Weeks passed, and Adalia's bout of hypothermia faded into a distant memory, while all of the young pages focused once again on their training.
A month after Adalia's illness, the pages attended a hand-to-hand combat lesson and discovered that a third Shang had joined their masters to torment them – or particularly one of them…
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It was another scorching day of summer as Adalia trekked irritably out of the dining hall to face Eda for yet another impossible private session. She had been tutored one-on-one ever since Lord Padraig and the Shangs had discovered her special talents.
All of the pages immediately noticed a youthful woman – she looked to be about 18 – standing next to Eda and Hakim. She wore the Shang emblem with a falcon in the middle.
Adalia inspected her closely. She was tanned and had shoulder length brown hair, with sun streaks running through it. She moved with an agile and perfectly balanced grace – that is what revealed that she was a fully-fledged Shang most of all – it meant that she wasn't simply a beautiful woman, but deadly as well. Her deep brown eyes were sparkling with delight, and she seemed to be looking at Adalia; inspecting her intensely.
I don't think I am going to get any delight in what she seems to have planned for me…Adalia thought with apprehension.
The pages lined up silently in front of the three.
"Good afternoon, my dears. Today we have a new training master. This is Flick Gordon, the Shang Falcon. Now don't get too excited, because she is going to be replacing me in tutoring Adalia – I seem to have caught some of you slacking. I plan to correct this." Eda said dryly, an evil grin on her face.
As the pages split up between Eda and Hakim, Adalia waited back as Flick approached her.
"Hello Adalia. It is nice to meet you. I hear you were giving Eda a run for her money, so I was appointed to take her place, while she knocked some sense into the weaklings." Flick told Adalia pleasantly.
Adalia bowed in greeting. She found herself liking the Falcon. She seemed to have a sense of humour. "And so weak they are, milady."
Flick chuckled, and then said seriously; "Now I don't have many rules. One. Never call me milady – it's Flick – gods know my mother named me to have it used. Two. Follow my instructions without asking questions."
Adalia just nodded, and Flick saw determination creep into those stunning purple eyes. "Good. Now lets see how you do against me. Come on." Flick strode off.
Adalia ran to catch up, and then walked beside her new training master.
When they were in a deserted part of the practise courts, Flick stopped. She didn't wait for Adalia to register she was attacking; she just smoothly swung her leg in a ferocious and lightning fast kick.
Adalia detected the movement, and caught the foot, twisting it so that Flick would be off balance. She then crouched to the ground and tried to sweep Flick's legs from under her.
Flick responded with almost as much speed as Adalia (which was extremely fast) and jumped the legs, then grabbed Adalia, throwing her over her hip.
Adalia responded by following through with the flip, and landing on her feet, maintaining her hold on Flick.
Flick was smiling in glee, and then pried her arm out of Adalia's grip.
Seeing that Flick meant to end the bout, she allowed her grip to be broken, and then waited for the analysis.
"That was brilliant! I am going to enjoy this!" Flick seemed to be talking to herself, and then rubbed her hands together.
"Perfect form, lightning reflexes and strength. Ok girl. All you need to learn are the advanced stuff, just like Eda has apparently been teaching you. You will train with me in the early mornings, as well as at this time. In our training, you will work as hard as any Shang."
Seeing the look on Adalia's face, she laughed, "Oh, it wont be that bad, my girl! Think of all the fun you will have against all the future Shangs who challenge you? You will be able to knock them on their arrogant behinds."
She was still grinning broadly. Suddenly it seemed that Flick realised they had not been training, "Ok. Lets start now."
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The training was extremely hard. Between her classes, the special training, punishment work, and weekly flying with Rye, the months seemed to whisk away to nothing, and before Adalia knew it, she had finished her second year of page training and began her third.
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"It feels so weird without Daniel and Nathan." Charlie said miserably to Adalia, Kaden, Dameon and Kula.
The others nodded miserably in return. The two had been made squires at the end of last year. Sir Owen had taken Nathan as his squire, which meant that Nathan would be spending most of his time on the boarder, guarding against random attacks. At least the two would be together, as Sir Merric had chosen Daniel, who was a regular companion of Owen's; they took charge of some troops of men on the boarder.
Adalia noticed subtle – and large – changes in her friend's appearances. Charlie with his sapphire blue eyes and brown hair had practically shot up over the last year; he was now close to 14 years old. Kula had grown as well; she was just a few inches shorter than Charlie. Adalia had long suspected her friend of nursing a secret crush on Daniel, and assumed that this was why her emerald eyes were so depressed.
It was interesting while it lasted…
Adalia had got much pleasure of looking for the subtle signs of Kula's affections. Adalia herself did not nurse a crush, and for that she was glad. It just seemed like so much stress. She herself was too taken up with training, oh, and of course the Goddess's mission to convert the Conservatives – she had varying success, and while flying with Charlie still heard the whisperings of whom she had apparently slept with that week. She found it amusing to follow the gossips, she didn't give a damn what they said, and it was always interesting to see Rye's reaction when he heard them. She had to force him to follow her instead of swoop the offenders. It angered her that he always seemed to act so over protective around her, but accepted it, as he was a good friend, and she could only hope that he would get over it.
Massaging her arm, she groaned, "Flick got back today to continue torturing me."
The others laughed. "Yes, you are getting tortured, but do you realise how lucky you are? You are only 12, going on 13 and are practically good enough to be accepted into the Shang order. Gods, I wouldn't want to take you on." That was Kaden, and his hazel eyes sparkled as he observed her bruised arm.
"Don't get on my bad side then." Adalia warned quietly, eyes flashing ferociously. She said this with all of her contempt for being put through all the extra lessons, and the others shuddered. I love doing that. She then smiled, "I've still got it!"
The others relaxed visibly, extremely aware that she hated them talking about her extra abilities. Especially in the morning when she was half asleep. Quite apart from being weaker in the morning, she was scarily stronger, as it seemed she didn't have the same inhibitions about making sure not to hurt them.
"I think you will always have it." Dameon, blue eyes wary, replied dryly.
Adalia seemed shaken out of her reverie, looked up absently and saw them all watching her warily. "Sorry, I am just a little drowsy."
The others shook their heads, and then continued eating.
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A few months later, the small group was in Kula's room, trying to complete the work that they had been cursed with. Well, at least Kula and Adalia were working; the boys were in a heated discussion on which court lady was the most beautiful.
"No, it's Jayda of Elyve. Did you see those full red lips?" Charlie was saying hotly.
"No, it's Tahlia of Grayson." Dameon yelled, a vacant smile on his face.
"No, it's Calri of Dean!" Kaden shouted ardently.
This continued on for all of a few seconds, as Kula grabbed Charlie by the neck in a choke hold, and Adalia grabbed Kaden and Dameon by the front of their shirts, lifting them a centimetre off the ground.
"STOP IT!" Adalia yelled ferociously, and all three quietened instantly. "SOME of us are trying to work, and you lads are being idiots!"
Adalia stared evilly at the three of them, and when they didn't reply, she went on, "Now. I trust that we can trust you three to play nice?" The three nodded quickly, white from the show of anger that Adalia displayed; it had never been fully directed on them.
Adalia waited a few more moments, and then signalled Kula to let go of Charlie while she lowered Dameon and Kaden. They stood, staring at Adalia with terrified expressions. Adalia was a good five or six inches shorter than Kaden, who was again shorter than Dameon.
They continued to stay frozen even while Adalia turned around and went back to her work.
After she had been working a while, she realised that the boys were still quiet. She looked back up to find them in the same place she and Kula had left them. "What are you doing?" She asked them, confused.
They all seemed to let out a breath, and then Charlie said, "Making sure you weren't going to come back. Gods you are scary."
Adalia looked at Kula, and then the two broke out in hysterical laughter. The boys turned red and then sat down, which only made the girls laugh harder.
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After that lesson, the boys avoided discussing the court beauties in front of Adalia, but she noticed that Kula seemed to be repetitively accosted by them to listen and comment on their poetry. The only way Kula could avoid this was to be with Adalia, and the girls laughed at their love-struck friends.
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It was the morning of Adalia's 13th birthday (which is near the end of her 3rd year as a page) and Adalia was yet again being tortured by her evil personal Shang, Flick. The two were actually very good friends, but Adalia always referred to the woman as such.
"Hurry up!" Flick yelled. Adalia sped up so that it was hard for anyone to see her limbs whipping through a highly complicated hand-to-hand practise routine.
Ten minutes later, Adalia abruptly stopped, chest rising and falling quickly. Flick slapped her on the back. "Brilliant!"
Adalia smiled at her, "I am so very happy that you approve."
"Ok. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."
Like they had done many times before, they trekked over to the woman's bathhouse to wash away the sweat and grime of the morning's exertions.
They were both done, and Adalia was pulling on an oversized shirt when Flick spoke up; "Why do you always do that?"
"What?" Adalia asked, confused. The two walked out of the dressing room and set off towards the pages mess.
"Wear over sized clothes? The boys are bound to notice some time, they aren't that blind."
Adalia turned red, and looked at her shoes. "It's easier like this, I prefer to stay inconspicuous, hopefully until I get my shield. I don't want them going softer than they already are. They would treat me differently, and I would be bugged all the time." She said bluntly.
Flick laughed, "Ah, you are a strange one, but I can see why you might not want to attract that kind of attention; gods I had enough trouble, and Shang is the hardest kind of training around!"
Adalia grinned at her teacher and friend, the smile creeping into her purple eyes, "they don't hit hard enough as it is – I don't need to give them other reasons to be reluctant."
The two looked at each other with understanding, and then went their separate ways.
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Adalia walked into the mess to a loud shout of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" She stared at all the pages, shocked.
After a few moments, she had gathered herself enough to ask quietly, "How did you find out?"
She then noticed Alanna come forward to hug her. She whispered "Happy Birthday" into Adalia's ear.
"You told them?"
"Well, I noticed that you didn't seem willing, and I can't have my favourite granddaughter going without a birthday party three years in a row!" Alanna said, with a tinge of exasperation.
Adalia rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but grin as she saw her friends run up and wish her happy birthday. She then went and took a seat next to them. "You should have told us before!" Charlie said in exasperation.
Adalia cleared her throat and said, "Well, I didn't want –"
"- To cause a fuss!" They all said in together.
"You know me too well." Adalia grumbled. They all knew that she was happy, but she hated big things.
"It's just as well the Lioness told us. Did you think we didn't notice that you didn't tell us when your birthday was?" Kula asked, with the air of explaining to a two year-old that one plus one equals two.
Adalia shook her head, but had a huge grin on her face.
"Thankyou." She said quietly.
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Next Chapter?
Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce.
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