Summary: It's that time the time of year for giving and receiving, but for Joren, it's pure torture. Why? Because he has to meet Kel's parents. (a not-quite-sequel to Fallen Idols)

"No."

"Please?"

"Absolutely NOT!"

"Come on, Joren, you'll have to meet them sometime!"

"No, no, NO!"

"You're acting like a child, Joren of Stone Mountain." Kel returned crossly. She had received a letter from her mother, inviting them to Mindelan for the Midwinter holidays. Ilane had specifically requested Joren's presence because of what she had heard of their adventures nearly a year ago. She'd not been the biggest fan of the idea, really, but they would think he wasn't serious if he didn't come. Not that he was serious in the conventional way, but they didn't have to know that.

"I'm acting like a child? You're the one who's still scared of her parents!" He shot back.

"I'm not scared, I'm just—" She stopped and rolled her eyes. "Well, anyway, that isn't the point!"

"Isn't it?"

"No, it's not. They're my family, and they want to meet people who are important to me!"

"Who cares? I don't want to meet them."

"Ohhh, you're hopeless!" She fumed. "And you know what, I don't even want you to meet them anyway! They'd hate you!"

"I'm sure I'd hate them too. So why don't you spare us both?" He said calmly.

"Fine!" Kel yelled at him.

"Fine."

There was a long silence between them, Kel furious and Joren mildly amused.

"Wait, Joren, I'm not kidding. You have to come along, or I'll—"

"You'll what?"

"I'll—I'll—"

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm waiting."

Kel growled and threw a punch at him. It barely grazed his cheek as he swiftly dogged it.

"Oh, come on, Keladry. You can do better then that!"

She threw another punch, which he blocked, followed by another swift one that caught him right in the jaw. Joren lurched backwards from the force, barely regaining balance in time to stay on his feet.

"Shit! What the hell did you do that for!" He asked, cradling the side of his face with one of his palms.

"You asked me to." She grumbled defensively as he continued to glare at her. Kel sighed. "Here, let me see."

Joren dropped his hands, albeit reluctantly, and allowed her to softly touch the spot where her fist had met his face. He winced slightly as her cool, gentle hands met his throbbing jaw, taking in her slightly guilty expression with awe. Even after spending such a lot of time with her, he still didn't understand how she managed to mother everyone. Of course, she was reluctant to do so towards him, but her true nature always shone through.

Before she knew what was happening, his arms closed around her and he soon had her pinned against the wall. Kel, desperately trying to hide a willful smile, rolled her eyes. "I hope it bruises." She muttered before his lips met hers.

When he broke away, he kissed her forehead before looking at her. "I hope it bruises too." He told her after a moment. "I'd love to explain how it happened to your parents."

She opened her mouth to object, but then realized the implications of his comment. "Does that mean you'll come?"

Joren rolled his eyes. "Yes, gods help me. I've no backbone left now anyway because of you, so I may as well. Next thing you know I'll be writing sonnets to your earlobes like your idiot friend." He commented dryly, referring to Neal's tendency as a young man to write exceptionally bad poetry to women of his fancy. Kel laughed.

"We'll only be there for a few days, and my parents are pretty reasonable people." She told him. "Oh, and do me one favor?"

"Don't push your luck," Joren warned.

"I won't. All I want is for you to promise me you'll never write poems about my earlobes."

Joren snorted. "Agreed."

* * *

Ilane of Mindelan had been peering out the window off and on for hours now, waiting for her youngest daughter to arrive. Her sons, Anders, Inness and Conal, had all come home for the holidays. Adalia and Oranie had managed to come with their husbands as well, and Mindelan had bustling for days. Now only Keladry, the fourth knight of the family, was missing.

"Don't worry, Ilane." Baron Piers' voice echoed from behind her as he entered the front sitting room. "She'll be here soon enough and you'll have all your children around you like a mother hen."

Ilane smiled at her husband. "I know. I haven't seen her well, though, so I'm afraid I am a bit anxious about whether the ride over will be too strenuous for her." She didn't wish to tell her husband that she was also nervous because her daughter was bringing a special guest, and she didn't know how Piers would take it. Both he and their sons were very protective of the girls of the family when it came to things like this.

"She'll be fine. She's bringing a friend, isn't she? Who, that Nealan of Queenscove? What a nice boy he is. A tad talkative, but generally an intelligent young man."

"No, no. She isn't bringing Nealan." Ilane said, glancing back out the window.

"No? Well, then who?"

"You've heard of Joren of Stone Mountain, haven't you?" She asked, looking innocently at her husband.

"Lord Burchard's son?"

"Yes, him." She answered. "He was the one who accompanied Kel when she was—err—missing. And—and apparently they grew close on that--adventure."

"Close?" Piers raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Ilane shrugged. "Close." She echoed. "He saved her life time and time again, Piers. As I'm sure she did his. They were on a very dangerous mission, as you know."

"Some mission." Piers muttered. "None of us even know what the mission was, let alone why is was so gods damned important. And anyway, I thought he was a stuffy conservative bully, not a friend of hers!"

"People change as they grow older." She told him defensively.

"Not when they're Burchard of Stone Mountain's son." He muttered. Piers and Burchard had met several times in court, always disagreeing vehemently on all sorts of political issues. Lord Stone Mountain had even maintained that an alliance with the Yamani isles would degrade Tortall because it would associate the 'dignified nation' with a bunch of barbarians.

"Oh, honestly! He can't help who his father is. And in any case, I think its good that Kel finally has someone in her life." Ilane told him.

Piers' eyes widened. "Wait, wait, wait! Someone in her life? Do you mean to say that they—" The baron turned an interesting shade of reddish purple. "Are you saying that my Keladry is amorously involved with this man?"

Ilane pursed her lips, mentally kicking herself for even suggesting it. "Well, I'm not certain of their relationship."

"Come on, Ilane!" he said. "What has she told you about him?"

"She's only said that they had become close since they had both gone missing. Nothing more specific. And in any case, even if that were the case, your daughter is old enough to decide for herself who she would like to associate herself with."

"Do you know anything of his family? His father is a closeminded swine, and the apple never falls far from the tree! I will not have that boy in my house!"

"Oh, quiet! You are being ridiculous." Ilane said, flushed from anger. She had been putting off this conversation for quite some time, hoping that if her husband met the boy first and saw his behavior, he wouldn't be so quick to anger. "I've invited him into our house along with our daughter, and you should treat him as you would any other guest."

"Ha."

"Really—" Ilane began, when suddenly the beating of horse hooves interrupted her. She looked at her husband, pursing her lips together in a straight, thin line. "They're here. Please be civil at least."

Baron Piers muttered an affirmative response and sighed as he followed his wife to greet his daughter and her guest. Of course he'd be civil.

But just barely.

* * *

Joren watched as Kel embraced both her mother and father with excitement and ease, stiffly quiet and feeling quite out of place. He took in the two adults' appearances, noting that Kel looked mostly like her father, though she carried herself with the grace and tall elegance of her mother. He watched them with interest, having heard bits about both of them from Kel when she attempted (often in vain) to talk about her past with him.

He rarely had patience for that sort of thing, but now when he saw her with them, he realized how close her parents really were to her. He could hardly relate to it in his own life—with his father had always had a cold, distant relationship, and his mother had not been the most motherly of women before she died shortly after his knighting.

"This is Joren of Stone Mountain." She told her mother and father, turning to look back at him. "Joren, this is my mother, Ilane of Mindelan," she paused with a smile as Joren bowed gracefully over her mother's hand and kissed it, "And my father, Baron Piers of Mindelan." Kel's father nodded his head with the barest of acknowledgments, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at him as if he were some sort of poison. Joren bowed to him as well, albeit a bit stiffly, suddenly feeling slightly nervous.

"You two must be exhausted." Ilane said quickly after glaring at her husband for a moment, "Kel, you'll be staying in your old rooms. And Joren, we've set up one of our guest rooms for you."

"I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you," Joren said politely.

"Are you suggesting that my wife cannot handle such trivial things as setting up a guest room?" Baron Piers told the young knight in a testing tone.

"Of course not," Joren replied coolly, "I just don't want to be a burden on either of you." Piers rolled his eyes, but only after making sure that his wife couldn't see him.

"Your sisters and brothers will be at dinner, which will be served in an hour." Ilane told Kel as a two servants arrived behind them to take the bags. "Go on and get settled first, and then please join us." She glared at her husband before taking his arm and walking off with him.

"Your father hates me." Joren said decidedly, after they were out of hearing distance.

Kel grinned at him. "Who wouldn't?" She teased.

"And you're not exactly being very nice either." He continued. "Why did I agree to this in the first place?" Joren asked with a groan.

"It had something to do with that fading bruise of yours, if I remember correctly..." Kel said, smiling unsympathetically at him as she began to walk off towards her rooms. "Don't worry, Joren," she called back at him. "you'll be fine here."

Joren made a childish face at her retreating figure, and then followed the servant who held his bags with a sigh. "This is going to be one long holiday."

* * *