Disclaimer: All characters and places recognized belong to Tamora Pierce :)

Dom had only taken a few more steps towards Raoul's and Buri's tent before he changed directions. He needed to pick up supplies before he went to the commander's tent, otherwise it would be foolish. He smiled as he neared the healer's tent, at least they wouldn't question what he was doing there. He frowned for a moment trying to remember how long it had been since he had checked upon Kel.

He sighed. Wolset had actually succeeded in his plan. Dom had not spared a single moment thinking of his love in over an hour, and they had even managed to keep him out of the healer's tent for a few hours now. He paused before he entered.

Unlike the other times he had been in here today, Dom actually took the time to look around the tent to see who was all in here. He spotted Qasim with a heavy bandage on his chest and an arm in a splint. He briefly remembered that he had been located close to Kel when he had found her on the field. Dom looked away from his friend's bed and took another look around, he noticed a few other men from the Own, but it appeared that most of the injured were Regulars.

Having felt that he had stayed away from looking at Kel for as long as he could stand, he made his way over to the cot she lay in. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed that some of her color had returned. She still looked slightly frail, and he was uncertain as to if she was just in a natural sleep or still in her slumber due to the healers. As he stared down at Kel, he couldn't help but think of what he had finally admitted to himself. He was ready to leave the Own to be with a woman, this woman.

The touch of the healer's hand on his shoulder brought Dom back to his surroundings, and his current mission. He smiled as he turned, "She's looking better." He commented.

The healer smiled, "She was lucky. She still hasn't stirred since she was brought in, but the return of her color is a good sign." He then looked around the tent, noticing five of the men starting to wake up and hiss in pain. "If you'd excuse me, I need to get the sleeping draught ready."

Dom took his chance, "Could I possibly help you? I need to do something to keep myself busy." He looked down at Kel with worry. Then back up to the relieved healer.

"Can you grab the mixture as I get the water? It is located over there." He pointed in the direction.

Dom flashed a bright smile before going over. So far his plan was going smoothly. Having reached the bag that had been pointed out, Dom quickly searched for what he was looking for, finding several small vials. He quickly pulled two out. Looking back at the healer, he was relieved to notice that his back was turned. He stuck one of the vials in his belt pouch. He was about to close the bag when his eye was caught by one more item. Checking to make sure the coast was clear again; he put the item in the waist of his breeches, making sure his tunic covered all evidence of his swiping.

He turned back and quickly went back to the healer and handed him the vial. "Here you are! Now if you'll excuse me, I just remembered that I was going to go perform a surprise inspection on my men's gear!" Dom left quickly and headed over to the supply wagon and quickly found spare rags and a jar of what he was looking for. He was about to leave when he thought better of it and grabbed an extra bucket.

Turning he quickly made his way back towards the commander's tent. He stopped nearby and heard Buri and Raoul talking. He quietly slipped to the back of the tent. Before rounding the back, he noticed another man being sent out on a prank and smiled. This was going to be a night to remember.

About ten minutes later Dom made his way back to the tent where the men were playing dice. He entered with a large grin and a wink. Everybody turned looking at him in disbelief.

"Ye did it?" Wolset asked, not sure what to think. "It took ye long enough, we thought that ye gave up on us poor lads." There were many nods of agreement.

Dom's grin grew even bigger. "I not only managed to prank our beloved Lord Raoul, but his beautiful wife." He looked around at the amazed faces and his smile grew. "I also insured they will sleep soundly tonight." Here he pulled out the little vial he had swiped from the infirmary and tossed it to an amazed Wolset. "And," he reached under his tunic, "I managed to ensure that this night continues in style!" He pulled out the large bottle of brandy he had managed to swipe from the healer's tent as well.

Fred whistled, looking at the small vial of sleeping draught, the large bottle of brandy and finally the boyishly smiling Dom. "I need to see this for myself!" He got up from his spot and headed out the tent, followed by the others, their game momentarily forgotten.

Dom followed the men out and quickly trailed them; he knew that they would be amazed at his work. His smile only grew when he heard the first of the muffled laughter.

Wolset came back over to him and slapped him on the back, his eyes twinkling, "Ye truly be a master, and look, not a single bit o' incriminating evidence on ye!" He laughed when he looked back towards the commander's tent.

"Alright men, back to the tent! The night is still young, we have a bottle of the best brandy the crown could supply, and most importantly, we have a camp to prank while our dear commanders sleep peacefully!" Dom called out quietly.

The men quickly headed back towards the tent in high spirits, they had plenty of time to continue their fun.

The first ray of sun found its way onto the sleeping men. They had stayed up half the night performing numerous pranks, drinking whatever they had in their own personal flasks and the bottle of brandy Dom managed to swipe.

Dom cursed the sun as he opened his eyes, his hand going straight to his head. He let out a grunt as he looked around him trying to figure out where he was. Letting out a moan as he stood, he made his way to the healer's. He nearly fell as he kicked somebody. Looking down he saw Wolset and Fred cuddled together and let out a smile, looking around better he noticed several more men.

Feeling his head throb again, Dom remembered his original purpose for getting up. But he figured he may as well get some help, knowing that these men would need it just as much as himself.

Dom gently kicked Wolset. Grunting the other man grumbled. "Not now ye miserable git." Dom smiled, and gave the man a harder shove with his foot. This time Wolset opened his eyes to release a curse and attempt to shield himself from the bright light.

"Wolset, go get some mugs and hot water, I'll go find some of the hangover remedy." Dom commanded as he made his way out of the tent, trying to remember what they had done last night. Looking around he noticed that it was barely after dawn and nobody was up yet.

Dom made his way over to the healer's tent still trying to shield his eyes from the cursed sun. Why did it have to wake him up so early after a long night of drinking? He had made it to the bag that held the supplies. He quickly opened it and found what he was looking for, a small package of the blessed cure.

Dom frowned when he opened up his belt purse and found a small vial tucked in there. He frowned even further when he noticed that it was for sleep. He quickly placed it back into the medical bags and turned.

A curse left his lips when he caught sight of his Kel laying in one of the cots. That's when the events of the previous day came back to him. The fight, her injured, the men trying to cheer him up, the pranks…crap! The pranks! Dom's fascination over Kel quickly forgotten Dom rushed out of the healer's tent and back to the tent filled with men.

He sighed when he saw Wolset already back with the mugs and water. He quickly thrust the hangover remedy at Wolset, waving his hands towards the mugs. He quickly spied the empty bottle of brandy and picked it up, rushing back to the healer's and putting it back where it belonged.

When he returned to the tent a second time, he found that the brew was ready and grabbed his mug, taking a sip before he started shouting orders, making his own head pound. "UP! If we want to be awake and less hung over to enjoy the show, then you all need to get up NOW!" Dom took another sip as the men groaned.

He watched them all nurse their drink before continuing. "Alright men, so Raoul doesn't have my head, we need to go and get started on breakfast. This shall allow us for the best seats in the house." Dom grinned evilly, the others quickly joining him.

Gathering all the empty mugs, Dom quickly deposited them where other dirty utensils were. He then took the time to see what damage he and the men had made to the camp. He let out a small chuckle when he noticed that the banner for Third Company had been switched with a loincloth. Another look around showed him no other obvious pranks.

Dom quickly returned to the fire, his eyes trained on the commander's tent. He had been sitting down for almost five minutes when men started to come out of their tents. He and the other's had difficulty controlling their laughter as some of them emerged with bright orange shirts and horrible faces, which indicated that all their shirts were of the same color. He was amused to see some men walk out with no notice that their hair was either a bright blue or pink color. He noticed a few others with their noses wrinkled in obvious distaste as if they smelled something horrible, and others appeared to be scratching to no avail.

Dom had thought that those were all the pranks pulled until he started to hear men scream as cold water was dumped upon their heads as they emerged. He nearly died of laughter when some men he had thought they had had missed grinned and all of their teeth were black.

Knowing that all the commotion would have awakened Raoul and Buri, Dom quickly looked to their tent in time to see two people emerge, unrecognizable due to the caked on mud covering them from head to foot. But before they could move more than a step out of the tent, twin buckets of water were dumped upon their heads, washing off all mud and showing bright purple faces and hands, and green hair, within their hands they held a bundle of orange, which Dom presumed to be their shirts.

Unable to control himself any more, Dom fell to the floor laughing uncontrollably. This had been by far the best prank night he and the men had ever performed; he had to estimate that they pranked almost seventy of the men, a record. And not just that, but one of the men had successfully pulled at least five pranks on Lord Raoul and Buri!

Then Dom stopped, his blood draining as memories returned from the night before, the purple dye, mud, hair color, stealing the shirts and dying them orange, dripping ink within their mouths and lastly, tying buckets about the tent flap. He paled even further as he also remembered slipping the sleeping aid into their drinks to ensure they would not wake up. He was dead.

He quickly got up and tried to casually leave from the laughing men. He needed to hide, now. He had been about to make his escape when Raoul's booming voice met his ears. "Sergeant Domitan! My tent! NOW!"

Dom slowly turned, his eyes landing on the Knight Commander and his wife. He was pretty sure that had their faces not been purple due to dye, then they would be due to anger. He gulped as several men patted him on the back; even Wolset was starting to look like he wished he had never had the idea of a prank night in the first place.

He finally reached Raoul and Buri, looking up momentarily before gulping and entering the tent ahead of the two very angry people he now had to face. He really hoped that he would come out of this alive.

Kel was now beyond bored. She had been floating for what felt like forever. However, wherever she was, it was hard to tell. This place appeared to be timeless. The images that had been bombarding her had stopped, leaving her there with nothing to do but try to remember what had left her in such a helpless position.

She felt the first thing since the numbness had set in, it was determination. She would figure this out. She just had to. Something or someone was calling her back from this mysterious place she had found herself in. She was a knight after all.

At that thought, the images flooded her again, but this time she was able to look at them and recognize them for what they were, memories. They were memories of her life, the things that made her who she is, that gave her all of her determination to find her dream, the determination to actually achieve her goal. She was a knight.

There was complete silence within the tent, Dom kept his eyes down on his hands, not daring to look up. Raoul and Buri were both waiting, wanting to see how long the young sergeant would hold out before he cracked. It was obvious from his demeanor that there was a lot that had happened the previous night, more than them waking up covered in mud and having no memory of even how they had become that way and even going to bed. As it was the last thing they remembered was Buri teasing her husband about all the stupid comments or actions he had said or performed towards his female friends.

Unable to sit any longer without a sound, Raoul cleared his throat before he spoke, "Domitan it was obvious that you and your men had something to do with the current state of this camp and the men, and women, within it. If not due to the fact that they were the only ones who had no marks of pranks, and you trying to sneak away before you were caught." He raised his eyebrows, which had gone unnoticed by the younger man in front of him as he still refused to make eye contact.

Finally Dom looked up at both Raoul and Buri, a slight twinkle still in his eye, but everything about his body language showed just how tense he was in this situation. Finally taking a deep breath he finally started to talk.

"It was Wolset's idea, he felt that after the events of yesterday we all needed a chance to unwind and get our minds off of current events. Those were our friends who were ambushed, my lover who was greatly injured doing her duty." He swallowed, "He decided to gather the men, and we decided to play dice as we drank from our hip flasks." He looked up at Raoul, knowing how the commander felt about the men consuming alcohol in the camp. "They were more shaken than they would want to admit and needed to calm their nerves my Lord, otherwise I would not have condoned their behavior…or my own."

Raoul gave a slight nod to show that he heard what he had to say and wished for him to continue. He could feel Buri shift next to him, waiting for what had happened over the course of the night.

"The rules were simple, if you were the worst looser at the game, you were told a prank that you had to perform after it was told to you, the only people who were off-limits to our pranks were the men within the tent, and all those in the healer's tent, and the healer's themselves as there were still men, and Kel, to be looked after. I think that we also agreed, silently, to not prank those who were to go on duty until after they were off."

Buri nodded her understanding, while Raoul continued to look at Dom. Finally he spoke again. "That's all well and good sergeant, but that still doesn't account for what has happened in this camp over the last few hours. And it sure doesn't account for how my wife and I look; assuming that what was done to me was also done to my darling wife."

Dom looked back down, "I'm the one who pranked the two of you, everything, from the color changing of skin, hair, teeth and shirts, to the mud cover and buckets of water. Even the sudden need to sleep." He took a peek at the two people in front of him, trying to gage what their reaction would be, before he continued, "The men did everyone else." He took a deep breath, "We managed to prank about seventy men, Own and Regular alike."

Raoul tried to hide how impressed he was. "I see, and now as much as I care about those other pranks pulled, I am much more interested in how you accomplished our," he pointed between his wife and himself, "current state." He raised his eyebrows questioning.

Dom flashed him a cheeky smile before he sobered up, remembering what he had to tell the two people in front of him. "I went to the healer's tent under the pretense of checking up on Kel and the others. While there, I managed to swipe a vial of the sleeping draught," he nervously looked up, "and the brandy."

Raoul raised an eyebrow, he knew that occasionally the men would dip into the bottles, but he had never expected his sergeants to do so. Then again, this was a special occasion. He knew that he had shown Buri his own despair the previous day and if he was the man of his youth, he would have turned to the bottle. He nodded for Dom to continue.

"After grabbing the other supplies, I came around the back of your tent, managed to get a few drops of the draft into your cup, and within five minutes you both were out." He looked up at the two people in front of him again. "I know that people can easily administer that too strongly, but I knew what I was doing, after all, Uncle Baird, and even my cousin Nealan, have made sure I know what I am doing for the basics if there is no healer, including a few important drafts that could be deadly when one does not know what they are doing." He waited for their slight nod before he continued. "I then came in and turned all visible skin purple. I was only to prank you Sir, but in my slightly…liberated state, I took it upon myself to treat your wife equally."

Raoul had to fight not to laugh or smile at his wife's plight. "I see you took the whole marriage makes a man and a woman one person quite literally." He told the young man dryly.

Dom just gave a big smile, "As for the rest of the pranks I pulled, I don't remember the order, or when they happened, all I remember is that the men refused to prank you two, and seeing as I had already done the first damage, it would be my task."

The tent remained silent for several moments as Raoul and Buri thought over what all had happened the night, but before they could say anything, Dom spoke up once again.

"Oh, and when I woke up this morning, I replaced the sleep draft vial, and the empty bottle of brandy so it could be refilled when we reach Corus, and I took a packet of the hangover remedy to give to the men. I then had us perform the morning duties to insure the camp was still functional after all the disorder that we caused during the night."

"How very responsible of you sergeant." Buri commented. "I think that is at least one thing you did right in the past twelve hours."

Raoul still sat contemplating his next move. He had to admit that he was impressed. They had pranked so many during a short span of time, and ensured that there was no true property damage. And in the morning, they were the first up and made sure to insure that their pranks would not harm the entire camp. He was about to make his own comments when there was a commotion outside the tent.

Two men walked in, one of the men who had been preparing breakfast, and the other from the healer's tent, he motioned for the first to speak.

"My Lord, Sir, there seems to have been some kind of…mix up." Raoul waved for him to continue, "It appears that the meals have been mixed up…instead of having porridge for breakfast, we are stuck with some kind of…I don't even know what it is. And instead of tea we have…soup?"

Dom smiled sheepishly. "It appears that we may have meddled with the food supplies. I don't recall doing that."

Raoul broke out into laughter, "Well then men, it would seem that we are to have a few mystery meals." He smiled to the men in front of him. Then he turned back to the waiting healer. "What news do you have for us? Please don't tell me that your supplies have been mixed, and besides one empty bottle of brandy there hasn't been another emptied."

The healer looked relieved, "No, I was going to inform you that a bottle had been emptied, but all else looked to be intact. Well, besides the missing packet of hangover remedy, but seeing as you know where the brandy disappeared to you know who took that."

Raoul nodded. "I am relieved to hear that. Otherwise one of my sergeants would have more trouble on his hands than he already does." He shot a pointed look at Dom who had the decency to look down at his hands.

"And there is one more thing Sir, one of the patients is awake and asking for you and Sergeant Domitan."

Raoul and Dom stood up quickly and made their way over to the healer's tent.

AN: Sorry for not updating in such a long time, the holiday's, family celebrations, and seeing my wonderful friends for the first time in about 4 months got in the way of my writing. It was also difficult for me to come up with easy, do able pranks for the men of Dom's squad to pull on so many members of their riding party within one night. I already have the next chapter started, so hopefully I can have it posted before I begin school. But on the positive side, this semester I have the same professor that I had last semester, the one in whose class I wrote most of this story in! That holds the potential of me cranking out more chapters while in school instead of putting this story on the back burners.