Hey everyone! I'm giving you a warning: This is all fluff, nice fluffy fluff fluff! It's all about my favorite couple Kel and Dom. (Big, dreamy grin plastered on my face at the thought of the two of them together) well anyway, it's like three in the morning and I have insomnia so bear with me.
Oh poo, I guess I have to write that silly disclaimer thing, of course writing it is a lot easier than being sued for infringing on copywrites. SO, anywayz, the only thing that belongs to me is the plot, the rest of it belongs to the wonderful Ms. Tamora Pierce and various publishing houses. There you go lawyer people, ya happy? I wrote the stupid thing, now I'm disgruntled and rambling so I'm going to shut up now and write my lil' fluff piece.
She stood staring into the distance. Her normally sharp eyes were unfocused as her mind wandered. There were no threats at the moment, the war was over, the Nothing Man was destroyed, and she was back in Corus along with almost all of her friends. Could life be any better?
Yes, it most certainly could be. Third Company could be in the capitol instead of wandering around the country searching for any wrongs needing righting. Her former knight master could be facing her in the lists and making her fly like her sparrows. Or she could be complaining about Sir Meathead to Dom.
Of course, she'd be happy talking with Dom about any subject, Neal just happened to be a convenient conversation starter.
Her mind then decided to give up anything related to rational thought and began contemplating just what shade of blue the sergeants eyes were. She decided that it had to be an extremely intriguing mix between the darkening sky as the sun sank past the horizon and a chest filled with sapphires of the finest quality.
A sigh escaped her before she even realized that it had gathered itself in her throat. With embarrassment she glanced around hoping no one had heard her feminine utterance. Her heart stopped and her brain seized up when she saw eyes sparkling at her. Eyes with an intriguing mix of the darkening sky as the sun sank past the horizon and a chest filled with sapphires of the finest quality.
"Ah, Lady Knight, what had made thee sigh with longing? Name whatever it may be and I shall do whatever I may to bring it too you." Merriment danced across his handsome face as he watched her. He had missed her. It wasn't a very surprising thought seeing as she was one of his best friends, what was surprising was the intensity of the feeling. He hadn't known just how much he had longed for her company until he had seen her standing there, staring into nothingness, with a wistful expression.
It was preposterous for him to wish that she had been thinking about him, but it was what he was wishing for all the same. He looked into her hazel eyes and barely managed to contain a sigh of his own. She was beautiful.
"Hmm, oh, I was just hoping that Neal might decide to grow up one of these days and quit with his annoying habits." Kel struggled to keep her Yamani mask in place as she looked at her hearts desire. She suppressed another sigh at the longings of her soul. "Now, if you can find a way to bring that about, I swear I will send an appeal to the gods pleading with them to let you join their ranks because you will certainly be all powerful."
Dom smirked at her response. It was obvious that she had made it up on the spot. She didn't want to tell him about what she had been thinking and again he had to suppress the hope that perhaps she had been thinking about him. It was an impossible dream.
"Well, you don't think small do you? Getting Meathead to grow up and eradicate all of his annoying habits is quite impossible. I don't believe all the gods together would be able to pull it off."
A laugh escaped her lips before she could stop it. It was an absurd thought, why would she want to stop a laugh. The war was over and Dom was standing an arm's reach in front of her, why shouldn't she laugh, the time for seriousness was over for now.
He saw the laughter in her eyes and rejoiced. Any little thing he could do to alleviate a portion of her worries uplifted him. The happier she was, the happier he was. If only they could be happy together.
He sighed wistfully to himself. What was the point of being in love with her, there was no way she reciprocated his feelings. She was the Protector of the Small, known throughout the world as the only woman daring enough to openly go for her shield, she was one of the most important people in the realm and he was just a sergeant in the King's Own. He was a nobody in the grander scheme of things and had no right to dream of the things he did. He had no right to wish that one day she wouldn't be Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, but instead be Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle, loving wife and mother (the mother part only when she was ready to settle down, of course).
Looking into his eyes, Kel felt an almost palatable energy pulsating between them. She longed to reach up, bury her hand in his hair, and pull his lips down to hers. Forcing herself to look away she saw that it was getting late. "Do you, umm, want to go have dinner?"
"Sure." She was looking rather flustered; he worried that she might have seen something of his thoughts radiating from his eyes.
At dinner Neal watched his best friend and cousin interact and internally shook his head at their folly. When would they just tell each other how they felt and live, well probably not happily ever after (he didn't see that as a possibility for Kel, she'd be with Dom after all), and there was also the Dom can't get married and still be in the Own thing that would need to be worked out, but they'd be happy and in love.
Contemplating how he could help bring them together he started to push his food around on the plate. "Neal, stop playing with your food and eat your vegetables."
"Yes, mother." Okay he had to concede that Dom might not be the happiest either in this relationship, after all he'd be forced to eat all of his vegetables every time she was around. Then he looked over at his cousin's plate and saw that all of the vegetables were gone and he was looking at Neal with a cheerful expression.
"Yes, Meathead eat all of your vegetables, we wouldn't want you to suffer from a lack of nutrients." Growling under his breath, Neal cheerfully kicked his cousin and then stabbed at a carrot with his fork. It never made it to his mouth though, because Dom chose that moment to kick him back.
He was always going to say that it was the pain in his leg that caused him to involuntarily throw that carrot off of his fork and onto Dom's face. It didn't matter what he was going to claim though, because he only got off one quick laugh at the amusing scene before Dom lunged for him and Neal was forced to run.
As he was being chased out of mess hall he heard Kel yell "Get back here Neal, you didn't eat all of your vegetables!" He decided to ignore her and her laughing and concentrate on avoiding the angered sergeant.
Looking behind him he didn't see Dom hard on his heals, but he wasn't about to let that alleviate his fears. His cousin was out there and wanted revenge. Turning a corner, he skidded to a halt when he saw his former knight master approaching, Sir Alanna of Oula and Pirate's Swoop.
"Well Neal, what is it that has you looking so guilty today?" She asked cheerful and studiously ignored that fact that she stood there chatting with him to delay her meeting with the king and a bunch of conservatives.
Before he was able to answer her question, he heard footsteps approaching at a run and quickly ducked behind the Lioness. He had just gotten behind her when a pie came flying through the air and hit Alanna in the face. Before she had a chance to react he took off running again.
In the distance he heard her bellow, "YOU TWO COME WITH ME!"
Glancing back he saw both Dom and Kel standing there guiltily with the blood draining out of there faces, no one wanted to face the Lionesses wrath.
Kel sighed and decided she was an idiot. She had only chased after Dom to ensure that he didn't beat Neal up too much, and vise versa. Now Alanna was mad at her, with just cause, it looked like the champion had been on her way to an important meeting, a meeting that she would now be late for because she would have to go change before she could attend.
Glaring at Dom, she followed meekly along until she turned a corner and ran into Dom's back. Then she looked around and decided it was good Dom had stopped because she didn't want to go any further either. They were in the Own's barracks and Alanna was cheerfully knocking on Lord Raoul's door.
Alanna beckoned the two pie throwers as the door swung open. A short laugh emitted from the other side of the doorway, quickly covered up when Alanna glared at the Knight Commander of the King's Own. "Here Raoul, I'm leaving these two with you for punishment, you know them best after all, I've got to go change and get to a meeting with the conservatives that started in less than five minutes. This is not going to help win any points with them, me being late, so don't be stingy with the sentencing."
She walked away and Raoul stuck his head out the door and laughed at the expressions on his victims faces. He was going to enjoy this.
Kel gulped as they were beckoned forward. Raoul had a malicious glint in his eyes, a warning that things weren't going to go well. She was startled when he started laughing, deep, rolling laughter that seemed to go on and on. The glint faded from his eyes and was replaced by good humor.
As his laughter subsided and he looked at the two of them again with their confused expressions it started right back up again. He would bet his entire fortune that they had been after Neal and Alanna had inadvertently gotten in their line of fire.
As he regained his composure the sergeant and lady knight were at a loss, they weren't sure if it was a good sign that the commander was laughing. When he straightened up and they got a good look at him, they both gulped and decided that it definitely wasn't a good sign. He looked like a kid in a candy store.
"Sir, could you tell us what our punishment is please?" Dom elbowed Kel and gave her a look that stated he wished she hadn't asked that. He was a firm believer of delaying his death for as long as possible.
"Ah, yes, your punishment. What would be ideal retribution to covering Alanna with pie when she's on her way to an important meeting? Hmm, I think the palace gardeners need some time off."
"Gardeners, Milord?" Dom inquired.
"Yes, gardeners. You two will work in the rose gardens for two bells tomorrow afternoon." Raoul looked positively gleeful over the idea of the two of them up to their elbows in mud trimming flowers.
Kel wasn't really minding the punishment all that much. It was strangely peaceful to be kneeling on the ground, carefully deadheading the plants. She got the impression that Dom didn't agree with her. He was grumbling under his breath while snipping at parts of the bushes that didn't need trimming.
"Dom, be careful. The plants don't need a whack job, just a little trimming." She admonished.
"I thought that was what I was doing." He threw down his sheers and looked at his worked. Okay, so it wasn't a great job, but he doubted Kel was doing much better. He smothered a growl when he saw that her bush looked like a professional had trimmed it.
Picking his sheers back up, he went back to the punishment and attempted to be more careful with the plants. It was then that he came across the perfect flower. It was a deep ruby red, the petals just starting to unfurl. Its beauty reminded him of the woman kneeling next to him in the mud.
Without realizing what he was doing, he carefully reached up and pinched the flower off of its stem. Turning he looked at Kel and then started to weave the delicate blossom into her hair. Before she could react to that he placed his hand under her chin and tilted her face up and then quickly swooped down and covered her mouth with his.
He came out of his stupor when he realized that she was just sitting there, she hadn't moved since he started kissing her. He pulled away, completely embarrasses.
"Kel, I'm sor-" His words were cut short when she delicately put her lips against his. It took him a few seconds to get over his surprise that she was now kissing him, but when he did he decided that he should settle in and enjoy the embrace.
When they pulled away from one another his pulse was racing and he was feeling quite flushed. It looked like she was suffering from similar affliction. He was inexplicably pleased with himself for affecting her so, but then reality came crashing down and he realized what had just happened.
He had just kissed Kel and she had kissed him back.
She sat there in disbelief and looked at Dom from under her eyelashes. Had they really just kissed? What did this mean? Did he like her or was he just joking around? As the questions sped through her mind she began to talk herself into thinking that he has been amusing himself and with growing embarrassment she did the only thing she could think to, she ran.
When she reached her rooms, she flung the door shut, locked, then threw herself onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. Fighting her mortification and her tears, she tried to slow her heartbeat down to its normal pace and contemplated what had just occurred. Then she made her decision, she would have to avoid him at all costs.
Dom hadn't moved since she had run off. He couldn't figure out why she had reacted that way. It had been a rather pleasant kiss, and he was fairly certain his breath wasn't that bad. So he naturally came to the only possible conclusion. She didn't like him. She was embarrassed by what had happened and had reacted in the only possible way. She had probably run off to go puke up her bile at the idea of kissing him.
After coming to that disheartening notion, he trudged back to his rooms and decided that the best plan of action was to avoid her as much as possible.
It had been a month since the rose garden incident and he had successfully managed to avoid all contact with Kel. He had also managed to have a fight with everyone he knew and thus found himself sitting alone, eating his dinner. He didn't mind too much, he wasn't in the mood to be polite company to anyone at the moment. The blackness of his mood had seemed to affect anyone who talked to him these days.
Kel hadn't been fairing much better. Only instead of eating alone in the mess hall, she was munching on an apple and some cheese in the stables and having a wonderful, one sided conversation with Peachblossom. She was avoiding everyone, knowing that she would only snap at them. Her mask had disintegrated and she was not only mad at herself and Dom, but also anyone who came within ten feet of her.
"Kel? Kel, are you in here?" She sighed, it would be dangerous to snap at Raoul and she really didn't feel like anymore flying lessons at the moment, although she rarely fell now when she practiced jousting against him. In fact she had come remarkably close to unseating him just two days ago, that had almost been enough to lift her spirits. Then she had seen Dom watching in the distance and her black mood had descended again.
"Yes milord?" She stuck her head out over the stall partition and watched as he approached.
"Third Company is leaving today. Things are getting a little to tame here for the boys. I'm afraid they're going to start getting into some real trouble soon."
"We both know, milord, that you're using that as an excuse. You're the one chaffing at the bit to get out of the city." She grinned sheepishly up at him when he glowered at her.
"Be that as it may, we are still heading out and I was hoping that you would come with us. But it doesn't matter what my hopes are because the king is putting you on assignment with us. He seems to think that you make us men more responsible."
Kel swallowed hard at this new bit of news. It was one thing to avoid Dom in a castle full of people, it would be impossible to avoid him with just Third Company around. But orders were orders and no matter how much she wanted to avoid Dom, she wasn't going to commit treason to save herself some embarrassment.
Dom was relieved when he heard that they were leaving Corus. There wouldn't be the chance of running into Kel around every corner when they were on the road. Yet he was disappointed with himself for having taken the coward's way out and avoiding her all this time. He missed their easy camaraderie. He missed her smiles, although they were rare they were dazzling.
He came to a conclusion, abandoning his packing he ran to her rooms to try and mend the bridges between them. He felt it was necessary for them to be friends again before he left in two bells.
When he got there he started pounding on the door. No one answered. Maybe she was asleep; after all it was just after dawn. Trying the handle, he discovered that it was unlocked. Walking in he decided to wake her so they could talk.
He stopped dead. There was no one there and everything was gone. With a groan he sat down on the abandoned bed. It was too late, she was gone. She must have been given an assignment that he hadn't heard about.
He would have tracked down Neal to ask, but it was too late. He was supposed to be meeting everyone down at the Own's stables in thirty minutes and he still had a bunch of packing to do. He sprinted dejectedly back to his room and finished his packing.
Not paying much attention to what was going on around him; he casually swung his packs up behind his saddle and gathered the reins in his hands. Staring at the ground, he wondered what she was doing right now.
Without looking around he mounted up and followed when everyone started moving out.
Kel had been watching Dom out of the corner of her eyes since he had brought his horses out of the stable. He hadn't shown any reaction to her being there which only strengthened her belief that he didn't have any feelings about her.
Urging Hoshi forward, she followed Lord Raoul as the Own moved out. Jump sat in his carrying case on Peachblossoms back and a flock of sparrows were scattered between the two horses. They were constantly flitting around in search of food and exercising their wings.
Dom sat there staring ahead. He had finally noticed that there was another knight riding with Raoul, but didn't care enough to ascertain who it was. It was then that the sparrow landed on his horse's mane. His head snapped up and he took a closer look at the knight up a head of him.
He wasn't sure what he felt when he saw that it was Kel. There was definite relief that he would be able to talk to her, but then there were also the butterflies in his stomach and the fear that she might not want to talk to him. It didn't matter too much though, because he was determined to work everything out with her that night when they made camp.
She could feel the heat of his gaze burning a hole in the back of her neck. It was quite irritating and although she knew it wouldn't help she reached up and rubbed at the spot anyway. It was hard to believe that he hadn't known she was here until a few moments ago, but if the penetrating stare was any clue he had just discovered her.
By the time they stopped to make camp, she was decisively nervous. She had felt his gaze all day; it had wavered so much of an inch. With jumpy nervous she dismounted and began setting up her tent.
Her nerves were stretched thin long before the confrontation occurred. He backed her up against a tree on her way back from the latrine. The anger in his eyes scared her.
The heat in his voice when he spoke only expanded on her feelings of terror. "What right do you have to be here? Did you just come along to torment me? Do you enjoy bringing me to my knees, flaunting what I can't have? I thought you were better than that."
He gave her one last harsh looked before slamming his hands into the tree next to her head and walking away, leaving a stunned Kel quivering against the tree behind him.
It took her over half a bell to work up the courage to move. Then she stumbled forward on shaky legs and went in search for Dom. She couldn't believe what he had said. He as much as told her that he liked her. Something she hadn't dared to hope for in the past.
When she finally made it back to camp she couldn't find Dom anywhere. His tent was empty and his horse was gone.
Having no way of knowing just where he'd gone off too, she decided that the only way he wasn't going to escape her was if she was in his tent when he returned. And he had to return, if only to change for the next day on the road.
He found her asleep on his bedroll. Before he started contemplating what she was doing there he took a few moments for himself. Watching her sleep, all of her worried disappeared and she looked relaxed. All masks were gone and she was Kel. Gone were the titles and duties, it was just her and she made his heart ache.
Hazel eyes glinted as she woke up. He must have made some kind of noise that told her she wasn't alone. He smiled as she woke up and blinked owlishly at him. He could pinpoint the moment that her mind registered the fact that he was here. She shot to her feet and exclaimed, "Dom! You're back, good. We need to talk."
Now that she was awake his mind started working again. With a sigh he motioned for her to start talking as he took a seat on the ground and propped his chin on his knees.
Sitting down next to him, Kel took a few moments to gather her thoughts. This was quite possibly the most important conversation in her life and she wanted to get everything right. He sure wasn't making it very easy for her, sitting there like he didn't have a care in the world.
With a sigh she opened her mouth and then closed it. She repeated the process several times before she finally worked up the nerve to speak. "I think that we've been busy putting thoughts in each others heads. That somewhere along the way we've managed to get extremely turned around inside and instead of doing anything to straiten ourselves out, we've just kept turning. We both reached out to each other that day in the gardens, but somehow it just screwed us up even more. Now I don't know what your feelings are, but I know how I feel about you and I'm going to reach out and put my feelings on a limb. I like you Dom, I may even love you and –"
He cut off her speech with a whoop of joy and kissed her fast and hard.
Raoul stood outside and chuckled at the silhouettes inside the sergeant's tent. As he walked away a "Finally!" was tossed over his shoulder and then he started whistling.
It was six months later Sergeant Domitan came strolling into the office of the Knight Commander of the King's Own, Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak with a big grin on his face. No one would ever think that he was there to resign from his position, a position that he quite enjoyed and knew he would miss. And no one would ever believe that Lord Raoul would be happy about his most promising soldier was leaving. None the less that was the case.
"Don't say it Sergeant. As soon as you say your resigning your not going to be able to take it back and then you're going to be upset with yourself."
"Sir? I don't understand. We both know that I can't stay with the Own if I'm married and I'm quite sure Kel would kill me if I took back my proposal." This wasn't going the way he had expected it to. For one thing, Raoul wasn't supposed to know he and Kel were engaged, for another, Raoul was supposed to be happy for the two, not trying to talk him out of it.
"Yes, I'm quite sure she would and congratulations on the betrothal. No, I'm not asking you to call off the wedding I'm simply saying that there is no reason for you to leave the Own." Dom still looked extremely confused and he was losing points in Raoul's book. "Come man, figure it out! I talked the king into changing the rules, you can be married now and still in the Own, providing your wife is in service as a warrior who reports to Tortall."
"You got the law changed just for me Sir?" Dom was having trouble coming to terms with this new information, it also made the thoughts of his impending nuptials even more exciting.
"No, I didn't get it changed for you. I got it changed for Kel. She would make it very comfortable for all of us when we're traveling if your not there to keep her sane. At least you've been able to keep her asleep until after dawn." There was a twinkle in his eyes as he watched Dom take in this new information.
"Are you saying that she's been assigned to the Own again?"
"Yes, she had been permanently assigned to the Own, King Jonathon has gotten the idea in his head that she just might make a great replacement for me when the time comes for me to retire. I managed to convince him that it would be best if she was in consistent training for and in a position to take her future place when that time comes."
With a whoop Dom shot out of his chair and ran of the room. Raoul sat back with a grin, happy he had done something to help Kel and Dom, even if it did benefit him in return. Suddenly the sergeants head appeared in the doorway again, "Thank you, sir!"
Then he was gone, presumably to go and celebrate with Kel.
A/N: Okay, I know it's horrible and been done a thousand times before, but could you please R&R! I'd like to know what ya'll think, even if you say that you hate it and it's the worst thing you've ever read.
Oh and if you liked this you might like my longer fic. Its not fluff and it's not a Kel/Dom, but all my reviewers seem to like it. Its entitled Lost and about a young woman without a leg, memory, or family, Sir Merric (a childhood friend) finds her on the brink of death. She starts having strange dreams about torture and death, speaking in a dead language, doing horrible things against her will, and in possession of a strong Gift. As threats against Tortall grow in their gravity, she starts to realize that there is more to the new changes then everyone thinks and there are secrets in her past that might be vital to the future of Tortall.
Wind to thy wings!