"Pleased to meet you Eden," and the princess did a little curtsy that made me wish Autumn could stand to just be a little more like her. I'd be happy to work for her anytime.
"His my personal guard," No one really asked her but I guess she just really wanted to say it like she just one-uped the princess. She had quite the smug smile.
"That's a surprise, why would you of all people need one? He must be quite talented then," That may not have been true but it still felt nice to hear.
"He is, he can carry a lot of my shopping for hours without giving out. Now I can buy twice as much," She just had to say that, didn't she? Now the princess was giving me that sympathetic look. I felt pretty pathetic right now.
"How'd you two meet?" the princess asked, taking a little sip of her tea.
"He stole my purse."
"Excuse me? I thought we cleared that up! You even forced me to work for you!" I knew she thought I was overreacting but if she and the princess really are friends I could end up in jail.
"Relax Eden, I can tell you're thinking I'll lock you up. I won't, besides I don't think you'd have gotten off so lightly if you really stole from her," She's a smart one right there. And proved it even more after wiping Autumn completely in every match they played. Autumn might have said she didn't like the game but she clearly didn't like losing. After trying round after round she finally got it in her head there was no beating the princess.
She looked real mad, I was kinda expecting her to flip the table or something but all she did was angrily drink tea.
"Do you want to try as well Eden?" the question caught me off guard and I just said yes for the sake of appeasing whatever request she had given me. I only realized it when she asked Autumn to move and offered me the seat opposite her.
"Don't mind it too much if she finishes you off," I was already written off in her book.
We started the game, Autumn madly grinning waiting for me to get beat but soon realized that the game was taking longer than expected. One thing about me is that I lived with an old man who didn't have much to do other than work or play chess. He loved playing it but since he had no else to play he made me learn it so he could get to beat someone everyday.
However that didn't mean I was a master at it and in the end I still lost though it was tight.
"You're good," Princess Emilia looked up at me, she seemed to really have enjoyed the game.
"What do you mean he's good? He lost too!" For Autumn as long as I'd lost I was just as shit as she was.
"No, I barely won. You must play quite a lot."
"Well it is true, but to be honest she's just kind of idiot. Could barely string three moves," Maybe I shouldn't have said that out loud. The princess was really trying to hold back her laugh so Autumn wouldn't get too mad but she was already past that and we sort of just stared at each other for a while as I waited for her to say anything.
"We'll talk about this later," was all she said and all that tension that was building up turned to nothing in an instant. Looks like she could act mature at times. And so I played the princess a few more times but she beat me in them all and I could finally understand Autumn's frustration but I won't admit it.
It was getting pretty late, the sun was already setting and soon the sky would be dark. Autumn and I were ready to head back to the manor but not before the princess invited us to come back again and me so she could beat me some more.
The journey back home was quiet. I was honestly too tired and Autumn looked just as beat, and for most of the journey neither of us spoke a word, mostly just sifting through our own thoughts until Autumn finally broke the silence.
"I saw your fight with Telmore, or some of it anyway. You managed beat him while none of the other wielders usually do. Even I have trouble with him. Where'd you learn how to fight? Scratch that, where are you from exactly?"
She finally asked huh. She was going to sooner or later. "I'm from a little village way down south just by the sea, you probably wouldn't know it. As for where I learnt how to fight, that was the handiwork of the old man I used to live with. Turns out he was good at a lot of things. He took care of me since I was seven and taught me most of what I know."
"Why'd you leave that village? Why'd you live that man?"
"For starters, he's already dead..." looks like a gave her a little shock.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."
"It's okay. It really was his time to go anyway and once he was I really didn't have much left there..." I remembered his final moment, he didn't have much of regrets or at least any that I knew of. "I always wanted to travel the kingdom. Once he was gone I packed up and passed through quite a few towns and villages and experienced so much of the kingdom till I ended up here, the one place I wanted to see the most. Well, you know the rest..."
Autumn listened keenly and for while said nothing.
"Meaning if you hadn't met me you'd be living on the streets right now," a smirk formed on her face. She looked very proud of herself.
"What would make you think that?"
"Oh please, anyone can figure out that coming from the south all the way toward Elrow is quite expensive. Going from inn to inn, getting food, getting a horse since the Urst valleys are very difficult to cross on the way here all without having a means of earning a living while going from town to town." Right on the mark she was. Honestly if I hadn't met her I might really have had a rough time and that much I can admit.
"I see you've realized it, but all you do is complain and moan about everything. Some gratitude would have sufficed," she was really pushing this.
"You're right, I'm basically free loading off you and getting paid to do it. Thanks..." who would have thought just that would have her beaming.
"As gratitude I can show you how to actually play chess rather than that shameful display I witnessed."
"What do you mean teach me? You lost all your games too. What could you possibly teach me?" Yeah looks like that wasn't going to happen. And for the rest of the ride home we were back to bickering till the coach stopped.
By now the night sky was all out. My first day on the job was fairly eventful. I'm kind of looking forward to what my stay here holds.