A/N: well, I don't have many reviewers but to my one reviewer, thanks for the encouragement!! One's better than none that's for sure. Hope you all enjoy this next chapter!! I doesn't really get anywhere special but I wanted to introduce a new character and develop him a little. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that I don't own Ella Enchanted but Maelin, her family, and Bailey are mine. Please read and review!! I love comments and even helpful criticism! Just nothing downright mean, please. And I picked Mae over Lin for her nickname hope that's good. Bye for now!

Chapter 1

~11 years later~

"Take that! And that!" Jabbing her sword, a girl with shiny brown curls and sparkling blue eyes lunged. Her face was set into a determined yet playful scowl.

"Wow. You're getting better, Mae." The young man with sun-kissed blonde hair and golden, taut skin, who was also the object of Mae's jabbing, retaliated by twirling his long sword, glinting in the sun, and swinging it to meet hers with a loud CLANG!

"Good enough to pin you to the barn, Bailey?" She challenged.

"I wouldn't go that far." He smiled, a quiet chuckle leaking out of his lips.

"Good enough to -JAB- kill -JAB- a bloody -JAB- smelly -JAB- ogre!" She grunted.

"Probably."

Just as he uttered t hat word, Mae executed perfectly a front flip through the air, lifted her feet up and smacked Bailey in the chest, holding the sword frighteningly close to Bailey's now startled face.

"Looks like you're an ogre then." Mae teased, plunging her sword into a hay stack and turning to flop onto her back beside him in the dirt.

Furrowing her brow thoughtfully, Mae mused aloud-

"You know, Bay, now that I think about it, you really are beginning to show some ogre-like qualities lately."

"Mae, shut-"

"You can't possibly have bathed in the past year because I've trained with you every day, your fingernails are getting really long…"

"Oh, come on-" he punched her playfully in the forearm.

"Look! Right there! Aggression, the third sign of ogre-ness!" She shouted in mock horror.

"And I also know where your weaknesses are!" Bailey whispered in her ear.

His fingers quickly found her armpits and she screeched and wriggled in his grasp, but his strength was overpowering. Maelin giggled uncontrollably, throwing back her head and laughing until her stomach hurt and her throat was dry.

He finally stopped and they lay in the hay next to each other, both wearing huge smiles but panting like dogs.

"Get off your bum, Maelin, Ella's plucking her eyelashes looking for you." Bailey teased, rising slowly onto his knees, then standing and offering the limp girl a hand.

"Let her worry. She's not my mother." Mae accepted his hand and let him pull her easily to her feet. "Anyway, that's disgusting. Whatever possessed you to imagine Ella plucking out her eyelashes?" Mae made a face.

"I'm an ogre, remember? Plucking eyelashes is my forte." He retorted, wiggling his eyebrows and grinning evilly at her.

Stifling a giggle, Mae slapped herself on the forehead.

"Of course, how could I forget."

"Well for one you could stop stalling and remember that the Queen wants you back by lunchtime."

"I'm coming, I'm coming. A little demanding today, aren't we? Mae added, although reluctantly sidling into step beside him.

They walked out of the barn together into the busy marketplace and took in what lay ahead of them. All around them villagers were running, humming, screaming, and buying. Children threw stones and jumped rope, younger ones clinging to their mother's leg.

"Remember, out her I'm just your sword fighting instructor." Bailey reminded.

"Hardly." Maelin muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Bailey responded, a bit sarcastically, without hesitation.

"Oh, nothing. You're just really into keeping up reputations and appearances, aren't you? Sometimes it's hard to believe you're barely a year older than me."

"I just don't want to lose my job."

"Well, pooey jobs. See you tomorrow, Bay." Waving good-bye and glancing back over her shoulder one more time, Maelin closed the castle gate behind her and disappeared.

Bailey sighed. "Can't wait."

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Till next time! It'll hopefully be soon that I get the next chap up cuz I just finished a few projects and auditions so I'll have time. 3, Talia