Disclaimer: I am not Tamora Pierce, any recognisable characters and place are hers and much kudos to her.

"Oh please Grandfather; please let me train to become a knight. You know I can do it" pleaded Elspeth of Cavall to her Grandfather Lord Wyldon. Lord Wyldon sighed and frowned over the top of his reading glasses at the young girl who had so successfully managed to interrupt his morning tea.

"No now Elspeth, leave your Grandad to finish his tea before you start on with this page business again" scolded Amy, an elderly lady who had been Elspeth's nanny since birth and mother figure since her own parents had died.

"There'll be no keeping her quiet any longer Amy, she's been at it all week trying to convince me to let her go, but it's going to stop now" said Lord Wyldon firmly as he set hi cup of tea on the table and removed his reading glasses. Elspeth paled at the stern look on her grandfather's face, but stood her ground bravely. "Oh Gods" she thought, "here we go".

Wyldon thoughtfully considered the young girl standing in front of him, "More a lady now I suppose" he thought to himself as he allowed his mind to ponder the flight of time through recent years.

Elspeth had noticed her Grandfather's eyes go out of focus and knew he was thinking of the death of her parents some 10 years past.

She had been only a year old at the time, a baby and far too young to be travelling the long distance to the capital for the mid-winter festivities. Her parents, the young Sir Joshua of Cavall and his wife the Lady Fleur had been unable to refuse the King's request to attend and so a compromise of sorts had been reached. The baby would stay behind with her grandparents at the family home whilst her parents would make a hasty visit to the capital, staying only as long as was politely required of them.

The young couple's carriage was driving through the night to try and avoid the heavy snowfalls forecast for the next day when robbers attacked after seeing their lights. It was all over very swiftly, the sheer number of robbers simply overpowering the small number of travellers, their bodies not discovered for three days after the storm let up, perfectly preserved by the icy conditions.

Lord Wyldon gave a small shudder at the memory of seeing his beloved son and wife in their death, perfect apart from small chest wounds…He shook himself back to the present and cleared his throat before again focusing on Elspeth.

"Now girl" he said gruffly, "You wish to become a knight, yes?"

Elspeth nodded silently, to nervous to give voice to her answer.

"Well, I suppose I have no real reason to deny you. It has become quite obvious that girls can become knights these days. Gods, I even trained one of them myself" he sighed.

A small squeal of excitement escaped Elspeth as she rushed towards Lord Wyldon and hugged him tight before stepping back and thanking him.

"Don't get to excited young lady, it is certainly no easy task you wish to undertake, even now there is opposition to Lady Knights, and many people, girls AND boys fail. I only hope you will uphold the family honour to the best of your ability and bring no shame on our good name" Lord Wyldon warned.

"Yes Grandfather" replied Elspeth as she dipped her head and curtsied to him.