Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to the wonderful Tamora Pierce.

Dom's heart was racing. All thoughts of the consequences that he and his men would be facing for the stunts they pulled the night before were forgotten. Someone was up and wanting to speak with him. Kel. He prayed to all the Gods that it was his amazing Lady Knight who was asking for him. Awake, even though the healers estimated another day or so before she awoke.

He allowed for Raoul to enter first. He kept thinking to himself that it was because he was the Knight Commander that he should be the first to enter to see who was asking for them. But he also knew that it was so he could prepare himself for the fact that it could in all actuality not be his Kel.

Bracing himself for whom ever it was that was awaiting him, Dom entered the tent and saw that they were being directed to Qasim's bed. While trying to fight off his feelings of disappointment and worry, Dom had to smile as the man on the cot looked up to his giant purple skinned, green haired, black toothed commander in an orange shirt. If any sight could surprise him just waking up after an injury, that sight would be it.

"Sir, what happened to you?" Qasim chuckled. "Here I thought that these poor men around me, and lass, had it bad being cut up by a band of bandits. But look at you, never seen a more colorful sight in all my life." He smiled up at his leader waiting for a response.

Raoul chuckled before pulling Dom to his side, "You have this here young man to thank for the lovely sight before you, and the appearance of my lovely wife. It would seem that the men under him took it upon themselves to prank the camp while we slept." Raoul then looked down into Dom's face with a twinkle in his eye. "I have to admit I am rather impressed. They got seventy men, and managed to make a mess out of the meals. But at the very least Captain Domitan here made sure that the men who performed such deeds made right in the morning."

Dom stood amazed, stuttering out "Ca…captain?" He looked into Qasim's face as the older man broke into a smile. "Thank you Raoul, but…I don't understand. I thought that you would punish me for all that my men and I did last night, not promote me!"

Raoul chuckled, "It is your punishment, in a way. I know that you have plans on leaving us in the very near future, something about having a sweetheart whom you wish to marry. Now, it would mean the world to me to see the two of you happy, but, as you have most likely guessed, Flynn has resigned from his post. I need a Captain and you are the only man for the job. You showed that today, and last night."

"I did?" Dom was more than confused. Last night he had not put a stop to the men's antics, instead he had joined in to prank the commander and his wife. The only sign of responsibility he had shown was when he forced them all awake and set them up with tasks to keep things running.

Raoul nodded as he smiled down at Dom. "You may have let the men run ramped during the night, and drink too much, but you also understood that that was what they needed. And then instead of letting them sleep all day and not face the consequences, you woke them up early. You got them functioning, and made them look after those who they pranked. You deserve this position."

Dom smiled before frowning again. "But, what about what I told you? I do have every intention of asking for Kel's hand. I will be leaving, maybe not in the next few months, but I doubt that I will be here for more than a year."

Qasim spoke up then, "You're planning on asking Kel to marry you?"

Dom nodded as Raoul began to speak once more. "I know this. But I need a captain; I was going to ask you yesterday before you told me your decision. You are the only man for this position Dom, I would ask anyone else otherwise knowing this, but there is no one else to ask. We both agreed yesterday that I would not accept your resignation until after we reached Corus and you asked Kel. As I see it, you already have a plan as to how and where you will ask her; you just are waiting for the time. There is about a month before you can ask her during your leave. We can also plan on having time between when you ask her and when you two finally make it to the alter. That should be more than enough time to figure something out."

Dom smiled up at Raoul. "Thank you Raoul. I am truly honored that you picked me to fill this spot. And that you show so much support and faith in my relationship. Now, I believe that Qasim here has something to tell us, otherwise he wouldn't have called. And I doubt he knew about my promotion as he seemed as shocked as I was."

Qasim chuckled, "I was shocked Captain, but still not as surprised by seeing our commander so dolled up." He smiled at the men before him before he became serious once more. "How is Keladry?"

They started slow, almost sluggish. The colors lazily mixed together making a blurred image. Kel could not even make out what she was looking at. Just random sights and sounds seemed to assault her. She was lost in confusion trying to make sense of what she saw. Then, suddenly the images changed, became clearer. She was unable to tell what anything was, but the colors stopped bleeding together. The sounds that had been almost background noise; undistinguishable as to what was being heard became sharper, more defined.

Next she finally saw the first true image she had ever seen with any clarity, her mother. Kel felt the love and safety looking down from her mother's younger face. She still had her premature white hair, but fewer lines etched across her face. With shock Kel also watched as emotions flashed across her face, a large smile, cocking of an eyebrow. The only thing Kel truly remembered growing up was her mother's carefully controlled face, a stone with twinkling eyes.

This was her mother while she was a young child. Before the Yamani Islands. Before she needed to hide the joy that playing with her child brought. Kel watched in amazement as she saw her family once again through her baby eyes. Her father cheerful, but reserved. Anders showed no sign of pain or toll of war. Her sisters actually seemed happy to sit and play with a baby Kel. Not calling her a cow or commenting on how she would never find a husband. She felt the love that surrounded her. That filled her childhood before they sailed to the Islands. Before such obviously displayed emotion was frowned upon.

Kel was shocked to see that she was let out to play with the villagers. They had known she was the daughter within the main house. She was fully accepted, not pointed at as being strange, a lump. They all laughed together, chasing each other, well, she assumed that at this point in her life it was crawling together.

She was now walking, climbing and acting as a normal toddler. She watched as her mother ran after Kel as she exited the house to enter into a busy courtyard. About to be trampled, her mother called for her, but before any harm fell onto a young Kel her brother, Conal picked her up and swung her around. Try to calm her down. Before too long, Kel was giggling in her brother's arms.

Memories seemed to go past. Most of them appeared to be everyday things that had happened as a child, holding no interest in such repetitive memories, Kel would have smiled at the childhood she had. Such a loving and caring family. So many friends who would play with her. Memories that she could barely remember resurfaced.

Then the setting changed. She knew she must be somewhere nice. The walls were clean, expensive tapestries hung on the wall. The carpeting was very plush and a royal blue. That's when she figured it out. It was Conté blue, she was at the palace. As young Kel looked around, she noticed that there were several other young children with her.

She shyly walked up to two boys who were playing with wooden swords, one looked to be about her age, he had red hair and plenty of freckles. She stared at them in awe. Then she stated with her three-year old knowledge, "My brothers are all knights. Are you going to be knights?"

The boy who seemed to be a little older and had dark hair and blue eyes looked at Kel, a slight frown on his face, "I am going to be a knight and a king."

Kel looked at him questioningly, "What is a king?"

A different boy who also seemed to be older and had red hair spoke up. "What are you, some kind of stupid girl? A king is a ruler; he makes sure the kingdom runs properly."

The younger red head looked up. "Can I be a king?"

The older red head scoffed. "No dummy, only a prince can be a king!" He turned to Kel, "But you could be queen."

A little girl Kel's age ran into the room. "She can't be queen! Mama is queen!"

The young Roald, for that is who the dark haired boy had to be looked at his sister, "Mama's not always going to be queen Kally, I don't want her to be queen with me." He made a face. Then his face lit up. "Why don't we play kingdom!"

Kel was confused, "Kingdom?" Everyone else looked confused as well.

"I'll be the king, they will be the knights, you'll be my queen and Kally can be the damsel in distress." Roald stated.

Kally pouted, "Why can't I be queen?"

At that moment the door to the nursery opened and two much older boys entered, one looked to be about eight and had brown hair and green eyes while the eldest had slightly darker hair and blue eyes. Kel was slightly nervous; they looked like they were up to something.

The green eyed one looked at Kally with level eyes and said in a voice older than his age, "That is because Princess, it is highly uncustomary to have the Prince become betrothed to his very close blood relative and allow her to become his queen. It is mostly frowned upon in our Western Society. But I have heard stories from across the Emerald Sea that there was one King who decided to marry his niece."

The blue haired boy smacked the younger one on the back of his head, "Shut up Meathead." Kel was shocked, she never thought that she had met either Dom or Neal before, but here was the memory, long forgotten. "What he is trying to say is that you will be queen one day, but not with your brother."

Roald looked excited. "Do you want to play kingdom with us? You can be the bad guys!"

They were so immersed into their game of kingdom, Roald was sitting on a chair giving orders with Kel by his side, as the two red headed boys chased young Neal and Dom. Dom took it upon himself to pick up Kally and kidnap her. It was at this point that Roald pointed to Kel and told her, "Chase him my queen, and get back our people with the help of our knights!"

It was some time during this "chase" that the door opened up again. A very beautiful woman with long black hair and who would be considered inhumanly beautiful, if not for her strong nose, walked in. Dom quickly put Kally down and bowed, followed quickly by Neal, Roald and the oldest red head. Kally called out "Mama!" before she ran to the woman.

"Hello darling, what are you lot doing?" The lady asked with an elegant eyebrow raised.

"We're playing kingdom. I'm the damsel in distress, they stole me and she," Kally pointed to Kel, "is queen and was leading the knights to rescue me, just like you mama."

Queen Thayet smiled at the children. "I'm glad you are having fun, but come now, it is time for you older ones to return to your family suits, these youngsters need their naps." She followed the eldest out before turning around and started to get Kally, Roald, the red head and Kel settled, all of them yawning. It didn't take Kel long to fall asleep after all the fun she had.

Dom's smile faltered, losing all the happiness that it held seconds before. "She's still sleeping. They can't tell if it is natural or not. She seems to be on the edge of something. Gods, I hope she finds whatever it is she's looking for." He let his desperation leak into his voice. He needed his Kel.

"I…" Qasim seemed to think on what he was about to say. "I saw her face before the arrow embedded. It was a look of desperation. Like she had lost all hope of coming out alive." He looked at the two men in front of him; Raoul looked grim while Dom's face had gone white. "Captain?" When Dom didn't respond he said louder, "Domitan?"

"I've seen that look. Twice. It nearly killed me then to realize what she was thinking. And now you tell me she had that look again. Gods." He closed his eyes, as if fighting back the painful memories. "She had that look before entering the castle for the Gallan. And then later on the raft ride back into Tortall. She wouldn't listen to any of us that it would be ok."

Qasim rose up from his cot to try and get a look at Kel, when he saw her he sighed, "She looks so much more peaceful than she did that morning."

"How was she that morning? What happened? If it wasn't for Dom we never would have known that anything happened until it was too late, that is. Why did nobody try to contact me?" Raoul questioned. It had been quite a while since the Own had experienced such an attack.

Qasim sighed, "Lady Keladry went to bed early, but she was up again not much later. She did some of her dances."

Raoul interrupted, "She had a nightmare?"

Qasim flashed a cheeky smirk towards Dom. "No, she told me that she had sweet dreams of a certain lover of hers, until it was interrupted by her nightmares. I think when I saw her at the beginning of my watch she was having problems sleeping with thoughts of seeing you again captain." He gave Dom a smile, "She was asleep when it was time to switch out the sentries, so I wasn't worried. But she was up before breakfast was even started and she had sweat through her clothes. I don't think she would have stopped if I hadn't of interrupted her."

Dom looked thoughtful. "So she had a nightmare, do you know if it was sent to her by the chamber? I know she still goes to talk to it." He blushed when he saw both men look at him, "I may have followed her last time we were both at the palace and saw her enter."

Raoul chuckled, "Silly girl, she's still trying to prove herself to the Chamber."

Dom shook his head, "I don't think so. I think she goes because she feels that the Chamber is lonely. And I think she wants to see if it has any other tasks for her in the near future."

"Well at any rate, this was just a nightmare." Qasim told them before they could continue with the discussion. "All that she told me was that she knew that she was being chased and didn't know what it was. But she seemed horrified, well as horrified as she can be while hiding it." He looked at the two commanders. "She was really distracted. I didn't even realize that she had forgotten to put armor on until after we rode out. All during the ride, she remained stony and distant. The sparrows didn't even have a chance to warn us like they normally do." He looked up with wide eyes "The scouts?"

Raoul shook his head, "None of them survived, it seemed that they managed to really sneak up on all of you."

Qasim nodded in agreement. "I have never seen Keladry freeze up like she did. She just watched with horror as the first raider emerged over the hill. She stayed that way until she was hit by the first arrow. I…I tried to stay close to her during the fight. But we quickly got separated, when I didn't see her on her horse, I feared the worst."

"I found her still standing, barely. Peachblossom and Hoshi were protecting her. She went into a dead faint when I reached her. Besides the embedded arrow she had several gashes and small cuts." Dom filled him in on her condition.

"And those who attacked us?" Qasim asked clearly curious about what happened. Dom thought that if he didn't know then he must have also blacked out. But if that was so, then why was he already awake whereas Kel was still lost?

Raoul heaved a sigh, "Those who you lot did not kill or injure got away. We can't even dream of tracking them with all of the injured we have. Most of the men of the Own survived, only two from Adien's squad were killed. The army lost those who were scouting, along with five others. All of you got some form of injury, but most of them weren't so bad as to be held by the healers. In all, only about thirty of you had that privilege. Since the attack yesterday, half have awoken and ten have moved back to their own tents. From the sounds of things Kel is the only one who is in questionable shape."

Dom continued, "They have healed everything the best they can, so there is no telling what is holding her back."

It was around midmorning when two sharp bird calls were heard. As the men looked up they saw a black hawk and an eagle flying overhead. Raoul emerged from his tent in time to watch the eagle change into a wolf as it landed. He smiled as he watched her make her way to the wagon and to the spare clothes that were waiting for their unexpected visits.

He stood waiting near where they disappeared to with Dom and Buri by his side. When he saw movement he spoke. "What do we owe this honor? It's been a while since we've had you two travel with us, how are the children?"

By then both Daine and Numair had walked over to the group that stood waiting for them. "They are a handful; I need to keep after them not to shift. I wish I was my mama, she knows how to keep them in line." She paused looking up at Raoul with a smile fighting to make its way onto her face, "Speaking of keeping the children in line, it would seem that you have yet to keep this lot in line."

Raoul gave a sheepish smile, "I try my best. But occasionally they do get the better of me." He patted Dom's shoulder, drawing her attention to him for the first time, "It is all my new captain's doing. But we can explain later, you never did state where you left your children."

"We left them at the palace. I just hope that Jon will be willing to let them be unsupervised there in the future. I miss being able to fly out." Daine sighed. "But he got worried, said something about not hearing from Third in almost a fortnight, and that he had expected you lot back in Pearlmouth a bit ago."

Numair frowned at the surroundings, "You have set up a semi-permanent camp. When did this happen, and how long are you staying, we were told to find you, which by the way was difficult it took us nearly a day and a half, even with my little Magelet listening to the animals, and then return to Corus and report if not found. Seeing as we found you, we are to go to Pearlmouth with you."

Raoul sighed, "We have been here since yesterday. Keladry's force was attacked by bandits. She has yet to wake up. It is estimated that we will be here a few more days. I am glad you are here; could you reach Jon from this distance? I need to discuss Own matters with him."

Numair shook his head, "I would normally be able to, but we have spent the last few days flying. I am drained. I should be able to come tomorrow morning. I need to talk to him anyways to let him know we found you."

Raoul nodded his understanding, "Well then make yourselves comfortable, we have spare tents form those who died yesterday. It's good to see you both." He clapped his hands on their shoulders.

AN: So sorry for the long time between updates, but life has gotten crazy! I am attending my classes now, for about 16 hours a week, and I am working 20 hours. I have no time to write my stories like I thought that I would! As it is, I have had this chapter waiting to be uploaded for a bit now, just never found the time. On the weekends I have been needing to go out to a location of my choosing and find an animal, or several animals and watch them for an hour if not more. I have started on the follow up chapter, and I have plans still for more, but I can make no promises as to how long before they come up.