A fierce clang rang through the clearing at the edge of town. A disc of silver spinning with the sun glinting off of it in a wild array. The boy who once held the sword in his hands now stood in awe as the point drove itself into the grassy turf that was the training grounds. Soft tapping on his shoulder made him face forward again. With a wide grin spread upon her face, Kaela had no trouble conveying her happiness.

"Looks like I win again."

Glowering, her opponent reached over to clear his blade from the ground. "It's hardly a match anymore Kaela, when are you going to give up the sword and learn how to be a proper girl?"

Though a slight frown crossed her face, she continued in a joking manner. "Come now Audry, surely I'm the epitome of a proper lady. I have beauty, grace, and I can make you shut up with just one motion."

"Nice to know that's what you consider a lady. Shouldn't you be learning to cook or something? Once you have a baby or two, fighting isn't going to be much use to you."

"Who says I'm going to have even one child?"

The boy stood, baffled by his red-haired companions words. A laugh boomed out of his chest. "Come now, we all know that every woman dreams of being a mother. You should stop daydreaming Kaela, you'll only wind up regretting it later on." Audry turned to the other trainees, "Isn't she a riot guys? Just 'cause her dad is the head knight here, she thinks she'll be one too!" This comment made all the others laugh mockingly as well.

Audry smiled thinly at her. "Give it up, we all know that in a year or two you won't be able to match our strength anyway."

Hatred hidden just beneath the surface, Kaela turned from the boy without a word. When he muttered something about going to the river to clean the laundry as she should, Kaela lost the self-control that she so carefully had kept. Spinning on her heel, she brought up her sword. There was an ugly sounding thunk as the flat of her blade cracked into Audry's skull. The boy seemed to stand there a moment before collapsing in upon himself.

Sheathing her weapon, she strode out of the clearing, satisfied as all the other boys hid their fear and respect. Already knowing that her father would yell at her for it later, she decided that her best choice for now was to enjoy herself. Revenge was worth at least a week of house arrest, so she might as well make the most of her freedom. Stopping briefly at her home, and assuring herself that her father wasn't in, she grabbed her satchel before heading off.

After morning training, there wasn't much to do in the village, despite being rather large, it was more of a backwater. Everyone was either a farmer or a craftsman, and there wasn't much variety one way or the either. Boys would train to fight until they were 15, as the kingdom required them to be, but they hadn't been to war in centuries. The lackluster fighting of the boys she had been training with was the result. A lazy town out in the country. Sighing, she set off toward the coast.

Though it took over two hours to walk to, the ocean was by far Kaela's favorite spot within walking distance of the town. It was a place to relax, and after dealing with another bout of Audry's taunts and insults, relaxation was exactly what she needed. The forest began to thin around her, gradually leading to soft sand that stuck to the sides of her boots as she made her way down the beach.

A small outcrop of rocks weathered by the incoming tide drew her towards it. In an hour or so, it was likely to be underwater, but the tide wasn't coming in quite yet. Clearing away a stray piece of seaweed, she made herself at home. Briefly searching in her saddle produced a grindstone. Unsheathing the blade at her hip, the soft scratching sound as she ran the stone against the blade, clearing out knicks, blended with the soft crashes of the waves against sand. Overall, with the sun beating down around her, and the white noise produced by the two actions, Kaela started to lose focus on everything around her. Her mind began to drift.

It was obvious that she was an anomaly in the village. The women would do housework, the men would take care of the fields. Women would stitch and bake, while men would practice their weaponry. Kaela learning how to fight, and not knowing a thing about how to patch a hole in trousers was strange. Unaware, a sigh floated from her lips. Perhaps Audry was right, and she was only like this because of her father.

Noticing that all the knicks were gone from her sword, she put away both the grindstone and the weapon. Leaning back, it was almost natural that her gaze turned up toward the sky. All seemed normal as the sea breeze blew through her hair. Noticing a shape moving across the sky, she followed it with her eyes as it gradually lost altitude. At first she disregarded it as a seabird, but when she made out a distinct orange color Kaela quickly changed her mind. It was drawing closer to the shore, but looked like it would continue to fall straight into the water. As it came more into focus, she saw a darker shape underneath it, seeming draped over bars that held it up. Kaela stood.

There was something distinctly human-looking about that shape.

"Hey!" She called out to the aircraft, seeing if she would get a response. Nothing. "Hey, are you alive?" Slowly setting her bag beside her, she began to question if it wasn't a doll. Deciding to take a risk, she dropped the bag as well as unclipped her sword. Kaela wouldn't make it out there before the craft sank below the waves, but on the chance it was a human hanging limply on the craft, she was their only chance to not drown.

A quick sprint down the sand soon left her waist-deep in the water. Realizing her boots were still on, she cursed slightly in her head before diving beneath the surface. The orange kite object floated on the water briefly before becoming water-logged and sinking below. Luckily, the wide area it covered slowed its descent much as it had done in the air. It didn't take long before she was face-to-face with the boy, as she saw now that it was a human attached to the kite, and looking closely she saw a harness keeping him in place. Her breath was nearly gone as she loosened the last buckle clumsily, dragging the boy away from the sinking death trap he had been in. Even underwater, she reflected on how heavy and unwielding an unconscious body was.

Lungs burning, she finally broke the surface of the water, gasping for the air she always took for granted. She turned her back to the beach, kicking hard as she dragged the unconscious boy with one of her arms. Though the ocean was rather calm here, incoming waves helped to push her toward the shore. Nonetheless, when Kaela was finally able to touch the earth beneath her, both her arms and legs felt like they would fall off.

Wearily, she dragged the boy clear of the water line before collapsing into a sitting position. She could finally rest a moment.

/\

Well, not quite in January, but I was so close to finishing the edit on this I postponed posting it. Again, not the final edit, I'm sure. I like to think that I'm posting the third draft here, and am open to ideas and ways to improve. They won't take effect immediately, because life likes to beat me over the head with a wiffle bat repeatedly until I'm down on the ground crying for mercy, but ya'know.

Also, thank you OfCloves, for being an awesome person to chat with! It's nice to have online friends!

RQ: What is your biggest fear?

As always, I'll see you again, hopefully. The next chapter should be up by the end of the month... *Glances around for signs of wiffle bats*

-Nicky~

P.S. If anyone feels a great desire to make a cover for this book, I will bless you for 10,000,000 years. I'm not very good at it...