A/N: Soooo? What does every one think? Please review, it helps me feel motivated, especially to write the extra-long chapters instead of the usual shorties. Thanks quikreader93, TheRealProtector, I'm glad you like it! Well, here's what you REALLY want, instead of these boring author's notes :P
To TheRealProtector: I plan to continue the story all the way until she is a knight. I already know who her knight-master will be ;p
Francesca refused to say any more about her family – no matter how much the others bugged her about it. By the summer training camp rolled around they were still trying. As she packed for the trip, Francesca faced a problem; if Rain followed her, which he probably would, and then the training masters would notice. While she wanted to go and ask the wild mage to look after him, but the thought of facing the wild mage alone, and the chance of running into Master Numair made her blood run cold. Finally, she figured out a way to solve her problem – maybe.
Alan's room was only a short walk down the hall from her's, and of all her friends, he knew Daine and Numair the best – after all, he referred to them as 'Uncle' Numair and 'Aunt' Daine. Francesca sent a quick prayer to Shakith and knock on the boys' door. Alan opened the door, and after seeing who it was, went back to packing. Francesca walked in and sat on the edge of his desk.
"Will you help me with something," she asked, not wasting time.
"Depends," Alan replied without looking up. "But the answer will probably be yes."
Francesca rolled her eyes. If you're going to say yes anyway, why not just say yes? She thought, but didn't say. Instead she asked. "Will you ask the wild mage if she'll look after Rain? I really don't want him following us during the training camp."
Alan frowned at her. "Let me ask you a question," Francesca nodded. "Why don't you want to do it yourself," he held up a hand to forestall anything she was about to say. "I'm not saying I won't, but… Are you afraid of Aunt Daine? You haven't seemed like it, except for that first time, but I know your shy…" he drifted off as Francesca shook her head.
"It's not the wild mage," Francesca swallowed and glanced towards the door, before lowering her voice. "It's Master Numair, I know that great mages can do things others cannot. See people's magic and such; what if he can see that I'm a seer," the word was little more than a breath of sound. Francesca didn't realized that her eyes where wide, and fearful.
It wasn't until that moment, that Alan realized that Francesca had stopped jumping at shadows, and had become less quiet – not just with their friends, but all together, since she had told them that she was a seer. It was as though the weight of the secret she kept is what made her the quiet, fearful girl he'd sponsored.
"I'll tell you what," Alan told her kindly. "I'll go with you, and if Uncle Numair is there, I'll distract him." Francesca nodded, a bit reluctantly and left to grab Rain, who was sleeping on her bed. When they knock on Daine and Numair's door, it was the tall mage that answered, Francesca felt herself stiffen, and attempt to fade into the background, with highly limited success.
"Hello, Uncle Numair, is Aunt Daine here?" Alan said cheerfully, Francesca stared at the floor.
"No, some of the rider groups have returned from the north, and Daine is seeing to their ponies. Is it something I can help with?"
Alan shook his head and bid the mage a good night.
"Are we allowed to go over to the rider's stables?" Francesca asked, as Alan led the way.
"I find that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission." Was the loftily reply.
"As if you ever ask forgiveness," Francesca retorted, the boy was constantly playing pranks – none of which their teachers could prove he had anything to do with. It had frustrated Alan to know end when Francesca seemed to know about most, if not all, of his pranks before anyone else. He'd even accused her of spying on him.
It did not take them long to find the stables, but Francesca refused to go in.
"If the horses smell Rain, they might spook, and if one of the horses gets hurt because of it, I doubt that the wild mage will appreciate it." Alan went into the stable to find Daine, while Rain and Francesca stayed outside. She was beginning to wonder what was taking so long when a voice spoke behind her.
"It's not often we see pages around here," Francesca whirled, and came face to face with a short woman, and a giant of a man.
"P-pardon, my lady, my lord. I-I was waiting for my friend." She stammered bowing to them. The man she recognized from one of her visions; Raoul of Glodenlake. The woman was a K'miri, and if Francesca had to hazard a guess, she would say that she spoke to Buriram Tourakam, former commander of the Queen's Riders and Sir Raoul's wife. Rain, wrapped in a blanket in Francesca's arms, yowled and wiggled out.
Francesca went red with embarrassment, and glanced at them; Buri looked surprised, but Sir Raoul was looking at her like he recognized her from somewhere, but wasn't sure where.
"What's your name, page?" Raoul asked, not commenting on the bobcat that sat cleaning itself at her feet.
"Francesca, sir," she said bowing again. "Francesca of Nond."
Raoul blinked, and Francesca saw sadness flash in his eyes. She gritted her teeth, she knew that look, it was the same one her aunt always got; seeing for a second, not her, but Francis, who'd died in the Sweating Sickness.
"Ah," the big knight said. "I knew a relative of yours when I was a page. You look very much like him."
"Yes, my lord," Francesca said politely. "So I've been told."
"Uncle Raoul," Alan's voice was cheerful. Francesca wanted to throttle him. "Aunt Buri, I see you've met Francesca. If you're discussing something important, I can come back –"
"Alan," Francesca hissed. "Don't you dare, or by Shakith I will make sure that our teachers have plenty of evidence to nail you for the next dozen pranks you pull." Buri and Raoul chuckled, and Francesca flushed, glaring at her friend.
"I thought you knew better than to leave any evidence," Raoul asked the boy.
"I do," he replied with a shrug. "But Francesca would find some anyway" He ignored the glare that Francesca gave him. Looking past him, Francesca saw Daine exit the Rider's stables, mumbling excuses and bowing, Francesca picked up Rain and headed over to the wild mage.
"I thought there was only one girl in the same year of page training as you," Raoul commented.
"Francesca's a first year," He responded. "But she is my age."
"Why wait so late," Buri asked.
Alan shrugged. "Her parents didn't want her to try for her shield – apparently they begged her to try for the Rider's."
"That's odd," Raoul commented. Once more Alan shrugged, and said nothing.
"How long before you head back north?"
"A few weeks," Raoul answered.
"When you see my Ma, tell her I said to be careful." Raoul chuckled and nodded. They bid each other good-day, and Alan went over to Daine and Francesca. "What's wrong," he asked seeing the frustrated look on Francesca's face.
"Rain refuses to stay," she told him. "Apparently, I disappeared on him once, so he doesn't trust me to come back."
"Well, when you came to training," Alan began. Francesca gave him a look, he grinned at her.
Daine looked up at her. "I'm sorry, but I won't make him stay. Not if he doesn't want to."
"No, I didn't expect you to." Francesca told her, crouching down next to Rain. "Will you at least stay out of sight most of the time – when our teachers are around?" She asked the bobcat.
"He says that he will," Daine translated.
"I'll take it," she told the wild mage with a lop-sided smile. "I don't know why I expected anything else. Rain isn't a pet; he doesn't take orders." The bobcat gave her a cat-smile and rubbed against her leg. "Thank you, for trying." She told the wild mage with a bow.
Alan and Francesca headed back to the page's wing.
"Why do you enjoy my torment," she asked her friend. He blinked at her. "You know that I uncomfortable around strangers – and it amuses you."
"Yes," he acknowledged, with a grin. "But in all honesty, sometime I forget how shy you can be." He stopped walking; Francesca went a few more steps, before she realized that he wasn't moving. She gave him a questioning look. "Will you tell your knight master? When you become a squire?"
Francesca bit her lip and looked away. "I'll have to, won't I?" she told him. "Maybe I'll be lucky, and one of the lady knight's friends will be my knight master – they'll be more likely to believe that I can be a knight."
Alan nodded and started to walk again. "Which lady knight?" he asked.
"Either," she told him.
The next day, the pages and the training master left the palace early. Francesca and her friends made a game of trying to spot Rain. The Royal Forrest was dense and the filtered light made it more difficult than that usual. They headed east and south, past Whitethorn. They pitched a permanent camp after a week's travel. The spot the training master picked was on a small lake in a forested area. Fianola and Francesca were ordered to pitch their tents near Eda Bell, and to dig a latrine in the opposite direction of the boys'. When they were scouting out a spot, Rain joined them.
"Are you sure that he's not a pet," Fianola asked. Francesca made a face at her.
"He's a wild animal," she told her friend. "He may have decided that I'm his friend or companion, or something, but he's not a pet."
For dinner that evening, Lord Padraig sent the pages fishing. It did not take long for the pages to have enough fish for supper. As the fish cooked, the training master spoke to them.
"Tomorrow you will work on your tracking skills," he told the pages. "You will be split into groups, and set to find and track a specific type of animal back to its den."
That evening, Francesca fell asleep to wondering thoughts of what group she would be in, and a bobcat sleeping on her stomach.
The next morning, Francesca watched the boys in her group warily; Heastif ibn Alhaz, Gavin of Stone Mountain, Turomot of Mcayahill, Marrek of Irontown, and Traver. Traver and Francesca traded looks when they were assigned to track a bobcat whose tracks their teachers had found around camp yesterday evening. Francesca and the other first- and second-years had spears; the third- and fourth-years had bows. It took a while for them to find tracks – bobcats were hard to track, as they tended to stay to trees and were light enough that unless the dirt was soft or wet, they didn't leave much in the way of tracks.
They had been at it for several hours, when Heastif called for a break. Francesca and Traver sat on a nearby rock. Marrek dropped his bow and quiver next to them, before heading over where the senior pages argued over dung.
"So," Traver asked quietly. "Are we tracking Rain?"
"I'm not sure," she made a face. "They haven't stopped long enough for me to get a good look at the tracks – I could tell if I saw them. If we are then we aren't doing a good job. He's following us."
He laughed and took a swallow from his water skin. There was no warning when it happened. A hurrok swept from the sky with a scream of rage; it slashed several of the older pages before flying back to the sky, to take another pass.