Morning came a little too quickly and yet, the day didn’t seem all that different. It was still uncomfortably hot. I walked down to the training field and began stretching, ready to get in a light work-out before patrol. Yet, when I walked around through the monastery to the main courtyard, my rival, well— he calls himself that. To me, he’s just another noble fool who can’t see the bigger picture. Or maybe it is because of his height that I am actually a threat to his resources, which is odd. As a commoner, even if they turned me into a knight, my ceiling will never be as high as his. The sky is his limit while the monastery vaulted ceiling is mine.

Charles flexed his impressive build, his blonde braids dancing while he went through the Holy Sun exercises that help the holy energy refine the body, and push us past our mortal limits. The moment he spotted me, he stopped his routine, and brought his sweat-stained chest over to me.

“Let’s spar,” He demanded.

Frowning, I sat aside my sword and cracked my knuckles.

Not surprising that he raised his hands in typical boxing standard. I copied him and we circled each other before his impatient bearing made him step into my range. However, I let him inch a little more forward and throw the first jab. I swatted it aside and smirked. It was more than enough to make his eyes narrow and he threw a combo at me. The wind whipped at my face and any other mortal might have blinked from the fierce wind. Yet, I took it as a cool breeze and kept teasing him with subtle smiles.

His form was impeccable and if I was a little stupid, I would have assume that his frustration meant he would get sloppy. Instead, I kept him moving in a circle and I used the smallest movement to defend myself. Sometimes the best offensive was a defensive that pushed the enemy to overextend in that split moment. Sadly, here, in this courtyard, we both knew it wasn’t life or death. He wouldn’t succumb to anxiety or allow his anger to make him slip up.

Neither would I.

After a few minutes of this pointless endeavor, Charles backed up and narrowed his eyes. He huffed and walked back to his group, to the bootlickers who passed him a water skin, and towel to dry his sweat. All the while, I had to walk to the well, lift up the bucket, and fill a ladle to quench my thirst.

Few more days, I would either be enjoying the privilege of being a knight or I would be staring down another man with a blade and shield. Praying it is not my day but his.

Sighing, I thank the Goddess for the clouds that veiled the glaring sun. I returned to my dorm, showered, and dressed in my patrol gear. Another day, another same old route, how blissful. Nothing great happened other than all the walking made my stomach growled.

My comrades didn’t ask me out and I didn’t make the effort to turn them down. Instead, I angled towards a tavern I haven’t eaten at yet. Right off the main street and just before you enter the harbor district. The sea smell and fish guts mixed together to produce a stomach churning fragrance. Yet, it did not stop those living there from eating and it sure wasn’t going to stop me. Thus, I moved forward through the crowd. Ignoring street hawkers pushing carts of wood carvings and fresh melons. I dove head first into the tavern, more so due to my height actually reaching the top of the door frame than me being that hungry.

The tavern was almost densely packed but there was a section that was opened to the sky, beautiful purple orchids set nested in pots. Vines hung down from columns and the three booths' seats were opened. I marched my way over and a few rough types eyed me. One in particular reminded me of the chubby fellow from yesterday but he didn’t smell as if he shedded a drop of blood recently. So I turned away from him and sat down under the shade of the overhang but close enough to the garden that the smell overrode the normal stench.

A pair of soft sole shoes gilded towards me and I looked up to see a familiar face. She smiled as if she had seen the glory of the Goddess instead of the darkness of the heart.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said and leaned a little more forward than was comfortable. “We have a special chef and he is cooking a shredded rabbit with pasta doused in a creamy sauce. Alongside a loaf of fresh, baked bread only for thirty coppers. Are you interested?”

I looked away from her twin peaks dash with black dots to her smile that felt a bit odd given we weren’t all that close. “Yes, please. Also the best fruit juice you have available.” I slide a golden coin over with the emblem of a snake circling the moon.

She snatched it up, dipped, and then retreated with a slippery grace that bespoke of experience in this kind of rowdy crowd. Shaking my head, I glance at the street to the fire dancers performing to the beat of drums. It was entrancing watching the way they weave the fire sticks around while maintaining a certain level of grace. Each of their steps were coordinated to add an extra layer of sophistication to the entire thing. Just from seeing the parked carriages and crowd standing by, it was a successful gambit.

I spotted more than a few shaved ice in people's hands. A few sugar coated fruit slices traded from peddlers hands to customers who might not have realized that such a treat was cheaper a block over.

The girl walked back with my platter and she set it down. She laid down a white napkin, set my utensils on it, followed by a bowl to the right of that, in front of me. A wooden board housed a loaf of bread that was half my forearm. The smell from that alone made my stomach shout in worship. The plate of pasta covered in white sauce with green bits dancing in it, didn’t have as strong of a smell as the shredded rabbit in the bowl. Yet, who would tell me not to devour it all in seconds?

My waitress lowered a silver cup and slipped the platter she brought everything over under her arm. She left but came back even quicker and dropped into the booth on the opposite side. I wasn’t polite enough to not eat in front of her.

“Did you eat?” I shoveled some shredded rabbit onto a spoon and fork up some pasta squares. I ate them one after another, lamenting at the excellent taste that blended together. If I didn’t go to war in three days, this would definitely be my hang out spot from now on.

“I haven’t. Are you offering,” She said with a giggle.

“Go ahead.”

She waved over a waitress and placed an order. A meal of rice and chicken boiled for only ten copper.

I finished when she ate just half of her meal. I used the loaf of bread to clean up the sauce the shredded rabbit was in. Then polish off her meal before leaning back to let my leather armor give my stomach some space.

“So,” I asked.

“Well, could you walk me home again?” She sat straight and hid her hands under the table but I bet she was twisting her dress.

“Sure but why are they after you?” I slid out of the booth.

“My father was a sailor and he had the typical problem of being an alcoholic gambler. He never made it back from the seas but left a debt of eleven silver.” She looked down as she spoke.

“Oh.”

This little lost lamb followed me out the door and then remembered she didn’t hand back my change. Not that I forgot my ninety-eight silvers. She slipped a small bag into my hand. I dropped it into my coin purse with other small bags inside.

“So, since we are getting to know one another, what is your name?”

“Teresa,” she said in that small voice again.

“Beautiful name. You do it justice.”

Teresa’s round face reddens and she clasps her hands together. We walked in silence and I noticed the closer we got to her home, that women were in the street using long poles with two-fang forks to lift the sheets off the fishing lines. They lowered it down and two other women grabbed it, folding it up without letting a single edge touch the ground. It always amazed me the level of teamwork and coordination people put into such simple things. But—the street did lose a touch of color that I always adored about this area. It always felt like someone lived here rather than the silence of the upper districts.

Definitely when the shade came and the kids rushed out with a stitched-up ball to kick it around. Their chime-like laughter made more than one woman look over and smile. Even Teresa held a smile but there was also a hint of reminiscing. She couldn’t be that old but then again, the Queen law dictated that nobody under sixteen summers could work. Well, everybody but people who trained to be soldiers or knights. We didn’t have a cut-off or even a time when we couldn’t begin training to kill and defend. Any age was good enough to begin teaching of the Goddess.

I stopped at the step to her home and looked at her trying to formulate a way to ask me up. It was clear she wanted to make use of me, who didn’t. She was also very attractive, otherwise those men would not seek her out to repay her father's debts. They would angle for the older sister who might be less likely to resist threats of harm to this one.

“Do you want me to come up,” I asked.

Teresa's eyes lit up and I laughed, waving a hand for her to go up.