A/N: Okay, here's the update. It took me longer to figure out the chapter title :D

Chapter Seven: In Good Company

It was about a week after their prank on Raoul when Raoul cornered Kel after supper. Wondering what was up, Kel asked him just that.

"I need your help," he told her quietly.

"Sure, sir, what do you need?" she offered helpfully.

"I know you haven't gotten involved in any of our pranks before, but it's never too late to start…" he began.

Kel suddenly became very wary, "You've never required my assistance before…"

"Until now," he said. "You see, I have this plan and only you can help me because no one will expect something from you."

"And I'd like to keep it that way, sir," she told him, starting to walk on.

Desperate, he baited, "You won't have to serve me at the next party."

Stopping to think, she soon said, "Okay then, what do you need?"

Raoul clapped his hands together, then went on to tell her what his plan was.

In the middle of the night, Kel found herself walking through Third Company's temporary camp, carrying as many buckets of river water she could carry. Some water splashed over the side of one of the buckets and she was glad that it was such a warm night. The river water was freezing.

Handing off the buckets to Raoul, Buri, and a few other Riders from Buri's group, Kel then helped them to secure the buckets over the large tents where the majority of the men from the Own slept. When the time came, Kel would be the one to wake them up.

When they had enough buckets and they were secured properly, one person was at the end of each rope, instructed to pull on it when the men came hurrying out the tent flaps.

Raoul nodded to Kel that they were ready. Taking her cue, Kel started to jog past the big tents, pitching her voice like Raoul and shouting, "Bandits! Bandits! They're stealing our food!" Raoul had been the one to decide on what she had said. He had said, "If anything can get those boys out of bed, its food."

Kel chuckled as she heard the immediate movement inside all five big tents. Flyn, and the few others who had their own separate tents, appeared outside and were immediately silenced by Raoul. They waited in bated breath for the men to emerge.

The first body shot out of Buri's tent. Then soon, they were all swarming out. Kel heard Raoul shout, "Now!" and then the buckets of water splashed on all the men underneath them.

Immediately there was an uproar from the men, now drenched in freezing cold water. However, over it all you could still hear Raoul's hearty laughter.

Kel was having a very good laugh as well.

She was still laughing when she suddenly heard someone say, "Kel?"

She turned around to see Dom. Judging from how wet he was, she guessed that he had been one of the unfortunate ones to be caught directly under one of the buckets. She couldn't stop laughing.

"You were in on this?" he asked, slightly surprised and slightly impressed.

She nodded her head. Between laughs, she said, "Well you wanted him to laugh right? I think you succeeded."

Raoul was laughing harder than any of them. Some of the men had even started to laugh.

"I suppose your right," Dom agreed, chuckling, "This would've been even funnier if I hadn't gotten soaked." Then he looked at Kel with admiration, "Still, I didn't expect it from you."

She looked at him and smiled, "That's one of the reasons why I did it. I couldn't wait to see your face."

Dom crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows, but he couldn't stop from smiling, "Then I believe you better watch your back now. You're dealing with many years of experience in the pranking department."

"I hope you're better at pranks than you are at skipping rocks then," she teased.

He smiled even wider, "Much better."

Two weeks passed without anything happening. King Jon had warned Raoul to stop the pranks before they got too out of hand. Apparently Kel's voice had carried past Third Company's tents.

"Back to the boring old Progress," said Dom one day as they were riding to the next town. "We have so much more fun when we're off by ourselves."

"Yeah and then I don't have Jon breathing down my neck," added Raoul.

"That's not exactly true," commented Buri, riding beside him.

"Yeah, but at least I'm usually far enough away from him to postpone some of his orders," Raoul chuckled.

"Make that most of them," joked Kel.

"How about all?" suggested Dom. He and Kel smiled at each other. They had become riding partners lately. It was turning into the part of the Progress that Dom enjoyed the most.

"Now, now," said Raoul, "Don't give me too much credit. If I did that, then I'd probably be one of the main courses at those parties he's always ordering me to attend." They all laughed.

One of the soldiers from behind asked, "Sir, how long does the Great Progress run?"

"Too long," muttered Raoul.

Buri laughed, "It's over by November."

"November?" repeated Kel, "You're saying we have almost another two months of this?"

"Yep, kill us now," said Dom, though secretly he was enjoying all the time he'd been getting to talk with Kel- and to just be near her. When the Progress ended, she'd probably meet up with Cleon again somehow. Just the thought of it made Dom familiarly unhappy.

Kel, riding once again beside Dom, laughed. She liked being around him; he always made her laugh. The only problem was the way he affected her. Before, whenever he talked to her or looked her way her heart would start to pound, but now even being near him caused that. For someone trained to control her emotions, she sure didn't understand how one person could throw her so off-guard.

To distract herself from Dom, she let herself think of Cleon. It was now the beginning of September and there was still no word from him. He had already told her he would be gone all summer. Would he be gone all winter too?

As she thought this, she was unaware of Dom's watchful gaze. Interpreting her look, Dom suddenly said, "With this good weather, the knights up north will probably be home soon, won't they my lord?"

Kel turned and looked at Dom curiously. Had he known what she was thinking?

"I would think so too, sergeant," Raoul replied.

"Have you heard any reports from them?" Dom questioned.

"They are doing very well, though there has been movement among the Scanrans lately. It may take them a little longer for our boys to return than predicted, so there's no need to worry." From his reply, Dom knew that Raoul had caught on as to why he was asking. They both knew Kel was worried about Cleon.

Feeling her eyes on him, Dom glanced over at Kel. Her eyes were filled with appreciation as she mouthed the words "thank you" to him.

Dom couldn't help but smile and nod his head in return. Their eyes remained locked for a few seconds as they rode along. Dom thought he could look into her eyes forever- little did he know that Kel was thinking the same thing about his own eyes.

She looked away when she was reminded of why she had been smiling at him in the first place. He had just reassured her that Cleon was okay. Cleon. Her sweetheart. Kel groaned inwardly. Why was she so attracted to Dom when she was courting Cleon?

The only answer that she came up with made her feel uneasy.

Late in September they received further news from the north. The Scanrans were creating more trouble than had been predicted. The men sent to the border would be coming home much later than expected- more than likely into the beginning of the next year.

Hearing this, Kel found a fallen log nearby Third Company's makeshift camp and sat down. As she sat and thought, she picked up twigs off the ground and started stripping them of their bark. She needed to keep her hands busy.

It wasn't long before she felt a presence at her side.

"You know," the person said gently, "if you want to build a fire, there are much bigger branches around that you can use."

Kel chuckled. "That probably would be more productive, wouldn't it?"

She felt him sit down beside her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his elbows resting on his knees, his hands clasped in front of him. He seemed to be studying his hands like she was studying the twigs she held and stripped. Then she felt him studying her. She had the urge to do the same to him.

As if finding what he had been looking for, Dom looked back down at his hands. "Hands are funny things," he said suddenly, out-of-the-blue.

"What?" Kel asked, laughing as she looked over at him.

"I'm serious," he said, "have you ever really looked at your hands?"

"Not really," she answered truthfully.

"I mean, look at them. Fingers are so weird looking. You follow your arm down, and then these fingers just appear. Isn't it weird when you think about it?"

"I guess," said Kel, now looking at her hands too.

"Fingers are completely useful, but why do we have five of them? And why are some longer than others? I mean, I don't think the gods gave us a longer middle finger for only one purpose," he joked.

Kel laughed, "No, I would hope not."

"Hey did you know that the length of your forearm- from your elbow joint to your wrist- is the size of your foot?" he asked, showing her the area on his arm.

"Really?" Kel asked. She had never heard that before.

"No joke," he replied, "Watch." To prove his statement, Dom took off his boot and held his foot up to his forearm. It fit perfectly.

"Wow," said Kel, amazed. She rolled up her tunic sleeve to look at her own forearm. "That's how big my foot is?" she asked, astonished.

"Yep," said Dom. Then he looked at down at her forearm. "Wow, Kel, you have one big foot," he teased.

She shoved his shoulder gently as she rolled her sleeve back down.

"I bet then that you didn't know that your wingspan is the same measurement as your height," he told her.

"Now, I did know that one," she confessed.

"Ok, then how about…"

He continued to tell her different little facts like that. Most of them she had heard before, but some were new.

After a while she just enjoyed watching Dom- trying to think of other facts he knew and the way he got excited when he recalled another one.

Kel realized what he was really doing. He had come over to try and get her worries off of Cleon and her other friends fighting up north. Watching him, Kel smiled favorably. He always seemed to know what she needed.

"Do you want to take a walk?" she asked him, "I think your demonstrating is attracting attention."

Dom looked around. A few heads were turned his way. He waved them off, "Nah, they're just jealous that I get Squire Kel all to myself."

Kel laughed, "Now, that's a new one."

"Fine, don't believe me," he said, standing up. Then he smiled at her, "But I will gladly take a walk with you."

A/N: What happens when Dom and Kel go on a walk together? Hmm…What could happen? ;D Okay, it'll be continued in the next chapter! It'll be up in a few days!