Neal sat down at his desk and pulled a rather thick book towards himself and opened to the first page. His ballad of Keladry of New Hope formerly of Mindelan had grown to encyclopedia level. He had included everything. Her years in Yaman provided from her own mother and his long passed Yamani blossom. Her years at the palace training as a page provided by himself. Her years as a squire provided by her own husband and her former knight master. Her venture into Scanra to slay Blayce the Gallan. Her romance and sudden marriage. Her elevation to Countess of New Hope. Her birth of not one but four children. And now her role as Training Master for the pages.

He frowned at that last part only because his daughter, now nine, had told him only that morning she had decided to be a knight and start page training next year. And he knew nothing would change her mind. She had the stubbornness of her mother and her father as well as her father's capacity for endless dramatics. She also had years of Yamani training from both of her godsmothers Princess Shinkokami and the Lady Knight Keladry herself. She would be ahead of her class though, that had been made sure of. And perhaps he only had himself to blame by providing her with glaive lessons, archery lessons, staffwork, sword play (taught by himself because after all he was a fine swordsman if not a knight, despite what people believed of him as the new Chief Royal Healer), unarmed combat, and tilting (provided by Kel because there was no way he would get back on a horse with one of those death sticks if he could help it). And of course she was up to par for fourth year pages on her academics. He had taught her almost everything she had needed to know himself, with the exception of math. And she would be in good company, starting at the same time as her best friend Prince Kai.

There was no doubt Kel's Rowan would start attending in three years when he was old enough. The poor boy was cursed with three younger sisters, the youngest two being twins. He had maintained his quiet demeanor but he could be as charming as his father without even bothering to open his mouth. At the age of seven he had already charmed most of the woman working in the castle at New Hope as well as most of the servants he met in the palace. Neal suspected some of his charm was simply that his eyes remained a strange mix of blue and hazel, something his sisters had not managed to receive. He was nearly as well trained in weapons as Karin. And he had the added bonus of having two commanders for parents. They discussed tactics at home over dinner and let him, and any of the children, watch during drills with their city watches and men-at-arms.

And Neal wouldn't be surprised to hear if Kel and Dom's oldest daughter Aubrey decided to try for her knighthood either but he guessed she might want to try for the Queen's Ladies instead. She seemed to enjoy mixing the feminine arts with weaponry. Sir Faleron of King's Reach's wife had already offered to take her in when she was ten to provide proper lady's training as her mother-in-law had done for young women years before. The convent was hardly an attractive options as women were still not allowed to learn more than basic self-defense.

The twins, Rose and Marie, were wild cards. Neal smiled at the last meeting he had had with the twin demons. They were all their father and Dom was being justly punished for every prank he had ever pulled and every charming lie he had told. Neal had a guess they would be menaces in court no matter what they decided to become. Only a look from their mother could quell them long enough for a mess to be cleaned up. But now that Kel was going to be spending the majority of her time at the palace, Neal wondered how Dom would manage without her.

Dom had written, several times since Kel had accepted the position from Roald. He joked about how years before he had prayed to the gods for Kel to become training master so she would stay close. But now she had the position and she would be spending ten months out of twelve each year in Corus. He had confessed that the hardest part of Kel's decision to accept the position for her was not being able to be with her family as often as she'd like. And considering that Kel had only taken assignments near home since her twins were a year old, as often as she'd like was fairly often. Dom would miss Kel more than she knew but he had encouraged her to go. And then he had asked Neal, as his constant connection in Corus, to do some looking around and find and staff a proper townhouse in Corus for him and his children. New Hope had Alston as a steward and Fanche and Saefas as the headwoman and headman. Between them they would protect New Hope and foster its steady growth. Kel would protest him doing so much to stay near her, but at the same time Neal knew what Dom knew, that Kel would appreciate it more than anything she'd admit to.

Which led him back to her new position and the now giant book in front of him. With the help of Sir Faleron of King's Reach, it was illustrated and had been rewritten to allow space for the drawings. And now he was writing the dedication in the front. Kel's new career would be announced after Roald and Shinko's coronation in two weeks. Kel, Dom, and their children would be arriving in a few days to prepare for their roles in the ceremonies of King Jonathon and Queen Thayet's abdication and the coronation. Then three days after the coronations were complete there would be a small party in which Roald would honor those he had offered positions to. At that time Dom would announce to her his plans for her years as Training Mistress and Neal would step forward and offer up his gift to her.

He smiled thinking of how Kel would blush when he offered up a gift that absolutely everyone was in one except her. She would try and hide it at first but her cheeks would turn a slight shade of pink and she'd have to come up with something nice to say while silently cursing his name. But it would do her good. She needed to see how amazing she was. She needed to see how much of a historic figure she was. And what Kel needed most, was to be embarrassed by how much people loved her. And as he wrote the dedication on her own personal copy he grinned and suppressed an evil cackle: Just so you know, Roald published this with Dom's approval.

A/N: And there's the end. I appreciate all of you hanging on this long with me. I hope you all enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm sure I'll be back with more stories. And I hope you all post your own. As a followup note I am available as a beta reader (I have this lovely degree in Creative Writing that sees little use). You've all been wonderful.