An Interesting Day

(Subtitled: Set in Stone)

By Saphron

Sorry this was so late::sheepish grin: I'm just really busy with HB...anyway, enjoy.

Chapter 6 - Kel's Almost Life

Two nights later they visited a tiny restaurant Jasson knew about and Kel tried 'pizza' for the first time. Special recipe from Galla. Lot's of cheese. Kel absolutely loved it.

And the next night after that they went and played pool, then bowling (A/N: a Tortallan version of bowling, with a wooden ball and stuff.)

And as a follow up to the skates, Jasson managed to secure a bicycle of all things!

These nocturnal escapades continued; they'd go and have a terrific adventure every couple of nights. Kel looked forward to these adventures with great anticipation, they always managed to get in some degree of trouble, but also excitement. She was having the time of her life. The boys she hung around with were fun certainly, but they didn't have the flare for life Jasson seemed to posses.

The boys had stopped teasing her about 'lover-boy' as they had come to call him; they'd only jibe every once in a while. And Kel didn't mind anymore. They had more or less forgotten about it, what with classes and studies and Lord Wyldon to worry about.

Only Cleon was still hung up on the whole Jasson thing. He noticed her frequent yawning in the morning and happy contended smile on her face. He wanted her to be happy of course, but he didn't like the sound of those yawns. And he was absolutely livid with jealousy.

Kel didn't realize this though, and thought he was just being mean. She didn't realize what a powerful hold jealousy has on a person. Well…maybe she did. She still hated it when Neal rambled on about the court ladies and such whatnot, but still, she hadn't blown up at him about it yet.

However…there was another person she ended up blowing up at…Jasson.

Kel stormed into her room and threw herself down on the bed. But she sat up again and immediately started pounding a nearby pillow, taking her anger out on it. She had just gotten in a stupid fight with Jasson, she knew it was too good to last.

Damn him to hell, she thought miserably, as her poor deflated pillow was tossed to the ground. Why does he have to go screw everything up?

She couldn't ever remember being this mad, and neither could the boy who had overheard her screaming and ranting her head off.

"Kel, what happened?" Cleon asked her, entering and shutting the door.

She frowned, "Nothing. G'way."

Cleon stubbornly crossed his arms, "I don't buy it, what's up?"

She glared at him, but it was no good, he didn't go away.

Kel felt a trickling near her eyes and she knew what was soon to come.

"Kel! You're crying! Now you have to tell me what's wrong!"

Kel sighed as her shoulders slumped. She picked up the beaten pillow and hugged it to her chest.

"It's a long story…" she began.

(This is a flashback in case you didn't realize, of the fight Kel and Jasson got in)

"Kel, are you coming or not?" Jasson asked impatiently as Kel trotted to catch up.

"Coming, coming, sheesh…ever heard that patience is a virtue?"
"Yea, but who needs virtues. Not an old dog like me!"

Kel rolled her eyes, "Forget I asked."

Due to an unexpected flu epidemic most of her teachers (and some of her friends too) were out sick, and Kel got to miss more than half her classes. She decided to spend her free day going fishing with Jasson, which actually turned out to be a big success because they both remembered everything they had learned from the Yamani Islands. However they felt so sorry for the poor helpless fish that they weren't even going to eat or anything anyway, that they decided to let them go, and instead spent the rest of the day down by the docks.

They traveled along the peer chatting lightly about the latest news from their homeland, while stopping to sit at the water's edge and dangle their feet over. They even talked to some old sailors, and heard their wonderful stories. Jasson, who was in turn a sailor himself, had a few things to say to the veteran seamen himself.

"I'm telling ye lad, Aye saw it meself with me own two eyes, a giant sea creature this big!" The grizzled old boatman said, emphasizing his words by stretching out his arms as far and wide as they'd go.

"Sure you did old man, but I can top that. Once when we were harpooning a giant whale over a hundred feet long rammed right into the starboard side, nearly sunk us."

And…

"Ach lad, good ol' Inland Sea by Tyra is better 'n the Yamani Isles 'll ever be."

"Nope, I beg to differ, Yamani Islands are by far superior. All Tyra has is salt. Yamani now, we have everything from bananas to mangos." Woo-Draconia! Mangos just for you -

Etc, etc. which at first was quite interesting for Kel, but soon got boring. She loved hearing the old stories certainly, when she and Jasson were younger they used to want to grow up and be sailors more than anything in the world. They'd play pretend, turning their couches into ships and sheets into sails, and get dressed up in stripes and grab the box of cookies to pretend it was a treasure chest, screaming at each other, "Aye matey, now walk th' plank!"

However, Jasson was the only one with enough guts to run away from home, and his life as a noble, to follow his seafaring dream. (Which would explain why he has a nobleman's accent and not a sailor's) Kel had almost gone with him…almost. Which was why she hadn't seen him in so long, he was off sailing while she was learning to be a knight. And that was also the reason they fought, he had expected her to come along, and she was planning to all the way until she climbed over her fence and reached the port. But then, thinking of how much her family would miss her, she chickened out at the last minute, and turned back. She could still remember Jasson calling her back…

"Kel! You promised! You promised me!"

"I'm sorry Jasson, but I can't. I just can't!"

"But you promised!"

"I'm sorry."

"No! I don't ever want to see you again! I'm glad you're not coming! Goodbye!"

"Kel? Kel-yoo hoo-" Jasson called her back.

"Huh?-Oh sorry."

"S'ok. Now come on, I wanna take you aboard La Regina!

"Ok."

"You should see her Kel, she's beautiful!" He said rapturously, he loved ships more than he loved life itself.

"The strongest hull you'll see this side of the Western Lands. And the mast is so tall it takes fifteen minuets on a good day just to climb to the top, and the carving at the bowsprit is great, it has this terrific mermaid leaping out of the waters…" he babbled on.

Kel just nodded and followed him onboard. He fairly ran up the gangplank, Kel on his heels. He gave her the grand tour, showed her starboard, port, bow and stern, (right, left, front, back (respectively) for all you non-seafolk peeps out there) pointed out the brig, or all the sails including; (skip the next few lines if you're uninterested in boats) the main royal, main topgallant sail, upper-main topsail, lower main topsail, trysail, (the sails top to bottom in the back) fore royal yard, fore royal, fore-topgallant sail, fore-topsail, flying jib, outer jib, inner jib, fore-topmast staysail, (sails top to bottom at front of ship) mainmast, mainsail, stays, foremast, foresail, ratlines, and shrouds. As well as the deck, bowsprit, forepeak, figure head, cathead, anchor, capstan, forecastle, ladder, jolly boats, central hatch, gunwhale, shuip's waste, snowmast, quarter deck, captain's cabin, and wheel. And the bowsprit too, cathead, back ropes, job boom, flying jib boom, and main mast, topgallant mast, topmast trestle tree, top mast, lower cap, trestle tree, lower mast, snowmast and deck.

(A/N: Deep breath:-woo! What a mouthful, I know my old fashioned boats huh? Actually not really, the only terms I knew from that list were the basics, starboard and port side and such wot-not. The rest I got from AVI-thank you! The incredible published children's author. At the back of his book, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, there's a picture, so if you have the book, take a look. And if you don't have it then I strongly recommend borrowing/buying it and reading it, because it was one of the best books I ever read. Read it twice. Geared for same age range as TP books too I think, so there, no excuses. Hope he doesn't mind me borrowing all his fancy terms that I'm sure took him much research to figure out. So ah, this is a kinda disclaimer for that too. Anyhoo-moving on…)

By the time Jasson was half finished Kel had heard such a large vocabulary of ship-words she thought her brain would explode. She knew most of them, or had known most of them, it had been a long time since she last set sail on a ship…Luckily Jasson got sidetracked by a sailor friend making a rope and shut up for awhile.

Kel gazed around her, the ship was very large, with two giant masts each covered in layers and layers of white billowing cloth, and a very long wooden deck.

Kel wondered once again whether or not it had been the right choice to turn back. Maybe she should have gone with him…then her life would be sure to be full of adventure and fun…it's not too late a tiny voice in her spoke up quietly.

She shook her head; these were bad thoughts to think. She was perfectly happy with the life she had. I mean, she'd do anything for her friends; they meant a lot to her. And could she possibly even imagine not seeing Neal everyday? No way. And yet…the lapping of the waves against the wood, the billowing of the magnificent sails, the salty scent of the sea, the lathering foam gathered at the water's edge, the seagull's cry, the creaking and moaning of old planks, the mysterious horizons, they all appealed to her like nothing before ever had. They practically called her to them, join us they seemed to cry…she could see why Jasson was so happy…it was no wonder, what with this marvelous life he lead…

Maybe she should have gone with him…

…Saph…

A/N: I know I should be more careful to fix any grammatical inconsistencies I wrote when I was 14, but I've been sooo caught up in HB that I'm just posting this thing as-is, hope you don't mind. Oh wellllio.