Kaleb Cooper's seventh journal, senior sergeant in the capital city of the country Tortall

Continuation of December 15, 154

I gave a slight bow as the lady knight approached. I had never met this particular knight but I had given up trying to keep track of all the knights that came and went in our city. Nearly a dozen squires were knighted every Midwinter, adding to a roster of nearly three generations of knights in the kingdom.

However, this knight must have met me in the past or knew of me. She had called me by my name, after all.

"My lady knight," I replied with a bow, trying to hide my confusion.

"The Lord Provost has talked of you," she explained in answer to my silent question. "Word of your female trainee has reached the court. Is that her?" The lady knight's eyes glanced at Valeska, who was nudging a pickpocket away from his target—a merchant's wife busy keeping an eye on her many children. I nodded.

"Her name is Valeska," I replied. "She has potential."

The lady knight smiled.

"Obviously," she said. "If she made it through the first tests. Isn't it a little early for the trainees to be tried on the streets?"

"Not at all, lady knight," I said. "It's Midwinter and we need all the help we can get. They would have started training on the streets within the month anyway."

The lady knight nodded.

"Might I talk to her?" she asked. "I and my fellow lady knights are cheering for her and I feel like she would benefit from some advice. It can be difficult being the only girl among so many boys."

I couldn't say no to such a request. Valeska had faced so much negativity and discouragement that keeping her away from people who would support her seemed like a cruelty. The next time Valeska looked in my direction, I gestured for her to come over. Valeska made her way over slowly, eyes focused on the female knight.

"My lady," she said with a small bow before bowing to me. I gave her a thoughtful look. Curious. She had bowed to a knight but curtsied to the baker's wife. I had seen her alternating between the two gestures in the past few months as well.

"Valeska, this is Lady Knight—" I stopped, realizing that I had never gotten the knight's name.

"Karilyn of Queenscove," the noblewoman supplied.

"Lady Knight Karilyn," I continued. "She wished to talk to you."

Valeska gave a hesitant nod, eyes widening ever so slightly. I stepped away to give the two some privacy but stayed in earshot. I wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to learn new information. A guard's life could depend on the information that they managed to dig up. It meant the difference between a false lead, a trap, and the chance to nab a rogue.

"How are things going?" Lady Karilyn asked.

"As well as things can be," Valeska replied vaguely. The lady knight didn't seem impressed by her answer.

"And what does that mean to you?" she asked. Valeska didn't answer for a while.

"I haven't been chased away yet," she replied bluntly. "That's more than I can say for most places."

There was the subtle reminder of her origins. I had never made this connection until now. Cook's room was probably the safest place Valeska had ever slept in her life. It was warm, she had a bed and blankets, and she never had to worry about finding a new place to sleep or someone else trying to take over her spot.

"And how do the boys act around you?" the lady knight asked. Valeska sighed.

"Like boys?" she replied, startling a laugh out of the lady knight. "I don't know. There were the comments about my reputation at first but once they realized I wasn't leaving, they weren't as bad. There's still some now and then but it could have been worse. It's the people out here that seem to take the most offense." Valeska gestured to the market.

"You're trying to change things that have remained the same for years," Lady Karilyn acknowledged. "People are going to be resistant at first. How's training going?"

"Challenging at times but nothing that I can't handle," Valeska replied in a careful tone. "The boys have learned not to go easy on me."

"Do you have any questions?" the lady knight asked. "I might not know exactly how your training goes or what you face but I know what it's like, being the only girl. I was the only female in my year."

Valeska remained silent. I was hoping that she wouldn't pass up this opportunity but it seemed like she had nothing to say.

Then she surprised me.

"What do you do when people refuse to work with you, solely because you're the wrong gender?" she asked. The lady knight smiled.

"I wish I could bash them on the heads, but that's not always appropriate," she said. "If you feel like you can win them over, do your best to do so. If you know that you can't—if you know they'll be too resistant—try your best to complete your task or ask for a reassignment. You can't win every battle so just focus on the ones you can win."

It may not have been the advice I would have given but it was still sound advice. It would also cause the least amount of conflict.

"Show them you're good at what you do and after a while, the protests will stop," the lady knight continued. "Any other concerns?"

Valeska looked nervous.

"One but I won't be able to do anything about it," she replied.

"It's still helpful to voice your concerns, if only to get it off your mind," Lady Karilyn informed the girl. Valeska nodded.

"I'm worried that the training will be for nothing," she said quietly. "That I'll complete the training but they won't give me the uniform."

"And why are you troubled about that?" Lady Karilyn inquired. Valeska faced the market.

"I'm a girl and I'm from the slums. For the most part, the city doesn't like the idea of me. I have ties to the Court of the Rogue. No one wanted to take me out today, which is why I'm with Sergeant Cooper. I have a feeling that it would be impossible to find a partner that would work with me."

The girl was more aware of what went on around her than she let on. I had tried my best to keep it a secret that the senior guards were reluctant to work with her.

"But if you complete the training, you can't be denied the uniform," Lady Karilyn stated.

"Unless they feel that I am still unqualified," Valeska said. "And unqualified is a very vague word."

The lady knight wore a troubled frown.

"I would trust in our guards that something like that wouldn't happen," she said. "Our Lord Provost is a good man."

"To those on the right side of the law," Valeska replied. "However, I used to be on the wrong side of the law. He won't forget that in a hurry. Even if I do my best to become reputable, there'll always be people that remember I used to be a cricket."

The lady knight furrowed her brow at the unfamiliar term. The term was unfamiliar to me as well.

"Cricket?" she asked. Valeska grinned sheepishly.

"It's something I call what the king has defined as criminals. The word criminal makes me think of crickets and a cricket is easily stomped on and caught by those who hunt them."

I grinned to myself. I liked the term now that I knew the reasoning behind it and I would have to stop myself from using the term in front of my men.

The lady knight was grinning as well.

"The year is practically half over," she said. "If you haven't been kicked out yet, I think you'll have no problem getting through the year. Us lady knights are cheering for you."

Valeska bowed and Lady Karilyn moved on but as Valeska turned toward me, she had a sour look on her face.

"It would be nice if common folk were cheering," she muttered under her breath. "Nobility doing so is fine and all but I don't want to be their entertainment. I didn't do this to become enterntainment."