I know I'm pathetic and I take ages but I have an excuse this time. I went to Europe for the holidays! Five weeks so I haven't had much time with my computer. But still, I know I need to write faster, I am trying, truly.

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Fianola POV

Fianola's first thought when she woke up was how very peaceful the palace seemed. She walked over to her window and looked out over the courtyard, breathing in the fresh air. Her mother had never liked the palace. She complained about it being loud and irritating and impossible dull. Like Claire, she had little patience. Gerald however had a much calmer nature. While his wife and younger daughter would enjoy the adrenaline rush of hunting in the forest, he would much prefer to let them do the hunting and just enjoy the forest's quiet beauty…

'Stop it Fi, you're not at home anymore.' She knew that talking to herself was the first sign of madness but she was pretty sure she wasn't mad. She shook her head and walked away from the window. She got dressed and decided to finish unpacking in the time before the bell went off.

She sorted her breeches and tunics and undershirts into her drawers and started when the bell went off just as she was about to finish. Her father had warned her about the bell. He had told many stories about the palace to his daughters over the years. However she hadn't realised just how loud 'very loud' was until now.

She put the last of her clothes away in the drawers and started to get ready for her first day as a page. Well, almost a page. She sighed, at least, she though, you have an easier road than Keladry of Mindelan.

In the freshness of the morning, with birds singing outside her window and a breeze cooling the interior of her room, it seemed to her like the day before hadn't happened. She knew she was ready to be a page, she had been waiting to start page training since that fateful day that she had met the second lady knight in over one hundred years; Keladry of Mindelan. Now she was ready and she had Claire to help her.

Claire

Claire heard the bell from her bed and jerked awake. She groaned and rolled back over; she had never been a morning person. Unfortunately the, 'one more minute' she mumbled about as she rolled over turned into much, much longer…

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I know it's really short but I'm going to put the next chapter up really really soon.

PLEASE review! It makes me work faster. Every time I read a review I reply (at least I think I reply to all of them) and then I go and start work again because I feel guilty.

TPJ!