Title: Free Falling
Chapter: One--MIA (1/30)
Author: Arsahi
Rated: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Kel, I don't own Neal (though I'd like too), I don't own Merric or Tortall. I don't own anything in Protector of the Small, or in Tortall, it all belongs to Tamora Pierce.
Dedication: To all the Kealers out there.
Author's notes: Oh goodness. I just finished Lady Knight, and after the tremendous Kel/Neal vibes throughout the entire quartet I just couldn't help writing my own version. This is also my first Tortallverse fic. So...be gentle.

Things in "-- --" are memories. Most of them didn't actually happen in Lady Knight. Well, I didn't take them word for word out of the book. Or any of the books. I paraphrased I guess.

This is also a revamp of the original Free Falling. The text has been kept intact where possible and previous errors fixed. Enjoy!

MIA
Merric sat back and watched Neal pace. "...Stop pacing, you dolt. You'll make us both dizzy."

Neal paused for a moment in his relentless pace and studied Merric. He chewed his lip, fidgeted with the hem of his shirt, then resumed pacing, much to Merric's chagrin. Neal's yearmate groaned and shook his head. "What in the name of Mithros has you so anxious, Neal?"

"Kel isn't here yet," Neal growled.

Merric frowned. "Has she sent word?"

Neal's chin jutted out angrily. "Do you think I would worry if she had?"

"Yes," came the blunt reply.

"Merric, I ought to strap you down on Peachblossom and stick a burr under his saddle for your brutal honesty," Neal answered. "Don't know how to make a fellow feel better."

"I guess she hasn't sent word then," Merric continued, ignoring Neal's comment on his inability to console. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"About as much as you do," Neal sighed. "How am I to marry Yuki in less than a week without the faintest idea where the maid of honor and the groom's best friend has gotten off to?"

Merric shrugged and went about polishing a piece of armor. He wished he had already chosen and had a squire among the fourth year pages that had the rest of their term to finish but diligently scrubbed the tarnish from his finest armor. "Just pick someone else to be the maid of honor."

Neal scowled at Merric's callousness. He knew the younger knight was still sore from being put under Keladry of Mindelan's command at Haven and almost getting killed under that command, but it was no excuse for the brash attitude towards Neal. "No. Kel is my best friend. She must be at the wedding. No exceptions."

"So if Kel isn't there, the wedding doesn't go on," Merric assessed.

"Exactly," Neal nodded.

Merric stared at Neal for a moment, eyes glittering in the pale sunshine. They sat in Merric's quarters at Corus, Merric in a chair by the window with Neal pacing the length of the wall in front of Merric's wardrobe and bookcase. Merric dressed for comfort rather than show in a maroon shirt tucked into soft leather breeches, the hems of the legs tucked into worn boots that had seen better days. He wore the badge that marked him as a knight of Corus and Tortall. Neal wore nearly the same attire, except he opted for a dark green shirt and trousers. The air around the anxious knight sizzled and popped without him realizing it.

"...You're in no shape to go about healing the sick and wounded and I don't think I can handle much more of your whining, Queenscove," Merric informed his friend. "Go take a ride or something to calm your nerves."

A sparrow that had gone with Neal rather than Kel at the end of the Scanran war peeped her agreement from Merric's windowsill. The knight gave Neal a prodding look and the older man sighed. Kel and Kel's sparrows got to him in ways he couldn't understand. He looked at his feet and then once more at the sparrow. She cheeped and glided onto Neal's shoulder.

"...Right. I'll be seeing you then, Merric," Neal said as he left the knight's quarters, Merric shaking his head sadly.

Neal sorely missed Keladry of Mindelan, his oldest and best friend. One of two lady knights in the entire realm of Tortall, she had faced odds stacked against her and won Neal's respect. Respect was something hard won with Nealan of Queenscove, son of Duke Baird and head healer at Corus. Neal was due to marry one of Kel's friends from the Yamani Islands soon and she had accepted the post as Maid of Honor. She had also promised she would be in Corus by two weeks before the wedding.

Neal had given Kel a one-week leeway. It was now approaching the five days till the wedding mark and Kel had neither sent a message nor arrived. Kel never broke her promises. And Kel had just broken her promise.

Needless to say, Neal had reason to worry about her. He rubbed his temples, apologizing to Cane--the sparrow--for disrupting her perch and sighed. His mind had gone a million ways at once: what if Hoshi and Peachblossom had fallen and Kel was stranded with Tobe and her supplies? What if she had been poisoned? What if she had fallen ill? What if Tobe had been kidnapped and she had broken her leg? The what ifs were too many in number and overloaded Neal's psyche. Many things could have happened. She may have found herself without a calendar and hadn't realized it was so close to Neal's wedding. It could be something as simple as that. Or she had been caught in the middle of two warring towns and had taken it upon herself to sort their problems out. Perhaps Tobe had fallen ill or one of her horses did and the other tossed a shoe.

Still, Neal tortured himself by wandering down to the couriers' post and checking for any messages addressed to him.

"Certainly. We have three messages for you, Sir Nealan," the courier answered. Neal beat the hope out of his heart and contemptuously snatched the messages from the courier.

However, he couldn't help but ask: "Do you know if any are from Lady Knight Keladry?"

The courier only shrugged. "I know they're addressed to you but that's all."

Neal looked at the three messages and found that he recognized the handwriting on all three. One from his cousin farther north apologizing for not being able to attend the wedding, one from Seaver, and another from Owen of Jesslaw. "Gods dammit all," Neal murmured. He tossed the letter from his cousin aside in shreds and amiably opened the letter from Seaver.

Neal:

How are you? So sorry for not being able to come to your wedding to Lady Yukimi. You see, my squire and I seem to be tied up to business here in the South with the Bazhir and quite frankly we just can't leave. If we did, it would be in a week or two--surely past the wedding!

How fares Lady Yukimi? And Kel? Have you heard from Kel lately?

Neal stopped reading and reread the sentence. Seaver hadn't heard from Kel either. He folded the letter and stored it in his pocket, opening the letter from Owen.

Dear Neal,

How goes it? I hear everyone's declining the invitations to the wedding! You planned it in such a busy time but I guess no one could have predicted the Gods-cursed war. Anyways, it's been a while since I heard from Kel. Normally she writes to me about every other week and it's been about a month since her last letter.

Have you heard from her?

Neal felt his heart sink into his shoes. He looked at Cane out of the corner of his eye. "Kel's gone. No one's heard from her in a month at the least. People she normally keeps correspondence with are not receiving letters..." he murmured and looked to the sky. "Mithros, Kel...why now?"

Suddenly, Neal conceived the notion of going to Lord Raoul to see if he or Domitan had gotten letters from Kel. It could be something as simple as she had gotten stuck in a place with no ink or paper to spare. However, Neal wanted to get to the bottom of this. Kel was missing.

"Raoul," Neal nodded to Raoul after knocking on the frame of the door to the larger man's office. "I don't mean to worry you, but have you gotten any letters from Kel as of late?"

"You noticed too?" Raoul motioned to the chair in front of his desk for Neal to take a seat. Cane stayed perched on Neal's shoulder.

"Noticed? I think 'noticed' hardly covers half of it," Neal muttered darkly.

Raoul raised an eyebrow. "Do you have reason to believe something has happened to her?"

"She promised me she'd be here a week and a half ago. She promised. She broke her promise and stopped writing letters. I have every reason to be worried about her. Kel never breaks her promises and why do I even need to tell you this?" Neal took a deep breath. "I'm worried. I don't know what's happen to her. I don't know where she's gone off too. I don't know any of the answers here and I hate it. Owen of Jesslaw and Seaver both still have yet to hear from her. It's been a month. Over a month." Neal dug the last letter from Kel out of his breast pocket. Cane cheeped at him. "Sorry Cane," he apologized. He unfolded the letter. "'Neal, you must be excited about the wedding! It's only a month and a week away. I surely can't wait to get there myself and congratulate you both. It's almost a fairytale wedding, two of my best friends marrying each other. Tobe's doing well, he still looks like my servant and he's such a good lad. I really don't know why that innkeeper treated him so poorly.

'I saw the Lioness two days ago. I ran into her, quite literally, with her husband. Both send their love and asked me to tell you they'd be in Corus soon. Speaking of being in Corus, I should be there no later than two weeks before the wedding. I promise you.'"

Neal looked at Raoul with raised eyebrows. "You see why I worry?"

Raoul nodded. "I see why, Neal, but you can't let yourself get so worried about her. Kel can take care of herself."

Duke Baird's oldest son fumbled for words that wouldn't come out. He hadn't imagined he could be so appalled by Raoul's behavior, considering he was the Giantkiller, a great knight, the best aside from Alanna, and on top of it all he cared for Kel just as Neal did. "Yes. Yes Raoul, Kel can take care of herself just as she did not so long ago."

Cane shrilled her agreement.

"Well..." Raoul leaned forward on his desk. He had never seen Neal so worked up over anyone, not even Yuki. "I can't send one of my troops. Jonathan cursed me thrice over when I came back to the castle and told me not to do it again." He sighed. "'You could have gotten your men killed. You could have gotten Mindelan killed, and what's more--you could have gotten three more of our knights and a squire killed!' He wouldn't listen to me no matter how I denied only asking Dom's squad to go after Kel."

Neal rose and sighed. "I have to go."

"Neal," Raoul warned.

Neal rounded to face Raoul with such a determined expression the older knight knew there was no arguing. Neal's was best friends with Kel and the former squire of Alanna, the most stubborn person Raoul had ever known. So he stepped down from the argument.

"Just be careful. Don't attempt a rescue mission alone if she's been captured."

"I'm not an idiot, Raoul."

Raoul refrained from telling Neal just how much of an idiot he really was. Instead, he nodded and watched Neal leave the room. Neal stormed down the King's Own headquarters hallway, ran to the stables, and burst through the door. The hostlers stopped in their work and blinked against the harsh sunlight at the shadowed knight.

It wasn't until that moment that it occurred to Neal that perhaps he should send a message to Yuki, telling her his intentions. He grumbled and fled the stable, Cane fluttering about his head as he ran. At least Cane would accompany him if no one else would, and quite frankly he would rather have the sparrow, who "spoke" little and had a soft pace in his heart, than a chattering human who would tell him he had gone mad and drag him back to Corus. Kel would never try to talk him around. She never called him mad and took him back to his room like a child.

Kel was in trouble. Neal would save her, or die trying.

When Neal reached Yuki's room, he had grown even more frustrated with himself and lack of initiative that he almost left Corus without alerting Yuki first. However, his sense of duty placed Yuki before Kel because of the wedding. Politely, Neal rapped on her door, which branched off from Shinkokami's room near Prince Roald's.

Yuki opened the door and smiled at him. Living in the Corus court so long had loosened some of her Yamani stone-faced training. "Neal."

"Yuki." Neal nodded. Her smile faded at the lack of luster in her betrothed's eyes.

"...Why do you look at me like that?" Yuki's face melted back into her Yamani mask. "You look as if you have seen a ghost."

"I'm off to go find Kel," Neal nodded, determination and stubborness etched on the lines of his face. Worry deepened those lines.

Yuki coughed behind her fan to collect her wits. The news had hit like a bag of bricks. She slowly lowered her fan, folded it in her lap, and look Neal in the eyes. "What has happened to Lady Keladry?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm off to find her. Yuki...I don't know when I'll return. We'll have to postpone the wedding," Neal said. It broke his heart to leave her so suddenly, just after he had gotten her back without other pressing priorities.

"I will not allow you to travel alone, Neal. I will accompany you," Yuki told him determinedly.

"No," Neal shook his head. "I can't let you. I promise I'll come back to you, Yuki. Just give me a few weeks to find Kel so she can be your maid of honor and I can keep an eye on her."

Yuki studied him and searched his eyes for something. She must have found it, because when she did she put on a brave smile and kissed Neal softly. "Find Kel, Neal. Find Kel and bring her back to Corus, wherever she is."

"That's the plan," Neal chuckled lightly. Now he wasn't so sure he wanted to leave, but Kel could be lying somewhere, dying, as he dawdled with his betrothed. "I promise you...as soon as I find Kel...I will bring her back her. We will marry, Yuki. But I really must go. Every moment I spend here with you is another moment Kel could be dying somewhere."

Yuki nodded. She watched him leave and called out as he did, "I love you!"

He paused in the door and looked over his shoulder, nodding. "I'll come back. I promise."

Yuki cast her eyes down as Neal completely exited the room. Feeling quite free to go roam about the country, Neal ran down the hallway and nearly knocked Roald off of his feet. "Sorry!" he yelled, scrambling down the hall.

"Slow down!" Roald yelled back at him. But, curious, Roald turned to follow Neal as soon as he got his bearings back. "Neal!"

"Can't talk!" Neal answered.

"Neal, stop!" Roald told him in his regal tone.

Neal's feet stopped of their own accord. He sighed frustratedly. "What is it, Roald?"

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Roald jogged and caught up with his friend and former study-buddy.

"I have to go find Kel. Ask Yuki for the full story--though I'm sure she's already told Princess Shinkokami by now," Neal edged towards the stables. "Listen, Roald, I really have to go. I don't know what has happened to Kel and I would really like to find out."

Roald shrugged. "Off with you then," he said with raised eyebrows. "Find Kel?" Neal heard him murmur before he was too far off. "Where has she gotten to then?"

Neal burst into the stables once more and found his riding horse already saddled. He scratched his head and approached his mount, wondering how the hostlers had known to prepare his horse. He realized that Yuki may have told them while he was racing from Shinkokami's quarters to the stable. He didn't question it though, simply mounted the horse with Cane perched on his shoulder and rode out onto the road. He noticed his saddlebags had been packed and a bag of his things already prepared.

Cane darted at the horse's mane and caught a fluttering piece of paper. She flew back and forth in front of Neal's face until he halted the horse and took the paper.

Queenscove:

I sent for your bags and had your horse saddled because of your spontaneous nature. May the Goddess be with you on this venture, Neal, you'll need to be gods-touched to find Kel and not have her beat you with a stick for "abandoning" Lady Yukimi...

--Raoul

Neal laughed and tucked the note into one of the saddlebags. It hadn't even occurred to him that Raoul would saddle his horse for him, considering the way the master of the King's Own had objected to this ordeal.

Cane resumed her perch on Neal's shoulder for a small time before deciding she would rather fly. She sang as she glided along the thermals in the air and Neal had a good feeling about this trek. He would find Kel, he would heal her, and he would bring both Kel and Tobe back to Corus. The wedding would proceed as planned, albeit slightly later than scheduled, but he would be married to the woman he loved and his best friend would be safe at home--

--"He's just trying to keep me away from the real fighting. My lord Wyldon doesn't seem to think I'm capable of fighting the Scanrans."--

Cane cheeped at him, noticing he had distracted himself. He jumped and his horse pranced nervously. "Whoa, whoa." Neal steadied the mare and nudged her forward. "Even if I wanted to go back now...I'm not too far from the stables."

Cane shrilled angrily at him, darting around his head.

"All right, all right! I miss Kel too, we'll go find her, but Cane...don't you do anything foolish, you hear me?" Neal said as he shook his finger at her. Cane peeped and darted into the trees, leaving Neal alone with his thoughts.

To tell the truth, Neal found himself both surprised and concerned that all who wanted to go with him was Yuki, and simply because she was concerned for his safety and not Kel's.

"Well!" Neal said aloud. "Looks like the only two who care enough about Kel to be worried are us, and we're the only ones worried enough to go search for her. I bet she'll be happiest to see us, don't you think, Cane?"

She cheeped from somewhere ahead. Neal laughed, pleased to have the sparrow rather than Yuki along with the trip. Yuki had no battle experience, aside from glaive training, and would be more of a hindrance because she wasn't used to open road traveling. She was a pampered princess's lady, not made for the open road and harsh conditions.

The sun sank beyond the tree line when Neal was forced to dismount and lead his mare by the reins as Cane perched on his shoulder and slept. He hadn't realized how little daylight remained when he left the castle. From markings on the road, Neal estimated he was about half a mile from the first wayhouse and inn on the northern trail.

His mare whuffed and shook her head, huffing with every step.

"I'm sorry, girl," Neal stroked her nose. "You'll get rest soon. We just have to make it to the inn."

She whinnied but plodded on anyway. Neal's own feet had grown sore as well, as he hadn't changed into a softer pair of boots before leaving and felt a blister or two developing on his feet from the excessive walking. Cane jerked awake every few steps, not finding herself able to sleep with Neal talking to his mare more to keep himself awake rather than talking for the company of it.

The inn was certainly a sight for sore eyes when they reached it. A torch glowed outside the door and Neal had to resist the urge to run to it. He approached the door and knocked on it. The innkeeper staggered to the door and pulled it open. He peered at Neal. "We're closed for the night. Go to the inn about a mile ahead."

Neal presented the badge marking him as a knight of Tortall to the innkeeper. "I need a place to spend the night. I've been on the road since midday and on my feet half that time. I have money, and I will even pay extra for the inconvenience."

The innkeeper pursed his lips and thought about it. He opened the door wider and allowed Neal access to the lobby. "Just ye wait here, I'll go rouse one of the hostlers to take ye horse for ye."

Neal nodded, "Thank you."

The innkeeper left and did as he claimed. He came back and found Neal in the same position leaning against the wall as he had left the knight. "Come, Sir..." the innkeeper grabbed a torch from the wall and held it so he could read the coat of arms on the badge. "Sir Queenscove."

"Sir Neal is fine, if you," Neal covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he yawned, "if you please."

The innkeeper nodded and logged the name down in the record book. "Why didn't ye stay at the wayhouse, Sir Neal? With all due respect, my lord."

"Because my mount needs rest as much as I do," Neal answered, glancing around the lobby. He had nearly fallen asleep when the innkeeper left him propped against the wall and hadn't looked at his surroundings. To his left a staircase climbed the wall to a second floor, torches mounted on the wall with fitted iron holdings. Directly to the left of the staircase a small hallway extended out to the privy, with the innkeeper's quarters tucked next to the staircase. A counter extended out from the stairwell with a wrack of numbers slots for messages from couriers to the current inn residences gathered. To the right of the lobby counter was the kitchen, and in the center of it all sat a large rug in the shape of Tortall in Tortallan colors. Chairs and benches with furs draped over them sat around the rug, facing the fireplace and the three windows facing the road. Some of the chairs had tables in front of them.

Neal dragged himself up the stairs, thoroughly tired after walking more than two miles on foot. Cane woke up and fluttered over to the windowsill, and Neal, ever the soft-hearted healer, pulled a handkerchief out of his bag and made it into a small nest. "G'night, Cane."

She cheeped her goodnight and fell promptly asleep. Neal kicked off his boots and laid back on the quilted straw mattress, glanced around the room once, and fell instantly asleep.