"That," said Sophia's father, his tone patient, "is the most ridiculous idea that I have ever heard in my entire life. Forget it immediately."

"What? No!"

"I agree entirely with your father. Unrealistic, short-sighted, and above all dangerous—Sophia, I forbid it."

"Do you now," said Sophia. "Well. That's very interesting. In that case, I shall be forced to do it by myself."

"And how were you planning on doing that?"

"I shall run away. And before you say 'don't be silly' or something, just think about how long you two actually spend in this house. I have plenty of opportunities to slip away. It'd probably be days before you even noticed I was gone, if I timed it correctly."

"Sophia, don't ... let's talk about this reasonably," said her mother.

"I'm being reasonable," said Sophia, mildly. "Am I not being reasonable? Travel is the perfect path. Somewhere in this world there is a me-shaped hole, but I have no idea where that hole is because I've never gone outside of this city. I've never actually gone outside of this neighbourhood, not really."

"There are reasons for that," her father said, before Sophia held up a delicate hand, stopping him.

"I don't know what to do," she said, "because I haven't seen what needs to be done. Of course I can't decide the direction I should go in. I'm trying to find the solution when I don't even know the problem! And so I shall travel, all around the world, to every country or nation or whatever you want to call them—honestly, someone should sort that out, it's ridiculous really—and I shall look and learn and find what needs to be done to make the world a better place for everyone. And then I'll do it."

As Sophia's parents stared at her, it occurred to them that perhaps insulating their daughter from the world might not have been the best possible way to bring her up.

"And I know what you're thinking now," Sophia said. "You're thinking that the world is dangerous and that I would be foolish to travel on my own. You're absolutely right. That's why you need to find me a bodyguard."

"Sophia—"

"Of course, I have to be happy with him. Or her. So you two need to find me some candidates. Of course, I'll also need travelling clothes, I already made a list—" Sophia handed a neatly folded piece of paper to her mother "—and travelling money, I do have some savings of course but I think travelling must be quite expensive, isn't that right? I'm sure that side of things won't be a problem, though."

Sophia's parents stared at her. She gazed placidly back, a pleased little smile on her face.

It was a battle that her parents never even had a chance of winning.

"Well I must say, I don't see what was wrong with him."

"Are you honestly serious? FAR too stuffy, FAR too old, FAR too 'clunky'. He seemed as though he wouldn't even be able to keep up with me!"

"He came very highly recommended," said Sophia's father. He held up a piece of paper and read from it: "Served as a sergeant in the army for fourteen years, worked for the earl of Endure as the captain of his guard for six years, was the personal bodyguard to his children for a further three—he has a lot of relevant experience, Sophia, I think you'd be safe with him."

"It's not just about that," Sophia said. "How can I explain it so you'll understand ... well, maybe I just can't. Sorry, but he wasn't right. If I'm going to have someone around it has to be someone that matches me."

"And what did you have in mind, for a match?" Sophia's mother asked. "Perhaps it would be easier for us to find someone that meets your standards if you could give us some idea of what it was you wanted."

Sophia sighed hugely. "Don't you EVER listen to ANYTHING I say? My main problem is that I haven't seen anything! That's why I'm going on this journey! And with this it's the same situation. I don't know the first thing about bodyguards, so I'm going into this with no preconceived notions whatsoever, no prejudice or bias, no image at all of who I should travel with. But when I see them, I'll know they're right."

Sophia's parents exchanged a glance that she didn't come close to noticing.

"Anyway," she said. "Who's next? I'd like to get through them quickly, if you don't mind, I do have other things to do today, you know."

"Mr Steiner was the last candidate," said her father. He sighed softly. "We thought that out of a dozen choices, you might have found someone acceptable—"

"What? That's it?" Sophia picked up a couple of the pieces of paper on the table in front of her. "These are the best you could come up with? No, no no no, I think you've got the wrong idea entirely, these are all military people or professional bodyguards—"

"Excuse me if I thought hiring a bodyguard to be a bodyguard seemed like a sensible approach," said Sophia's mother curtly.

"No, you just don't understand ... I don't JUST want a bodyguard, I mean not just someone to keep me safe, I need someone who can accompany me on my journey, someone who can help me along and show me the REAL world." Sophia sighed. "It's partially my fault, of course," she said. "I wasn't clear enough about what I wanted. But now that you know—"

Sophia stopped talking and glared at Hopkins, the butler, who had been standing near the entrance to the room with a patient air for almost a minute. He had just cleared his throat in the politest possible way.

"What is it?" she snapped.

"My apologies, but I wondered whether you were ready to see the next candidate."

Sophia stared at Hopkins as her mother turned to address him:

"There are no more candidates, Hopkins, we've seen them all."

"Very good, my lady," said Hopkins. "It's just that there seems to be a young miss out here with the impression—"

"What?" Sophia shot a look at her parents. "You said there weren't any more! Show her in, Hopkins."

"At once, my lady."

"Well, I certainly didn't think there were any more," said Sophia's mother, frowning as she picked up the papers on the table and flicked through them. "Hopkins said 'young miss', didn't he? I'm positive we didn't conduct any preliminary interviews with anyone matching that description—unless he means that Liz woman, but we've already seen her—"

"Someone younger," Sophia was saying, as if tasting the idea. "Yes, maybe that would fit ... maybe part of the problem has been that everyone I've met today has been too old, I hope—"

"Miss Alicia Lane," said Hopkins, showing in a slim, bright-looking girl. She had dark skin and short straight black hair and narrow, slightly slanted eyes—with a small crescent-shaped scar under the left, Sophia noticed with a quiet thrill. Her clothes were well-worn and practical, a sleeveless white vest and tight trousers coloured a dull orange. Around her waist was a narrow black belt, from which hung two wide-bladed knives in dark leather sheaths. She moved with a confidence that Sophia found immediately and intensely appealing, and when the girl smiled Sophia felt, yes, this is a girl I can definitely trust.

"I, uh," Sophia's father said, with a glance at his wife, "you ... where did you come from?"

"From away south," said the girl, her voice quick and sharp. "Grew up in Aegis, just recently came to Unity. Nice city you've got here, sir."

"I think what my husband meant is that we haven't met you before," said Sophia's mother.

"This is the interview, right? For bodyguarding? Are you the girl?" Alicia asked, looking at Sophia with openly interested eyes.

"Yes," said Sophia, stepping forward and holding out her hand, which Alicia shook firmly. "I'm Sophia, it's very nice to meet you."

"Same here," said Alicia, releasing Sophia's hand. "Thought you'd be younger, to be honest, I wasn't expecting someone my age."

"How old would that be, exactly?" Sophia's mother asked.

"Seventeen this summer," said Alicia promptly, turning to smile at Sophia's mother.

"I see. So I imagine your experience would be rather limited?"

"Given your young age," Sophia's father added, "you might not, perhaps, be quite qualified for the role."

Alicia had waited patiently for Sophia's father to finish speaking, listening attentively, then she smiled at him and nodded.

"That's a fair thing to think," she said. "But I'll tell you right now, if you searched for a year you wouldn't find anyone faster than me. I know that might sound arrogant, sir, but I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true."

Sophia's father had raised his eyebrows.

"Well," he said, "regardless of that—"

"I'd be happy to demonstrate, if you like."

"Demonstrate?"

Alicia was already looking around the room. She frowned a little. "This room's kind of too nice to do much ... okay, something simple. Sophia, right?" she said, as she pulled her knives from their sheaths. "Hold these a moment."

"Um, uh, yes," said Sophia, taking the knives—they were lighter than she'd expected, single-edged except near the tip, where an inch of the blade's blunt side had been sharpened. The knives were almost identical, apart from their hilts—one was black, the other a somewhat grubby white. "What, um—"

"Just hold 'em for now. That wood up there's oak, right?"

"I, er, what?" said Sophia's father. He followed the line of Alicia's eyes and saw that she was referring to the exposed wooden crossbeams on the ceiling. "Oh, yes."

"Old oak, too. That'd be pretty hard. Maybe not then," Alicia muttered to herself as she walked to the other end of the room, around a dozen metres away. "Okay, toss 'em."

"The knives?" Sophia said. "I don't know how!"

"Just chuck 'em any old way. Anywhere you like. Well, away from yourself and your parents, of course, don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Now, hold on a moment," said Sophia's father, but Sophia had already flung the knives forward. In an instant Alicia was running, her movements almost too fast to follow as she leapt and plucked the first knife from the air, twisting and reversing direction in an impossible manoeuvre that sent her rolling across the floor to grab the other knife just before it hit the ground. Then she was somehow up on one knee, holding both arms out, one knife held with the blade pointing up, the other held with the blade pointing down, a wide grin on her face.

"Ta-da!" she said. Sophia clapped, a little confused as to the point of the demonstration but nonetheless impressed.

"That was very ... interesting," said Sophia's mother.

"You certainly seem ... fast," said Sophia's father.

He and his wife exchanged glances.

"That was just showing off, I admit," said Alicia quickly, before they could continue with a sentence that began with 'but' or 'however' or 'nonetheless'. "In an actual fight I'm not so showy. If I was with your daughter, I'd try to get her out of danger as quick as I could."

"Well, I should think so," said Sophia's father.

"Of course, fighting's always my last choice, anyway," said Alicia, as she sheathed her knives. "Usually things don't go that far. But if I have to defend myself, or someone else, I can. See this scar here?" she said, pointing to the one Sophia had noticed earlier, the little crescent under her left eye. "That's the only real scar on my entire body. Only time I've ever been cut worth a damn—uh, excuse my language, sir, ma'am. Oh, wait a minute though, you're some kind of duke or something, aren't you?"

"I'm ... technically I'm an earl—"

"Your lordship, then," said Alicia, with a kind of odd bow. "And that makes your wife and daughter both ladies, right?"

"I—"

"Of course," said Alicia, "I'm a lady too, but I ain't showing you the proof of that!"

She laughed, and after a second Sophia joined her.

"Goodness, but," said Sophia, laughter still in her voice, "please don't call me 'my lady' or anything. Sophia is fine."

"Sophie, then," said Alicia. Sophia opened her mouth to correct her, then shut it again. Sophie, she thought. Well, maybe.

"Perhaps we should all sit down," said Sophia's mother. She smiled thinly at Alicia. "After all, this is supposed to be an interview."

"Oh, right, sorry," said Alicia, as she sat on a couch opposite the one Sophia's parents were sitting on. "If I start chattering on just tell me to shut up, my mouth's just as quick as the rest of me sometimes."

Sophia sat down next to Alicia. I like this girl, she was thinking. She seems real.

"Now," said Sophia's father, peering at Alicia over the top of his glasses. "I hesitate to ask, but do you have any references from previous employers?"

"Ooh," said Alicia, with a kind of grin-grimace. "People I worked for ain't the kind to give references. But I've been working since I was eight—I'm talking serious work. I've helped out with stuff since I could walk, pretty much."

"Wow," said Sophia. "What kind of work?"

"Courier," said Alicia. "I was good at it, too."

"If you were good at it, why did you stop?" asked Sophia's father.

"Circumstances," said Alicia.

"I see," said Sophia's father, his tone indicating that, perhaps, he didn't. "This was in Aegis, I assume?"

"Yes, sir. I grew up there."

"And the reason you left—"

"Circumstances," Alicia repeated, her voice holding an edge of darkness now. "Kind of ... personal circumstances."

"Dad." Sophia looked over at Alicia, trying to convey her silent support and understanding. Alicia glanced back at her with a quick smile, in response to which Sophia veritably radiated smugness.

"I suppose asking whether or not you belong to any organisations would be a waste of time," said Sophia's father, somewhat wearily. Alicia's brow creased.

"Organisations?"

"There isn't a 'guild of bodyguards', despite the push for the creation of something along those lines a few years back," said Sophia's father. "But there is, for example, the, ah, the duellist's guild, the association of free soldiers, various independent mercenary groups exist, I understand—"

"Oh, I get it. No, I don't belong to anything like that."

"So to sum up," said Sophia's father, with a glance at his daughter, "you are unqualified, lacking in quantifiable experience, have no one that can vouch for either your expertise or your character, and are unwilling to expound on your background."

"I mean when you put it like that—hey, look, I'll answer any questions you have, it's just sometimes the answer isn't going to be very long or interesting. But the other stuff you said is true. I don't know anyone here, all you have is my word that you can trust me, and I didn't learn how to fight or move or pick up on a bad situation before it happens from a school or anything like that, so I don't have a piece of paper saying I can do any of it. I guess you could say I don't have any proof of being a good bodyguard except that I would be."

"Hmm," said Sophia's father.

"Thank you for coming to see us," Sophia's mother said. "But I think—"

"I think you'd be perfect," said Sophia, decisively. She stood, and held her hand out to Alicia. "I'd like you to start immediately."

Alicia stared at Sophia's hand, then stood up and took it, shaking firmly, once, before grinning and moving forward to hug Sophia. Sophia stiffened, but she managed a hesitant pat on Alicia's back before the shorter girl stepped back.

"Could I just—"

Sophia silenced her father with a sharp look, then followed this with another directed at her mother, who was looking more than a little shocked.

"That's all settled, then," said Sophia. She smiled at Alicia. "Of course, you'll stay for dinner tonight. Seeing as it's a very special occasion I'm sure it'll be a nice family affair." She gave her parents a hard look. "Won't it."

This time they didn't need to exchange glances. Each knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"I'm sure it will," Sophia's parents said, together.