ONE ,

[SHINOA !]

WHAT A GRAND MESS ,

PRINCESS ANASTASIA OF CONTE

Anastasia was originally not allowed to become a Knight, but for hours everyday she stood in the throne and argued with her father, King Jonathon, to allow her the right he had bestowed on women to become a knight. The King only feared for his daughter, knowing what the trails are like for a woman. He eventually agreed, after Thayet talked to him, she giving up hope that her daughter would follow in her footsteps and be a rider, and Jonathon agreed on one condition: that she would be Jon's squire when it came time for her to have a Knight Master. This was to ensure Anya's safety, even if he trusted his Knights with his life. As this was a simple condition, Anya agreed, and was accepted to be a page when she was ten. She was the third girl ever to try to become a Knight. The first Alanna, who's son was a year above Anya, and the second was Audrea, also a year above Anya. With their help, Anya was able to pass through the page trials easier then Audrea's first year had been. Anya looks up to Audrea as a sort of path to follow, though she makes her own paths for originality.

When Anya became a squire, she was set up with her father for a Knight Master, as was agreed, and did generally well until many of the younger knights started to tell her she would never make it through the trials, telling her she was too small, and that Alanna was a fluke. Anya, being a full of life girl, fought vocally back, and it ended up in a fight where she was sorely out numbered and had no hope of winning. She fought as well as she could, of course, but it was a luck of the draw that she won at all, for it was Alanna's son, Jack, who came to her rescue and beat the rest of them off. He took care of Anya until the threat was over, and until all the wounds she had received were healed. Anya fell in love with him during that time, or realized she had liked him already, she isn't quite sure. Either way, she intends to see if Jack feels the same, and if he does, she might have to go up against her father again, to see if she can have him, as well as be a Knight. But what if she's made to choose between the two of them? Which will she choose? Knighthood? Or Love?

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AUDREA OF PEARLMOUTH

Drea didn't have any problems when asking her father if she could become a Knight. The only child in her family, it was made known at a very young age that the Pearlmouth Fiefdom would be hers when she was older, and Drea took this very seriously. She had her tutors teach her what a boy would learn when they were young, not a woman. There would be no teaching Drea how to embroider or dance. Only basic strategy, languages of the realm, and other more useful things for a woman who was to watch over a fiefdom. She was not going to become just another girl who was to be "sold" to some Knight when it was her season, and just be a wife and head housekeeper. This was the new age, where women were becoming accepted as equals. And she liked this idea. Even cut her hair off when she was nine, much to her mother's horror. It didn't look to bad though, once someone had fixed it up for her. When she was ten, she asked if she could try for Knighthood, and having heard of her progress from her tutors, her father agreed, not without a little fear for his daughter. Thus, Audrea became the first woman to legally try for Knighthood.

This would prove a very difficult challenge. A very very difficult challenge. Audrea found that the boys made it hard for her at every turn, but she didn't give up, and she wasn't really alone. She had someone there who gave her the benefit of the doubt because of his mother, Alanna, the first woman to become a Knight. And that was Jack. Jack helped her anyway Drea would let him, and they became friends quickly. Training together, doing homework together, playing games meant to train the mind in strategy and other things together. They did everything together, and they didn't mind that they were mainly alone for the first bit of page life. Audrea was eventually accepted as one of the boys shortly before squire-hood for her ability to do somethings better then most of the boys did, and not bragging about it. She became one of the "guys" and stayed generally good friends with most of them. However, life would get the better of her, and when she was sixteen, returning with her Knight Master from a training camp, Drea came home looking completely different then anyone remembered her. She had let her hair grow long, her body had filled out a bit, and her face had softened, though it still held the seriousness Drea always possessed. Soon, she had the attention of all the guys, but found she only wanted Jack out of any of them, and he was only amazed to find she went for him, not that he complained. They've been getting together secretly ever since. Will she choose to make it public? Or will they stay secret until Jack wants something more?

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JACK OF PIRATE'S SWOOP

There was never a question in their house of whether or not Jack would become a Knight. In fact, his mother would have been pretty insulted if he didn't, as she spent half her time (when she was home, anyway) teaching her son all the things she had learned over her years as Lady Knight and Right Hand to the King. Her son was a natural at it, just like she had been, but had some things Alanna didn't have that could be put to his advantage. Mainly things such as the sneakiness and agility of her husband. So, Alanna saw this is a wonderful opportunity to keep the future as strong as their glorious time currently was. Jack was quite fine with becoming a Knight, it never bothered him to begin with, and he rather liked learning how to use most weapons, actually already knew how to use a sword before he even became a page. That he figured out secretly though, he never told anyone, except his father. Mainly because his father knew everything, and keeping things from him was impossible. His mother wasn't the only thing who taught him things though, his father did as well, for that, Jack became very good at figuring things out for himself. Very very good. Not so great with the stealing though.

He could have made it so that page-hood wasn't difficult for him, but he couldn't just stand by and watch as a girl tried to do exactly what his mother did, and was being terrorized for it. Thus, he chose her over the narrow-minded other pages to be friends with. At least with her being a girl, she would be willing to work her ass off to become a Knight, and Jack wanted to do that as well. Her name was Audrea, and they became friends quickly. Jack soon got a little crush on her at the end of their page life, but quickly learned that that crush would not be able to flourish. He generally had to stay closer to the castle, where Audrea had to be out and about. His attention more fell on the Princess, who had also just become a squire a year after he did. He rooted for her as well as Audrea, and even stepped in when a bunch of knights were drunk and acting very rudely towards their princess. He noticed, while making sure Anya was getting better, that Anya started to look at him much the same way he looked at Audrea. He wasn't quite sure what to do about that, but he kept it in the back of his mind anyway. Until the day Drea came back in their third Squire year, that is. She'd completely changed, and was ten times more beautiful then Jack had remembered. After getting locked into Balor's Needle with her as a joke from the guys, Jack told her what he felt for her, and they agreed to meet in secret there whenever they could. Should he make it public? Or will he start feeling things for someone else as Audrea is away so much? What about that Knight Master of hers he'd started to notice so much? What was that look that he had given her?

--- OF NAXEN

The eldest Naxen had always known he would be a knight. For that matter, all the Nazen's knew they would become a knight. The Naxen bloodline seemed to guarantee boys every single time, and every single time, they were healthy, strong men who grew up to become wonderful knights, whether it was in combat, magic, or sitting behind a desk. The eldest Naxen had proved to be of the combat part of things. He really preferred to be out in the wild and adventuring, or going on missions that the King gave him. And as a Knight, that is exactly what he did. Became a roaming Knight. He had done two years of this on his own when he finally decided that now would be a good time to get a Squire. For a year, he suffered to sit still and watch the next set of pages for the best one for him. One stood out from the others, not really because of the reason most would point out, but because the woman really did show promise. So, with permission, Naxen asked if he could ask the Drea to be his Squire. He was reviewed, and when she passed her Page trials, he asked her to be his Squire, and was overjoyed when she automatically said yes.

They worked well together, the two of them. Being only one knight on the road usually, there wasn't a lot that Audrea really could do except be an asset to him, and to learn from him. This was one of the harder jobs that a Knight could do, but it was also one of the most plentiful. You could learn a lot out in the wilderness, and everything Naxen had suffered through the first time, Audrea had an easier run through with. Her squire duties were not as bad as the others, as when you are always on the road there isn't much time for Naxen to wait around while his Squire did everything. Over the years he had her as a Squire, he started to rather enjoy her company, and when she filled out after her sixteenth birthday, Naxen found he liked her much more, and became jealous when he realized that she was going off with her friend Jack a lot when they came home. After learning that, he started coming home less, seeing if eventually Audrea would forget the boy back home, and then see him instead. Will Naxen be successful? Or will he eventually give up?