Hello all! Welcome to chapter ten of Amelia. This is a momentous occasion. Only one of my other stories has ever made it to chapter ten, and it ended soon after at chapter thirteen. But fear not, for Amelia still has a very long way to go before I even consider ending it. So, let's celebrate:puts on purple party hat and dances around:

I would like to thank TheRhythmOfLife for pointing out to me that Rick's shield shouldn't have a stripe around the edge. So, if you would please ignore that detail, I would greatly appreciate it. I would also like to take this time to inform my reviewers that I will be going back and editing chapters one, four, five, and now nine to take care of some small, but messy plot details. But chapter one is the only one that will probably drastically change mostly for chapter four, I'm going to edit out the part where Mia does the wind milling arms and has a baby in her arms in the next paragraph, in chapter five, I'm just going to edit the notice I had about the wind milling in chapter four, and then in chapter nine, I'm going to remove the detail about Rick's shield having a stripe. But chapter 1 will change quite a bit. So I suggest that you read it. I'll let you know when I have the edited version posted. Here are the review answers. Enjoy!

To TheRhythmOfLife: Ummmm, I'm not sure if I mentioned it. I think I might have said that Molly had the Wild Magic, but I changed some stuff around. Again thank you very much for pointing out to me that Rick's shield shouldn't have a stripe around the edge. I will go back and change it eventually.

To Tpfreak: I'm glad you like the detail. It was actually because of you asking for more detail that it was added. Mia would especially like to thank you for inspiring me to put the part about her "sweeping" the boy off his feet. Though I'm afraid that that part is too much like this other story I'm reading. I'm planning to send an email to the author and ask if it's all right. If it's not, I might have to remove it.

To Wingedrider: Thank you. I like it too. I was hoping to give Mia a trait that would set her apart from Daine, and I guess I accomplished it. As to whether or not Mia's going to be better than Daine, I'm not sure yet. I'll keep you posted.

To Juzblue:bows: Welcome, new reviewer. Thank you for your kind review.

To my other reviewers, I was anxious to write the next chapter, so instead of waiting longer to give you all time to review, I wrote the answers to what ever was there when I started writing. Please don't be angry with me. Anyway, here's chapter 10.

The next few days passed without incident. The three companions spent most of their time studying their Gifts. Molly was learning herbs and healing techniques from the local healers in the village. Mia spent a lot of time on the horse corals practicing her Gift of speaking to animals with Daine. While Mia could converse with other animals if she so chose, horses were her favorite animal. Even Rick had a lot on his plate. He often had meals brought to his rooms; he was so immersed in the books that Numair had given him.

On this particular morning, Mia once again found herself in the barn with Daine and the horses. Daine had promised to help her practice turning into any animal of her choice today. However, it was not going according to plan. Mia had been trying all morning without success. She hadn't even grown whiskers yet. It was very frustrating. However, Daine was sure that, given time, Mia would catch on eventually. But Mia had a feeling that turning into animals would never be her thing. She had read the books, and the way it ought to feel, it just wasn't there. She was unable to become one with the animals either. She merely understood what they were saying. She sighed dejectedly and poked at the bread and cheese she'd brought with her for lunch. She heard a snort and looked up to see the grey mare she had taken to riding. Mia smiled up into the big brown eyes of the friendly horse. She reached up to stroke the nose of her friend.

The instant they touched, Mia felt a difference. Suddenly, she was seeing the world through the horse's eyes. She had a sudden urge to run and run and run, and never stop running. She felt as those if she merely walked to the gate and leaped over it, she would be free. She turned and looked at the gate, and decided to try. She started running towards the gate, her hooves making clacking noises on the stones underfoot. Suddenly, she stopped. HOOVES??? She looked down at herself. Sure enough, instead of hands and feet, she had hooves. She looked over to where she had been sitting a moment ago, and all she saw was the grey mare looking at her placidly. Mia pranced around in joy. She'd done it! She'd turned into an animal!!!! She whinnied at Daine, who had been feeding the birds bits of bread. Daine turned, and when she saw Mia, her face broke out in a grin.

"Of course your first animal would be a horse. How could I forget your fondness for them?"

"What do I look like?" Mia asked mentally, knowing that Daine would hear her.

"You are a very dark brown mare with a similarly colored mane and tail, my friend. Do you think you can change back?"

Mia nodded her horse head and imagined herself as a human. It didn't work. She looked up at Daine in alarm. She couldn't change back! What would she do now? Daine came over.

"Don't worry, Mia. You can change back, I know it." She said.

Daine reached up to pat Mia on the nose. When she touched Mia, there was a slight cracking sound, and suddenly, Mia was standing there, very human again. Mia looked down at her hands and breathed a sigh of relief to see fingers instead of hooves.

"Well, I think we figured out how my powers work now." She said with a laugh as she brushed straw off of her dress.

Daine smiled at Mia's enthusiasm.

"I think that's enough for today, Mia. Take the rest of the day off. You deserve it."

With that, she waved Mia off. Mia took her advice, and spent the rest of the day reading in the library. She was fascinated by the number of books on the creatures in Tortall could be found in the king's library. She read as much as she could, figuring the information would come in handy. As she read, she took notes on each of the creatures. She didn't even stop for supper and instead had food brought to the library. She was finally forced to stop when it got too dark to see. She gathered her notes and bid goodbye to the librarian. Then she went to her room and went straight to sleep

The next day, when Mia woke up, she felt an immense weight on her chest. She looked around and realized that the weight was actually Demetrius, who had fallen asleep on her chest. She smiled and gently shoved him off of her chest and got up. She was just about to put on a pale yellow dress when she over heard a conversation going on beneath her window. She crept closer to the window in order to better hear what they were saying

"-so he's going to present his new invention to the council right after breakfast. I still think that he's a fool. All of his other inventions have been useless-"

Mia stopped listening after this. She pulled her dress on and went down to the main hall with Demetrius perched on her should. Demie, as she had begun to call him, was still angry at her for not listening to him about the annoying boy at the training yard yesterday, so he wasn't speaking to her.

When she entered the Main Hall, she noticed Molly sitting at the end of the table nearest to the windows. Mia got some food, and then went and sat down in the seat next to Molly.

"Do you know what's going on this morning?" Mia asked, glancing at all the excited faces as she fed some small bits of food to Demie.

"They're talking about some presentation being made after breakfast." Molly said around a mouthful of bread.

"Okay, what kind of presentation?" Mia asked.

"I'm not sure." Molly admitted.

"Let's go see it." Mia said excitedly.

After breakfast, Mia and Molly followed the crowds out to the main courtyard where a circle was forming. In the center stood a very tall skinny boy about Mia and Molly's age. He was looking at the crowd nervously. Mia stared at him for a moment and then turned to Molly and asked

"What do you think he's presenting?"

"Dunno. Something important I would expect." Molly said with a shrug.

Suddenly, the young boy in the middle cleared his throat and the circle went quiet. He looked around nervously once more and said

"I would like to present another invention to the council for inspection." He said

Then he went behind the nearby building and brought something out with him. Mia's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the invention he brought out. It was a bike. It was completely made out of wood, but it was still recognizable as a bike. Mia stopped staring when she heard laughter around her. She glanced around discreetly. Everyone in the crowd was pointing at his invention and laughing their heads off. She turned and looked at the boy standing next to the bike. He was looking stubbornly at the council. They were stony and silent. Finally one said

"What is it?"

The boy cleared his throat and said in a very shaky voice

"It doesn't have a name yet."

The council member raised an eyebrow and then shuffled some papers on the table in front of him and sighed.

"Very well," he said "We will each test your invention to see if it works. Then we will decide what to do with it."

Mia watched as one by one, each council member, including Numair himself tried and failed to ride the bike more than a few inches before toppling off the bike. Mia turned to Molly and said

"We have to do something! They're not riding the bike right."

Molly shook her head.

"We're princesses, Mia, not princes. What can we say to them that they will believe?" Molly asked dejectedly.

"Remember the boy from yesterday?" Mia asked.

When Molly nodded with a grin, Mia continued

"We'll show them how to ride a bike." She said with a grin.

Molly shook her head and said

"I hope you know what you're doing, Mia."

They both turned when they heard the voice of the first council member to speak say

"Well, Thomas, you have yet again invented another dud of an invention. I think you should find a new career. We, yet again judge this invention to be-"

"Wait!" A voice from the crowd called.

The council and Thomas all turned to see a girl come out of the crowd to stand next to Thomas.

"It's Princess Amelia." One council member muttered.

He cleared his throat and said

"Yes your majesty?"

"I believe that this boy is on to something." She said

A large gale of laughter came from the council. Wiping a tear from his eye, the head member said

"Surely your majesty has seen each of us try to ride it and fail? No one has successfully ridden it."

"What if I can ride it?" Mia asked stubbornly.

The head member snorted and said

"If all seven of us men couldn't do it, then there is no way a woman, royal or otherwise can accomplish it."

"How can you be so sure? You though women couldn't be soldiers; and you were proven wrong, weren't you?" Mia said, crossing her arms.

That struck a chord. Most of the council had been key members among those who had been strongly against Kel trying for her shield. He turned angrily to this girl and decided right there and then to prove to her that he was right.

"Fine," he said "If you can ride it all the way around the castle grounds, then we will consider it a valid invention."

He turned to his fellow members with a smirk on his face.

"Are we agreed?"

The other members, with similar smiles, all nodded. The head member turned to Mia and said

"Well?"

Mia smiled at him and said.

"I need to put pants on. You can send someone with me to make sure I don't do any magic, if you want."

Then she turned and headed towards the castle. The head of the council sent his dedicated female servant after her.

When Mia returned, she was wearing the riding pants that the Mother had left for her. She took the bike from Thomas's shocked hands and slipped onto the seat. She turned and smirked at the council and then took off.

Mia not only rode the bike around the castle grounds once, she rode around three times. When she finally stopped in front of the council's table again and got off the bike, their faces were even more shocked than they had been when they had heard the news that Kel had won her shield. There was no way to say that she had cheated. Or was there? The head council came out from behind the table and grabbed the bike and slid onto it. He tried to ride it, but got the same result as the first time he tried. He fell off. He was attempting to get up when Mia came and kneeled down in front of him and said

"It would seem that you have been proven wrong twice now, wouldn't it?"

Then with a smile, she got up and went back into the castle.

Molly was still laughing fifteen minutes later. Between deep breaths and more laughter she said

"Did you see his face? I will never forget that for as long as I live!"

Mai grinned and bowed to her friend.

"Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all month." She said.

Rick came into the room while they were laughing. He looked from one to the other and said

"You must be the princess with the amazing powers hat everyone is talking about, Mia." He said.

When she saw his frown, Mia stood up and said

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I don't think that was a good idea, Mia. What if you changed history?" He asked.

Molly gasped and said

"He's right!"

Mia sighed and sat down in the large chair in front of the fire and smiled at her two friends.

"Have either of you ever heard the story of how the bike was invented?" She asked them.

When they shook their heads, Mia said

"Legend has it that the inventor of the bike was down on his luck when he invented the bike. All of his other inventions had been rejected and the bike was his last attempt. When he brought the bike in front of the council, no one was able to properly ride the bike. But a girl from the crowd who felt sorry for him offered to try and successfully rode the bike in a circle around the castle yards three times. The inventor then proceeded to invent roller-skates, the skateboard, and ice-skates." She said and leaned back in her chair.

"You're making that up." Molly said accusingly.

Mia got up and brought back with her jeans, which she had discovered in the bottom of her trunk this morning. She pulled a folded piece of paper out of the right pocket and handed it to Molly. It was a printed copy of the story she had just told them. Molly looked up at her in disbelief and said

"You knew it was you?"

Mia shook her head.

"No, but I was willing to take the chance that it was."

"Mia, I hope you know what you're doing. What if those men cause trouble for us later?" Rick asked.

"I'll show them up again by beating their asses into the ground, DUH!" Mia said with a triumphant grin.

Rick shook his head at her and took the printed paper from her hands. While Molly and Rick were reading it over, Mia discreetly pulled the second page of the story and read the last line of the tale.

"It is believed that the inventor married the girl who saved his inventing career."

Eh voila! Six pages! Please read and review, for reviews keep me writing! I wonder if perhaps we can get the count up to 80 before the next chapter is posted. :cough: Tell me what you think of the whole bike thing. No, that isn't the real story. I don't know how the bike was invented or at what time in history. It was just convenient to make it during the sixteenth century. Until the next chapter,

bookworym