Squire (Part One)

"A square?" Emmie asked, wiping the tears away with a sleeve and stumbling over the unfamiliar human word. "What's a square?"

"A squire," Ashlynn corrected, emphasizing the middle of the word. "Where I come from," she said, standing up and walking around her desk so she could sit on the floor and be on eye level with the young, horned girl. "Brave warriors who serve lords and rule over villages in their name are called knights. Some people become knights because their parents were knights or lords, but others earn their title through bravery and valor." 

"Are, are you a knight then?" Emmie asked Heila. "Because you're the bravest warrior I know besides Father. But he doesn't serve any lords so he can't be a knight," she added, trying to make it clear that she didn't think that her father and Heila were the same kind of warrior.