Dani moved as softly as she could down the castle halls. The seven-year-old Princess padded along confidently while keeping one hand on the wall as her bare feet softly smacked against the ground. She focused her mind on the task at hand as she paid more attention to the sound of her footsteps.
She had sneaked out of her lessons with her siblings and was now tiptoeing around to find her Uncle. She was bound and determined to catch him by surprise, she had already done so with the rest of her family, but her Uncle was good. No scratch that he was really good. The little girl squeezed herself into an alcove at the soft sound of clanging metal.
The tiny girl paced her breathing as her Uncle had taught her. After the sound of metal clanging passed, she gave it three breaths and then resumed her prowling. To be fair the reason why he was probably so good was because he had taught her everything she knew. But that was going to change.
Dani had tried catching him off-guard forever but each time he caught her and tickled her mercilessly. Then she got an idea at the strangest of all places, while she was listening with rapt attention to the royal tutor who was also one of her Aunts. While history and arithmetic were crucial to royalty, she was more invested in the battle tactics and strategy involved in them. It was then it dawned on her that perhaps she could achieve her goal differently.
She had spent the past five days weighing the pros and cons of her decision and planned everything out to the tiniest detail she knew of. Now it was finally time to act.
She stopped as she felt the stone warm, and a scent wafted up her nose: it was a mix of oils, sweat, and leather. She focused on her ears and heard the telltale clacks of the training swords and grunts and yells of effort. She bit her lip as a smile threatened to overcome her face; she found the training grounds.
Now came the trouble of finding her Uncle. She swallowed her nerves as she crept along in the shadows.
She slowed her tiptoeing even more, there were more people here than in her previous attempts. She kept quiet as she went behind the weapon stands and moved with ease through the shrubbery. She bit her lip as she focused on her hearing and smell. She grimaced as all she smelled was the same scent as before so that just left her hearing.
She felt a drop of sweat run down her arm as her feet felt someone walking close by. The best she could do was freeze and act like a shadow.
The footsteps didn't so much as twitch and kept right on their path.
Dani let out a soft breath and focused on her hearing again. Then she heard one of her Aunt's friends.
She had a voice that was hard to forget.
Dani gave a smile with a giggle as she moved swiftly to the sound. Where she was, her Uncle was.
She moved along for a few steps until her short hair tickled her cheeks from behind. She stopped but wasn't afraid of being caught. This was wind, the only reason it would blow more strongly here meant she was between two objects.
With careful steps, she stretched out her right arm and felt a soft fabric; a tent. And from what she could hear, her Aunt's friend hadn't moved. She gave a feral grin as she gripped the fabric in her right hand and eased herself under it. She could make out four figures in the space and slowly she moved to the back where the voice was coming from when she was close enough, she coiled and pinned her leap's target.
"GOTCHA!"
Dani only felt a soft swish of air.
Then there was a solid CLONK that echoed loudly as a training sword was brought down with full force on her head.
She hissed and rubbed the sore spot as the tears tried to come out. Then she squealed as strong arms picked her up easily and tickled her without stopping.
She remembered earlier how she thought her Uncle was good. She was wrong; he was too good.
Joyce could only laugh as Captain Revo carried the young Princess off to her tutor who was by now realizing one of her charges was missing. Hopefully, this wouldn't stress her out too much.
John knocked softly at the door and could only smile as the tutor opened it with a patient look on her face.
"John."
Opeli said with a soft smile before looking down at the young Princess who had the decency to look at the floor and twiddle her fingers.
"As for you, your study will be doubled today. Both of the Princes are finished, I leave them with you for their sword training Captain Revo."
John smiled and stepped aside as the two young Princes raced past him to the training grounds. He gave a soft huff which Opeli had come to associate with laughter as he set the young Princess down and gave her a soft nudge in the right direction.
"I love you, Uncle John."
Dani gave him a hug around his legs while he eased down and softly ruffled her hair, before signing into her hand. Opeli giggled as the Princess deflated but turned around and straightened then marched right into the room with her head held high.
"Thank you, John."
She gave him a parting kiss and smiled as he rubbed the noticeable bump her belly now had. She had only just begun to show, but John seemed to know even before then.
She could only smile and mentally shake her head as she gave her strange husband another kiss before turning around.
The unit turned to head to the training grounds before stopping and looking outside at the evening sky. It would seem that it would be another full moon tonight. The unit only gave a small smile as it knew who would be coming later this evening.
As it returned to the training grounds it adjusted the watch rotation to where it had outer guard duties.
Then it turned and began to watch over the young Princes in much the same way it had taught Soren. The young Human was also present and helping the unit teach the young Princes also.
He had grown into this role quite well, and from what the unit saw, Soren had many adoring female fans though the Human was painfully oblivious to it.
The unit merely watched from the sideline as he instructed. If it felt Soren was going off-topic it would wave its hand and bring them over. But that had become less and less often. For now, the unit was content to sit and watch as it planned what it would teach Rayla when she inevitably attacked it later this evening.
The unit snorted softly with a grin that slowly fell away but yet it and LEGION could not solve one problem; how to end this war.
Perhaps there was still a part buried deep within the miles of code and ones and zeroes that gave both the A.I. and this machine the drive and want to protect their Creators.
Unbeknownst to both one possible answer would be provided, sooner than expected and much closer than anticipated.
