Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any characters you may recognize from the books or the movies, I wish I did but I don't... I also don't own the Narnian Calendar. It belongs to Elecktrum who was kind enough to let me borrow it for my story. Her own stories are awesome and you should go read them too.

Summary: Not all shields look as we expected... Not all shields are physical...

Chapter Twelve

33 Nor'Wind 1001

We were going to die. Well, considering my partner in crime was a King and far less likely to be killed, I was going to die. That was not how my cohort and I had intended to start the morning. It was barely sixth hour and there was a strong possibility that I would not live to see it become half-six. I hate Murphy...the problem was he hated me too.

Admittedly, there was the small matter that we probably deserved our fate...or at least some form of punishment. But, it wasn't so bad that they needed to kill us...me, of course, telling them that was not going to help the situation at all. It's amazing how one little miscalculation in an otherwise brilliant plan could lead to impending injury and the strong possibility of death if they caught us too soon. Now, the thing to understand is Narnians as a whole enjoy a good prank or joke...actually, some of them are a good joke. I had experienced this firsthand when I pulled a prank on Oreius and the senior officers four days earlier on Firstday when I swapped out the sugar for the salt in their refreshments with the knowledge of Sherket and some highly amused army cooks. However, it seemed there was at least one place in Cair Paravel that we should not have used for the setting of our prank on Peter.

For some reason I could no longer recall, after a long night of planning and collecting supplies, Edmund and I had reached the decision that we should set the prank up in the armory. Peter was our target and we wanted to make sure he was the one caught in the prank, so we hung a light trough filled to the brim with syrup over the entrance into the main room of the armory with a large tarp full of flour strung directly above it. In order to pull this prank off, we had to control it manually otherwise the syrup and flour could have landed on anyone like someone particularly dangerous to our health (like any of the officers in the army). It was a rather elaborate and ambitious prank since we were only targeting one person with it. That combined with little sleep and setting everything up by candlelight (I was the tallest so I was the one hanging things and pouring the syrup into the trough after it was hung while balancing on a somewhat shaky ladder), not to mention the fact that we chose to do it in the armory of all places, probably contributed to the fact that I made a slight miscalculation regarding the full extent of the impact this prank would have overall.

We finished setting everything up two hours before we were scheduled to show up in the armory for training, so whether Edmund got any sleep that night...morning...or not, I don't know. But, I caught a hour-long nap before I implemented the first phase of our prank, which was make the target think everything was normal. For me, that meant I quickly dressed in a tunic and skirt and pulled on my boots before I hurried out of the main palace and headed for the armory. Edmund was not a morning person so I'm not sure why Peter didn't suspect anything when Edmund dragged him out of bed with the order to hurry up and get dressed for training (maybe he thought he was having a strange dream). I had just finished pulling on my leather jerkin and fastening my cuirass over it when Edmund skidded into the armory nearly running over the weapons rack the ropes leading to our prank were tied to, but thankfully he managed to stop before disaster struck. I gave him a questioning look and he nodded before he started pulling on his armor. It was nearly six in the morning when I helped Edmund finish putting on his armor and we heard the sound of boots approaching the armory. I glanced at Edmund to see if he still wanted to go through with the prank (I always check with co-conspirators on team pranks) and he resolutely unwound the ropes from the weapons rack, which I took as a sign he was more than willing to prank Peter as soon as he stepped through the door.

Peter appeared in the entrance and Edmund jerked hard on the ropes. Our prank worked perfectly as gallons of syrup were abruptly dumped on the unsuspecting High King and topped off with a huge cloud of flour. Now, the cloud of flour would be the first miscalculation we had made because the flour not only covered the syrup but it went everywhere to the point that Edmund had flour on his legs and I had a good dusting on my skirt even though we were standing on the opposite side of the armory. We were still pleased with the results...until the cloud of flour finally dissipated and we saw that Peter was not the only standing in the entrance to the armory. I had been looking at Edmund when the flour cloud settled so the first clue I had that something had gone wrong was when he gasped as his eyes flew wide. I turned around and clapped both hands over my mouth as I saw Peter had indeed been covered in syrup and flour as we planned but standing on either side of him were two Centaurs who both had the front half of their bodies covered in syrup and flour. Actually, the flour dusted the entirety of their bodies. I looked over Peter's bowed head and saw Cletus and Sherket (they had some flour coating their fronts too) watching in stunned silence...which meant the two Centaurs had to be...Oreius and Ardon. Oh, we were so dead.

Edmund and I stared in silence as the three flour-covered warriors (it would have been hilarious except for one little thing...did I mention we were going to die?) finally caught sight of us. I never thought being glared at by someone who had been coated in syrup and flour would be terrifying, but at that moment, I couldn't think of anything more terrifying than the three of them. An angry hiss came from Peter while Ardon and Oreius didn't make a sound just pinned us in place with their glares of doom as all three took a single step forward, which prompted my flight or fight instincts to take the fore. I grabbed Edmund by the back of his tabard, pulled him in front of me, and then shoved him ahead of me as we both sprinted for the rear archway that lead to the training yard directly behind the armory.

We were going to die and it wasn't even half past six in the morning yet. "Edmund! Katerina! You come back here!" Peter sounded absolutely furious as we ignored him and kept running for the other small archway connecting the main training yard with a series of other training yards. I was less concerned about Peter than I was about the two Centaurs who still hadn't said a word. It was not good that they still hadn't said anything because that meant they were beyond furious (which equals dead Katerina Alambiel in this particular instance). Edmund and I slid to a halt as Ardon cut us off from the archway right before we made our escape...that wasn't good. Oreius and Peter started to close in on us with Ardon joining them...we were being advanced on by three warriors covered in a mix of syrup and flour, I should not have been intimidated (but I was). We backed up until our retreat was cut off by a trio of sealed water barrels, Edmund gulped nervously while I tried to think of a way out of our predicament. They were a scant seven feet away when I hit upon an absolutely insane idea, I grabbed Edmund by the neck of his chain mail and bodily hauled him after me as I leaped up and over the water barrels (thank God he was such a skinny eleven-year-old otherwise I never would have been able to pull it off).

We sprinted back up the length of the courtyard, but the thundering hooves behind us told me that any and all patience the Centaurs had was now completely gone. I grabbed Edmund's arm and dove to the left, which jerked him out of Oreius' path right before the irate General could grab hold of him. Unfortunately, we only managed to avoid capture for another two minutes and then we were trapped against the rear wall of the training yard with no hope of escape. Well, we were trapped and we were either going to die or we were going to wish that they had been kind enough to kill us, but at least I wasn't having to face this alone. Peter seemed to be the spokesman for the group as he growled, "Explain."

I opened my mouth to try to explain the reasoning behind our prank (I was sure we had at least one...I just couldn't think of any) when Edmund gulped then pointed at me, "It was all Kat's idea." Traitor.

I looked from them to him and shook my head, "It was not all my idea, Edmund. You helped too."

He glanced at me, "No, not with the planning just the execution." Why, why out of all the words he could have used, did he have to pick that one?

We froze as Ardon suddenly spoke in a dangerously soft tone, "A rather appropriate choice of words, Sir Edmund How. Do you not agree, General?"

Oreius answered in the same deadly soft tone, "Indeed." He glared at us, and then he abruptly turned away with Peter falling beside him as he walked back across the training yard. "Bring them to the armory and make sure they do not have the opportunity to slip away."

Ardon followed the order by grabbing the both of us by the collar and lifting us off the ground as he turned around to head for the armory. He didn't exactly drag us there, but my feet only touched the ground every other step and I was taller than Edmund (okay, we were being dragged to our execution). I was certain that Ardon left huge floury handprints when he finally set us down just inside the armory, but I wasn't about to complain since Oreius was waiting there with such a look that I couldn't find the words to describe it save to say it summed up all the fury and disbelief I could almost feel radiating off of him. I was going to die. Oreius stared at us in silence then he spoke a single word, "Why?"

That was a very, very good question and I really wished that I had a very, very good answer or just a good one or any answer. But I didn't, so I did what I usually did when faced with a question that I had no answer to...I answered with a question. "Why what exactly?"

I almost expected the flour and syrup to bake from the heat of look of absolute fury Oreius graced me with and I admit to being impressed when he answered in a remarkably calm tone, if a bit terse. "Why exactly did you two decided to coat my armory in this mess of syrup and flour? What possessed you to do this? I knew you acted insane at times, Katerina Alambiel, but this...this is utter lunacy. Well, have you no answer?"

No, I didn't. I must have been silent too long because Oreius suddenly stepped closer until he was looming over Edmund and I, "Look at my armory. Both of you, look." If there's a large and extremely furious Centaur looming over you, you did what he said. My eyes widened slightly as I took in the full effect of our prank, the entire armory (including every piece of armor and equipment...every last piece) was coated in flour and the front was covered in a combination of syrup and flour while the tarp and trough we had used dangled above the main entrance with remnants of syrup still dripping from the trough. Well, when we miscalculated, we really miscalculated (I hate Murphy). I tilted my head back to meet Oreius' gaze and I opened my mouth to explain or try to anyway, and to my extreme shock and slight horror, I didn't manage to say a word. I laughed instead...I, Katerina Alambiel, someone who had not laughed out loud in...well, never, started to laugh. And, it wasn't a quiet laugh either, it was a full, clear laugh of the kind that came from deep down inside a person. There's a saying in Narnia that no one laughs at a Centaur...oh, how I wished that wasn't true to an extent because then I would have been in less trouble.

I didn't know who was more shocked, the four males or myself, all I knew was I had started laughing and I couldn't stop. I clapped both hands over my mouth and finally managed to muffle the sound though I couldn't quite stop my shoulders from shaking with the now repressed laughter still coursing through me. I glanced at Oreius, Ardon, and Peter covered in syrup and flour once I thought I had the laughter under control, only to instantly dissolve into more laughter. I finally had to drop my gaze to study floury floor at my boots (also floury) in order to regain complete control (I think they were all of the opinion that I had finally lost the last remnants of my sanity, but I hadn't...it was close though). Nevertheless, I didn't (couldn't) look up when Oreius started talking again in the same measured tone of carefully suppressed fury (apparently, he was going to ignore my bout of laughter for now, which was fine by me). "Since Katerina Alambiel seems to be having difficulty answering, perhaps you, Sir Edmund How, might enlighten me as to why my armory is covered in flour and syrup."

I carefully turned my head so I could look at Edmund while avoiding even a glance at the other three as the poor boy hedged slightly, probably because facing our executioners made last night's brilliant plan seem rather...less than brilliant. "Well, we did this in order to prank Peter and-"

Peter cut off Edmund's explanation as he stepped up to his brother and leveled a floury glare (thank God, I didn't laugh) at him. "Wait a minute, you mean to say that this entire mess was because you wanted to prank me again? Wasn't putting oatmeal and honey in my shoes yesterday enough?"

I coughed (partially to force myself not to laugh and partially to call some attention back to me) then I resolutely met Peter's gaze. "Actually, Peter, this was not the intended result...for the most part. See, what we planned was for you to be covered in, um, all of this...however, upon examining the actual extent of the results of our prank, it would appear that we...made several...miscalculations in our plan."

I paused when both Centaurs echoed in that deadly soft tone (apparently they didn't have any other tone when covered in flour and syrup), "Miscalculations?"

I didn't dare look at them (if I started laughing again, I would be flattened to begin with and who knew what it would end with), so I just nodded while looking at Edmund. "Yes, such as the syrup and flour landing on...people other than just Peter...and on everything else. We might have been a tad enthusiastic when we calculated how much of each item we should use... And, the location was, well, we had a reason for pulling the prank in the armory...I just can't seem to recall what it was exactly. So, yes, we made several miscalculations for this particular prank."

The absurd urge to laugh nearly overwhelmed me again so I dropped my eyes to the floor once again right before Oreius nearly blew a gasket (I had the sudden image of steam coming off him and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing). "Miscalculations would imply that you actually thought this through, which neither one of you did. Miscalculations also imply that your prank only got a little out of hand, that it caused a small mess. Look at what you did to my armory! This is not a miscalculation or a small mess, it is a disaster!"

I couldn't stop myself, I peeked at them and asked, "Would it help if we told you we were sorry?" Utter silence was the only reply as a quick glance up confirmed that all three of them were struggling to resist the urge to do something to me like strangulation. I quietly thanked God that I hadn't given in to the impulse to tell them that we were too young to die as I shifted a little closer to Edmund and muttered, "I was afraid you would say that."

Edmund didn't say a word as he looked at our three angry companions (Oreius' anger actually intimidated him), but I was still staring at the floor in the concentrated effort to not give in to the dratted urge to laugh (Oreius may have been angry but he was also coated in syrup and flour...I hadn't remained intimidated long). Oreius moved to stand in front of me so I was now staring at the space between my boots and his hooves, "Katerina Alambiel, look at me...now." I took a breath before I slowly raised my head and looked up to meet Oreius' still furious gaze (okay, I was still ever so slightly intimidated by him). To my credit, I did not laugh as Oreius stared down at me, "You seem to find this situation rather amusing, so I assume you will enjoy cleaning up this miscalculation as well. You and Sir How will clean every piece of armor and equipment and every inch of the armory until you have restored my armory to the condition it was in before the two of you arbitrarily decided to use it as the setting for your prank. You will not leave until this done. Furthermore, no one is to use my armory to play pranks on anyone for the next five years. I forbid it! Is that understood?"

Edmund immediately answered to the affirmative, but I couldn't speak for fear of laughing. Oreius had no sympathy as he suddenly leaned in close and whispered, "Do you understand, Katerina Alambiel?"

I cleared my throat before I answered with a rather strangled "Yes, Oreius." I was nearly nose-to-nose with a Centaur General who was covered in syrup and flour...I was fortunate that I managed to answer at all.

Oreius gave me an indecipherable look (probably due to all the flour and syrup), "What possessed you to do this, Katerina?"

Oh, how I wished I knew the answer to that question. I bit my lip and hedged a little as I replied with another question. "Do you really want me to answer that with your temper the way it is at the moment?"

Apparently, he decided I had a point (or that I was too insane to bother talking to anymore) because Oreius didn't reply, instead he turned to Peter and Edmund. "You are dismissed, Sir Wolfsbane. Sir How, you and Katerina Alambiel will be under the supervision of Captain Cletus until you have finished cleaning my armory."

After that, Oreius, Ardon, and Peter walked (well, actually it was more of a stalk with a hint of laugh and die) out of the armory, leaving Edmund and I standing in the middle of the syrup and flour-covered armory. We were still standing there in silence when Cletus (now devoid of flour) entered the armory just long enough to oversee two Fauns deliver our cleaning supplies, which included water, soap, cloths, polish... Did I mention that when Oreius said we had to clean every piece of armor and equipment, he meant every last piece? I looked around the armory again then resigned myself to a very, very long day of cleaning and polishing. Well, at least, they didn't kill us.

We took off our own armor and carefully placed everything just outside the range of the flour before we set to work. I glanced at Edmund as I lowered the trough to the ground, "I told you we should have just used the two buckets."

He rolled his eyes at me as he moved the trough out of the way. "You only suggested that when we were going to do this in Peter's and mine room. Once we decided to move it to the armory, you were more than happy to go along with more of both the syrup and the flour. Why did we think the armory would be a good choice, Kat?"

I unhooked the tarp and dropped it down to him, "I can't remember, but I say we blame the coffee."

He tilted his head, "Too much?"

I smirked, "I was thinking more along the lines of too little." He laughed at that and then we went back to working in silence. After about twenty minutes, I broke the silence. "You know, Edmund, this wouldn't have been so bad if we had managed to leave out the E.F.C."

Edmund glanced up from where he was scrubbing at a particularly stubborn patch of syrup and flour, "E.F.C.?"

I nodded as I moved a large shield to the side, "Extremely Furious Centaurs."

He laughed then shook his head, "Might I suggest you avoid explaining what E.F.C. stands for to anyone who could be included in that description? And, there was one other thing we could have left out..." He trailed off as he gestured wordlessly at the room around us and I had to admit he had a point.

Oreius had been right when he referred to the armory as a disaster...actually it was more along the lines of looking like a flour apocalypse had occurred in there. Edmund and I had to put a lot of elbow grease into just cleaning the floor of the armory, especially where the syrup was mixed with the flour. We worked it out where we would take shifts of cleaning the floor and walls then swap with whichever one of us was scraping, washing, and polishing the armor and equipment. Cletus came in twice that morning, once to check our progress and deliver some coffee (God bless that Faun because I desperately needed it) and then the second time was to escort some Fauns who were burdened with the flour and syrup-covered armor and equipment belonging to one General and one Captain (Peter hadn't been wearing armor...but we still had to clean it). The rest of the time, the Faun Captain remained outside the armory playing on his panpipe in the small alcove leading to the main courtyard (it was the last day of January so there's a sign of just how big a mess the armory was that Cletus preferred sitting by a brazier in the alcove than to come inside). Well, there were worse things to work to than a Faun playing tunes on the panpipe...like the shouts of a couple of E.F.C.

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Katerina Alambiel was a menace to herself, to other people, to me, and to my armory. By the Lion, I couldn't figure out how she managed to cause so much chaos that she could shut down training for not only the Kings and herself, but for the majority of the army as well. I also couldn't figure out why she chose to use the armory for her prank or how she even convinced Edmund to go along with such an insane plan. I knew when I met her that she was probably insane to some extent; however, this debacle proved she was capable of such insanity that I didn't know how she managed to act like a sane being even part of the time. How had King Edmund described her last Sixthday? As brilliant and a "brick" but completely insane. I was not completely sure what the Kings meant when they described people as a "brick" but from the tone and context, I gathered that they meant the person in question was good and dependable. I supposed King Edmund's description was accurate enough, though at that moment, I was more inclined to leave off everything save that Katerina Alambiel was completely insane and more infuriating than any other being I had met.

Fortunately, for Katerina, I had chosen to act as one of her shields, to be her friend and protector as far as she would allow. Unfortunately, for me, that meant I could not give in to the almost overwhelming urge to strangle her I had had when facing her in the armory. A knock on my door pulled me from my musings on whether it would be worth risking Alithia's anger in order to toss the insane little pest into the Eastern Sea just long enough to see if the cold would help her regain her Aslan-given common sense and then I would pull her out. I opened the door and watched as Tuulea swept in with Stonebrook trailing his wife with a faintly amused look as she began without preamble, "Oreius, I want to talk to you about Katerina Alambiel."

I frowned as I watched the Black Elder Nymph pacing the length of the room, "What has she done now? Burned down the armory?"

Stonebrook smirked at my tone while Tuulea laughed and said, "Come now, Oreius, you cannot say such a thing about her. Besides, how could she burn down the armory when it is made of stone?"

Typically, I would not worry overmuch about the trouble Katerina Alambiel could get in to or cause, but after the events of that morning... I flicked my tail in irritation and exasperation as I retorted, "I have no idea how she would manage it, Tuulea, but I also have no doubt that somehow she would manage to do it...and it would all occur as the result of a miscalculation."

Tuulea seemed to find my words vastly amusing as she laughed, "Was it really so bad?"

I scowled, not so much at Tuulea's amusement, but at the memory of that little pest and what she had managed to do to my armory. I carefully measured my tone to avoid sounding irritated as I regarded the Nymph, "Have you seen what she did to my armory with the help of Sir Edmund How?"

Stonebrook coughed and I knew he had while Tuulea grinned expectantly as she replied, "No, but I am under the impression that it was quite a mess, no?"

I grimaced, "No, Tuulea, it was not quite a mess. It was a disaster."

Tuulea laughed again, "Has our Katerina Alambiel gotten under your skin, Oreius?"

I glared at the Nymph, "Katerina Alambiel has been an annoying, insane, and cheeky little pest for over a week, Tuulea. Yes, she is trying my patience." At the memory of everything she had accomplished just that morn, I glanced up at the ceiling and prayed for Aslan to give me more patience to deal with the little pest.

Tuulea was enjoying the conversation far too much as she asked, "I have been told that you banned pranks from the armory for five years, so why did you not make it a lifetime ban instead?"

I shook my head, "I made the ban for only five years because any longer and, not only would Katerina Alambiel unintentionally break the ban, but I have no doubt that she would break it in such a way that the disaster from this morn would seem a...a child's game by comparison. As it is, I am not certain if she and the Kings will be able to resist using my armory for their pranks the full five years." I paused then looked from Stonebrook to Tuulea, "I thought you wished to speak about Katerina Alambiel and I had the impression it was about something other than what happened this morn."

Tuulea glanced at Stonebrook before she slanted a look at me, "I am curious about something. With as much time as you spend in Katerina Alambiel's company, has she ever reminded you of someone you knew?"

I frowned slightly before shaking my head, "Cheeky little pest that she is, Tuulea, I cannot say that she reminds me of anyone here in Narnia. Moreover, since she is from the same world as the Kings and Queens, I do not see how she could resemble anyone from Narnia save by chance. Why do you ask?"

Tuulea opened her mouth to answer but stopped when Stonebrook spoke, "Remember your words from earlier, Tuulea."

I raised an eyebrow as Tuulea graced her husband with one of the looks she used to quell unruly patients in her days as the foremost healer of my tribe and of Narnia...actually, she was fond of using that look on anyone she was less than pleased with from her sons to Katerina and myself. However, it was unusual for her to give that look to Stonebrook and I wondered what they knew that I did not. Still, I was not overly concerned since I could trust these two elders of the tribe to inform me of anything that would require my attention if I did not already know about it. Tuulea turned back to me and smiled, "I merely wondered because I find she reminds me of a friend of mine, but you wouldn't know her as she died a handful of years before you born. However, as it has been pointed out, the reminder is probably the result of odd happenstance. Are you going to join the officers for the evening meal? Reassure them that Narnia's General truly has not disappeared because he trampled one of his students due to that student's amazing lack of sense."

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I heaved a sigh...the ability of soldiers to create rumors still amazed me even after being one for most of my life, "Yes, I will be there. And, I would never trample the cheeky little pest. I would merely be tempted to strangle her during moments such as the one this morn...or toss her into the Eastern Sea, but never trample."

Stonebrook smirked at my dry tone and Tuulea laughed before they left, probably so Tuulea could go find their sons and pester them about something. When I made my way to dine with the officers and whichever soldiers were present at the time, which included Ardon and Alithia, I knew due to Cletus' absence that the initial punishment handed to Sir Edmund How and Katerina Alambiel was still being served. My presence seemed to still the more ridiculous rumors, but I did not want to know what new rumors sprang to life when the cooks ended the meal with a cake and I found myself glaring at it before I left the hall with a scowling Ardon following in my wake, much to the amusement of his wife.

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I had a very short list of items I refused to use for my pranks, but that list increased by one after spending all day and most of the night scraping, scrubbing, rinsing, and polishing every last inch of the armory including all of the armor and equipment. I added syrup to the list, although it was also the only one with the stipulation that I would use it for a prank if, and only if, it was in small controllable amounts that did not end up seeping into every corner and under every piece of heavy furniture or equipment (syrup is too good a prank item to stop using it completely). Edmund and I worked together until I noticed he was struggling to keep his eyes open as we got closer to midnight (Cletus had been kind enough to inform us that we were closing in on midnight when he gave us some more coffee about five hours after we paused to eat dinner). I knew he was tired when I finally managed to persuade him to just go to bed at one in the morning with the argument that I could finish up the last bit of polishing and cleaning on my own. Captain Cletus was either tired or just bored as he left me to Lieutenant Gemon's supervision shortly after Edmund had retired.

We had managed to clean the floors and walls (and the ceiling in one spot...I still don't know how syrup and flour got up there) of the armory, in addition to cleaning and polishing most of the armor and equipment, so it was more putting everything back that was left to be done. One way or another I intended to have every piece back in place by the time training was supposed to start on Sixthday. I took a swig of my coffee (which was lukewarm at best and awful at worst) then grabbed the polish and set to work on the last pieces of armor and equipment, which happened to belong to the somewhat irritated Kentauri (okay, okay, I knew he was furious...I just hoped he would be less furious for training otherwise I would die frequently and not always swiftly). It was very late (or very early depending on your view) when I finally finished putting Oreius' armory back the way I had found it. I turned around and nodded to myself as I looked over the room, the only things that stuck out a tiny bit was the presence of Oreius and Ardon's armor and equipment which had been carefully hung in two empty storage lockers until their respective owners fetched them, aside from that everything was perfect and exactly in its place.

I glanced down at my hands and grimaced at their red, chapped appearance...not to mention the stench of the polish that was clinging not only to my hands, but also to my clothes. I was fairly certain that my clothes were beyond rescue between the polish stains and smell and the random splashes of syrup and flour (and that had been one of my nicer tunics and skirts). Well, at least, I would soon be free of the armory...and I never wanted to spend that much time in the armory or any other room (except the library) again. I heard the door to the armory open and the click of hooves entering the room. I grinned to myself as I waved a hand at the wall in front of me and spoke without turning around, "Well, Lieutenant Gemon, I think even Oreius will be impressed with this accomplishment because this room now looks exactly the way it should, don't you agree?"

I was tired and running almost solely on coffee, but I should have known better than to let someone enter the room behind me without once checking to confirm it was who I assumed it was. I couldn't keep from tensing when I heard only silence before several more pairs of hooves entered the armory, and I had a bad feeling that none of those hooves belonged to Lieutenant Gemon. I forced myself to hide my rising unease before I casually turned around and was confronted by five soldiers, three Satyrs and two Fauns. I froze as I recognized two of the Satyrs and both Fauns as the same ones who had confronted me in the training yard just over two months beforehand in Stormfall, including the Satyr Laurus who glared at me. The third Satyr was older and, after a few moments, I realized he was one of the captains who objected to my presence in the Cair and blamed me for Alaois' demotion, but his name escaped me. The captain glared at me and then he walked around us to the far corner of the armory and turned his back...I had a very bad feeling about what was going to happen next and prayed that Lieutenant Gemon had let someone know who replaced him.

I clenched my hands and slowly retreated as Laurus and his fellow soldiers (bullies the lot of them) advanced on me. They were being incredibly bold compared to the last time, but still cautious enough that I could tell they were trying to push me into reacting so their actions would be justified. It finally sunk into my tired mind that they must have assumed I no longer held the favored protection of the royals due to the incident earlier today...no, it was yesterday when I angered Oreius. I clenched my hands tighter until I could feel my nails digging into my palms as I resisted the urge to fight my way free as they closed in around me until they were almost brushing against me. I felt the Faun behind me move to the side and then Laurus reached out to touch my shoulder when everyone froze as deep growls suddenly rumbled through the armory. I slowly unclenched my hands as the four soldiers (bullies) stepped back from me and turned to face the source of the growls with almost as much unwillingness as they had shown when Oreius and Ardon caught them last time.

The Faun in front of me stepped away from Laurus and stared at the floor in clear shame. I relaxed my stance completely when I saw the source of the growls were none other than Sherket, Sefu, Heru, and Ptah. Sherket looked at me for a brief instant and then she turned her intense amber gaze on the mostly cowed hooligans, "Did you not learn from the example set by Alaois? Or, from the warning given to you by the General and by Captain Ardon? Leave Katerina Alambiel alone or you will become the next example for why soldiers should not forget the code of conduct towards guests. Now, report to the posts assigned to you for the day." Sherket waited until the four soldiers had left, Laurus reluctantly in the rear, and then she glared at the Satyr Captain, "Just because your cousin's nephew was disciplined for his actions, Pyrrhos, that hardly gives you the right to overlook such behavior."

Ah, yes, that was his name...Pyrrhos gave Sherket a rather baleful look but said nothing before he too left the armory. Why did Murphy enjoy sending irritable Satyrs to make my life so...fun? I decided I was too tired to contemplate the various ways Murphy liked to torture me with his law and just sighed. Sherket looked up at me then she looked around the armory, "I believe you have finished the task assigned to you by General Oreius. And, I see no reason for you to remain here any longer. Ptah will escort you back to your chambers, so you don't get lost because you are too tired to remember which turns to take. Good night, Katerina."

I wasn't about to argue with a Leopard, for one thing I was too tired (coffee could only keep a person going for so long…even me). I followed the big Cats out of the armory, only the cold bite of the night/early morning air really helped to keep from falling asleep on my feet (when my energy dropped, it took next to nothing for me to fall asleep...mid-conversation or even mid-walk). Once we reached the main palace, Sherket disappeared with Heru and Sefu but Ptah stuck close to me as we walked towards my rooms...so close that he intentionally kept bumping against me. When we finally reached my rooms, I had the vague feeling that Ptah was relieved (my essentially sleep-walking my way through the palace seemed to stress him just a little) while I suddenly realized I was nowhere close to being able to catch up on the sleep I had missed...because I was in desperate need of a bath. It took a total of two baths before I finally got clean, and I had some sympathy for what Peter, Ardon, and Oreius had gone through...not as much as I could have had (I'm not very sympathetic when half-asleep). I was dead to the world the moment I crawled into bed until oh about ninth hour...at night (I had been up since Fourthday with only an hour-long nap and so much coffee that I might have bled the stuff if I had cut myself that day, I had a lot of sleep to catch up on).

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I had considered not going to the solarium next to the library, but I ultimately decided that I did need to speak with Katerina Alambiel that night. Sherket had informed me of the altercation that had nearly taken place in the armory and, apparently, Ptah had chosen to stand guard outside Katerina's door all day to make sure she was not disturbed. I wondered if she realized yet how many of us were willing to act as her shields in one way or another, but perhaps the better question was how long would it take before she finally allowed us to act the part of her shields. I opened the door to the solarium and for a moment I thought no one was in there, but then I heard a slight noise and I looked up. She had completely lost her mind was the only conclusion I could draw when I saw Katerina Alambiel perched on the long shelf running along the top of the wall intended for the comfort of tree dwellers, Birds, and Cats. I raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing up there?"

"Well, I decided I should start out up here because Tuulea said that you said you were contemplating strangling me and if you can't reach me then you can't do something that you and, more importantly, I would regret." I smirked and she tilted her head, "Does that look mean you aren't going to strangle me, Kentauri?"

The things she chose to focus on... I rolled my eyes and walked over to the large fireplace. "Not tonight, Katerina Alambiel. So, you can get down now." I paused and glanced over my shoulder, "You can get down from there without breaking something, right?" She stuck her tongue out at me and leaped down to land in a crouch. I gave her an amused look before I quickly stirred the fire to life while she wandered around behind me.

For a while, we spoke on simple matters then I broached the topic I needed an answer to the most, "Sherket told me about this morn. What say you on the matter?" I chose not to inform her of how vehemently Sherket had lodged her complaint on what had happened.

Katerina glanced away from me to watch the flames before she moved from her chair to sit on the rug and leaned back against it with a sigh. "I say that they are entitled to their opinions and I will not ask you to do anything about it. I shall simply take steps to avoid them in the future." She paused then looked at me with the eyes of a world-weary soul who had seen too much as she spoke in a much softer tone than before, "Tell me, Oreius, when does it ever help to force people to change their opinions? I have always found it did more harm than good. Besides, I'd rather know who stands where than to be forced to guess who is civil or even friendly because they are forced or they just want something from me while in truth they whisper behind me and think I do not eventually find out what they truly think one way or another. I see no reason to force the issue anymore than it already has been. Let them keep their opinions that I am a witch or evil or scheming after whatnot. I shall live my life and let my actions prove my words. And, if they still refuse to see the truth, so be it."

In an instant, she had reminded me of why I was intrigued by her views of the world. Yes, she would act in a manner that could be called insane and tried my patience. However, she also held an air of wisdom and knowledge of the light and darkness present in the world that was normally found with the wisest of elders...or a soldier who had seen so much that they understood what civilians and green troops rarely did even if it gave them a somewhat cynical view of other people. I wished she would let me know what exactly had caused her to achieve such an outlook, but that would come with time and I had promised not to push her on the matter. The fact that she had started to reveal pieces of her past and certain secrets became more significant whenever I remembered the fact that her eyes held the secrets of a soul who had endured something to make her world-weary and cynical yet she still chose to trust. I had asked much more of her than I had first realized when I requested the boon from her.

I inclined my head in silent acquiescence and directed our conversation to something lighter, "I am curious, Katerina Alambiel, if you are so clever to plan out and attempt many coups, why have you never taken over a government?"

She smiled and the weariness disappeared from her eyes to be replaced with mischievous laughter, "And, how do you know I have not, Kentauri? Don't answer that, it was rhetorical. You see, my dear Kentauri, I am slightly evil but I am not really all that ambitious. So, I have contemplated the whole overthrowing governments and world domination path, but the amount of work it would take to maintain such a plan makes me tired just thinking about it. I'm too lazy to go through with such a thing, so someone else will have to conquer the world."

I couldn't help chuckling at her explanation, "Katerina Alambiel, I thought I already told you that you are not evil." She shrugged and stretched her bare feet towards the fire as I took the opportunity to tease her by adding, "Not to mention, if you tried to overthrow Narnia or conquer the world, I shall take measures to remind you why you don't want to put the effort into such an endeavor starting with tossing you into the Eastern Sea."

She gave me a look then grinned, "That would be effective...or you could just give me chocolate and a book, less chance of Alithia getting mad at you that way. Not to mention, less chance of me getting mad at you." She paused then turned fully towards me, "Speaking of Alithia, is it true that you glared at a cake last night?"

I forced myself to give her a stern look, "Yes, I glared but you know very well why I would be inclined to glare at anything whose ingredients include flour last night."

She was clearly fighting the urge to laugh as she suddenly couldn't look me in the eyes anymore. But, once she had regained her composure, she turned back to me and asked, "Training on Firstday will be very...long, won't it?"

I kept my face impassive as I warned, "Training will be very long for the rest of Snowbrice and Lenisgale and possibly Quickening if you keep reminding me about an incident I found extremely irritating, understand you me, Katerina Alambiel?"

Her eyes widened slightly and she quickly nodded, but then she gave me a mischievous glance. "Oreius, does Narnia have any catapults?"

I did not even want to know why she was asking that question, all I did was thank Aslan that Narnia did not have any catapults because only He knew what chaos she would manage to cause with such devices. The look on my face must have said what I was thinking because Katerina covered her mouth and her entire body shook with the force of her silent laughter. I shook my head as I dryly commented, "You are insane and you are going to end up taking an unplanned swim in the Eastern Sea if you keep this up."

Eventually, our talk turned to other things until she finally decided to call it a night though I suspected she spent the rest of the night reading one of the books she had borrowed from the library. I didn't always know what to expect from Katerina Alambiel and, at times, such as when she caused the disaster she later dubbed the 'flour incident,' I found her to be an infuriating, annoying, cheeky little pest. However, I also found her to have a good heart and she was someone I gladly counted among my close friends while I willingly stood as one of her shields as much as she would allow.

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A/N: Please Read and Review! All right, I finally managed to get this chapter up and it was a challenge so I hope you liked it and that the flour incident lived up to your expectations. There are only two chapters left in Shields, next up is the Valentine's Day chapter requested by Lady Firewing. I hope to have it up in a week or maybe less. For those of you who are interested in the future relationship between Katerina and Oreius, there is a poll on my profile where you can vote and let me know what y'all think should happen. Click the little review button below and let me know what y'all thought about this chapter, the story as a whole, and what else you would like to see in future stories.