❛ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐧 ❜

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"You-you are..."

"Handsome? A genius? Immensely talented?-"

"Dangerous."

*    *    *

Cassandra swept the floor, not making much sound except for the occasional brush of the bristles against the wood flooring. It had been nearly a month and some weeks since the events at the banquet and her coming to live with Barbara and her father, her new Lady and Lord.

Although officially she did have her title as a maidservant of Lady Gordon, Barbara had never really asked much of her in the way of duties. To be honest, most of the work she did she started herself or took over from Barbara. Cassandra's thoughts moved on towards more recent events such as finding out Sir Stephan was, in reality, Stephanie. 

Ever since that 'small' revelation, Stephanie had started to visit the Gordon's home more and to Barbara's amusement, insisted on sticking close to her while she was working and chattering away while she wordlessly listened. It wasn't that Cassandra was bothered by the unending chatter, rather she oddly liked it, as it was a breath of fresh air and friendliness. Occasionally she would reply to Stephanie, telepathically, of course, which would make her forget about her topic and be awestruck by her ability, no matter how many times she heard it.

Barbara had started to research more on magical abilities, with great caution of course, which would on occasion take her to the castle library, where she went always without Cassandra. Which is where she was at present. 

Cassandra turned, hearing the door open behind her and while expecting to see the calm, green-eyed Oracle, found instead a huffing, tall, blue-eyed boy, whose hands were on his knees, looking down as he tried to catch his breath.

"Whew. You have no idea how hard it is trying to escape from Alfred's lessons, Babs." He laughed between breaths. Looking up, his smiling face turned into a surprised one.

"Oh. Hello, there. Who might you be?" He asked, kindly. Cassandra had a pretty good idea as to who he was, considering that she had tried previously to kill his father. Which gave her two reasons to be hesitant. The second being, that she had no idea how to respond to him. 

She never had this problem before as an assassin, mainly since she killed most of the people she had come into contact with.

After a few seconds of silence, Dick gave an easy smile. "Well, either you're shy, or you just don't speak." 

Cassandra held up two fingers for the latter opinion, which Dick seemed to understand. "Ah. You're mute." He nodded in understanding. "Well, then I suppose I can't ask you where Barbara is then." 

The door opened once again and Cassandra looked behind the boy to find that this time it was indeed the calm, green-eyed Lady Gordon. "Oh? What brings you here, Dick?" She asked, entering the house with a very unsurprised expression.

"Escaping from Alfred," He explained.

As they talked, Cassandra observed the two. The Prince, she knew but only by his title and a short debriefing. Looking now, she made personal notes, especially since it seemed like he was someone Barbara knew very well. He was rather handsome, unusually handsome, she corrected herself, and he seemed to be somewhere in his late teens or early twenty's. He had this sort of kind and amiable air about him and Cassandra pegged him to be the sort of person that got along with everyone. 

But he seemed to especially get along very well with Barbara. Cassandra had quite a bit of experience in reading people, even without her abilities, and it was obvious that the two quite liked each other. She would have to 'gossip' later with Stephanie as Stephanie put it herself. 

"Anyways," Dick queried, "I ought to ask.  Who's your new friend, Babs?"

Barbara, as poised as ever, introduced the two. "Dick, this is Cassandra, she's my ward-maid," Barbara explained, telling him their fake cover story. "Cassandra, this is Prince Dick. We're childhood friends." 

Cassandra gave a polite bob in obeisance to the prince.  

"Oh? I never thought you to be the type to take in kids randomly." Dick teased. Barbara gave a small laugh. 

'There wasn't much random about me being taken in.' Cassandra thought to herself. She left the two old friends to their conversation and as she carried about, making herself busy doing her odd chores she wondered what Stephanie was up to. 

*      *      *

"Ahhh-" Stephanie stretched as she walked about the town after training, having finished they had been dismissed for the day and free to spend their time as they pleased. Stephanie was grateful more than once for having a pretty lenient instructor.

'Perhaps I ought to visit Barbara and Cassandra today,' Stephanie thought to herself, humming as she walked down the market square.

The busy marketplace was humming with life and shouts of bargaining and two children zipped by under Stephanie's legs making her give a little startled backstep. 

Stephanie rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she carried on.

"After him!" A voice yelled up in front of her, making her crane to her neck to see what the commotion was about. "Don't let him escape!"

The shouts got nearer and as they did Stephanie and the other people milling about saw two large, muscular men chasing a small, thin boy who seemed about Stephanie's age and wearing clothing that was obviously not that of a peasant's. 

Stephanie huffed, putting her hand on her sword that she was suddenly grateful she had left on and make a quick choice. "This ought to be enough for my good deed of the day," She muttered.

As the boy ran close enough to her she reached out and grabbed his hand. "Come on, this way!" She instructed and the boy nodded as they ran down an alley, followed by the two thugs.

"So why are they chasing you?" Stephanie asked as she half dragged the boy up the wooden steps to some slave's quarters.

"Kidnapping and money." He answered tiredly as if being fed up of the apparently common occurrence for him.

"You some rich kid?" She asked conversationally as she let go of him, whirled around and gave a strong kick to one of the men sending him falling down the stairs. Continuing to run up more stairs and onto the roof, the boy answered with a shrug. "Viscount, Lord, no need to be really specific. Lord Timothy Drake to be namely."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Lord Tim. I'm Stephan Brown. Just a humble squire who's always ready to lend a hand!" She said cheerfully as she looked over the rooftop ledge to find a pile of manure underneath.

'Perfect.' She thought, pleased as the two thugs caught up to them and unsheathed their swords. Stephanie copied the motion, unsheathing her own blade.

"You will hand that boy over to us, child." The bigger man ordered. Stephanie smirked and pulled Tim in front of her and held her sword at his neck. "Sorry guys, this one's mine."

"Eh-" Tim started but Stephanie gave him a little pinch to keep quiet. "A Viscount is worth a lot of money ya'know. I think I'll take that money for myself."

"You brat-" The two men charged at her and Stephanie neatly moved and sent the two men toppling over the side. Tim blinked as Stephanie laughed and put her sword back in its sheath.

"You-you are..." Tim started.

"Handsome? A genius? Immensely talented?-" Stephanie smirked and she peered over the ledge.

"Dangerous."

"Eh?" Stephanie stuttered, losing her balance and tripping, which made Tim reach for her but ending up tripping himself with him landing right on top of her. "Ooof!" Stephanie coughed as she hit the ground and Tim hit her.

"I'll be feeling that later..." She mumbled. 

"Umm, Lord Tim?" She asked, noticing that he hadn't moved since he fell. "Are you alright?"

Tim suddenly lifted his head, looking straight into her eyes while still atop her. He seemed to be staring rather intensely which made Stephanie squirm uncomfortably.

"Umm...," He started. "This may sound strange...but are you a girl?" He asked her.

*     *    *

Author's Note: Quick update on the story: I've changed Stephanie from a Knight back to a Squire just because I feel that she isn't really old enough to be one just yet. I've also decided to make her Prince Dick's squire. But fear not, she will be promoted back to a Knight later in the series. 

I also had a thought just now; Since Tim is a Lord and Lord's have Knight's, wouldn't it be cool if Tim asked Stephanie to be his personal Knight? Squeeee~ *TimSteph ideas*