Then around ten years later, Poppy wandered around the lands near her farm thinking about her dad. Her memories of him inspired a song:
If you were with me now
I'd find myself in you
If you were with me now
You're the only one who knew
All the things we planned to do
I want to live my life
The way you said I would
With courage as my light
Fighting for what's right
Like you made me believe I could
And I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
She then reluctantly headed back to the farm. There were chores to do, but she didn't let them get her down. Instead, she took advantage of them by mixing in a little knight training.
This world I'll never see
My dreams that just won't be
This horse's stride
With one days ride
Will have covered more
Distance than me
But I will fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
She practiced balancing by using the pigs as stepping stones before hopping onto her now-fully-grown horse. She then rode him past a pitchfork, which she grabbed before tossing it towards a pile of hay in the barn as if it were a spear. It got caught in a rope, which flung it towards the chest of her dad's old armor. It then bounced off that and landed in the hay. Poppy then went over and used the pitchfork to dump hay into the cow's feeding trough before going to a barn window.
Someday with his spirit to guide me
And his memory beside me
I will be free to
Fly on my father's wings
To places I have never been
There is so much I've never seen
And I can feel his heartbeat still
And I will do great things
On my father's wings
On my father's wings
She jumped off the windowsill and onto a wooden board that was lying on the ground like a seesaw. This accidentally sent a pink-striped yellow rooster named Mr. Dinkles soaring through the air, but fortunately Poppy had taken away the lid from a barrel of feathers just before Mr. Dinkles landed there.
Pretending the lid was a shield, and that a giant wooden spoon was a sword, she pretended to fight with a friendly bull who merely licked the spoon. After finishing her song Poppy had to head inside, since she had to help Lady Lilac with a few indoor chores.
Later that night, in Trollgenlot, King Gristle Jr was making a speech to his knights.
"In the ten years since Sir Peppy's death, equality, and freedom, have spread throughout the land. Peacekeeper has given us the strength to stand together against all injustice."
The knights applauded this.
"Trollgenlot has prospered beyond our greatest dreams-"
King Gristle Jr was suddenly cut off by something crashing into the room! A huge winged furry beast landed on the table, and the knights got their swords ready.
"It's a griffin!" One of the knights gasped.
The griffin eyed King Gristle Jr, who slowly reached for Peacekeeper. However the griffin wasn't after King Gristle Jr, he was after Peacekeeper and wounded King Gristle Jr's arm as he snatched it with his beak! He then started to fly away!
"It's got Peacekeeper!" A knight cried.
"King Gristle Jr is wounded!" Another knight cried.
Queen Bridget and a knight went to King Gristle Jr to check on him.
"Never mind me, go after the sword." King Gristle Jr ordered through the pain.
The knights that guarded the outside of Trollgenlot spotted the griffin and tried to hit him with flaming arrows, but it was too late.
"Spread word across the land, Peacekeeper's been stolen!" A knight from the round table ordered after heading outside.
A guard blew into the emergency horn that rested atop the wall surrounding Trollgenlot. A few knights galloped after the griffin, but they were too far behind.
"Barnabas, you're the only one here who can fly so it's up to you." Queen Bridget turned to her and King Gristle Jr's pet. "Protect the sword."
Barnabas nodded and flew after the griffin. Thanks to being smaller he was able to fly fast, and caught up to the griffin just as he was flying over a forest. Barnabas dove down to strike at the griffin, catching him off guard, and then flew straight on to knock Peacekeeper from the griffin's claws. The griffin saw this and dove after it, but it landed in a patch of thorns before he could grab it. The griffin quickly pulled out of his dive before thorny hands could grab him instead. The griffin kept looking for an opening, but nearly got caught and so had to give up and fly away.
Barnabas however was small enough to enter the forest without being noticed, so he did.
Word that Peacekeeper had been stolen continued to spread throughout the land into the next day, until Poppy found out while on her way to collect chicken eggs. Shocked, she ran back to the house.
"No! Absolutely not!" Lady Lilac scolded.
"But mom Peacekeeper is missing, I must go after it!" Poppy insisted.
"That's a job for knights, not for young girls."
"But I want to be a knight. Go on grand adventures, fighting evil, rescuing damsels in distress..." She then frowned with confusion. "What is a damsel anyway?"
Lady Lilac hid her amusement, tempted to tell Poppy what a damsel is but deciding to focus on the dress Satin and Chenille had just finished making for Poppy. Satin and Chenille were old friends of Poppy's, and the daughters of a couple who owned a combination tailor/dressmaker shop.
"Now Poppy, Poppy stand still and try on your new dress." Lady Lilac sighed as she forced the dress over Poppy.
"Mom I don't want a new dress!" Poppy protested. "I want to save Trollgenlot! Although I admit Satin and Chenille have a knack for making dresses..." Poppy couldn't help admiring her dress.
Thank goodness Stain and Chenille had not only more than inherited their parents' talents, but they also had a firm grasp of Poppy's sense of style. Her new dress was very similar to her favorite shirt/pants combo, blue with light-blue waves on the bottom and cuffs and three light-blue petals over each point on the waves. Feminine, mostly to please Lady Lilac, but not too girly, much to Poppy's relief. Definitely better than that hot pink fancy dress Lady Lilac once tried to buy for her...
Truthfully, Poppy was starting to become suspicious that her mom was starting to force ladylike things like dresses on her because she was planning for Poppy to get married soon.
"But still, if you'd just let me I know I can find Peacekeeper all on my own." Poppy insisted.
"Knights will find the sword and they'll do it by working together." Lady Lilac said.
"While I'm working here." Poppy sighed. "Doing the chores, fetching the eggs, taking care of the house. Boring. Where's the glory in that?"
"Poppy, one day you will learn what Trollgenlot means. Till then, you'll stay here with me." Lady Lilac gently insisted.
"Or with some hard-working farmer?" Poppy raised an eyebrow.
Lady Lilac winced, knowing she was busted.
"Seriously mom? Look, I'm not against marriage but I would prefer at least finding my own husband. And definitely not a farmer, they're not my type." Poppy frowned. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life living on a farm."
"Okay, okay." Lady Lilac gave in. "I just...don't want you to be alone for the rest of your life."
"I won't be, I promise." Poppy then smiled reassuringly, understanding that her mom was just concerned for her future.
"Good. And for the record I wasn't going to force marriage onto you...I was just going to have you meet all the nearby eligible bachelors." Lady Lilac smirked. "I was going to let you choose your own husband from the very beginning."
"Oh..." Poppy chuckled sheepishly, a little embarrassed that she had assumed the worst.
"Now, will you please gather the eggs? I need them for some baking I'm going to do soon."
"Fine...and one of those baked goods had better be a cake." Poppy smirked, taking off her dress as she left.
"Oo, especially cupcakes!" Cooper, hanging up Sir Peppy's newly-polished shield, grinned excitedly.
"You missed a spot." Lady Lilac deadpanned.
"Huh?" Cooper noticed that he had been focusing so much on half of the shield that he had forgotten about the other half. "Oops..." He muttered as he took the shield back down to resume polishing.
"You're not really discouraging Poppy from becoming a knight...does this mean you're going to let her become one?" Biggie noticed.
"Truthfully I don't want her too become a knight, I don't want to risk losing her like we lost Peppy." Lady Lilac sighed. "But if I tried to stop her then she'd probably just run off and try to join the knights anyway, after all you know how stubborn she can be. So I figured it'd be best if I'm at least realistic about the situation, like reminding Poppy that she needs to learn what Trollgenlot and being a knight really mean before she can become one."
Poppy hummed the song she was singing yesterday to herself as she started gathering eggs...until a menacing shadow fell upon her, scaring her and making her drop an egg!