Disclaimer: No, I do not own Terrier or any other Tamora Pierce series.

AHHHH! I growled in frustration, struggling to carry everything. It was Aniki's birthday today, and all of us (meaning Ersken, Phelan, Kora, Me, and Rosto) had donated some cash to the cause. We bought her armor and a new sword, made to her exact specifications. We'd all heard the lecture.

The armor had just been finished today, which is lucky. That way she wouldn't "accidentally" find her present before her actual birthday. I struggled to keep my footing while still carrying all the packages. I passed through Upmarket fairly quickly, having purchased the presents in Upmarket, on the other side of the Palace Way from the Lower City.

When I reached the border to the Lower City, I saw a familiar head of white blond hair come walking towards me through the crowd. I scowled when Rosto drew even with me, muttering to him, "What a coincidence."

"Well, no." He said cheerily, hands in his pockets. "Kora told me they expected you to walk through the Lower City carrying all the expensive armor and not lose it by the time you reach the lodging house. It'd be a shame to see a pretty gixie like you robbed, so I decided to meet you here."

"Don't start," I warned. "I've already told you—"

"And I've already told you my hair is not white! It's golden, blond, sun colored!"

I laughed, relieved he changed the subject. "You keep telling yourself that!" I teased, smiling.

Instead of a snappy remark, he just grinned at me. Wow, he must be in a good mood. I wonder why?

"Did you steal something important?" I inquired, eyes narrowed.

He gasped in mock astonishment, saying, "You, A Dog-to-be? Accusing the King of Thieves of stealing? Shame on you!" When I still looked at him expectantly, he continued, "No, I didn't, actually. It's just so nice to see you."

I glared at him, and then caught his eyes looking at all the packages in my hands while he said that, for some reason. I shook my head, choosing to ignore it for now.

We walked in a comfortable silence for a while. I felt…funny, around him. For some reason, he just let me relax and be myself for a change. Which is strange, considering (as he pointed out) I was a Puppy, and he was the Rogue.

When the lodging house was in view, Rosto suddenly said, "You know, Aniki's found a new cove. They met at my Court, and she's introducing him to us today."

I glanced at him sidelong, not sure why he was bringing this up with me, of all people. "Good for her?" I offered.

By then we had reached the doorway of the lodging house. I took a step to go inside, but he put a hand on my shoulder to stop me. He looked me in the eyes and whispered, "For such a smart Puppy, you can be such a looby."

I turned towards him, saying, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He grinned, stepping closer to me. I took a step back, finding I was cornered against the wall. He continued, "Beka, I'm taking advantage of you now, because I might not ever catch you with your hands full again."

Before I could do a thing, he leaned down and kissed me tenderly. I trembled slightly, not allowing myself to think of how this felt so right.

He pulled away, and smiled brightly at me. I could feel my cheeks turn bright red, and I opened my mouth to shout at him. Before I could say a thing, he turned and threw the door open, shouting, "We're back!"

I cursed, knowing I couldn't say anything to him now that Kora, Aniki, Phelan, and Ersken were waiting for us in the room. Rosto even turned and winked to me, curse him. He skipped into the room, with me following closely behind. When Kora saw his beaming face, she asked, "What did you do, Rosto? You look like you just found hidden treasure or something."

"I might've," he said, turning back to glance at me again. "I just might've."

Author's Note:

Whew. Another one. I'm just warning my readers, I won't be updating nearly as quickly when my school starts again tomorrow, I'm going to be pretty busy.

I hope you liked this one! See if you can guess where a similar thing like this has happened in one of Tamora Pierce's other books! And thanks to fanficprincess101, for giving me the idea to use that scene with Beka/Rosto.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it!

Padfoot