A Great Debate

Shock was all that was seen around the kneeling knight. Anyone who had seen him land knew he was a dragon and regardless, any knight had a certain amount of pride. They wouldn't kneel and swear allegiance to just anyone. It was well known that a knight's sword was as good as his word and this knight seemed as serious as mold on bread.

Sarah for her part, was merely gaping at him for a long moment before she blinked. The sounds around them stated filtering back then. First the children, then some of the other townsfolk, began to softly laugh. Whether it was at the kneeling dragon or the thought that Sarah had been mistaken for a princess was yet to be determined. The laughter shook her out of her shock and she blinked rapidly a few times. "Uhhhhh…" she droned quietly for a moment. How to tell this man that she wasn't a princess without offending him? It really would have to be done delicately. If he was a knight worth his salt, he would have to serve her regardless of who she was now.

The knight, to his very high praise, was staying bowed despite the sniggering and laughing that was sounding from around them. He had been given a charge and there was no doubt in his mind that the young boy had found her for him. She had the king's eyes and nose but her mother's body and hair. He may have been but a page when the queen passed away but he could remember her as if it was yesterday.

Sarah finally found her voice again and had thought of what she intended to say. "Well...I'm just going to go give this bread to Ms. Hague. Why don't you… guard the stall," she suggested before backing a few steps from him and turning away, hiding her blush from him.

The knight, to his credit, didn't argue with the woman. He didn't look entirely pleased but he didn't argue. As she turned to walk away, he stood and sheathed his broad sword. Turning to see the stall she had mentioned, he saw the only one that seemed abandoned. It was near a fruit stall and another smaller trinket stall. He walked over and crossed his arms, placing his broad body in front of it as if daring someone to get past him to the stall. He had been told to guard the stall and so he would. No one would get to it.

Literally no one. Sarah sighed as he came back and saw how he was standing in front of it. During the short jaunt to Ms. Hague's and back, she had thought that the attention on the knight would have hopefully dwindled enough that she would be able to tell him to scram without having any attention brought to him. So she walked back to him, her eyes rather low to the ground in embarrassment. Just because the attention wasn't as concentrated on them in the moment didn't mean that there wasn't some that she wished would go.

"I didn't mean literally guard it," she explained. "I meant… Watch to make sure people paid if they wanted something. If they can't get to the stuff, they can't buy it." She walked around him and stood behind the stall so that she could be there for anyone that needed the bread or eggs. "But I wanted to tell you, you're wrong about calling me Princess Alexa. There's no princesses here and my name is Sarah," she said as she exchanged a half dozen eggs for a few coins, illustrating her point. No self respecting princess would be selling eggs in a small town market.

The knight nodded. "As that is what you were told to believe for your safety. The king's daughter was taken into hiding seventeen years ago and Stavin, the lecherous bastard, is coming now to attempt to kill him. The king needs you to return," he explained. The serious appearance he had was nothing short of hilarious. What was he thinking?

Sarah laughed gently, her blush holding as the man seemed not willing to let up on his story. She exchanged coins and goods with another customer from the town who was openly amused at the scene. Once they left Sarah shrugged and started packing the booth up early. This man did not seem interested in leaving. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint our king but he will be horribly upset to meet me instead of his daughter, I'm sure," she said.

The knight shook his head. "You share his eyes. And your age is proper. You look like the late queen. The person I have been searching for is you," he insisted, keeping his eyes alert to their surroundings. Now that he had found her and shouted her identity for all to hear, she would need to be protected. As he looked around he noticed that the townsfolk around them didn't seem to pose much of a threat. In fact, they seemed only too happy to side with the girl.

"Princess Al-" he started when he turned back to look for her. She was gone! He looked right and saw no trace of her. Looking left he caught a glimpse of her hair and elbow as she turned round a corner. "Bloody fast vampires," he thought to himself before rushing off after her. He needed her to come with him.

He made it to the corner she had disappeared behind when he almost collided with the head of a large horse, blonde main flying in the wind as it stopped abruptly. "Princess Alexa," he said annoyedly. "We need to leave for the Imperial City immediately. Get off that animal." His nose scrunched up, it was clear what he thought of her riding a horse.

Sarah shook her head at the persistence of the man. One of her hands was on her horse's neck, calming it after the sudden stop. "I'm sorry, sir, but I need to get home. My husband will be waiting on me," she lied. No need having her followed if she didn't have to. And the word seemed to work. The thought of the husband shocked the knight. She walked the horse around him and started off. Sadly, the man came to his senses just as the tail of the horse whipped his face.

The man sputtered, spitting out tail hairs and pushing the blasted thing away from his face. "A husband!? How could your providers have allowed such a thing?!" he demanded. He stepped along beside her legs, following.

Sarah raised her shoulder and shook her head. "I dunno. It's just a...thing girls do my age," she said, trying to come up with some lie. Truthfully her parents had never pressured her to marry and denied all the suitors that asked. It was always a polite rejection but they were allowing her to grow in her own way. And of course, there was always Charles.

Feeling a lie, the man decided to hold on to it as tightly as he could, watching her suspiciously. "Marriage is more of a commitment than just a thing," he started before pausing to think. He needed to be sure she wasn't Princess Alexa before he very well abandoned the thought. If she was who he thought she was and he left, he would be skinned as the beginning of his punishment. "Very well. Take me to see your guardians. They would know the truth," he pointed out.

Sarah took a deep breath. "And if they tell you I am their daughter Sarah, you will leave me well enough alone?" she asked him. When he nodded she sighed again. What harm could he possibly do to their family? Her father was strong. But… a dragon. He hadn't seemed hostile yet. Hopefully he wouldn't be. "Fine. Let's go," she said before kicking the sides of Clyde and riding back to the house she had grown up in.