered, swept up a few dust bunnies, and shook out the quilt. They didn't speak, Vina realized to her reassurance, because they didn't need to.

It was only after she'd poured two cups of tea and added sugar to them that Karyna spoke.

"So, where'd you go?"

"Penelope and Dalton." Vina sighed as the tea began to warm her hands. "You?"

"Jeck's." Karyna smiled wistfully. "There's always plenty of decent ale there and he understands, well, not exactly what it's like for us…but he knows what it means to be a commoner who loves a noble."

Vina flinched. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up—"

"You didn't. I was just repeating something I'd heard earlier." She looked away so miserably that Vina scooted over until their knees were touching. "I don't actually feel like your pet project," she added quietly.

"Good," Vina muttered, "I don't have time for one." She paused thoughtfully. "And you're more of a beloved giraffe anyway."

Karyna raised an eyebrow.

"You're tall and beautiful and you attract lots of attention and no one thinks I should be allowed to keep you."

Karyna snorted quietly into her tea. "No one thinks…"

"I know," Vina murmured. "Stupid thing to fight over." She buried eyes in her mug until Karyna nudged her shoulder.

"At least it wasn't about us—not really—it was about all the stuff happening to each of us."

Vina smiled half-heartedly. "Stuff that isn't going to change. I mean we're always going to have to work with…"She sighed and repeated Dalton's advice.

"Jeck said something fairly similar about rank," Karyna admitted, "and Selena nodded vaguely between trips to the chamberpot—apparently she has midnight morning sickness—but Jason gave me love advice for the ages this evening."

"Really?" Vina pressed a tentative kiss to Karyna's forehead.

"He stuck his head out of Sara's room—that still startles Jeck a little—and whispered 'just don't be an idiot'." Karyna smiled and stood to help Vina clear the tea things. "Really, he's far wiser than the rest of us give him credit for."

Vina grinned. "Well, we'll just have to work on avoiding idiocy then."

Karyna nodded and tucked back a bit of Vina's hair. "I have to go write letters for the parents of the Riders I lost," she murmured reluctantly.

"You didn't lose them," Vina said. "It wasn't your fault."

She winced. "It's always my fault. It doesn't matter what I know happened. In my head, it's always my fault because I was supposed to be the one leading them home." She frowned. "And then I need to speak with their friends and figure out what to do about their ponies and—"

"It will all still be just as bad in the morning," Vina assured her. "So you might as well wait until then and face it at your best." She pointedly pulled back the blankets on the bed.

Karyna shrugged and glanced once more at the door before crawling in beside her. "Where did you get that idea?"

"From a very pretty idiot who doesn't always think to follow her own common-sense advice."

"mmmph." Karyna buried her nose briefly under Vina's shoulder and wrapped an arm around her, already half unconscious. "Remind me to oversleep."

Vina was too busy thinking to close her eyes. "Remind me to invite you next time Rissa and I visit our parents," she said finally.

"Really?" Karyna yawned. "Are you—"

"They're going to get wind eventually," Vina reasoned. "And I think it's time for me to deal with…stuff there."

"Good," Karyna muttered. "That sounds so simple." Her soft laughter dissolved into snores, a feat Vina couldn't help admiring.

PDPDPD

Selena decided that it would be best to speak with Kel before attempting breakfast, so she made her way to the practice courts first thing in the morning.

"Congratulations," Kel said.

Selena blinked and then realized that she hadn't actually seen Kel since learning that she was pregnant.

"Could I have a word?" she asked.

"Of course." Kel seemed puzzled.

"About Fira," Selena clarified. "She seemed convinced the other day that no one will want to ask for her as a squire, so I thought that I might as well—"

"Are you offering to be her knight-master?" Kel asked. "Years in advance?"

"Yes," Selena said. "I would understand if you didn't think I'd be suitable given —" she gestured down her torso.

"Don't be ridiculous," Kel said. "You could use the help and it will let me see her often without her feeling like she's chained to a palace desk. I'd be most grateful." She smiled, hoping this might encourage Fira to settle down and concentrate, though she had no illusion that her daughter's mischief would ever cease completely. "Just let me ask her first so she doesn't say no just on the principle of disagreeing with me."

"Um," Selena said. "I've sort of already done that." She shrugged apologetically. "I wanted her to know it really was my idea since she's worried you're going to have trouble finding someone to farm her out to."

"I assume she said yes then," Kel said, "or you wouldn't be here."

"She said 'probably'," Selena said, "in a very shrewd tone."

"Sorry about that," Kel muttered, "I think her father exposed her to too many practical jokes at a young age."

"So you only claim responsibility for the unwaveringly stubborn demeanor?"

"And then only when it isn't directed against me," Kel said shaking her head. "Really, though, she's very much her own person. I just get the privilege of worrying about her and I'm happy to share that with you. Just encourage her to run the idea by me first if she's thinking about getting married or joining the circus."

"Will do." Selena grinned. "Not that you're equating the two."

"Getting married and joining the circus?" Kel said with twinkling eyes and a perfectly straight face. "Not at all."

PDPDPD

"I'm too tired to remember what we said last night," Dalton informed Penelope as he helped her adjust Althea's sling, "but it must have been brilliant."

Bandit whined in agreement and started off towards Vina and Karyna, who leant against the next pasture fence with their arms linked.

"Or just plain sensible," Penelope muttered, tilting her head back to smile at him.

Vina disentangled herself to scratch Bandit's ears and walk over to Dalton and Penelope. "Thanks," she said simply before walking back across the courts.

Keith was standing by Karyna when she returned.

"Are you two made up yet?" he asked, holding up a folded paper. "Because I need advice."

"Um," Vina offered helpfully. "What about?"

"I'm attempting to court Dalton's sister by letter," he whispered.

"Good luck," Karyna muttered.

"And I thought," Keith continued doggedly, "that if I got two expert opinions at once…"

"I have an idea," Vina said brightly. She beckoned Dalton. "Let's go straight to the best available authority."

Alright, folks, that's all until my next bout of procrastination. Best wishes to everyone this fall!