"No, not like that. You do it like that and you're more likely to get yourself klled. Angle it this way. No, you almost got it. You're off balance. Take a step back. Spread your legs a bit - no! Too far. More like this. Yeah. Now angle your feet towards me. See? Easier to hold your balance. Put your weight into your back leg, push off with it and thrust. There you go. Again. You're getting good at this, Mia."

She was, too. She was in no way ready to take on a Strigoi yet, or even a Guardian, but she could probably hold her own in a fight with a sophomore Novice now.

Oh, I guess you'll want to know who I am, huh? My name is Olivya Monroe, though most call me Liv. I'm a Guardian here at the Royal Court, have been for the past two months. It's not something I'm entirely pleased with, but it's better than nothing.

As it was, I was kind of without assignment right now. I had been looking for something to do in my off time, as Court Guardians didn't have much to do, and that's how I met Mia Rinaldi.

Mia and I had hit it off right away. Something in our natures called out to eachother. Kindred spirits, you could say. Over the two months I had known her, I became proud to say that I considered her one of my closest friends. I had turned into her unnofficial Guardian, although, if we wanted to, we could change that. The Queen could rarely refuse Mia's wishes. In fact, there was only one thing holding us back. Me. I wasn't ready for another charge. Not yet.

It wasn't long after my unnofficial Guardianship started that she expressed interest in learning how to fight, how to defend herself. I agreed, and I realized quickly that she wasn't that weak, for a Moroi, and already knew the basics. I was only insulting her by going easy. So, I began training her as if she were just another dhampir, keeping in mind her disadvantages of couse. Still, now that I think about it, I probably started her with stakings too early. Still, in the past two months, she had come a long way.

"Liv?" Mia called out, jolting me out of my thoughts. I grimaced, mentally scolding myself. I had let myself become distracted and doing so had compromised Mia's safety. Sure, we were in Court and the wards were strong, but wards could be broken and, beside, it was the principal of it. She held a letter in her hand and shut the door behind her. I hadn't even noticed that someone had been there.

"I'm sorry Mia. It was a lapse in concentration. Won't happen again."

"Wha-? Oh, nevermind. Here." She handed me the note.

'Mia,

We haven't hung out in forever, I'm sorry! Things have been busy up here at the palace, especially since the attack. I know, I know, no excuse lol. Anyways, Rose and I have been dying to catch up with you again. Would you come over tonight? We're having dinner at 3. Oh, and if you want, bring your Guardian friend. What was her name, Guardian Monroe? Yeah, I think so. We would love to meet her.

Love, Lissa'

I didn't recognize the author of the note at first, but it began to settle in quickly. We were being summoned to the Palace by Her Majesty, Queen Vasilisa Dragomir. I couldn't believe it! Then, something made me look at it again. It was so... informal. Chummy. Wha?

"You know the Queen?" I asked, feeling kind of dumb.

"Uhh... yeah. Are you coming?" She asked, grinning.

"Uhh... yeah." I replied in the same tone, "this was a request by the Queen. I can hardly ignore it."

Mia just gave me an amused look and threw a pillow at me, "go make yourself beautiful, Liv," she laughed.

I snorted, "too late. Already am. I'll meet you here at 2," I grinned, sticking my tongue out. She could only laugh as I swayed my hips, walking out the door towards my own apartment.

It wasn't a long walk at all, maybe five minutes if I was slow, which I rearely was. The moment I got in the door, I kicked off my shoes and headed for a shower. It wouldn't really take long to get ready normally, but I wanted to look my best. It wasn't everyday you were summoned to see the Queen. At least, not for me.

The longest part of my shower was washing my hair. Honestly, I loved it. I could never cut my hair, and so I was an oddity. You almost never saw any female Guardian with hair past their shoulders. There might have been two or three in the Court, and that was including me. Unfortunately, to keep my hair long and beautiful, it took a lot of care. My hair was very thick, fine, and wavy, and when done right, I could make it feel like silk. It was raven black that went down to my hips when I straightened it, and down to my mid back when I didn't.

So it was only natural that I left it till last. To do anything with it, it took more than an hour. The moment I was out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and spent 45 minutes blow drying my hair, then spent 20 minutes ironing my Guardian uniform and polishing my dress shoes. Once my uniform was deemed fit for the Queen, I set out on the tedious and ardous task of straightening my long ass hair. That left me with an hour and a half till dinner, and half an hour till I had to meet Mia.

So I started out on make up. Normally I wouldn't really bother with anything more than moisturizing, but again, this was hardly normal. So I slathered on my moisturizer and then put on foundation. I lined my eyes in black so that they would seem less big and round and more cat-like, less innocent, then applied dark eyeshadows to give my eyes the smokey look. I put on a couple coats of mascara and a swipe of a light, sparkly lipgloss, before I was ready to go.

I had to admit, I was looking fine tonight. Damn fine. I hardly looked like someone who could destroy the undead, especially as many as I had. Except in my eyes. My eyes were a rich, deep emerald green that seemed to almost glow with the dark eyeshadow, but in them... there was a sadness. An immense sadness and grief from someone who had lost everything that was important to her. I could feel my eyes start burning and with a shaky breath, I turned away from my reflection.

I had five minutes to get to Mia's - well, seven - so I took my time, enjoying my walk. It was a nice day. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and so I had a clear view of the stars. And god, were they beautiful. A bright light caught my eyes. It was a full moon tonight. I got to Mia's with two minutes to spare, and couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.

"Wow, Mia, you look great." I grinned, looking her up and down. She had on a rich marine blue dress that perfectly complimented her flaxen blonde hair, faintly tanned skin and blue eyes. It was a knee length silk wrap dress with long sleeves and a flowy skirt. She had on black heels on that had ribbons climbing up her calves and a silver heart necklace. Her hair was curled into perfect doll-like ringlets and pulled back with a marine blue ribbon tied into a bow to match her dress. She was wearing makeup, something she didn't do often, and it made her clear blue eyes pop. She looked gorgeous.

"Thanks, Liv. I gotta say, you pull off that Guardian outfit well. Gonna break a heck load of hearts, that's for sure." She grinned, linking arms with me as we walked out the door.