Chapter One

The corset was so constricting and uncomfortable. Jane didn't know why women continued to wear them when she knew they all found them annoying. But she would sit through this dance without a single complaint because her knight training was to start tomorrow morning. She smiled at the reflection of the stranger in the mirror who had on makeup and a sparkling gown. She smiled because tomorrow, her dreams would become reality.

After she had been dressed properly her mother went over again how to greet the men that would be arriving today.

"Yes, mother." Jane said for the fifth time, barely controlling herself from rolling her eyes.

"And remember," her mother said. "Remember no snacking in the kitchen. You will stay in the ballroom the whole night."

Jane stifled a laugh and nodded. As if her mother could stop her. She would be too busy gossiping and searching out good suitors for Jane. Jane did not care much, she assumed that she could chase away any foolish suitor her mother found, she'd done it once already.

Her mother left after giving Jane one last pleading look and she hurried to the kitchen. Jane doubted she would eat tonight for fear of ripping the expensive gown. She was going down because she was sure her friend could use a little help. As she suspected, Pepper and her sister were busy running around the kitchen, tossing ingredients to each other and checking the stoves every few minutes.

"Jane!" Pepper said, with a smile. "You look beautiful!"

Jane blushed, feeling out of place comparing her clothes to her friends'. King Caradoc was not particularly mean to his servants but Jane was sure Pepper would never be able to afford the gown Jane was wearing. But Jane was never one to discriminate between people. "How is it going Pepper?" Jane asked.

"Oh, it's going exceptionally well! The appetizers taste wonderful, if I do say so myself. And the full course is on it's way to getting there, I think it still needs more salt but-"

"You know what I'm talking about." Jane said with a raised eyebrow, and giving a small look to Rake, the new gardener. A few weeks ago, Pepper's younger brother, who had been the previous gardener, had passed away from the flu. Pepper had been distraught for a while, refusing to talk to the new gardener, or anyone for that matter.

Pepper saw where Jane was looking and sighed. "I started being nice to him, if that's what you mean." she said. "But I keep expecting Troy to come bouncing in the kitchen with new herbs sometimes."

Hearing the normally active girl sound so sad broke Jane's heart. She enveloped her in a hug, unable to imagine what Pepper must be going through.

Pepper gasped. "Jane, your dress will get ruined! I'm covered with oil and dust." Pepper chastised. "Your mother will be most displeased."

"I could care less about it." Jane said. "All I want is for my dear friend to be okay."

Pepper relaxed, but still pushed Jane away. After making sure her dress was perfectly spotless, Pepper smiled and promised to talk to her after dinner.

Jane nodded, heading out to find her mother right upstairs. "Come, Jane. They should be here soon."

Jane realized this was the first time a whole Kingdom was visiting and found herself excited. She knew nothing but the four walls of this castle and the familiar faces of Pepper, Smithy, Jester and her family. She wanted nothing more than to be more than a Knight, to make a difference in the world, and to explore it. This opportunity provided her a chance to know what the outside world was like. She supposed the other girls her age from the visiting castle knew no more than her, so she was just going to have to talk to a knight, or a knight in training.

Gunther, shoulder to shoulder with the other knights, bowed in front of King Rairo as he stepped down from his carriage. Immediately all became quiet as his King stepped to the other King. "King Rairo."

"Caradoc. It's been a long time."

Caradoc smiled, welcoming the other king, and the party began.

Gunther met with the knights in training from this new kingdom and was given a tour of the castle. It was not nearly as big as King Rairo's castle but he was told King Caradoc had more land elsewhere. And it was not that small anyway, it was a quaint little castle by the mountains that seemed to be running smoothly.

Soon it was time for the dance and 13 year-old Gunther was sitting quietly with some knights. They were having a pleasant enough conversation but it did not interest him much. It was mostly about the food and some jokes about this Kingdom. He was getting quite bored when he noticed her.

It was her ridiculous laugh that drew him to her. She was a pale girl with orange hair that looked golden in some light. She was laughing - and snorting - at something the Jester had said. He suppressed a laugh as a lady - presumably her mother - scolded her and led her back to sit with her. The girl scowled at her mother's back and gave a wave to the Jester.

Gunther wondered what the girl was doing talking to the jester. She was definitely higher class than the common joker. He remembered a girl in his home kingdom who had tried to talk to him, but his father had made sure she never saw Gunther again. "Peasants only stay with peasants their whole life, boy. Do not dare try to talk to them again."

He had abided by his father's words, but felt that it was not the right thing to do. He was sure if given the choice, no one would choose to be a peasant. So why did they treat them any different? Gunther had tried to voice his thoughts to the other knights, but they never seemed to understand. Maybe this girl had ideas like him.

After a few minutes of watching her sit alone, he got up. "A dance, my lady?" he asked, holding his hand out.

Jane looked up, surprised. She did not realize anyone had even walked up to her until he had said something. Taking his hand and falling in step with the music, Jane realized she remembered this boy; he was one of the King's knights. She assumed he was only in training because he seemed young.

As he took her hands and guided her into a twirl, Gunther acknowledged how beautiful this girl was. Her fiery hair had been pulled back into an elegant braid and seemed to glow. Her gown was beautifully embroidered and was a color that matched her eyes; green. Her eyes had a sort of fire that he had never noticed in any other girl.

"So what's your name sir knight?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Gunther," he said with a slight smile. "And yours?"

"Jane," she said, twirling away to someone else. With a small frown, Gunther noticed it was the Jester. It was rather unfortunate that he had asked her to join him for the dance where everyone exchanged partners. But the thought fled his mind as a girl with raven black hair twirled to him.

Later, Jane's curiosity got the better of her and she found herself dancing with Gunther again. She asked him questions about life outside the kingdom and marveled at how much freedom a male had. While she was stuck learning proper manner and how to sew, knights were out having adventures seeing the world.

"Once, I went to this Kingdom that had roses of every color." he said remembering a rose the same shade of Jane's hair.

"That must have been a lovely sight," Jane said. "Say, have you ever done anything dangerous?"

Gunther smirked at her. "Why, have you become a damsel in distress my lady?" he asked, and she rolled her eyes.

He noticed she had a mischievous gleam in her eyes. It was funny how he had visited at least three other kingdoms but he had never met a girl as spirited as Jane. Most of them were quiet and spoke only when he asked them something. None had ever been so straightforward as Jane; it was like a breath of fresh air.

"Well," he said. "I once saved the princess of the Castle of Fallow from falling off a horse." He said, hoping to impress her, but Jane only snorted in response. "I saved her by running on foot mind you," he said amused at her reaction.

"She did not even know how to ride a horse?" Jane asked, wondering what princesses learned, if anything at all.

Gunther gave her a funny look. "She was a young princess who was just learning." he said. "I think she was 11 years old."

"I'm 11 and I can ride a horse perfectly." Jane said, her tone challenging. Gunther was honestly surprised.

"You?" he asked, surprisingly without laughing. He looked at her up and down, assessing her body build and Jane felt a little foolish in the elaborate dress.

"Obviously not in these clothes though, sir knight." Jane snorted.

"Why don't you do normal lady-in-waiting things like have a tea party?" he asked her.

Jane sighed. "My mother always encouraged me to but... There's just something amazing about being outside of the same four walls and actually doing something." She gazed wistfully at a window. "There's a whole world out there with many people and different adventures and that sounds much more of a life than one spent with tea parties!"

Before she knew it, she was expressing to Gunther everything she thought about castle life and how unfair it was to be a lady. He did not laugh at her like Sir Ivon and the other knights did, but he didn't seem like he understood what she meant either. However, it was nice that he listened to her anyway.

As they took a seat to rest for a while, Gunther asked her many more questions and became more and more intrigued about her. She was unlike any girl he'd ever met and she seemed interested in what he told her. She especially loved hearing about other lands and the life of a knight.

It seemed like he had made a friend.

5 Years Later

Jane grunted as she hit the practice dummy with the sword. She had been deuling with Fiel the other day and in a moment of careless thinking, he had landed a hard blow to her arm that still left a bruise today.

"Have you seen Dragon?" A voice to the left of the field asked as Jane stopped for a break. "I think he might have taken my cow puppet." Jester said, coming into view.

Jane laughed. "Why would you even show him?"

"I didn't! He saw it the other day when I was putting on a play for Princess Lavinia." Jester said with a sigh. "Well have you heard about the traveler that came in today?" he asked.

Jane shrugged. "I heard he was just coming to seek shelter for a couple of days."

"I heard from Rake that he's a knight." Jester said with a dramatic wiggle of his eyebrows.

"A knight?" Jane asked with a frown. "Neither Sir Theodore nor Sir Ivon mentioned that. Well, where is he?"

They hurried over to the King's throne room where Jester had heard the King was having a conference with the stranger. "Where do you think he's from?" Jester asked, leaning against the door, straining to hear the conversation. "Why do you think he's here? What if he's a spy?"

Jane laughed, wondering what was wrong with Jester. "I don't think so, Jester. We are in relative peace with plenty of Kingdoms, I doubt they would send a spy. I wonder if he's really a knight."

Suddenly footsteps sounded and Jester stepped away from the door. Sir Theodore came through with the newcomer beside him. He looked at Jester and her for a second and Jane had a feeling she'd seen those eyes before.

"Jane," Sir Theodore said, and Jane looked away from the stranger.

"Sir?" she asked.

"The King would like to speak to you," he said, and Jane nodded stepping into the throne room.

When she had walked far enough, she immediately went on one knee and lowered her gaze. "Your majesties," she said.

"You may rise, Jane." King Caradoc said, and Jane got up to see both the King and Queen. "I assume by now you have heard about the new comer in the castle?" Jane nodded. "He has come from many a lands. He is a traveler and has come to our castle to stay a while. While I talked to him I found that he was a knight in training before he was told to leave King Rairo's castle." Jane frowned, rarely did knights get thrown out of a kingdom to which they swore their allegiance. "He is a knight in training like you, and is willing to take an oath of allegiance to me. However, I am not sure about a knight who has already sworn an oath to a different King."

"So he is not to become a Knight here your Majesty?" Jane asked.

"Oh, he is. I would not leave a man stranded with no where to go. Especially a man who is as skilled as him. No, I am putting you in charge of watching him." The King said and Jane's eyebrows shot up.

A/N: I've been planning this story for a while and I finally found the courage to write and put it up. I know it may seem a bit basic this first chapter, but just Review and tell me what you think, it will get interesting.