Plink!

Something hit my head and fell to the ground as I was staring blankly at the field. I looked up to see what it could have been, but there was nothing above me that could have fallen. I decided to pay no notice and didn't look for whatever it was on the ground. I returned my eyes to the throwers, but I did not miss the way that Christian and Giselle were still so close together. I sighed and tried to focus all my thoughts on what was in front of me and not sitting beside me.

Plink!

This time a similar something hit my shoulder. I jumped slightly and looked around this time. The people who were sitting behind me gave me odd looks as I turned in my chair to look behind me. Quickly, I turned back around and subtly examined the ground around me, but whatever had hit me was lost in the grass. My fidgeting did not go unnoticed by Giselle who took the opportunity to criticize me for it.

"Are you alright, Ebony?" She asked in mock sweetness. "You are shifting quite a lot in your seat."

"I'm fine. It just seems that someone is throwing things at me." I tried not to sound too annoyed when I answered.

My answer had attracted the attention of Christian. He asked what we were talking about. Giselle jumped in and said I was imagining that someone was throwing things at me. Christian raised his eyebrows in question. I did not want him thinking me any stranger than he already did thanks to Giselle. I glanced at the ground once again, hoping that I could find proof that I was not imagining things.

"Ah ha," I trilled as I picked up a small brown nut from the ground. "Someone has been throwing candied nuts at me."

It didn't seem to be enough for either of them and they both just went back to watching. I looked at the little sweet and then looked behind me to see who could have been throwing them. There were no viable culprits in my line of sight. Frustrated, I turned back around. This day was not going well at all.

Plink!

This time I spun around fast enough to see two heads duck down in the back row of the seating. I asked for Christian to excuse me as I stood. He didn't even look up as he nodded once. My shoulders drooped at his inattention but I did not let him see. I walked around the other people in the chairs to the back row. Directly behind where I had been sitting in the back row I found one prince and princess who were giggling over an almost empty bag of candied nuts.

"What do you two think you are doing?" I asked with my hands on my hips. I was doing my best to suppress a smile and look stern. I found it hard to be angry with the two scamps. They were a welcome distraction from Giselle and Christian.

"Oh, good, she finally noticed." Clover said. She turned around in her seat and leaned over the back of it. "Now that you are here, would you like to take us to the candied nut vendor across the field?"

Curtis mimicked his sister's stance in his chair and added his pleas to his sister's. "Oh, yes, please, Ebony. You looked so lonely and bored up there that we thought you would want something better to do."

"The tournament games are really boring, especially from the back where we can't see anything. Besides, father says that we have to stay here unless we get someone to take us somewhere else." Clover explained.

"Crimson was given the day off. None of the other old fogies here want to leave the nice shade of the tent. Then Clover spotted you in the front and we tried to get your attention. It took you long enough to figure out what was going on."

A few of the nearby people turned at Curtis's less than kind name he gave them. I looked at their empty bag of candied nuts. "Maybe if you didn't throw them at people you wouldn't need to go and get more."

The pair of them nearly jumped over the backs of their chairs and grabbed my hands. Before I knew it I was being pulled away from the tent. "We knew you'd understand!" The pair said in unison.

It was warmer outside the shade of the tent, but not unpleasant. I was not having very much fun sitting with Giselle and Christian so I did not mind wandering the field with Curtis and Clover instead.

"We don't really need any more sweets," Curtis started.

Clover finished, "We just wanted to get away from that stuffy old tent."

"Yeah, it's so boring just sitting and watching the tournament. We would much rather be out wandering the crowds."

I couldn't say I didn't completely agree with them so instead I asked, "If you two don't want any more candied nuts, where do you want to go?"

They had released my hands now that I was willingly walking with them. As one they pointed to the far side of the field, "That way!"

"You must really not like that stuffy old tent." I joked.

Curtis and Clover quickened their pace and were now walking with a determined gait to the far side of the field. It seemed they knew exactly where they were going and I wondered what they were so anxious to get to. The crowds were spread thinner the further away we got from the royal tent. A javelin buried itself in the ground before the crowds and they cheered. It was a winning throw.

There was a larger crowd of people at the far end of the field. It seemed this was where people went to see the competitors who were not currently competing. Huge, muscled men I recognized from before were standing around in groups of their admirers. Tents for some of them were set up as well with racks of javelins and axes spread about. Other people just stood around talking – the ones to came to the tournaments the society and not the games. As we rounded one large group of people talking to an axe thrower, I spotted where Curtis and Clover were headed. Standing arm in arm with Paislee was Kol. Paislee was holding a frilly parasol over her head that matched her dress. Kol was dressed more simply in a belted tunic with trousers tucked into leather boots. Paislee had her head resting against his arm as she talked animatedly to the small group they stood in. Kol was smiling placidly and making small talk with everyone else. It was a side of him that I had never seen before and it was almost as if I was looking a different person. It seemed he could put on different personalities as easily as someone might put on clothes. Now he was the dutiful captain's son.

"The storm wreaked havoc with the decorations on my street. When it finally blew over, the entire road was a mess." One man was saying.

The woman beside him, probably his wife, nodded. "Oh, yes. That terrible storm gave me an awful fright. I was up half the night due to nerves. In the morning when the ordeal was finally over, the first thing I did was notify someone so they could come and clean up the debris of the fallen decorations."

I wondered if Kol would mention that we were out in the storm that day.

"That nasty storm scared me too." Paislee said before she squeezed Kol's arm and looked up at him dreamily. He stood quite a bit taller than her small doll-like frame. "If only my Nikky was there to keep me safe."

He patted her hand where laid on his arm. "I wish I could have been," He noticed I was standing just outside his circle with Curtis and Clover. His eyes met mine and the corner of his mouth quirked up for an instant before his gaze returned to Paislee. "But I had made previous engagements. If another storm comes, I will be sure to keep you safe, sweetheart."

While the other people were smiling at each other over what a cute couple Paislee and Kol made, the prince and princess had moved to his side. "Kol, can you show us the thing you were talking about?" Curtis whispered.

For a moment, Clover looked confused then she grinned. "Oh, yes please, we so want to see it!"

Kol looked to the others. "I apologize, but it seems these two little rascals are intent of dragging me away. Will you be alright here, Paislee?"

Paislee pouted at having nothing to lean on anymore, but she relented and Kol joined us as we walked away. Once we were out of earshot of the group, he transformed into the Kol I knew. He ran his hand through his neatly styled hair and made it so it hung haphazardly in his face. "Small talk will be the death of me, I swear it. What took you two so long?"

"We would have come sooner but it took us forever to find someone who would walk us over. Father has made a bunch of ridiculous rules we have to follow now." Clover complained.

I looked at Kol suspiciously with a small grin. "You looked happy enough with Paislee over there."

Kol waved his arms dramatically. "She is to be my wife. I must get used to spending time with her even if the endless stream of small talk kills me. It's better to die a husband than live the bachelor's life. It is not so terrible when it is just the two of us, but her friends chatter on so."

I giggled at his overly dramatic speech. "Yet you still run from her at the ball, or were you sneaking around to avoid her friends and small talk then as well?"

Clover's eyes widened. "Niko, you can't avoid your future wife! You should want to spend as much time with her as possible. If you love someone enough to marry them you will overcome any obstacle for them."

"I'm not sure if love is the word I would use to describe my relationship with Paislee," Kol smirked.

Clover looked shocked. "But you're going to marry her!" She exclaimed. "You're supposed to marry your true love!"

Kol wrinkled his nose and smiled at Clover. "Not everyone can be as lucky as that when they marry." He poked her nose with his finger. "Besides, father says if I do not marry soon he will disinherit me, and you know what that means."

Now, both Curtis and Clover looked horrified. Curtis even glanced at me before his spoke, "He can't do that. Does he even know what that would mean to do that? You're his only son."

"You have met my father. He is a good man, but once his mind is set on a path it never falters and he wants grandchildren. So for the good of all, I must marry. Don't fret though, I've got good friends like you and Paislee isn't so bad once you get past all the lace and bows." Kol pointed ahead of us. "Now look here, let us talk of more interesting topics. That is Sir Elem, when he throws his javelin you had better keep a sharp eye. I've heard his aim is terrible."

Curtis and Clover giggled. I smiled. My mind was still processing what Kol had said about his marrying Paislee. Was he really so dependent on his father's fortune that he would marry someone he could barely stand to keep it?

Yay, Kol is back along with Curtis and Clover!