Wow. Over 100 reviews...that's just...wow.

Enjoy. ^__^

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Daybreak

Chapter 8: A Bit of Holiday Cheer

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Kel laid on her side, her arm propping her head up from the bed, an open book in her hand. The week-long midwinter holiday was finally coming to an end, and after a lot of coaxing Neal had talked her into going to one last party with him and Yuki.

This explained the gown she now wore - one of Lalasa's parting gifts, it was russet red velvet with gold trim in elaborate swirling designs, and had a collared neckline and long sleeves for the cold. Granted, the sleeves were rather bell-shaped for Kel's taste, and the gold thread was a bit too sparkly...But it did keep her warm, and in such freezing weather she would have to count her blessings.

For instance, the past two days had been wonderful. Dom had come to see her each day, and apparently had much less to do in the evenings now than he did before, since he stayed for quite a long while each time. It had been obvious to both of them that the kiss had meant something, and so they had spent only a brief amount of time questioning each other about their relationship; the rest had been spent on more...important things.

Kel wished that these daily visits would be able to continue. It was strange, that she had grown so used to this in just a couple of days...But it was nice. No matter how aggravating things got, she could always look forward to Dom being there to comfort her later on. It was a nice feeling...Knowing that someone would be there later.

Kel's eyes moved slowly over her open book. She turned a page, then quickly flipped back to reread a phrase. About a minute later she realized that she was reading the same sentence for the tenth time, and shut the book with a sigh, rolling onto her back. She couldn't concentrate any more. A part of her sorely wanted to do some weapons practice - she wouldn't allow herself to get rusty, no matter what, and she wanted a chance to clear her head - but that was only wishful thinking, dressed as she was. She didn't want to risk damaging one of Lalasa's gowns, and besides, if she did she would just have to change into another one anyway. Her former maid had made sure that Kel had quite a few lovely dresses in her wardrobe before she left, all of them suspiciously well-fitted to her.

Kel looked around her room, searching for something interesting to do. Seeing nothing that appealed to her, she decided to try meditating for a while. Sitting up on the bed, she placed her hands palm-up in her lap, pressing her thumbs to her forefingers as the emperor's armsmistress had once taught her. Closing her eyes, she pictured a still pond in her mind, and let her thoughts sink like stones into the clear water.

Several minutes later, when Kel was deep in meditation, somebody knocked at the door. Kel opened her eyes, coming back to the present, and slid off of her bed to walk across the room. As she turned the doorknob, she went over the most likely options for who would be visiting her at the time: There was Neal, ready to leave for the party...Yuki, ready to begin her inspection...And there was Dom, ready to...well. She'd continue that train of thought another time. She didn't need Yuki or Neal to see her blushing.

Thankfully, it was Dom who stood in the doorway after all. Dressed in pale silver hose and a velvet tunic almost the exact same blue as his eyes, he was plainly dressed for partying, and looked very handsome. He grinned at her, and held out what appeared to be a pinecone. "Evening."

"Evening," Kel repeated, smiling back. She showed him inside and took the offered thing, holding it up and eyeing it curiously. "What's this?"

"A pinecone." Dom told her, straight faced. "I find it hard to believe that you have yet to see another in your lifetime."

Kel glanced up at him, frowning and raising her eyebrows. "...And...Why are you giving me a pinecone?" she asked, closing the door with her free hand.

Dom frowned as well, and bowed his head a little. "Well, you see, I was planning to give you a single red rose. Much more romantic, wouldn't you say? But, seeing as it's winter, and roses are hard to come by this time of year...I'm afraid this was all I could find." he explained, and gave a sad gesture to the pinecone when he finished speaking.

Kel laughed and cupped it in her hands, studying it fondly. "I'll treasure it," she said, and walked over to set it down on her nightstand. Walking back over to him, she glanced at his clothes and blinked, then tilted her head. "...I take it Neal invited you as well." She said, more of a statement than a question.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact." Dom said, falsely thoughtful. "And you know, now that I think of it, he also suggested that I ask to escort you..."

Kel raised her eyebrows, and placed a hand on her hip. "Really," she said to his tunic.

"Yes. You don't suppose he might be trying to pair the two of us up, do you?"

"Oh, but it would never work." Kel replied solemnly, and fought a grin as he slipped an arm around her waist.

"And why's that?" Dom asked, arching a brow at her curiously.

"Well...He's a little late."

"Hm...True." He said, and placed a hand on the side of her arm, rubbing it absently. Kel's face broke into a smile, and she turned her head up to him as he leaned in closer, eyes falling shut...

...When yet more knocking sounded at the door. Kel's eyes flew open, as did Dom's, and they stared at each other for a few seconds, eyebrows raising. "..."

A pause. "Kel!" More knocking.

Kel sighed in spite of herself. That would be Neal. Dom scowled, privately cursing his cousin's existence, but his mouth twisted into a wry half-smile when he saw the slight pout that he knew Kel couldn't be doing consciously. "Another time," he murmured, then kissed her forehead quickly and stepped back to look for a place to look comfortable. He dismissed the bed as soon as he thought of it - dear Meathead would pounce on an opportunity like that - and dove for a nearby chair instead, scrambling into what he hoped looked like a laid-back position just as Kel opened the door.

Neal stood there, Yukimi next to him. They too were made up for a party - Neal was dressed in forest green with gold trim, a good combination on him, and cream-colored hose; his brown hair, usually slightly tousled-looking, was damp from a washing and combed into submission. Yuki, meanwhile, wore a wine-colored gown showered with small lavender gems, and had left her waist-length black hair hanging loose, a pretty effect whether it was for show or just to keep warm.

"Kel, the party's about to start, let's--" Neal began, speaking in a rushed tone. He glanced down at what she was wearing and stopped mid-sentence, his expression going slack. "...You look nice..." he said slowly, blinking a few times. Yuki rolled her eyes at her husband, smiling faintly.

Kel opened her mouth, about to stammer out a thanks. "Um..."

Dom leaned back a little further in his chair. He raised his eyebrows delicately, the picture of indifference. "Quit staring, Meathead, you're making the poor girl nervous." He drawled.

Neal's head swung towards him, and he blinked in surprise, arching an eyebrow. "Well hello, cousin dear," he greeted, his voice a matching drawl. He glanced at Kel, then back at Dom sitting a few feet away, and his mouth stretched into a wide, cat-like grin. "Oh my," he said cheekily, "...were we interrupting something?"

Misreading the dark look that Dom sent him and the faint blush that appeared on Kel's face, Neal laughed and waved them off casually, his green eyes gleaming demonically. "Oh, calm down, I was only kidding." He assured them. Yuki raised an eyebrow at Kel, fighting a smile, and Kel suppressed the urge to glare at both of them. Venomously.

Dom, meanwhile, saw no reason not to glare. His eyes narrowed a little more at Neal, who received this with an impish look that could one day get him very badly injured. Seeing that he wasn't getting through to his sapskull relative, Dom sighed inwardly and stood, his face smoothing itself out. "Well, come on, we'd better get going."

"Now wait a second," Yuki, silent until that point, spoke up. "Kel, you aren't wearing any face paint, or jewelry."

Kel's eyes turned to the ceiling; she drew a deep breath, and barely kept herself from sighing afterwards. This was going to be a long evening...

"She looks...fine." Dom said, and smiled. "Now let's go. We don't want to be late."

Yuki sighed, admitting defeat. "Oh, all right. She's changing out of those boots, though!"

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As it turned out, the party was being held at New Hope's mess, a larger, slightly more formal version of the original in Haven. Many of the townspeople were attending, and Kel couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed with Neal for not telling her how big a party she had agreed to go to.

She also worried about her clothes. Would her people take it as an insult if she and her friends came dressed so expensively? She hoped not, but there was nothing she could do about it - she wasn't about to ask to go running back to her rooms to change into something more casual, and hardly believed that Yuki would let her go either way. And so she continued along down the wide street, with Dom walking beside her and Neal and Yuki leading the way. Piles of melting snow had gathered on the sides of the road, and the ground was covered with patches of sleet and ice.

This, combined with the high heels of Kel's shoes, made for a very difficult walk. Swearing quietly, she stumbled and promptly tripped for the third time, falling forward. Dom grabbed her arm and pulled her back up, placing his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "Careful!" he said, and waited until she was balanced again before taking his hands away.

"You're going to kill yourself on those things," he observed, giving her shoes a brief frown before looking back up and holding out his arm to her. "Here - take my arm."

Kel was embarrassed, but she wasn't above the help. Linking the offered arm with her own, she smiled gratefully at Dom, then looked away and stared down at her feet as they started walking. She didn't even try to sneak a glance at Yuki or Neal, but she could see their 'knowing' smiles clearly enough in her head already.

Another few minutes of walking (or hobbling in Kel's case), and they were at the mess. People entered its wide doorway in a steady stream, and the four of them joined the flow of the crowd as they went inside. They were pushed along a good ways into the gigantic room, and Kel had to practically cling to Dom much of the time just to keep herself up.

Setting aside the fact that she was finding a way to enjoy the close contact, Kel was quickly getting more and more suspicious of her two other friends. She glanced at Neal and Yuki where they were being moved along a few feet away, and fixed her eyes on them with a cynical gaze, brooding. 'This crowd probably wasn't something they thought of in advance, it's too random...But Yuki could have had something like this in mind when she made me wear these damned high heels.' Just how big of a plot had they come up with for the night? She wouldn't put much past those two when they were left to entertain themselves.

Or maybe she was getting ahead of herself. Maybe they hadn't thought of anything past suggesting that Dom escort her...Maybe she was thinking a little harshly of them. Just because Neal and Yuki were mischievous didn't mean they always had to have a hidden agenda, did it? No, of course not...She could just be jumping to conclusions.

At that moment, a fresh wave of newcomers flooded in from the main door. The force of the surging crowd nearly knocked Kel onto the floor, and she grappled desperately at Dom's tunic with her free arm until she had a firm hold. Dom, likewise, unhooked his arm from hers and wrapped it around her shoulders instead, supporting her as the sea of partiers pushed them along. "Who knew there were so many people in this town..." he wondered quietly, staring out at the others surrounding them with a vague kind of awe.

"I did, but I'd never been in a room with all of them moving around at the same time...Can't say I'm happy for the new experience." Kel replied bitterly, and glanced around in awe at the other people as well, though it was more of the terrified sort than amazed. She subconsciously edged a little closer to Dom, a part of her realizing that if she weren't holding onto him she could have very well been trampled to death by now.

Dom laughed and patted her shoulder lightly. "Come on, now - we'll survive. Worst comes to worst, you could just go barefoot the rest of the night. Or, better yet, we could figure out a way to break those heels off. I may be able to do it with my own hands, really."

Kel smiled and looked up at him. "You would do that for me?" she asked, and gazed at him with a mostly feigned dreaminess.

"I would be honored." He said in a heroic tone, and smiled at her broadly. To those watching, this probably looked like a normal amused grin, but from the warm look that his eyes sent her Kel was able to translate it into, 'I'd kiss you now, except for the massive crowd surrounding us and those bothersome people spying on us a few feet away'. She blushed and responded with a rueful smile, and Dom tightened his arm around her shoulders a little in a small hug. They heard a familiar voice titter nearby, and the two of them glanced up in time to see Yuki's head turn away from them quickly. She and Neal were both shaking silently.

Kel stared at the backs of their heads, her blush deepening. A dry smile twitched onto her lips, and she raised her eyebrows, sighing audibly. They were planning something. She was sure of it now. Glancing back at Dom, she noted that his face had also gone rather red. He regarded the snickering couple with one eyebrow arched, and blinked a few times, trying to keep up some amount of calm. "...I have a feeling that they're going to get more and more annoying as the night goes on..." he muttered, speaking to her quietly so they wouldn't be able to hear - even if the room was loud to begin with, he wasn't taking any chances.

"I have a feeling that you're right..." Kel told him, also in a low voice. It was about that time that they noticed that the crowd was starting to loosen up, and Dom reluctantly took his arm away, his hand lingering for a moment before he let it drop. Kel let go of Dom's tunic and straightened, then tested her balance by taking a few steps forward. The high heels still made her uneasy, but it was much easier to walk on the wooden floor than it had been on the ice and mud outside.

Dom continued to walk close to her side, in case she tripped again - or at least, that was one reason. Another would be that every few moments, Kel's arm would brush or bump against his, something that was apologized for at first but after a while went unmentioned. He was tempted to take her hand, but for now he would have to suppress that urge - he wasn't about to try that while his cousin was watching, and he wasn't sure how Kel would react, Meathead or no Meathead...He had a feeling that she wouldn't be comfortable with public displays of...affection. And that was fine. He would respect that. But, if that were the case, then he wished that they didn't have to be in public so often.

After exploring the mess for a while, the two of them ended up sitting at one of the long tables, which had been rearranged temporarily for the party so that they were mostly to the right side of the large room. Dish after dish had been lined up over the white tablecloth, and Kel and Dom served themselves a few of the different foods before sitting down across from each other, at the end of the table that faced towards the wall. They talked and ate together as the party dragged on, and both tried not to notice when Neal and Yuki sat down at the table next to theirs. Still, they were careful to stick to platonic subjects. Lord Raoul, for instance:

"...That's what happened? Really?" Kel asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"Yes. That's what happened." Dom replied bluntly, cutting off a chunk of smoked venison with his knife.

Kel shook her head, first at him and then down at her dinner. "That's terrible," she said, and sounded to have meant it - except for the shakiness in her voice at the end of "terrible". She quickly took a large spoonful of her mashed potatoes, swallowing fast, and continued to gaze down at her plate.

Dom furrowed his brow at the smile and laugh that he could tell she was forcing down. "Oh, sure, laugh it up. You were his squire, after all," he said dully, and blinked at her in disdain. "I should have known that you would be on his side. Probably helped him plan the whole thing out, too."

Kel glanced up to see Dom's jaded expression, and lost the battle against her mouth, which broke into a wide smile. "Oh, calm down, I didn't plot anything," she told him. "But still--" she added, and her voice wavered again. "You have to admit, it's sort of funny..."

"Oh, so you enjoy hearing of how I nearly died of cold and starvation?" Dom asked, and half-stood from his seat to loom over her, hands braced against the table.

Kel shook her head, quivering, and bit her lip.

"Does my pain amuse you?"

By now Kel was laughing outright. She looked up to see Dom staring down at her, and her laughter increased considerably.

"Sadist." Dom hissed, his eyes crinkling. He sat back down and leaned back in his seat with a grin, satisfied with making her laugh. "Someone should lock you up."

"Well, yes," Kel began, once she could breathe again. "But we knew that. They should have locked both of us away years ago, in a safe little room where we couldn't hurt anybody..." she mused, speaking in a whimsical tone that bled into a chuckle.

"Exactly." Dom said, swallowing. "But they never did. It's strange, really, that such insanity has gone unchecked for so long...Mm - you know, this is really good," he added, and pointed to his plate with his fork.

"Society is so blind..." Kel agreed gloomily, then glanced at Dom's plate and nodded. "Yes, the cooks have outdone themselves."

Later on, a group of townspeople wielding musical instruments banded together up on the small platform that had been added in the rebuilding of the mess, and a steady flow of music became the background noise for the talking and laughter that already filled the air. Those standing backed away from the left side of the room, and pairs of people began to leak out onto the empty dance floor.

Dom turned his head and watched the dancing couples thoughtfully. A few moments later he turned back to Kel, a strategically casual expression fixed onto his face. "I don't suppose you'd want to...?" he asked, trailing off in a hopeful way.

Kel smiled apologetically, and shook her head. "No, I'm sorry," she said. She watched Dom's face fall slightly, and hastily explained, "It's just, I don't think I would last five minutes out there in these," and gestured under the table, towards her shoes. She thought that she heard a whispered "oops" at the other table, but she wasn't sure.

"Oh, right..." he said, looking away and nodding a little. There was a dreary pause, and then suddenly Dom leaned towards her again, keeping his head down. "Listen, do you want to get out of here?" he asked quietly, his voice lowered to a conspiring murmur. His eyes moved up from the tablecloth to give her an expectant stare.

Kel stared at his face blankly, stunned by the question for a second. "Uh..." Her face flushed a pale red, and then a moment later it sagged slightly, giving way to a sincerely worn look. "Please." She said bluntly, forgetting to keep her voice down and flinching at her mistake as soon as she made it. Dom gave a surprised laugh, and he straightened and got up from his chair, keeping his eyes on her as he did.

"Ahh, they're leaving..." Yuki whispered anxiously, and gripped Neal's shoulder to get his attention, although he was already looking.

"I can see that, love," he muttered calmly. The two of them watched over their shoulders as Kel got out of her seat, and a self-assured smirk spread across Neal's face. "Don't worry. We'll still have our fun."

"What's your idea?" she asked, her head turning to him with interest.

"Look towards the ceiling, and tell me what you see." Neal replied, his eyes still focused on his cousin and the lady knight. They were starting to move away from the table now, but that was all right...All in due time.

Yuki's gaze moved upwards, and she scanned the ceiling, her brow creasing. After a few moments she saw it, and the crease smoothed out, replaced by a delighted smile. "Oo...Perfect."

"I thought you might like that," he remarked casually, and his smirk broadened slightly as he slipped out of his chair, and slowly began to advance on the runaways. Glancing back at Yuki, he jerked his head in their direction, and she nodded and stood, following him with just as much stealth. Just when Dom and Kel had made it to one of the side doors, Neal stopped a few feet away from them and called in a loud voice, "Leaving so soon, you two?". Yuki stopped beside him and clasped her hands behind her back, barely suppressing a grin.

Kel and Dom paused in mid-step. They glanced at each other with a brief frown, then turned around, both of them wearing diplomatic expressions. "Yes, I'm afraid so. Lovely time and all, but we're both getting very tired, so we'll be going now..." Dom explained practically, already moving towards the door again. Kel nodded and turned quickly, about to follow him.

"Oh, that's too bad..." Neal drawled sadly. He tilted his head to one side. "But, wait just a moment..."

"Yes..." Dom asked, and barely kept himself from adding a "Nealan?" at the end. Kel glanced back at Neal over her shoulder, frowning slightly. She had a bad feeling...

Neal smiled broadly, and Yuki's eyes crinkled deviously as they each pointed to above where Kel and Dom were standing. The two of them looked up, and they both stared, transfixed, at the object hanging from the rim of the door.

Kel blinked, and tried to remain as calm as possible. Mistletoe. Of course. How had she not seen that coming? It was so obvious. So very very obvious. You go to a midwinter party, and there will naturally be mistletoe about. And you never know where precisely it's planted, but it does tend to be hung above doors much of the time. Just like the one they were standing under now. She could hardly believe that she hadn't realized--

It was at about this point that the shock fully wore off, and the situation started to really sink in: She was expected to kiss Dom, in front of Neal and Yuki, along with anyone else in the town that felt like watching. Her cheeks reddened slightly. She had mixed feelings about this. Then she looked down to see that Dom was staring at her, and it became a challenge to concentrate on anything outside of the color of his eyes. The small part of her mind that was still able to think straight noticed the questioning look he was giving her behind his blush, and this only succeeded in making her thoughts more muddled. Of course she wanted to kiss him. That went without saying. But...Why did so many people have to be there?...

An anxious look entered Dom's eyes, and he glanced away, the corners of his mouth tugging themselves down in a faint frown. Watching him, Kel realized that she was being selfish. Dom would understand if she didn't go through with it, she knew that he would...But surely he would be at least a little hurt. And how could she allow that, over a kiss of all things?

She looked down at Dom's hand, and then at her own hand. It didn't move. All right, so that wasn't working. Sucking in a breath, she closed her eyes and reached out until her fingers touched something warm - his wrist, maybe? Yes. Good.

She opened her eyes, and her surroundings were conveniently drowned out again by the warm blue gaze that welcomed her. Dom smiled as he bent down and eased his mouth over hers, kissing her with a disarming gentleness that she was only starting to get used to. Kel returned the kiss warmly, and her hand moved down from his wrist and into his open hand, which closed around it tightly. After a few seconds his lips left hers, curving into calm, dazed smile; Kel was sure that she was she was smiling in much the same way, but at the moment she didn't particularly care.

And she only cared a little bit that they had attracted an audience. A few people were clapping, and a couple of noises that were either cheers or catcalls sounded somewhere around them. "Dom, you old dog!" someone called with a laugh. "What are you doing to our poor, innocent Kel?"

"I'm going to ignore that," Dom called back, not turning his head away to see who had made the remark, while Kel glanced down and fought a losing battle against embarrassment. He grinned down at her and gave her hand an assuring squeeze, though that seemed to only make her blush a little more brightly.

"Well!" Neal cried merrily, and crossed his arms smugly over his chest. "I know which embarrassing story I'll be telling at my next midwinter party! What about you, Yuki?" he asked, turning his head in the Yamani's direction.

"I'll add in any extra details you might forget," she replied wickedly, wearing a small smile and looking just as pleased as her husband.

"Why, thank you, my dear - that's just ever-so-thoughtful of you." He drawled smoothly, and looped an arm around her shoulders with a practiced grace.

"I try," she said simply, her head automatically tilting towards the crook of his neck.

"Yes..." he agreed, giving a sage nod and pulling her closer to his side. "And now, back to the present!" he exclaimed, raising his head with the look of a cat about to close in on his mouse. He looked around, and his expression faded into confusion, then disappointment. "Aw, no - they left?"

Yuki's head left Neal's shoulder, and she blinked at the spot where the two had last been standing, her dark eyebrows quirking upwards in surprise. "It would seem so..." she glanced up at Neal uncertainly. "We're not going to go after them, are we?"

"Naah..." he said, and a grin reappeared on his face. "We'll leave them alone...for tonight. That'll make torturing them tomorrow all the more enjoyable."

"Hmm...I like your thinking." She chirped, and tugged at his arm. "Come on - let's go dance."

+ + +

It had stopped snowing outside for the time being, and Kel and Dom scrambled down the empty street together, the sound of their laughter spiraling up into the cold, clear night air. Kel stumbled over a patch of ice, but Dom pulled her back against him with his hand, still tightly clasping hers. She laughed again and nestled into him, drawing a long breath that came out in a stream of giggling she wasn't able to hold back. "That was insane," she gasped, and grit her teeth into a grin to try and keep the rest of her laughter in her throat.

"Hmm...Definitely a party I'm going to remember," Dom commented, and wrapped his free arm around her back.

She turned her head up to look at him, a broad smile still stretched over her face. "We're never going to hear the end of this."

Dom grinned down at her with twinkling eyes. "I don't doubt it."

"We're acting ridiculous." She told him, filling her voice with all the scolding that she could muster. It wasn't much.

"Well, I personally think we have every right to," he replied, and leaned in to kiss her again. "Don't you?"

"Mm..."

+ + +

A/N: Hey, check it out! I made the Christmas deadline! Wooo yeah!...

*cough* That is, if I lived in, say, Australia. Though then again, are they a day before the states or a day ahead? Ehh. Oh well. At least I'm only a half hour past midnight, right? (or, actually, 3am for me, but I'm going to keep clinging to the lie that I live on the West Coast for now).

Anyway. I did actually finish the chapter Christmas morning, but then I needed to edit. Stupid editing. Sometimes I wish I didn't care enough to edit...

What, you thought I didn't care?...Well, okay, I guess I can see where you got that impression, this being the newest chapter in over three months...X_x; Man. I am so glad I am on vacation. Looking back now, school really killed my schedule in all these little ways, and I usually didn't even notice.

...But, moving past the lateness. Let's answer a couple reviews! For those of you that I did answer that didn't read the old author's note, sorry, but I had to take it down. I guess some people must have been posting an A/N like every other chapter for the ff.net staff to need to ban them from being posted independently @_@ What can you do.

Now, the couple of reviews:

First, CrystalLili: Yay, a review with quotes in it! n_n Wow, that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy, looking back on it in my poor stuffed email inbox. ^^ Thanks a lot. Now, about what you said about New Hope being a refugee camp. I checked the books (the Epilogue of Lady Knight, particularly: "After two months or so the fortified town of New Hope still looked raw, but it was starting to resemble an actual town rather than a logging camp thrown together in a week")...and since it said that it was actually a fortified town (or a fown, as I like to call it. Tort also works), which is apparently a bit different from a camp...well, you know, creative liberty and all that? XD

And now, PoisonMoon: Thanks, I've gotten almost no reviews these days, being so behind. I'm really glad that you took the time to comment! Sorry if the end of the last chapter confused you a little - like I said, I did have an author's note up, but I had to get rid of it because of the new rule on ff.net. I also think you were right when you said I could bring my writing up a notch - I think that all writers always have room to improve. I'm not sure if you meant on terms of description, or just style overall, but either way I guess I could say that these days I've been doubting whether my writing style is very good for a fanfic of one of Tamora Pierce's books. It's frustrating that I end up writing things so elaborately, when she's able to illustrate things so well in such a cleaner, simpler way. @@ I hope that someday I'll be capable of that, to some extent...But being the rambling creature I am, I don't think its that likely ^^;;

Anyone else that had any issues with the story that I didn't fix or answer, feel free to email me or ask in a new review (the second one, go for the second one!), and I'll either reply in the next chapter or through email. I live to serve! XP I'm just a very flaky servant.

Oh! I almost forgot! I need to talk about the chapter's content a little bit now. Well. It was...fluffy. Again. People were happy, and there was mistletoe (who says that Tortall can't have mistletoe? They have knights, they have wine, and they have kimonos, don't they?). It could very well be said by looking at this, that Pheep might be losing her grip on the actual plot, couldn't it now? Hehehe..HEH. Well. It could also be said that this could be the last perpetually happy chapter you'll see for a while. Chapter nine, at least, will support this. ^_^ YAY PLOT! YAY PLOT! YAY SERIOUS THOUGHT!!

...Uh. Sorry about the chant X_x; It's 4am now, and I got about six hours last night. I mean morning. Ah, sweet vacation. The ultimate high.

Expect more by spring break. ^^; Wow, that's really long...But, I don't have that much faith in myself for finishing fast anymore, so that's the best I can promise right now...Heh.

Love you guys! Sorry if you ODed on the fluff! (Please don't have your mourning parents arrest me!)

~Pheep

(P.S.: With the A/N, chapter eight is eight pages in size eight verdana font. Woo yeah. Please review.)