Red, White, and Gold

Slowly waking from the comfort of unconsciousness, I look around me and notice my surroundings aren't what I would see in my room at home. Then it hits me, I'm in a room that is in another world. I sigh and turn over trying to fall back asleep. I notice the shape of a body laying in the bed next to me and lightly look under the covers at a sleeping Donae.

I smile and put the covers back down. 'I want to know who he is but would it be rude to pry?' I think looking at his shape under the blankets stir as he moves in his sleep.

I start to carefully get out of bed when I feel an arm wrap around my middle, holding me on the bed.

"Where are you goin'?" Donae asks sleepily.

I giggle because his sleepy voice is adorable and say, "I was gonna get dressed and go check on the horses."

He tightens his grip on me and pulls me closer to him, "But I want you to stay."

"Donae," I say looking into his sleepy eyes, "I'm sure you would rather sleep."

He lightly chuckles and holds me, "Can't sleep if you leave."

I sigh and relax, knowing he won't let me leave, "Donae, who are you really?"

He lightly whispers in my ear, "I'm your knight in shining armor."

A light tingling goes down my spine when he says this and I ask, "So you are noble blooded?"

"Of course my lovely princess," he snuggles his face into my neck. "And I will keep you safe. It's my duty."

I start to fall asleep again but the sound of an animal screaming jolted me back awake.

Donae jumps out of bed and throws on his riding breeches, still shirtless he runs out of the room to look for the source of the scream. I follow him after draping my cloak over my shoulders and grabbing his. I see him run into the stables and I follow cautiously. At first all I see is Shadow and Smokey, then I notice the figure of a small boy laying limply against the wall. "Donae? Is that boy okay?" I hand him his cloak and walk over to the boy.

"He spooked Smokey," Donae says calming our mounts. "He's the stable boy."

I lightly touch his shoulder to see if he's okay and realize he's bleeding. "Donae! This boy is bleeding!"

"Calm down, it's his fault for spooking my horse," Smokey let's out a snort. "Serves him right anyway. Smokey said he was trying to steal her."

I had tuned out the rest of what he said and started ripping the nightgown I was in to bandage the boy up, "Well, Mr. Knight, I don't think it's right to let a boy bleed to death because of what a horse said." 'Shadow, what truly happened, I'll make sure to get you a full doe if you tell me the truth,' I think to him while bandaging the boy.

'The boy came in early to saddle us like Donae told him,' Shadow says watching me work on the boy. 'I suppose Smokey was asleep when Donae came and told him that.' I hear Shadow's hooves approach me, 'He told you that he was a knight? I thought it would take longer for him to tell you that.'

'I asked him when he refused to let me get up to come check on you guys,' I say.

"Tallia," Donae says with a hint of worry to his voice, "how did you know I was a knight?"

"You told me about five minutes before your mount decided to scream," I say. "Plus Shadow says that you told this boy to come saddle them early."

"Oh, I forgot about that," he says worriedly, "is the boy okay? I hope he isn't hurt too bad."

I lightly touch the boys head and feel a tingling energy go through my hand into the boy. I watch as a light surrounds the boy and the blood seems to soak back into his body as the wounds he had start to close.

Donae says, "Woah, how did you do that?" The boy wakes up and looks at Smokey like she was a murderer, which she almost was. Donae regains his composure and asks, "How old are you, boy?"

The boy starts to stutter, "I - I'm e - eight, sir."

"Where's your family?" I ask soothingly. Lightly touching his shoulder.

"They're gone, ma'am," he says looking down. "I lost them all when the evil queen returned."

"Awh, honey," I say grabbing him and holding him to me. I want to help this boy, but I have no clue how I can.

'Well, why don't you ask Donae if he can come with us,' Shadow suggests. 'I would carry you both, assuming he doesn't have a horse. Then again if he did it would get spooked easily around me and Smokey.'

I turn and smile at Shadow then at Donae. "Donae, I have a lovely idea."

"I have a feeling I won't like it," he says eyeing me suspiciously.

I smile and say, "Can we bring him with us? He's all alone and honestly after what happened this morning I don't want to leave him all by himself."

Donae let's out a low growl and looks at me with a hard glare to see if I was being serious, "I don't know, he's not good with horses apparently."

I put my hands on my hips and glare at Donae, while the boy lightly grips my cloak looking up at me, "He is good enough with them that he made it to now. Your horse was just spooked because she didn't hear you tell him to saddle them last night!"

He glares at me and mumbles, "Fine, but I'm not responsible for him. I'm only responsible for you."

I almost jump with joy and I look at the boy happily, "Hun, what's your name?"

"Nobody has called me anything but boy, ma'am," he says looking at his feet.

"Look at me," when the boy looks up I see a flame of courage in his golden brown eyes. "Can I call you Navi?"

He nods his head yes and smiles, "I like that a lot, ma'am."

"Please call me Tallia," I say kissing the top of his head. "Go gather your things, you will be riding my horse with me."

He nods quickly and starts to run to gather his things yelling, "Thank you, miss Tallia!"

~~~♢~~~

I went back to our room to change and gather my things. I start to comb my hair in the looking glass that is in the bath area.

"So, I told you that I was a knight?" Donae asks walking up behind me.

I nod yes, "While you snuggled your face into my neck promising to protect me." I turn and smile at him.

"I did that?" He looks at me, blush slowly crawling up his face. "I didn't even realize."

I look at him, "You didn't realize what?"

"I didn't realize that you're the only person I've even been this open to my whole life," he says putting his hood up and wrapping his arms around my waist.

We stand like that for a few minutes, but break apart when I hear Navi outside the door. I open the door up and reveal his small figure that only has one satchel hanging from his shoulder. "Miss Tallia, I'm ready to go. Can I help saddle your Hypacampus?" He looks at me excitedly and I smile back at him.

"Yes, Navi, you can help," he jumps up and down before running towards the stables.

'Is he gonna attack me, mistress?' Shadow asks worriedly.

'No, Shadow, he's just excited,' I say walking over to my things and grabbing them.

~~~♢~~~

"I've got the saddle!" Navi exclaims running to get the saddle from the rack.

"Be careful, Navi," I call after him, then I hear the sound of a saddle falling off its place.

I laugh as I hear Navi yell, "I'm okay!"

"He's a strange one," Donae says saddling Smokey.

"He acts as reckless as I had when I first was being taught to ride," I say looking at Donae. "He's adorable."

"Hmph," Donae says, "only you would say a child eager to saddle a Hypacampus is adorable."

I sigh and look at him, "Why do you have to be so cruel when we aren't alone? I like you better when you're not being a pain in my behind."

He looks at me and sighs, "If I knew I would stop it, but as the fact I don't realize a lot of things when I'm with you it is impossible."

I sigh and turn to help Navi saddle Shadow, "Well I'll let you know if I figure it out."

Navi looks up at me excitedly, "Where are we going? I wanna go on an adventure! Oh, oh, can you teach me how to use a bow? I've always wanted to know how to use a bow. Oh and can I-"

"Navi! You can ramble when we get to where we're going, now stop and get on the horse!" Donae snaps at him.

"Come on, hun. Let's go," I say helping Navi onto the front of my saddle.