Fanfic

The next morning, the chamber opened on the still form of Joren of Stone Mountain.

The night before:
Thayet lay inside the circle of Jon�s arms, neither sleeping. Holding on to each other, both thought of their son. Objections to the fears in her mind sprung up, but were hysterically shoved down again. He�s strong, he�s trained, Jon says the ordeal is bad � but survivable. Then a parents fear would swarm over the rationality and she would panic again. He�ll be fine. That boy � Joren � he�ll come out, Roald will go in and they�ll all be fine.

Shinko was awake in Kel�s room, curled up on the window seat. She liked the view of the courtyard below. Almost too exhausted to think� she smiled, covering a yawn. Then again, that was the point. Kel and she had reminisced about the Islands until Kel realised her foster sister needed something to do, or else she would dwell on Roald for hours. From then, Kel had put Shinko through her paces. Unarmed combat, then a three hour long session of glaive practice and finally, she had forced her to teach Dom and his squire � Seaver of Tasride, fan toss. Worry she hadn�t realised she felt crept up on her and threatened to overwhelm her again.
He�ll be fine, she thought resolutely.

In the silent chapel, a figure knelt at the altar. In vigil, he was supposed to consider where he was going, the code of chivalry and what it meant to be a knight. He ducked his head, thinking of where he would go, the people he wanted to protect, and what he wanted to do with his life.
I�ll serve, he thought, and I�ll serve well.

Kel and the other Yamani ladies had begun glaive practice, but the queen and Shinko had yet to arrive. As they walked across the yard, the same fear haunted both of their eyes, and Shinko held a tight grip on Roald�s hand.

After Joren�s death, everyone in the palace was terrified for the squires. Roald was the next to enter the chamber, he would go that night.
Reaching the others, Shinko stood across from Kel, determination in her eyes. Roald sat on a bench at the far end of the yard, watching the ladies go through their drills. He allowed his mind to slip into the rhythm of the staffs, the consistent thwack of blow on block, falling into the meditation easily.

The only good thing, Thayet thought nervously, is Shinko and Roald seem to be together. Recalling how Jon had woken her with a nervous smile that morning, and whispered to her to look in the main room. Roald and Shinko were curled up under a blanket next to the fire, embers still glowing, both sound asleep.

The night before:
Roald had tried to sleep for hours and couldn�t. Tossing and turning, he gave up and sat by the fireplace in the royal apartment, leaning against the base of a chair. The floor beneath him was stone, and very cold, but he didn�t notice. Staring into the bright flames, all he could see was the dark of the chamber. He didn�t move when Shinko sat down beside him, put her head on his shoulder and took his hand.
�Couldn�t sleep?� he whispered without looking at her.
�I was worried.�
The two sat in silence for a time, staring at the dwindling fire.
�I thought I wouldn�t be too worried. That I cared, but that I could detach from it. That I wouldn�t feel or show it much. Then�� her voice shook and she couldn�t speak past the lump in her throat.
In answer, Roald cupped her face with his other hand and kissed her softly.
Then he slipped an arm around her waist and let his head lean on hers. Shinko sighed and sat closer to him. Eventually, the flames in the fire faded away, and he realised that Shinko had fallen asleep. Reaching over slowly, he drew the blanket off of the chair and wrapped it around them both. He smiled softly and fell into dreams.

That night, Kel woke up with a start. She had been meditating, and must have dozed off. She was leaning on Dom�s knee, as he slept in an armchair in her rooms. Yuki slept, leaning on Neal on another couch. Shinko sat on the window seat, also asleep.
Seeing the worry of her friend, Kel had quickly rounded up Neal, Dom and Yuki to help. Again the theme had been �too tired to think.� In the practice courts, Shinko had been too busy teaching Neal the Yamani bow to think about Roald, because Neal was a truly awful shot on it. Except � he�d winked at Kel when Shinko was getting really exasperated with her student, making Kel think he wasn�t as bad as he was making out.
Then, they had another game of fan toss, something Neal, Dom and Seaver were now hooked on. The queen, Buri, the king, Alanna and Raoul had all joined in over the evening or watched them throw. Then the original five had retired to Kel�s for juice and food, and eventually, sleep.
Neal had fallen asleep first, slumping onto the arm of the couch, Yuki falling asleep against him.
Then Shinko herself had slumbered, and then Kel.

Dom looked down and saw that Kel was sleeping, after her saying she was just going to meditate.
Some of her hair fell across her face, and he leaned down to brush it behind her ears. Everyone else was now asleep but him. Seeing Kel lean against his leg, he grinned and leaned into the corner of the armchair.
Other couples were finding solace in each other. Thayet clung to Jon, their worry palpable. Raoul and Buri played chess until the early hours, and Daine and Numair went flying over the silent palace.
One person was wide awake. Roald knelt in the chapel, thinking of Joren, who knelt here exactly a day before. He thought of his country, his responsibility and was suddenly afraid of the future. Then he thought of Shinko, her laughing eyes and her smile, that cheered him up just by being there and thought fiercely, I won�t let anything hurt you, I�ll always protect you.

Silence. The palace held it�s breath, and the crowd in the chapel waited. Shinko had dragged Kel to stand by the monarch�s, who held a death grip on each other�s hands. Princess� Kalasin and Lianne waited anxiously with their brother Liam. Shinko�s grip on Kel�s arm was so tight Kel wondered whether she still had circulation.
The chamber door slid open, the darkness inside deeper than death.
Roald stumbled out.
The queen sagged against her husband, weak with relief. Kel supported Shinko, who was fighting to keep her knees from giving out.

That night, Roald was knighted by his father, and never had Shinko out of his sight. His hand clasped hers whenever they were near, without speaking. They didn�t need words.

Watching the procession of ordeals and knights, Kel had a moment of terror, next year was her turn.