(-a/n- So many reviews! Oh how happy I am :D la la la ! I'm feeling rather Christmassy at the moment ;D …Just to let you know that there won't be any updates for a while…But this chapter is extra long, (consider it a Christmas present!) I hope you all have a very, very Happy Christmas!
I have tin foil, Sarra's wildchild, Mysterylegend, Me, Luna Dust, Erytha, theknightofkonaha, girl-imposter, after.a.hard.day, alynawatlovers, shamrockgirl07, Xxlalla-azizaxX & brezzybrez.
Pie of Doomehlol…Do you sing? I don't but I play the flute which I love.
x17SkmBdrchiczxxI wanted Leanna to be a stereotypical 'convent girl' just to introduce things, but Kel will find some more 'normal' girls too :D (I just couldn't resist having a complete bimbo, it will make for interesting writing/reading later :D )
katiebug123Don't worry you're probably right; it was rushed, but I do find that I need 'in-betweeney' chapters that will set up for a better/longer/more interesting chapter (which hopefully this one will be.) Thanks for all your constructive comments, it helps for me to improve and that is one of the reasons that writing fanfic is good :D
Aly the Spylol! More updates would be nice…if only my computer could write chapters for me…sigh… anyway…thanks for reviewing ;D
Mrs. Dom Masbolleyaga, Leanna was meant to be a character that Kel would expect at the convent, someone completely opposite to herself, bimbo, talkative, shallow etc. Wait and see…thanks once again for your reviews :D
On top of cloud 9SAME my Mum is obsessed with trying to get me to be more 'girly'. –sulks- dresses are icky :D lol!
queenoftheostlerslol, why are your reviews always the most random?!? Lol! Yup I want a baby dragon, you can get me one for my birthday :p tee hee hee
oirishgoddessPeppermint creams! Yummy! Oh I so need to make peppermint creams…if I don't update tonight it'll be cos I've got distracted and gone to make peppermint creams! Lol!
Confusedknight xxx
When Kel awoke the next morning it was to the harsh tolling of a bell. She half considered making herself get up and run through her usual morning exercises, but her room was so warm and her bed so comfy that she decided that just this once she would lie in. After all she had a whole half hour to get ready and go down to breakfast.
After a quarter of an hour she heaved herself out of bed and went to the basin. Splashing cold water over her face she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and returned to the room. Rummaging in the wardrobe Kel pulled out a white shift and a blue overdress. Yawning she dressed, placed some Yamani-style satin slippers over her feet and ran a brush through her tousled hair.
She was about to leave her room for breakfast, when she remembered that they were required to go to the Temple to pray after breakfast. Cursing in Yamani she searched frantically for suitable footwear. In the end the best she could find were a well-worn pair of leather shoes. With a sigh she exchanged the satin slippers for the old shoes and cast around for anything that she'd forgotten.
Kel caught sight of her timetable lying on her beside cabinet and picked it. With a final adjustment of her light summer dress, she left the room. It took her less time to find the dining room that day, and when she had collected her food, Kel noticed that there were far less people in it that at supper the previous evening. She supposed that there was probably more than one breakfast sitting and made her way to a free table.
Kel ate her porridge, bread and fruit juice in silence, perhaps trying not to think to hard about the coming day. For a person who didn't really care about learning embroidery or other 'womanly attributes', she was remarkably nervous.
Her first concern was that the news would leak out about how she had tried for page training. Somehow Kel didn't think that it would go down well; it would be an instant way for her to find the whole convent population prejudiced against her. All Kel wished was that she could keep her head down, avoid trouble, maybe even make a friend or two.
It sounds so easy when put like that, she thought. But in a hostile, unfamiliar environment, it was taking all of Kel's confidence to hold her head high and follow the dribble of girls that was slowly exiting the dining room.
The walk to the Temple took ten minutes although the group of chattering girls that Kel was following, was walking at an infuriatingly slow pace. The route to the Temple followed a well-trodden paved path that gradually climbed upwards to where the ornately carved Temple stood on the top of a hill.
The hill itself was devoid of trees and was simply a grassy mound, but at the base of the hill grew trees. On the convent side, the trees just grew here and there, but on the far side of the Temple was thick forest, leading into the uninhabited land that lay for miles around the Scanran border.
The Temple was carved from large stone pillars and inside the cavernous roof stretched high above the wooden pews. At the front was a simple altar, laid with a purple cloth and behind the altar was a huge life size statue of a woman so incredibly beautiful that it had to be a representation of the Great Mother Goddess. Light poured in through slanted windows set high in the walls, illuminating the still Temple.
A Sister, dressed in her black habit, stood lurking in the shadows, and the chattering group of girls had fallen dutifully silent. Following their lead, Kel shuffled onto a pew and leant forward, her hair falling over her face, her hands clasped in her lap.
Instead of praying as she was supposed to do, Kel sat contemplating religion. People prayed to the Gods and Goddesses, but to what end? The God's rarely interfered in mortal life unless the mortal in question was their 'chosen' whom they had planned to use as a tool to change something. In the Yamani Isles during an epidemic, Kel had seen people who had prayed to the Gods everyday of their life, die slowly, in agony, where were their precious Gods then? thought Kel bitterly.
In truth Kel still prayed to the Gods when seeking guidance, but out of habit more than anything else. Perhaps we pray to reassure ourselves about something that we are afraid or worried about…she mused.
Thinking that she had sat their long enough for the Sister to be convinced that she had prayed, she got up and left. As she walked back to the Convent she passed groups of girls, some giggling, some still bleary-eyed from sleep. Some smiled as they walked past and Kel returned the smile, feeling a little bolstered by the fact that just from sight she could pass as a convent girl.
Once back in her room she changed into her satin slippers, brushed her hair once more and left, wondering where on earth she could find the Embroidery class. She decided her best bet would be to go down to the dining room and ask someone there.
Just as Kel reached the corridor which led to the dining hall she passed two girls who were didn't appear too imposing.
'Um…Excuse me, but I'm new and was wondering where I might find my Embroidery class,' Kel said politely.
'It'll be on the first floor, you follow that corridor…Oh, It'll be quicker to take you their, we aren't due in lessons for another hour,' said the brown-haired girl.
Kel followed them gratefully, carefully noting the way they had come so she would be able to find the classroom again without assistance.
'So how long have you been at the Convent?' Kel asked.
'A year,' piped up the second girl.
Kel looked up; they would be the same age as her then. As they walked she examined their appearance. They were both slightly shorter than Kel, with long brown hair, expensive dresses and delicate features. They looked remarkably similar except for their eyes, the second girl had bright green eyes that looked oddly familiar, whereas the first girl had brown eyes, with long dark lashes.
'Here we go,' said the brown-eyed girl, knocking on a door set into the plain wall of the corridor.
'Who is it?' called a shrill voice from within.
'It's Carmelia of Darkcliff and Emmeline of Queenscove, we have a new girl for your class,' replied the brown-eyed girl.
Queenscove, thought Kel in alarm. Great Gods above, this must be Neal's sister, he said he had one my age! What if he's ever written to her and talked about me? If word gets out that I tried for Knighthood. What if she writes and tells Neal I'm here? Kel thought horrified, all her friends back at the Palace would think she'd given up. Neal would think she'd given up. Neal would think that she'd betrayed him and broke her promise.
'Send her in,' called out the reedy, shrill voice.
'Thanks,' Kel said, trying not to look Emmeline in the face.
Kel entered the room and looked at the small, wrinkly Sister who sat in a reclining chair, her small prune-like fingers working deftly with a needle and thread.
'Name?' she barked.
'Keladry of Mindelan.'
'Have you every embroidered before?'
'No Sister…'
'Sister Reed.'
'No Sister Reed,' she replied politely.
'Well it's not very difficult when you get the hang of it. Come and select a thread…'
And so the wizened Sister proceeded to show Kel three different types of basic stitches. Then, handing Kel a blue thread, needle and material stretched across a circular wooden disk, she told Kel to embroider three lines, one in each type of stitching.
Kel took the things and sat herself in one of the chairs, next to four other girls. Looking down at the material, needle and thread, she couldn't see the point in her learning this skill, but with an inward sigh, (something which she seemed to be doing rather a lot of nowadays) she set about the tedious task.
By the end of the lesson Kel has pricked her finger many times and had to refrain from cursing out loud. Embroidery was much harder than it looked, no matter how hard she tried her line of stitches ended up rather wonky and her stitches were nothing like the small even ones of Sister Reed.
As she filed out the class, a girl with blonde hair and shining blue eyes came up to her.
'I'm new as well, I only arrived two weeks ago, I'm Lucie.'
'Kel,' replied Kel.
'Are you any good at embroidery?' asked Kel, showing Lucie her pitiful attempt, which she had to continue with for homework.
'No,' giggled Lucie, 'I have an older sister who's very good though, but then she's good at everything.'
'Tell me about it,' said Kel smiling, 'I have three older sisters who can't do a thing wrong!'
Their conversation continued all the way to the next class; Etiquette.
As they entered Kel smiled to herself, perhaps things wouldn't be so bad after all.
The etiquette lesson flew by in a whirlwind of curtsies. The Sister made her practise again and again, until her legs ached. The curtsy was simple but the Sister insisted that Kel needed to practise until it would come naturally. Kel rolled her eyes, and Lucie disguised a snigger behind a cough that caused the Sister chastised as 'un-ladylike'.
As they made their way to Literacy class, Lucie and Kel chatted amiably and when they arrived Lucie introduced Kel to the relatively young Sister who would be taking their class. Kel thought that she was well versed in both Tortallan and Yamani literacy skills, and this would be one class that she found easy. Kel was asked to copy a poem from a book and show it to the Sister. Kel copied the poem quickly yet neatly in her small, tidy handwriting. When she showed the Sister her work the Sister let out a small screech.
'This handwriting is of a man! Look at it! No gentle lady writes like this!'
Kel looked forlornly down at her work; she couldn't see anything wrong with her handwriting, it was small, neat and legible.
The Sister set Kel to copying the alphabet. Kel was embarrassed, yet she didn't let it show on her face, and the other girls hid smirks as they buried their face in their own work. Only Lucie smiled encouragingly and pulled a face at the Sister when her back was turned.
The lettering which the Sister was trying to teach Kel was flowery, with many loops and whirls, especially on capital letters. Writing in this new script was time-consuming and tedious for Kel, but she gritted her teeth. This is just the same as learning to joust, she thought, It will get easier with practice. But the rebellious side of her mind said, yes but you wanted to learn to joust, not write prissy lettering.
After being given homework that consisted of copying another two poems and reading three more, Kel left the classroom and made her way down to lunch, Lucie at her side. Over lunch their conversation switched to the topic of families.
'So Kel, you're from Mindelan, is that in the North or South.'
'North,' said Kel once she'd finished her mouthful of bread. 'Almost on the coast, but I've never really lived there for that long. When I was four, my family left to live in the Yamani Islands,' she explained.
'Why?' asked Lucie interestedly, helping herself to some juice.
'My parents are diplomats, they organised the peace treaty between Tortall and the Islands. I lived in the Yamani Islands for six years, then last year I returned to Tortall and lived in Corus for a year. I had to come to the convent because my parents are presenting my sisters at court and I didn't want to live with my brother's at Mindelan.'
'What was it like in the Yamani Islands?' asked Lucie interestedly. 'Is it true that Yamanis never smile?'
Kel nodded, 'It's considered the height of bad manners if you show any sort of emotion, they see it as a weakness of character.'
'You don't let much emotion show,' observed Lucie, draining the last of her fruit juice. 'I mean you smile and frown, but back there in the lesson your face suddenly cleared, it was quite scary actually…'
Kel looked at Lucie, deciding that she liked Lucie's blunt, straightforward attitude. 'Yes I was taught to never show my emotion, but over the last year I've become a bit lax about what I let show. A true Yamani would be horrified if they even smiled in the presence of another.'
'I think that's silly,' declared Lucie, 'Smiling shows that you're happy and often if you see someone else smiling it makes you feel better too.'
'Maybe…' said Kel, 'But sometimes it's useful not to show what you truly feel.'
Lucie nodded in agreement.
'So what about you?' asked Kel, 'Where do you live?'
'Cavall,' said Lucie conversationally. 'I've lived there all my life. I've never been anywhere else except Cavall; Father doesn't like us to travel about, not after what happened to Hayley.'
Kel had frozen at the name 'Cavall'.
'You're from Cavall?' she asked, hoping to keep the horror out of her voice.
'That's right,' smiled Lucie. 'My father's the Training Master at the palace, maybe you heard of him in Corus?'
Kel nodded, her thought's whirring furiously. Lord Wyldon had mentioned that he had daughters, but Kel had no idea that they were almost her age. She struggled to grasp the concept that this smiling, cheerful girl in front of her was actually the youngest daughter of the strict, unsmiling training master who had destroyed her dreams.
Kel cast around for a topic of conversation as she didn't like the way that this conversation was going; eventually it would lead to Lucie asking her what she did in Corus. Kel wasn't sure if she trusted Lucie enough yet to tell her about her attempt at Knighthood.
'So what happened to Hayley? Have you honestly never been anywhere other than Cavall or here?'
'Well Hayley was my older sister, my parents first born child and they loved her very much. She could get away with anything…Anyway one day she was travelling to a friend's fief, when her carriage was attacked by bandits. They were just looking for money and such like, but the guardsmen who were looking after Hayley, tried to protect the carriage with only six men. They killed several of the bandits, which only enraged them further and eventually they were overpowered. The bandits murdered all of the guards, my sister and her maid. My parents were devastated,' said Lucie sadly. 'After that, my father has always made me and my three sisters stay at home where we're safe; he always said he couldn't bear to loose another daughter.'
In spite of herself Kel felt a stab of pity for Lord Wyldon; perhaps Hayley's death was the reason why he thought women shouldn't belong in combat? But then the old feeling of betrayal and injustice resurfaced. He had no right to deny Kel her shield just because his daughter had been killed in a fight.
After lunch Lucie and Kel walked to their music class together. The music class passed quickly for Kel in a haze of inadequacy. Kel felt completely useless. Her singing was mediocre, and she had no desire to learn the lap harp or flute, so she sang all lesson, the Sister nodding her head disapprovingly whenever Kel missed a note, or forgot the tune.
Dancing was a different kettle of fish altogether. Kel had learned a few dances as a page, which brought back painful memories…
'Neal it's not fair that you get to partner Kel,' complained Merric. 'You get to be a man the whole time.'
As the pages, with the exception of Kel, were all male, one person in each partnership had to pretend to be a woman as the pages awkwardly waltzed their way across the classroom.
Neal looked particularly smug as he danced, very thankful that he wasn't dancing with another boy.
Kel had thought at the time what an odd sight it would look if anyone were to walk in; boys twirling and spinning each other across a large room, in some cases having to get rather closer than was comfortable when it came to the part of the dance when they had to grip each others waists and dance pressed up against each other.
Of course that part of the dance hadn't been particularly enjoyable for Kel either. Neal, being five years older than her, was considerably taller, and Kel's head only came up to Neal's chest, which posed a problem when she was meant to dance with her head on his shoulder.
By the end of the dancing class all the pages were fed-up and grumpy, Seaver muttering mutinously under his breath at being forced to curtsy to Merric. Cleon annoyed because he had been dancing with Roald, earning him the name of 'Princess', when Neal had pointed out that Princesses would be the ones who danced with the Prince. Merric was nursing a bruised foot from where Seaver had trampled it in the quickstep.
Altogether the lesson had been a complete disaster and the dance master left, looking haggard and ten years older than he had at the start of the lesson.
Kel hoped that the dance classes here would be more successful. She was paired with Lucie, and watching the other girls in the room, she noted that they seemed more comfortable with dancing with another girl, than the pages had been at dancing with another male.
Kel was pleased to find that Lucie was hopeless at dancing too, and by the end of the class Lucie was giggling hysterically, earning her a disapproving glance from the Sister. Lucie's laugh and happy disposition was infectious and Kel found herself laughing as they reminisced about the lesson.
'What do you do for your 'self-improvement'?' asked Kel when they had calmed down.
'I draw,' said Lucie simply.
'Are you any good?' asked Kel. 'I'm absolutely terrible at drawing.'
'I'm good at drawing, but not so good at painting. I'll show you some of my pictures later,' Lucie replied. 'So what are you going to do?'
'I'm not sure; I don't really have any talents.' Except for horse-riding and fighting, thought Kel.
'You'll need to go and discuss it with the Sister Maera, who's in charge of the first years.'
'Where can I find her?' Kel asked.
Lucie gave directions, before leaving Kel to her own devices. Kel had no desire to go and see Sister Maera so instead she headed to her room with every intention of pursuing her own 'self-improvement'. She had thought it over carefully, if she was to return to the Yamani Isles then she would need to practise her glaive skills. She reasoned that if the Yamani noble women could use the naginata then she should be justified in being able to use her glaive in her 'self-improvement' time.
She stripped off her dress and pulled on a thin skirt, so that once combined with her shift, her outfit resembled the shape of a kimono. Stretching briefly she begin to swing her glaive for the first time since she'd left the Palace.
Sorrow welled up inside her, but she pushed in back, concentrating only on the heavy weapon in her arms. She felt stiff and aching after over a week of no exercise and soon her arms began to protest. Resting briefly she pulled her hair back off of her face with a scarf and began another pattern dance.
She kept at the exercise, her determination forcing her on, in a savage triumph that the physical exertion wasn't beating her. For the first time since she'd left the Palace she finally felt as though she had fully accepted her predicament. She had reached the point where she had felt her life couldn't get any worse, and now things must surely only get better.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
'Lady Keladry, are you in there?'
Kel went to the door and opened it. The sister shrieked and Kel looked about puzzled. Why was the Sister staring at her in alarm? She followed the Sister's terrified gaze.
'Don't worry, it's just a naginata, the Yamani noble women use them. Look…' Kel swung the weapon easily in a wide arc and brought the blade to rest at her bare feet. The Sister had taken a step backwards in alarm.
'Lady Keladry, I've come looking for you to inquire what you will be doing for you 'self-improvement'. We encourage some form of choice improvement…'
Kel cut her off, 'I know, I've decided to improve my glaive work, for when I return to the Yamani Islands. All of the noblewomen of the court use them and when I return I do not wish to humiliate myself because I'm out of practice.' Kel had used her best, polite noblewoman's voice, with the aim of sweet-talking the Sister into allowing her to continue to practise.
'Be that as it may, we are a Tortallan convent and would desire for you to improve something other than the barbaric habits of foreigners.'
Kel gulped, there was obviously no talking this Sister around.
'But surely if it's my choice…'
'You are not to practise this barbaric behaviour any more. If I find you swinging a weapon within fifty miles of this convent there will be trouble. Goddess strike me down if I lie. This is a haven for young girls, with the aim of tutoring them into fine young ladies as it has done for countless years. I will not have you running around like a common street girl, swinging weapons around whenever you feel like it.' The sister had become incensed. 'Do you think any man will want to marry a girl who's more muscly than him? Well do you?'
Kel wanted to reply that she didn't care about whether or not she got married, but instead stared sullenly at the floor.
'I'm going to put an end to this nonsense right now,' and with a surprising amount of strength, she wrenched the weapon out of Kel's grasp, shuddering as she looked at the blades set at either end. 'Now I want you to clean yourself up and continue to your next class, tomorrow you will use your 'self-improvement' time to work on your other skills as I have had reports that you are behind all your classmates in all areas of our curriculum.'
Kel remained mute, anger boiling in her chest, who was this woman to dictate what she should do?
The Sister drew herself up to her full height. 'I know what you've spent the last year doing and I'm not having any of that here. You are a lady and will act like one. Your silly fantasies of knighthood and glory end here. The next time you return to Corus you will act like a lady, you will find a husband and be a dutiful wife. You are a lady not a barbarian riding on a horse, brandishing metal!'
Kel couldn't help herself. 'So you're calling Sir Alanna the Lioness a barbarian?'
'Lady Alanna was a whore who ended up marrying a thief-'
Kel cut across the Sister. 'She was also favoured by your precious Goddess,' she almost shouted.
'Be that as it may-'
Kel slammed the door shut in the Sister's face and bolted it shut. Her breath came in gasps and she fought to keep hot tears from sliding down her cheeks. That glaive had been a present from her mother…
She went to the window, yanked it open and stuck her legs out, letting the cooling air wash over her and calm her temper. She breathed in and out deeply, slowly restoring her calm. She had lost control, the very thing which she had been fighting against since leaving the palace.
Kel had no intention of going to 'Social Instruction' or whatever other waste of time the sister's had cooked up. She felt so trapped, she had nowhere to go, she had to stay at the convent…
Time slid past, bells sounded and yet Kel still sat there, staring out across the dusky landscape. She rolled her skirt up slightly and let the last rays of sun warm her legs, trying not to think about lessons or the Sisters or anyone else…
Neal's face crept unbidden into her thoughts and she wished she could talk to him. He would understand, she thought, just like he had done that evening when she'd been told she had to leave. She felt so alone and isolated, even though she could hear the chatter of happy voices all along the corridor and beneath her room. She felt alienated, even worse than she had felt when she'd first arrived at the Palace. It was okay at the Palace she thought because I had Neal. And then Kel remembered Lucie. Lucie was the only positive thing that had come out of the whole mess that her life was in.
Just then she heard a knock on the door.
'Kel…Kel it's me Lucie.' A tentative silence hung in the air, 'I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me…but Kel I really want to be friends and I'm sorry for what my father did, you probably hate him right now…but he's a good man Kel, he really is…I just wanted to say…I think that you were really brave to try for Knighthood and…' she broke off as she heard Kel's footfalls.
The door opened and Kel's face peered out. If she noticed Kel's odd attire, Lucie said nothing and followed Kel into the room.
'Did the Sister Maera tell you?'
Lucie nodded unhappily. 'She came into the study room where the rest of us were working and told the Sister what had happened, of course we all heard...and well I think you should know that some of the other girls aren't as…um…accepting of the news…'
'Don't worry, I always knew that if it got out…' Kel trailed away. 'You don't mind?'
'Of course I don't. It takes someone incredibly brave to break the mould, and even if you didn't become a knight I still think that you were right to try…'
'Really?' Kel searched Lucie's face for a hint of deception and found none.
Lucie smiled. 'You missed dinner you know.'
Kel was startled at how much time had passed. Surely she couldn't have been sitting there for two hours?
'Here, I bought you something…' and from her bag Lucie passed Kel a bundle. It was two pasties, still warm and wrapped in a napkin. Kel smiled gratefully, 'Thanks.'
'It was no problem,' said Lucie. 'After all, that's what friends are for.'
(-a/n- Yay! Have you any idea how long that took me to write?!? It's the longest chapter I've ever uploaded! Still I hope you enjoy it. Have a wonderful Christmas and please review :D )
Confusedknight xxx