A/N: So sorry for the delay. I've just been working on all my Les Mis and whatnot, and then homework... yeah, I know. Excuses, excuses. But at least I've finally updated!

Disclaimer: Buri is not mine. Raoul is not mine. Thayet is not mine. Alanna is also not mine. Cythera is... also... not mine. Neither is Stefan. In fact, I don't own anything here but the situation. And 'The Pretty Flower'. I'm pretty sure I own that.

Buri was rather grumpy as she rode out of the salon. Not only was her face slathered in... horrible... disgusting... face paints... lip rouge, and all sorts of scary products that Buri forgot the names of, but her tongue was swollen.

'I probably should have expected it after all those times where I was forced to bite my tongue,' Buri mused crossly. 'But this is still painful. It really began to swell when they put that red stuff all over my cheeks. Maybe I'm allergic to that... whatever it's called. I'll kill whoever invented that stuff. My tongue hurts.'

Not only that, but as she was riding out, she had noticed how artfully her now curled hair spilled over her shoulders... and out of her hair ties. Her hair, which, before had been perfectly happy being braided or tied back, refused to obey her.

And there was the slight matter of her clothes...

"Cheer up," Cythera advised in a murmur. "Pink actually goes remarkably well with your complexion. It looks very good on you." With that, Cythera cantered off.

Buri glared at her pink and flowery dress. As soon as she got back to Corus, she was going to change and burn the stupid, hated, ugly dress. Then she would take the cinders and burn them again. Then she'd forcibly stomp them into the ground and then dig them back up and burn them yet another time. After that, Buri considered burning them a fourth time, but decided it would be much more satisfying if she sent them (with a particularly nasty and threatening letter) to 'The Pretty Flower'.

Buri smirked slightly as she imagined 'The Pretty Flower' spontaneously (or rather, not so spontaneously) combusting. However, Thayet took Buri's smirk for a grin.

"See, Buri?" Thayet pointed out somewhat snootily as she trotted up to her bodyguard. "Beauty can be fun."

Buri tried to angrily rebuke the future queen of Tortall, but momentarily forgot her tongue was swollen. So Buri was really quite unable to say anything. It was most infuriating. Buri settled for scowling again, shaking her head vehemently, and tried to communicate in limited sign language (as she was still holding her reigns in her left hand) that going to the spa, was probably one of the most painful experiences of her life.

However, her sign language was not that good.

"You... got a bee sting?" Thayet asked, puzzled. "Oh, watch out for that tree branch!"

Buri smacked herself on the forehead. Unfortunately, it was with her dominant left hand... the hand holding the reigns. Her horse abruptly reared (thought partly because of the tree branch, which it nearly tripped over), and Buri clung as best she could to the horse, (while in the dress that was much too tight for riding) trying to calm it.

Of course, her hair had to, helpfully, flop (most like a dead fish) into her eyes, quite impairing Buri's vision. And Buri could not verbally reassure her spooked horse as, currently, she was unable to speak at all.

Alanna, who had been ahead, wheeled her horse around and somehow managed to calm down Buri's horse. Buri nodded her thanks, and Alanna swore.

While Alanna continued swearing under her breath, Buri let her horse trot around the branch and gave it reassuring pats on the neck. After a few moments, the horse settled down and, sensing Buri's slack reigns, wandered away from the tree branch. Buri took the moment to try and get her hair out of her eyes.

"Buri, what happened? You're usually a much better horsewoman then this!" Alanna pointed to Buri's borrowed horse, which, after snorting calmly, had ambled over to the side of the road and was munching contentedly on a patch of grass on the side of the road.

Buri again relied on her primitive form of sign language to signify that it was not her fault there had been a tree branch in the road and that her hair had flopped into her eyes like a dead fish and that she was unable to talk.

Alanna was as puzzled by Buri's sign language as Thayet had been. "Wait... you... ran out into the road... and your arm fell off? Did you hurt your arm, Buri?"

"Are you feeling all right?" Thayet inquired, putting an elegantly white- gloved hand to Buri's forehead.

Buri huffed to herself, and then shook her head. She decided that it was probably better if she tried to communicate that her tongue was swollen and she could not talk.

"What's going on?" Cythera asked; galloping back, cloak fluttering behind her like a butterfly's wing. Yasminda's horse refused to go quickly and was far behind them all.

Buri pointed to her mouth and then shook her head. She received several odd stares.

"Oh, charades!" Cythera exclaimed in surprise. "I love charades. Okay... no talking? You won't be talking? Is it a painting?"

Buri sighed in exasperation and drummed the fingers of her right hand on her knee. After shaking her head, Buri pointed to her throat and made a cutting motion across it.

"You're... going to be beheaded?" Thayet guessed.

"Perhaps it's a famous person," Cythera suggested.

"We don't have time for charades if we want to be back in Corus before nightfall," Alanna snapped.

Buri shook her head vehemently. She, again, pointed to her mouth, shook her head, and then opened her mouth so they could actually she how swollen her tongue was.

"Oh," Alanna said.

"I didn't know you were allergic to face paint," Cythera murmured.

Buri then pointed to her tongue, and then pointed to Cythera to show Thayet that the allergy to face paint theory was correct. To make sure she was being absolutely clear and so that they couldn't miss her meaning, Buri nodded.

"Ah," Thayet said in tones of great satisfaction. "That explains it."

Buri then motioned that it would be absolutely lovely if Alanna could fix her tongue somehow. Of course, if Buri had her way, some curses and death threats to the stupid person who invented face paint would also be in there, but it was very hard to talk in sign language.

After a moment, Thayet simply stated: "Buri, I have no idea what you're trying to say. Alanna, could you help Buri somehow?"

Buri rolled her eyes. Whatever got the swelling in her tongue down, really.

"All right," Alanna agreed, placing a hand on Buri's left arm. After muttering something, Buri's tongue felt cool and began to return to normal size.

"Thank you," Buri muttered, after sticking her tongue out to make sure it was all right.

"If you had a problem you should have just said something," Thayet admonished, eyes gleaming wickedly.

Alanna rolled her eyes. Buri scowled. Cythera hid a smile behind her hand.

When they got back to Corus, even though it was dusk, Buri carefully flipped the hood of her cloak over her curled hair. The hood helpfully kept her face in shadow as well, though it also impaired her vision somewhat.

The other girls dismounted cheerfully, and with laughing conversations, unsaddled their horses and began rubbing them down.

Buri rode up as closely to the stable as she could, dismounted almost silently, and snuck her horse into the stall. Buri carefully kept her back to the door to the stable and very carefully and slowly unsaddled and rubbed down her horse. After that, she cleaned all her tack (slowly and methodically- in fact, she cleaned her tack several times just to make sure it was clean) and groomed the horse several times.

When Stefan, the groomsman, began to pointedly glare at her, Buri tugged on her hood to cover more of her face and slowly left the stable. Thayet and the others had long since given up on Buri, and headed back to the palace.

Buri, having her tough, if-I-come-across-you-in-the-practice-courts-I'll- kill-you-even-though-I-look-like-a-harmless-short-little-K'mir-girl-who- wouldn't-dare-imagine-disobeying-her-parents image to maintain, could not have anyone see her like she was now, with, of all the stupid things, FACE PAINT smeared all over her face.

So she stuck to shadowy corners and normally unused routes around the densely populated paths and tried to move as silently as she could while wiping the face paint off on her skirt. It didn't work at all, which made Buri feel extremely cross and even more determined to make sure no one would see her.

Of course, with her luck, while she was carefully looking behind her to make sure no one saw her, she ran into someone. That someone was much taller then she was, and sent her sprawling. Unfortunately, the hood of her cloak fell off. Buri hastily looked away from whoever she had run into and covered her face with her hand.

"I'm terribly sorry," a familiar voice said. "I didn't see you there... forgive me." He held out a hand to her. In his other hand he held a lantern.

Buri's heart felt as if it had dropped into her boots. Of all the people she had to run into...

"No problem," she muttered barely audibly, keeping her left hand in front of the side of her face and keeping her face turned away from Sir Raoul. Without moving her left hand away from her face, Buri stood and flipped the hood of her cloak back up. She cursed silently as she felt loose hair around her shoulders. Apparently, she had lost her hair tie.

Raoul evidently felt the need to make small talk as Buri fumbled about with the pockets of her cloak, trying to find another hair tie.

"Did you just come from the stables?" he questioned pleasantly.

Buri answered with a noncommittal grunt, gave up her search, and began walking off.

"Wait!" Raoul called, running after her. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, Buriam Tookarm? She went off with Princess Thayet this afternoon, and I haven't seen her yet-"

At that moment, Buri's foot decided to get caught in a protruding tree root, and Buri tripped and fell.

"Oh, are you all right?" Raoul asked in alarm.

Buri cursed silently and scowled more fiercely then ever. "I'm fine." She pushed herself off, and Raoul brought the lantern closer to her to see if she was really all right.

Buri froze.

"Buri?" Raoul questioned in tones of incredulity.

Buri had the unmistakable urge to blush. "In the flesh."

Raoul lowered the lantern so he could see her face better. "You're... wearing..."

"Face paint," Buri finished, uncomfortably. Raoul stared at her, and Buri realized what a sight she must be.

Her hair had tumbled loosely around her shoulders, her face was painted and lined and "accentuated" (Buri still didn't know what that meant), and she was wearing a ridiculous, low- cut, flowery pink dress. No wonder Raoul was staring. She probably looked generally silly and (obviously) completely opposite from her normal state of being.

The corners of Raoul's mouth twitched and his eyes glinted with amusement and some other emotion Buri could not name. Buri wondered if he was slightly drunk.

Buri made a face. "Go ahead and laugh. I look utterly stupid, I know. Thayet forced me into this. I never wanted to wear all this junk." At the word, 'this' Buri gestured at her face and dress.

Raoul raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't going to laugh." His voice was very soft, almost to the point of inaudibility, and was filled with a rather strange emotion... sympathy, Buri guessed. Jon probably forced him into ugly clothing as well. The thought of the insanely tall and muscular Sir Raoul in a pink dress was the first thing that popped to mind. It was laughably ridiculous.

Despite herself, she smiled at him. "Thanks. You're a good friend."

Raoul's face darkened almost imperceptibly, but he smiled so quickly after that, Buri figured it was probably a trick of the light.

"No problem," he said lightly. "To be assisting a fair damsel as yourself- " Buri snorted at that- "is an honor." With a courtly flourish, Raoul clasped her hand in his (Buri noted how small her hand looked when in his much larger one) and bowed.

Buri chuckled. "Thanks, Raoul. You can always cheer me up. I suppose, though, I've already provided your amusement for the day?"

It was Raoul's turn to chuckle.

She glanced around covertly to make sure no one else had seen her, removed her hand from Raoul's, and flipped her hood up again. "Promise not to tell anyone you saw me in a pink dress and lip rouge?"

Raoul's smile softened and his eyes glinted warmly in the lamplight. "Promise."

It felt as if her heart had skipped a beat. Buri also found it suddenly very hard to breathe. 'The healing must be wearing off,' she thought as she walked back to the castle as quickly as possible. 'I think that stuff on my cheeks is getting to me again.'