Jon would never admit it but this quest had excited him. He knew he had made some mistakes in his life and he could keep this boy from repeating his. But that wasn't the only reason, he wanted to be a knight for once, not the prince, not the king, just Sir Jonathon.

Next to him Alanna was having similar ideas. She hadn't tired of being the Lioness, but she had tired of being the bane of Court. She always had wondered what would her life have been like had she actually been "Sir Alan".

She had some inkling of the Gods' plan and why they had used so many female warriors instead of male knights.

Alanna sat in the audience chamber of Pirates Swoop. It wasn't actually Pirates Swoop, just a place that looked like it in the peaceful realms. As a "hero in life" Alanna was granted most everything she wanted in the afterlife.

In Alanna's hands was a piece of rope, about a foot long. She did and undid every knot she could think of. It was a habit she had picked up from Nawat. Whenever she was stressed she would sit for hours with this rope. She could think better when she was doing something with her hands and sword drills got old after a couple hundred years.

She looked up as someone walked in the hall. The cloaked figure drew closer with long, unearthly, floating steps. The power that radiated from the figure permeated the entire hall. Alanna felt steeped in magic, her nose itched.

The figure walked up to the dais and removed its cloak.

********************************************************************************** Jon was scared. He shouldn't be, but he was. The stairs seemed to drop away in his vision. He was on the cliff again.

The cliff dropped away steeply. The rain came down, soaking Jon to the bone. Darklick slipped and Jon fell to the mud. The horse reared and Jon backed away, tripping over his own feet. Suddenly he was falling...

"Jon! Jon!" Alanna was shaking him. Why was she shaking him? He had fallen...

"Jon! Come back!" Alanna said tearfully. Jon opened his eyes and slowly his vision cleared. He was lying on the top step of the stairs to the common room. Alanna's violet eyes were inches from his own. His head was in her lap and her gold edged violet Gift surrounded him and panic began to calm.

He tried to lift his head but painful cramps held his entire body rigid. Slowly the pain subsided, his muscles loosened and he slowly sat up.

Alanna tried not to show haw worried she was. She had noticed he had hesitated when going up the stairs but she hadn't thought about at the time. When she had calmed his panic she had touched on his conscience thought accidentally and felt him think "I had fallen..". She decided not to pushed him for an answer. He would tell her or Thayet eventually. She was still worried though.

*********************************************************************************** Raoul was trembling. The guilt of Alanna's death hung on him like lead chain mail. Seeing Alanna alive and healthy with George had affected him like seeing her in the Peaceful Realms never had. The guilt he felt was like he had murdered her. He packed his new saddlebags with the new clothes he had just bought in the last week.

He grunted as he lifted the full saddlebags onto his new horse, Peony. The royal summons from the regents Henri and Kathryn of Corus for Sir Raoul, Sir Gareth, Sir Alan, and Sir Jonathon had arrived that morning. Everyone had said goodbye above the din of the full inn.

They were ready to go. They set off, atlernatly joking and sitting in silence as they plodded up Market, then Palace, Way.

Aly and Nawat were sent ahead under the aliases Alex and Nathan. They had been summoned by the Training Master, no name, just the Training Master.

Before Raoul knew it, they were at the palace entrance. A sergeant in the Palace Watch took their bags an summoned a servant boy to take them to the Training Master's office. The servant motioned for them to make themselves comfortable when they arrived. Raoul noticed he hadn't said anything walking to the office and the extra effort it took him to swallow. The boy bowed silently before leaving. Raoul noticed he had hadn't said a word the entire time and the extra effort it took for him to swallow.

"Well, my teacher have finally arrived." said a voice from the doorway. Everyone jumped to their feet and spun around. An attractive young man stood there. His brown eyes surveyed th room, his wide mouth set. His light brown hair was slightly long and slicked back. His chin was squared with a bit of a cleft to it.

Everyone stared in astonishment. This couldn't be who they though it was. The man closed the door before bowing low to Jon and walking to his desk.

"Wyldon of Cavall?" Raoul said tentively. The man nodded, a smirk on his face.

"Nathaniel of Gorse now, training master to pages and squires. I already set up your posts. Sir Gareth is the math instructor, Sir Raoul the physical training instructor, Sir Jonathon the history instructor, Sir Alan" he brought his hand up to hide a smirk "the fencing and ethics instructor. Mithros told me in a dream last night I am to tell you the full story of the political situation. Well here it is:"

Everyone leaned forward in anticipation.