Hello to everyone, if you read this years ago or you're just starting now, welcome to my story. I haven't been updating for a long time, and I've decided that I should pile even more work into my day by editing the first five chapters of this story, and finally finishing the sixth (*cough* *cough*). Anyway, please enjoy the better grammar and spelling, and PLEASE review.

P.S: To all points and purposes Alanna is in her mid-teens at the beginning of this story. I'll try to avoid any confusion on age.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Tamora Pierce characters or locations.

"But it's not fair!" cried Alanna as Maude locked the door to her room.

"It'll be as fair as it gets for the rest of the afternoon!" replied Maude while she walked away. "She'll never learn, will she?" The woman muttered while descending the staircase from Alanna's tower. "What next, gods? First honey cakes next gold and jewels! If somebody doesn't stop she'll be gone to the court of Rouge one morning."

Although the healing-woman meant well she had no idea just how right she would be…

Morning

Alanna stared out the window, watching the bustle of Trebond below.

"I can't believe this" She moaned "Locked in my room for a day because I was under-fed!"

You got yourself in to it. Mewed the black, purple eyed cat next to her.

"All I wanted was a honey cake or two". She replied innocently

Sure, more like eleven or twelve, I saw you trying to dump the whole tray in your lap. Replied the feline.

"Did I ask you Faithful?!" she angrily muttered.

Temper temper. Chided the cat

This cat is ANNOYING me. She thought

Faithful had appeared at Trebond on Alanna's fifth birthday and ever since had been her companion. Ever since she first met him she had also been able to understand his mews at times, although she hadn't always been happy about it.

"You should have been dunked down a well long ago, do you know that?" She asked icily.

Do you really think I could be persuaded to allow that?

"Yeow!" shrieked the cat in his natural cat voice as he dodged a pillow hurtling at him.

"You should have more respect for your two-legged caretakers" Said Alanna in her best matter-of-fact noble voice.

And you should have more respect overall. The cat replied. I do believe there are better things to do than sit here and be annoyed by you. Have fun with the rest of your punishment.

"Fine then," the girl said. "But tell me, how do you plan to get past a locked door?"

Hmm… I'll have to think about that… Not. Said the cat.

There was a slight "pop" and Alanna's jaw hung open as she realized that the cat had disappeared.

Afternoon & Evening

Alanna was bored and as the afternoon wore on she alternated between being bored looking out the window, in bed, and sitting at her desk.

"Alanna!" shouted a voice from outside, "Alanna open this door!"

"What?! What do you want?!" She mumbled, waking up from a hardly won sleep.

"You slept through dinner, I was ordered to come bring you food." The voice replied

"Thank you for your consideration, and I feel privileged to eat in my own room, but now I must ask you to leave me the hell alone."

"Aww!" the maid gasped "How dare you!"

"Like this" Allana said while opening the door way head level slot and making a gesture that most ladies would pale at.

"Well you won't get any food from me tonight, young miss" The tough maid said in a you-just-made-me-mad-tone.

"Good because you probably dropped lice in it" The girl replied coolly.

The maid servant had now had enough, she locked the outside lock of the door and left thinking about the beating the young girl would get the next morning to sooth her anger.

That was interesting… Said Faithful

"You saw that?!" asked Alanna, a blush creeping to her cheeks.

Only most of it

Without saying anything else, Alanna lay down on the bed and cried.

Morning

Allana awoke early in the morning coughing and thinking about the punishments she'd get today. She took a deep breath and her mind suddenly snapped completely awake, realizing the door way cracks were leaking smoke.

"Goddess!" she cried and leapt to the window. Almost the entire main building was on fire and although the distressed inhabitants of Trebond were formed into clumsy bucket brigades it was clear that they couldn't contain the blaze. Allana dared a look to the towers were her father and brother Thom slept and saw that they were already in flames and crumbling to the ground. She leaned out the window and waved her arms.

"I'm alive!" he shouted.

The citizens below all looked up and started murmuring about how it wasn't such a great thing.

"Alanna!" Shouted Maud. "Don't open the door!"

"What?" Allana shouted back.

"Don't open the door, the fire is on the other side!" The wise woman shouted again.

But how do Faithful and I get out? She thought.

"We'll come get you, stay still!" Cried Maud

The tower Shuddered.

"Ow!" Alanna cried and looked to see Faithful clawing into her leg.

They won't reach us in time, the tower is collapsing. He said.

"But how do we get out then?" She asked him.

Go open the trapdoor it's the only way out. He answered.

"The old one that dumps in the moat? But it hasn't been used in years and it dumps out a good ten feet above the water." Allana whined.

It's either get dirty and wet or get burned alive in your room! He yowled impatiently.

"Alright!" She said and went to open the old trapdoor built into the floor. Once it had been used to dump refuse and waste into the moat and it still smelled like it.

Sit down with your legs halfway inside. Faithful told her.

Alanna, impatient, grabbed the black cat and slid into the steeply sloping stone slide.

Meowwww! This is when I regret following you around. The cat remarked sharply

"Too baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Alanna half shouted half squealed.

Allana came up out of the brown water sputtering and doggy paddled to the edge of the surprisingly deep moat. As she came up a loud groaning sound started behind her and looking back she, without a second's hesitation, started sprinting away from the moat. The reason for this was that behind her the old tower that was built into the wall that served as her chambers came crashing down into the moat.

"Great Mithros and Almighty Mother protect me, whelp that I am!" she muttered as she ran, unaware of the fact that her long hair was clumped and dyed almost black with filth from the less-than-sanitary moat.

When she stopped running she was roughly halfway between Trebond and the surrounding forest. As she started walking toward the crowd she was horrified to see two cloth wrapped bundles in the middle of everything. With her heart pounding she stopped and listened to a member of the small active militia force remark "It's a shame, the lord, ole' Maud and the young lady gone with the tower and the little lord Thom in his own tower still burning."

"Hey! You over there where's my father?" She shouted.

"Scat tramp!" A man said angrily. "Your daddy's probably out drunk in the woods, this ain't no business of yours!"

"I'm Alanna of Trebond and I demand to see my father's corpse!" she said back.

"You! You're no Alanna wench! Your hair isn't even brown, much less red!"

The man came over, and throwing her on the ground, gave her a hard kick in the side. "That'll teach you to try takin' a noble's place!" He snarled

"You have the manners of a pig!" The outraged girl shouted.

"How dare you! You're-" The man was cut off by a burly arm wrapped around his neck.

"Excuse me?" Coram said.

"Sir!" the guardsman yelped when he realized the veteran soldier and un-official trainer and discipliner of the guards was there.

"She was….." He stopped when he realized that Coram must have seen it all.

"I am well aware of what happened." He said dryly. "Now, you had no reason to insult this girl and much less to kick her. She was probably looking to get some food or coin by trying to act like Allana, not knowing she couldn't possibly pass as the girl."

"What!?" Shouted the guard furiously.

"Silence!" Coram shouted in a voice that could be heard in Corus. "Let me see your purse." As the guard reluctantly handed over his purse Coram gave the other guards standing there a disciplinary talk. "Men, your duty is to keep order in Trebond, that means following ITS laws, not your own! Now I hope you all learn from what happens to this fellow!" Coram opened the purse and took a count of its contents. "Two gold and eight silver nobles in here. So what you owe her is 1 gold noble each for insult and kick plus half as tax and since you only have another eight silver nobles the rest I'll pay myself and will thus come from your pay this week. Here you go girl, two gold nobles and ten silver, a total value of four gold nobles. Now go, before these men come off watch and burn down the forest trying to find you." The final part was whispered in her ear.

"Yes sir." She said, realizing that even Coram had no idea it was her.

Evening

Alanna sat with her back to a large willow deep in the forest surrounding Fief Trebond, crying. She didn't cry for her father, she didn't cry for Trebond, she cried because Coram and Maud, who had loved her either believed she was dead or believed she was living happily in Trebond, neither of which were true at the moment. She also cried for her lose of them. She heard the rustle of late autam leaves and looked up to see a tall hooded figure standing in front of the setting sun…………

EDITED: 5/9/10