Chapter 15: Pranks

Adalia was lounging in Kaden's room next to Kula and Charlie, trying to convince Dameon to do her homework.

"Come on. I know you will do this for a friend." Adalia said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"You are mad. I have never done it for you before, why should today be any exception?" Dameon inquired, scrutinising his friend.

Adalia was staring at the ceiling. The others could see an expression on her face that they had all come to associate with problems in the near future.

"Whatever you are thinking, don't." Charlie quickly told her.

I think that may work… Adalia was thinking to herself, and then noticed her friends regarding her nervously. "What?" She asked them with an innocent smile.

"Oh no. Whatever you were just thinking, don't even mention it. I learnt not to go along with your plans after being stuck on the roof of the stable – twice!" Dameon said sarcastically.

Adalia smiled mischievously, "That wasn't my fault! You should have been able to avoid Lord Padraig. Why didn't you just jump down?"

"Adalia, you seem to be conveniently forgetting that you can jump way further than us." Kula said, exasperated.

"Oh, but this time I swear he will want to do my homework, when I tell him what I will do! It won't hurt anyone." Adalia replied, still lying lazily.

"Oh sure. As if!" Dameon retorted. "I am not doing your homework."

"No, not all of it, just my maths. You've done all yours."

"No."

"Don't you even want to hear what's in it for you?" Adalia asked persistently.

"Just let her tell you, she won't stop until she does." Kula put in, hiding a smile while watching Adalia. Adalia could be very persistent when she wanted to, and didn't give up on an idea until she either followed it through, or was convinced that it wouldn't work.

"Fine." Said a resigned Dameon.

"Oh cheer up. I have a nice treat in stall for Lord Padraig, but I can't do it if I'm doing maths now, can I?"

"And what might this treat be?" Kula inquired, eyes dancing.

"Oh. I can't tell you. If I tell you, I may just have to kill you." Adalia said absently, still involved in looking at her treat from all angles.

"That good, is it?" Charlie said, interested.

Adalia just nodded.

"I am still not doing your homework." Dameon said stubbornly.

"If you do, I will introduce you to Sarra." Adalia offered. Sarra had become quite the beauty, and admirers constantly accosted her. At this, all three boys sat up straighter and gazed at their friend with barely concealed hope.

"REALLY?" Dameon asked quickly, at the same time Kaden and Charlie said, "No fair!"

Adalia nodded, and Dameon jumped forward to grab her maths homework.

"Anything I can do?" Charlie asked Adalia.

Adalia got up off the bed, and absent-mindedly glanced at her other two friends, who were glaring daggers at Dameon. "Nothing comes to mind."

Charlie and Kaden went back to their homework looking disappointed, and Adalia took one look at her friends and gave an over exaggerated Players bow, "I am off to give Lord Padraig his treat now. Wish me luck."

The four applauded as she exited the room. "What do you recon she's going to do?" Kula inquired.

The four looked at each other. "Whatever it is, I bet it's going to be big. She has never asked us to do her homework before, so I guess Lord Padraig will REALLY want to find the perpetrator, meaning he will check which page completed less work to see if they did it." Dameon said thoughtfully, indicating her homework.

After considering this, and then considering Adalia's creativeness, they all quickly got to work on their homework

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The next morning while the pages were in the mess for breakfast and Adalia and her friends were joking as usual, when a red-faced Lord Padraig stormed in. Ok, red didn't do the colour of his face justice. It was more of a purple-black and maroon colour, and he looked like he was ready to kill someone.

"EVERYONE FOLLOW ME NOW!" He roared, and all the pages instantly sprang up and followed the furious man. Some of the younger pages seemed close to wetting their pants. Kula, Dameon, Charlie and Kaden were sneaking glances at Adalia, who was acting curious, as she usually would be.

The pages had to jog to keep up with the training master as he mounted the wall that ran around the palace. That was where they got a spectacular view of something that made the pages stand in awe.

Adalia sat there observing her masterpiece thinking, It really is sad that I won't get to take responsibility for this. Oh well, it will be better for me to remain anonymous, particularly since I am enjoying my neck connected to my body…

Lord Padraig was striding up and down the line of pages, scrutinising their faces as they observed the spectacle. Most faces were a mixture of shock and awe. Some, like Adalia, were brave or amused enough to laugh quietly. Fortunately, Adalia realised that he was looking for out-of-character reactions, and she also knew that he would expect her to laugh.

For what was hanging from the impossibly tall flagpole but Lord Padraig's underwear.

"Do any of you know who did this?" Lord Padraig said, voice deathly quiet. He was passed the roaring stage, into the even more dangerous form of anger.

The pages all shook their heads, unable to drag their eyes away from their training master's underwear, which must be visible all over Corus. However had done it had included a large label.

Adalia could not help but burst out laughing again. This situation was hilarious – the man could even threaten pages while his underwear was being displayed, fluttering in the wind. He narrowed his eyes and stomped down to Adalia.

"Did you do this?" He asked furiously.

It took Adalia a few minutes to get herself under control long enough to form an articulate answer. The other pages were looking at her as if she was mad; an angry Lord Padraig usually demanded instant halt in any form of happiness or humour.

"N-No. It's just funny, milord." Adalia managed to stutter, hands clasped behind her back.

Lord Padraig glared at her. She met his eyes resolutely, and he held her gaze.

He suddenly turned back to observing the pages, thinking She would just do that if it was her or not.

After observing the dismal expressions on all the other pages (he ignored Adalia who kept succumbing to laughter, as was her nature) the bell signalling the start of the first class rang. "I will find out who did this." He shouted at them, and then dismissed them.

While the pages trudged off the wall and to the writing class, Adalia wore a satisfied smile; watching nobles, servants and soldiers seeing her prank for the first time.

"How did you keep laughing, even when he was staring right at you?" Dameon asked Adalia during their maths class.

Adalia turned her head to look at him, and said, "It was funny."

"It was, he wasn't. I thought he was going to have a heart attack!" Charlie informed her, a grin on his face.

"Maybe." Adalia replied absently, still delighting in the brilliance of her plan.

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After lunch, Lord Padraig worked all of the pages twice as hard. He had apparently not yet caught the perpetrator, even though he had personally interviewed the guards that were on duty. He had also secretly checked with all the pages teachers, to see if one of the pages did unusually less homework the previous night. The only thing he had managed to do was to detach his underwear from the flagpole.

He knew who he suspected it to be, but he had no evidence that it was the page, which coincidentally, was why he believed Adalia did it.

As Adalia went through a complicated sword drill, she noticed that Lord Padraig seemed to be glaring in her direction. I know very well that he knows I did it, nut he can't do anything unless he gets evidence! How fun is this? Adalia allowed herself a satisfied smile while she watched the still angry Lord Padraig terrorise a second year because they had gotten their grip wrong.

At the end of the lesson, Alanna went over to Adalia. "Did you pull that prank on Padraig?" She asked bluntly.

Adalia appeared shocked. "You think I did it?"

"Yes." Alanna was amused, and didn't hide the fact that she believed it was good for Padraig to be taught humility.

"Believe what you will." Adalia said grandly, and then ran to catch up with the pages exiting the courts.

Alanna stood watching the girl catch up to the group. She didn't tell me she did it, but neither did she deny it. She mused with more than a little amusement.

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That night, Adalia had snuck out of the pages wing and was sitting on the large wall that surrounded the palace. Her legs dangling over the side, she was in a state of supreme relaxation. She couldn't get to sleep, and had decided that she may as well spend the time cementing the look on Lord Padraig's face when he had first discovered his underwear flying 40 meters in the air in her mind.

Looking up, she saw a full moon and countless stars glistening overhead. Corus was a large collection of lights far bellow. Even though she could not see the buildings, the beauty of the city at night took her breath away. Suddenly a sharp burst of wind made her acutely aware of the fact that she was not wearing a coat of any kind, and she shuddered and crossed her arms over her chest. Much to her surprise, she felt a blanket being wrapped around her.

Turning her head to look for whoever had put the blanket on her, she was astounded to see Rye climbing up onto the wall next to her. I didn't even notice him coming Adalia thought bitterly. "What are you doing?" She asked him, suspicious.

"Making sure you don't get hypothermia again." Rye teased.

Adalia ignored this, and went back to examining the moon. The two sat in companionable silence.

After a while, Adalia noticed that Rye was watching her. She turned quickly to glare at him, but noticed that he didn't mean anything bad by it.

"Um… Adalia…" Rye seemed to force himself to say.

His voice was soft, and Adalia moved closer to discern what he was saying. "Yeah?"

"Umm. I…" Rye would not meet her eyes, and Adalia was tempted to shake him. Since when has Rye been this…quiet? I usually can't get him to shut up. Adalia thought, exasperated.

"What Rye? Spit it out!"

"Yet again, Adalia. Patience!" Rye said absently. He grabbed her hands and warmed them in his. He then drew in a large breath.

Adalia was watching him confused. This was not like Rye, who was always joking and playing around with her.

"Um… Adalia, I li-"

"What are you two doing here?" One of the sentries yelled at them. He was a large man, very imposing.

Rye dropped Adalia's hand like it was a hot coal, and said to the guard, "Well, we were enjoying the scenery, but I guess now we will have to go to bed, like good children." He said to the guard, irritated. He then spun and leapt down from the wall.

Adalia didn't know why he was so annoyed, but she took the offered hand, allowing Rye to help her jump to the ground.

As the guard moved on, Rye seemed to be inspecting her. She looked up into his face, and realised that he was thinking hard. "Um… Rye. What were you going to tell me?" She reminded him tersely.

He seemed to come back to the present, and looked at her, "Oh. Nothing…don't worry about it. Night."

And with that, he turned and walked away. Adalia watched his retreating back. I wonder what he wanted to tell me she thought, curious. She noticed she still he the blanket he had given her wrapped around her shoulders, but decided to go around once she had some free time to return it.

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Disclaimer: Not TP

I hope you guys enjoyed. Please R&R. If I get heaps I swear I will update sooner. I probably will do it anyways, but yeah. I also want to thank everyone who already has reviewed. You can't know how much I appreciate your kind comments!