Alanna sighed in complete boredom and lethargy as she half-listened to her etiquette professor lecture her in ladylike behavior for what seemed like an eternity. She had only been at the convent for 8 months in reality, but to her, it seemed like 8 years had gone by.

"Lady Alanna, have you paid any attention to what I have just said?"

"No Lady Thorine," replied Alanna, tensing up for the scolding that she knew was going to arise.

"Lady Alanna, an imagination is a great thing, but when it runs away from our minds, then it is not�" said the lady in a monotonous voice, full of tedium and drear. Thorine slowly strolled the length of the overly-perfumed room, while carrying on with the soulless lecture. Alanna slumped in her seat, and reflected for a while.

"Why am I here? What was the cause of this?" she wondered in her mind, like she often did, as the seconds sluggishly ticked by. She paused for a moment. Coram. It was all Coram's fault. Coram, whom she had known and trusted for so long, sent her back to the horrendous convent.

Alanna had always wanted to be a true knight, the Lady Knight of Trebond. Her twin brother, Thom, a great sorcerer. Their father, the Lord of Trebond objected strongly to their wishes believing only in what was politically right for a person, so Alanna and Thom, on the sly, decided to exchange their places. Thom would study to become a sorcerer, and Alanna, a page, squire, and eventually, a knight.

So the two were sent on their merry own way, the secret still kept. Coram was accompanying Alanna.

Halfway into the trip, Alanna slowly slipped off her cloak, showing Coram her true nature.

"So Coram�"

Coram let out a sudden cry of astonishment.

"Alanna!" You come back with me to the convent where you belong. Now!"

"But Coram!"

"Mithros! Alanna, this is unacceptable! You've let down me, your brother, and the Lord of Trebond! Explain your behavior!"

"Coram, Thom went off to study sorcery, so, since I have always wanted to be a knight, not a lady, I went with you in his stead."

"He WHAT?" asked Coram with sudden outrage.

"Went to study sorcery," Alanna calmly replied. Coram cussed quietly under his breath, and then mounted his horse.

"We're getting this straightened out with his lordship. C'mon Alanna."

"Coram�"

"We are leaving now!" Alanna silently replied with a forlorn look on her face, and returned home with Coram, silently following behind him on her horse.

One slip of the cloak had landed her in the plush chair facing an overly-ruffled peacock of a tutor, instead of fencing with boys in the page's school. Alanna sighed quietly in despair.

"Our lesson together, at this time, has ended. I shall see you tomorrow at three o-clock sharp. Good day to you," Lady Thorine finished with a smirk, quickly changed to a scowl.

"Good day to you Lady." Alanna curtsied as leaving the room in a rush. As she was sprinting down the narrow corridors, she bumped into Coram.

"Alanna! Is that any way a real lady of Trebond should act?" Coram scornfully teased.

"Coram, what in the convent's name are you doing here?"

"Well, you see, I'm on orders from the Lord of Trebond to bring you back home for, oh, about a week or so."

"Splendid! You wouldn't believe how mind-numbing and tiresome this dungeon is. I mean, look at some of the girls. Sticks if I ever saw one!"

"Well, you've got an active mind and body, Lady Alanna. And if you are ever to even survive this place, you've got to learn how to control it. A few days at home should help. Evidently his lordship thought so too." And so Coram and Alanna ambled back on the road turning home, the lady all high-spirited, and Coram just glad that he didn't have any trouble getting the Lady Alanna away from the residence. Of course, the way Alanna was kicking and screaming all the way to the convent, Coram didn't expect any troubles, but with a person such as this lady, one could never know.

The sun gradually began to descend under the horizon, as Coram and Alanna hit the main road back home.

"Well, Alanna, things sure have changed since you've left�"

"What do you mean? I mean, I've been back home since you left me at this prison 8 months ago, and nothing has really changed except for the lord getting old and wilted. Honestly, I bet he couldn't fight a page!" Coram coughed loudly at the last comment, probably to hide a much needed laugh.

"Let's put it this way; when you are not at the palace on your little break, things become much calmer and quieter on my end of the hall."

"I'm not loud!" Alanna replied angrily. Coram answered with a chuckle, and a goofy face.

"Weeeell, I'm not so sure on that one. C'mon, let's camp for the night."

"But-" Alanna objected in a whiny voice, obviously disgusted with what Coram had just told her.

"No buts. Now settle down, 'cause you've got a big day tomorrow." All throughout the night, Alanna desperately wondered what Coram meant by "�things have sure changed since you've left." Did that mean that the lord was better off without her? While pondering the question, she fell into a restless sleep.

"Rise and shine! Time to get going!" A groggy Alanna sat up and groaned.

"The lord will be expecting you shortly. It is to his great pleasure that you arrive promptly," Coram explained.

"He only cares about his books and scrolls!" retorted Alanna.

"No, no, you've got that all wrong, Alanna. He cares about you! Why would he have been sending the convent messages asking about your care?"

"To brag about his perfect penmanship and letter writing," Alanna grumbled under her breath. Coram tilted her chin up to his face.

"You will have respect for your father, who has gone through the trouble to reunite Trebond with ye and Thom!"

"As soon as I'd kiss a pig! I hate the convent! It's horrible, nasty, and brutal! Just because Thom's a boy means that he gets to go to the palace and become a knight!" Coram suddenly got grave.

"Alanna, the palace isn't the right place for a girl like you. Yes, ye are much better at swordplay than Thom ever will be, but ye see�"

"Yes?"

"Mithros, the way they treat you there�I wonder if Thom's surviving."

"Is it harsh?"

"Goddess, ye don't know. For a first year page�I don't think you'd last there. Stubborn as a mule ye are, but still�" Coram stood with glazed eyes wide in thought.

"All right Alanna, enough with that talk. You can ask Thom on his views when we return to Trebond. Come! Make haste!" And so Alanna followed Coram into the rising sun, on their journey to Trebond, and eventually, her father.

"Alanna, my dear, come to me." The Lord of Trebond grasped Alanna's hand, and hugged her a little too close.

"Can't---breath---help!" Alanna yelled in a strangled form of voice. Finally, his lordship released her from his grip, just as Thom was exiting the palace to greet his sister.

"Hello Thom!" Alanna said in an excited voice. She couldn't wait until her brother was able to tell her about the palace, and being a page and everything.

"Oh�Greetings Lady Alanna," Thom replied in a soft voice while bowing to kiss her hand. Alanna put on a look of great astonishment, while whipping her hand away from Thom's protruding lips just before they brushed her skin.

"Thom! No need to be gentlemanly. Honestly! What happened to you?"

"Uhh�" Thom replied, looking quite taken aback. "Well, you're a lady now, and I a page. Shouldn't I treat you well?" v"Humph! Not as though I wanted go off to the convent! If I had my way, I'd be clashing swords with knights off in Tusaine with the rest of the Tortall warriors!"

"Uh, trust me. No you wouldn't," Thom replied solemnly.

"Well, why not? What was the palace like?" Thom suddenly put on a grim face.

"Hmm�well, you see�" Thom cut off. Alanna quickly pouted.

"Humph, maybe it's tiring and dull to you, but then again, you never had the gut for fighting did you!" Alanna angrily replied.

"Well-I never�" Thom started, but Alanna had already run away, unfortunately with the small practice sword that he had let her look at. For this reason, there was nothing else to be done but go after her.

"Coram, my dear lad, did the professors say anything about my daughter?" the Lord of Trebond asked. Coram new what the lecturers thought of the girl, that she was a high-headed brat, but Coram couldn't bring himself to repeat that bit of information.

"She's�an attentive girl, always works, an' is�a little angel," Coram finished hurriedly. There, he'd done it, just lied to the Lord. Maybe it would be different if he were serving the king, and had to explain the young Prince Jonathan's behavior. Coram didn't think that it mattered whether or not he told the lord about Alanna; he was always stuck in a book somewhere, forgetting each bit of advice and information within a week. Quite unfortunate for Trebond, however, the lordship's, well, unlordly behavior.

He prayed to the Goddess that Alanna would shape up, nevertheless. Maybe his instincts were right�that the Lady would turn around. One could only hope, however, with this lassie.

When Thom found Alanna, she was hefting the sword in a grassy grove a ways from the palace. She seemed to be having quite a struggle against the blade, and was stumbling quite frequently while waving it crazily through the air. Thom hurriedly raced over to her.

"No, no! You are doing it all wrong!" cried Thom.

"Then show me how it's done you! I bet you can't do it right either!" shouted Alanna fiercely. However, Thom grasped the hilt of the blade, and showed off a few tricks learned at the palace. Alanna gasped in dismay. Thom seemed to be enjoying the sword and working to be a knight. He'd actually paid attention while at the palace!

"So, ever thought of going back to the convent to become a sorcerer?" Alanna asked with curiosity.

"Hmm�probably not. I mean, being a knight won't be so bad after all! It's fun, exciting; I'm even friends with some of the older pages and soon to be squires. Prince Jonathan is one of them! Of course, along with friends come enemies. There's this one, his name is Ralon of Malven, never cared much for Trebonds."

(A/N: I don't own any characters or scenarios that you've heard about in the books---the whole Ralon of Malven deal is one of them)

"Well-" Alanna started, realizing that she didn't have anything to say. Rapidly, she turned on one heel, and marched off angrily towards Coram and her father. Not that Thom really cared. He was sure that Alanna was still fuming over having to go to the convent, which was silly, really. He chuckled quietly. Well, there was no way that he was going to the convent. Sorcery just didn't seem enticing enough anymore! And why did Alanna conclude that just because Thom wouldn't answer her question on the palace conditions, that he hated it there. Oh well, he'd have to sort this out later. In the meantime, he left the grove while slipping this sword into its sheath, then followed Alanna's footsteps back to his father.

"Oh, hello there my good boy!" the Lord said heartily, with a goofy smile. Thom realized that his father must have been drinking, which was quite uncharacteristic of him.

"Well Coram, I must be getting back to my long overdue scrolls, there's a quite interesting one from Tusaine that I just have to finish reading. Now, if you'd get my little ones off to bed, there's a good fellow."

"Surely my Lord, don't worry about a thing," Coram answered while bowing to the lord.

"Oh, and Coram, whenever you get a chance, please take an overview of my city, you see�oh well, that will just have to wait until later. Good night my little ones!" and he spun around, humming a little tune as he climbed the flight of stairs to his study.

"All right chaps, off to ye rooms!" Coram bellowed his orders to the two children.

Alanna quietly undressed from the constricting dress and corset that the Daughters of the Goddess forced her into every passing day at the convent. If only she were a boy�then life would be perfect, suiting her no matter what. She collapsed onto her bed, drifting into sleep as she thought about fighting great knights off in a faraway land bravely with the other Tortall warriors. She sighed inwardly; how perfect a life that would be.

In no time at all, it was the day to return to the convent, which Alanna had not been looking forward to at all. Another spell of time reading from scrolls and books, being constantly lectured on ladylike behavior, and endless boredom. It had been bad enough just having to stay at that horrid prison for 8 months without a break, but another 7 years before she was able to come back to Trebond? And by that time, a hard practiced lady? It just didn't seem to be the life for her. No excitement, just cold, harsh teaching in over stuffy rooms with dull tutors.

"All right Thom? Ready to ride?" Coram asked gruffly.

"Yep."

"All right then. Well, good luck Alanna, and have fun." Coram said good-naturedly. Of course, Alanna, being who she was, thought that "have fun" was quite the opposite of what she would encounter while at the convent.

She followed the woman who would bring her back to the convent, while riding the ladylike sidesaddle form. As she was riding her pony, she wondered why the goddess had made her a girl. She could have excelled more if she was a boy! She wished that there were an advanced form of magic to change her into a boy, but of course, that would never happen. She had to understand from the time she was born, that the Goddess meant for her to be this way, and this way forever. She still wished that it weren't so constricting on her life.

For variety in the silent ride, she galloped a few strides, pulling a bit farther away from her 'captor' as she thought of the woman, who paid no heed to her actions. As they plodded on, Alanna thought that she could see the faint outline of the City of Gods, which she never wanted to see again. It was forever unavoidable, it was what the goddess had planned, never to change.

"Ahh�Lady Alanna, now we may return to your studies. I dearly hope that you will continue to grow in learning as we elevate the difficulty of your assignments. You, for one, must understand that these exercises are the key to being a proper lady." Lady Thorine was back at it again, long lectures and scolding about womanhood and being oh-so proper. Alanna quickly noticed that her dark clothing and hair tight in a bun, was the same outfit placed on the figure a week ago, in the same odorized classroom.

"But that's exactly what I don't want your�your�oh, what was it�"

"My Lady, Alanna. Pay attention please! I need your cooperation or�.well�the Lord, he's sort of counting on me to turn you around from your, hmm, well, wild antics gained from your earlier years," Thorine replied while sniffing disdainfully.

"I don't want to be a lady!" Alanna blurted out spontaneously.

"Ah! Well, then�ahh�hmm�well�hmm�err�well-"

"You see, my brother always gets ALL the fun. You know, fighting other pages at the castle, like a boy�you know!"

"Why, you little rascal! I see absolutely no enjoyment in swordplay. I leave that for the ruffian boys off in Tusaine and Maren fighting war upon war upon war. You should be ashamed of yourself! A girl, fighting? Humph! I bet you would even go off to the palace masked as a boy just to show your�bravery�" Lady Thorine said scornfully with a scowl. At the last remark, Alanna turned as red as a tomato.

"Why, uhh, well�" Alanna stammered quietly, while looking down at the plush covering on the chaise in embarrassment.

"Dear Alanna," Thorine's voice more suspicious than usual, "Why in the kingdom of Tortall would you be blushing at this time in our conversation? You look like a beet! Girls are strictly not supposed to feel humiliation at comments relating to someone else."

"She's so na�ve! She hasn't even guessed by now? These convents�look what it does to these girls. It turns them into sickly empty-heads, knowing nothing but idle work like needlepoint and housewife's work! I'll bet none of these women has ever witnessed a real war! But then of course, to them, it's not proper." Alanna thought sneeringly to herself. She sank deep into the sofa, just as the professor began one of her eternal lectures. She winced as the rusty voice began to drawl. Alanna thought it would be safe to close her eyes and try to block out the monotonous sound, since the teacher's back was to her, and Ole Thorine never cared whether or not the girl was listening. It was all show here at the Convent.

Alanna sighed inwardly as the lecturer slowly paced the length of the study, mumbling to herself. She took a quick glance at her pocket watch, and saw that it was time to leave the stupid manners class. Lady Thorine noticed too, and swiftly shooed Alanna out, pursing her lips in ridicule.