I had no idea what time it was. The soft evening light outside the windows had given way to the blackness of night. Even the light of the moon didn’t seem to be in the mood to do any illumination. I’d woken to the sound of heavy boots coming up the stairs, and I nudged Kazumi. She was already awake.

“I hear it too,” she hissed. The others all stirred in their beds.

Sally lit the candle by her bedside after a few tries, and we all tried to make each other out in the slowly-reducing darkness. “What’s going on?” Sally hissed.

“D’nknow,” Tilly mumbled, still rubbing her eyes, and she jumped out of bed quietly. She came over to Kazumi and me and listened at the door.

Sabine got up as well. I saw her raise her right arm, and while she seemed a little uncomfortable, moving it carefully, she seemed to have full control back. And it bent the right way now, which was a big plus.

We heard someone knock on the door of the next room. It was muffled, but the inn hadn’t exactly been built with soundproofing in mind, so we could hear everything if not very clearly.

“Who is it?” a voice said through the wall. It was clearly Erza, though she’d taken on the lower, more aggressive grunting affect people would expect from hired muscle. We heard more footsteps and we looked around at each other in a panic.

I ran the scenario through my head several times. I was the biggest problem, the first thing that would need to be addressed. I was simply too big to hide in the room, even behind one of the box beds. I hurried over to Sabine as quickly and as quietly as I could. She seemed to be picking up what I was putting down and she spun her magic in the air, whispering the words as quickly as she could. We didn’t have a lot of time, and I didn’t want to risk getting seen this early on. Everything went black.

In the minute that passed, I could hear the footsteps getting closer. When I regained my senses, I hurried over to the door, grabbed the covers and threw them back onto the bed. The footsteps got to the door and stopped. I saw Sabine prepare her magic for Kazumi, but I shook my head. The two of them looked at me confused. I motioned to the bed. “Lie down, hide your tail behind the bed, as flat as you can,” I hissed in a way I hoped wasn’t too aggressive.

There was a knock on the door, like I feared. I motioned to Sally to lie down and face away, for Tilly to hide under the covers. The knock repeated, and I was glad I’d fallen asleep with my travel clothes on.

I opened the door, trying to look less hurried and more tired and annoyed, like a handmaiden who was disturbed during her sleep. There was a man wearing armor, with two more behind him. He looked annoyed, his stubbled face contorted in what I had to assume was a permanent scowl. He had angry eyes.

“How can I help you?” I managed in a voice that I hoped was just hoity toity enough. I didn’t want him to think I was anything but a servant of a rich person.

“Vacate the premises. Captain’s orders.” He managed to smile while still scowling, a not unimpressive feat. He seemed to take relish in the little bit of power he had over people. I looked left, and saw several men talking to Erza, who’d stepped outside and closed the door behind her, crossed her arms, and now looked imposingly down on the men. Her stonewalling seemed to frustrate the men, and I couldn’t help but assume that the soldier in front of me was glad to have the easier task of subduing a smaller woman instead.

I played up my role as someone who got what her mistress wanted. “Captain of what?” I asked defiantly.

He rolled his eyes. “Northerners,” he said with an annoyed grunt, not even bothering to whisper. “Captain of the Wydonian Twelfth Cavalry, lady. We’re commandeering this inn.”

I gritted my teeth. He was taller than I was, and his helm made his eyes all the more imposing. I looked behind us. Sabine and Kazumi did a great job of looking bleary-eyed and annoyed. Kazumi was far enough away from the door for her pointy ears to look somewhat half-elf-ish and Sabine seemed to have cast some minor illusion on herself to hide her less-human traits. Sally’s horns and red skin weren’t visible, and Tilly was either under the covers with her or hiding behind the bed. Good.

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“We’ve paid for these rooms, you know.” I said. I was trying to play for time, not sure of where to take this. I looked at Erza again. The soldiers in front of her were trying to look as imposing as she was, and failing. Erza looked like a force of nature, staring them down. I saw a little twinge around her eye and I couldn’t help but feel like she was suppressing a smile, that she was enjoying this to a certain extent. I envied her, sorta. It would definitely be easier to get rid of the ones in front of me if I was tall. But that brought its own issues with it. Erza seemed to really get into the role, and I considered I should too. I put my hands on my hips.

“And what’s more,” I said, and took a step forward, “We are ladies and we will not be sleeping under the stars this or any other night, do you understand?”

He grunted. “You northerners sleep in the fields all the time, best get used to it while there’s a war on, eh?” I realized it was supposed to be… funny, somehow, as he looked to his compatriots, who also didn’t seem to find him very funny.

“If you’re going to be waging a war and sleeping in tents,” I said, “perhaps you should get some practice in already.” I felt pretty good about my rebuttal and took another step forward. He reflexively stepped back, and I suppressed a smile. “We will not be getting used to sleeping under the stars, unlike you, mister soldier.”

“Sergeant,” he said quietly. “Sergeant Powell,” he repeated, louder. “And by the heavens, yes, you bloody well will. We are within our rights to claim these accommodations for the army in times of war to station our troops. What, do you want us to lose because you don’t want to give up your bed for a night?”

I looked behind me. “There’s only three beds in here. What good will that do?”

He grinned a stupid grin. “You northerners must be used to the cold by now, eh? Well, we’re used to the finer things down south, and up here, even a warm room and a roof over your heads must be luxury.”

I turned to him and squinted and took another step forward. “Yes, it is. And we paid for it, and there’s four of us already sleeping in three beds and if you think I’m going to let some common soldier with delusions of grandeur kick me outside then you’ve got another thing coming, mister.”

“S-- Sar--”

“I bloody well know you’re a Sergeant, you pompous barbarian. A man of your status should know better than making women sleep outside, in the wind and rain, and you’re clearly not deserving of your ran--”

The slap rang out throughout the hall. Usually, a slap sounds a lot like a clap, but harder. I hadn’t been slapped much throughout my life, but I knew the effect it had. But the sound now was different. First, it had sounded more like someone trying to hit a brick wall. Second, I didn’t feel what I was supposed to. I didn’t feel my head spin or my ears ring. I felt assaulted, certainly, but there was no pain. He looked at me stupefied for a second. The information his brain was receiving didn’t seem to agree with what he thought he knew to be true, and he looked at his hand and then back at me. Then, finally, it seemed that his brain had caught up.

“Bugger!” he said and shook his hand. The other two men stared at him in disbelief and then at me.

“It looks like us Northerners are made of sterner stuff, aye?” I said, raising my chin in what I hoped looked like pride, or maybe condescension. One of the men disguised a chuckle as a cough. He got an elbow in the ribs anyway.

A new person walked over to us, and going by his armor, he was higher-ranking than the clown in front of me.

“What’s going on over here?” the man asked. He was clean shaven, and he had his helmet under his arm. He was quite handsome, in a boyish sort of way.

“We’re not leaving,” I simply said. It seemed best to simply rely on the same tactic again; being the stubborn northern servant girl seemed to be my best bet. The man looked me up and down, and I tried not to blush as he so overtly took my measure. “Your man here tried to hit me.”

He looked at the sergeant, who was holding his probably-broken hand out like a child with a splinter. The blonde guy grabbed him by the collar of his breastplate. “Go to the medic. I’ll deal with you later,” he hissed. He turned back to me. “Apologies for the inconvenience, young lady. I am to assume you’re with the other retinue, then?” He motioned over to Erza, who hadn’t moved an inch.

I nodded. “What of it? And who are you? The Captain?”

He shook his head. “My name is Sir Thatch. I ride with these men to join the fighting up north. I was trying to find out from your… companion over there when you’d be leaving, but she seems unusually reticent to discuss your business with us.”

I looked at Erza and tried not to smile. We made brief eye contact and Erza’s ever so slightly pursed lips might as well have been a wide grin.

“We’re leaving when it suits us, sir. I’ve already been assaulted by one of your… colleagues.”

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem much worse for wear.”

“Perhaps the army needs sterner soldiers, then.”

“You are right of course, milady. An assault on your person was completely unwarranted. We were sent in here to assess the possibility of finding a place of respite for the night. We’ve walked a long way through unpleasant terrain, and we hoped to sleep in a real bed for once, but not at the cost of your person, of course.”

“Of course,” I echoed, and jutted my chin forward. I tried to play up the part just a little bit more. “Well… we’re not leaving. My mistresses have paid good money for these rooms and we’ll be out of your hair by morning, aye?”

He nodded. “Thank you, milady. I apologize again for the…” He paused and scanned my face again, trying to find any kind of marking. “Inconvenience. The man will be punished, I assure you.”

Without saying anything, I turned around and went back inside and slammed the door shut. It seemed like that was the in-character thing to do. As soon as the door hit the frame, I sagged to the floor. I felt like I’d been slowly inflating and suddenly all the air rushed out of me. I felt a lump in my throat. He’d slapped me and though I’d kept my composure, it had still hit me emotionally. My face was burning and I felt like my scalp was on fire. Kazumi hurried over to me. I thought she was worried at first, but the smile on her face was wide, almost giddy.

“Liz! That was amazing!” she said quietly and wrapped me in a big hug. Any tears my eyes were planning on shedding were quickly forgotten as Sally turned around and clapped quietly but theatrically, and Sabine simply nodded vigorously.

“The way you stood up to them…” Kazumi said with a dreamy sigh and then kissed me so hard my head spun.