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Chapter Text

Kel had only cursed the Kings name twice in her life. The first was when she'd been put on probation for her first year as a page, and the second…

The second was being assigned to the Emelan delegation.

Lady Alanna, who had been standing near her, barked in startled laughter, causing some of the nearby nobles to glance at her. A purple-eyed glare had them whirling around, flustered. These Emelanese nobles were unused to the Lioness and Kel really couldn't blame them for their trepidation.

"Such language." The sword mistress remarked, grinning. "Usually you're one to suffer in silence."

Kel scowled, flicking a piece of chin length brown hair from her face. "I just don't know what my being here does for anyone." Kel muttered, glancing around the large hall. "I'm a diplomats daughter, not a diplomat."

King Jonathan had recently opened talks with the Duke Vedris; Tortall was reeling from the Scanran War and needed the steady supply of trade ships to replenish his coffers. He'd sent the usual diplomats along with a few of the trade guild advisors and secretaries, enough to establish a decent embassy in Emelan. That she could understand, being her parent's child. What she could not comprehend was her Kings decision to send both lady knights overseas- she suspected it was a method of subtlety punishing her for her disobeying orders in Scanra. It's not like she was actually useful.

Indeed, the talks were restricted to the pertinent officials only, so Kel was left with little else to do but train in the courtyards all day and attend the balls she loathed by evening.

"Didn't make a difference to Jon, did it?" Alanna shrugged. "He probably figured you'd keep me from doing something stupid."

Kel smiled slightly. "Even the Great Mother herself couldn't do that, Lady Alanna."

Alanna rolled her eyes. "It's not like Emelan is so bad." She mused, taking a sip of the wine she'd snagged off the tray of a passing servant. "A lot like Tortall, only filled to the brim with mages."

"That makes you less prone to trouble?" Keladry laughed. "The dances are still-"

"Boring?" Alanna interjected. "Your hatred of dancing is a really bad attitude to take from your knight master, Lady Kel-"

"Raoul has improved." Kel protested, feeling the need to protect her mentor in his absence.

Alanna snorted. "Buri's whipped him into shape, that's for sure. He used to be infamous for his hatred of frivolity, now it seems he's passed that attitude onto his squire."

"Lady Alanna, he still hides behind the drapes."

"Well, he never quite stopped." Alanna admitted ruefully. "But marriage has certainly agreed with him, as he doesn't do it near as often." She stopped short, eyebrows raised as she watched the younger woman shift slightly, like listening to the Kings Champion natter on about their very physically affectionate friends made her uncomfortable.

She felt no mercy as she waited for the opportune moment, and leapt for the kill.

"Got a man at home, Kel?"

Kel managed to avoid spitting the juice on her tunic, breeches, or any of the nobles that hobnobbed around them. "W-what?"

"You heard me." Alanna smirked. "Last I heard some soldier boy was sweet on you. What was it Nealan called him? Cousin Dom-"

"I doubt anything you've heard is true." Kel said primly, wiping at her lips with a handkerchief. "Certainly nothing about my love life."

Chuckling, Alanna held her hands up in defeat, letting the subject drop. "I'm just saying, Emelan's a good place to have a little fun before you go back to shoving your celibacy into conservative faces. Even the conservatives here are progressive, by Tortall standards. At least they wouldn't crucify you here for taking a lover."

Kel cleared her throat, struggling to retain her Yamani composure, before directing their conversation onto lighter things, prolonging the inevitable call back into society. Kel, as a lesser member of the delegation, wasn't required to play nice but the Kings Champion had to be gracious, benevolent, patient and above all, she needed to suck up to important nobles.

"Well," she sighed, setting her glass aside. "I'm getting dirty looks from our diplomats-in-arms. I'd better go mingle." Saluting lazily, Kel watched her friend disappear into the sea of taffeta, velvet, and silk.

Left alone, Kel sat herself in an alcove out of the way. She had a clear view of the dance floor from her relaxed position, but she felt out of the way enough that she could let her face relax into slack contentedness. She felt her eyes close as she based in the comfortable warmth and the soft notes of the mandolin that carried the tune of a traditional Tortallaln waltz in honor of the delegation.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Kel blinked her eyes and looked up.

A dark skinned young women about her own age looked back calmly. Her skin was far darker than the copper of the Yamani or the nut-brown of the K'miri. Her equally dark hair was done in braids, every small twist of hair braided and tucked behind her ears. Her eyes were bright.

In her defense, it really wasn't her fault she could barely recall her own name.

"No, of course not." Kel managed to remember. "Uh- it's Keladry of Mindenlan. Just Kel, if you please." She stumbled to her feet, and was pleasantly surprised when, instead of towering over the other woman (as Kel tended to do), their eyes were on the same level.

The women reached out and clasped Kel's hand. Her grip was firm and the muscles in her arms just as developed as Kel's, with almost identical calluses on her palms.

"Pleased to meet you." The Emelanese woman said, smiling slightly, white teeth flashing against dark lips. "Daja Kisubo. Daja to my friends." She gave Kel another warm smile.

"What, no title?" Kel teased, feeling light. For some reason, her usual composure was missing. Oh god, not again- Neal and Dom were bad enough-

Daja smiled slightly. "I have some powerful friends." She shrugged and Kel noticed the tunic that fitted nicely over her shoulders was of good make, with delicate embroidery that would've made Lalasa weep with envy. She was also wearing breeches, same as Kel. She filled them out well. "Comes with magework."

Kel blinked. The women in front of her looked no older than her own bare 21 years. Of course, Kel thought, I'm measuring everything by Tortallan standards. Perhaps it's different, here in Emelan.

"And you?" she heard Daja ask. "What is it you do, Keladry of Mindelan?"

"I'm a lady knight." Kel said, sitting back. "A member of his Highness, King Jonathans forces."

Daja only nodded slightly, her eyes flicking to the impressive array of scars visible on Kel's hands and the scent of oiled metal that clung to her, pinging off her magical senses. She smelled like worked iron.

Kel was still talking. "We're here for the rest of the summer, at least. Our ambassador says he'll have the trade agreements squared away by the time the trade winds come through-"

"That'll be another two months." Daja said confidently. She smiled at Kel's bemused expression. "My sister is a weather witch. She know's these things."

"I'll take your word for it." Kel laughed, and Daja felt it all the way down her spine. She eyed the column of Kel's throat, and swallowed nervously.

Daja, I love you dearly. Tris said tiredly in her mind. But if I have to see you picture another woman without clothes on I might have to have words.

Noted. Daja thought, blushing darkly from the nape of her neck to the tips of her ears.

"Ahem." Kel coughed, her cheeks pink. She looked across the dance floor, painfully aware of Daja radiating heat at her side.

"D-do you want to take a walk?" Daja managed, her voice cracking slightly.

Each caught the eyes of their friends. Kel watched, unamused, as Alanna grinned at her wickedly, mouthing something obscene at her from where she was chatting with the Minister of Agriculture. Daja sent a quick goodbye to her family and shut them out, not wanting them to worry but definitely not wanting them to see what she was thinking about right now. Briar, not wanting to be deterred, caught her eye from across the room at stuck his tongue out lewdly, leering at her as he fought his own laughter.

Daja flushed darkly, ducking her head- and kept it down even as she walked arm in arm with Kel out of the hall.

Chapter Text

When Briar rose the next morning, it was well after dawn and the sun was up and stabbing his eyes through the window. Groaning as he sat up, he grimaced at the taste in his mouth. After a long night last night, his head tended to pound- it definitely wasn't alcohol, but exhaustion.

He tumbled out of bed to his floor, catching himself on his hands and knees before staggering up and out of his room. Gripping the rail, he stumbled down the stairs and threw open the back kitchen door, nearly sprinting to the pump.

It was with relief that he managed to duck his head under the stream of waters and shook his head like a dog, spraying water everywhere. His head instantly cleared and he sighed in relief. He slowly lifted his head, twisting his back to get all the kinks out. As he opened his eyes, however, he found himself face to face with a complete stranger.

"I don't remember you." He said warily, looking her up and down. She was tall, at least a head higher than him with plain features and short, earlobe length hair. Instead of his usual petite, beautiful, and slender bedfellow, she was built like a smith with the scars to prove it. A women like that… he shuddered. She could crush him like a bug.

The women smiled. "You wouldn't." she smirked, her voice lilting with an accent that pulled on the end of her words, making them sound almost lyrical when they spoke Common. If a women wasn't sleeping in his room, the only other person who-

Oh. That explained it.

The look on his face must've displayed what he was thinking and Kel shrugged, her wrinkled, fancy tunic shifting against her skin. Two spots of blush appeared on her cheeks and colored the tips of her ears.

"M'names Briar." He said, lurching forward to fill the awkward silence that had come between them. "Briar Moss."

Mila the Grain, no wonder his sisters hated it when he brought 'friends' home; it was bloody awkward!

"Keladry of Mindelan." The women said easily. "Just Kel if you please."

Though Briar returned her smile, it was forced. Oh gods, a noble. "Oh, alright then."

Silence fell between them again. "So…" Kel coughed, embarrassed. "what are you to Daja?" Briar felt so uncomfortable when he saw that Kel's blush brightened when she said his sister's name.

"Family." Briar said. "She's my sister, ah- foster-sister."

Kel felt herself relax, slightly. She'd have been highly disappointed if he had been involved with Daja in any way; wouldn't that have made her the 'other' women? She moved past Briar, using the pump to splash her own face, wiping the sweat from her morning practice from her brow.

"Where are you from?" Briar asked, feeling uncomfortable.

"The Tortall delegation."

Briar felt his face fall and turn pale. Oh gods, if Sandry heard about this, she'd have a conniption fit. She'd been going on about how hard it had been to convince their King to send an ambassador and how exclusive trade could keep Emelan out of the economic troubles that most of the surrounding countries were facing. If they offended a diplomat and the Tortallans, Sandry wouldn't speak to them for years-

"Lady Keladry?"

Briar sent his eyes heavenward, looking for a thunderbolt to strike him down and end his misery. When nothing happened for a few long seconds, he turned to face his sister, catching sight of Kels face, which had smoothed into almost frightening blankness.

"Hello, sister dear." He said weakly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Briar!" Sandry looked scandalized from her place on the back porch, glancing from Kel to Briar and then back again.

"It wasn't me!" Briar yelped, eyes wide with real fear. "I swear-"

But Sandry wasn't listening anymore. She gave him a glare that wouldn't made even his hardy shaken wither and he slumped, taking a precautionary step back. "We'll talk later." She said shortly, before turning to the Lady Kel.

"Would you like some tea?" Sandry's offer sounded almost absurd, but she really didn't know how else to put everyone at ease. "I know it's probably not what you're used to-"

"Please, Lady Sandrilene," Kel interjected, stopping the other noble. "Don't worry. I'm not that kind of noble." She gestured at her plain brown breeches and loose crème tunic. "I 'druther not be a bother- I'll be on my way."

She bowed- her breeches would have made the traditional curtsy impossible- and made her way past the two of them and back out onto the street.

Sandry whirled around, setting her eyes on Briar. "Briar-"

"He didn't do anything, Sandry." A calm voice broke Sandry's rant before she could even begin. "And Keladry's not going to break talks over an awkward morning."

"She's a noble, ain't she?" Briar said, mentally excusing Sandry as he turned to face his other sister.

"Her families only been a noble for two generations, Briar. They used to be commoners." Daja said, leaning against the door Keladry had left through only moments before. "She's the least noble noble I've ever met, present company excluded." She gave her siblings a grin. "For one, she's a knight of the realm of Tortall."

Briar's eyebrows went up to his hairline, while Sandry let out a little scandalized gasp.

"A warrior lady?" Briar teased, grinning. "Who knew you had it in you? Or should I say, had it in her-"

"Briar!" Sandry yelped, smacking him on his arm. "Don't be vulgar!" she turned back to her sister, her cheeks red. "Er- it certainly explains her penchant for breeches." She said, awkwardly.

"Yes, well," Daja shrugged, but the corner of her mouth tugged up regardless. "She's the second lady knight in a century."

"Second?" Briar asked.

"Well, Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau is the first."

"The mage?" Sandry asked, curious. "I could feel her power all the way across the room."

Daja nodded. "She's what motivated Kel to become a knight in the first place. She's just..." Daja sighed a little.

Sandry and Briar traded an uncomfortable moment while Daja sort of… drifted off. They quickly and hastily shut off their mental connections after seeing a few blurry images of skin and sheets.

They really did not need to see that.