Woohoo! Chapter 2! (I know that rhymes, I'm so witty : P) Thank you, thank you, thank you to all my reviewers!! I was seriously like overwhelmed!

But yeahh, enjoy!

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Kel, almost fuming, took the long route to her room, hoping that it would cool her down a bit. It didn't...at all. If anything, thinking about the situation made her even angrier and she knew she could not stand to dwell on it any more. What's happening to me? she asked herself, almost on the verge of tears. There really was not much to be upset about and she was confused about the rush of sudden emotions inside her. She kept thinking of Dom with the beautiful Lady Adarra, and felt completely inadequate. Beauty is only skin deep. She tried to tell herself, but it didn't help much.

Finally reaching her room, she grabbed her glaive off the wall and left once again. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going but she knew she couldn't stay cooped up in her room. Running through the hallways, she finally found a door to the outside and as she opened it a blast of cold air hit her, making her stumble. Light snowflakes were falling and she wasn't dressed for the cold weather but it made no difference. Walking to a clearing near the men's barracks she started a pattern dance.

Her mind only focused on what she was doing, she emptied her head of all thoughts of Adarra and Dom.

Jaw firmly set, she swung her glaive at a snail's pace, slowly spinning and dipping the heavy weapon with absolute control. The ground held a light dusting of snow but with her heavy boots, she did not even notice. She began increasing the speed of the dance, doing more complex circles and lunges across the snowy clearing. With her momentum building, soon her glaive was swinging so fast it was nearly impossible to see. Completely engulfed in the dance, she wasn't even aware of her surroundings. It was a fairly clear night and the blade glinted in the moonlight as snow drifted down around her.

With a mighty flourish she finished the exercise. Breathing heavily in the night's cold air she dropped her glaive and let herself fall backwards into the snow-covered grass. The cold, wet snow felt good to her; in some strange way it felt almost fitting.

She closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out, waiting for snowflakes to fall onto it like little children do.

Opening her eyes she stared up at the stars wishing she could just get lost in them. I'm stronger than this. she decided. But what can I do?

Nothing came to mind and sighing she spread her arms out wide and shut her eyes.

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Walking down the hallway to his rooms, Dom thought it seemed a little chillier than usual. When he turned the corner, he saw why. At the end of the corridor, the door leading outside was wide open and snowflakes drifted in. That's unusual. He frowned. It must have blown open.

Walking over to the door, he was about to close it when he saw a flutter of movement outside. "Hello?" He called but the person didn't seem to hear.

He took a few steps outside the door and was surprised (but not unpleasantly) to see Kel doing a pattern dance. She seemed to have just begun as her movements were agonizingly slow. Rather than call out again he stood and watched as she gracefully swung her heavy glaive.

Gods she's beautiful. He thought as he watched the dance escalate. Her hair fell out from the horse tail it was in and whipped around wildly in the night.

He stood frozen, watching her in awe. A few minutes after she had finished he realized he was still staring and she had flopped backwards into the grass.

What's she doing? He wondered, trying to decide if he should disturb her. It suddenly hit him how odd it was that she was doing a pattern dance outside in the snow at almost midnight while there was a joyous party going on inside. Curiosity got the best of him and he walked over to her.

It was a bizarre sight to see, a grown woman laying in the snow, arms spread wide and eyes shut. He squatted down next to her and absent-mindedly brushed a stray piece of hair off her face.

Immediately her eyes snapped open and she sat up abruptly, her head hitting him in the eye and knocking him over. He landed flat on his back, clutching his eye. He groaned as he felt the wet snow seep into his clothing. Why would she purposely lay in the snow? He wondered as he remembered Kel. Opening his eyes, he found himself captivated by a pair of large dreamer hazel eyes.

"What are you doing out here?" Kel asked, rubbing her forehead.

"I could ask the same of you." Dom replied.

Kel smiled. "Ah but you didn't, I asked you."

Dom raised and eyebrow. "Well help me up and I'll tell you."

Offering him a hand, Kel pulled him to his feet.

"Alright, alright. The truth is that I was walking to my room, which does happen to be very near that door you left wide open," he glanced over at it, "and I was wondering why it was so cold in the hallways. So then I saw the door open and just as I was about to close it I saw movement out here so I came out here to investigate."

"How long were you out here for?" Kel asked.

"Just a few minutes." he lied, "Your turn now."

Kel looked down at her feet, then back up at him. "I just needed to escape the banquet for a while."

"You're not planning on going back, are you?" He asked, eyeing her soaked clothing.

"I guess not." she laughed, "I hope you aren't either."

Smirking, he looked at his own miserable looking uniform. "No, I think I've had quite enough for one night."

Kel glanced behind him. "Well I think we should get back inside before we freeze to death." Grabbing her glaive she started towards the door.

He laughed, thinking how absurd it was that they were standing outside the palace, wet and freezing. As they walked towards the door, he noticed that light no longer shone through the doorway. He frowned, and as they got closer he realized it was shut. Quickening his pace he got to the door and yanked the handle; it was locked. Swearing loudly he turned to look at Kel.

"It must have closed behind me! Mithros, I'm sorry, I forgot the outside doors lock when they shut." He cursed once again.

Kel sighed, "It's alright, you didn't mean it, there has to be another entrance somewhere."

Shivering, they both began to walk towards the gardens, there was an entrance there. When they got to that door they found that it too was shut and locked. The music from the banquet could be faintly heard as they kept walking, faster now to keep warmer.

"The banquet!" Kel suddenly exclaimed, "There was a door open to the pavilion for anyone who wished to get fresh air!"

At that they both ran towards the music until they came to a door that was open a crack and led into the party. They both paused to look at each other in their miserable state.

"Why doesn't one of us go in and let the other one in a different door so we don't both have to go into the hall?" Dom suggested.

"Alright," Kel answered, "Why don't you go in?"

"Why not you?"

Kel shrugged, "I don't know, it was your idea!"

"I'm not going in!" Dom said.

"Well neither am I!"

"At least no one will ask you to dance!" Dom almost yelled, "No one will even notice you!"

Shoving her glaive into his hands she walked into through the door, only pausing to look over her shoulder at him. "Maybe I won't let you in."

Mithros, what have I done? "Wait, Kel-" but she was already gone.

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Kel entered the banquet once again, except this time in a considerably worse mood than her first arrival. Blinking back tears she walked quickly to the nearest exit.

Gods, am I really than homely? she wondered.

Neal spotted her soaked form and called out to her but she ignored it and kept walking.

But why Dom? she asked herself. Why did he have to be the one to point it out? She didn't even know why it hurt so bad, she already knew she was no court beauty.

One thing she did know though was that he was still standing outside freezing, holding her glaive, waiting for her. She didn't want to face him but she knew she had to, if only to retrieve her glaive. Picking her head up she put on her Yamani face and did her best to appear unfazed. I am stone.

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Dom paced by the locked door in the gardens, waiting for Kel to let him in. He closed his eyes and shook his head. What have I done?he asked himself again. He was horrified at himself; he hated that he had hurt Kel's feelings. Just then, he heard the door open and turned to see a blank faced Kel staring back at him. Taking her glaive from him she turned to walk away.

"No, Kel!" he yelled. "Wait!"

She stopped and turned to look at him.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said; I don't know what came over me!" Dom pleaded with her.

Kel looked down. "Sorry for what? You were right." Although loosing her mask she stared directly into his eyes. "No man ever would ask me to dance." She turned and walked back towards her rooms.

The look on her face broke his heart. Eyes glazing over he whispered, "Don't you know that I would?"

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: ( Kind of sad, but it will get better! I promise!

Feedback always welcome!