The next day, after breakfast, Alanna changed into her good pair of breeches and shirt taking the advice from Jon to show off a bit. Alanna looked at herself in the mirror and decided what to do with her hair, she wanted it to be simple yet beautiful, after about 10 minutes of staring in the mirror she finally decided to go with a high plait. It took quite a long time to plait it because Alanna had grown her hair up to her waist. When she finally finished plaiting it, she tied a tiny piece of blade, no longer than an inch into her hair to help her in hand and foot combat if Theo challenged her in that as well. Alanna looked in the mirror and saw she still had her pair of dangling, star earrings and necklace on from last night, she didn’t bother taking it off because Jon wanted her to show off a bit, and jewellery wouldn’t stop her from winning the duels so she kept them on. She polished her boots, put them on, attached her sword and walked out the door into the mess hall for lunch.
Alanna walked into the mess hall to find that she was late for lunch seeing everyone was already seated and eating. Alanna got a tray and went to get some food. She looked around and saw Jonathon sitting with Theo, Raoul and Gary so she walked over to them and took a spare seat next to Jon.
“Hey guys what are you talking about?” asked Alanna curiously
Jon turned around and was surprised to see that Alanna actually took his advice to show off a bit, “good morning Lioness, we were just discussing if you could beat Theo in a duel or any other art” said Jon admiring her
“There will be no need for discussions about that after lunch will there be?”
“No”
“Good, now let’s all quickly finish our lunch so we can get on with the duel”
“Anyway, Raoul’s got some good news for us, Raoul, would you care to share?” asked Jon
“Well, it seems that the spidrens have stopped their attacks on the villages and have somehow disappeared, we’ll investigate it when we have the time”
“Even though there is no need of Theo’s help anymore
*~*~*~*
After lunch, they all met up at the practice courts ready for the duel, somehow the news about the duel got around and many pages, squires and knights came to watch.
“My good people, I have absolutely no idea of how the news got out but you are all welcome to watch if you wish,” announced Jon “Theo, who do you pick as your first opponent for sword’s play?”
“Let’s go from the worst to the best” said Theo
“Gary you’re first up, then me, Raoul and last of all Alanna and yes Theo she can beat us so don’t be too overconfident”
“Um… Jon I don’t think that I should participate in this” interrupted Gary
“Why not Gary or should I say desk knight?” teased Alanna, raising an eye- brow
“You just said it, I’m a desk knight now, I don’t do swords play or any other any art at that, I just loaded with papers by Jon”
“Well excuse me for loading you up with papers Mr. Desk knight”
“Anyway my point is I’m not participating in this so yous can get on with it, I’ll just watch”
“Well then Jonny boy, you’re my first opponent,” teased Theo
“Come to think of it, I haven’t practiced in a long time so I’ll just stay over there and keep Gary company”
“Oh… come on! What are you, scared?”
“No, I normally just leave the fighting and battles to Raoul and Alanna”
“Great! All of a sudden I’ve turned into the battle queen,” joked Alanna
“No, you always have been the battle queen, you’re the one who loved battles above everything else, it almost seems like you love battles more than life” commented Jon
“Well actually I do, I mean its way more interesting than the life of an average court lady, but of coarse some are just too dumb to even have an idea like that cross their mind”
“Lets get on with the battle shall we? Raoul get ready to get beaten!”
“No um… actually, Jon needs a person to keep him company”
“Gary is doing that!”
“No, from what I remember them saying, Gary wasn’t going to participate because he was a desk knight, Jon was to keep him company but no one said who going to keep Jon company so I might as well do that. Besides this was meant to be just a duel between you and Alanna, we just decided to tag along”
“You people are all cowards!”
“Does this refer to me as well, cause if it does, I’ll gladly break your neck in front of everyone” said Alanna insulted “I might be a lady, but I hate being insulted, especially by one who hasn’t even had a duel with me, now are we going to get on with it or not?”
“Quite a temper she’s got, and she isn’t afraid to loose it, I think the only reason she hasn’t already broken your neck is because you’re the prince of Kamah” said Jon as he smiled smugly to himself
“No I wasn’t referring to you as well Alanna, now lets start the duel shall we?”
Alanna unattached her sword as did Theo and they both stood in a fighting position, Theo attacked and Alanna blocked, he made another move but she was too quick and blocked, then Alanna came with an attack of her but he blocked as well. The fight went on for at least an hour; Jon, Raoul and Gary sat and played cards in the boring parts. When it looked like one of them was going to win they put away the cards and watched. Finally Alanna found Theo’s weak stop, gave her weapon one last spin and Theo’s sword fell out of his hands.
Jon came up to her and gave her a pat on the back and a kiss, which she pulled away from because everyone was watching “well done my lioness, see I told you she was good”, boasted Jon
“Yes, ok I believe you,” said Theo
“Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll like to go and get changed for the ball, hopefully it won’t end up like last night,” said Alanna eyeing both Theo and Jon as they just looked at each other and chuckled
*~*~*~*
5. LIKE A GODDESS
Alanna walked off to her room followed by Jon
“Lioness” he called from behind her
“What is it Jon?” asked Alanna as she turned around to face him
“Oh… nothing just wanted to see your face when you see the dress you have to wear for tonight” he said as he gave her his sweetest smile
“Is it good or not, according to my taste?”
“Some of it is good and some of it you’re probably going to kill me for”
“You’re probably right, just get to get punched up afterwards”
“Sure, anything for you my lioness” said Jon as Alanna came up to him and gave him a kiss
Jon’s clothes had been sent up to Alanna’s room too, when Alanna stepped inside, she looked at the dress on the bed and gave Jon her nastiest look as he sat down on the bed. Alanna went to wash as Jon changed into his ball clothes, she came out of the bathroom with a towel around her body so Jon wouldn’t see her bare. He turned around, looked at Alanna and gave a laugh.
“Hello my lioness, why you’re looking great”
“Well unlike some people I have the brains to put a towel around my body so I won’t freeze to death when I get out of the bath, now please kindly turn around while I get dressed”
“Come on Alanna, you don’t have to be embarrassed in front of me” he said as he gave Alanna a kiss and helped her remove her towel as he ran his hands along her slender body
“Not now Jon, some other time, for now I have to get ready for the ball”
Alanna put on the dress, did her hair and then surprisingly enough she found herself putting on some face paint, she turned around to Jon and asked, “what do you think?”
Jon took one look at Alanna and immediately fell under a spell, Alanna wore the baby blue dress that Jonathon had someone made for her. The bodice was extremely low, even lower than most court dresses, which bothered Alanna greatly. The sleeves were half way down her arm and covered up most of the scars that she had gotten during her years at the palace. The skirt was over-flowing but not that much that it made the outfit look unusual. There were symbols and designs of wars, battles and weapons embroidered with silver thread on the bodice and the skirt. On her head was a thin silver chain with a silver sword pendulum; her hair was down except for some hair that was pulled up to make ringlets at the top. Alanna wore a pair of earrings, necklace and bracelet with the same symbol, the silver sword on each of them. She had just a slight touch of face paint on her cheeks, a shade of midnight blue on her eyelids and some colour on her lips. Alanna looked like a goddess; all in all, she was a perfect picture of beauty.
Jon could hardly believe it was the same Alanna; he was speechless though he managed to say, “you look wonderful, like a goddess”
“Thank you Jonathon, I can’t believe that you got someone to make this dress just for me, it was so sweet of you”
“I’ll do anything for you my love, now let us be off to the ball,” said Jonathon as he bowed and held out his arm
“Then lead the way my king” said Alanna as she stood up and curtsied (A/N: she learnt it from George’s mother, I forgot her name, was it Mistress Cooper?)
As Jon and Alanna walked into the grand ballroom, the herald announced “King Jonathon of Contè and Lady Alanna of Trebond and Olau”
There were many gasps from the knights and snorts from the ladies, which wanted to be in Alanna’s position right then and there. It seemed that they were the perfect couple to everyone in the ballroom except for Theo, for he wanted Alanna, and badly at that. She was the most perfect lady he had ever seen, she was beautiful, elegant, graceful, she had quite a good sense of humor, she didn’t talk about all the boring things that most ladies talked about but what impressed him most was the fact that she could fight, and beat him. No wonder she was king’s champion and Jonathon’s lover, she was perfect in every way just like a goddess.
Damn her through all the twelve hells and back, thought Theo to himself, I can nearly have any woman to my taste but whom do I fall in love with, a lady knight, my best friend’s lover at that. Gods, have I lost my touch? Why hasn’t she fallen for me yet? She can’t possibly want Jonathon over me, or is this true love, where there is no betrayal. Then again coarse she’ll want Jonathon over me, I mean they knew each other since they were pages, and according to the rumors they had affairs in those years, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jonathon has already bedded her. I need to make a move before she answers yes to his proposal.
*~*~*~*
Jon had asked Alanna to dance and she accepted, it was a slow dance and Jonathon held her tightly.
“Alanna I don’t mean to get you uncomfortable, but have thought about the answer to my proposal for the midwinter ball next week?”
“Well no, but at the moment I would say yes to anything. It just depends if I’ve discovered a new reason to why I should not marry you or if I’m not in a very good mood towards you, so far none of those have happened”
“Good and I hope it stays that way”
“Me too”
Jon and Alanna danced together all night while Theo flirted with ladies, when the ball was nearly finished, Theo went up to Jon and Alanna while they talked to Raoul and Gary. Raoul, Gary and Jon were talking about Alanna being the future queen of Tortall while she blushed furiously.
“Hey guys, what are you talking about?” asked Theo as he came up to them
“Alanna being my future queen” answered Jon smugly
“Oh… has she given you her answer already?” questioned Theo as his heart broke in two
“No, but she will at the midwinter ball next week” said Jon as he saw Theo’s face brightening up
*~*~*~*
6. THE ARGUMENT
"Um... Alanna I was wondering if you could give me some tips in sword's play?"
"When?"
"Tomorrow morning ok?"
"Sure" replied Alanna to Jonathon's astonishment and jealousy
"Ding ding ding"
"Well that's the bell, the ball has finished so I'm going to bed"
Jon walked Alanna to her bedroom, just outside her door, Jon blurted out "Why did you agree?"
"On what?"
"Giving him some tips in swords play"
"Why?"
"He's going to make a move Alanna"
"What do you mean he's going to make a move?"
"I mean he's going to try to charm you into liking him"
"Well it's not going to work"
"You don't know that"
"Yes I do, Jon you should know me better than that!"
"Still, why did you agree?"
"Jonathon! I can do what I like without your permission"
"Fine! Do whatever you like, just don't come crying back to me when he's through playing with you, YOU BITCHY SLUT!" shouted Jonathon as he quickly closed his mouth, knowing he had gone too far and that he was in for it
"This is my LIFE, and I can do whatever I want with it. I am not going to tolerate with men anymore! I've had enough! I never planned on falling in love! I thought it was the right thing to do but now I see that it was all wrong! It was a mistake! You were a mistake! I will never fall in love again! EVER! So you can forget any plans that you ever had! Because you just lost your chance YOU JEALOUS BASTERED!" screamed Alanna as she stormed into her room, slammed the door, leaned against it and started crying. Jon could feel his eyes starting to get fill up with tears too
"Oh no! What have I done? This was one of the reasons she was talking about for not marrying me, oh Gods help me!" whispered Jon to himself
Cynthia heard all the shouting from her room next to Alanna's so she came outside; to see what all the racket was about, "what is going on?!"
"Who are you?"
"I am Cynthia, Lady Alanna's personal maid, now what is going on? And where is my lady?!"
"Nothing, we just had a fight and I went a little too far by calling her a bitchy slut. She's in her room, can you try to comfort her and tell her that I'm sorry and I didn't mean it, it just came out because I was so angry?"
"Yes ok, I'll tell her"
"Thank you and can you please try to convince her that I don't and never will think of her as a slut or a bitch and warn her about Theo again please?"
"Yes, yes now be off with you"
"Thank you again," sobbed Jon as he walked towards his Balor's Needle to do some clear thinking, it was the only place where he normally wouldn't be bothered to do his personal thinking. If you've ever watched the night sky while you were thinking of your problems in life then you'll find it very relaxing and that is why Jonathon went up there.
*~*~*~*
7. THINKING
God damn it! Thought Jon to himself while he watched the night sky, it was a night with bright stars, no clouds and a full moon. Great! Just Great! The night we break up has the same full moon as the one that brought us together, what is this?! Some joke that the gods are playing on us? Why did I even have that argument with Alanna? I've lost the love of my life, what could be worse than that?! She'll never marry me now! She's going to fall in love with Theo, then his going to dump her or is this for real? I mean I've never seen him this desperate to get his hands on any of the ladies I fancied before! Maybe he's serious this time! Boy! Am I in a mess! I'll do anything to win back her love again, anything. If only I could only turn back time! Was what Alanna said about love was a mistake true? Was what she said about I was a mistake true as well? I don't know anymore, I am so confused! I'd give up anything just to hold her heart again, who holds heart now? I don't know, all
I do know is that she still holds my heart and forever will through all of eternity! I f I ever do get married and it's not to her than I will live the most unhappiest life in the whole world, knowing I can never hold or kiss my one true love ever again. I can't believe I called her a bitchy slut. How stupid am I? I don't think I could ever live with myself if I hurt her; I might as well just jump off here and commit suicide like my father. Now I know what he felt when mother died, just couldn't stand living with himself anymore because his one true love was dead. Amazing what just two little words could do to change my entire life from heaven on earth to living hell. I wonder what Alanna is thinking at the moment?
*~*~*~*
Cynthia knocked on Alanna's door to find her looked in the bathroom and wouldn't come out.
"My lady please come out please, let's discuss it"
"No, I hate people seeing me cry, they'll think I'm weak, I don't like my feminine side"
"No my lady, you should be grateful for what the gods have given you especially your feminine side'
"What is there to be grateful for, all my feminine side does is make me weak, I wish I was a boy like Jon, then I wouldn't cry. He never shows any weakness"
"No you're are wrong my lady, men cry too, Jonathon was in tears when I came out and asked him what was going on, his probably crying his eyes out at this very moment thinking of stupid things he said"
"I doubt it"
"No but it's true my lady, before he went he told me to tell you that he was sorry and he didn't mean it, it just came out of his mouth because he was angry. And he also said that he doesn't and never will think of you as a slut or a bitch" explained Cynthia as she thought better of warning Alanna again about Theo, after all it was because of that that caused the fight
"He really said that?" asked Alanna as she came out of the bathroom, she red rings around her eyes and a very red nose
"Yes he did my lady"
"What time is it?"
"Um... 1 o' clock in the morning my lady"
"Cynthia?"
"Yes my lady"
"Can you please quit it with the my lady stuff, it's getting rather annoying"
"Ok Alanna"
"I'm just going to take a walk to Balor's Needle, I need to refresh my mind and do some serious thinking, I'll be back around three in the morning and can you please cancel the swords play lesson for Theo after breakfast, tell him I'm exactly feeling to point"
"Yes ok Alanna"
"And Cynthia"
"Yes?"
"Where's my dressing gown and the matching pair of slippers, I'd like to change out of this uncomfortable dress before I go to do some thinking, seriously how can people even do anything in these clothes, I mean it makes your chest so tight"
"Which dressing gown and slippers?"
"My favourite mauve one with the smiling stars on it"
"Oh that's on the second shelf in the closet"
"Thank you Cynthia, and I'm sorry if I woke you up while you were sleeping, I didn't mean to"
"That's alright my lady"
Alanna smiled, walked over to the closet, took off her dress and replaced it with her dressing gown. The gown was made out of fine silk threads from the best weavers in Tortall; Jon had given it to her for her for their anniversary along with matching velvet, see-through robe and polyester slippers. Now that she thought about it, it was probably going to be quite chilly outside so she put on the robe too. Alanna undone her hair and let it fall like a waterfall down her back, then she walked out of the room towards Balor's Needle.
Alanna climbed up the long flight of stairs to the top of Balor's needle, when she reached the top, she heard someone sobbing, she hid behind a wall and carefully peeked. To her complete and utter surprise, she found Jon. He was leaning against the far wall of Balor's Needle; he looked like hell.
`Great! The last person I want to see at this moment just has to be here' she thought sarcastically to herself, Alanna poked around the wall to hear what he was saying to himself
"Why did I even have to start the argument, I am such a dolt," he said to himself
`You bet you are!' thought Alanna
"Oh... the mighty gods above please help me, I love Alanna so much I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt her, I would die for her, I can't stand it if she falls in love with another man"
`He really loves me, the fight was just a little misunderstanding, maybe I should forgive him, I can't stand watching him in pain, it breaks my heart. But I swore that I would never fall in love again; wait a minute, did I? Rewind! "This is my LIFE, and I can do whatever I want with it. I am not going to tolerate with men anymore! I've had enough! I never planned on falling in love! I thought it was the right thing to do but now I see that it was all wrong! It was a mistake! You were a mistake! I will never fall in love again! EVER!" See! I never swore anything, anyway I never fell out of love with him, I just got my heart broken, who says if you got your heart broken then you don't love him anymore'
"Mithros please look after Alanna knowing that she will never consider marrying me again, I might as well" Alanna was puzzled for a second, then she saw Jonathon walk over to the balcony. And she suddenly realized what he was going to do, he going to commit suicide by jumping off the balcony; he was going to die of a broken heart. He was going to die because he didn't have Alanna's love, which just showed how much he loved her. Alanna was not about to let the love of her life go without a fight, he was her inspiration, her one true love, she lived for him, it was about time she took some drastic action.
"Jon No!" shouted Alanna but it was too late, he had already jumped off the balcony, "NO!"
Alanna's ear piercing scream was full of sorrow, anger and guilt, it woke nearly everyone up. Almost immediately after she screamed, guards came rushing up the steps of Balor's Needle to find Alanna on the floor crying her eyes out. She was brought to library where Gary, Raoul, Myles, Theo, Cynthia and everyone of her other friends were.
"Alanna, what happened?" asked Raoul with great concern
"Jon's * dead * and * it's * all * my * fault" Alanna managed to say between the hiccups you get when you're trying to stop crying then she burst into tears again as everyone sat there astonished
"What do you mean Jon's dead?" questioned Theo
"He... he..." was all she managed to say before she burst out in tears again
"Alanna, darling calm down, we need to know the whole story," said Myles in a soothing, fatherly tone
Once they got Alanna to calm down a bit they got her to speak a little although there were about 1 litre of tears pouring out per second, "He committed suicide"
"He did what?! Why?" asked Gary
"My lady, was it about the fight?" interrupted Cynthia, Alanna nodded
"What fight Cynthia?" asked Theo suspiciously
"Jonathon and Alanna had a little argument just outside her room, I calmed her down a bit and then she said she was going to Balor's Needle to refresh her mind and do some thinking, that's all I know, the rest you'll have to get out of her"
"What happened Alanna? And why did you say it was all your fault?" asked Myles softly
"The argument was partly about our relationship, we ended it by calling each other some pretty nasty names, I was angry and sad so I went to Balor's Needle to refresh my mind, unfortunately Jon was there doing the exact, same thing. I hid behind a wall to listen to what he was saying..." Alanna grew silent as she said the last couple of words
"What was he saying?" asked Raoul eagerly
"He was sobbing because of a broken heart, you all know about the midwinter proposal that will never happen now?" asked Alanna as she looked around the room and saw everyone nod their head so she went on "he asked whether I thought about the answer yet and I said so far it's a yes and it's going to be that unless I find another reason of why I should not marry him or he gets on the bad side of me. Apparently he remembered that and for some odd reason he thought that I would definitely fall in love with someone else and never marry him. And because of the argument before he new that he had hurt me greatly and he couldn't live with himself anymore if he hurt me even more. He walked up to the balcony but before I could figure out what he was doing, he had already jumped...It's all my fault, I should have come out when I had a chance but I didn't and now the love of my life is dead" Alanna started sobbing again
There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, everyone thinking about what had just happened Theo broke it
"So are you telling us that Jon's dead?"
"Yes" said Alanna as she burst out in tears again, but this time she could see that others had tears in their eyes as well
"If Jonathon's dead then who will rule the country?" asked Gary eyes wide
"I don't know, he doesn't have any sisters or brothers"
*~*~*~*
8. ALANNA FOR QUEEN
Two days later~
Alanna was still in bed crying her eyes out while; Gary, Raoul, Myles, Theo and the rest of the council were discussing who was to become king since Jonathon had no heirs.
"Any suggestions of who should become king?" Raoul asked
"I have a suggestion but it's not exactly a king it's a queen, I think Alanna should, after all Jonathon did die of a broken heart, for her and I think he would have wanted it this way" suggested Gary
"I think it's a good idea, put your hand up if you think that it's a good idea" called out Myles as everyone put their hand up, "Ok, then that's settled, Alanna shall be queen of Tortall"
*~*~*~*
"My lady you need to get up and about, you can't just stay in bed and cry all day long, you haven't eaten a proper meal since the night of the argument, you're wearing your self thin, where's the Alanna that we all know and love?"
"You're right Cynthia" said Alanna as she sat up a bit in bed "but I loved Jon so much, he was the one that always made me happy when I was down, he was the one person that I could trust no matter what happened, he was my one true love, my soul, my happiness, it seems that my life ended the moment he died. I would have died a million times and more just to know that he was safe, I don't how I'm going to go on with life without him, I lived for him, I want to die!"
"Oh no you don't, now don't go and get any ideas Alanna, I'll be watching your every move!" said Cynthia sternly
"I know, I know but I can't help thinking that I drove him to his death, that he wouldn't have committed suicide if it wasn't for me, I feel so guilty" wept Alanna, tears still pouring out of her eyes
"Oh come on where's the Alanna that used to say I hate my feminine side, it makes me weak and then tries to stop crying but fails"
"Ok, ok don't torture me, but now that Jon's gone, we're going have to get a new king, and there's probably going to be a war to decide that, since Jonathon had no heirs"
There was a knock on the door and Cynthia went to get it, Raoul, Gary, Myles and Theo walked into Alanna's room with smiles on their faces
"What are you lot so happy about?" asked Alanna annoyed
"Well unlike you, crying over Jon's death..." said Gary
"It's not as if you haven't, now take those smiles off your faces, no one's supposed to be happy here, hello people look at this tear-streaked face" said Alanna sarcastically trying to laugh for once after Jon's death
"...Let me continue, we've been deciding who should take Jon's place"
"I'm surprised that the war over the thrown hasn't started yet, I wanted to name it `It was all Alanna's fault"
"Seriously Alanna you're too hard on yourself, Jon didn't die to see you cry, he died for your happiness" said Myles trying to get Alanna out of her grouchy mood
"Well, all he's done is cause more sorrow, if you don't include me then, his people"
"We're getting off the subject here people!" cried Theo all of a sudden
"All yeah! No there is no war because the person that we've chosen was very close to Jon, and is loving and caring. This person would have died for Jon so we guessed that Jon would have wanted this person to take his place. And we would have been very surprised if there were any objections to it because this person has a heart" announced Gary softly
"You're keeping me in suspense, who is it?" asked Alanna demandingly
"Give you three guesses," said Raoul teasingly
"You!"
"No"
"Gary?"
"Nope!"
"Myles?"
"Uh uh"
"Spill it! Who's Mr. Goody-two-shoes?"
"Give you one more guess and it's a Miss Goody-two-shoes!"
"Oh no, oh no!"
"Oh yes, oh yes" said Myles
"Come on guys, don't you think I'm being tortured enough over Jon's death, now you want me to take his place, come on! How tight can you be?" asked Alanna trying desperately to make them take back the `Alanna, queen of Tortall' decision
"Well Alanna, you're not taking his place exactly, you're taking you're place as queen if you said yes to his proposal at the midwinter ball tomorrow which is never going to happen, so we made you queen" answered Raoul
"Wait a minute! I never said yes to the proposal that is never going to happen"
"Come on! Take pity on the poor guy that committed suicide because he didn't want to hurt you anymore. You love him and it's the least you could do," pleaded Theo
"Yes I love him but if I did say yes to his proposal, I would have said yes to loving him, caring for him, staying with him for the rest of my life as well as becoming his queen and ruling the country with him. But at the moment only two of the many reasons to `yes' in his proposal is true"
"But you still would have said yes wouldn't you?" asked Theo
"Look! I'm tired of arguing with you all, I'll tell you what, meet me at the library tonight at seven o' clock and we'll discus this properly. Right now I have to review what I have just heard with my bare ears, goodbye, I'll see you tonight. Cynthia will lead you to the door, if you are so blind and dumb that you have no idea where it is or how to open it. Now go, I need to do some serious thinking, hopefully, I won't meet Jon's spirit coming back to haunt me" said Alanna as everyone else laughed at her sudden sanity
When no one budged, Alanna made a shooing motion with her hands and they left.
*~*~*~*
I n the library~
"Ok, now that everyone's here, I declare the beginning of the official argument of `Alanna for queen open!" announced Alanna eyeing everyone in the room, "Now on the affirmative side is Gary of Naxon, Raoul of Golden Lake, Myles of Olua and Prince Theo of Kamah, on the negative side is me, Alanna of Trebond and Olua and as judge we have Cynthia, BE FAIR!"
"Yes, yes whatever, now since the affirmative side came unprepared, Alanna please speak!" declared Cynthia
"Thank you" said Alanna looking pleased with herself as she stood up and unrolled a piece of parchment nearly two meters long, she clear her throat and then started, "Before I speak, I must warn you that this may take some time"
"Um... Alanna, do you promise that whatever you say is true?" asked Cynthia with a look on her face that looked like she knew something that Alanna didn't