Disclaimer: All characters belong to Tamora Pierce.

Author's Note: For some reason I got the urge to write a fic with "green tea" in the title. I've always been a fan of Kel/Neal but I wanted to write something that incorporated Kel, Neal, and Yuki in a (hopefully) realistic light, so here it is.

Green Tea

Polished wood and delicate ceramic.

That was all Neal saw as he knelt at the small, perfectly smooth table that sat on the floor of his room. The glossy wooden table had been polished so thoroughly that he could see his face reflected in its surface, or at least the bits of surface that weren't covered by the ceramic tea set that looked too beautiful to use. Three snow-white cups, decorated with painted leaves and blossoms, sat upon three matching saucers, while a plate of Yamani sweet buns sat in the center, tantalizing Neal's senses with their piping hot freshness.

His mind did not remain on food for long.

The soft rustle of silk caught his attention and he looked up, away from the polished table and into the pair of familiar faces that approached him. His breath caught in his throat unexpectedly and he envied the Yamanis their ability to look as blank as stone, because he knew his feelings showed right on his face despite his efforts to hide it.

"Don't look so surprised," said Kel, her voice betraying her amusement. "You've seen me in dresses before. This isn't quite so different."

"You would think he's never seen a kimono before," said Yuki. Her eyes danced with merriment, though the rest of her face was woodenly calm.

It was true that Neal had seen Kel in dresses, but he had never seen her in a traditional Yamani kimono and decided that it suited her, especially when her deep green outer kimono brought out the green in her hazel eyes. She and Yuki made quite a contrasting pair as they stood side-by-side in their matching silk outfits, but they wore similar facial expressions that were impossible to read.

"According to my research, I don't believe that teasing the guest is part of the Yamani tea ceremony," Neal drawled from his position behind the table. "Tradition demands that you serve me with utmost politeness."

"Are you sure you want him to learn your customs?" Kel asked Yuki. "He'll end up knowing more than you do and challenge you on every point."

"I can't help it that I'm an educated thinker with a superior intellect," Neal replied. "Knowledge is honey and I am a bee, drawn to its sweet allure."

The corners of Yuki's mouth twitched, tempted to form a smile. "We'd better serve him," she said. "Food and drink will occupy his tongue, for a little while at least."

Neal watched the two of them start the preparations, listening to their silk kimonos rustle like the softest, most delicate music as they performed their separate tasks. Yuki, flawless as usual in a yellow outer kimono that reminded Neal of canaries, scooped powdered green tea into each of the three cups, her pretty face perfectly smooth under its rice powder makeup. Kel took up an iron pot and poured steaming hot water into the cups, then took a whisk and stirred the contents until the mixture transformed into tea. Unlike Yuki, Kel wore no makeup or ornaments, plain and simple aside from the kimono that made her look regal rather than ladylike, and yet Neal couldn't stop sneaking glances at her.

Perhaps it was the curious sight of a Tortallan woman dressed up like a Yamani that caught his attention. Or a lady knight contained in such delicate clothing. Or his best friend attired in a way he had never seen before.

Neal decided it was a combination of all three and reached for his cup, wrapping his hands around the handle-less ceramic.

"Neal." Yuki reached out and gently swatted his hand. "We bow first, remember?"

"Of course." Neal placed his cup back on the saucer. Feeling awkward, he bowed Yamani-style as Kel and Yuki did the same, then took a sip of his steaming hot green tea.

It wasn't his favorite drink in the world, but Mithros knew Kel had tried forcing it down his throat enough times over the years, and he supposed he had better get used to it. As Neal sipped his tea his eyes drifted back to Yuki, elegant and exotic as a rare flower gathered into a vase, and then to Kel, strange and familiar all at once with her bare face, plainly styled hair, and regal kimono. It occurred to him that Yuki was like the teacup in all her refined beauty, while Kel was more like the iron teapot with her steadfast strength and generosity. The teapot worked and waited, then gave and gave and gave, while the teacup received and graced the table with its fine ceramic, admired and used until the teapot was needed again.

Yes, Kel was the teapot and Yuki was the cup, though Neal didn't know why he thought of such comparisons. Perhaps he was the tea, tied to both pot and cup in different ways, just as he was tied to Kel and Yuki in different ways.

He felt himself relax for the first time in ages as the hot tea slid down his throat. For once he didn't worry about possible flu outbreaks in the lower city, or villages getting invaded by spidrens, or his upcoming marriage to Yuki, which had rapidly become the most worrisome topic of all. Instead he eased aside all of his worries and listened to Kel and Yuki's pleasant hum of chatter, interjecting with a dry comment now and then, and enjoyed the fresh green tea and sweet buns. How natural it felt to kneel at the table Yamani-style with his best friend and his fiancee, temporarily free from all the cares and concerns of the world, and for a moment Neal wondered if times like these were limited.

He could get married and still keep his best friend, of course, but what about the closeness and the intimacy he and Kel had shared over the years? Gods, Kel had been like a younger sister since they met. More than a sister, as if she and Neal had been crafted specifically so they could meet and balance each other out. If he ever lost Kel, he didn't know what he would do. Who else would tell him to eat his vegetables, after all?

Trapped in his own thoughts, he had lost the thread of Kel and Yuki's conversation until Kel said, "Has anyone ever mentioned his family nickname?"

"No," said Yuki, brown eyes sparkling with mischief. "What is it?"

"Kel, I've never known you to be completely heartless," said Neal. "Now is not the time to start."

"Who says I'm being heartless, Meathead?" Kel said wickedly.

"One of these days I will discover an embarrassing secret of yours and expose it to the world."

Yuki's polite mask was cracking in a thousand places. "Your family nickname is Meathead?" she asked Neal. "Where did you get a name like that?"

"A certain inventive cousin of mine," Neal replied. "I intend to keep him far away from you so that you aren't tempted to conspire against me."

Of course, that wouldn't stop Yuki from conspiring with Kel, or Kel conspiring with Dom for that matter. Alas, the whole world was against him one way or another, no matter what he did, and the only reason Neal didn't retaliate was because he happened to be intellectually superior, and therefore above petty teasing and trickery. That wouldn't stop him from keeping his ears open just in case he learned an embarrassing secret of Kel's, though. Knowledge was a powerful tool to be used at the opportune moment.

"More tea, Neal?" Kel asked, nodding towards his empty cup. She appeared to have finished teasing him and settled back into her usual calm mask.

Neal supposed he was developing a taste for green tea after all. "More refreshment would be quite satisfactory, lady knight."

"A simple please would have sufficed," she said, raising an amused eyebrow.

"Ah, but since when have I ever been simple with my words?" Neal replied. "According to Father, my very first words consisted of multiple syllables."

"That doesn't surprise me in the slightest." Kel refilled Neal's cup with more tea, then took care of Yuki's cup before finally tending to her own.

A new thread of conversation started up as they sipped this next round of tea, and Neal found himself studying the painted designs on his handle-less cup. He couldn't identify the painted leaves, but he knew the blossoms were cherry blossoms, for he had seen pictures of cherry trees that Kel's mother had done while she lived in the Islands. His eyes flicked over to Yuki, who reminded him of the bright cherry blossoms painted upon his cup, and when his eyes landed upon Kel he knew she was more like the branch of the tree, less showy than the blossom, but no less useful or beautiful in her own way.

An uncomfortable thought crept into Neal's mind and he tore his eyes from Kel's face, reabsorbing himself in his tea. Another sweet bun, his third one so far, kept his attention fixed on material needs, which did not go unnoticed by either of his companions.

Yuki glanced at him eating, then turned to Kel and said something in Yamani that Neal couldn't understand. Kel laughed, then replied to Yuki in the same language.

"Such shameful manners," Neal remarked, dry humor rolling off his tongue with natural ease. "Didn't either of your mothers ever tell you that it's rude to speak a language your guests can't understand?"

"Then perhaps you should start learning," said Yuki. "Kel and I will teach you."

Kel and I. The two of them knelt at the table with him, both wearing kimonos and speaking the Yamani tongue, and Neal wondered why he didn't see it earlier. Essentially they were both Yamani, though one was born in the Islands and the other was not, and Yuki and Kel may have had key differences in both appearance and personality, but were they really so different?

The uncomfortable thought grew larger, prodding at the edges of Neal's mind with increasing persistence.

Did he choose Yuki for herself, or for something else entirely?

Neal was shallow and he knew it. A pretty face was his biggest weakness, combined with pretty dresses and equally pretty manners, and Yuki may have been an unconventional court lady due to her Yamani ways, but she was still a court lady and looked good on Neal's arm. Yuki was more than just a pretty face and her personality had caught Neal over her looks, but Neal had chosen the court beauty all the same.

He was so shallow, he couldn't see what had been right in front of him all along.

The uncomfortable thought, now a conscious dilemma more troubling than ever, robbed Neal of his appetite and he declared he could drink no more. Kel and Yuki both cleared away the tea things until nothing but the gleaming wooden table was left, while Neal watched the two of them, noting how they were so alike in their kimonos and yet so different.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Kel asked as Yuki carefully packed away each teacup. "You survived your first tea ceremony."

Neal didn't answer at first. He pictured a whole series of future tea ceremonies exactly like this one, with the three of them all kneeling at the same table so he wouldn't have to choose. Yuki was a good match but Kel had always been his other half, the one who kept him rational. Who kept him sane.

"Let's hope I survive the wedding," Neal drawled back, only half-joking.

Yuki was everything he ought to have, but Kel was everything he needed, and Neal no longer knew which choice was right.