Post by allymarty on Mar 8, 2010 14:00:56 GMT 10
Title: Kinsmen 11 - New Start
Rating: G
Length: 420 (not including the book quote)
Competitor: Faleron
Round/Fight: 2/A
Summary: Eleventh in a series of stories about the relationship between two kinsmen and the eventual object of their mutual affections.
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Kel looked around to see who else had joined them. There was redheaded Merric of Hollyrose, whose temper was as quick as Cleon's was slow; dark, handsome Faleron of King's Reach, Merric's cousin; and Esmond of Nicoline, whose normal powdering of freckles had thickened over the summer. All were her friends and members of the study group that had met in Neal's room the previous year. With them were three new first-year pages, boys that Cleon, Neal and Merric had chosen to sponsor. She wasn't sure if they were friends or not. They would have been rude to refuse to sit with sponsors, and thus with The Girl.
-- Tamora Pierce, Page
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Life at King's Reach during the time Merric and his mother and sisters were visiting had been full of fun and mischief. Princess Kalasin had returned to Corus to visit with her parents, so Faleron's sister, Gaylia, also enjoyed their cousins' long stay. The boys annoyed everyone by pulling several pranks on their sisters until their mothers banished them from the household during the daylight hours.
Merric and Faleron didn't mind their 'punishment' at all. They spent their days together, riding their horses across the green, rolling hills of Faleron's family lands and then they'd go swimming in the crystal clear waters of Bear's Head Lake. Faleron's father and his oldest brother often took the boys out to check on the progress of that season's wheat harvest. Sometimes they practiced their fighting skills in one of the stable yards, but mostly, the two pages just enjoyed lazing about in the warm sun.
The last few weeks of the summer break had dragged by very slowly for Faleron, especially after his cousins departed for Hollyrose. By the time he and Merric returned to the palace in Corus to begin the new training year, Faleron actually was looking forward to all the hard work ahead. If nothing else, he knew he'd see Kel again - and that was reason enough to be happy.
On their way to the mess hall for the pages' first meal together, Merric lamented the fact that he hadn't remembered to write to Kel during the summer break.
"I meant to write to Kel, I really did," Merric whispered to Faleron so that none of the other boys would hear him. "But when she told us that Lord Wyldon had decided to allow her to stay and train with us, I knew I'd be seeing her again. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter since we're all back together again now." Then they filed through the serving line and looked around to find the rest of their friends.
Faleron also felt bad about not sending any letters to Kel, but he didn't want to talk about it. If he did, then it might slip out that he'd actually written several letters to her; unfortunately, he'd felt so awkward about it that he hadn't sent any of them. Nevertheless, Faleron glanced down the table at Kel and smiled. He was certain that she had smiled back at him and he felt warm from his head down to his toes. What a great start to the new training year!
Rating: G
Length: 420 (not including the book quote)
Competitor: Faleron
Round/Fight: 2/A
Summary: Eleventh in a series of stories about the relationship between two kinsmen and the eventual object of their mutual affections.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Kel looked around to see who else had joined them. There was redheaded Merric of Hollyrose, whose temper was as quick as Cleon's was slow; dark, handsome Faleron of King's Reach, Merric's cousin; and Esmond of Nicoline, whose normal powdering of freckles had thickened over the summer. All were her friends and members of the study group that had met in Neal's room the previous year. With them were three new first-year pages, boys that Cleon, Neal and Merric had chosen to sponsor. She wasn't sure if they were friends or not. They would have been rude to refuse to sit with sponsors, and thus with The Girl.
-- Tamora Pierce, Page
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Life at King's Reach during the time Merric and his mother and sisters were visiting had been full of fun and mischief. Princess Kalasin had returned to Corus to visit with her parents, so Faleron's sister, Gaylia, also enjoyed their cousins' long stay. The boys annoyed everyone by pulling several pranks on their sisters until their mothers banished them from the household during the daylight hours.
Merric and Faleron didn't mind their 'punishment' at all. They spent their days together, riding their horses across the green, rolling hills of Faleron's family lands and then they'd go swimming in the crystal clear waters of Bear's Head Lake. Faleron's father and his oldest brother often took the boys out to check on the progress of that season's wheat harvest. Sometimes they practiced their fighting skills in one of the stable yards, but mostly, the two pages just enjoyed lazing about in the warm sun.
The last few weeks of the summer break had dragged by very slowly for Faleron, especially after his cousins departed for Hollyrose. By the time he and Merric returned to the palace in Corus to begin the new training year, Faleron actually was looking forward to all the hard work ahead. If nothing else, he knew he'd see Kel again - and that was reason enough to be happy.
On their way to the mess hall for the pages' first meal together, Merric lamented the fact that he hadn't remembered to write to Kel during the summer break.
"I meant to write to Kel, I really did," Merric whispered to Faleron so that none of the other boys would hear him. "But when she told us that Lord Wyldon had decided to allow her to stay and train with us, I knew I'd be seeing her again. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter since we're all back together again now." Then they filed through the serving line and looked around to find the rest of their friends.
Faleron also felt bad about not sending any letters to Kel, but he didn't want to talk about it. If he did, then it might slip out that he'd actually written several letters to her; unfortunately, he'd felt so awkward about it that he hadn't sent any of them. Nevertheless, Faleron glanced down the table at Kel and smiled. He was certain that she had smiled back at him and he felt warm from his head down to his toes. What a great start to the new training year!