I'm... back! Yes I know I'm sorry!

Disclaimer: TP owns the characters.

Rain pelts down in heavy droplets as a carriage pulls up to the entrance of a townhouse. The driver leaps off his seat and knocks on the doors of the carriage. He calls loudly over the sound of the drumming rain and the window screen slip open to reveal a pale face under a wide brimmed hat. Green eyes travel past the coach driver to the entrance doors and back to the driver again. Meldrose gives a slight nod before she withdraws her head back into the carriage.

Moments later the door is pushed further out and two young boys emerge, scrambling down the steps that unfolded themselves. The driver whips off his oiled jacket to shelter Joren and Jayce to the covered archway of the entrance and knocks loudly on the door. Without waiting for someone to answer, he turns back and rushed back to the carriage.

"Milady, I apologise for the rain, please step out, I will be escorting you to the front door," despite his rough Tortallian looks, he has a faint accent which lilts his careful speech.

Despite the heavy rain and a large stomach, Meldrose is still able to gracefully climb out of carriage where the driver had raised up his jacket again to block out the water. They ascend the steps just as the doors open and a footman ushers them in. As they cross the threshold, Meldrose digs out a coin and presses it to his hand.

"My thanks, Gervain, please come by just before the sun sets, the boys and I will be ready then. And remember not to return home, Buchard will be in the townhouse today."

Gervain bows, "Yes Milady, I will be waiting just at the street beyond." Meldrose nods her head and turns to let the maids remove her wet coats and press drying cloths to her dress. As the doors closes, Gervain remained in the shelter of the front steps staring at the coin for a few moments. Then he glances back and the doors and pockets the silver noble before getting on his horse and driving the carriage out of the Mindelan compound.

Ilane is already waiting when Meldrose, Joren and Jayce enters the drawing room. One glance at her friend's drenched hems she quickly ushers them to the hearth where a warm fire is crackling and sit them down. As she busily prepares hot tea, Joren notices that his friend is missing.

"Lady Ilane, where is Keladry? May I have a biscuit?"

Ilane supresses a smile as she looks at Meldrose before turning back to Joren. "Yes Joren, you may have as many biscuits as you like, Keladry is receiving training from a passing Yamani warrior in the courtyard at the moment."

Meldrose accepts a steaming cup of tea from Ilane and pauses to blow at the surface before sipping at it. "In the courtyard? Isn't it pouring outside at the moment?"

Ilanne nods her head, "It's part of a meditation process that is common amongst the noble children in the Yamans and the Shang as well. Her instructor today is a very sought after master in this area and he offered to give her some training in exchange for lodging."

"Isn't it dangerous for a young girl to be sitting outside in the rain? What if she catches a cold?" Meldrose looks apprehensively at her friend.

"Well, I was reluctant at first too, but Keladry understands that she has that risk and insisted. The master has also reassured me that it is unlikely that she will stay out long enough for her to catch a life threatening cold. Well, would you like to see what her training is like?"

At Joren's eager "Yes!", Meldrose agrees and Ilane leads them down to the courtyard where two figures take up an area off to the side of the courtyard, underneath a large tree. As they approach, Meldrose sees that the branches of the tree shield off a portion of the rain so that Keladry does not encounter the full brunt of the rain. The girl in question sits cross legged with a long wooden pole across her knees. Her hands balance out the pole as the raindrops pelt the stick.

As the women and children approach, the standing figure glances up at them and bends down to give Keladry a new set of instructions. She gives a sharp nod and satisfied, the master walks over to greet them. As the master gets closer, Meldrose is able to see the master's face clearly and realises with a start that she is a woman. The master's long black hair streaked with grey is tied in a tight ponytail at the crown of her head and she is dressed in a long black kimono that opens to reveal an undershirt and black pants.

"Master Kin, this is lady Meldrose of Stone Mountain and her sons Joren and Jayce," Ilane introduces the two women and Meldrose gives a small curtsey as Master Kian bows.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Master Kin," Meldrose gives a small smile.

"It is mine," Master Kin's coal eyes reveal little emotion, but her voice is warm and Meldrose understands how her friend can entrust her daughter to this warrior. "Lady Ilane, your daughter's progress is coming along as expected and she has done well to catch up with the kaijun her age."

"You are too kind, please continue the practice with Keladry," Ilane bows slightly and Master Kin turns to go back to Keladry.

"Wait! Mama I want to train with Keladry too!" Joren tugs on Meldrose's dress as he looks pleadingly at his mother. The two women look at her son in surprise, and Meldrose is unsure of what to say, on one hand she does not want to offend the master by rejecting her son implying that the training is dangerous, but on the other she is also afraid that her son might fall ill from the rain.

Ilane puts a hand on Joren's shoulder, "Now Joren, I'm sure you know that your mother did not bring extra clothing for you, what would happen if you went home with your clothes all wet?"

"Papa would scold me, and scold mama and then he would ask us where we went…oh…" Joren puts a hand to his mouth. "I'm sorry mama, I won't join Keladry, but really do want to play with her today."

Meldrose gives her friend a grateful glance, and smoothes her son's blond curls. "Of course Joren, you can play with Keladry when she's finished."

They return to the guestroom, where Ilane serves her guests pastries and they sit by the hearth to chat. As the mothers gossip, Joren turns to his younger brother.

"Jayce, do you know where we are? This is Keladry's house. Do you remember Keladry? We met her at the palace. You can't ever tell papa that we were here okay? Ever."

The five year-old Jayce stuffs the rest of his pastry into his mouth and nods his head. "Never ever."

Just then, a maid opens the door to allow Keladry in, her long brown waves are still slightly damp but she is dressed in a warm cotton dress, her cheeks flushed from a warm bath. At the sight of Meldrose, she stops and bows at them before approaching her mother.

"Keladry! Your hair is still wet, sit by the fire and drink some tea to warm yourself up. After that you can go play with Joren."

As she sits, Meldrose asks Ilane, "What kind of training does Keladry receive when she simply sits stationary in the rain?"

"It's not physical training that she undergoes," Ilane smiles. "The Yamani believe that warriors and the noble class must also have mental strength so as to help them think clearly not only in battle, but also under stress to make good decisions for their people. What Master Kin specialises in is meditation and focus hence the training under such extreme conditions."

Ilane glances at Keladry, "When your hair is dried, you can bring Joren to the playroom. Mel, does Jayce want to follow them as well?"

"Jayce, do you want to follow Joren and Keladry to play?" Meldrose looks at her younger son, who nods his head and Keladry bows to both the women before approaching Jayce.

As she offers him her hand, she asks him. "Jayce, do you remember who I am? I met you at the palace at Princess Kalasin's christening."

Jayce brightens as he remembers breaks into a toothless grin as he smiles widely. "Kel-wrdrie! I can't tell papa about you!" He puts his fist into her outstretched hand and the three leave, unaware of the nervous glance Ilane and Meldrose share at his words.

As the door closes, Meldrose gives a sigh as she places a hand on her stomach. "As much as it might not be a good idea to bring Jayce here, I honestly do not want to leave him at the town house when Buchard is in."

Ilane moves to sit with her friend and covers Meldrose's hand with her own. "Is it still that bad? I thought maybe things would get better when you were carrying his third child. "

There is a momentary silence as Meldrose looks at her pregnancy. Then she glances around warily, her eyes coming to rest on Ilane's worried face. "Ilane, there's something I need to tell you."

The first thing Joren notices as he enters the room is that a far corner is devoid of the boxes of toys. Instead the floor has a raised smooth wooden stage. It is empty save for a single big knife which leans against the wall. Pointing, he asks Keladry, "What's that thing?"

Keladry's eyes light up, "that's my stage for my odoruno cho and that is my Naginata. Remember? The last time I showed it to you?"

Joren's face scrunches up as he tries to recall but finally shakes his head. "I can't remember."

"Well, it's a weapon used by the Yamani for both close combat and war, everyone has to learn it and there's a dance which the masters teach us and we have to practice it every day until we remember it. Mine's a practice naginata, but it's still painful when the master's hit us and we're not supposed to point it at-"

Keladry breaks off as she sees Jayce attempting to pick up the weapon. Rushing towards him, she gently pries it out of his hands and squats so that she sees him eye to eye.

"Jayce, would you like to see my painting set? Mama's friend gave it to us and my painting set has really pretty colours."

She surreptitiously puts the naginata back leads them to the other corner of the room and brings out a palette with pots of coloured powder. Handing paper and a brush to her two friends, she mixes the powder with water from a glass bottle and stirs it.

Jayce begins to add swatches of colour to his paper with the excitement of a five-year old and Keladry relieved that he has lost interest in her weapon dips her brush into the pots as well. But Joren looks at his friend with furrowed brows. "What do I paint?"

Keladry looks up from her painting. "Anything," she shows him a blue round circle, "this is the lake that is right outside my room in the Yamans."

Joren frowns at his blank paper. Remembering the sword practice he had that morning, he begins to paint a grey stroke down, but his hand wavers and the sword becomes curved instead of straight. He tries to correct it by painting it thicker but doing so makes his sword too large and he realises her can't fit himself into the picture anymore.

"Argh!" he throws the brush on down. "This is boring! I hate this! Isn't there something else to do?"

Keladry puts her brush in the washing glass and gives Joren a stern look. "That's so mean of you! I really like to paint and so does Jayce! If you are really bored you can go play by yourself somewhere else!"

Chastised, Joren turns red and mumbles an apology. "But painting kind of, sort of, is not really, something I like to do, really."

Keladry glances up at her friend and sees that he is really sorry, "Okay, I'll trade with you, if you can let me and Jayce finish painting I'll dance the Odoruno Cho."

Eager to make sure his friend is not angry with him anymore Joren brightens and nods. "Okay, deal! Did you know that Gervain brought me out fishing yesterday? I didn't manage to catch a fish but Gervain caught me a trout and he cooked it right there! It was so gross to see the fish guts fall out of the fish, but he buried at the bottom of a tree and used a branch to stick it through the fish. But anyway it was so cool to see the fish change colour, maybe I can become a fisherman if I get bored of being a knight one day. What do you…"

As he rambled, Keladry would reply with Jayce chiming in once in a while. Finally after an eternity to Joren, Keladry leaves her brush in the washing glass and wiped her hands on a cloth. Excitedly, Joren opens his mouth to ask her to dance, but instead of standing up, she leans over to see Jayce's work.

"Wow! Jayce, that's a really good picture of your mama and papa!"

Jayce grins at her, "Thank you Kewa-dry, there's still big brother and me that I haven't done."

Keladry pats his head and gives him a smile. "Of course! I'm sure it'll be really nice and you can show it-"

"Hey, didn't you say you'd show me your Odoruno cho?" Joren folds his arms as he frowns at Keladry, though he doesn't know why, he feels a little unhappy at his friend talking to his brother for so long.

Keladry frowns back at him and puts her hands on her hips. "Hey! Didn't you know it's really rude to interrupt other people when they're talking? Do you want me to show you the dance or not? Sit down first!"

Turning red again, Joren mumbles an apology as he settles back and faces the centre of the room. Keladry picks out her blue fan and approaches the middle of the room. As she settles into position and bows, Joren claps loudly, startling a shy smile from her. Her chanting begins and she falls. Between her turning and twirling, Joren remembers her last dance and realises how much she has improved, even her Tortallian dress cannot hide the grace she exudes. He feels a happiness that he can't explain unfurl at the thought that she dances so well.

His thoughts are interrupted as Jayce pulls at his sleeve. "Look at my painting! Look! I painted yours too!" Annoyed, Joren tries to pull his brother away from himself.

"Jayce! Stop it! I want to watch Keladry's odoruno cho!" As Joren manages to get free, he feels a sharp rap on his arm and his free hand flies to the sore spot "Ow! What! Why did you hit me?" He frowns at Keladry.

Keladry ignores him and picks up Jayce's work. Smiling at him, she points to the second piece which Joren had neglected. "Jayce! Is that a picture of my naginata? It's really good!"

Joren looks at his brothers' work and realises the curved grey sword had become Keladry's weapon, leaning over the stage, the image mimicking the real one right in front of him. Unhappy, he throws it back to Jayce. "So what! I was trying to watch your dance! It's not that great at all! You're just being nice to him!"

Suddenly, Keladry leans over and grips Joren by the shoulders, her hazel eyes are so close to him he can see a green ring in them. "Joren! That's so mean of you! My dance may be important to you, but to me, Jayce's painting is just as important! Not everything runs around with things that are important to you!"

Joren sits back stunned for a moment, stammering. As Keladry realises what she has done, her hands fly to her mouth. "I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to shout at you…"

As an awkward silence falls between them, they are startled when Jayce throws his arms around Joren. "I'm sorry big brother! I didn't mean it too!" His big eyes stare up at Joren and with his friend and his brother looking expectantly at him, he can't help but smile back at them.

"It's okay I guess… Come on let's go find mama and Lady Ilane, I want some more of the biscuits! Say Keladry, can I call you Kel? You know, your name is really long and you can call me something else as well…"

As the maids open the door, the Ilane and Meldrose look up with something that could only be described as terror. As they realise it is only the children, they relax slightly and Meldrose is the first to react by giving a shaky smile.

"Back already? Are you all tired from playing?" As she does so, Jayce tumbles over with a big yawn into his mother's arms while Joren follows behind.

"No mama, I was just really hungry. Lady Ilane, do you have more of those cookies? I really really like them."

Ilane smiles at Joren and passes over the plate. "Yes of course! You can have as many as you want!" noticing the painting in Joren's hands, she asks them, "Did Keladry show you the new paints that she received? May I see your paintings?"

Exchanging the plate with the papers, Joren points to each piece explaining what they are. "That's Kel's naginata, that was half done by me and that's Kel's lake that she drew and that's us, papa, mama, me and Jayce, Jayce did that." He looks at his mother. "Jayce wants to show it to papa but I told him no, because we can't right?"

Meldrose looks worriedly at her sons and strokes Jayce's curly mop as her grip on him tightens slightly. "No baby, I'm sorry we can't and remember we can't tell papa that we were here okay?"

Ilane places rests a comforting hand on her friend's arm. "Mel, I think it's best if you go soon, best to reach home before Buchard gets curious and starts to search for you on his own."

"Yes, I think it's time we go," Meldrose glances out the window. "Anyway, Gervain should be waiting outside already."

As they troop down, there is a flurry as the maids gather their oiled cloaks and Keladry tugs on Joren's sleeve.

"Mama says that we are going to the Yamani Islands soon so I won't be able to see you for a few months."

"Okay, I'll make sure to visit you when you come back though, by then, I'll practice until I can show you my sword skills and you can show me your dance too!"

She holds out her little finger at him. "Promise?"

At his confused look, she takes his hand and shapes it like hers and uses her little finger to wrap around his. "Like this, and you must say back 'a promise is a promise'."

Joren nods his head and smiles. "A promise is a promise."

Outside, the rain has slowed to a light drizzle and the carriage is waiting for them. As Gervain holds out his oiled coat to shelter Joren and Jayce in, Meldrose turns back to Ilane.

"Ilane. You must promise me. Please, and Mithrose help me, if anything happens to me, protect my sons." Her eyes reveal pure terror and Ilane grips her friend's forearm.

"Your secret is safe with me. I'll protect your sons and your unborn child like they are my own."

Still looking like the weight of the world is on her shoulders, Meldrose turns back to let Gervain shelter her back into the carriage. Ilane gives the carriage one last glance before turning back and ushering Kel back into the house.

Back inside the carriage, Jayce is curled up in his mother's arms.

"Mama, I like Kewl-adrie." Joren frowns at his brother.

"Well, I liked her first!"

"Mama, Kew-adrie scolded big brother today and he said sorry!"

Meldrose's raises her eyebrows at her older son as he turns red and hits his brother.

"You tattletale!"

Laughing, she ruffles Joren's blond locks and pulls him to her side. "I can see that I'll be bringing you more often to the Mindelan house!" but she turns serious in a moment. "But remember boys, if papa asks where we went today, you must say we went over to the Raedlein townhouse today. Okay? Remember boys, you can't forget."

Meldrose holds her sons tighter as an unspoken thought crosses her mind and she stares worriedly out the window.

Next one coming up in a couple of days I promise.

A big thank you to my readers who reviewed and favourited and followed, y'all kept me going!

Shoutout to Alanna9631 who PM-ed me and I only just saw it, hope you're still seeing the story to the ending!