"Waha! Wacha~ Hahaw!"

The stick swung in the air gloriously, a mighty weapon capable of altering air currents.

"Wahacha-ha~"

Her battle-cry struck shaking fear in the falling leaves. They kowtowed piteously on the ground, showing reverence for her martial prowess!

"You haven't even seen a fraction of my true power!"

The staccato voice deepend. The inflections were purposefully random as the speaker struck an authoritative pose. She had shown her eternal wisdom and pious nature by sparing the lives of the transgressors. But they must understand that peasants can never question her power again. Another uprising would cripple the infrastructure; her people needed to fall into line.

"Good, you've come to your senses before I needed to get serious. Hmph!"

Her nose turned upward, a smug smile on her lips. Then there was backtalk.

"What? Do you dare challenge me twice? There will be no mercy a second time. Have at thee!"

Crickets.

"Have at thee..."

More waiting.

"Psst."

There wasn't any movement.

"Psst. Beth. Throw them again."

"Are you eight?"

April frowned, immersion ruined.

"I'm an adult, and I have common sense. That's why I'm using this stick and not my other weapon."

Beth, April's sunkissed childhood friend, uncrossed and recrossed her legs.

"What are we doing? I thought you wanted to catch up and chat about what's been going on lately, and I've only heard bits and pieces from family and friends. You said you snuck into the viewing grounds while the duel was occurring. Which is totally unlike you, by the way."

She waved a delicate hand to encompass all that was standing in front of her.

"That is more like you. I thought you were recreating the duel. But I was wrong. You're just a dork."

April huffed. The Mighty Stick of True Blades was sheathed using a divet in the ground. The leaves realized the game was over and were swept away by a gust of wind.

"This is practice. Control and Dexterity are paramount to any magic knight's training. See, here? Right here. It says that verbatim in Chapter 1 of Knight Training for Children."

Beth raised a single scathingly skeptical eyebrow.

"I'm serious."

April countered. Beth sighed and stood, nearly a foot taller than her friend. Her words were encouraging and demeaning in the way only a best friend can manage.

"So you said. Well. Where did this knight business come from? I thought you wanted to be an author and spend your days inside, away from all this sweat. You wouldn't even climb trees until last year. And not because of heights or even the sun. You didn't want to dishonor your books ancestors by mounting their relative."

"Hah! That's funny."

"I don't know, April. I don't see it. Being a knight is the complete opposite of your personality."

Ignoring the comment, April moved to where her weapon was resting.

"I'll be my own class of warrior. My weapon is unorthodox, but I can use it to slay demons."

"These demons must be nutty."

"Oh, har-har. Very funny. Just watch. Hrmph!"

Lifting with her legs, the bulky metal object rose slowly, waking from its slumber. It reached an apex and arced back down, hitting April's shoulder with a thump and a clank. She planted her feet wider, letting the "weapon" settle, striking a photogenic pose. Her face muscles remained still as she spoke through her teeth.

"Well? Cool, right?"

Beth circled April like a fashionista about to rip into the new intern's sense of fashion. She completed a laborious rotation while watching her friend sweat.

"Hm."

Throwing her blond hair back over her shoulder, she shifted her weight to the other foot and reexamined April again.

"Hmm."

"Well?"

April spoke strenously.

"I'm sorry, I'm trying to laugh. Really."

*Thump*

"It's super cool."

"It's a monkey-wrench."

"It is my demon slayer."

"I didn't know they still made these things. Did you find it in a donation box, or did the custom order involve tarnishing it with grease?"

"Call it wartorn. I fought for hours with this thing. Sure, it's dusty, clunky, and unusually heavy today..."

April paused. There wasn't a good way to explain that she fought a weird chain demon inside her head while being assisted by a tiny munchkin version of herself in a trenchcoat.

"I-I just want to be a warrior."

"But why, April? I don't get it. I know you're prone to whims, but you adore books and I can't see you giving them up for this."

Beth dropped the pretentious attitude, her worry evident as she held April's slim forearms.

April cooed softly.

"I always wanted to be strong. I just never found a good reason before. Bell is worth it."

"Bell?"

"Yeah... My white knight. No, my dark horse. Everyone's painted him badly, and I don't understand why people don't like him. He's kind, gentlemanly, studied, inventive, super-duper smart, and kind of nerdy like I am. There's this thing he does with his eyebrows when he's thinking about something that is just so adorable and-

"Oh. My. God."

April stopped, interrupted.

"Oh. MY. God. You have a crush."

April flushed red, turning away, thoughts going back to an embarrassing moment.

"You have a crush on Bellavarn Sallow. Are you crazy? Do you know what kind of monster that guy is?"

Exasperation replaced April's embarrassment.

"He's not like that. Did you hear what I said? He's not like that at all. He took a stab to the gut for me."

Beth made her best goldfish impression. Words were failing her. April tried to explain, but it was so difficult to put into words. It wasn't love at first sight like she always daydreamed. It wasn't clear-cut. There was a bunch of weird things getting in the way, but her feelings were real.

"And it's not a crush. I mean. It sort of is. But we kissed."

Beth's engine sputtered with a high-pitch squeal.

"You what?"

"He kissed me. And then I kissed him. Kind of a lot, and I got caught in the moment, and wow. I mean, what a rush. But it's more than a crush. He accepted my handkerchief. That means we're officially courting and since there's no one else interested it might as well be a done deal."

April boasted proudly. She had turned beet red and might start crying if Beth didn't close her mouth soon. Whenever April thought about it she wanted to lock herself in her room, collapse onto her bed and scream into her pillow. But she said it. Out loud. To another person. Who was still staring at her...

She sniffled.

Beth's mouth remained open. Her lips transformed with the sparkle in her eyes in a way that made HB April ring all the alarm bells. HB had her hand on the "I think I'm going to throw up, please excuse me" button when Beth spoke excitedly for the first time.

"Tell me everything."

=

"Then I snuck out again to meet him before he left. I was hoping to join him on the expedition and even hauled my demon slayer the entire way. Bellavarn going on that expedition is a death sentence, and I didn't need to hear it from my parents to understand. I knew it the moment the King declared it."

"Obviously. If Sallow doesn't perish in the skirmishes or open battles, then he'll be assassinated."

Beth realized what she said and apologized.

"My bad."

"No, I get it. That's what I told him, but he seemed to understand perfectly. He even smiled!

"Does he have some sort of plan?"

April hesitated. She wasn't great with gossip, but she knew she shouldn't mention it aloud, even to her best friend.

"I think he does. I wanted to trust him to handle it and come back home safe. But instead, I told him it was my turn to protect him.

"You didn't."

"I did. Uaagh! What is wrong with me."

Beth laughed as April buried her face in her hands.

"You're in love. Young love. That sort of really cheezy love you only see in storybooks. Considering you've grown up on those things, it is safe to assume that this would have happened eventually. I'm just glad it wasn't a fictional character you fell in love with again. I don't think I could have handled another one of those episodes."

"Ow. That hurts, you know. Those characters were completely real for me."

"How? I mean, you can't touch them, feel them, hold a conversation with them."

"You won't get it. You never read any romance novels."

"Nope. I can't do it. Not after I found that fanfiction under your bed."

April starting hitting Beth's shoulder.

"We pinky promised to forget that!"

Beth batted her feeble attacks away. April was much too frail from her time indoors. Even more so than the other ladies.

"Sorry, sorry. Anyway. We were talking about your real-life crush. What are you going to do now that Sallow has gone off to fight the King's war?"

April stopped. She looked down at her hands, examining the accumulated damage. It was mostly old papercuts or pinpricks from trying to sew. Then there were the not-so-slowly growing amount of freckles. She would get many more if she continued down this path. Mother despised them. But Bellavarn said he didn't care.

The fresh calluses on her hands hurt. Once, when she over-worked herself, they started bleeding. It scared her so bad that she dunked her stinging hands in her mother's favorite bird fountain. She had no idea that could happen. Now, they were just sore. Unpleasant.

Pretty hands were the least of her concerns.

"I'm going to be a magic knight and enlist royal guard. I'm a noble brat, so I'll be accepted easily."

"You forget that the royal guard is full of military families. You need your family's permission, whose history is primarily mercantile, your mother would never agree, and women are rare among the guard anyway. Nobles want their daughters wed, not dead."

"Oooh. That rhymed."

Beth facepalmed.

"That's what you hear? I'm serious."

"I'll forge my mother's signature. My father will help."

"There are so many problems with that; I don't even know where to begin."

"And you'll join me."

Beth full-stopped.

"No. I will not."

"You're family is military. It'd be easy as signing your name to get in."

"I'm from a naval heritage. You know, as in the things that float on water?"

"You're super tall. Strong. I bet you could throw around anyone who picked on me."

"How selfish are you!?"

"Even most of the boys would have trouble with you. You haven't even trained yet. You'll probably be the best female warrior next to Ash herself. Think about it. You'll lead our navy into battle utilizing your family's training and knowledge. When things get close quarters, you'll be able to fight like the Duchess, turning away armies on land or sea."

"You're insane."

"I'm a dreamer. If none of what I said appeals to you, think about choosing a bachelor. You could choose whoever you wanted. In this kingdom or another. Perhaps even a prince."

"..."

"If not, you'll have the power to decide not to marry. No one could tell you otherwise."

Beth contemplated. The potential prospects were alluring. The negative would be what? Convincing her family? It wasn't a hard sell. April's pitch had been efficient. That's a mercantile brat for you.

"I hate you."

"You love me."