At last, the long-awaited Tortall story! I dearly love the world that our queen has created, and I'm so glad I was finally able to start playing in it. I make no promises on update schedules, but I will say, right here and now, that I will finish this story, no matter how long it takes me.

Before we dive in, though, I have a few acknowledgements to make. First, to Confusedknight—I have no idea if you're still active on this site, but if you are, I want you to know… your story Fallen was the very first fanfiction I ever read, and it set the standard for the fics that I choose to read, a standard I dearly hope I can live up to in my own work. If it wasn't for Fallen, I wouldn't be here today.

Second, to purplesky24. You were the first to hear my idea for this story, and your enthusiasm was a huge part of what prompted me to go through with it. Your support meant so much to me at the time, when I was still adjusting to writing for fun, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Third, to karameiwaku, for helping me come up with a title, suggesting a name for my protagonist, and introducing me to the WWWJDIC website for Japanese translation. You've done so much to help me flesh out the small details—and don't even get me started on the plot bunnies our conversations have inspired!

One more note, regarding the timeline. I'm sure most of you are already aware, but just in case you aren't… the book Squire skips a year. I have decided to rectify this problem in my story by moving the last two chapters of Squire and all of Lady Knight forward by one year. So, in this continuity, Kel took her Ordeal at Midwinter 460, not 459, and Lady Knight would take place in 461. This does not affect the timing of the Trickster books, as the first chapter canonically takes place in spring of 462, and Aly makes mention of the events of Lady Knight as being "last year." It's not a perfect solution, but it works.

I do not own Tortall. That honor belongs to our lovely Queen, Tamora Pierce (happy belated birthday, Tammy!) and I am simply playing around with her world.

Prologue

Midwinter, 464 HE

Keladry of Mindelan dismounted from her horse, and led him into the stable.

She could have left the grooming of him to the stable lad that had shown her in, but Peachblossom was no sweeter toward strangers than he had been when Kel first met him, and she wouldn't subject the unsuspecting boy to her horse's temper. Besides, she preferred to look after her mount herself whenever she could. It wasn't always possible, but the time spent looking after her horses allowed her some moments of quiet, an increasingly rare commodity in her life these days, and the servants had enough to do.

As she worked, she glanced briefly over to the next stall, where her two foster children were attending to her mare. Hoshi obediently munched on some hay while the children worked. Tobe was nearly thirteen now, and Irnai ten, both of them still small enough that they fit easily in the saddle at the same time. Irnai patiently listened as Tobe chattered away to her about horses and tack.

"Juniper says her front hooves are bothering her," Tobe was saying, pointing toward the mare in the next stall, who was watching the newcomers curiously. "An' Patchy hasn't left his stall in days. He's bored."

His voice cracked slightly on the last couple words, and Kel winced at the reminder that the scrawny boy was growing up. Irnai's only response was to shrug and say to her brother, "Tell one of the stable hands."

Kel only half-listened to their continued chatter. Both children were officially her servants, meant to wait on her as a noble, but that was only on paper. Kel regarded the two as her own children. They had declined her offer to adopt them, which would have made them her own in the eyes of the law. Merely a formality to the people of New Hope, however; Tobe and Irnai took their meals with Kel, slept in her quarters, accompanied her on her travels, and for years had referred to her as Ma rather than the tongue-in-cheek Mother used by those under her command.

For the past year, Tobe had tried to learn everything he could to be able to join the Queen's Riders once he turned fifteen, and Irnai was an exceptionally bright girl. Kel had mentioned the possibility of attending the Royal University to her daughter, but Irnai had vehemently refused to apply just yet. While the school didn't usually accept students under the age of twelve, exceptions had been made in the past, and Kel had made certain to say as much when she brought up the topic. Irnai had refused once again, saying that between her Scanran heritage and her gifts as a seer, she was odd enough already, no need to draw extra attention to herself for being accepted two years early.

Smiling to herself, Kel returned to brushing Peachblossom. She wondered, as she worked a spot of dried mud off his coat, if it might not be getting time to retire the gelding. He had been her faithful mount for twelve years, and he wasn't showing any signs of slowing down just yet… but she knew she would never forgive herself if her decision to continue riding him led to him getting injured in battle. Jump was getting on in years as well; she regretted having to leave him at New Hope while she traveled to Corus for Midwinter, but the dog was starting to show his age, getting tired more easily, and she'd thought it would be better for him to stay behind.

Peachblossom snorted at her, as if guessing her thoughts and letting her know what he thought of them. Kel shook her head, giving him a few pats on the shoulder, and smiled at the cheeping of the sparrow flock that had come south with them.

"Ma, can we go inside an' get some supper now?"

Kel turned toward Tobe's question, placing the brush back on the shelf as she did so. "Yes, but please wait for me and we can all go in together."

Giving Peachblossom one last pat and promising to bring him an apple later, Kel exited the stall. With one child on either side of her, they made their way to the main door of the Queenscove town home.

Kel was grateful that the rain they'd been riding through for the last two days had been left behind before they entered Corus. While it was warm for Midwinter, it would have been far less pleasant to have to slog through even more mud than the small party already had on their way south. She was aching for a bath to wash the travel grime from her body, and warm the chill that had set into her bones; surely the children felt the same.

Reaching the large door, Kel reached out and pulled the knocker, before letting her hand fall. The door was opened almost immediately by a young footman, who bowed deeply upon seeing her. "Lady Knight Keladry! Please, please come in." He held the door wide, allowing Kel entrance along with her two children.

Once inside, the footman—whom Kel remembered meeting, but couldn't for the life of her put a name to—closed the door behind them and continued, "The young lord Nealan and my lady Yukimi are in the parlor. Derry!" he called suddenly.

A boy of about Irnai's age popped his head into the hall. "Yes, Master Harlan?"

Harlan… Kel made the effort to impress the name in her mind.

"Please show these children to the kitchens and have Cook give them a good meal," Harlan instructed the lad. Derry agreed cheerfully, a mischievous glint in his blue eyes. Tobe eyed Kel questioningly; she gave him an encouraging nod, and he relaxed, following his sister and the young boy down a corridor.

"They will be well fed and shown to the rooms prepared for you," Harlan assured Kel. "Come with me, if you would; young Lord Neal asked me to show you in directly as soon as you arrived."

Kel hadn't been to Corus since last Midwinter, and she'd stayed at the palace. The Scanran war had been over for only a matter of months by then, and she'd been disgusted at the way the Court nobles acted as though the war had never happened. Her relief had been intense when a call had come in asking for fighters to aid a village besieged by hurroks.

Now, as she followed Harlan through the airy halls of the Queenscove town house, she appreciated the reprieve, however brief it may be. The winter Court season was underway; as a noble and a hero of the war, she would not be able to escape the palace for any significant length of time unless something similar happened this year. All the more reason, Kel thought, to enjoy the time spent in the company of old friends for as long as she could.

"Young Lord Neal, Lady Yuki," Harlan announced, not being overly formal, "Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan has arrived; I brought her here straightaway."

Neal, seated at a desk sipping from a goblet, set down his drink and stood quickly, but Yuki made it to Kel first. "Oh, Kel!" she exclaimed, in her soft voice. Kel was startled to hear that her friend's Yamani accent had nearly disappeared. Had it really been so long since she'd seen Yuki? "We weren't certain you would make it to Corus before Midwinter was over. I am so pleased to see that you did." She reached out and pulled her old friend into a hug, brown eyes sparkling merrily.

Kel was happy to see that her friend had changed little since last year. Yuki had become more comfortable letting her emotions show on her face since marrying Neal, but her friend had always been somewhat relaxed about that anyway. She pulled away from Yuki to greet Neal. His emerald eyes searched her face, noting the small scar on her chin from when a stray arrow had caught her a few months ago. "Life in the north continues to treat you well, my dear?" he inquired, pouring her a drink. "I do hope you aren't forgetting to pick up a book now and then, in between running a town and beating Scanrans with a big stick."

"I take some time away, every so often," Kel replied, a bit dryly. "Sometimes I beat the Scanrans with a sword instead. The raids haven't stopped with King Maggot's death, unfortunately."

Neal shuddered exaggeratedly. "Spare me. I am dearly happy to have been given the winter in Corus to spend with my lovely lady."

"Hush, you." Yuki gently smacked her overdramatic husband with her folded fan. "Let Kel sit." She gestured broadly toward a table and chairs in the corner of the room, taking a seat herself in the next chair. Kel gratefully took the offered seat. Neal followed suit after a moment.

"Have you eaten?" Yuki inquired. When Kel shook her head, Yuki rang for a servant. Harlan appeared in the door a moment later.

"Yes, Lady Yuki?" he asked.

Yuki indicated Kel. "A plate for Lady Kel, please. She has not eaten and we would hardly want her to pass out on the floor, now would we?"

Kel hid her embarrassment behind her Yamani-calm face, as Harlan bowed to Yuki, amusement plain. "I will bring that right in, my lady."

Harlan had barely left the room when Neal began speaking again. "I presume you brought your little hellions with you?"

"Tobe and Irnai are hardly hellions," Kel informed her friends. "They're in the kitchen, being fed by a lad named Derry."

"Ah, Derry." Yuki smiled. "He's Cook's oldest, and he's a good boy, if a bit prone to getting into mischief. He'll show them to your rooms when they're finished. They'll certainly be tired after being in the saddle all day."

"They aren't the only ones," Kel replied, shifting in her seat and unable to suppress a wince at how saddle sore she was. "And what about your own child? In your last letter, you only told me you'd had a daughter, it didn't say what you'd named her."

Neal and Yuki both groaned in unison. Kel raised her eyebrows. Neal finally explained, "You see, Kel, we had an absolutely terrible time trying to come up with a name for her, and we still hadn't decided when we wrote you last."

"I see," Kel replied. "Does that mean you've come to a decision now?"

Her friends exchanged a look. Yuki was the first to speak. "We have."

"Let me guess," Kel said, leaning forward in her seat with a smile. "Hikaru? Makoto? No, I know—Sakura." All were common names for young girls in the Yamani Islands, especially sakura, which referred to the cherry blossom trees that the empire was so famous for.

"No, we… didn't choose a conventional Yamani name," Neal answered. "We… well, we were having such an awful time, trying to find something that was both Yamani and Tortallan…" He buried his face in his hands.

Yuki took over the explanation. "We decided to start fresh, and choose from names that we liked."

"And?" Kel dearly hoped that it was her growling belly causing her to be so rude. She hoped Harlan came back with her supper soon.

"We finally settled on… Kelanna," Neal finished, pronouncing the name slowly.

Kel, reaching for her pack, stopped short. "Kelanna?" she repeated. She was sure her face was showing a jumble of emotions that even she couldn't put names to, secretly relieved that they were in Tortall and not the Islands. Surely she had misheard.

"Yes," Neal replied dryly. "For you, and for Alanna. I assure you, Alanna had the same reaction when we told her. But it's done, and we can't change her name now."

"You were the one who introduced us to each other," Yuki pointed out. "And you are a dear friend to both of us. Why shouldn't we name her for you?" She glanced quickly at Neal. "I wanted to simply name her Kellie, but Neal convinced me that that sounded too informal for the daughter of such a high noble house. So we borrowed the last bit of it from Alanna."

Kel didn't know what to say. She knew her friends thought highly of her, but enough to name their first child after her? Such an honor was completely unexpected, and she responded the only way she could: by placing her palms on her thighs and bowing deeply in the Yamani style. Yuki would understand what she was trying to say.

Almost as soon as she had straightened herself back up, Harlan appeared in the doorway, carrying a steaming tray in one hand. Kel thanked him, and asked, "Are my children finished with their supper?"

Harlan gave her a short, perfunctory bow; Kel had noticed before that the Queenscove servants were very relaxed in their etiquette toward their employers. "Yes, Lady Keladry. They have been shown to your rooms for the night." After a pause, he added, "Your daughter was nearly asleep on her feet. I thought I would have to carry her upstairs myself, but she managed in the end."

Kel thanked him once again as he quit the room. Neal and Yuki didn't interrupt her as she tucked into her meal. When she had gone through her large portion of stew and only the potatoes were left, she forced herself to slow down, not wanting to make herself sick.

"Have you any news from the north for us?" Neal inquired, leaning forward eagerly.

Swallowing what was in her mouth, Kel considered. "I think Tobe and Loey are courting." She'd come across the two together several times in the past few months, frequently talking about horses. "And last I was at Mindelan, Anders' second daughter declared her intention to try for her shield."

Neal frowned. "I'd expect you to sound more excited about that."

Kel shrugged, cutting an especially large chunk of potato in two. "Cordy has only just turned six. There's plenty of time for her to change her mind before she's old enough to be a page, or for Vorinna to try and talk her out of it. Anders will support her, I know, but a lot can happen in the next five years."

Lapsing back into silence, Kel continued to eat. She had nearly finished her meal when the sound of a crying baby was heard. Kel looked around, wondering just how close the child was. Yuki stood quickly. "I'll get her."

Yuki left. Kel watched her go, wondering why Yuki was going herself—surely her friends had hired a wet nurse for the baby? "Where is the sound coming from?"

Kel hadn't realized she'd asked her question out loud until Neal answered. "It's a short-range mage link, essentially. It allows me to hear when she wakes, so we can get to her as soon as possible."

Yuki returned a moment later, carrying an infant in one arm and a small bottle in the other. Smiling apologetically at Kel, she offered, "We gave Selwyn, our nurse, a few days off to visit her family—it is Midwinter, after all—but she left us enough bottles of goat's milk to get us through until she returns." Seating herself and arranging the baby on her lap, Yuki began to feed the infant from the bottle.

"We'll still call her Kellie, of course," Neal added, continuing the conversation from earlier. "To distinguish her from her godsmother."

Kel was grateful she'd already finished her food, or she was certain she would have choked on it in her surprise. "Godsmother?!"

"You promised, Kel," Yuki pointed out. "We've asked Jessa as well—" It took Kel a moment to place the name; Jessamine was Neal's younger sister, married for three years to Sir Balduin of Disart. "—but you mean so much to both of us, and we must insist."

"You can huff and protest all you like, Kel, but we're not going to change our minds on this," Neal added. "So if I were you, I'd just accept it."

"I… how can I refuse?" Kel murmured.

Yuki, finished with feeding the baby, held her out. Kel accepted the small bundle, arranging the child on her own lap the same way as she'd held her nieces and nephews once.

The child—Kellie, Kel reminded herself, still not quite able to comprehend the fact that her dearest friends had named their first child after her—stuck a chubby fist into her mouth. The little girl's bright green eyes, identical to Neal's, stared solemnly up into Kel's hazel ones.

"Hello, Kellie," Kel whispered, smoothing the dark fuzz of hair on the baby's head. "I suppose you'll be calling me Auntie Kel, won't you? You have your papa's eyes, you know—does that mean you have his Gift as well?"

"Well, nobody can say for sure just yet," Neal answered offering Kel some wine. Kel shook her head. "She does have the Gift, but we won't know what her particular talent is until she's a few years old. Healing does run strong in the Queenscove blood, so I wouldn't be surprised—"

He was interrupted by the baby girl letting out a loud hiccup. Kel released her back into her mother's arms, as Neal and Yuki both cooed over her, and thought for a few moments.

I wonder what Irnai will think of Kellie…

I've been thinking about this story for nearly two whole years. Y'all can't imagine how thrilled I am to finally be publishing it. I'll try and keep this brief, seeing how lengthy my notes at the beginning of the chapter ended up being.

I'm going to try to make these chapters a bit longer than I've done in the past, 6-10k words or so. The first few chapters will be a bit shorter than that, but since I don't want this story to drag on forever, I want to try and get as much content as possible into each.

Please leave a review to let me know what you think of this new story!