Author's Note: This story takes place a few years after POTS, when the war is officially over and the north is being demilitarized. Fresh, sixteen-year-old convent and Yamani girls are sent to Corus to find their husbands as the winter social season begins.

This story has a very definite plot, and each chapter will only be posted if it is of good length and quality. I can't give you specific dates, but expect frequent posts throughout the summer.

Italicized speech is meant to note that Yamani being used.

Building Connections

At the seventh bell, Laurel was fully unpacked, dressed in a dark purple dress with long sleeves and a wide neck, and well acquainted with two of the three Yamani ladies she was to spend time with in the royal palace of Tortall. A soft knock at the door meant that Lady Jin was ready to walk down with them to one of the smaller ballrooms for their dinner.

Laurel paused a moment to check herself in the mirror one last time. Her medium length dark brown hair had been half pulled up and pinned in a loose nest on the back of her head. A comb decorated with an amethyst and pearls had been tucked into it. Kaida had insisted on lining her eyes with dark kohl, but that was all the face paint the Tortallan would permit. Laurel pinched each of her cheeks lightly to bring a faint pink color to her pale cream skin and bit down on her lower lip to make it a bit fuller with blood. She absentmindedly drew a line down the faint scar that traced the side of her nose down the shadow of her upper lip to her chin where the jagged end could be seen if the light hit it just right. Realizing what she had been doing, the blue eyed girl dropped her hand and rose from her chair before her vanity.

"Mitsuko," she called to her roommate as she turned. The Yamani was standing across the room watching her and inclined her head at the word.

"Let us not keep them waiting," Mitsuko replied softly. The Yamani took a moment to tie the fan that she had been holding to her side, and then she followed the girl out the door.

Laurel was making her introductions to Sakura, Kaida's roommate in the palace and, as it turned out, cousin. This girl was a year older than the other two Yamanis, and although as lovely as her name 'cherry blossom,' she seemed a little standoffish toward the Tortallan girl, despite Laurel's efforts to speak her language. Kaida had revealed earlier that her cousin had not wanted to be sent to marry a 'barbarian' but that the Emperor had ordered her family to send a daughter. Then, the feisty Yamani had pulled out her fan to hide her embarrassment for revealing such secrets to a new acquaintance. Mitsuko had proceeded to assure her that Tortallans were used to gossiping such as this and that they had better learn how to tell secrets too if they were to fit in here. Laurel had had to hide a grin at that statement.

Lady Jin, seeing the introductions finished, motioned for her four charges to follow her down the hall. A young woman in palace livery met them at the grand doors to their hall and escorted the group deeper into the palace.

Kaida moved forward to walk with Sakura, and Mitsuko fell into step with Laurel. The Tortallan felt that the swish of her skirts was far too loud in contrast with the more fitted and quieter kimonos her companions wore. They walked in silence, saving their words for the conversations they would have to make during the banquet ahead.

After a short amount of mingling time, the freshly arrived girls and older married court ladies had settled down to a long table to await their dinners. Laurel and Mitsuko were separated, and the blue eyed girl found herself at one end of the table between Roxanna and a Duchess Cythera of Naxen at the head. She was an elder woman, wife of the Prime Minister, and personal secretary to the queen herself, obviously very high in influence. She had three sons, of which only the youngest remained unmarried. Across from Laurel was a young, freshly married woman, Lady Eglantine of Angharad, who had come out in court only the year before and just gotten married at the end of summer when her knight husband had returned from the north. Another convent girl that Laurel did not know very well was beside Eglantine, and those five made up one conversation group for the evening.

"It is so lovely to see you girls again! It's like a small convent reunion, finding these familiar faces here tonight," the young married woman exclaimed warmly. "And you all look so delighted to be here!" At the convent, Lady Eglantine had been one of the star exempla of how to be a great lady, and everyone there had known her. She was sweet but rather simple-minded for Laurel's taste. Still, she appeared genuinely happy to be there to help them make their way through court life, and the blue eyed girl could not help but smile back.

"And they should be excited!" the older woman cut in. "This is the greatest season I've ever seen for marriage prospects! With the Scanran War treaty signed at the end of the summer, all our young knights should be returning from the border soon. I suspect that this Midwinter will be especially busy," she finished, almost conspiratorially.

Roxanna spoke up delightedly, "And my father shall be returning with them. He wrote me only last week that he already had one in mind for me! That I should be a bride before year's end!" Laurel knew that was a lie—the girl would have mentioned news of such a magnitude before now—but that hardly mattered. Court life would be the same game as convent life only with real men instead of imaginary ones playing.

The others joined in the blather as their first course of soup was ladled into their bowls by servants. Laurel passed the meal quietly, speaking only when she could add something to a discussion. The point of this banquet was to make some connections for the other social events that they would be attending in the time to come and to perhaps, in the case of the older women, get in the running for their own marriageable sons.

The ladies all said their goodbyes near the tenth bell of the evening, and Laurel left with her new Yamani friends Mitsuko and Kaida.

The little dragon directed a question in Yamani at the Tortallan, "Should you like to join our practice of the shushuken tomorrow morning?"

The girl knew from her readings that they were referring to a dance-like exercise with their razor-sharp fans. "I probably shouldn't. I'm really rather clumsy, and I'd probably hurt myself. I don't want to be down to nine fingers right before our coming-out ball." The Yamanis had to conceal their giggles to that.

"Please, Hitomi, come watch even if it doesn't please you to join in," her roommate interjected.

"It's quite beautiful to see. And we've all been invited by Lady Yukimi of Queenscove herself, so you must come," added Kaida.

Laurel considered. She had truly been looking forward to sleeping in to recover from her four days of travel, but she had also been trained by the Daughters to not throw away opportunities to meet people and start a network of social connections. And she did not want to insult her new friends. "Then, of course I will attend."

She could sense that the Yamanis were delighted with her acceptance, and the blue eyed girl was glad in return. Now, Laurel listened to what they had learned at their section of the table.

"Lady Yuki told me that an entire company of the King's Own was returning tomorrow. She said her husband and many of his knight friends were accompanying them. There will be many officers and knights at our ball," Kaida declared.

Mitsuko added, "Hitomi, Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan will be arriving with them too. Didn't you speak of her earlier? From one of your books?"

"I have two books that just mention her, actually," Laurel corrected. "One on lady warriors throughout the ages and another on new troubadour songs with 'The Protector of the Small' in it. It will be interesting to finally see her in person though… Did you hear that we must put on a spectacle for our coming-out ball? That means we've only until week's end to arrange something…"

The next morning came far too soon for the tired convent girl. She was still a little bleary-eyed as she headed down to a small, indoor practice court with her two friends and Sakura, who refused to speak directly to the Tortallan girl. Laurel could sense the embarrassment of Kaida and even Mitsuko caused by their unfriendly compatriot.

The blue eyed girl was dressed in a simple, brown convent uniform dress, one that she had kept for occasions such as this when a nice gown could get ruined by the dust and dirt of an arena, and had braided her hair in a simple style. She would come to regret these decisions as the quartet reached their destination.

Waiting for them was Lady Yuki, the woman who had invited the Yamani girls to the practice, as well as another Yamani standing next to the most beautiful woman Laurel had ever seen. The girl knew instantly by looking at her, despite her attire being breeches and a loose shirt, that this was Queen Thayet. She then surmised that the other was Princess Shinkonami, future queen of Tortall.

The four reached their waiting crowd and introductions were made efficiently—all the quicker to get to the fan toss. The Yamanis in their lovely kimonos bowed in their style, and Laurel dropped curtseys in her embarrassingly plain dress. What could the Queen and Princess think of her now, showing up looking like she had just walked off the lowest street of Corus? Yet, these high ladies seemed to take her attire in stride without batting an eye in judgement.

Soon enough the five Yamanis and the Queen of Tortall were standing in a circle and Lady Yuki had tossed the fan high in the air. The blue eyed girl settled down on the long bench to watch as they simply flipped the fan around to each other to warm up. They started adding twists and flourishes as the game gained in speed. Laurel could hardly keep up with the shushuken as it flew around above the women's heads.

After awhile of playing the spectator, the blue eyed girl was getting restless. Yes, the fan-dance was beautiful, but honestly, she would rather be curled up in a chair reading a book at the moment. Laurel had never had the coordination or the desire to learn any of these fighting arts, so she could hardly appreciate them fully. A well written novel, on the other had, impressed and amused her very well.

Almost as if they could read her mind, the group of women slowed their game, and it ended with Mitsuko catching the final toss and closing the fan gracefully. The players, their faces bright and rosy from exertion, bowed into the center of the circle and then moved out of formation to commend each other. Laurel's eyes followed Queen Thayet, and Princess Shinkonami, as they struck up a conversation with Sakura, who had to balance her distaste for all things Tortallan with her need to respect its royalty. The girl was almost startled when Kaida spoke only a foot away from her.

"Hitomi, did you enjoy our game?" the little dragon had asked. She and Mitsuko had approached with Lady Yukimi and now stood next to Laurel.

The girl stood up to meet them. "Yes, it was very lovely, thank you for inviting me," she replied gracefully.

The older Yamani addressed her next. "Your friends tell me you are afraid to try the shushuken. Do you not wish to learn a ladies' diversion, Lady Hitomi?" her eyes sparkled with amusement at Laurel's Yamani-given name but then became more serious. "We may call it a 'game' in jest or recognize it as a form of art, but it is also self-defense. A lady never knows when a fan may save her from great tragedy."

The blue-eyed girl shook her head slowly. "I am no warrior, Lady Yukimi, and I could never pretend to be. And why must I have to learn to defend myself? I don't honestly think anyone would try to bother me—I'm usually not noticeable enough."

The Yamani women exchanged blank looks that were loaded with much meaning. Lady Yuki spoke again, "Perhaps you should consider that some more… Lady Hitomi, I would be delighted if you would join me for dinner tonight; it will be a small gathering of friends. I've already invited these two ladies. And please, call me Yuki."

"Of course… Yuki," Laurel answered, with a small curtsey of thanks. The Yamani inclined her head and then excused herself to rejoin the royals. The Tortallan girl met the gazes of her two friends. "We have the afternoon meeting with the other convent ladies to plan our spectacle. I will see you in the parlor then—I have something I've been meaning to do…"

The two Yamanis murmured their good wishes and moved to rejoin Sakura.

Laurel left and made her way to one of the numerous palace libraries. This one was full of histories and novels. She had asked a servant for the location at the banquet the previous night. If the girl had remembered correctly, she had to go through the grand statue gallery and turn right, and it would be up the staircase to the left. The girl passed several servants and maids scurrying by, but she managed to find the room without needing to ask for further assistance.

At the top of the curving staircase, the heavy wood door to the library was wide open and the girl stepped through without a pause. Scanning the room hastily, she saw no one and smiled to herself. One of the things she loved most about books was that you had to be alone with them to really interact with them; mind and soul could then engage with what another person had left for you to discover. It was relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. Living in a convent full of silly girls had taught her that solitude of this kind could be positively blissful.

She strode into the center of the room, inhaling the sent of leather binding and dust. The blue eyed girl moved to the first bookcase to her right and climbed up the three steps of the waiting footstool to scrutinize the titles on the top shelf—these were ballads, written in the old language of Tortall. The girl stepped down and took a slow turn about the room, deducing the system of organization and memorizing the location of each section. As she got to the far side of the room she was walking down a row of shelves, eyes only for the volumes occupying them, when she reached a window. As she glanced up, she met the eyes of a man. Startled, she jerked back with a small soundless gasp.

The intruder of her reverie was propped up comfortably on the padded window seat with a small book in his left hand, a finger marking his page. He had tanned skin, sun-lightened brown hair, and bluish-green eyes and wore a slightly rumpled brown and cream tunic with breeches. He stood immediately at her jump and reached out his hand in what he meant as a reassuring gesture.

To the girl, he looked to be reaching for her, and she took a few steps backward in response. "How long have you been there?" she asked breathlessly, truly shaken by his presence in a room she thought to be empty.

He noted this immediately and dropped his arm to his side, giving a small bow. "Pardon me, gentle lady. I can see I frightened you. I only just saw you as you came down this row. I would have said something, but you looked to be concentrating so hard… I thought I should wait."

"Oh," was all she could say. Her heart was still pounding from the surprise, but she could see he meant no harm.

"Can I help you find something?" he offered without moving. "I know my way around here like the back of my hand."

Laurel shook her head a little too quickly for politeness' sake. "No, thank you. I was just looking. Good day." She gave a small curtsey and spun on her heel, walking to the door as rapidly as her light slippers would allow her to move.