"Why am I here?"

"Someone wants to talk to you." He leads me through the doors. A large door marked "Recruitment" looms in front of me. The knight, whose name was Jacob, (he wanted to be called Jonathan, it was more formal and Jacob wasn't really a knight's type of name), knocks on the door. "Hai?!" a voice yells, making me jump.

"Sir, you wish to see the child?"

"Yes Jonathan. Send her in."

I gulp and look up at Jacob who smiles and says,

"Be polite, and always answer--"

"Yes Sir, no Sir. I know."

'The doorknob looks so big.' I use both hands to turn the doorknob and the door swings open.

"Ah hello. So you're the girl who wants to be a knight, right?"

"Yes Sir! More than anything! Oops…"

He laughs heartily.

"You're spunky. And I hear you're good friends with the princesses."

"Yes Sir, though I am a townsperson and we're not supposed to talk to them."

"Right. Listen, I think that the girls would like you to be with them more often. So I want you to be a knight."

"Really?! cough I mean…"

"I don't think they really trust my knights, and I've heard they feel uncomfortable around them. So it'd help if there was someone they knew there to protect them."

"W-w… When do I start?"

"You'll start small until you are at least nine years old."

He hands me a bamboo sword and its holster.
"Put this around your waist. Oop, I almost forgot."

Handing me a piece of paper, he says,

"Get this signed by Queen Serenity." "Sir!"

"Where is she?" Lita asks.

"Hope she's not in… JAIL!" Mina says, eyes wide.

"JAIL?!" the others scream.

"No…way." Ami says.

"No. She can't be."

Lita starts to cry. Laughter comes down the pathway outside Serenity's balcony.

"Who's laughing?" Serenity asks. Looking over the railing, Lita can just make out my figure in the distance.

"It's Giselle! Oy! Hyper," she yells as I run by.

"Hai?" I answer, skidding to a stop.

"Why are you--"

"Running? Tell you when I get up there. Hey, tell the guards to let me in. Hurry!"

Lita nods and salutes, smiling

I bow instead of saluting, then run off.

"Wha? But…" Lita says, confused.

"She NEVER bows. What happened to her?" Serenity asks.

"You got me there," Mina says.

She and Serenity look at each other.

"Maybe that old guard had her…brainwashed?"

"Mina, think about it." Ami says.

"But Ami," Rei says, "Richard's been chasing her since last year. He coulda, you know how crazy he is."

"Lita's gone…" Serenity says.

"NO WAY! YOU'RE KIDDING!"

"There she is," everyone says.

"Guys," she yells, sliding to a stop, "HUGE news!"

"What?" they ask.

"Giz…is…a…"

"KNIGHT-O!" I yell, striking a superhero pose.

"WHAT!?!"

"LOOK! I even have a sword!"

"But it's bamboo," Rei says.

"I'm a K.I.T. Knight-In-Training… sorta."

"She just has to get this signed by Queen Serenity!" Lita says, holding up the paper.

"No fair! Serenity gets to be queen and YOU get to be a knight!" Rei exclaims.

"You guys," I say, "your time'll come. You wanna come with?"

"Yeah!"

We run down the hall.

'She HAS to say yes.'

"She has to."