Author's note: So, this weekend I was watching Jack and the giant slayers, which lead to me reading every single fanfiction piece I could find on it. So now, that of course means that I have to give a try to writing my own! Hope you like it, because I definitely sat down and wrote this instead of sleeping like I was suppose to! Feel free to leave a review if you have the time, I'll love you forever!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story and the girl character.

One of Elmont's least favorite parts of being part of the royal guards, or in his case captain of the guards, was that every few days they would have to ride into town to check on how the townspeople were fairing. It wasn't that he didn't like seeing the town or its people; it was more like they always looked so miserable to him. Worked to the bone and starving was also another way to put it.

Today it was raining, and he'd already put off going into the town for way to long, hadn't been at all since he'd retrieved the princess before the whole beanstalk thing. That had been last week, and the only reason no one had asked about it was because of how busy they were with rebuilding. The castle was finally starting to look better, but he feared the state of the nearby town. It no doubt had lots of damage and no money to rebuild itself without kingdom help, and while kingdom would help, they wouldn't remember to until the castle was fully restored.

When he arrived he was very much surprised that the open market was still going, but he assumed it had to because people would starve without it. Houses were smashed builds demolished, and parts of the stalk still crushed part of town, blocking it off from the rest. He tried not to wonder just how many people lost their lives during the fall. Everyone looked tired and unhappy, even more so then usual; no it didn't look like much money was circulating the market today, more than likely no one could afford anything at the moment. He made sure to spread his money as evenly through people as he could; buying apples for him and his horse, fresh bread for a lunch on the road and even a new knife from the blacksmith to replace one he'd lost during the battle. He stopped to observe people pulling large rocks out of the fields and road ways for no doubt ridiculously small wages of money.

Elmont found himself frowning, people should be doing labor in this rain, and they would just catch their death out there. He sat on his horse and looked unimpressed as for about awhile, just watching people of all ages pull rocks before moving on. There were mostly men, who mostly didn't have regular job and appreciated the money or deeply needed the money. There were a few children work together as well; no doubt living at the orphanage and working here together would ensure a tiny bit more food for them to eat. Only a few
woman though, most not needing to find source of income because it would be her husband's job, or eldest children even.

Still one of the women caught his eye; she had bright red hair and wore a tattered, muddy and very short dress with nothing else for modesty sake. With her dress drench in the rain, there wasn't exactly much left to imagination either, brief he wondered what color that dress had originally been instead of that stained and faded blotched mud color. She was pulling rocks with all the pace of the men and being how short she appeared to be, was working twice as hard at it then most of them. All too soon, the workers declared the day over as the mud began to pile up and making the rocks certainly unmovable. People still groaned about it as small amounts of coin were handed out to people and he watched as the girl took hers smiled and thanked the long nosed fellow in charge before taking her leave.

Elmont wasn't exactly sure what possessed him to follow her, but he did all the same. Not getting to close, he directed his horse to the same direction she was headed. The market was where he'd just come from and he'd usually take a different way back because that way he could check out more places on his "stroll". Still, he didn't mind taking this way if it meant he could watch her for a few moments longer.

She had no idea anyone was following her, and that was fine. (Even though he now slightly worried for her safety if she was this oblivious, a horse had been following her for a good twenty minutes!) At the market she saw her count the coins she had been gave for the day's hard labor and separate them into what looked like half. She didn't look happy as she did so, in fact looked depressed about how little she had compared to how much everything cost. Buying a single apple with one half and pocketing the other, she smiled at the merchant, who just snarled in return. Elmont wanted to be able to correct that merchants rudeness, for even throughout this much misery she smiled at people. A kindness that not many people were able to do.

Continuing on her way, she stopped at an old beggar woman who sat back to a wall so she could be out of the rain. The girl took out a small and much worn looking knife from her boot and with a smile cut her apple in half. When she gave the old woman half, the elder looked about to cry.

Elmont strained himself to be able to hear the red heads voice, and waited. What he could hear was the old woman blessing in an old and scratchy voice; "Bless the child, bless the." Then the girl gave her s sweet and tired smile and patted her on the hand; "Stay strong."

Elmont let himself get caught up in how sweet, kind, and gentle her voice sounded. It was like a new morning breeze, after the sun had been roasting for days. Finding water when one had been walking in sand for days. His heart pounded and by the time he'd settled down, the girl was gone. Only the elder sat still, eating her apple like she hadn't had a thing to eat in days and she probably hadn't. He did something he almost never did at that moment, got off his horse, reached into his pocket satchel and collected a few coins. He got the same blessing the girl had gotten minutes before, and he wondered why she'd influenced him to do this. As captain of the guards he believed that money should be earned, not begged for. Though he did not agree with how little the laboring men would get, he still believed working for the money was right.

Afterward, he returned to the castle as he no longer had purpose for being there that day. Though the thoughts on the mysterious red headed woman remained dancing through his head. If she had so little money that she had to work hard labor and then count everything as delicately as she had, why would she give away half of the only food she bought? She hadn't had enough food for herself and still gave half away with a smile on her face. Elmont wanted to meet this girl again; he wanted to be able to tell how stupid that had been of her, to tell her to look after herself before she worried about others, to make sure she had a proper meal in her stomach. More than anything else, Elmont wanted her to smile that bright and trusting smile at him.

He shook his thoughts out of his head as he headed towards the grand dining room, as Isabelle and Jack had requested that he eat dinner with them tonight. There would be time to think about things later, but for now he was going to be as attentive as the captain of the royal guards should be. Of course, that didn't stop him from promising himself that he'd go and see if he could find her out there again tomorrow.