Author's Note:  This is my take on what might've happened if Coram found out too soon and Alanna had to go to the convent.  This particular fic is assuming Alanna isn't afraid of her magic, she just feels normally about it, like she would about any other ability she has.  Just FYI, I figured that even if Alanna did end up going to the convent, she wouldn't be tame and boring and eventually decide to become a lady, so I wrote what might've happened.  She's not the kind to sit around and tamely accept her fate; nothing would stop her from getting out of the convent.  Yes, I am A/G, so she's not eventually going to end up with Jonathon.  Sorry, all you Jon fans, but she'd hate being queen.  What would she do with all of her combat skills?  She wouldn't want to deal with idiot bureaucrats.  If the first chapter seems a bit slow, don't worry; it'll speed up soon.  This first part is basically introducing the situation and laying down the framework for the rest of the story. 

Disclaimer:  Tortall, Alanna, and anything else you recognize all belong to Tamora Pierce.  The plot is based on the Song of the Lioness books, but is mainly mine.

Chapter 1: Troubles at the Convent

"That is my decision.  We need not discuss it," said the man at the desk.  He was already looking at a book.  His two children left the room, closing the door behind them.

"He doesn't want us around," the boy muttered.  "He doesn't care what we want."

"We know that," was the girl's answer.  "He doesn't care about anything, except his books and scrolls."

The boy hit the wall.  "I don't want to be a knight!  I want to be a great sorcerer!  I want to slay demons and walk with the gods-"

"D'you think I want to be a lady?"  his sister asked.  " 'Walk slowly, Alanna,' " she said primly.  " 'Sit still, Alanna.  Shoulders back, Alanna.'  As if that's all I can do with myself!"  She paced the floor.  "There has to be another way!"

~

Alanna of Trebond sighed.  There has to be another way.  That conversation had been six months ago.  She and her twin brother Thom had rebelled against their father's ultimatum.  They had made plans to forge letters for themselves, one for "Alan" to become a page at the palace, one for Thom to go to the City of the Gods and live with the Daughters of the Goddess, who would start him in his magical education before he graduated to the Mithran cloisters.

The twins had made a deal with Maude, the woman who was supposed to accompany Alanna to the convent.  She would take Thom to the City of the Gods.  The problem rested with Coram, a Trebond manservant, the only person other than Maude who could tell the siblings apart.  Alanna had planned to tell him who she was once they were halfway to the capitol-she thought she would be able to persuade him to go along with the scheme.

It almost worked.  Unfortunately, Coram discovered the plot too soon, and Alanna was sent, in ignominious defeat, to the convent.

The girl sighed again, her violet eyes frustrated.  Nothing had turned out the way she had planned.  Now those same words were playing through her mind.  There has to be another way.

The convent wasn't working out.  All the other girls either hated her or were terrified of her.  That didn't bother Alanna too much.  She wouldn't have wanted to be friends with any of those prissy wimps, anyway.  Her personal feelings aside, however, it did make for some awkward moments in her classes.

Classes.  Those were the embodiment of Alanna's worst nightmare.  Deportment.  How to walk, how to curtsy, how to sit properly at a banquet.  Exactly what one was supposed to say when presented to the king.  How to dance, how to flirt, how to use a fan, what was proper, what was mildly scandalous, what was completely unacceptable.  What gifts one could properly accept from which persons.  Then there were endless lessons in the management of the household staff in a fief, plus needlework lessons, music lessons, watercolor painting lessons...a myriad of completely useless things Alanna didn't want to know, and didn't pretend to care about.

Her attitude had already gotten her in trouble with the various sisters several times, and she had been sent to the First Sister so many times that when the red-haired girl approached the woman would raise her eyes to the heavens and ask the Goddess for help in dealing with her intransigent student.  Alanna's usual punishment was a restriction to bread and water for a week, or confinement to her quarters, or sometimes extra instruction in proper manners.  This usually led to additional punishments, simply because Alanna skipped her extra classes to sneak out of the convent and take a ride in the woods.

At the moment, Alanna had been locked in her room for the fifth time, as the First Sister didn't know what else to do with her.  The ten-year-old girl stared sullenly into the mirror above her dressing table.

Her reflection stared back at her, identical purple eyes with the same expression of frustration and discontent, elbows leaning on the dressing table, chin propped on hands.  In the mirror, flame-colored hair fell softly down just past the girl's shoulders.

"I can't go on like this," Alanna finally said to herself.  "If I have to stay here for another seven or eight years I'll go mad.  Stark, staring crazy.  But where could I go, if I ran away?  There's no way I could go back to Trebond... Father would just send me back to the convent.  I'd be doomed."  She was silent for a minute, eyes no longer resentful but thoughtful.

"I could go to the Shang, I suppose," she murmured doubtfully.  "But would they accept me?  For one thing, I'm too old.  For another, I'm noble, and Gifted.  I think all Shang are commoners, and I know they don't take people with magic.  And what if they didn't accept me?  Where would I go then?  No, I can't go to them.  What if I went to Corus?  Thom might be able to help me, and I could get a job, perhaps as a helper in the stables of some rich merchant or nobleman.  Yes, that might work."  Alanna considered this for a moment, then nodded her head decisively.  "That's the best plan.  Now all I have to do is do it."