*Miranda's POV*
It was a long month. Sofia and Hugo won the Flying Crown. She had gotten so much stronger over the course of this year. She's managed to make a lot more friends and she's hit a bit of a growth spurt. So she's now the tallest of the kids. With what she does as activities, she's gained a bit more muscle and she had very little fat on her. She's still able to pick up her wolf and I've caught them wrestling together outside. Sofia pinned her wolf a lot and got pinned and all that fun stuff.
For Mother's Day, I of course got more presents from the twins. I had to comfort Sofia and make her see that I wasn't just hers anymore, that she had to share me with the twins. Sofia had put a wall up that day. That day had been a little rough. Two witches had been out hexing and when they came to the island, I was wary. Sofia however had grinned.
"Marla. Lucinda." she said.
"Hey Sofia." Lucinda said.
"Hey Princess." Marla said.
"What are you doing here?" Sofia asked.
"Well, I told mom that I was a good witch now and she smiled. We decided to come see you." Lucinda said.
"Yes. Oh and the spell went off." Marla said.
"When?" Sofia asked in a tone that I never heard from her.
"A couple days ago. I've kept an eye on him. He's been around the shop so I put protection spells on the things." Marla said.
"Thank you." Sofia said.
"Oh and mom removed anything from the shop you may have left behind. It's with us in a safe so if you would like to see them just ask." Lucinda said.
Sofia hugged both of them.
"Sofia, would you introduce us?" I asked kindly.
"Oh. Sorry mom." Sofia said sheepishly before motioning to the two, "This is Lucinda and her mom Marla. They moved to the village a couple months after we became royalty. They're witches and they fled from Rudistan."
I greeted them and we all had a very nice picnic.
"Amber, they're the ones who helped me with my Tea Party." Sofia said.
"Really? That tea party was a magnificent one. Really pretty. I enjoyed it." Amber said.
Mother's day turned out to be a wonderful day and we made new friends. A couple weeks later, we prepared for the Shield of Valor Ceremony. All the knights were here and it's Tilly that's getting the shield. I smile as Sir Bartleby, also known as the Silent Knight, caught Tilly because she went flying off her horse. Roland and I were watching the knight's precession when both James and Sofia were riding along. James looked a little silly, but Sofia was clad in a small set of armor.
"James? Sofia? What are you doing?" Roland asked.
"I want to be a knight." James said.
"I'm just having fun. Plus I'd like to see what a knight does." Sofia said.
"Well, James, becoming a knight takes years of training and you need to be a squire first." Roland said.
"But squires just follow the knight around and carries his stuff." James complained.
"A square does much more than that and is the first step to becoming a knight." Sir Finnegan said stepping up.
He chuckled as he spotted Sofia, "Well hello again deary. I guess I found out why you don't come around as often."
"Sorry Finnegan. I got busy." Sofia said.
"Ah that's alright kiddo. I got an idea, come by the tent later. The boys would love to see you again. You know most of them consider you a little sister right?" Finnegan said.
Sofia chuckled, "Yeah. I got this for my birthday from one of them."
Finnegan turned to James, "Why don't you be my squire?"
"Deal." James said.
*Sofia's POV*
I spotted Sir Bartleby talking with Aunt Tilly and just smiled. I continued onward to the knight tents and spotted Sir Finnegan and James. Finnegan had made James shine and polish his armor again. I made my way over.
"Finnegan." I said.
"Ah, hello Sofia." he said.
I went up to hug him. He's stern but a teddy bear at heart. When I was little, I had helped a lost squire get back to their camp and met the knights. Coincidentally, it was Sir Finnegan's squire. I got praised by the knights and they played with me. I saw a someone struggling a bit with something and I went over to help him. I picked up the rest of the batch and he thanked me. I spent the day with the knights and just had some fun.
He tossed me up in the air and I giggled.
"Hey Princessa." one of my favorite knights said.
I went over and hugged him. He was one of the younger knights, but he was still a good man.
"I heard about him. He had been spotted around the castle a day ago. We didn't do anything because he was just looking. When we heard about it, all of us really wanted to go after him but we knew that it would be up to you. So we merely kept an eye on him." he said.
"Thanks." I said.
"Say, would you cook your stew? We absolutely loved it the last time you made it. Plus it'd be fun to just have you around again." he said.
"Sure." I chuckled.
He cheered and I smiled.
"Oi Sofia." I heard Finnegan call.
"Yes?" I said as I turned to him as he approached.
"Could you show your brother how to sharpen the sword? I told him how, but he didn't do it right." he said.
"Of course. Can you go get the things I need for the stew?" I said.
"Ah, so you are making the stew. Good. Also word gets around really fast here so I know about him. It may have come from Constable Myles but we knew." Finnegan said.
We walked together to where James was trying and failing to sharpen the sword. Well, he was failing to pick it up.
"James." Finnegan said.
He stood up and the sword dropped to the ground.
"Sofia here has offered to show you how to sharpen the sword. If you won't listen to me when I tell you how to do it, maybe you'll listen to her. A good quality about a knight, is listening to directions. If you don't know what your doing, how are you going to get the job done?" Finnegan said.
James frowned, "I can do it."
I shrugged and walked off. I picked up a sword that looked dull. It was, so I grabbed a whet stone and started sharpening. It just so happened to be a spare for Finnegan. I sharpened it to perfection and lifted it. I decided to polish it too and took it with me to do just that. I came back to see Finnegan telling James how to polish his armor just right. James looked annoyed.
"Finnegan. Your spare's ready." I called.
He looked over and saw the sword in my hand. He smiled.
"Now that is a finely sharpened sword." he said as he took it from me and looked it over. "Oh and the stuff you need is right over there."
I saw the supplies for my stew and I smiled. I went to start it. I spotted Sir Bartleby with Tilly again. He was talking with Tilly.
"Sofia deary, come here." Tilly said.
"Coming Aunt Tilly." I called and headed over.
"Sofia, this is Sir Bartelby." Tilly said.
I smirked as I got into a play stance. He copied and I tackled him. We were rolling around just playing and I smiled.
"So Bart, I see you've taken a liking to my aunt." I said.
"Yes. I have." he said.
"Sofia? Have you met him before?" Tilly asked.
"Yep. When I was little, I had helped a lost squire get back to his camp. He got lost in the woods. I spent the day playing with the knights." I said.
"Well, I guess that takes care of introductions." Tilly said.
I just smiled, "Well I better get back to making my stew. The others will get whiny if I don't."
"Oooh, your really tasty stew?" Bart said.
I nodded.
"Oh goody." he said.
I chuckled as I ran off.
*Finnegan's POV*
I watched as Sofia mingled with all the knights. I remember when she was just a wee little thing. She had helped one of my squires back to the camp. I ran over to my squire and told him off for running off like that. He very quickly pointed the little lass out and I immediately toned down. I knelt to her height.
"Well hello there, what's your name?" I asked gently.
"I'm Sofia sir." she said.
"Thank you for helpin him out." I said.
"Your welcome." she said.
"Finnegan, when's lunch going to be ready?" one of my men said.
"Just a second." I called back.
"I can cook a stew for all of you. My village say its the best thing they've had." the little one said.
I nodded and let her go. She cooked a very hearty stew and it was delicious. I decided that we could take a break from traveling back to the castle for a day and we spent the day just playing with the girl. It was obvious she hadn't smiled like she was in a while, probably her mother was the only one who cared for her. A couple really good friends while the others didn't pay any attention. The adults loved her though.
I played with her too and she very quickly wormed her way into each of my men's hearts. She became a daughter or baby sister to all of them. She was being tossed back and forth between two of my stronger men and she was giggling her little heart out as she gave a toothy grin. We taught her how to hold a sword and everything. Whenever we passed by her village, which wasn't that hard given her village was the one right outside the castle, we stopped and played with her. She was quick to pick up how each knight wanted things done. We gave her little trinkets to take with her.
Now it was obvious that word had gotten around to the other knights that she was a sweetheart and had very quickly wormed her way into their hearts as well. I was being strict with James because I could tell he needed a little more kick to get him to do what I asked. Sofia only needed one explanation before she went off and did it better. Very soon, all of us had a good sized bowl of Sofia's stew. I had gotten done fast because I needed to see the king about the ceremony and how we were going to do this. When I was done talking to the king, I came back to see Sofia sparring with one of the knights and actually winning. I watched as he went full speed and Sofia actually kept up. I grinned as I saw her beat him. He was one of my best men and he got beaten by Sofia.
"Well done Princess." I said.
"Good job kiddo. I see that you've been practicing." my man said.
"Thanks. That was fun." she said.
I thought of something and called over Sir Bartleby. He came over and I told him my plan. He nodded in agreement and so in a weeks time, Sofia will have a chance to earn the Junior Knight rank. I also kept an eye on James. He wanted to be a knight, but he has to realize that there was more to a knight than fighting and blowing things up. We also provided protection and had to scout, which meant patience in waiting and watching.
When the ceremony was done, I told Sofia about the test and she grinned accepting the challenge. And so in a week's time, Sir Bartleby and I conducted the Junior Knights test for Sofia. She held a small grin at who the horse was. She was riding a beautiful black stallion with a white patch on his chest. It looked like he had socks on too. We began and she was flying. She didn't slow down to pick up a jousting pole. She grabbed it, speared the fruit and plopped it in the barrel. She bowed and then shot the bow from the horse. She had the horse boost her up and on top of the wall where she flipped off. She rolled and ran to the end. When she ended, she had plenty of time left over.
"Well done princess. You have passed and earned the rank of Junior Knight." I said.
She cheered softly and had a cheeky look on her face.
"Can I run it again but this time without the horse?" she asked.
I nodded and reset the time. Once everything was reset, I started her and she took off again. She ducked and weaved through the dummies, threw the javelin through the fruit and got a bullseye. She scaled the wall with ease and tumbled off. She made the time again.
"Well well, look at you. Good job Princess." I said chuckling as I saw her toothy grin.
She whistled and the black horse from before came trotting over.
"Good job Blackjack." she said.
"Blackjack?" I asked.
"Yep." she said.
"You're the one who won the junior race didn't you? You were the only one to tame him." I said.
She nodded.
"Well, you definitely earned the rank." I said.
She gave me a toothy grin. We spent time chatting and Sir Bartleby had somewhere to be.
*Flora's POV*
When the students returned, Sofia had gone through an obvious growth spurt and had put on some muscle. She was always toned, but now it was obvious. She was our most peculiar student as she was really smart and acted far older than she really was. When we first met her, we thought she was about ten or eleven but in her record it said she was eight.
Today was the start of the Enchanted Science Fair and the students will be paired in teams of two to create Enchanted Projects. We paired James and Khalid, Sofia and Vivian, and Amber and Desmond. Sofia was excited and Vivian was too. I overheard them and James and Khalid would work on theirs at Khalid's castle, Amber would go to Desmond's, and Vivian to Sofia's.
*Vivian's POV*
I went with Sofia to her castle this time. I was excited to see her castle since we were always at mine for the dream castle. Sofia gave me a tour of the castle and I was shocked to see how big it was. We went to her room and it wasn't really a room, it was more like a cozy cabin than a room. We headed to the library to see if there were any good projects to do.
Her dad was there and Sofia asked if they had any books on Enchanted projects. He was happy to help and grabbed several books. I spotted one that I liked as did Sofia. Mine was an Enchanted Orchestra and Sofia had liked the idea of the Floating Solar System. We were having a bit of trouble deciding which one to do.
"Hmmm…" Sofia hummed as she looked them over.
I helped her. She spotted something.
"What if we combined the two?" she said.
"How?" I asked.
"Well, we can make the instruments according to this, but also incorporate the instructions from the system. Instead of having the orchestra on the ground, we have it floating. Basically replacing the planets with instruments." Sofia said.
"Hmm, sounds good. Lets do it." I said.
"Cool. We can get the ingredients from Mr. Cedric." Sofia said.
I followed her to his tower and she asked him for the stuff. He seems like the guy who doesn't care much for other people but Sofia. We got started on the project and tested it when we were done. IT WAS AMAZING! I have such a smart friend. We were last to present.
"Last but not least, Princess Sofia and Princess Vivian, presenting the Floating Enchanted Orchestra." Flora announced.
I kicked off the explanation of how we picked two projects with Sofia finishing with how we combined the two. I pulled the string and we waited for it to go. When it went, it was amazing.
"Very impressive girls." the fairies said.
We won the contest and I got to take the project home since Sofia had the prototype back at her castle.