Chapter 1
Kit left the castle early that afternoon when her mother allowed her and headed out to meet Jade for their training. While walking past the stables she saw a familiar figure.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that,” Kit said when she reached the doors to the stable, watching the girl feed the horses. She was wearing a white blouse and light blue skirt with a matching ribbon tied in her hair. That mixed with the beam of afternoon sunlight shining directly on her, Kit thought her friend was the most beautiful creature on the planet.
“You’d be surprised what they let you get away with around here when it means they don’t have to work,” Violet said, smiling at her friend. “And besides,” She continued, “without me, they would just be getting fed, but Jasper here likes to be scratched right behind his left ear, and Buttercup loves it when you kiss her nose- What?” She asked when she glanced at Kit to find her staring at her with a slight smile and a look in her eyes Violet couldn’t identify.
“Nothing,” Kit said laughing slightly, “Are you coming to training with us?”
“Oh. Of course!” Violet said, grabbing her crossbody bag before putting a saddle on Buttercup and letting her out of her stall. Kit hopped up on the horse, taking Violet’s hand and helping her up and the two rode to meet Jade on the ledge.
“Took you long enough,” Jade said, standing up from her place on the grass.
“Sorry,” Kit began, “I picked up a stray. Oh please, can we keep her!” She playfully begged, taking Violet’s hand in hers. The girls laughed as Jade pretended to be mulling over the question, “Fine, we can keep her.” She said.
“Oh! Before I forget, I have something for you.” Violet said pulling a blue shirt from out of her bag, “freshly repaired for all your training needs” she said handing the shirt to Jade, almost as good as new except for a small patch on the shoulder and stitching on the side, both results of a every heated sparring match. “And that’s why we keep you around.” Jade joked, gently squeezing Violet’s hand as a ‘thank you’. “You better hope Jade doesn’t start beating me or you’ll be out of a job. Come to think of it, you’ll be here forever” Kit laughed. “Oh really?” Jade asked, pulling out her sword.
Violet took that has her cue to run far away as fast as possible and walked to her spot on the grass, allowing her friends to begin their training.
Violet had always feared being bored, when she didn’t have something to do, her thoughts started to spiral. To remedy that, she always had her small bag filled to the brim with books, her journal, sketchbook, an embroidery hoop, cloth, various needles, and colors of thread. These afternoons on the ledge became a safe space where she could sneak away from the menial stitching and cutting of fabric that seldom fed her creatively driven brain. She could spend a few hours every day sitting in her spot against a rock, drawing, reading, or whatever she wished to her heart’s content, pausing occasionally to cheer for whichever of her friends won their latest sparring match. Today was the first day the flowers had fully bloomed, so the first part of her time was spent picking the daisies and sweet peas before meticulously twisting and tying them together into three crowns.
Violet noticed the clashing of swords had stopped, meaning this round of sparring had just finished, so Violet began clapping then proceeded to look up to see which of her friends had won, “Yay.. Kit!” She cheered.
“I almost had you.” Jade said.
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Kit started, “You know, theres skill, then there’s talent, I just happen to have both.”
“Along with a generous amount of arrogance” Jade replied making eye contact with Violet, both the girls playfully rolling their eyes at their friend.
“Well I think you’re both winners” Violet said closing her book as Kit and Jade sat next to her on the grass forming their normal circle.
“That’s not how duals work Vi,” Jade said.
“You’re not actually fighting to the death, you know that right? I’m pretty sure we’ve been making up our own rules this whole time.”
“That’s pretty” Kit said gently touching the flower crown placed upon Violet’s head, trying to change the subject, sensing a loving argument about to break out.
“I’m so glad you think so becuase…” Violet said, her smile growing as she pulled the remaining two crowns from behind her, “I made more so we could match!” She gently placed a crown on Kit’s head. Kit looked her friend and found herself unable to do anything except look at her. When her mom made her do or wear something she didn’t want to she would protest, cause a scene even, but with Violet, Kit just wanted her to keep smiling like that. So, if she had to have a bunch of plants on her head, she’d deal with it and she wouldn’t even compain.
Jade, however, was a different story. While Jade and Violet loved each other, they would rarely let each other influence them. This is why, after Violet put on Kit’s crown, Jade looked at the single one left sitting in Violet’s lap and said a stern “No,”. The two girls, though appearing very different, were in all actualality quite similar. Both had a healthy track record of getting their way, just through very different methods. So, in response to her friends protest, Violet simply looked at Jade, then at the crown before picking it up. Continuing to make eye contact, Violet slowly raised the crown and softly placed it atop her friend’s red curls.
“I hate you” Jade said in a loving way. Violet took Jade’s hand in hers and gave it a gently squeeze in response. They were both extremely stubborn, but someone has to win sometimes. So Violet learned archery when she was 10 to aliviate Jade’s concern that Violet had no combat skills, even though she was certain she’d never need to use them, and now Jade sat there with a bundle of flowers getting tangled if her already unmanagable hair everytime she slightly moved.
During the intense stand-off, Kit had taken Violet’s sketchbook and was flipping through the most recent drawings. “These are beautiful Violet, but they’re all the same” She said.
“No they’re not, see this one’s this right in front of us, and this,” Violet said turning to the next page, “is this to our right. And this one,” she contuined, Turning a few pages back “was to my left.”
“It’s us.” Kit said. Jade furrowed her brow and leaned in the look at the sketchbook, which now sat in the middle of the circle.
“You’ve never drawn us before,” Jade said. “I don’t even know how you did it. We were moving,” Kit added.
Violet shrugged, “There’s only so many times a person can draw grass before they lose it. I guess 12 years is that limit.”
“One day you’ll be able to draw so much more than just grass.” Kit said as her two friends stared at her. “Come on,” She looked between both of them, “Tell me you don’t still think about it. You know, going beyond the barrier, having these wild adventures like… like we’ve always talk about” Kit finished and Jade and Violet made eye contact, unsure of how to respond.
As they’d grown older, Jade and Violet had figured out their dreams and plans to get there: Jade would become a knight, defending the crown at all costs, and Violet would be the most sought after dressmaker in the realm, every royal would wear her designs and every noble would dream of it. Kit still dreamed of going on epic quests to save the world and being her friends, Jade and Violet had indugled her fantasies, but as time went on and their paths became more clear, it became harder to hide the truth from her.
Jade cleared her throat, dedciding to be the first one to break the news, “Kit, I talked to Ballentine-“
“Princess! I bring word from the queen” The girls were interuppted. Violet and Jade jumped to their feet while Kit stayed seated, rolling her eyes and asking “Are we under seige?”
“You need to get dressed for dinner, Her Highness expects the royal party from Galladoorn to arrive shortly”
“I take it my brother’s been called to wash behind his ears” Kit said finally standing up.
“Yes, the prince, I believe, is hunting in the western woods”
“Hunting? Wonder who he’s hunting today.” Jade said, making the other girls snort a laugh.