Note: Hey guys! Thanks for those who read and commented on the last chapter. Much appreciated. I still only have a vague idea where I'm going with this so just bear with me, okay? Next time I'll make a longer chapter with more stuff actually happening.

Disclaimer: I don't own these wonderful people. TP does. I just use them as puppets in my evil game.

Chapter 2: Speaking

To welcome the guests to New Hope the cooks planned a wonderful meal. Kel crossed into the mess hall and got into the serving line. She could smell warm meats. Under that smell was something sweet. Perhaps there was pie.

She smiled warmly at the people dishing the food up in the serving line. Everyone was put into a rotation of chores at the fort. No one got stuck doing anything for longer than a week. It made the people happier. It meant that no one was doomed to repeating an action they hated for very long. At the end of the line there truly was pie; apple and warm.

Turning Kel spotted her friends all grouped together at a single long table. Neal looked up and met her eyes. He flagged Kel down. Placing her plate down she sat between to Merric and Dom. Neal was in front of her. When she sat the conversation boomed almost immediately. She wanted Dom to tell her about everything he had been doing since last she saw him. He obliged. There was a way, she thought, about how Dom told stories that made everything a little more interesting than the way other people told stories. He made it seem as though you were there too and he was simply refreshing your memory.

Gazing around the room she picked out several other people she knew. After riding with the King's Own for four years she had gotten to know many of the men very well. She saw Raoul talking loudly about something or other. He met eyes with her and gave her a quick wink without breaking tempo in his conversation.

She really missed this. Loud, smelly men. Action. Expression. Running New Hope had really become predictable. Problems were seldom. She felt like a figure head and nothing more. The people here really could run themselves.

Her plate cleaned she excused herself saying that she would meet them all later in her chamber. There wasn't a library or sitting room that they could council in. Her room would have to do even though they would have to squeeze in. Her laughed and returned her tray to the serving line. After she left Dom made a quick excuse and returned his tray too. She was walking across the dry grass when he called her.

"Wait up!" He did a small jog to catch up. They walked quietly together toward the main building where her rooms rested.

"So," he began, "How's everything going?" He had been a little different with her since the wedding. His letters were shorter and didn't say much about anything anymore. Now he acted as though conversation was difficult when it had been easy for them before.

"Everything is good. This place runs so well I could disappear tomorrow and no one would skip a beat." She smiled.

"I don't think that's true. They love you here."

They had reached the main building. On the side was an open air stair that brought you all the way up to her room. They mounted those now and walked up. She used her key to open the door and let them both in. Dom made busy greeting Jump and the sparrows as Kel cleared clutter from her desk and chairs. Paper work was towered everywhere. For a woman manning a fort she really performed more like a desk knight these days.

Papers fell from her overburdened hands. Dom stooped to pick them up. Odd, she could have sworn that he had been sitting on the bed playing tug with Jump. He straightened and handed her the sheets. He was close. One day, she thought panicked, she would get used to having him close without having to hyperventilate.

"Thanks." She tried on a smile that she hoped was casual.

He dismissed the thanks and rested him bum against her desk as she stuffed the papers into a drawer.

"You look bored."

Kel eyed him, "Thanks, I suppose. Better than looking tired."

"Oh, you look well rested. Which is weird for you. Normally you're much too busy to sleep. Is life getting boring for our dear Protector?"

She sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. Jump stuck his nose under her hand begging to be pet. She obliged with a small smile.

"I meant it when I said they wouldn't notice if I left. I barely do a thing here. We don't get attacked. I don't have to delegate anything. Everyone knows what to do." She looked at her hands. Some of the ink from before still remained. Kel thought back to the Chamber of the Ordeal. She had visited it as a newly made squire. All squires did it at some point. It was meant to ease some of their jitters about the Ordeal and to satisfy some of their natural curiosity.

She had laid her hand on the door and it had forced an image of her as squire to a desk knight into her mind. She didn't end up as such. Raoul had asked her to be his squire only hours after.

Now, she couldn't help but see that image again but with her sitting at the desk and a bored squire bringing her water.

"I think that they could handle themselves," Dom confessed honestly. He pushed off the desk and crossed the room. With a sigh he sat next to her.

"The war is almost over. The end truly is in sight. This isn't a lasting pain. You'll be reassigned before you know it." He squeezed her hand and smiled warmly into her eyes.

Pounding on the door was followed by half a dozen men barging in. Soon the room was filled with noise and laughter. Tobe came by with some drinks but left quickly. Now that he had friends he didn't cling to Kel like a burr anymore. It was nice to see.

After a couple hours the men started to make excuses to leave. They were tired. Dom was the last to leave. He looked at Kel like he wanted to say something. Instead he sighed and hugged her.

"It's really good to see you," he whispered and left closing the door quietly behind him.