[Chapter One.]

"I've always wanted to serve the Crown, Papa… I really have. Honest. I've seen battles and helped with them, in case you've forgotten the past five years of my life," the redhead smirked, flashing her white teeth.

She was tall for a girl of only eleven years and long hair went past her waistline; pulled back, it'd show her slim figure. Long lashes framed her blue-gray eyes - those that resembled the ocean on a cloudy day. It was probably her eyes that persuaded people so easily for you'd find yourself lost in them; in a trance.

Her father looked at her, securing his dark eyes on her own. He'd long since been able to break hold of her lock. Placing a hand on the top of her head, a soft smile wandered over his lips, a knowing one. His eyebrows were furrowed in slight reconsideration.

"It's hard work, Rey. Ask Lady Alanna and Lady Kel. You'll have to be on your feet-"

"Papa," she groaned in an exasperated tone, "I've heard their stories - from everyone. It's the work and challenge I'm so willing to take." Rey took her father's large hand off her head and held it in between both of her own, eyes pleading, "Please?"

Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak gave in with a heavy sigh. He looked at her sternly, "Don't come crying home to me if you get booted out, duckling," he warned, "I have complete fate in you, but not everyone still accepts the idea of female knights."

Rey looked at him with a big grin and bowed before him, only to have him pull her into a hug. In comparison, he looked like a bear even with her stature under his grip.

"Thank you, Papa. I swear, I'll pass up Lady Alanna," she smiled widely at him, the dark-haired man returning it with humor, "Only if she grows old with age and forgets how to use a sword, duckling." His joke made his daughter's smile turn wry.

"Just you wait. I'll pass you up," she stuck out her tongue and ran off after he kissed her forehead in response. Raoul was "easy-going", as most of his men and people who've observed his behavior, but he made reasonable choices that required work. As commander of the King's Own, he had to be merciless at one point or another, right?

Rey walked down the corridor of her summer home in Malorie's Peak, breathing in fresh, crisp air with an absentminded smile. In a few paces, her strides being somewhat large, she was out in the courtyard. Here, she waited for her friend. He was nothing out of the ordinary, just a red-breasted robin. Perhaps, it was a bit abnormal, considering she had a bird for a friend, but she kept in mind that Lady Keladry of Mindelan had a flock of sparrows that followed her around as well as a tattered mutt and an ill-tempered gelding; Veralidaine, known as Daine the Wildmage, had the powers to call upon as many animals as she wanted and was able to talk them. Needless to say, she didn't feel exactly out of place.

I wonder how he's doing about now, Rey thought quietly. A little more than a week after they arrived at Malorie's Peak a few months back, Rey found a tabby that attacked the same young robin she had now. By the time, she scared away the cat, the robin's right wing was damaged beyond repair, even with a healer. After all, it was hanging on by only a few strands of muscle.

From then on, she took care of it, doing her best with the magic she harbored herself to take away some of its pain. It had taken a liking to Rey after she began feeding it dried fruit and bread crumbs.

A loud 'tweet' woke her up from any more reminiscing that she thought she had time to do. It was her robin looking up at her with its black beads for eyes.

Rey smiled down at him, stroking his breast with her index finger. "I was wondering when you'd come around, Red." The girl had only a few things on her mind at the time she saved him: the crimson blood he was giving off, what type of bird he was, and how to patch him up.

Letting him perch on her finger, she lifted him up to her face with a grin as he chirped a greeting. The small bird flapped his undamaged wing to steady himself among his balance.

His right wing, the one that had been hurt during his fatal encounter with the cat, was completely amputated in his case, leaving the joint that used to connect his hollow bones to his body a stump. However, he was full of life and energy. Often, he even flapped his good wing as if to say, "See? I'm not all that bad". Rey grinned at the thought and stood up from the stone bench she was sitting on. Moving from the courtyard, she calmly walked through the corridors, making sure she didn't disturb Red, who was still perched on her finger.

"This wouldn't be right, Raoul. She would be in danger if she became a knight," a voice said hurriedly. It came from her father's study, so the man must've been friends with him.

Is there a another girl that wanted to become a knight, she thought to herself, Wonder why she'd be in danger other than battles… Women are capable.

Whether she meant it or not, she had a tendency to follow conversations absentmindedly while doing other tasks that didn't involve that particular conversation. Her ears were always open, and her curiosity always got the best of her.

"If I didn't let her, she'd run away, Jon." That was her father speaking now. Run away? This couldn't concern her, could it?

He continued. "I mean, look at it this way… Rey's a determined sort, right? Mithros, she's more than that, but never mind that. She'd cut her hair and fake it as a lad like our own Champion, wouldn't she?" So, it was, then.

Alanna was the King's Champion, but before she was that, she and her now deceased twin brother traded destinies. He went off to be a mage, and she took his spot as a page in training to become a knight. At the time, it was taboo for women to even attempt become a knight, so she disguised herself as a boy, taking huge risks.

Rey stopped stroking Red as the conversation grew more tense on both sides of the door. Quite frankly, she didn't want to listen any longer, but her subconscious state made her stay put.

"You're going to have to tell her soon, Raoul. In this situation, with her exposed, she wouldn't be the only one in grave dan -"

Raoul cut him off, his temper harder to control. "I know that," he retorted, teeth clenched. He sighed, looking at the floor. He had to remember that it was the King of Tortall he was talking to; not just his best friend.

Since he was already up, he paced back and forth, behind his desk, then stopped to look at his King who's eyebrows were raised. "Forgive me, Your Highness." His eyes seemed to twitch at addressing him as such in his foul mood, which had been far more cheerful earlier.

Or had he been faking it for her sake? The thought made Rey's blood run cold.

"I've just been… Frustrated. Aggravated, even, but if she decided that she wanted to leave permanently because of what we think would be the best, Jon, it'd destroy my world. I've raised her-"

It was the King's turn to cut him off, "And if she hated you, it'd break your heart." He smiled grimly, his sapphire eyes gleaming remorsefully.

Before the Commander could retort anything like, "Yeah, how'd you know," King Jonathan turned his body, his blue eyes still fixed on Raoul's dark ones. "Think about the consequences, Lord Raoul," he said sternly, his dark eyebrows arched warningly.

Raoul sighed, giving in, "Yes, Your Highness."

With that, the King made his way to the door. "I expect that you'll be at the Midwinter Festival with Burriram, then?"

He nodded in response. His past pet peeve of ladies attacking him, proclaiming their need to marry him had long since ceased. His bachelory was finished now that Buri was around, though they refused to call one another "lovers" in public. "Married" was just fine for them.

The King ran a hand through his think, jet black hair, stretching. "Very well, then. Take care."

It was an abrupt goodbye, but the King's were like such.

Before he could exit Sir Raoul's quarters, Rey quickly removed herself stealthily from the area where she had been listening, and pretended to be focused on Red's feathers and preening them for him.

Most times, Jonathan paid no heed to her presence, but as he passed her, he smiled this once, "Best wishes to you and your goal of becoming a knight, Miss Rey."

Rey, who was kneeling in the grass at this moment, quickly stood up and dusted off her plain blue gown, having set Red in between a nest of blades of green. She curtsied gratefully like a proper noble child, blushing, "I'm honored, Your Majesty."

With her head tipped, the King pat her head, and walked to his mount who waited for him with a group of soldiers dispatched from Corus, Tortall's capital.

She'd get her answers soon, whether he father wanted to tell her or not.

[/Chapter end.]