"Teach me to be a hero, Walter!"
She is not the little girl with curls and wooden swords that he remembers. She is no longer the little girl that would follow him around everywhere, trying desperately not to be seen by the older, much more observant knight of her father's court. She is not the little girl that used to wait tirelessly in the armory, or the training room, or the library or the gardens soaking up everything she could learn about the outside world, about the Hero's Guild and the proud history that runs through her veins. She is no longer the little girl that would push Duke Hamilton's youngest son the ground, laughing, before complaining that boys have cooties and that they couldn't be trusted, even though that young boy is now her happily married husband.
Most importantly, she is no longer the little girl that used to beg him to teach her how to be a hero.
The young woman that stands before him now is not any of those things that he remembers. The young woman before him is a proud young thing, hardened and matured far beyond her years. A hard look of determination now replaces one of summertime dreams, and an ugly scar breaks up otherwise striking features. The young woman before him has felt the weight of the world on her shoulders, the scornful looks of the Council and the undying loyalty and love of a people that almost lost everything. She is a troubled youth forced to take the life of her only brother, her only family, simply because his decisions as king where tearing her country apart. She remembers sentencing those peasants to death all those years ago, when she should be remembering peaceful years that were instead torn apart by the Shadelight. She is a fully groomed warrior, a diplomatic machine, with an ecstatic and attractive personality. She is polite, and wise, and thinks things through and everything that he doesn't know or never was. She is tactical and collected, calculating and kind. She is schooled and educated and can diffuse the toughest situations with ease. She enjoys cooking and reading and playing with her children, and taking long walks in the gardens and throughout the city. She is not afraid to take politics, or herself, directly to the people, venturing out to the marketplace daily, and opening the castle to everyone. She is a mother of three, with the forth soon to arrive. She is the queen of a proud and powerful country.
Most importantly, she is not longer the little girl that used to beg him to teach her how to be a hero.
And deep down inside, a part of Walter hates her for it.