The more I moved, the more I felt my strength return, but the stiffer and more tired I became.

With some strength coming back to my arms, I brushed Fritz down again, this time able to apply enough pressure for it to make a difference.

When I tried to leave though, she blocked the door. “Fritz… I have to go to bed. I'm tired enough already.”

She lay down in front of it. She was too big for me to step over, and there was no easy way of unlatching the door to open it either.

“Come on Fritz…” I whined. I had gotten a lot of sleep over the past few days, but my body was still incredibly tired.

She just stared at me and that was how I ended up spending the night in the stables. Honestly speaking it was far more comfortable than my room, and warmer too, since I had Fritz beside me. Her soft fur made for a much better bed than the hardwood frame in my room.

When all was said and done I woke up refreshed, feeling my energy starting to return even further. I got up, and Fritz followed, finally moving away from the door.

I brushed her one more time just because I could. If anything, it was more for me than her actually needing it.

I began to make out distant footsteps. ‘Must be the guard in charge of feeding the horses.’ I thought. After what had happened the other day I wasn't worried about anyone seeing me with Fritz, she needed to be taken care of just like the other horses, and I was the only one that could do it, everyone knew that.

Suddenly, I heard the stall latch pop open. Frits jumped up neighing loudly and moving towards me as I felt a yank on my arm. Before I realized what was happening I was sliding across the floor on the outside of the stall, bumping my head into the hard stone wall.

“AGH!” I heard a cry of pain from a young boy before he leaped over the stall door. Frits kicked the door violently so that it slammed open and bounced closed again. As he landed he turned and closed the latch before stepping back slowly, collapsing against the wall next to me with a sigh of relief. “Hey, you alright?” He was holding his head and I could see blood dripping from his hands

I felt a burning pain in my chest start to rise from the adrenaline and sudden stress, but I felt mostly fine. I nodded and got up slowly. I was a little dizzy but managed to catch my balance after steadying myself against the wall.

“Listen, I don't know who you are. But that horse is crazy alright, no one is supposed to go near that thing, we had to put a special latch on the stall to stop it from breaking out.

Hearing him talk about Frits like that made me angry. ‘The only reason you even got hurt was because you scared her.’ I looked across to Fritz's stern face. ‘No, it was because she was trying to protect me most likely.’

“It's fine alright. You didn't need to do that” I raised a hand to my head as well. I doubted I would end up bleeding, but I could tell it was going to leave a nasty bruise.

“Seriously, it's dangerous!” he continued. “It broke my Pa’s ribs. That's why I'm here doing his chores.” I understood where he was coming from, but his shouting only made the pain in my head even worse as I began to hear a dull ringing.

I tried to stay calm. Clenching my fist, I stared at him down. “She only jumped like that because she was protecting me…” ‘No, none of that matters right now, Frits is strong and he's bleeding.’ “Hey, what about you are you ok? Did she kick you?” He was right about one thing, horses were dangerous.

“Oh uh yeah I’ll be fine.”

I scoffed. he managed to neither answer my question nor actually give me a real answer to whether or not he was ok. Well… He's bleeding but that's to be expected from any wound to the head. His speech isn't slurred or anything, and honestly, he looks like he can balance better than I can. Maybe Fritz kicked her bucket into him instead of kicking him directly.

I grabbed his hand and pulled it away from his head. It looked more like a cut than a bruise which was odd, but pretty much guaranteed it wasn't a wound from Fritz. To be honest I couldn't actually make an accurate assessment though, my vision was a bit blurred from my own head injury.

I was almost sure I had a concussion. “Well. anyway, you should clean that, an open wound in a dirty place like this has a decent chance of getting infected, even if we try to keep it rather clean.”

He pulled his hand back away from me and stepped back, “See, it's dangerous, what were you thinking girl? Where's your pa, I'm taking you to him, he can deal with you.”

As he jerked his hand away it made me lose my balance and I fell to my knees “Agh, you're so annoying. Do what you want, just leave me out of it… Although if I were you I'd see the doctor first. You probably have a concussion you know.” In truth, It was unlikely for him, for me though… Even kneeling down it felt like the world was spinning.

“A what? Did you hit your head when you slid across the floor?”

‘I thought that much would be obvious.’ “Look… It was very kind of you to try and save me, however, you clearly misread the situation, Frits is only bad around other people, she is fine with me. So you can go to the doctor, or finish your chores or whatever, I honestly don't care, just leave me out of it. I need to give her some more food and wash her off.”

As bad as my head hurt I was surprised I was still able to think and speak clearly. Raising a hand to it I felt blood start to leak out from my head and soak into my hair. ‘Great, just what I need.’

I managed to get off my knees and prop myself up against the wall but he wouldn't stop pestering me. “What are you anyway? Like 5?” He raised his hand to his chin. “Guess that's why I haven't seen you around. Should you even be out of the barracks alone? I'm taking you back, by force if I have to, just come on already”

‘There's no way I really look like a 5-year-old do I?’ “WHY won't YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” I yelled, clenching my fist tighter and pushing him away. If it came down to it I was trained in hand-to-hand combat, if he actually did try to take me by force I could probably flip and beat the tar out of him.

‘No, the floor here is made of stone and his head is already hurt.’ I tried to take a breath, but my head pounded, and I was still trying to get my wind back.

He reached out to grab my arm and I twisted it around his back pushing up on his shoulder.

“Agh!”

I eased up as he cried out in pain, afraid I might have hurt him.

He forced himself out of my hold and grabbed my arm, tugging on it hard. His fingers pinched and twisted the skin around my wrist as he squeezed it as tightly as he could.

He was probably as annoyed as I was and it was beginning to show. The entire situation was ridiculous. My arms still ached and felt sore, and all of my joints were stiff. When he pulled on my arm I couldn't help but let out a short yelp. He stopped instantly and looked back “What did you do to your arm?”

I reached out and grabbed it with my other hand, pulling it away from him. “Nothing…” I looked down at it. There was already a bruise where he grabbed me. ‘There's no way I'm that weak right now is there?’

I slowly poked it. ‘This must be a side effect from the strangle weed. Maybe I'm still affected by it? Or maybe it's because I'm growing? No, that doesn't make sense.’

He looked at me like he was deep in thought, probably trying to think of how to best force me to do what he wanted with as little violence as possible. He just “saved me” so I doubted that he wanted to hurt me. He was being so stubborn though that I wasn't sure how to get out of the whole situation.

Eventually, I just gave up. “I'll go to the barracks…” I said softly. Unconsciously holding my arm. ‘There's no fighting it, at least this way I won't end up getting hurt.’ “Just don't touch me… alright…”

“You mean, you'll come willingly?” He was shocked, and the stupid look on his face told me he wasn't expecting me to say that. The thought of what might have happened to me if I refused was a frightening one though. Especially if just grabbing my arm was enough to leave a bruise. On top of the strength difference, all of the sudden movement had made me even more dizzy.

“It's not like I have a choice… I really don't like getting hurt, you know… My father won't be there though, he's probably either in his room or his study… Hard to say which.”

“He doesn't live in the barracks? Are you a craftsman's daughter?” It was true that some of the craftsmen had their own houses outside of the barracks, but this was because they lived in their shops. For instance, our blacksmith lived in the building next to his forge, and Elsie was a tailor. I certainly wasn't the daughter of a craftsman though.

“No,” craftsman daughter huh? That might have been nice. “My father is lord Keigan. I live in the main house.” The boy laughed and brushed it off as a joke, I simply ignored him and turned my face away as we walked. “Wel… whatever, you'll find out the truth eventually.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

‘I thought as much. If he won't believe that I'm the lord's daughter the only way to get him off my case is going to be to show up to the barracks and have the guards tell him. I can't blame him for doubting me though. Honestly, even if I was five it feels like I should be more impressive than I am now

“Seriously though, what made you wander off to the stables, a lot of animals can be dangerous you know, even the bigger calmer horses can hurt you if they get scared.”

I didn't respond. It was childish of me, but I had tried explaining it all to him before and he just ignored it, so I decided to return in kind. I just focused on keeping my balance and trying not to trip over Finlo’s cloak. Luckily, I regained my bearings after a brief time and the dizziness faded as we got closer to the barracks.

He lifted his hands up and clasped his fingers behind his head. “Going quiet huh… Alright then…”

We walked the rest of the way in silence until we entered. As soon as the door opened the smell of sweaty men, burning wood, and strong liquor filled the air. It was a smell I had grown quite fond of, odd as it was.

Four guards were gathered around a table that had a chessboard carved into it. Playing cards were scattered on top and their muddy boots were kicked up onto various other pieces of furniture. They had their armored greaves on, but 3 of them were bare-chested. The largest of the group, Gaius, still had his hands covered in mud that had long since dried.

They were a bit rowdy, but that's part of what made it so nice to be around them. They didn't care about normal societal rules. I am glad their wives made them still bathe, but outside of that and the fact that they watched their language around me they were what you would expect from people who had lived hard lives without much discipline.

Gaius looked across the table at us as we walked in. Without moving his feet from off the table he leaned back even further, pushing the chair onto its back legs. “Yo boys look, little Callum brought home a girl already.”

I won't lie, his comment did make me uncomfortable, but that was just how he was. It was rarely bad enough to actually get to me, but he would often tell jokes in poor taste.

He was by far the roughest and most crude of the bunch, this was only further cemented by his appearance. He had a shaved head and massive scars all across his chest from animal claws, as well as a snake dragon tattoo wrapping around his right arm, and a broken arrowhead under his left eye. There were so many severe marks on him that I actually found myself having to ask him how he was still alive at one point. To which he responded, “If a man has something to live for, or enough liquor in his body, he can't die. I had both.”

The man across from him, Nillous, was the highest rank in the room. His scowl carried that responsibility as he scolded Gaius. “Are you seriously making jokes like that about children now? Don't you think you should watch what you say a bit more?”

“Children? What, wait no way, how old are you anyway kid?” He looked across the room at me and took a hand away from his cards to call me closer.

I walked up to the table and put my hands on my hips, tilting my head. “You seriously don't recognize me, Gaius?” ‘I guess it makes sense… This would be the first time in my life I can remember wearing real clothes. My hair and skin are clean, Still though, it kind of hurts… If he doesn't recognize me.’

Callum followed close behind. His head had stopped bleeding, but the dried blood from when the wound was open was still easily visible, despite that, nobody seemed to pay it any mind “Wait no way…” He paused, crossing his arms and standing squarely, “Is Gaius your father?”

Gaius was so startled he fell out of his chair and scrambled to his feet. “What the hehhhh- '' He stopped mid-sentence and stared at me. “H-hey kid, he's not right is he?”

“You're despicable,” Nillous said calmly, throwing a card down on the table before placing his hand face down in front of him.

I sighed. “Come on, I mean at least you acknowledged I was a girl and not just a dirty little brat, but did you have to ruin the moment with all this extra nonsense? If I was your kid do you really think I'd be this cute?”

“Well, that all depends on who your mother was.” He paused and squinted at me, still confused. “Wait… Siya?”

“Yea duh.” I said as I rolled my eyes.

The other three guards all froze, one of them going so far as to drop his cards all over the floor.

Callum stepped away, appearing to have lost interest, while the others remained dumbfounded.

‘Do I… Really look that different?’

I unconsciously tugged on Finlos' cloak, using it to cover myself as they all stared at me.

Gaius put his chair back right side up and sat back down. “No way…” I heard a gentle sigh of relief before he started laughing. “You know you really had me worried there for a second.”

I raised an eyebrow, seeing a way to redirect their eyes and quickly put on the most cute pouting face I could. “Oh… are you saying you don't want me papa?”

He visibly cringed and the others cracked up. I smirked, but honestly felt like I might have taken the joke a little too far, so it was hard for me to laugh at it myself. Still, it turned their attention away from me and seemed to break all the tension, so I was relieved.

Nillous leaned back in his chair with a grin ‘Oh no… I started something again… well, sorry Gaius but you kind of had it coming anyway.’

Nillous raised his hand of cards, carefully looking at them as he realized his opponent was distracted. “Hey Gaius, remember what you said about Calum bringing home a girl?”

He frowned, “Yea yea I should watch my mouth, don't be such an a– I mean– er– Just shut up alright, besides, Siya here isn't as young as she looks.” I looked over at Gaius with pitying eyes, and he must have seen them only to realize too late that he was walking into an unavoidable trap.

Nillous didn't always show it, but I could see his evil grin. “I'm not sure her age is what matters in this case. How much do you think lord Keigan would appreciate you talking about his daughter like that?”

His eyes widened, and a look of pure terror came over him. “Your… not going to say anything… right?”

“Remember this moment Gaius, it might make you a better person.”

He gritted his teeth and scoffed as the others taunted him.

“Gaius, you're really just taking it tonight, you haven't even dished anything out yet, this must be a first for you huh.”

“Yea no joke, she even snuck in some indirect jabs too like when she called you ugly.”

“Guys…” I mumbled, feeling kind of bad for him. Besides, they weren't even being funny anymore, they were just straight up insulting him.

He laid a card on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, it's not like it ain't true… It can't be helped though. You really think I'd tell her she wasn't cute when she comes in looking like that.”

Everyone quieted down at his surprisingly wholesome comment. “No… I guess not…” They were all rough around the edges, but they always tried their best not to hurt my feelings. They would throw jabs at me every now and then sure, but it was sweet how they showed they cared.

‘It's my first time looking like this… Wearing clean clothes and not covered in dirt with tangled hair… I guess they didn't want me to feel self conscious, not even Gaius.’

I felt my face get warm again. Admittedly, I was a bit embarrassed. I even almost felt bad for making fun of him, Almost. Thinking about it more, I would hate to say it, but it would have hurt quite a bit if one of them did actually say something bad about how I looked.

Instead, the way they reacted gave me hope. For a moment, I even had the courage to look in a mirror.

The silence stopped when Gaius looked back over to me with a smirk. “What's wrong, tomato face?”

I could feel my facial expression change as the warm feeling I had changed to a dull annoyance and I let out a sigh, “nothing, just thinking about how sweet you were… It didn't last very long”

He kicked back in his chair again. “Sweetness is for girls.”

“Wow, that thought must have had a long and lonely journey when it crossed your mind… Forget it, I'm going to go find Callum.

They all froze solid again and I could hear them whispering as they gave me glances that resembled those a middle schooler might give you if you started talking about someone of the opposite sex.

I couldn't help but think they got the wrong idea, but I didn't care. It was kind of funny to an extent, and they would figure out why I wanted to find him soon enough.

He was talking with Elsie nearby. I grabbed him by the arm, dragging him to the table with the guards. “Now tell this idiot what my name is so he'll leave me alone and let me brush my horse.” My words were a bit harsh, but it was hard to help it when surrounded by people that commonly spoke the same way. Of course, I might have also been holding a little bit of a childish grudge for what happened, even if he did mean well.

He stood dumbfounded in the middle of them. “So you're not Gaius’ kid?” He asked, apparently having missed the conversation.

I groaned, rolling my eyes as I slowly drug my hand down my face.

Nillous slowly lifted his feet off the table and stood up. “Pater… This is Lady Siyasaveid Aliah Nayanathulu, daughter of Lord Keagan Nayanathulu.”

The guards all rose and took a knee where they were. After looking around he dropped to a knee as well, the blood draining from his face. “I beg your forgiveness, my lady.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously guys, you don't have to be so mean, he's just a kid.” ‘of course, I guess I am too, but they get what I mean right?’

They laughed again and stood up, Nillous smacked him hard on the back,, “On your feet boy, she doesn't care about her title.” He said before sitting down and kicking his feet back up on the table. “What did you do to her anyway? you looked like you were about to wet yourself when you heard her name.”

One of the other guards mocked him, repeating his exact words in a taunting manner. I shot my eyes at him though and he quickly shut up. “You don't have to take it so far all the time”

They continued laughing anyway as he stood in silence. I could practically see him sweating bullets. Is he that worried about getting punished by me? I'll let him off, but this is fun, I'll drag it out a little longer. My head still hurts because of this brat not listening.

Nillous raised a hand to his chin genuinely curious after seeing his reaction. He seemed a little worried. “Siya… What exactly happened?”

I shrugged. “He threw me across the stable floor and knocked my head into the wall.”

They gasped. Some of them showed actual concern, while the rest stayed mostly relaxed, likely just due to the way I was talking about the situation. My tone was light, but tension still slowly filled the air.

I put on a cute innocent face and continued. “Then he tried to force me to come here with him. I'm still recovering from everything so I didn't feel like fighting him over it and gave in. I wanted to come here anyway after I brushed Frits, but it would have been nice if he wasn't so rough with me. He even bruised my arm look.” I showed them where he had grabbed me. Somehow it had already turned purple all the way around my wrist. I didn't realize it so I didnt think about it too much, but based on appearance alone, it actually looked pretty bad.

“It sounds bad when you say it like that!” He yelled defending himself.

Gaius let out a chuckle trying not to laugh. As I hid my arm behind my back, hoping no one actually saw just how bad the bruising was.

“Is there… really a way to make that sound good?” Nillous said, sighing. He still looked a little worried, but relaxed since I was clearly making a joke about it.

“I was saving her from that crazy horse!” he protested.

Gaius began laughing, not able to hold it back anymore. “Kid, Siya’s longest conversations are with that horse, no one needs to save her from it.”

“Hey!” I pouted, but no one cared.

He placed his hand on my shoulder. “It's ok Siya.” he closed his eyes, looking up towards the sky and dramatically clenching a fist over his heart. “We're just glad you found someone special in your life.”

Nillous snorted. He hid his laugh, but was unable to hide a giant grin on his face from just how funny he thought it was. “Your horrible Gaius.”

I guess he got me back… The high road would be to just take this right? Honestly I thought it was kind of funny too, and it is good to laugh at yourself every now and then. Gaius’s hand was still on my shoulder, he even managed to cry a tear for the performance. Oh the high road… I wonder what it's like up there? “Guys look, it's his first proud father moment.”

I crossed my arms with satisfaction as he took his hand off my shoulder and even retreated a few steps back. “Not… funny.” His voice changed from theatrical to deadly serious.

I agreed with him, the joke did make me uncomfortable, even though I was the one who started it. I admit though, it was funny how much more it clearly made him uncomfortable. Of course that must only be because there was a chance he had a kid out there he didn't know about. “Gaius…” I said.

He was hesitant to respond, as if he didn't want to walk into another trap, but he did so anyway, wearing his heart on his sleeve. “Yes?”

“You're a terrible person…”

He slumped back into his chair. It was weird, for some reason coming from me it looked like it hurt way more than coming from Nillous. I had a feeling he would be done with jokes for a while.

“Seriously Gaius, how many women have you been with?” The guard instantly received a dagger-like stare from Nillous who jabbed him in the side. “Hey!” Nillous pointed at me and the guard looked over apologetically, but didn't say a word.

Gaius slumped further into his chair with a sudden sadness covering his face. He grabbed a bottle from under the table and after a long drink slammed it down. “You know… A lot of good people used to be bad people…”

Nillous looked over at me for a second. “Hey guys…” he said quietly.

I raised my hands and backed away. “I gotcha don't worry, you feel awkward talking about this stuff when I'm around I get it. I actually have to talk to Catherine anyway, is she in her room?”

Nillous nodded. I couldn't help but feel bad. Did I go too far? Seeing Gaius like that after he was so thoughtful towards me, really breaks my heart…

I turned around at the staircase leading towards the upper level. “Hey Gaius, you might be a terrible person… But you're a heck of a lot better than half of the jerks around here. Don't beat yourself up too much ok. Besides, if you don't like who you are you can always just change.”

It was a sort of joke we would all say to each other, when they said it to me it would always just be. “if you don't like being weak you can always just become strong.” Essentially speaking it just meant that even if it feels like you're trying in vain, the goal is clear so you should keep working towards it. That's what I liked to think it meant anyway.

I finished walking up the stairs and waited just out of sight.

Before long I could hear Gaius yelling. “Time to get to work… The fields won't tend to themselves.” apparently he had found a sudden burst of motivation. I know it wasn't what I said to him, that's just how he is, unpredictable. I'd like to imagine it was me though…

“Now if we could just get him to wear a shirt he'd almost be like a functioning member of society.” A voice yelled from behind him.

Gaius groaned and walked away.