Learning the skill throw was a lot harder than Rosa thought it should be. Setting up targets at the playground by thrusting sticks into the ground was easy. The problem came when she actually threw the stones.
'I've hit them multiple times! I should have learned the skill by now.'
"Maybe I was learning things faster because I was in danger before." Rosa muttered as she picked up one last stone. An idea came to mind as she looked at the stone in hand. "Or maybe my theory is all wrong."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mom, I'm home."
"Where have you been?" Eleanor demanded as Rosa walked through the front door. Her hands on her hips looking like the typical unhappy matriarch.
"Welcome back." Abigail said from inside.
"Hello dearie." Rosa paused in removing her shoes.
"Hello Madame." Rosa responded politely. The other person at the table was Mrs Mulberry, her mother's boss. Normally, the madame didn't come up to visit as she saw both of them down in the shop. This visit was unusual. "I was out at the playground."
"What were you doing at the playground?" Abigail asked as her mother spoke at the same time.
"You need to stay close to home." Her mother looked stern as she pointed at the floor. Abigail and the madame exchanged a look. Rosa saw no need to hide what she was doing on the playground, just in the classroom.
"I was trying to learn the skill throw." She answered honestly. Her mother seemed to deflate as all three grown women stared at her in disbelief.
"You what?" Abigail asked after clearing her throat. Rosa took a big breath and began to speak.
"Those days in the lower city were the most frightening of my life. I was helpless. I was scared. I ran and slunk around like a ratkin. I-" Rosa looked at her feet."-don't want to be scared anymore. I want to be able to do something, even if it's just harassing monsters from the wall."
"Oh baby-" Rosa's mother eyes teared up again.
"Well-" huffed Madame Mulberry. "-I think I have my answer. I'll see you downstairs tomorrow bright and early child. Explain everything to her Ellie, I have things to do." With that, the smartly dressed aristocratic woman got up from her seat and left.
Leaving Rosa very confused.
"Uh-?" Abigail spoke before Rosa could get her questions out.
"Sit down, we have a few things to discuss." Rosa sat at the table while noting the very uncomfortable look on her mother's face.
The whole story came out. The boss raid was going poorly. The adventurers and the city guards were at a stand still at the wall, neither side gaining ground. Everyone had given up on having anyone from the lower city surviving.
Then Rosa crawled back over the wall. She was now a minor celebrity among the defenders of the city. A seven year old girl that fought for her survival so fiercely. It was admirable. They redoubled their efforts.
Rosa gave them hope.
The city's elites wanted to ask her to go to the wall and boost moral. They had approached the madame first since she knew both mother and daughter.
The madame was hesitant but reluctantly agreed to bring it up with her mother. Eleanor was firmly against it.
Then Rosa had to come home and make her opinion known.
"She's not going out there to fight." Abby argued.
"She's a seven year old! That wall isn't safe-" Ellie shot back.
"The rewards offered-" Rosa had been sitting back and watching the two women go back and forth for a while now.
"Will mean nothing if she's injured or dead." Eleanor rationalized.
"And if I do nothing, we all might be dead sooner or later." Rosa finally added in to the conversation. "Of course, even if I go, we all still might die anyways right?"
Eleanor and Abigail were silent. That was the whole crux of the issue. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
'They're keeping the situation under warps so as not to have anyone panic. They're desperate if they're recruiting a seven year old to boost morale. That means there's no escape route available.'
That wasn't surprising, the city was built into the mountain after all. The two gates were the only way in and out of middle of the city.
The elites had one way in and out of their area, high in the mountains with tall buildings looking out over the city. Rosa called it poor planning.
In normal circumstances, the two women would have noticed that Rosa was not acting like a child of her age. These were not normal circumstances. Anything that would normally set off red flags was rationalized away as trauma and fear.
'Desperate times call for desperate measures.'
"I want to go-" Rosa's mother turned and glared at her. "-but under some conditions." Rosa turned to her godmother and the best magical artisan around. "I want you to make me something auntie."
"Oh?" Rosa grinned at her. Maybe it was time to act her age. Giving the description of the items she wanted created, the two women's jaws dropped.
"Where did you get this idea from? It's brilliant!" Abigail had taken a notebook out halfway through her explanation and was scribbling madly. She was also adding her own ideas to the mix. After leaving to get to work, Rosa turned to her mother whom was getting food on the table.
"Mom?" Rosa asked tentatively. Her mother let of a breath that she seemed to be holding in. The tension in her shoulders still present.
"You'll go even if I don't give permission won't you?" Eleanor stated into the open air. "You're just like your father that way."
"I want to help. Even if it's just as a mascot."
"What's a mascot?" Eleanor asked confused. Rosa nearly facepalmed.
'Right. Got to be careful of otherworldly terms. Capitalism isn't a thing here.'
"Nevermind ma." Eleanor snorted as she set dinner on the table.
"You'll come downstairs with me in the morning and we'll get you fitted with some child size armor. That's what Madame Mulberry meant earlier. You'll be escorted the entire way there and back."
"You mean-"
"This is not permission. This is acceptance of you being just like your father. You'd sneak off and do this without letting me know you were going." Eleanor said sharply. Rosa felt sweat bead on her head in exasperation.
'Dad, what did you do?' Rosa pondered as she put her head down to eat. There wasn't much said after that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Morning was a quiet breakfast followed by a quick trip downstairs to the tailor shop. Normally, Madame Mulberry's shop dealt with high end fashion and tailored suits. Today, it looked like a leather bomb exploded inside.
"Darling!" A joyful blue eyed and haired female met us at the shop entrance. This was one of her mother's co-workers, Hedi. Hedi was a little too fond of the color blue, wearing an aquamarine dress that made her look like she dipped herself in blue paint.
"Hello Hedi. Hello to you too Mr Lance." Rosa greeted the only male that worked for Madame Mulberry. He was abnormally tall with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. For working in fashion, he dressed like he belonged at a construction site. A white muscle shirt and hardy leather boots and pants was his favorite outfit.
"Hn." He replied not looking up from what he was doing.
'He also isn't one for words either.' Rosa thought as she took in the untidy store in leather chaos.
"Alright sweetheart. You know the drill." Hedi said as she clapped her hands together. Rosa was pushed a handful of clothing to try on and hurried towards the small box of a change room. She sighed, it wasn't the first time she'd been a model for clothing.
The underclothing for armor was a lot more plain than Rosa thought it would be. In fantasy games, the female characters usually wore clothing that were little more than bikinis with chain mail.
'This is fine, no one will notice.' Rosa thought as she walked out. 'This is where reality and fantasy divide. Real armor is in layers.'
"Up here Pouty." Hedi had Rosa climb up atop a stool where all three of them strapped child armor onto her. A chesplate, a leather skirt, shoulder pads, arm and leg pads and a leather helmet. Leather buckles held everything in place. When they were done, she was put in front of a mirror.
'I look like a little brown bun.' Rosa pouted. 'Real armor is bulky and uncute.'
"Aw. My baby looks so cute." Rosa pouted even more, her mother would think she looked cute in an old potato sack.
"I think this calls for another outfit." Hedi declared. Lance nodded and left into the back room. Rosa perked up when he came back with a number of children outfits. Hedi took a looks at a few of them and then nodded as if she made a decision. Pulling an item out of her pocket had Eleanor gasping.
"An illusion stone? But that's way too expensive." Rosa's mother protested.
"Madame said we could. She's representing the shop." Hedi said cheerfully. A green dress was picked off the rack and held to Rosa's face. "Let's match the outfit to that pretty ribbon in your hair."
'So the items equipped could be seen by others, good to know.' Rosa thought as Lance shoved away Hedi's outfit and held up his own choice. Sparks flared between them.
An illusion stone was basically like a skin in video games. The stone imposes the looks of a different outfit over another. Rosa was thrilled; she may still have to contend with a bulky, heavyly layered and hot outfit but at least she wouldn't look like it. The illusion stone was highly sought after for both practical and vain reasons.
"How are things going in here?" Madame Mulberry asked while entering the shop with Abigail. Lance and Hedi were glaring at one another, each holding different green outfits.
"Everything's fine boss." Hedi said through gritted teeth. Lance narrowed his eyes and grunted in disagreement.
Madame, knowing her employee's temperaments, went over to mediate.
"Abby? Have you slept at all?" Eleanor asked when she saw her best friend's face. Rosa looked over to see Abby's tired yet excited fave.
"No. I was up all night making this!" Abby said gleefully as she opened the sack she had been holding. Presenting her work in front of everyone like a proud parent.
It was a slingshot with an arm rest.
"Um, what is it?" Madame asked catching everyone's attention.
"It's my revenge." Rosa chirped with a mischievous grin.
'Why throw when you can learn to aim?' Rosa thought to herself being influenced by a thirty year old with a grudge. She picked up her new weapon with a smile that screamed destruction.