Kalasin vs. King Jon

Chapter 1

Kalasin lay on her stomach, atop her bed, deep in thought. In less than a month it would be the new year, and she would be old enough to go into knight training. She sighed loudly. Yes, she would be able to go into knight training - if her parents would let her.
It just wasn't fair! she thought. Her father, King Jonathan of Tortall, had decreed years ago that females could train to be knights. He didn't mind putting other peoples daughters in danger, but she knew he definitely didn't want her to be a knight. She'd never asked about it, but she'd overheard her father telling her mother that he hoped she'd never want to actually do the training. Her mother had stood up for Kalasin, and she lover her for it, but the King would have nothing of it.
She knew that all she could do was ask, but she knew it was a touchy issue. The reason her father had said that girls could be knights was because Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau, one of his closest friends, had disguised herself as a boy to undertake the harsh knights training, and had proved herself to all of Tortall.
Kalasin knew he had done it to make his friend happy, but he'd never thought that his own daughter would want to be a knight. It was all she wanted to do, and her father was going to deny it from her.
But it was true, all she could do was asked. And she wouldn't know until she did. Preparing herself mentally, she went to ask her father if she could be a knight.

As Kalasin approached him, King Jonathan was sitting at his desk, reading some papers.

"Papa," Kalasin said hesitantly as she reached the desk.

"Hmm," he replied.

"Um, can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked.

"What about?" he asked.

"Something very important."

Suddenly he looked up, his mind completely on the subject. "Well Kalasin, what would like like to talk to me about?"

"Well, you know that in less than a month it'll be a new year."

"Yes," he prompted.

"And next year I turn 10."

"Yes," he repeated.

"And I know that you don't want me to, but..." she continued.

"Kalasin, just tell me," Jon told her.

"Next year I'll be old enough, so I want to go and train to be a knight," Kalasin finally blurted out.

"Look Kalasin," he began. "I know you've always wanted to be a knight. But your my daughter, and your mother and I have already discussed this. Being a knight is very dangerous, especially for a girl, and we don't want you being in such danger."

"But Alanna trained to be a knight!" Kalasin disagreed.

"Alanna's case was different. She wasn't the King's daughter. And she went against her father's wishes. I know this is difficult for you to accept, but I simply will not allow you to be a knight."

"But, Papa, your not listening to me. It's my life! I want to be a knight. If that's what I want then why can't you let me do it?" she pleaded.

Jon stood up, his patience gone. "Because your a princess. You can't always get what you want, and this time you DEFINITELY can't."

"How can you do this to me?" Kalasin asked.

"Because this is for your own good. This discussion is over!" he roared.

"Then I hate you!" Kalasin screamed at him, and ran out of the room, back to her bedroom.
 

Chapter 2

As soon as Kalasin reached her room, she threw herself down on the the bed and cried. She cried until she was exhausted, then she sat up. Suddenly, she had a thought.

"That's it!" she said aloud. "If my parents wont let me become a knight, i'll just have to run away. Then I can do whatever I want, and when I come back they'll be so worried i'll do it again that maybe then they will let me be a knight."

Amazed that she could come up with such a great idea, Kalasin was stunned out of her sadness. She got up excitedly and started to pack the things she would need. She packed riding clothes, boots, some maps of Tortall, some fruit and bread, her bow and quiver and some other clothes which would make her unrecognizable as a daughter of royalty or even a noble.

Then she was ready to go. No, she wasn't. She had to say goodbye to her older brother, Roald. She went to go to his room beside her own, then she stopped remembering that he was now a Page. She would have to go to the page's wing. She sighed. Running away had just gotten way harder.

When she reached the Page's wing, Kalasin took a moment to remember where Roald's room was and what he would be doing. She remembered that his room was a few doors away from where she stood, and he'd probably be getting ready to go to dinner. She walked over to his door and knocked.

"Who is it?" Kalasin heard her brother call.

"It's me, Kalasin," she replied.

"Kalasin?" her brother asked in surprise as he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you," she said.

"This sounds serious," Roald said. "You'd better come in and tell me what's so important."

She came in and sat down on his bed. As soon as he sat down beside her, she blurted out the whole story about how her father wouldn't let her do the knights training.

"So i've decided to run away. That's why I came to see you: to tell you I was going and to say goodbye," she finished.

"But you can't just run away from you problems, Kally," Roald told her.

"That's not what i'm doing, and you know it. I'm taking a stand and showing Papa that this is important to me and i'll do anything to get it. And you can't tell them where i'm going, either, Roald. I came to you because I knew I could trust you not to tell."

"Fine," Roald conceded finally. "I won't tell them. But I can't lie to them. If they ask me straight out i'll have to tell them what you've done."

"That's all I ask of you. Thank you so much!"

With that, she hugged her brother fiercely, and told him that she'd come back eventually, when she'd had enough of being on her own.

"I have to go," Kalasin said finally. "And you'd better get to dinner, before you get in trouble."

"Take care, Kally," he replied. "And don't get yourself in too much trouble."

"Me?" she asked, smiling. "Never."

Chapter 3

King Jonathan was at his desk the next morning when Thayet came running in. Her hair, for once, was very messy and her clothes were rumpled and looked even worse than the ones she wore when working with the Riders.

"Jon," she cried as she entered the room.

At the tone of her voice, he looked up immediately.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

"It's Kalasin," Thayet replied, the worry she felt evident in her voice. "When I went to see the children when I got up, she wasn't there. The other children haven't seen her, and the maid said she wasn't in her bed this morning."

Jonathan was quiet for a minute. Then he looked up with a worried expression on his face.

"Have you alerted the guards?" he asked. "Someone needs to go and look for her."

"I've told the guards," she replied. "They said they saw her leaving the palace yesterday afternoon and going into the Royal forest, and she had hunting gear and some other things with her. They said she didn't come back last night."

Jon's expression immediately turned to one of anger. "What!?" he practically shouted. "Why didn't they tell us? Why haven't they done anything. They should be out looking for her."

"Jon calm down," Thayet told him. "The guards have gone out looking for her. But they say she didn't look like she was just heading out into the Forest for a day trip. Jon, there could be spidrens in the forest."

"I know that!" he yelled. "You're trying to tell me she's run away, aren't you?" he finished in a slightly calmer tone.

"I don't know what to think! All I know is that our little girl is out there in the Forest, and we don't what's out there with her. Why aren't you going out to look for her?"

"I will! Just let me get my things together. Obviously the guards can't do their job properly. I'll just have to find our daughter myself!"

"I've sent for Alanna," Thayet told him. "She's just outside of Corus, conducting a training exercise with the Riders."

"What did you do that for?" Jon asked angrily.

"Because you can't control your own daughter!" Thayet shouted at him as she ran out of the room.

It was an hour before noon by the time Alanna reached the palace. She hadn't been far away, just outside the city, but the roads had been really crowded, and the fact that she was a knight didn't get her through any quicker.

Thayet was waiting for her when she arrived at the gates. She had a very distressed look on her face.

"The messenger told me it was an emergency. I got here as quick as I could," Alanna told her as soon as she was in speaking distance.

"I'm sorry to call you away from the riders, Alanna, but something terrible has happened. Kalasin's gone missing!" Thayet replied worriedly.

"What's being done so far?" Alanna asked, immediately taking charge.

"The guards saw her heading into the Royal Forest yesterday. Apparently she never came back. The guards are out looking for her, and Jon went out about an hour ago. The first group of guards came back ten minutes ago - they've found evidence of spidren, but no Kalasin. Alanna, i'm so worried!" Thayet finished.

"Thayet, try not to worry too much. I'll go out there and see what I can do. If anything like this happened to any of my children, i'd feel exactly like you do!"

"Thanks, Alanna. I don't know what i'd do without you."

"Don't mention it," Alanna replied, guiding Darkmoon in the direction of the Forest.

Chapter 4

Kalasin was walking just outside of the Royal Forest. She could hear the calls of the guards and various other people, including the King's Own. Her plan was working! Now all she had to do was stay out of sight until everyone stopped looking for her. They'd give up after a few days - hopefully.

She'd only spend a few weeks out here on her own. It felt good to be on her own and doing what she wanted, if only for a few weeks. And she'd stay just outside of Corus and the Royal Forest - just to be on the safe side.

One of the King's Own approached the edge of the forest where she was hiding. She edged behind the nearest bush and stood very still, holding her breath. After a few moments he walked away.

"No one here!" he called to his leader.

They seemed to be heading back in now. She'd be able to start moving around without having to stop every few minutes. Just then she heard someone calling her name. Kalasin stopped to hear who the familiar voice belonged to - it was Alanna! She headed swiftly in the opposite direction.

She walked into something sticky hanging down from above, seemingly from no-where. She stepped back, startled. She turned to her left and saw a spidren - no, two spidrens. Kalasin let out an ear piercing scream.

Alanna heard the scream and ran towards the sound. It sounded like a young girl and she was scared - it was probably Kalasin. She heard another scream, and she pulled out her sword and started running faster.

Alanna broke out of the forest at a run and scanned the scene. Sure enough, she saw Kalasin, as well as a very unwelcome sight - two spidrens. Kalasin was throwing rocks at the two spidrens, but it wasn't doing them much harm and they were still advancing.

"Kalasin," she called. "Quick, come over here and get behind me."

Kalasin did as she was told, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Alanna stepped out in front of her and faced the spidrens. The first one stepped towards her, readying itself to shoot it's sticky web. But Alanna removed it's head before he had time to think. The second one went to do the same as the first one, then thought better of it, and stopped for a few seconds to think of a better tactic. Those few seconds were all Alanna needed - she stepped towards him, and with a quick chopping motion, sliced him in two.

"Phew, that was close," Alanna said out loud. "Are you okay?" she asked Kalasin.

"I'm fine," Kalasin replied in a shaky voice.

Just then, two figures burst into the clearing - King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. The queen ran forward to hug her daughter.

"Kalasin, you're safe," she cried out in relief.

The king glanced at Alanna, then at the remains lying in the middle of the clearing. "Spidrens?" he asked.

"Yes," Alanna replied. "But I took care of them, and Kalasin's all right."

"So I see," said Jon. "Thanks, Alanna."

Alanna nodded in reply and headed back into the forest, back to the palace. Jon walked towards Kalasin and took her in a hug of his own.

"I'm glad you're not hurt," he said as he stepped back. "You and I are going to have a serious talk when we get back to the palace." He told his daughter.

Kalasin nodded. Even facing her father was less scary than facing spidrens. She hoped Alanna would tell her father what she'd done to try and fend off the spidrens - maybe then he'd let her be a knight. Maybe.

Chapter 5

When Jon, Thayet and Kalasin arrived back at the palace, Thayet sent Kalasin to her room to have a bath and change her clothes. The King and Queen went into Jon's study.

"You know why Kalasin ran away. And it had something to do with you," Thayet said as soon as he had closed the door. It was not a question.

"Sit down," Jonathan told his wife. Thayet stayed standing. "Okay, fine, don't."

Thayet looked at him expectantly. Jon took a deep breath. "Yesterday Kalasin came to remind me that next year she turns ten. She told me she still wants to be a knight. I told her no. She argued and told me all sorts of reasons why she should be a knight. I told her I didn't want her getting hurt, and the final answer was no. She yelled at me and told me she hated me. Then she ran out of the room."

"So that's why she ran away. I can't believe you did that to her."

"But we agreed-"

"You agreed," Thayet cut him off. "I told you that if that's what she wanted to do, we should let her do it. This is just like what happened to Alanna. I thought you believed in what she did, but obviously you don't."

"Alanna's situation wasn't the same," Jonathan replied.

"Alanna's situation was exactly the same, and you know it. Now you're going to have a very disappointed little girl. And you're going to have to deal with that. You're going to have to tell her that you're never going to let her do the only thing she's ever wanted, because I won't!" Thayet said, and stormed out of the room.

Kalasin entered her father's study hesitantly. He was bound to be mad at her, now that he'd gotten over being relieved that she was safe. But she would stand her ground, and make sure that he knew how important this was to her. That she was serious.

Her father looked up. "Sit," he commanded. Obediently, Kalasin sat.

"I know what you're going to say," King Jonathan said to her. "You're going to say that the reason you ran away was to show me you're serious and to make me change my mind."

Kalasin lifted her chin defiantly. "I ran away because I didn't like the way you just forbid me my one true dream. This is all i've ever wanted to do. And I am serious about this, Papa."

"I realize that. But you've yet to prove that you're worthy of my blessing. You've now shown me that I can't even trust you not to run away. If you're not worthy of my trust, then you're certainly not worthy of my letting you become a knight. A knight must be obedient. You've shown that you can't even obey you're own father, let alone someone else."

"But, Papa, I made a mistake. This is important to me. Why can't you give me another chance?" Kalasin asked with increasing urgency.

"You've had your chance. I'm not going to consider this any longer. A knight's training and work is simply far to dangerous for me to allow you to go through it. My decision is final, and this discussion is over."

"If you don't care about what I want, then you obviously don't care about me. I hate you, and i'm never talking to you ever again!" Kalasin shouted at her father. She ran all the way to her bedroom and threw herself down on the bed, bursting into tears.

Disclaimer: All of these characters, plus the land of Tortall and everything in it, are strictly the work of Tamora Pierce. None of these characters are my original work. I'm not trying to plagiarize, so please don't sue me!