Declaimer: TP owns it all, yada yada yada…

Ok… this was a totally random idea that came to me at 2 in the morning, and since I'm still in the process of writing the next chapters for Spy's Apprentice and Trickster's Daughter, I though I'd write all this down…

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Kel, by all appearances, was perfectly alert. Her back was angle-straight despite her soreness from being on a horse almost non-stop for over a week, and her hazel eyes were sharp and cold. Had anyone thought to rob her, they likely would have been cut to pieces.

Despite how she looked, Kel was deep in thought. She shouldn't have returned… and she wouldn't have, had she been given a choice.

Kel, in truth, had spent most of the last 16 years avoiding her old friends, and had somehow managed to pull it off.

She glanced up as shouts rang from the wall surrounding the palace. Only moments later, her former best friend Neal strode out, green eyes wide and blazing.

"KEL," he called amazedly.

"Hello, Neal," she said softly when he was close enough to hear.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I haven't seen you for-" he shouted, pausing to think, "-YEARS!"

Kel nodded, but didn't reply to his question.

"Where?" he demanded, green eyes glinting.

"In Mindelan, though it seems no one thought to look there. At least, not while I was there," she finally said, frowning deeply as Neal climbed into the slowly moving carriage.

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At first his unaccustomed eyes were unable to make out anything in the inky darkness, until finally he could vaguely see the outline of a blanket piled on the floor.

Being Neal, and therefore not needing an explanation for his actions, he strode (as much as one can stride in a carriage, anyways) over to the blanket and pulled it up, planning to fold it.

He stopped and stared at the sight of a girl with brown hair identical to Kel's, albeit a great deal longer, and skin so pale it took him a moment to realize she was alive.

He staggered back in shock.

"I brought her to be healed- no one in Mindelan was strong enough," Kel said by way of explanation, balancing in the doorway of the carriage.

"Explain," Neal said, voice tight with anger and eyes colder than she had ever seen them.

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(AN: I'm not necessarily talking about Neal here… 'he' is used as a substitute for the name, and you will be pretty sure who he is by the end of the chapter)

He had been drunk, as had Kel. He remembered, of course, because when he awoke, Kel was asleep next to Him, fully undressed.

Kel left later that day, unable to face Him, or anyone else- especially after He said that it was a drunken mistake. She'd loved Him, and He hated her after that.

Not long later, she discovered she was with child. On the same day, she was called to assist the "Scanran Cleanup."

She went, an illusion charm concealing her rapidly swelling stomach. A trusted midwife, sworn to secrecy, helped her deliver the baby.

She'd hid at Mindelan, leaving only for missions and wars, which she mostly spent avoiding old friends who might ask awkward questions- As Neal himself was doing now.

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Neal blinked.

"Who- who was it?" he asked, voice getting angrier by the second, "I'll kill him. KILL HIM!"

Kel merely frowned.

"Nonsense, Neal," she began, "And I refuse to tell you. There'll be enough gossip flying around without you murdering Him, or my other friends doing the honor."

Ignoring Neal's glare, Kel asked anxiously, "Can you help her?"

Neal bent down immediately, glowing a slight green.

The girl rolled over, moaning slightly, but slept on.

"She'll be fine now, though she'll sleep for at least a week and probably need to rest for a month. She had a very rare disease… I don't believe it even has a name, " Neal whispered before decided to fall asleep on the opposite bench.

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Kel sighed as she sat by her daughter, who still hadn't moved, though she has regained a great deal of her color.

"Kel," an all-too-familiar voice said softly from the doorway.

Kel turned to see the person she'd been avoiding all day.

"Dom," she said, just as softly.

"Is this your daughter?" he asked, glancing at the girl lying on the soft bed.

Kel nodded and softly stated, "Her name is Amarante."

"Where- where did you go? And why? We all missed you," Dom began.

Kel snorted, and began to talk, only to stop abruptly when Amarante's eyes opened.

"Ma?" the girl asked weakly.

"And who's this?" she asked turning to Dom.

He staggered back at the coldness in her eyes- eyes the same brilliant blue as his own.

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Riiiiiiiiiiiiight… then…. I shall probably re-write this chapter, but whatever. Just one question. Should this be a one-shot or a whole story?

AND REVIEW BEFORE I SEND PURPLE FLURBALS AFTER YOU!

And Amarante is 15 in this chapter (thanks to a reviwer who pointed out she was originally 16 > )

-Annmarie