A/N: Wrote this during some flights, so sorry for the brevity, but I'm grounded for a few days so the next chap is sure to be chock-full of sweet, sweet supercorp moments. Also I wanted to put something out there for the dreaded day of a certain character's return to the show... that way you all have something to take refuge in. Anywhooo enjoy and I'll start working on the next chap ASAP.

Chapter 7: Sweet Dreams

Lena yawned and stretched as she roused from her slumber. She pulled her blanket closer to her and recognized the familiar pine scent that belonged to Kara. Slowly, she opened her eyes and blushed as she realized it was Kara's cloak that she was snuggling with. She hadn't meant to keep it, but Kara had insisted that she keep it until she could get one made for Lena.

A knock at her door had her scurrying out of bed and stuffing the cloak under her blankets. She clumsily pulled on one of the many dresses hanging in her closet, but was only halfway dressed when her guest entered on their own. Sam chuckled at the sight of Lena half dressed and scrambling to appear ready.

"Slow down there," Sam said as she placed her hand on Lena's shoulder. "Kara's already up and about the castle; she trains early in the morning."

"That's… surprising," Lena said as she recalled how hard it was to wake the sleepy princess.

"She also mentioned that you might like a change of clothes."

"I didn't have many dresses before coming here," Lena explained.

"Really?" Sam grew curious, "remind me where it was you came from again?"

Lena remained silent; somehow her and Kara hadn't gone over the details.

"I'm only joking, who am I to judge your choice of wear?" Sam teased and Lena let out a deep breath. "I'm here to take you to get fitted for some pants and shirts proper for a handmaiden of the royal family."

"I don't have to wear a dress?" Lena asked.

"The Kingdom of Krypton might be old, but it's not as backwards as you might believe."

Lena raised a brow in disbelief. The Kingdom of Krypton was well known for being traditional.

"...Kara may have had it decreed that women could wear pants if they so desired; truly she's been a blessing since the day she was old enough to voice her own opinions."

Lena laughed wholeheartedly as she pictured a young Kara demanding for the right to wear pants and decreeing it into law. She really would make for a great ruler. The two women ventured through the castle until they were out the front doors and on their way to the tailor's shop. Once there, Lena found out firsthand how uncomfortable getting fitted for clothes made her feel. The tailor simply picked and prodded wherever she felt was necessary to get Lena's measurements. More than once Lena yelped and Sam refrained from laughing too much. Finally, after what Lena thought was enough measurements, they exited the shop and Sam produced a small bag of coins to present to Lena.

"What's that?"

Sam put the bag in Lena's hands, "your pay, of course"

"My pay?" Lena's eyes widened at the heaviness of the bag. "But I haven't even worked really…"

"Kara pays her own servants at the first of the month," Sam shrugged.

Kara's pay system was actually not a very popular stance in the kingdom, but again, Kara was not too keen on being popular. Her uncle constantly reprimanded her for her antics but she was the king's daughter, and he was only the king's brother with a son that became heir apparent due to Kara being a girl. Kara understood she would not rule, but she'd do all she could do to influence the world for the better.

"Anyways, I have to get going, you're free to do what you want for the day, but return to the castle before the sun sets, the princess will need you then for her bath."

Lena had been nodding her head until the very last part. The mention of Kara in a bath made her mouth dry and her lightheaded.

"Wh,what do you mean she'll need me for her bath?"

"It's your job to prep her bath. After a day of training, the princess enjoys and requires a hot bath in her bathing suite."

"Right, of course," Lena sighed as she shook her head free of more salacious thoughts. "How exactly—"

Lena had turned to ask Sam a question only to find that the girl had vanished. She tip toed and looked down the lane but saw no traces of the girl. She huffed and walked along the street, passing various vendors who greeted her with an easy smile. She supposed she should make the most of her day off, and the new sights all around her called out to her.

She passed most of them, giving only a small smile in return, until she neared a smithing station and heard a man's voice bark out demeaning insults to a boy who stood awkwardly by the forge. Her eyes softened as she watched the young man take the harsh words with only a flinch in his facial expression.

"Why would you craft this ungodly thing?!" The man roared as he held up a elegantly designed blade. Lena marveled at how different this sword was from others. It looked strangely mechanical in nature, with gears in odd places.

"Well you see, it's a multipurpose," the young man began.

"It's an abomination!" The man cut him off, "which serves no other purpose than to disgrace blacksmiths everywhere!"

"But Elgar, if you would just give me a another chance…"

"After the shenanigans you pulled at our last showcase. I've given you many chances boy; you're lucky I've even kept you on as my apprentice."

The young man with keen eyes cast his gaze downward and pinched his lips together; at this rate, he was going to get himself fired.

"My apologies, I'll… never make a sword like that again."

"You bet your arse, you'll never forge anything like this again," Elgar muttered and prepped to throw the creation into the melting pot.

"A moment!" Lena raised her voice.

The men stilled and turned to see who had invaded what they had thought was a private argument.

"Actually, I couldn't help but overhear and I was wondering," Lena held her bag of coins out, "if I could buy the abomination?"

Elgar grunted in amusement, but approached the strange woman nonetheless. His eyes glanced over her quickly and he recognized her dresses colors immediately, she was an attendant for the royal family.

"And why would a pretty creature like yourself need such a thing?" The blacksmith asked with chastising tone.

"Because I doubt a creature such as you would pass up coins," she said with disdain and swished the bag in her hands, "unless I'm mistaken."

The man withheld a snarl, she was a cheeky one. He sent a leer towards his apprentice.

"You deal with this," he grunted and shoved the weapon at the smaller man.

"Right," the young man kept his grin in check and then flashed a boyish smile at Lena once Elgar went back to his forge. "I cannot thank you enough," he spoke lowly.

"It may have been an impulse buy," Lena admitted and the young man frowned, "but I have no regrets!"

He smiled again, "I promise you it's worth every coin."

"I'm sure it is," Lena replied, "may I have your name?"

"Winn Schott, my lady," he said with a slight bow.

"Please call me Lena," she said as the young man wrapped her strange sword. "Thank you, Winn."

"If you'd like I can teach you how it works," Winn whispered excitedly as he handed the sword over.

"How it works?" Lena raised a brow. "It's… actually a gift."

"A gift… to be mantled?" Winn said, slightly horrified, but he supposed it was a better fate than to be melted.

"No, she's a swordsman...woman, rather" Lena corrected herself with a mumble, "I'm sure she'll make good use of it, fear not."

"A girl?" Winn's voice cracked.

"Is that a problem?" Lena gave him a wary look.

"No… not at all, I just wish I had known, I could have tweaked the specifications slightly to be—"

"Winn!" Elgar boomed.

Winn quickly bowed again and Lena took that as her cue to leave. With the 'gift' in hand, she spent the rest of the day learning more about the people that surrounded the castle, chatting with guards who seemed desperate for some kind of conversation and finding herself well liked by most she encountered. Occasionally there was a man or woman who treated her with some disdain, but none dared to be outright disrespectful to a servant of the royal house.

As the sun began to set, Lena rushed back to the castle and began to prep the bath for Kara. She had not sought the girl out all day; the town had kept her busy. She filled the golden tub with hot water, all the while wondering if the tub was truly made of gold. She had received a note from Sam with the various oils she ought to put in the tub to relieve Kara's aching muscles, but she deviated and mixed in her own concoctions. She had picked a few flowers from the gardens, which Kara had given her permission to do so when she mentioned that some had healing capabilities, so she splashed a few of their petals on the water. Just as she finished, she heard the door behind her creak open.

"Lena, I hope your day was well," Kara sighed with a smile.

"It was, I explored the town," Lena chirped and was about to go into more detail until she saw the worn expression on Kara's face, "are you alright?"

"Yes, I just might have gone a little too hard at training today."

Kara grunted as she raised her arm to unlatch her shoulder guard.

"Here, let me," Lena reached the clasp before Kara could struggle any further.

Kara didn't bother to argue as the shorter girl undid the components of her armor and lay the pieces on the floor. She had gone to bed last night feeling strange, but good. Veronica had gone her way, and Lena had spent the rest of the day by her side, everything had been fine until she had had that dream. Her face threatened to blush as she glanced at the girl who was sliding her chain mail off; suddenly she felt the need for a cold bath rather than the hot one she usually preferred.

"All done," Lena said with satisfaction. "I added some of my own healing mixtures into your water; you'll feel ten times better as soon as you sink in.

Kara nodded, and thanked Lena before she exited the room. Once in the water she felt a soothing sensation caress her muscles as the water enveloped her skin. She had spent all day pushing herself to prove that Lena wasn't always a constant on her mind; that her friendship with the girl was simply new and exciting, but nothing much had changed, and that her dream had been nothing more than an overactive imagination stemming from the stress of having to deal with Veronica. After soaking for what seemed like ages, Kara got out and readied herself for bed. Then, as she threw the covers over her body, a small knock made her heartbeat quicken.

She jumped off her bed and ran towards the bookcase. Just as she neared the large, wooden structure, it turned and she felt herself being pushed back. With an "oomph" Kara fell back, thankfully on a rather plush rug she had thrown by the bookcase after her last fall.

"Rao, I'm so sorry," Lena murmured as she scrambled off Kara's body.

"At least I know now that it isn't just me that had problems with that secret door." Kara joked and took Lena's extended hand to help her up.

"It really just forces you out so quickly," Lena muttered and then found Kara's gaze resting curiously on her.

"So what's the emergency?" Kara asked.

"Well… it's not an emergency per se… it's more of a, well you'll see, come with me," Lena instructed as she made her way back through the book case.

Kara followed eagerly and took caution as she went through the bookcase after Lena. The last thing she needed was to feel that girl on top of or under her. Once on the other side, she grinned; like her, Lena had placed a variety of soft things near the bookcase… she expected Kara to come falling into her room more than once.

"I see you're well prepared for my visits," Kara teased.

The dark-haired girl grinned and playfully replied, "I couldn't bear to see you fall on your face again."

"Hey you fell too," Kara pouted.

"Not on my face."

"Thanks to me!" Kara protested.

Lena chuckled, "valiant as ever, anyways, here" she handed the packaged sword to Kara, this is for you."

"Did you… buy me a gift?" Kara's jaw nearly dropped as she thought of how incredulous of an act this was. She wanted for nothing, Lena had just been paid today… and if the weight of the package indicated anything, then Lena was back to having nothing.

"Not on purpose," Lena added. "I was put in… circumstances that called for my intervention."

"In which you had to buy a sword?" Kara asked but soon forgot her question as she marveled at the design. "What… is this?"

"Isn't it beautiful?" Lena asked, pride shining in her smile. "A young blacksmith's appprentice, Winn, created it… his master almost threw it away, but I," Lena looked over the sword as Kara traced the blade with her finger, "I was drawn to it."

"Tell me the truth, did you spend all your money on this?" Kara looked away from the blade and found the answer in Lena's eyes before she could answer. "Lena… I cannot take this sword from you."

"But you must, I know I shouldn't have been so reckless with my pay, but"

"It is yours."

"I don't even know how to hold a sword," Lena countered.

"I will train you" Kara blurted out.

A moment of silence hung before Lena asked, "what?"

"I'll train you, after all," Kara cleared her throat, "you said you were drawn to it, right? Then clearly you were meant to learn to wield it. I happen to be the best swordswoman around, so who better to teach you? I mean, I think I'll be a pretty good teacher, I'm patient but stern and I've just won a tourney and you know I've always wanted an apprentice, so maybe—"

"Kara," Lena chuckled as she cut off the blonde's rambling. "First a handmaiden and now an apprentice?"

"It wouldn't be too strange… would it?"

Lena chuckled again, this woman was beyond her comprehension. "I am not entirely opposed to it."

"Then It is settled," Kara said with a grin. "We start tomorrow!"

"I don't think my clothes will be ready by then," Lena reminded her. "Unless you'd like to train me in a dress."

"Oh right, then as soon as your clothes are ready. Oh, I would also like to meet this Winn you spoke of."

"Of course, I'll seek him out tomorrow."

"Perfect, invite him to eat at noon with us," Kara commanded.

Lena nodded and suddenly realized that they were both seated at the edge of her bed. Her gaze drifted slowly, starting at Kara's thigh until it trailed up her collarbone, passed her pink lips and then found sterling blue looking back at her. Bashfully, she looked away and cleared her throat.

"I should get back to my room, goodnight Lena." Kara spoke as she shifted off the bed.

"Goodnight Kara, sweet dreams," she added.

Kara gulped as she headed back to her room; she feared exactly what sweet dreams entailed for her now.