Disclaimer- all characters and places mentioned belongs to Tamora Pierce.

(Continuing on from Lady Knight)

Chapter one

Somewhere Before?

Kel was practically asleep in her saddle when she and the rest of her ridding group reached Steadfast. She dismounted and handed over Hoshi's reins to Tobe. She told him once he was finished he should get something to eat and turn in for night. Jump, as he always seemed to do now, sat and waited for Tobe. Kel gave him a pat on the back and in return received a warm lick and a soft 'woof' good night.

'As for me, I'm going to go fall straight into bed and rest my aching shoulder' she thought to herself rubbing it gently as she followed her escort to her room. It didn't hurt much anymore but with the cooling and the drying of the weather it was beginning to get a little stiff. On her way to the main building she happened to get a glance of Neal and Yuki's reunion.

Neal had been a pain the whole ride to Steadfast, saying how they were 'going too slow' and they 'wouldn't get there till the next new moon'. Kel knew he was just anxious to see his ladylove. At first she thought it was cute, for about the first 5 minutes, but once an hour had passed and he was still doing it, it was just plain annoying.

The second Neal had reached Steadfast's gate he was out of his saddle and flying across the yard practically tackling the tall Yamani woman who was waiting there for him. They embraced each other and kissed with such passion that Kel felt she was intruding on something and looked away.

When she reached her room in the main building the first thing Kel did was light a small fire. It seemed the weather wasn't just cool now; it felt as if the winter chill was setting in early.

'Stupid…logs!' she mumbled as she fought to get a fire going in the hearth. It was moments like this when she missed Lalasa, who had always kept Kel's room warm and tidy. She finally got a small fire going and went to unpack.

After putting her things away and washing her face and teeth, she was about to change into her night shift when she heard a knock at her door. Kel, assuming it was Tobe come to make sure she was truly in her room, as she had told him, padded across the small room and pulled open the door. Her guess was correct, but not entirely. It seemed that she had another visitor also. Kel was pleasantly surprised to see Dom standing in the hall along with her small charge. Looking at Dom's face Kel's heart immediately jumped into her throat, she hadn't realized she had missed him so much.

"I just come to say g'night, Lady," Tobe said pulling Kel from her trance. Then he added looking up quickly, "Unless you need me to get you something before I go to bed?"

"No, I'm fine, Tobe." She replied. "You're done for the day. You may go to bed." Tobe didn't walk away however.

As if he needed explaining Tobe gestured to Dom saying, "He just wanted to talk at you, so he followed me here." Kel, seeing Tobe wanted approval that he did right by showing Dom to her, gave his shoulder a motherly squeeze as she turned him and pushed him softly to his door.

"Good night!" she said softly, but in a firm tone, so Tobe knew it was final. Jump, who had been sitting behind Tobe's legs, slipped in past Kel and immediately went to "his spot", in front of the small fire, plopped down, and fell asleep.

Kel knew, however, that Tobe wasn't simply going to go to sleep. Oh no, he was going to move his cot right next to the door adjoining their rooms so he could hear if Kel so much as breathed a sigh. Sure enough, as she let Dom in and closed the door behind him, her heart speeding up a little as he brushed by her, Kel heard the definite sound of a cot scraping against the wood of the floor. She smiled to herself and looked up to find Dom staring straight into her eyes. She felt a small flush creep up her cheeks.

"Something amusing?" Dom asked sitting down on her bed.

"Tobe." Kel answered trying to keep her composure. She walked over and sat down next to him. "He still doesn't believe I'm here to stay. I think he's expecting me to run off again."

"Well, if I were in his shoes, and I had you for my master, I wouldn't take my eyes off of you for one minute either," he replied. Kel glanced sideways at Dom and for some reason thought she saw the tiniest bit of pink tinge to his cheeks.

'No,' she scolded herself, 'that's just wishful thinking.' But just then Dom turned to face her, and Kel looked straight into his mesmerizing blue eyes. For a very brief second, Kel noticed a glint of something there, but as quick as it had come it was gone. Kel didn't get a chance to figure out what it was. One thing was for sure however. If he wasn't before, Dom was defiantly blushing now.

He broke their gaze and stood, as if to stretch his legs, but Kel knew this trick. He was trying to give himself time to regain his composure. Kel should know, she had done it plenty of times when she had been flustered around him. She just couldn't grasp why Dom needed to take a moment… around her! She refused to let herself think of what it meant when she did it herself, she was not going to get her hopes up.

"I didn't really have anything in particular to talk 'at' you as Tobe said," Dom told her, as he picked up and fiddled with the hilt of her dagger that had been sitting on her nightstand. "I just wanted to say hello and see how you were. Since the last time I saw you, your arm was in a sling, and your shoulder was a mess." He set it back down and smiled at her.

"I'm fine," Kel replied. "My shoulder is much better. It just gets a little stiff from the cold."

They continued talking for a while when Kel let out a huge yawn.

"Mithros Kel!" Dom exclaimed jumping up from the chair he had been seated in. "You must be exhausted! I'll go and let you get some sleep."

Kel walked him to her door and opened it for him, she was sad their chat was over, but was too tired to talk for any longer. She was surprised she had made it this long. They said 'good night' and Dom started down the hall. Kel watched his retreating form for a few seconds, admiring the view, then closed the door smiling.

She changed into her night shift, blew out her lamp, and crawled under her covers. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was asleep. But before she lost complete conciseness she had one thought, 'What was that look in Dom's eyes? And hadn't I seen it somewhere before?'