Fanfic

After checking on Dancer and chatting with Stefan, Kel went to the practice yards and went through her morning exercises, slow and then so quickly her hands and feet were a blur. Then she collected her glaive and whistled her way through her training dances, the rippling blue steel of the heavy pole arm slicing the air. Satisfied, Kel decided to find the pages mess hall where she knew the other Shangs ate, with the pages, squires and other instructors.

2 candle marks and too many corridors later, Kel found the mess hall. Dressed in plain breeches and tunic, she braced herself as she listened to the racket inside. I was sheltered at Shang, she thought, and the Isles, remembering the hushed activity and still tranquility of her homes.
Silence greeted her when she entered the hall, directly on time. Looking around, she saw her friend and former instructor, Eda Bell, waving her to the table occupied by her and a few others Kel didn�t recognize.
�I see you made it here,� she chuckled evilly.
�My father was being kind when he called this place a �miserable rat warren,� Kel explained with a smile, pulling her very long hair over her one shoulder as she took a seat across from Eda and next to a man she didn�t recognize.
Eda laughed. �Hakuin Seastone, Shang Horse, meet Keladry of Mindelan, Shang Adept,� she filled in for the mystified Yemen.
Hakuin smiled, �In that case, I�m very pleased to meet you.� With an air of mischief, he raised his voice slightly, �Particularly considering the effect your entrance had on our pupils. I must say, it�s a pleasant change.�
Many pages blushed and ducked their heads. The others seated at the table laughed as Kel blushed, �No problem, sir.� Kel felt comfortable calling Eda by her first name only, considering she had known and trained her since she was a child, but this happy Yamani Shang? Kel wasn�t sure how easygoing he was and decided to play safe, which was her policy whenever dealing with superiors. Well, she was the daughter of a diplomat.
�Please, call me Hakuin. You should know most Shangs don�t hold with titles,� he replied.
�Thank you. May I ask a question?� He nodded, thinking that this noble was polite. �When I was in the Isles, I thought I read a law banning jokes, but I believe you just made one.�
Hakuin laughed long at that. �Well, there is insanity in my family.�

After a prayer from the stiff faced training master � Wyldon of Cavall, to �hold to our values, despite the unfortunate changes inflicted upon us,� the Wildcat introduced Kel to the other instructors of the pages.
Nealan of Queenscove, the chief healer�s son, and a healer himself, was tall and wiry with a quick wit. Kel also found out his curiosity knew no bounds when he pestered her for several minutes with a stream of questions about the Isles, without allowing time for an answer. Bright green eyes, lighted up with mischief, told Kel to watch out for him � practical jokes could be a danger. With light brown hair swept from a widow�s peak, and a wide grin. Staring at his plate � devoid of anything healthy unless blueberry pie could be counted as fruit regardless of the sugar content - all Kel could think to say was, �Shouldn�t you eat some vegetables?�
A little star struck, Kel had no clue what to say to two of the most famous mages in the realm, principally because she had seen them act so human that morning. The young couple across the courtyard turned out to be Daine Sarrasri, also known as the Wildmage and Numair Samalin, black robe mage, famous for turning an enemy into a tree.
Daine rescued her. �We�ve already met. The sparrows like you, and Stefan says the horses do too.�
�Well, if the animals like you, then�� a very tall man with brown eyes interjected. Unlike Master Samalin, he was not tall and stick like, but tall and brawny.
Daine swatted at him, before turning to Kel and stage whispering, �Don�t mind the Knight Commander over there, he thinks he�s funny.�
Kel turned around very slowly to stare at the very famous man seated down the table. �Hello, my lord.�
�Hello youngster,� he said with typical lack of formality. Kel couldn�t help it � she laughed.
A bell sounded throughout the palace, and the pages began to rise to head to the practice courts. Eda Bell clapped a friendly hand on Kel�s shoulder, �Time to jump in the deep end, eh?�

In the yards, Kel watched the pages go through drills with sword and staff, dissecting each page�s aptitude. Eda came up behind her. �What�re you thinking?�
�Nothing much, just wondering how they�ll do with Shang.�
Eda wasn�t fooled. �You mean worrying about what they�ll think of you as a teacher.�
Kel grinned sheepishly, hiding behind her hair. �I thought my Yamini training would stop me showing things like that.�
�Not to someone who�s known you for years, it won�t,� Eda replied, brushing Kel�s hair back in a rare gesture of affection. �I missed you, you know. When you went to the Islands, and when I came here.�
Kel looked up at the friend she had come to consider as an older sister. �I missed you too.�
The two women returned to watching the familiar drill of sticks and staffs.

Someone else was meant to be watching the pages too, but kept becoming distracted. �Dom,� Raoul said in a would-be reprimanding voice. �You are supposed to be assessing the troops.�
Dom grinned, knowing his commander was as bored as he was. �Just wondering who that is,� Dom said and indicated the Wildcat and her companion.
�Oh,� Raoul replied, understanding. �Well, doesn�t someone wish they had gotten up for breakfast this morning?�
And with that, Raoul walked away, leaving Dom and a trail of unanswered questions behind.

As the pages filed into the yard, Eda Bell concealed a grin. Some showed signs of being battered and bruised already. They gathered around the three shangs.
Hakuin addressed them with the perversely gleeful air of a torturer preparing to begin.
�Hello lads and ladies! A new year has begun, and I hope you�re all ready for some real work! We are here to teach you unarmed combat. Any questions?�
One page raised his hand. With his air of arrogance, Kel resolved to keep an eye on him, he could be trouble. �Why do we need to learn unarmed combat? We�re here to be knights!�
Hakuin was barely concealing a grin as he looked at Kel. I�m to deal with this, am I? She thought with trepidation. She nodded to let Hakuin know she was game.
As she stepped forward, he looked at her with pure disdain. �Name and fief,� Kel said, in a tone that brooked no argument.
�Jaiden of Marti�s Hill.�
�Well then, Jaiden of Marti�s Hill, what would you do if an enemy caught you unawares and disarmed you? Submit to his sword?�
�No.�
�No, ma�am, if we wish to be correct and polite.� Kel now addressed all the assembled pages. �We are here to train you against that eventuality, so that you need not die simply because your hands are empty.�
Jaiden spoke again. �But Lord Wyldon trains us never to let go of our weapon, or sleep with it out of reach.� His friends giggled behind him.
Kel groaned inwardly, thinking she had better nip this in the bud. �He also teaches you to be prepared for anything, which includes being weaponless. Shang is not about unarmed combat alone, we will teach you how to use what you learn with a sword or a staff, if you ever need to. Do you understand?�
Jaiden nodded wordlessly.
Hakuin took over at that point. �Fourth years, with the Wildcat, third and second years with me, and new pages, with Lady Kel.� For a moment the pages looked confused and Eda stepped forward.
�This is Shang Adept Lady Keladry of Mindelan, your new instructor. Now, get to it, people!�

Dom watched as the three Shangs circled their students, correcting stances, and as the mysterious newcomer taught the newest pages how to fall. Damn Raoul, he thought. He would rather watch her than pages any day of the week.

As the pages trudged of for lunch, now most definitely battered and bruised, Eda and Hakuin turned to Kel. �Not bad,� Kel said with a small smile. �Not bad at all.�
As they walked to the baths, Kel and Eda discussed the lesson. �Last year we had Shang training first thing in the morning, but our exercises were too, ahem, strenuous for the poor �ickle pages first thing in the morning.�
Kel laughed. �Oh, the shame. What do think they would do if they saw what our six and seven year olds do hours before the pages are even awake?�
�Die of fear?� the older women replied. �What�re you planning on doing after lunch?�
Kel hesitated. �I honestly don�t know.�
�Want to meet for practice? The pages have academic lessons in the afternoon.�
Kel agreed and allowed herself to soak in a hot bath, listening idly to the chatter amongst the maids and servants who also bathed. After a meal with the pages, and another prayer against progress, Kel headed to the practice courts, noting they had an audience.
Raoul and a few members of the Kings Own stood against the fence, along with Stefan and the Wildmage. The latter two waved, and the Own turned to see the two women walking across the yard, weapons in hand. Eda and Kel stretched as the elder described how Kel would complete her training.

�To become a Shang, you don�t simply survive an ordeal. Before you are allowed permission to take an ordeal, you must pass a trial of combat where your skill will be tested,� Eda grinned at Kel, a grin that spoke volumes, no need to worry about that then. Kel smiled shakily in return, wishing she had the same faith in herself. �If you pass, you will be granted an ordeal. On the basis of your combat trial and testimonies from Hakuin and I the Masters will give you a choice of two animals, you choose and are declared a Shang.�
Eda took a deep breath. �There, not so difficult then, is it?� At Kel�s reproving glance, she chuckled and motioned for her to get up. �Lets see if you�ve gotten rusty!�

Keladry of Mindelan � ha, I know her name now, Dom thought triumphantly - and Eda both laughed at a private joke and took a fighters stance at a distance from each other. Beginning a complex combat exercise, much like a Yamani dance, the two women were perfectly in sync. As they continued the exercise, they slowly build their speed until their limbs were a blur. Dom and the others had seen the Shang train the pages, but this was a whole new level.
The Kings Own took part in many tournaments, and Raoul and Dom both thought they knew the difference between exhibition and enemies, but the line became blurry when the Shangs took up their weapons. First sword, knives, staff, glaive against sword and others Dom had never seen before. All had two things in common; they were handled expertly, and they were deadly.

Raoul leaned over to his second as the fighters took a break to take a drink.
�Still �interested� in the Mindelan lass now you know she could gut you twelve ways from midnight?�
Dom glared at the commander. �I was never �interested,� only curious as to who she was.�
Raoul gave a snort of disbelief. �Oh yes, and you�ll be attending a function tonight, so be prepared.�
Dom rounded on Raoul. �If I�m to go as the �Knight Commander� yet again-�
�You�re not. We�re both to attend.� At Dom�s inquiringly innocent look, Raoul gave in. �Let�s just say, the King was not, ah, as charitable as I had hoped and insists I be present tonight. At my suggestion that you could do better-� Raoul flinched at the glare his second gave him �-Jon commanded we both go and, �light up the room with our sunny countenance.��
Dom couldn�t help laughing at the scowl on the older knight�s face. Then a dreadful thought crossed his mind. �Who are we escorting?�
Raoul grinned, a genuine smile of happiness this time and Dom thought he knew why Raoul had consented to go without too much of an argument. �I�m escorting Buri, so I�ll have an ally there. You are going to be on your best behavior with a member of the Yamani delegation, a Lady Yukimi noh Daiomoru.� Oh well, Dom thought, with Buri and Raoul I�ll have someone to talk to.

As Eda and Kel walked to dinner, a servant stopped Kel and informed her that Lord Wyldon would like to see her. Eda made a face behind the servant�s back and told her she would see her at dinner. Conducted into the training master�s presence, she bowed, keeping her expression blank. Sitting at his invitation, they made polite conversation until-
�Keladry, if I may be frank, what are your reasons for coming here?�
Taken aback by the blunt question, Kel considered her answers before selecting honesty.
�I wish to teach, spend a year in the world, before becoming a Shang warrior, if I undergo and pass my ordeal. My parents hope for me to practice my courtly manners, act as a liaison with the Yamani delegation and, I suspect, find a husband,� she said, equally frank. For some reason, she liked this tough, scarred man and had a feeling she could trust him.
He didn�t appear shaken. �And after that?�
�Teach and train young women how to defend themselves, teach how to deal with wounds when no healer is present to those who can�t afford one if they were. To be honest, I�m still unsure.�
�What if the king were to ask for your service on the border?� He asked, referring to the recent build up of hostilities on the Scanran border to the north.
�I would go, even if I were a Shang. My allegiance is to Mindelan, and theirs to Tortall.�
Satisfied, Wyldon handed Kel a note from the Queen, sealed in Royal blue.

Lady Shang,
I believe it is time you were presented at court. A small gathering will take place tonight and I would request that you attend. Nealan of Queenscove, an accomplished healer, will escort you. I believe your parents would also be happy for you to attend, as they recently arrived in Corus today. A dress fitter and hairdresser will be waiting in your quarters. A gown your mother believes is your size awaits.

I would be honoured to speak with you tonight,

Queen Thayet of Conte and Tortall.

Kel pretended to reread the note as she thought rapidly. Wryly, she thought that the queen wasn�t really asking, rereading the last two lines. Then her breath caught in her chest. Thayet �The Peerless� would be honoured to speak to her? The Queen�s tone, so personal � then she recalled that her mother was a close friend of Queen Thayet, and was currently teaching her the glaive. Queenscove � a ducal house, and one of the most respected in Tortall. Then she thought of the laughing green eyes of the young man she had met that morning, and thought, at least I�ll have someone to talk to.

As Keladry left his office, Wyldon was deep in thought. Her brothers were some of the most respected knights in Tortall � Conal, Inness and Anders had served the realm well. He knew they were decent men, also, because he had trained them and knew them all well after four years with them.
Conal could be impudent, insubordinate and downright irritating, but he was a decent man.
He had never heard a bad word about her sister�s at court, either. They had been offered places with the royal ladies and had chosen to decline in favour of the betrothals.
Her parents were famed diplomats and the only ambassadors ever to be accepted by the Yamani�s.
They owed the current peace with the Yamani�s to them. Hadn�t he heard her mother was a hero amongst the Yamani? Something about single-handedly saving their religious artefacts from pirates, Hakuin had said.
A knock brought Wyldon back from his thoughts. Standing up with a sigh, the door opened before he was even out from behind his desk.
�Sire,� Wyldon bowed.
�How did it go?� Jonathan asked him. He had asked his wife, who had told him she would not spy on a friend�s daughter and anything Keladry told her in confidence stayed that way. Then she had told him they would be presenting Keladry that night at the party. And then, she had told him to go get ready, he wasn�t going to go like that was he?
So Jonathan had asked Wyldon to speak to Keladry instead. He needed to know where her loyalties lay, and he thought she would be important for some reason.
Wyldon was silent for a long moment. Jonathan knew better than to push him.
�She will be loyal.�