Chapter One: Keeping My Silence

A/N: This takes place at New Hope, after Lady Knight.

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"Nealan of Queescove!" Kel scowled when there was no reply. She had spent the last half an hour searching for her friend, and had seen neither hide nor hair of him. To say the least, she was getting rather annoyed at Neal, who she needed to sign the approvements for the new infirmary. Without his signature, the building could not commence.

Kel strode down the hall until she came to the soldiers' mess hall. There was little chance he'd be there, since supper didn't start for another few hours at the earliest, but she'd checked everywhere else. To her surprise however, she picked out his lone figure sitting down the end of a table. She opened her mouth to tell him off, when she noticed the huge stack of paper perched next to Neal which he was sifting through frantically. He didn't seem to have noticed that she had come in. Neal was muttering to himself, to Kel, a sure sign that he was close to insanity.

Padding silently down the hall, Kel came to peer over her friend's shoulder. To her shock, he was looking through what appeared to be the profiles of the noble families in the area. In particular, the profiles of eligible ladies. "Neal, what do you think you're doing?"

Neal jumped about ten feet into the air, then saw her and put a hand to his heart. He attempted to hide the four- inch stack of papers behind his back. "You scared about ten years of my life off me!"

Kel shook her head. "What are you doing?" she repeated. "You're married to Yuki! Why are you looking through the profiles of court ladies?"

Neal looked like he would refuse to answer for a moment, then saw the expression on her face that meant she wouldn't take no for an answer. "If I don't tell you, you'll tell Yuki, won't you? No, don't answer." He sighed and pulled a chair out for her. Kel sat.

"You know my cousin Domitan of Masbolle, right?" When Kel nodded, he continued. "Well, when I got married, my uncle – his father – told him that he should have been married before me, since he's older. He said that Raoul was a bad influence on him, that he should give up being in the Own, and make a life for himself before he becomes too old. Dom didn't like it at all, but his mother hasn't been feeling too well lately. He only agreed to it for her sake."

Kel gaped at him. Anyone who knew Dom knew about his flings, but also knew that he'd never give up his job in the Own. "What does this have to do with these, though?" She gestured at the stack of paper.

"Uncle asked me to help him find a suitable lady for Dom. And, you know that when I married Yuki, there was quite a bit of dispute in the family...and at that time Domitan's mother spoke for me, and so now I guess it's time for me to help them out. So that's why I'm looking through these papers for a lady for Dom. You know...one with lots of money, reasonably pretty...old blood family...that kind of thing. And she has to be someone that Dom will like..."

Kel nodded, deep in thought. Though once she had had a crush on the good-looking sergeant, she didn't think that she felt that way again. And besides, the last thing she needed was another hopeless situation. Or so she reasoned.

Neal leaned back on his chair. "So...now you know the story. Only, the problem is, I can't find anyone to fit that description. Will you help me, please? There's not that much left. Just take that pile over there and tell me if you see someone you think might fit the description."

He looked so tired that despite her misgivings and twinge of jealousy, Kel picked up the pile and flicked through it. A face caught her eye. "How about her?" she asked, showing her best friend the picture. "Adele haMinch. An old blood family...quite pretty..."

Neal cringed.

"What is it?"

"When I was just a lowly squire..." he began, earning a dirty look from Kel, "And I was under Oakbridge, I served her at a supper once, and complimented her on her looks. She hit me with a lead-weighted baton." Neal winced, as Kel hid a smile. It reminded her of something Cleon had once said, which had been previously directed at Kel's maid Lalasa. "She told me to find someone within my age range."

"She's only...two years older than you, Neal," Kel said, checking the sheet again.

"I know." Neal replied. "See how strange she is?"

Kel shrugged. "Well, I saw her talking to him at one of the parties when I was a squire, and they seemed to be getting along fine. So I guess it's just you then, Nealan," she teased. He shot her a glare, but said nothing.

They spent the next few minutes flipping through the remainder of the papers, but they couldn't find anyone else. Neal sighed. "Well, there's a party to celebrate the end of war at the Minchi clan in a few days. We can probably set them up easily." He shooed Kel out of her seat to think.

Kel rolled her eyes at him, then headed out the door. That was what she got for helping him, she told herself. She sighed as she headed back to her rooms. So it seemed all her friends were getting married...she was the only one left. She tried to shrug it off. After all, she paid the price for being one of the only two lady knights. And she got the satisfaction that she couldn't get married – the knowledge that she was doing something to protect the realm and its people. And Dom would have to give that up.

Kel felt sorry for her friend. He was a perfectly good commander, who was also nice, and good-looking, and Gods knew that they didn't have enough of them. Wait. I did not just think that, Kel thought to herself. Yes, she had liked Dom at once point in her life, but that was over a long, long time ago.

Well, then why did you feel jealous when Neal said he was setting him up with someone? a nasty part of her mind asked. Kel was scrambling for an answer, when suddenly she realised that she still held the plans for the infirmary in her hands, unsigned. She let loose a stream of Yamani curses, then began to walk back to the mess hall.

Kel berated herself for being so inattentive. It wouldn't have happened if you weren't thinking about Dom, her mind smirked.

Despite the fact that the Yamanis had always told her not to lie to herself, Kel couldn't resist just this once. It made life a lot easier.

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A/N: Well, this is a lot shorter than usual since I intend it on being a multi-chaptered fic, so please bear with me!

And also thanks to Kit for betareading this fic for me!

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