She hoped so.

For the last week, she’d settled into a sort of routine.

Exercise, breakfast, exploring, lunch, more exercise, and dinner. And starting today, she added lessons with Mister Kimball… Except that didn’t go so well. So she supposed she’d go back to the other routine for a while.

In the morning, she’d wake up and go to the training field. Not the yard where the knights trained, but the field where just about everyone ran laps in the morning.

Even the women helping in the kitchen were required to rotate. So they could do the enforced exercise without burning anything.

It made Em laugh.

She didn’t know Flint’s reasoning, but now she understood why he hadn’t batted an eye at suggesting she do physical training. It seemed he required it from everyone who could.

For most adults, it was just running and stretching. A few did other exercises, but most just did the required laps and went back to work.

Em stayed on the field for another hour after most of the adults left. Because at that point, the other children would form a game of ball.

The first day Em came back from one of these games, Tracy nearly cried. Em’s horrible pink and white dress was ruined. Which had been Em’s plan when she put it on without telling Tracy she was doing her first day of exercise.

Goodbye ugly frills! Next time, she was going to pick the dress style.

And to her delight, the next morning Tracy was prepared with an armful of old boys' clothes.

Pants!

Em had to be creative in ruining the other two horrible dresses. Since she couldn’t trick Tracy into letting her wear them to physical training anymore.

The first one, the blue, ripped down the front while trying to climb a tree. And when Tracy scolded her and told her she had to wear the yellow one inside, she started exploring the castle.

And found the old attics. Which were, amazingly, still stuffed with several centuries' worth of old junk.

When she came back with grime all over the light yellow fabric, Tracy did cry this time.

Making Em feel bad for trying to ruin them on purpose. After all, she was eleven. She was going to just grow out of those uncomfortable, ugly frills in a few months.

With the three ugly dresses gone, that left her with only her one black dress and the boys' clothes. And as time went on, she found herself more and more in the boys' clothes. Especially since Flint didn’t seem to care what she wore.

But not today.

Today, she wanted to make an impression. First on Kimball.

Now on to Flint.

… Maybe she should’ve kept at least one of those dresses nice…

She found her brother in the knight’s training yard. No matter how busy he was with administrative affairs, he always came out before breakfast and after lunch to run through his own routines and to spar.

It surprised Em to find out Flint was not the best knight on the field.

In all the stories she’d ever read, the leader of a group of knights, or whoever was in charge, was always the best at everything.

But not Flint.

While she waited for him to finish the sparring sessions, she counted five times where another knight disarmed him. And each time, he demanded a review and quietly listened while the other knight told him what he did wrong.

Then they’d have a second spar in which the first knight would eventually lead him into the same situation where he’d messed up. Sometimes right away, sometimes after it had been long enough to distract him.

Three times, he successfully blocked the move that had disarmed him before. Twice, he was unsuccessful.

And whether he won or lost, each time he finished a match, he bowed his head and thanked the knight.

It struck Em as bizarre behavior.

She’d never seen someone in a leadership position take feedback like that.

Finally, he was done and left the field. Em scrambled off the bench she’d been waiting on and ran after him. Impulsively, she grabbed his hand. More to get his attention than anything else.

And nearly made him trip mid-step in surprise.

She giggled.

“Em.” Warily, he looked at her and down at his hand. She could see him wondering if he should pull away or not.

She squeezed.

“Can I talk to you?”

“If you can keep up.”

He must’ve decided not to pull his hand free because he returned her grip as he started walking. It made her feel strange. Holding the hand of the brother she’d been so afraid of.

She noticed with amusement that he shortened his stride just enough so she could keep up.

“I heard you’re going to the border tomorrow.”

That could mean several things. Usually, it meant he was going to fight monsters coming through a mountain pass in the north. Or rebels to the west. However, this time she meant the southern border. Back toward the Cyrin Empire and Elyana, the capital.

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“Yes?”

She squeezed his hand and looked up with her biggest puppy dog eyes.

“Can I come? Please?”

“No.”

The answer was so firm and flat that for a moment it tripped her up. What was this?! She’d found with nearly everyone else, all she had to do was look cute and they practically tripped over themselves to accommodate her.

Though, with Tracy, she had to work extra hard.

Maybe it was like that?

“Please?”

“Em, I said no already. Drop it.”

“But, why not?”

“It’s a two-day trip by carriage. And we’re not taking a carriage, we’re taking horses. That shortens the trip by half a day, but you’re still in no physical shape for it. And you’re a child. You have no part in our official business, anyway. You’ll just get in the way.”

Wham, wham, wham.

She pouted and glared up at him.

“I can do it! And I won’t get in the way.”

“No, Emmaline.”

She begged, pleaded, and pouted all the way to his office. Flustering him several times. But the man was as rocky as his name. He didn’t budge. Not one inch.

By the time he firmly left her outside the office door, she had won nothing.

Fine. Maybe she just had to soften him up a bit.

She went to her room and began her other project.

By now, she had a large collection of the pretty rocks piled in a large basket by her bed. Dozens of blues, purples, greens, pinks, clear whites, yellows, and oranges. With a smattering of red.

It was like someone had mined and then dumped thousands of semi-precious stones in the area.

Of course, she still had to look for them. The main color in the area was gray (like most places). But there was still a lot more color than anywhere she’d ever been.

None of them were polished, which was a shame.

She picked out five that were as big as her fists and put them on her little bedside table. Then got on her knees and pulled out a flat, square box from under her bed. The one she’d found in the attic.

At first, she’d been excited because she thought she’d finally found something to make a rock garden with. After promising Flint she’d make something for his mantelpiece, she’d been dismayed to realize how few options she had for doing anything with her rocks.

A rock garden was the best idea she could come up with.

And that was just short of pathetic because it was only a step away from putting the plain, unpolished rocks up on the mantle by themselves.

Then she couldn’t find a basket or shoe box or anything to put it in.

So an old box no one was using was welcome.

Until she’d opened it and realized the tool inside was a much better solution to her problem than the box.

It looked just like a wood burner from the real world. Except, when she asked around, she found it was primarily for stone and metal (though she could use it for wood if she wanted to). A piece of equipment that was old and worth 50,000 zen. Which was roughly what a commoner would make in two years.

For her last few years as Em, she hadn’t been able to do much more than sit around. So until her hands could no longer hold anything, she experimented with different art mediums.

She wasn’t amazing at any of them. But no one would mistake a dog for a potato when she drew it.

First, she popped her new magic stone into the tool. Exactly like a battery.

Then she smoothed the surfaces of her rocks by burning away a layer. Not the whole rock, otherwise she’d be there all day for just one of them. Just a space where she could draw an image.

Next, she burned the words she wanted on each stone. Courage, virtue, love, hope, and justice.

She could do more, but that was good for now.

And lastly, each of them got a little symbol or scene to decorate it.

This was where she got lost in the process. Wrapping vines with swords hanging from them around Justice. A flock of doves flying around hope. Virtue growing out of the ground like a tree…

She was startled when Tracy knocked.

“Miss Emmaline, it’s time for dinner.”

“Already?!”

She glanced in dismay at the window. The sun was getting low, which meant she was running out of time to convince Flint to take her with him. If she didn’t convince him tonight, then she wouldn’t have time to pack.

“Is Flint downstairs already?”

“Not that I saw.”

Em scooped up the three finished rocks and bolted around Tracy.

“Wait! Miss Emmaline!”

“Meet you downstairs!”

She ran until she was outside of Flint’s office door. Panting hard. Playing ball and running around was helping with her stamina, but she still felt winded too soon.

She knocked.

“Come in.”

Flint didn’t look up from his paperwork as Em opened the door and peeked in. When he still didn’t look up, she stepped inside and pushed the door closed.

Solemnly, she walked up to his desk. Then waited as he finished what he was doing.

Finally, he signed and put the paper aside.

“What can I do for you, Em?”

“It’s time for dinner.”

“So I’ve been told.”

She paused. Then held up one of her rocks, putting on her brightest and most winning smile.

“I brought you gifts!”

Flint raised an eyebrow and inwardly Em grumbled. Could you at least pretend to smile?

“Rocks again?”

“Not just any rocks!” She put the first one in front of him, twisting it around so he could see the flattened portion at the front. “Take a look!”

Obligingly, he did so. Em felt a little smug when both his eyebrows shot up and he moved the rock further into the light so he could see better. Then he put it down and accepted the next one for inspection.

“Well done,” he said finally. After looking at the third one. “What did you use to make these?”

As Em explained, Flint folded his hands and rested his chin on the back of them.

An odd sense of warmth wrapped around Em as she watched his face.

Flint rarely smiled. His face rarely changed expressions by more than a few quirks. And sometimes she sensed his body language when he was impatient for her to be done and ‘move along.’

But sometimes it was like this.

Where he was so focused on her, she felt like she was the most important thing in the world in that second.

Her story ended too soon, and she saw the corner of his mouth raise just a little.

“Had I known such treasures were upstairs, I would have explored it myself. Perhaps we should go together sometime?”

Her eyes widened. “Really!? But you’re so busy. Can you do that?”

“I can make time. How about this coming rest day? I should be back by then. And if not, the next rest day.”

Em started. In her childish excitement, she’d forgotten why she came. But now… She wasn’t sure how to approach the subject. Well, direct has worked for her very well so far.

“Can I please come with you?”

That ghost of a smile vanished instantly.

“No.”