A/N: Yes, lovely readers, I gave you a cliff hanger, but fear not, for here is the next chapter! Please review and I hope you like it!

Francesca swallowed hard, Fianola was right. Shame and fear made it impossible to look at her friends. I might as well tell them, she thought in despair. Get it over with; at least then, when I have to leave I won't be calling myself a coward. She sat on the edge of her bed, ignoring the voices in her head that sounded like the Daughters' of the Convent, reprimanding her for her slumped stance.

"You're right," she told them, eyes locking on the floor between her feet. "I – I'm so sorry…I didn't know," her voice broke and she closed her eyes. "I'm a seer," she whispered, a part of her realized that this was only the third time that she'd said it aloud in her life. "I – Yesterday, during…the duel, I h-had a vision…I didn't know what was happening around me…I'm so sorry." She felt the tears of disappointment gather in her eyes, some slipped out. She would have to leave now; she would never get her shield. The fact that she'd had visions that seemed to imply that she would finish page training were inconsequential at the moment. Alan and the others would tell the training master, and they should, Francesca though dully. She could have killed Alan – her friend.

"That's why your family thinks you can't be a knight, isn't it?" Fianola asked her voice soft.

Francesca nodded, eyes still closed in an effort to stop her tears – she hated crying, hated the way it made others uncomfortable, and how weak it made her feel.

"What I don't understand," Traver said, "is why keep it secret? Is there a law against seers earning their shield?"

"Officially? No, I checked. But it's never been done. Not ever. Even when there were lady knights, no seer has ever been a knight." Francesca told them. There was silence for a long moment, and then Francesca felt someone – Fianola – laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Well, there's a first time for everything," the other girl told her.

"What," Francesca finally looked up, blinking at her friends, Fianola handed her a handkerchief.

"Your parents were worried that you would freeze up if you had a vision in the middle of a fight, right?" Slowly Francesca nodded. "Well, I think yesterday proved that isn't the case."

Francesca stared at them. "You – You're not…going to tell anyone?"

"It's not our secret to tell, Francesca," Alan told her solemnly. "Besides, you're our friend, you deserve a chance."

"I – Th-Thank you," she told them with feeling.

"The next time one of us are dueling you, just let us know if you get a vision," Traver said, teasing a bit.

"I wish I could," she replied mournfully. "Sometimes I know when their coming, other times…"

"Come on," Liam told her. "Let's go to breakfast." Francesca agreed stopping only long enough to slash some water on her face; she peered out into the hallway before shooing the boys out of her room. The five of them walked to the mess hall, and Francesca felt more relaxed than she had in years. She had hated lying to people she liked and respected, even if her lies were only by omission. When they had gotten their food and were seated, Traver lean forward and whispered.

"So how often do you have visions?"

Francesca bit her lip, not particularly wanting to talk about it, but she figured that she did owe her friends. "It depends; sometimes I can go months – almost a year once – without any. Other times I can't seem to blink without having one." She sighed, "The first day of page training I had one; just to let you know Alan, your mother will take it upon herself to help you find a knight master." The red-headed boy scowled.

"Of course she will," he responded with a sigh.

"Oh, look on the bright side," Fianola told him. "At least we know that you won't fail the big tests."

"Was there ever any doubt?" Alan demanded, making the others laugh.

Francesca said nothing; she sat smiling to herself, happy and content. That evening, after the Midwinter service, she wrote Aisha.

Dear Aisha,

While I am sure that you are enjoying your year as much as I am enjoying mine, I just wanted to let you know that maybe - maybe – you were right. Through some unforeseeable events, I have told my friends here at the palace. The shocking thing? They are ok with it. Yes, I realize that you told me so. Yes, I know that I am too sensitive. No, I don't care, nor will I be telling everyone, and I expect you to respect that. I expect to see you next Midwinter, or will you be too civilized to speak with a girl who willingly tries for shield.

I still haven't decided whether or not I want you telling all of my friends here about my torture – I mean my time at Covent school. They often forget that I spent three years there, until I say something to remind them.

Francesca paused and sat back. In her last letter, Aisha had told her that - according to her brother – the war was all but over. In all probability Aisha's parents wouldn't let their daughter be presented at court until their son was home.

I feel I should add, it may be longer than you think before we see each other again. But fear not, I shall continue to return you letters, and perhaps send you news of anything important that happens.

Your friend,

Francesca of Nond

The next morning, marked the end of the holidays, though the pages had one extra day before classes began again. To pass the time, Liam talked Francesca and the others into going to the royal menagerie. On a whim that day, she wore a dress – something she'd abstained from thus far. The looks of surprise that her friends gave her both amused and exasperated her. I am a girl, she thought. And they know that I did spend some time trying to be a proper lady. Why is it so surprising that I own a dress?

They were laughing and joking on their way to the menagerie, not paying attention much to their surroundings, so Francesca was shocked when Fianola and Traver stopped so suddenly that she ran into them. Before she could ask what was going on, they moved, showing her a bobcat trying to reach pygmy marmosets though the enclosure. One look at the creature had Francesca sighing; her friends were making strangled sounds.

"Oh, just laugh," she told them before striding over to Rain. "You're a foolish creature," she told the cat, plucking him from the ground. He hissed and wriggled, trying to get back to the monkeys. "No," she told him. "What would the wild mage say if she saw you trying to eat her friends? She might not be as nice as I'm being." Turning she carried him away from the creatures he'd been after.

Rain began to made sounds pitiful enough to break even the coldest hearts. Her friends tried to sooth the creature, Francesca just gave him a disgusted look. She knew this act. When they were far enough away from the marmosets, Francesca dropped the bobcat, who then gave her an insulted look, before beginning to wash.

"He said that he just wanted to play with them," a soft female voice said behind them.

"Yes, well I doubt that this miserable fur ball's definition of 'play' and the marmosets' are the same." Francesca responded without thinking. When she turned she saw the wild mage; Francesca felt herself flush and looked down.

"Oh, you two have never been introduced, have you?" Alan said cheerfully, ignoring Francesca's panicked look. "Auntie Daine, this is Francesca of Nond, she's in page training with us. Francesca this is Daine the wild mage.

Three years' worth of training caused Francesca to react without conscious though. She curtsied to the other woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady." Francesca knew she looked as surprised as the wild mage when she straightened. Liam, Fianola, and Traver roared with laughter.

"Forgive me, I spent some years at Covent school," Francesca mumbled to the other woman. "The reactions they all but beat into us sometimes catch me off guard."

"Not at all," Daine assured her. Rain chose that moment to whine pitifully to Daine, who giggled. "He says that you never let him have fun."

"His 'fun' has gotten me in trouble often enough," Francesca said wryly. She was desperately trying to catch one of her friend's eyes to beg for help. All of them were avoiding her gaze. She mentally cursed them – especially Alan, who had an amused smirk on his face, at least the others tried to hide their amusement at her expense. To try and make herself feel less awkward, Francesca looked around.

"Oh, no," she grumbled, spotting a party moving towards them. She could make out only one member diffidently, but could make a guess at the others. "Alan," she hissed at the boy. "Let's get out of here. Please!"

"Is that – Francesca of Nond?" Francesca gritted her teeth at the voice. When she turned to face the girl that had spoken, there was a small polite smile on her face.

"Michelle, what a surprise," she told the older girl with false pleasure. "When did you get here? And is that Sabine and Ella with you?"

The four women exchanged greetings with false pleasure.

"When you disappeared this year, we didn't know what to think! There were horrid rumors going around, someone said something about a match your parents made, but I knew that couldn't be the case. You were always very…spirited, too much so to have no say in your future husband, wasn't she ladies?" Michelle said, Francesca wanted to punch her, she knew about the rumors, she also knew who'd started them.

"No," she told them with a false laugh. "No match. I decided life at the Covent had lost its appeal," not that it ever had any. "They were letting in a lesser people, I'm sure you understand." Francesca saw the barb hit the mark when Michelle's eyes narrowed.

"Well I don't blame you for not wanting your parents to choose your future husband," Sabine spoke now, the girl was cleverer than Michelle, and much more vicious. "After the last one they wanted to set you up with. Oh, dear, we must be going. It was good to see you dear."

Francesca gritted her teeth and said good-bye to the three women, once they were out of ear shot she growled.

"I hate them. I hate them very much." Francesca looked down, Rain sat at her feet. "Couldn't you have, I don't know, hissed at them? Attacked them? Something?" the bobcat blinked at her and yawned. "Contrary creature," the girl grumbled.

"Ummm," Francesca turned, only just remembering that her friends and the wild mage were there, she flushed. Fianola continued, "Well that was…interesting. At least now I remember why I'm glad to be a page; you can beat up people you don't like." Francesca snorted.

"Your parents tried to arrange your marriage," Liam asked.

"I was afraid you heard that," she sighed. "Yes, but it didn't get far."

"What stopped it," Traver asked.

Francesca began to walk back the way the group had come. "Oh, I told my father point blank that I wanted nothing to do with the man, warned him it would be best of he washed his hands of the whole house. Then I told him that if he tried to continue with the match, I'd rub raw stakes on myself and go wandering in the wood for the nearest spirdren and ask it to eat me."

"If that's the argument you used to escape marriage," Alan told her dryly after a long silence. "Then I shudder to think what you used to convince your parents to let you try for you shield."

"Wait," Traver said, "how old were you when your parents tried to set the match?"

Francesca paused, frowning. "I think…nine. Maybe I'd just turned ten."

Daine made a shocked sound, Francesca and Fianola glanced at her. "Sadly it's not that uncommon." Fianola told her. "Most noble families begin to discuss matches for their daughters soon after they are born. Then they send their daughters off to become ladies and decide for certain once they're old enough to marry."

"How old was this man they wanted you to marry," Daine asked her.

"He was a squire," she said quietly, thinking back to that day.

"So he's a knight now?" Francesca wasn't sure who had asked.

"No," she sighed. "No never passed his Ordeal…he died in the Chamber."

She heard complete silence, looking over her shoulder; Francesca saw that all of them watched her in varying degrees of shock and horror. Feeling the need for some inexplicable reason, Francesca took a deep breath.

"Yes, my father wanted me to marry Joren of Stone Mountain."

A/N: Well this is the longest chapter thus far. What did y'all think? Please review, thanks to everyone who has added me or this story to their favorites/alerts; I love you guys 33! Once more, please review!