A/N:This was written for the men of Tortall Monthly Challenge, #4 on the forums. Be sure to check it !

This month's CHallenge "Pride"

Remember a quick review is alway nice :D

I am not Pierce

Pride has two sides to every story. Sometimes it can be the temptress to us all. Luring us into what could be and what has been. Many times people let their pride be their downfall, crushing them under what they think should be. Not enough times it is considered what has been and yet doesn't go noticed by those that deserve to be proud.

For four years I watched that girl child go out among the boys and face the worse they could throw at her: insults, fights, kidnapping. Even that old stick in the mud Wyldon sent her up and down those heights. She faced it all with a hard glint in her eye and went at it straight away.

No one could stop her, she would have been a good Shang. No gift to get in the way. A straight head on her shoulders from the start. I know she was raised by the Yamanis, and they share a lot of ideas with the Shang, but she wanted to be a knight, to take her shield, something she could be proud of.

When that girl passed her Page Exams: her family was proud, her friends were proud, most of her teachers were proud. Then she took her shield, and the entire country was proud, except for a few hard headed folks.

I was one of her teachers, and I could be more proud of the girl. She showed them all and she does it again, and again, and again.

I almost laughed the other day when I walked into the Page's training yards and three girls stood among the boys. One I don't think will make it but the other two will do it no matter what the cost I think. They worked as hard as the lads. Harder. Just like her. I was so proud.

Then to make it better a couple months into their training, who would ride into the yards, the Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan herself, and if that wasn't bad enough she was leading three squads of the King's Own and was accompanied by the King's Champion, Alanna the Lioness.

I laughed out loud as all three girls' jaws dropped and they were thrown to the ground. The two ladies broke off from the group and inspected the pages. To make the girls even worse they assisted a few of the pages in their blocks and punches before leaving.

Yes, so I'll admit it, I'm not proud of every student I have ever had, many are too proud of themselves to be proud of them, but there is always a few left for me that are too modest to consider themselves worth a sneeze. Those are the ones that I'm proud of.

I'm proud of the way she grits her teeth, wipes off the dirt and keeps pushing on. I'm proud of how she doesn't let anything stop her from working towards what is right. I'm proud of the girl that will look the gods themselves in the eye and tell them that this is how she thinks it should be.

I'm proud of the girl child that became a Lady Knight and I don't care who thinks otherwise, or my names not Eda Bell, the Wildcat.