And let the story continue:
Sorry this update has been so long coming; the last week has been crazy. I'm on spring break now, though, so hopefully I'll be able to get at least one more out before I go back.
Standard Disclaimers apply. Aka… Not mine!!!
Chapter 4Aly's brisk walk lasted only about two corridors away from her mother's room before it became a jog, and then a sprint. Heads turned sharply as she flew past them, but Aly didn't notice. The layout of the palace was a clear in her mind as it had ever been, and she confidently turned corners, eager to get to her twin as soon as she could.
Aly skidded to a halt at the end of the corridor that held the rooms of the commander of the King's Own. She caught her breath for a second, before quickly walking to the door next to the one that held the plague proclaiming it to be Sir Raoul's. Taking a deep breath, she knocked, and then stood impatiently shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She heard a rustling from inside the room, footsteps, and then the door opened.
For a second she stared into her twin's face, and just had time for a broad smile to begin to form, before he gave a strangled yell and through his arms around her waist squeezing her to tightly her breath was driven from her lungs.
"Aly!" he cried, releasing her long enough to look into her face for a second, before he pulled her back into an embrace. Aly laughed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, breathless with happiness.
"You're here, I can't believe you're here," he whispered in her ear.
"Of course I'm here," she chided him, pulling back to smile at him. "Nothing short of open rebellion in the Isles could keep me from coming to your ordeal, and you know, we had one of those a couple of years ago."
He laughed gleefully, and pulled her into his room. "When did you get here?" he asked, pulling her down onto the edge of his bed. "How did you get here?"
"We took a ship to Port Cayne, and got in three days ago. We rode to Corus from there. We only got to the Palace about an hour ago. I left Nawat and the kids with Mother, and came to find you."
"How are they?" he asked.
"They're great," Aly said. "Hopefully they still are after spending a little while with Mother. Well, they actually seem to be not too scared of her."
"She probably didn't say anything to you, but she's been desperate to meet them," Alan told her. "As have we all, of course."
"They'll go home hopelessly spoiled," Aly complained, "after all the attention they'll get here."
He continued to smile, eyes fixed on her face. "Aly, you have no idea how much it means to me that you're here," he said.
She smiled and squeezed his hand. "Well, if I weren't here you'd just sit the entire day before your Ordeal worrying constantly. I'm here to keep you sane."
"I'm going to need it," he agreed, nodding. His smile stayed in place, but became slightly apprehensive. "How long after Midwinter can you stay?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but Aly knew him well enough to know that the answer meant a lot to him.
"Depending on the weather, probably a month, maybe a little more. I'm, of course, worried that the country is going to collapse while I'm gone, but you have no idea how many people have told me that it won't," she joked. "Why?" she asked shrewdly.
"Well, um," he said, no longer meeting her eyes and suddenly looking uncomfortable. "You'll need to stay for…my wedding."
"WHAT!" Aly cried, pulling her hand out of his, and staring at him in shock. He grinned sheepishly at her.
"I'm getting married." He told her, his grin spreading over his entire face.
"To who?" Aly demanded, her look of amazement still in place.
"To Leanne," he told her, taking perverse pleasure in her surprise.
"Leanne…Princess Leanne!"
"Yes," Alan started to say, before the door connecting his room to his knight master's opened, and Aly's uncle Raoul poked his head in, saying, "what in the blazes is all the yelling in here?" and then coming up short at the sight of Aly.
"Uncle Raoul!" Aly cried, jumping up from the bed, running to him, and throwing her arms around his neck, which was difficult considering how much taller he was than she.
"Alianne, what in Mithros' name are you doing here?" he demanded, putting her hands on his shoulder's and pushing her to arms length so he could look into her face.
"I came for Alan's Ordeal, of course," she told him, grinning impishly up at him.
"Well, bless me," he said, still looking slightly thunderstruck. "Your mother must be thrilled to see you."
"Yeah, I guess," Aly said, looking slightly awkward. "She was really happy to see the children."
"Of course," Raoul said, "Buri will be desperate to see you and them also, but she's at the training yard right now."
"Well, I'll see her later," Aly said, as Alan came to stand by his sister.
"I take it you're staying for the Midwinter celebrations," Raoul said, directing this at Aly.
"Of course I am," Aly said. "Uncle Raoul, we need to talk later, but I haven't seen my Da yet," she told him apologetically.
"Well of course, go find him," Raoul told her indulgently. "And Alan, take tonight off."
"Thank you, Sir," Alan said, as Raoul withdrew into his own room.
"Sir?" Aly said to her twin, puzzled. "You call uncle Raoul ' Sir'?"
"It's what I'm expected to call him, because he's my knight master," Alan said. "I think he was as surprised as you the first time I did call him that, thought," he continued. "Come on, let's go find Da," he said, leading her to the door.
"I believe we were interrupted in the course of a rather important discussion," Aly reminded him as they entered the corridor again.
"Uh, yeah," Alan said reluctantly, looking embarrassed again. "Yes, Princess Leanne."
"You are marrying Leanne," Aly repeated, as though making sure she understood.
"Yes," Alan cried, exasperated, "stop sounding as though I announced I was the new court jester!"
"It's just…" Aly began, unable to voice exactly why she was so surprised. "I don't know, it seems to be so sudden."
"Well, you have been out of the country for the last five years," Alan reminded her, prompting her to give him a dirty look.
"I know. But, how did this happen?"
"Well, we met again when I came to the Palace to start my page training, and we saw each other when we could." He stopped, looking uncomfortable. "I don't know, Aly, I love her!" he exclaimed.
Aly walked in silence for a second, before turning to him. "Well, that's fabulous, Alan," she said sincerely, hugging him. "I'm so happy for you."
He hugged her back, looking grateful. "Thank you, Aly."
She suddenly grinned at him. "How is the king taking it?" she asked.
Alan grimaced. "At first he forbade it," he said, with the air of reflecting on an unpleasant memory. "Apparently Mother needed to…well, have strong words with him in order to get him to agree."
Aly nodded in understanding. "She yelled at him," Aly said.
"That's pretty much what happened," Alan agreed.
They stopped in front of a door, that Aly suddenly realized was her grandfather's office.
"Are Da and Grandda discussing…business?" Aly asked, knowing Alan would understand what she meant by "business".
"Probably," Alan said. "They're still keeping a pretty close eye on Scanra, not ready to trust yet that it isn't going to explode at any time."
Aly nodded. She didn't have nearly as extensive a network in Scanra as her father and grandfather did, it not having such an immediate effect on the Isle's as it did on Tortall, but she had enough people there to know that it was still quite volatile, not yet fully recovered from the war.
"Well, you'd better make sure that they aren't discussing anything that they wouldn't want the spymaster of another country to overhear," Aly said, grinning.
Alan grinned back and knocked on the door. Aly's breath caught excitedly in her throat when she heard her grandfather's voice calling, "come in."
Alan opened the door and stepped inside. Aly heard some jumbled voices from within, and then heard Alan say, "yes, I know you're busy, but there's someone here you'll really want to see."
With a fine flair for the dramatic, she chose that moment to push open the door, beaming at the look of surprise on her Grandda's face, and the huge smile that spread over her father's.
All possible coolness and dignity was forgotten the moment she saw her father's familiar features, his hazel eyes full of amazed joy, and she flew across the short distance from the door to where her father was sitting, and threw herself into his arms. Only half-risen, he fell back into the chair he had been sitting in, and wrapped his long arms around her, hugging her tightly.
She finally untangled herself from him, and stood in front of his chair, trying to blink back tears. He brushed some hair out of her face, and beamed at his daughter.
"I'll need to have some words with my people if you got all the way here without my gettin' some word of it," he told her, eyes twinkling.
She smiled back at him. "It's not there fault, Da," she told him. "I'm very, very good at this," she said impishly. "Much better than any of your people."
"That might very well be true," said her grandfather, rising from his chair behind his desk, and coming around the desk. Aly moved away from her father, and went to hug Myles.
"It's delightful to see you, my dear," he told her, kissing the top of her head.
"You too, Grandda," she said, smiling up at him. "How's Grandmother," she asked.
"She's excellent, and will be absolutely elated to know you're here," he responded.
"I assume you've already seen your mother, Lass," George said to his daughter.
Aly turned to face him again, and nodded. "Nawat and the children are with her now," she answered.
George looked suddenly extremely excited. "You mean to say my grandchildren are in the palace, and we are wasting time standing around here?" he demanded.
Aly grinned. "Well, let's go," she said, leading the way to the door, her father, brother, and grandfather following her out.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Whew, okay, I'm glad I finally got that written. I haven't decided yet how many specific people I'm going to have her see, but if there's any character you really want to see her reunited with tell me, and I'll try to write it in.
About the Alan / Leanne thing…I really wanted one of Alanna's kids to end up with one of Jon's kids. For the record, I am completely in favor of Alanna / George, but I must admit I wanted to see work out in the next generation what didn't in the first. Alan and Leanne seemed like they were about of the same age, so I decided to hook them up. I have an idea for the whole story of how they came together in my head (including the part where Alanna yells at Jon), and maybe some day I'll write it into a oneshot. Maybe if I'm ever stuck on the next chapter of this fic…
Well, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm sorry to ask, I promised myself I wouldn't, but reviews / advice / corrections / statements of my suckiness are always greatly appreciated (not so much statements of my suckiness, but if that's what you want to say, heck, I think I can take it).