Disclaimer, all characters belong to Tamora Pierce.

Lord Raoul had been enjoying his evening. His men weren't up to any misgivings, that he knew of, the King was not holding any events that he was forced to attend, and most importantly, Buri had returned.

Although they were married and she was in the process of retiring from the Queen's Riders, she had been riding out with various groups to insure that they would do well under new management. Her last trip out had lasted well over a month as she visited the groups on the borders of the kingdom.

They had retired early in hopes of a long night together, the first of hopefully many to come over the next month. So he was more than a little annoyed when he heard urgent knocking on his door at three in the morning.

Knowing that either he or Buri was needed, they quickly put on some clothes and then answered the door.

"I'm sorry my lord, my lady, but the King needs to see you in his study. He says that he is sorry to interrupt your night, but it is of utmost importance!" The messenger bowed before running off to wake more people who were required at the meeting.

Sighing, he and Buri walked to the King's study to find Jon already there looking worried. They knew better than to ask questions until the rest of the people of importance showed up.

Once everyone was settled, Jon spoke up. "It seems that we are now facing problems with some of our peaceful neighbors. I just got word from fiefs around the Tyra border, it seems that they have suffered attacks and are calling for aid. It is as of yet, too early to tell if these are just rouge bandits or the product of unrest within Tyra."

Myles took over the story, "From the information we have been receiving from Tyra, there have been severe flooding in some areas, completely wiping out crops and the kingdom is under stress. We have heard nothing about unrest within the government, but the people are getting restless."

Jon looked at Raoul, "I'm sorry, I know your men were looking forward to some rest, but I need a company by the Tyra border, and currently everyone else is tied up with their missions."

Raoul stood sighing, "You'll just owe me one, I'm going to go wake the men and debrief them, it seems as if you need us there as soon as possible." Giving a quick kiss to Buri, he set out to wake his men, and the Lady Knight.

Raoul was now beyond frustrated. He had gone to the barracks to wake the men, just to find the door locked. He had been pounding on the door for ten minutes before one of the men came down to see who was making so much noise as there were trying to sleep. Upon entering to talk to his squad leaders, he found that young Domitan of Masbolle was missing and none of the men knew where he was, but they were willing to help pack his bags as a messenger was sent out to find the lost sergeant.

Sighing and knowing that he still had to get ready to ride out himself, Raoul headed towards Kel's rooms, he could only hope that some good would come out of this mission.

Dom found it very difficult to sleep. His mind could not forget that the woman with whom he had just started a relationship with was just in the other room. If he had wanted to he could get up out of his makeshift bed and sneak over to where she slept.

Unable to stand it any longer, Dom silently made his way over to the door leading to Kel's room. To his amazement, the door swung open at the touch of his hand, and there she was asleep in her bed. He had never seen anything so beautiful! Her hair was spread all over the pillow, the moonlight hit her just right to make her look lovelier than he even thought possible. And then she shifted while calling out his name. He froze, afraid she had woken up. But then he heard her sigh in her dream.

Unable to help himself any longer, Dom strode into her room and gently sat on her bed, so as to not startle his sleeping beauty. He slowly went down to kiss her sleeping lips. He was a hairs breath away when …BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Dom sat up, disoriented. He should have known that it was all just a dream. He quickly got out of bed and made his way towards the door. How could he even think that Kel would allow him to sleep in the room next to hers without the door locked? He should have never gone to dinner with her, his dreams only seemed to have gotten worse.

Opening the door, he saw Lord Raoul standing there ready to knock again. Upon seeing Dom standing on the other side, he frowned, arm still raised, clearly he wasn't expecting to find Dom here, but why not, after all, these were his rooms…wait, these weren't his rooms, these rooms belonged to…

"My lord, did you need something, or did you just fancy a chat at three in the morning?" Kel's voice asked from behind Dom. He knew he was dead, he should have never asked Kel to sleep here, and Raoul was going to kill him without letting him explain what happened. Now he really wished he had kissed Kel…

Raoul seemed to be pulled out of his shock, "Yes, I was coming to tell you that we are to ride out within an hour. There have been attacks along the border with Tyra. I was looking for the sergeant here as well; your men are already packing your bags. See you in the courtyard Kel!" With that he turned around to return to his own rooms and think about what he had just seen. Kel and Dom, together…

"My lord, I can explain." He had not heard Dom following him. "The men had locked me out of the barracks. I knew that Buri had just returned, so I could not ask to sleep within your rooms, and my cousin was occupied with his wife. I swear I had no other place to go!" Dom seemed to be in despair.

Raoul sighed, "Sergeant, we can talk about this more later, but for now, are you telling me that you are not involved with Lady Kel?"

"Yes! I mean…no my lord, we have begun to court, but we have not jumped into bed together! We only established our relationship tonight, and I don't want to rush her into something she will regret, I haven't even kissed her my lord!"

Raoul nodded. "I believe you Dom. No, stop stalling and go get prepared to ride out."

When Dom turned to walk away, he called out, "And I am happy for you, both of you, just make sure this does not change how you work together."

"I won't my lord, she means too much to me to even consider it." And with that Dom hurried to his room.

Before Dom had hurried after Raoul, he had given Kel a quick kiss on the cheek, she was assuming it was a "thank you for letting me sleep here" kiss, but she wasn't sure. Shaking herself for wondering such things and not preparing to ride out, Kel closed the door and found the bags she had pre-packed for these late night emergency calls.

Assured that they were full and ready, she turned to her dresser to find a shirt and breeches. She frowned, and then swore as she noticed she had none. She then went to look in other areas, but had to admit defeat after ten minutes of searching. All she had were dresses. She had even unpacked her travel kits to find what she wanted, and to her dismay, they had all been full of dresses. Grumbling as she pulled one of the dresses on, she felt hurt.

Had Dom only asked her on the date to get her out of the palace to allow his men to prank her?

No, that couldn't be the case; after all, they had no knowledge they were to be called out so soon, so it was obvious that they had pulled it without Dom's knowledge. As she finished arming up, thank the Gods almost all her dresses could be worn with her upper body armor, she was trying to think of the perfect prank in retaliation, but decided it would be best to wait until she was less annoyed.

Once again Kel sighed; this was going to be a long mission if all she had were dresses. With that thought, and the thought that maybe she might be able to buy some new clothes on the road, she left her room to report to the courtyard.

Dom cursed. He had returned to his rooms to find that all the furniture still hung upside down from his ceiling, his bags had already been taken down to the wagons, and all he had been left with to wear were dresses.

He had left his nightshirt in the privy so had had no need to open any of his drawers. All dresses! Knowing that he had to report to the courtyard soon, Dom resigned himself to his fate.

Dom cringed when he realized that Kel would be seeing him like this, wearing dresses that somehow matched the Owns uniform, and even had his sergeant's band. Dom cursed again when he was leaving his room, he knew that would have to get his men back.

Raoul had been waiting for all men, and the Lady Knight to assemble in the courtyard. He was shocked to realize that his former squire and his sergeant Domitan had yet to report. He sighed, he sure hoped that Dom had been telling the truth when he said that he hadn't even kissed Kel, he could see them, well, the sergeant, being late due to last minute kisses. Raoul was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the men laughing and quickly covering it up with coughs.

Looking up, Raoul laughed, but unlike his men, did not shut up at the stony glances he was receiving from the couple in question. Obviously, they had been pranked. There was no other reason Kel would be wearing a dress under her armor, and Dom surely would never wear another one after he could not remove the last gown he had put on.

"I'm glad that you have finally decided to join us fair 'maidens' it is not very often that we get such lovely 'ladies' as yourselves within our ranks." Raoul laughed.

Dom blushed, and Kel glared back stating, "You are a bad man sir." But she had started to smile when she realized that Dom had been pranked, yet again tonight, and that it was the equivalent to her own this time.

"Well, mount up, we must reach the Tyra border as swiftly as we can, until we reach it however, I'm afraid we won't be able to stop to allow you two to buy more fitting clothes." And with that Raoul called the men to assemble, and they moved out moments later.