Author's Note: Things are starting to fall into place now ;)

Thanks to reviewers twilight's reflection, Shang Leopard, oirishgoddess, and aRoseheartP and all you other anonymous readers!

A Sudden Proposal

"Shushuken practice again?" Laurel inquired of her roommate. The blue-eyed girl was curled up in a plush armchair by the fireplace with an open book in her lap. While she had been lost in the story, the Yamani had been at her vanity pinning up her hair and cleaning the razor sharp blades of her fan.

Mitsuko turned around from her current place by the door with a long red cloak already in her hands and nodded. "You are welcome to join…" she offered weakly though that blank face of hers did not show the slightest hint of optimism.

With a grin Laurel replied, "No thanks. Please send my regards to everyone." The Tortallan had only watched one other session of the fan-dancing, but she knew it was not a hobby she wanted to take up. It was also frustrating how many times Yuki, Kel, and even the Queen had tried to get her to participate—as if she would want to fight with fans or her own bare hands! It was best to avoid them altogether when they were in a sporting mood.

Ducking her head in acceptance, the Yamani lady left the room, silently closing the door behind her and leaving her roommate alone. Finally some alone time, quiet time. For a quiet girl like Laurel of Fury's Valley, this was the best time, these stolen moments where she had nowhere else to be. At the palace she felt obligated to be doing things all day, even more so than at the convent where she had classes and practice to do. But that was the reason for which she was at court: to see and be seen. Else wise, how could she catch someone's eye for a betrothal contract?

Whoever thought ladies did nothing all day was sorely mistaken. The girl was forever splitting time between old friends and new friends, parties and social calls, working in the infirmary, sewing, or reading to keep up with Iden's list of recommendations. When she was truly alone in the silence of her room, she could really think.

And then a knock on her door interrupted her looming thoughts. With an internal groan, Laurel untucked her legs from under her and slid bare feet into waiting slippers. She stepped away from the warming glow of the fire to react to this unexpected visitor's summons.

Blue eyes met familiar hazel ones as the door swung open, and an unavoidable smile of delight answered the eager grin on the young knight's face. "I was just working on your book," she told him.

Iden let out a short chuckle. "I hope it's better than the last one?" he said questioningly.

"Much," she assured him. Then, after an awkward pause, she frowned. "Did we have a meeting today? I didn't remember anything…"

"No, not at all," he said, strangely enthusiastic. "My sparring partner just canceled on me, and I was wondering if you were up for some exercise this morning."

"Exercise?" A brow furrowed suspiciously between narrowed blue eyes. She earnestly hoped this was not a ploy to get her to ride a horse again.

"A walk," he told her. Then a hand came from around his back and he pulled out a long strip of cloth. "And a surprise." The glint in his eyes was different than anything the girl had seen from him before. What did it mean?

A moment of hesitation gave Laurel time to consider. What kind of surprise could he have up his sleeve for her? She had no legitimate excuse to say no since this was a free morning. That fact coupled with curiosity tipped the scales in his favor. "Alright," she told him with a measure of caution in her voice. "Let me get my cloak."

She turned to her wardrobe to fetch her cloak, securing it over her shoulders and fixing the clasp easily. Before she could move an inch to return to the door, however, arms snaked around her from behind, and Iden's gentle hands were fastening the blindfold over her eyes. "No peeking," he whispered close to her ear. His sudden closeness was unnerving, and Laurel almost wanted to back out of the outing altogether; he had never acted this eager before.

But this was only Iden… He could be trusted. The girl submitted to his attentions and took his arm so he could lead her out the door. "Make sure it locks," she told him. With that they were off. A set of blue eyes was hidden under fabric, so she had to trust him to lead her through the corridors of the palace.

He was unusually quiet as they walked; the young knight constantly had some odd topic to discuss, and the absence of his teasing questions made the girl nervous. A sudden chill in the air said that they had walked outside. Laurel tucked both of her hands into the crook of his arm for warmth since she had forgotten to put on gloves. "Is it much farther?" she asked for reasons of both mental and physical comfort.

"Shhh," Iden responded casually. A minute later, he rearranged their hold by taking one of her hands firmly in his own and walking ahead. The girl had to trail along behind him.

They reached their destination a short time later and halted. Laurel stood perfectly still as the knight's warm hand slipped from her grip and moved to untie her blindfold. Able to see again, she took in her surroundings—another bosquet in the palace gardens. She had never been here before, but it did not seem particularly special like the grotto had been. This one was a circular space with half the diameter taken up by the crescent of a terraced fountain, a stepped wall of water falling from one level to another to reach the next shallow pool below it. In a strange asymmetrical arrangement uncharacteristic of the other parts of the garden, there was an enclosed hexagonal gazebo off to the left. With a puzzled glance shot back at Iden, it was to this small building that Laurel headed, figuring that the surprise was inside.

But the knight pulled her to a halt with one hand that grabbed hers from behind. She spun to face him with a teasing smile on her face, about to comment on his cruelty for keeping her from a surprise. A book? A picnic lunch? What could he have planned?

Iden stepped forward, standing too close again. Laurel's grin faded when his free hand went to her face where gentle fingertips brushed along her jaw line and raised her chin. She turned her face slowly out of his touch in discouragement. Undaunted, the backs of his fingers stroked her exposed cheek, so the girl looked up at him with incomprehension and uncertainty in her eyes. A forefinger moved to the space between her eyebrows and traced its way down the side of her nose, over the bumps of her lips and chin, tracing the scar that she had revealed to him there. Then, Iden slowly leaned down, bringing his lips toward hers.

At the last moment, Laurel turned her head to the side, and his lips, unconcerned with the change of destination, touched her cheek. He did not pull away in defeat; instead, he planted a line of kisses along her cheekbone. The girl was the one to break their contact with a sigh.

"No, Iden, I don't think we should…" she trailed off with her eyes closed in disbelief. Never would she have imagined that the planned 'surprise' would be some sort of romantic tryst at a hidden gazebo. Nothing that they had ever done or said to each other would have suggested it. She felt foolish and almost… betrayed. After all, she had told him her thoughts on love and marriage, how she thought young love was frivolous and knew her parents would arrange an honorable match. Did Iden think she would just go along with his plan at seduction? How could he have assumed—?

His hands came back up to stroke her wavy, warm brown hair and cup her cheek. "Then don't think about it, Laurel," he told her huskily with bluish-green eyes boring into her. "Just do for once."

With those words, the blue-eyed girl abruptly stepped away from him, careful to keep her hands to herself lest she gave the young knight any more ideas. A fire of equal parts disillusionment and disappointment burned behind her crystal glare. "I'm not that kind of girl!" She stalked away from him angrily. He had constantly teased her for having no passion, but at least she had the brains to control herself in this irresponsible situation!

The girl immediately spotted the trail out of the bosquet, a small, winding path through tall, thick hedges much like the ones on the way to the grotto. When she heard the young knight's long following footsteps, she started to run with her dark cloak dramatically billowing out behind her. It did not matter that Iden would easily be able to catch her; Laurel just needed to get away from him—there was no telling what was going on in that passionate head of his… With adrenaline now coursing through her veins, anger welled up in her from a depth she had never known before.

"I'm sorry, Laurel," he called from behind; the knight only had to jog quickly to keep up with her. "I didn't mean anything! No… I did mean something. I just want to be with you—is that a crime?"

"Leave me alone!" the girl practically screeched back. "Don't follow me!"

"Laurel! After everything—" he began, voice sounding strained now. Maybe he was finally realizing that he was losing her. No, she corrected herself mentally, he had lost her the moment he had betrayed her trust in that clearing back there.

"You have no right to chase me! I don't want to see you again!" She kept running, through the main gardens now. They were deserted during the lunch hour where everyone was at mess. Eventually, Laurel realized that she no longer heard Iden's boots behind her; he must have decided to give in and leave her alone. She snuck a peek back to confirm and then slowed to a fast walk that took her back to her rooms.

The girl was breathing heavily from exertion and emotion as she dropped herself to the floor safely on the inside of her door. Had all of that really happened? Less than an hour before, Laurel had been reading peacefully on that chair by the fire and now she had just lost her closest friend at the palace. She had trusted a person with her most intimate thoughts—he had been so easy to talk to!—and he had turned that trust into some sort of move on her.

Anger faded as her breathing slowed, and the girl began to see another side of the incident in the gardens. Maybe she had been the one leading him on. Laurel had let him take her for walks or meet her in the library alone, so maybe she had given him the impression that she wanted to be courting. Maybe when she spoke about love being for fools, he took that as a convent girl saying one thing while meaning another—maybe meaning that he could touch her, kiss her because they were fools in love…

Laurel shook her head. She knew that she had never hinted at having a future with him. No matter what Iden may have construed from her actions, the girl had never meant to become romantically involved with him or anyone. She had flat out said that she did not believe in love and that marriage was not her decision, thus he never had a hope for winning either love or marriage from her.

But maybe that was not his intention. At the chosen spot for her 'surprise,' there was that empty gazebo there, the likely witness to many a passionate moment. Laurel buried her head in her hands. The girl did not want to think about sex. The very idea of it was so far removed from her life… Apparently, that was not so for a certain young knight.

This guessing game was getting her no where. Laurel stood determinedly and shook herself. The only thing to do was stay away from Iden of Vikison Lane. That way, nothing like this could happen again.

-

A week later, Laurel came into her rooms still wrapped in her thick fur cloak and her cheeks were flushed from her cold stroll in the gardens with Yuki, Mitsuko, Kaida, and Kel; she had been avoiding Iden's (and any other impressionable young men's) company by spending more time with her female friends. Snow had yet to fall, but a certain crispness was in the air as a chilly wind blew the dark rolling clouds of a coming storm towards Corus.

She saw a letter lying on the small table by the door, propped up against a small vase of dried flowers that left a faint scent in the air. The girl saw her name scrawled across the front and picked it up. The folded paper was tucked under her arm as she removed her winter gloves and cape, tossing both across her bed. She then strode over to the fireplace and stirred the coals up again with an iron poker. Laurel grabbed two undersized logs from the small pile of wood in its metal stand to bring up the flames again. Wrinkling her nose at the smoky smell that came from wood not fully dry, she returned to the vase and grabbed a few sprigs of dried herbs to toss on top for a fresher scent.

Now that the room was slowly warming up, the blue-eyed girl settled herself on one of the Yamani cushions at the low table and scanned the handwriting on the outside of the letter. Unmistakably it was her mother's, something that Laurel had not seen in a long while. She had last been with her mother three years ago when the stern woman had traveled to the convent after the riding accident to inspect the damages to the girl's face. Since then, only a letter at Midwinter accompanied by new dress and a trinket or two was the sole means of communication between a daughter and her parents.

Turning over the envelope confirmed this; the red wax seal had been pressed with her family's crest, a mountain surrounded by four medicine balls to symbolize the placement of Fury's Valley and the noble family's long line of healers. She opened the letter and again found her mother's flourished handwriting. Tilting the letter toward the fire since the light from the windows had been dulled by the overcast afternoon sky, she began to read.

Fief Fury's Valley

18 November

Dearest daughter Laurel,

Your family hopes that you have been making profitable use of your time at the palace. You know how important it is to make appropriate networks and represent your father's name well. In saying that, I certainly hope that you have used your allowance to purchase suitable gowns in the latest fashions and not for those musty old books that you insist on dragging around.

You must have been doing something right since your father received a messenger from fief Gethin. They are very interested in you for their son Jedrek. You seem to have charmed his grandfather, the old Count Nelson, and he insists on the match. Your father is in negotiations for the betrothal contract, but I have no doubt that all will go through smoothly. I hear that Sir Jedrek will be returning from the border for Midwinter. Your father will soon send the formal announcement to the king and then will travel to the palace for Midwinter, and you will be married before the year is out.

I don't know how you managed this one, Laurel—no doubt they were much interested in our wealth—but this family is very high up in the book of Gold and will make your brothers much more desirable. With this over, I may come to court next season to find three brides for them and meet my first grandchild.

Affectionately,

Your Mother

Betrothed already? To the Count's grandson? Her head swam and she was glad to already be sitting down. Laurel found the name of her future husband again: Jedrek of Gethin. She would soon be Laurel of Gethin. That did not have the same familiar ring to it as Fury's Valley when she said it aloud. She read the letter fully again. At the last sentence, her throat closed tightly. The next time her mother saw her, she would be expected to have a child. The letter slipped from her hand to float to the table. Gripping the smooth wooden edges until her knuckles turned white, the girl fought to breathe normally. This was only what was going to happen eventually. It had just happened a little sooner than expected.

Laurel had obviously never met Jedrek nor heard of him, but his family's name seemed to be respectable enough. The girl never would have guessed that her reading and singing to an old man would bring about her marriage, but stranger things had created family alliances. It was just odd that it was so fast—a Midwinter wedding in her first season at court.

The faces of her friends flitted past her mind's eye. The convent girls would be jealous that she was the first to marry from their year; no one would have expected that, especially Roxanna. She would no longer be living with Mitsuko in the Yamani wing. Her future husband and she would have a suite in the same wing as Yuki and Neal. Kel and the other knights would still be around, the girl supposed. Perhaps they were friends of Jedrek, and maybe they would even move to that same hall as they settled their marriages. Sergeant Dom would be disappointed that she was taken; she smiled at that.

She then saw Iden's face… What would he think? They had not spoken since the 'surprise' spat in the gardens, but the girl knew for certain that he would feel he had a personal stake in this. It was bound to be tense when he found out.

Laurel shook herself out of thought, remembering suddenly that she had somewhere to be. She hung her cloak on its peg and changed her thick shoes for slippers more appropriate for the indoors. Gathering a large covered basket, the girl left her rooms and strode down the halls towards the Ladies' Wing.