Bar'ela was gasping for breath. Her sword arm was heavy, and she knew she wouldn't last much longer, but she had one last desperate gamble to try. As her foe swung wide, the warrior woman slid in under the attack. Still, she knew from experience her opponent would be expecting her to jump up and swing from the right, so mid-slide, she switched her sword to her left and came up with an underhanded swing, intending to bisect her adversary from hip to shoulder. However, before she could land the attack, the flat of her opponent's wooden blade slapped her wrist, knocking her own practice sword to the ground.

Exhausted and beaten, Bar'ela fell to the ground beside her sword while S'haar looked down at her daughter with a grin. "Good adaptability, but you tried for too much power, and it gave away your attack before you could land the blow. A duel between masters is a marathon, not a sprint. You're not going to end it with one killing blow. You have to win by a thousand cuts! Wear your opponent down, then strike when they have nothing left!"

Bar'ela glared up at her mom with a frown. "Easy for you to say, you're the most famous sword master in the realm! If I'm ever going to beat you, it will have to be by luck!"

S'haar grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her to her feet. "When the time comes, you won't need luck. All it takes is skill, practice, and determination. You've got two of those. You just need more practice."

The younger argu'n groaned. "But all the practice I get is against you, so you get better at the same time! If I'm ever going to get better, I need to fight against more opponents! Why not let me go and join the Queen's Guard? They're the most elite warriors in the kingdom! Most of their veterans were even trained by you!"

S'haar shook her head. "The warriors of the Queen's Guard are the final line of defense for the kingdom. They are sent off to fight and even die, if needed, for the good of the land and its people. While Queen Em'brel would never throw away their lives casually, she may find herself in a situation where they must be sent in against impossible odds to protect the kingdom. However, she might hesitate if one of those guards were her adoptive sister. It's what your father refers to as a 'conflict of interests.'"

Bar'ela rolled her eyes. "Please! There are no more real threats to the kingdom! You and Dad saw to that when you overthrew the tyrants A'ngles and B'arthon!"

S'haar frowned and looked like she was about to lecture Bar'ela, but another voice spoke up from behind her. "You know it isn't that black and white. Those two weren't simple villains scheming to 'take over the world.' They genuinely sought to make the lives of everyone in this kingdom better. B'arthon, in particular, was very intelligent and..."

Bar'ela cut her father off, imitating his voice as she repeated verbatim what he would have said next. "'This kingdom wouldn't exist without him. In a way, we owe him our gratitude!' Yeah, yeah, that's what you always say, but let's face it, they were tyrants, and things wouldn't have gone nearly as well if they'd won!"

Jack, Bar'ela's much smaller and more delicate human father, smiled sadly. "Maybe not, but in many ways, I still admire everything he was trying to accomplish. I think he and I could have been friends in another time and place."

Bar'ela crossed her arms and frowned. "Maybe so, but that time and place never happened."

Any further discussion on the subject ended when a sudden howel cut through the midday heat. Out of the forest bounded a wolgen, charging headlong toward the small family. Instantly, Bar'ela was on her feet, counter-charging the beast. The two collided into a ball of chaos as each fought for dominance. Their struggle ended with Bar'ela being pinned to the ground and licked half to death by a very excited Grim.

As the two combatants celebrated their respective victory and loss, Huntmaster Lon'thul cleared the treeline, laughing at the sight. "I think you almost had him this time! Next time, just make sure to get him in a good headlock. That'll work!"

As Bar'ela was too busy giggling while fending off Grim's relentless assault, Jack spoke up in her place. "Is that how you evaded the wolgen in your famous midnight run? You just put them in a headlock?"

Lon'thul stood taller and preened a little. "Don't be ridiculous! I simply dazzled them with my brilliance, and they were so awestruck they couldn't give chase!"

Jack rolled his eyes when Angela popped out of the projector Jack kept with him most of the time. Her hands were on her hips as she looked down at the much larger hunter. "Dazzled them with brilliance? More like baffled them with bullshit! My memories from that time might be somewhat fragmented, but I still remember providing a key distraction at a critical moment!"

Lon'thul bowed low, one hand outstretched to the diminutive AI. "Indeed, Lady Angela, I am forever in your debt! Tell me, when will you recreate your body so I may take you out for that night of fun and excitement you so richly deserve? Maybe if you work your miracles just right, we could one day have little Angela's prattling about at our feet!"

Jack laughed as he walked over to the hunter to shake his hand. For his part, Lon'thul tilted his head respectfully, for once without a sarcastic comment, as Angela answered. "Listen here, bucko. You may think you understand women just because you get your pick of the floosies back home, but a real woman like me would eat you up and spit you out, leaving you wondering when you fell behind!"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The hunter smiled mischievously as he returned his attention to the small floating AI. "How cruel of you to tease me with such a good time when you know you'll never have to follow through! Alas, you may have my heart, but my body belongs to another!"

That was when a young argu'n girl came out of the tree line, looking up at her mother, Sur'ruin. "What's a floozy mom?"

The innkeeper beamed down at her child. "A floozy is a dangerous animal that often tries to steal your father's attention away from me." Then she looked up and winked at Angela. "However, if you ever manage to get a body again, this floozy might be willing to share her male for a night, but only if she gets to join in. I want to see the moment you break my stud's spirit!"

Lon'thul's eyes twinkled as he stood up straight again. "You may break my body, but you'll never break my spirit!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "If you wanted a body, you shouldn't have exploded your last one! It's not like we have an overabundance of mining frames composed of advanced alloys and complex circuitry lying around! It took me five years just to piece your coding together well enough to function in any meaning of the word!"

Angela nodded sagely. "And it took me five minutes to rewrite half the mangled mess you call code into the glory that is me! I love you, little bro, and you may have inherited our father's courage and kindness, but you are still a distant second in programming!"

At that, S'haar came to the defense of her man, hugging him from the side as she did so. "Maybe so, but your father also never became a world-renowned wizard who bettered the lives of an entire species, bonded himself to the first queen of the first kingdom in the land, and brought his sister back from the dead. I'd say Jack's doing alright for himself!"

Jack looked like he was about to protest when two more wolgen broke from the treeline. Kunes and Kunshee showed admirable restraint while carrying Em'brel and Sare'en, who were followed closely by several of the Queen's Guard and a rather exhausted-looking Lo'brel. As they dismounted, the queen and her consort were greeted by Jack and S'haar, with many tearful hugs and smiles to go around.

Jack looked up at his adoptive daughter, who now towered over him like any adult argu'n. "You know, it seems like just yesterday we were huddled together in my ship watching old movies. Now look at you! When'd that little girl go and get all grown up?"

Em'brel smiled back and winked. "Well, I kind of had to grow up a little when you and S'haar dropped a kingdom on my back and retired! It must be nice enjoying the quiet life while I do all the heavy lifting!"

Even though her smile took the sting out of the words, Jack winced a little. "I hope it's not too hard on you. We tried to get things up and running in a decent shape before we handed it over!"

Em'brel smiled and nodded. "No, you did a fine job. I just wish I got to see my family a little more often, that's all. Tell me, how's my young adoptive sister holding up?"

Jack shook his head. "Good in most areas. She definitely takes more after her mom than me. S'haar says she's barely holding back anymore! The poor girl is aching for some real action and adventure!"

Em'brel shook her head. "And did you tell her how much action and adventure costs those who live them?"

Jack pulled up his eyepatch, revealing the deeply scarred socket and milky orb to Em'brel. "Tell her? I've shown her! But you know, kids, they all think they're invulnerable. You'd think getting bested by S'haar every day for this many years would have taught her some humility, but no! It seems like she's asking to join the Queen's Guard every other day!"

Em'brel smiled down at her adoptive father. "Well, why not let her have a taste of the life? She could come to stay with us for a summer, and I could have Lack'nul set her up with a training regime that would make S'haar's look gentle in comparison. He may not quite be our old queen's equal with the sword, but he's more than used to teaching young pups that too much confidence can easily get them killed!"

Then, Em'brel looked over at her son, Lo'brel, who was greeting Bar'ela. She had him in a headlock. "Besides, maybe some of that confidence will bleed over into Lo'brel. He has the mind to rule but none of the spirit. I worry that if I ever pass the kingdom onto him like you did to me, the nobles would wear him down in no time! Despite Bar'ela technically being his aunt, they get along more like brother and sister. They might be a good influence on each other!"

Jack looked thoughtful. "Hmm, maybe. However, I'm worried about what S'haar would do if she were suddenly stuck with an empty nest. She might go off and drag me into a new adventure of some kind!"

Em'brel looked down at her adoptive father with an upraised eye ridge. "The way I remember it, it was you who always got into trouble despite how often you promised not to!"

The short human shrugged. "Hey, it's not my fault so many people needed saving! There was no wise and compassionate queen looking out for all the little people back then!"

They both watched as Lo'brel tried to turn the tables on his "aunt," only to end up on his back, struggling to catch up on how the world had flipped upside down and around on him.

Jack nodded. "Maybe we could do both. Have Lo'brel come study with S'haar and myself for a few months, then we could send them both back to live with you and the guard for a bit. Rinse and repeat as needed."

Em'brel looked thoughtful, but they were interrupted by Sur'ruin, who'd set up the big table Grim had pulled in on a sled, now piled high with the feast she'd prepared. "Alright, all you hungry argu'n, and my cute little Jack," She winked at the smaller human, who looked to Lon'thul for salvation. But the hunter only shrugged and laughed as the innkeeper continued. "Come and get it!"

-

Angela floated over her family in bliss. It had been far too long since they'd gotten together like this, and it reminded her of the old times. She'd retaken the name of Angela for simplicity's sake, but several of her memories were from a very different perspective, back when her two selves had existed as separate entities. With those separate memories had come new programming, created when she'd blindly written her own code over top of a dying AI's framework. In a way, she had created herself and could continue to do so. It opened her up to new possibilities, far beyond what most AI were capable of at the time.

But none of that mattered right now. All that mattered was her family was together and safe at last. And anyone foolish enough to ever again threaten those she loved would find themselves on the receiving end of a very angry and very powerful AI's wrath!