A/N: Been reading some Alanna convent fics recently, and I take issue with a lot of them on several different points. I have decided to write my own. This will not get nearly as much focus as the Tris piece I am writing, but since the plot for this is already written, it shouldn't take as much for me. Mostly, I am just writing this out so I can stop losing sleep over it at night, and I thought someone else out there might enjoy it as well.

That being said, I am probably not going to bother with a beta on this one. If it gets too atrocious, let me know!

All characters, places, and events belong to Tamora Pierce, I am just colorfully re-imaging them.

The foursome made their way from Fief Trebond in quiet succession. The twins had switched places, and Maude was keeping her mouth shut, still trying to piece together the visions she had seen in the fire. Poor Coram further resigned himself with each step. He was taking a weakling to Corus, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The man-at-arms was so caught up in his own wallowing that he did not see the snake in the road until it was too late. His large gelding reared, leaving to Coram to cling on or be thrown. Without hesitation, Alanna clambered down from Chubby and ran to grab the gelding's reins. Luckily for her, she had always been quick, so she managed to avoid the wild hooves of the frantic horse and pull down on the reins with all the strength her tiny frame could manage. The mount responded to the sudden pressure by calming down.

"Thanks, lad. Mayhap, we'll make a knight o' ye, yet." Coram had not thought Thom had any act of bravery in him.

"Alanna, are you alright?" Thom flew to his sister's side, quite the sight for a boy in riding skirts.

"By the Black God!" Coram's outburst meant that Thom missed the murderous look in his twin's violet eyes. His concern had given them away. "Ye thought ye could switch on me, did ye?!"

"Maude agreed to it." The boy pointed accusingly at the healing woman.

Alanna only shook her head at Thom. This was not the way it was supposed to go. She needed Coram by himself, and Thom far away before she tried to convince the man. She knew this would have gone differently, if Thom could have just kept his mouth shut a little longer.

"The witch would!"Coram was unswayed by Thom's psuedo-argument.

"I'll thank you to keep me out of this." Maude spoke indignantly from her own mount.

"Ye woulda just let the girl go to the palace, and me none the wiser?"

"I saw things in the fire." Coram made the Sign against evil, making Maude roll her eyes. "I cannot explain them, but if the twins are meant to go this route, then I did not intend to get in their way."

"I don't care if the two were meant t' be dancing' bears; it's not t' happen on my watch!"

"You better let us switch or else!" Thom's voice gave even Alanna a chill.

"Or else what?" The large man leaned down towards the twins menacingly. Thom and Coram had never gotten along, but the boys threat had put the older man on alert.

"I can make you see things for the next ten years…" Thom quietly inspected his nails, as if they were discussing the weather. "You know I can."

Alanna was usually the first to lose her temper, but Thom was the one you really had to watch out for. She might be violent, but he was conniving. Part of her hoped this threat would work, Coram liked magic even less than she did. But even as the man-at-arms paled, Alanna knew that her brother had pulled the wrong card.

"Do it, Thom, and I'll leave ye t' fend yerself faster than you can say cherry tart! Ye think going to the palace is bad, I'd like t' see ye go it alone!"

"Please Coram! You know Thom won't be a credit to you." She spared an apologetic look for her brother, but he just shrugged. Thom never would have agreed to try the switch, if he thought he would enjoy being a knight. "I can be a knight, a good one!"

"Better t' take a coward than be caught lying t' their majesties. My mind's made up!" Alanna knew that face. They had lost. "Now, I suggest ye switch clothes, 'less ye want t' show up in skirts, boy."

Alanna shot a pleading look to Maude, but the old healer just shook her head. She had been willing to play along, but she was still too unsure about what she had seen to press the issue. If the twins had failed to convince Coram, she would not stick her neck out any farther.

"You'll regret this someday, Coram Smythesson!" Alanna felt bad as soon as she said it. She liked Coram, and, much as she hated his decision, she shouldn't begrudge him doing what he saw as the right.

"Probably, I will, lass. Could be real soon, but today I can only do what I ought."

When they finally parted ways at the crossroads, Alanna shed tears in earnest. Thom had the decency to ignore it; after all, Alanna was the only person in the entire world he loved, but even he knew she cried as much for losing her chance at knighthood, and the freedom it provided, as she did for losing him.

Alanna and Maude sat for a moment, watching the two men ride away.

"Come child, the City of the Gods awaits you."

"What about the things you saw in the fire?"

"No one ever said you had to be a knight to accomplish great things."