No Means No!

Why is this SO hard to understand??? Well, I'll tell you why...

I was watching a TV show called the Fosters, and in it, one of the girls was raped by a previous foster brother. She FINALLY got the courage to report this when she realized that he was doing it to someone else.

Her lawyer told her many a time that she could NOT tell the judge she was raped. If she claimed that it was consensual, the foster brother would be automatically sentenced to jail time. If she claimed that it was NOT consensual and the judge didn't believe her, then the foster brother would go free.

This is SO typical of the American legal system that I can only shake my head at the stupidity of it all. Let me break this down for you...

A girl - of ANY age - was straight up raped. She said no and he DIDN'T listen. The lawyer told her that she couldn't tell this to the judge because the judge probably wouldn't believe her because the girl was a troubled girl and HE was a model person - so far as anyone could tell. It would be his word against hers, and he would win by reputation alone.

So... No means no, but only if the girl is a better person than the guy???

Moving on, let's get to the REAL crux of the matter. The TRUE problem with this whole Scenario.
If no means no, then yes means yes!

You CANNOT have it both ways! You cannot say that no means no if yes doesn't actually mean yes! I mean is it any wonder that EVERYONE is confused on the topic of consent?!

In this scenario, had this girl decided to claim that she said yes, and then he was automatically sent to jail for Statutory Rape, then yes would not have meant yes!!! I do not care who is hopping in bed together, if BOTH of them are saying yes, then it should be legal. Don't give me that BS about one of them not being old enough to consent, because if you are in court arguing this, then the point is really moot. Or at least it should be. Did you consent, yes or no, and if no, RAPE has occurred!!!

If yes, then why the eff are they in court for this? Well I'll tell you why. It's adults that eff everything up. If a girl's parents find out that their 14 or 15 year old girl decided to go out and have a wild weekend with a 17 year old boy, rather than accept that she said yes and had fun, they want to ruin his life and send him to jail. Shame on the parents!!! You know what they have just done? They have just created a culture in which a girl is NOT ALLOWED to say yes without parental permission! (And vice versa. Girls can be sent to jail for this too.)

Here is a real life example. When I met my husband, I was 16 and he was 20. We hopped right into bed and stayed there for 4 days. By law, he should have gone to jail. WHY??? Because even though I had reached the age of consent, he was still too old for me legally. THANK ALL THE GODS that my mother was too smart for that esh! She took one look at him and knew that he was my future husband. And you know what? She was right. We got married when I was 21 and he was 25. We had broken up for a few years and got back together. We've been married for 14 years now.

Thus rather than ruin his life for a VERY stupid reason, we were given the luxury of yes meaning yes.

Do you know how to teach a teen that no means no? You give them the power to make that decision. After all, if a girl is saying: "No I can't because my parents will kill me, or kick me out, or ground me for the rest of my life," then what she is really saying is yes, and that is what the boy is hearing. But if she says: "No I don't want to," then that decision must be treated EQUALLY as important as if she said: Yes, I want to, let's do it!" It must be treated equally as important as if she said: "Yes I want to, but only a little. Let's kiss and grope each other's naked body, and maybe give mutual oral, but NOT penetration!" It must be treated equal with: "I want to kiss you for a while first while I make up my mind."

Because for no to mean no, then yes MUST mean yes, and this is the very foundation of consent. Without it, we are always going to be arguing over whether or not she really said yes.

Sigh...

Mirror of Dreams - Extras: Chapter 4

In Chapter 4, There are a LOT of things that I feel need a visual aid, lol!
To start, there's her coronation dress. It's made entirely out of red lace, but of course, there's nothing online that exactly matches what's in my head. So, I am going to post a whole ton of pics to give y'all ideas on what I'm talking about.
Here's what the lace itself might look like: (All images taken from somewhere on the web.)

Then there's the dress itself. IT has a long train that looks like this:

It might even be longer, lol!


The entire dress is made in lace though, so it's meant to be sheer, like the top front of this dress:

The shape of the dress, aside from the long train is meant to be one of these: More than likely the first :-)

So - all in all - the dress is hard to describe, lololol! 
The closest that the dresses on the internet could come to matching what I described was these:

The only real problem I have with the bottom dress is that she doesn't really look queenly in it even though it does a good job of being lacy with a long train. I know I ask the impossible, but I am telling you that one day, I will see a dress, and it will be EXACTLY what I had in mind, lol!






To go with the coronation dress is a tiara, and I have to be honest, there was practically NOTHING online that matched the image in my head, but some came close. I describe it as a delicate little gold thing with diamonds, so here are a few examples of tiaras that come close. Feel free to imagine her in any of these :-)

AND THEN: Kaitlynn gets herself a ring...
So, that doesn't have an easy to find match online either, lol! I grabbed a couple pics that came close, and I figure that y'all can either try to visualize what I describe, or you can just pick one of these, lol!

Lastly, there's a routine mentioned in the chapter, but I am going to save that for either its own post or the extras on another chapter :-D Hopefully, I've given y'all enough eye candy for today.
Have a happy day!

Mirror of Dreams - Chapter 3

3

Lord Antony and Sir Barrett weren't quite sure what to do the next morning. It was technically Sir Barrett's job to wake me – or at least be on hand to guard me when the maids woke me – but he was reluctant to do so when I was naked and held close by my lover. Lord Antony prided himself on being an excellent assistant, and so was also on hand in case I needed anything, but not even he wanted to wake me up to such a potentially awkward situation.

Maids stood by in the background, having brought a new dress from the Royal Seamstress. All in all, most people would have probably been upset to open their eyes and see so many people watching them sleep, but not me. Who can be embarrassed by a dream? Granted this was turning into an extremely long dream that I could apparently sleep during, but it had to be a dream, right?

“Good morning,” I greeted them cheerfully. “Is something wrong?”

“Not at all, Your Majesty,” Lord Antony assured me. “We simply didn't know the appropriate way to wake you in such a situation.”

I looked down to see that I was now laying on my side with Nathan's hand covering just one of my breasts. My back was snuggled into his front while our legs were slightly bent like spoons. My hips were just barely covered by a sheet – as were his – while the rest of us was exposed.

I was tempted to turn around and kiss him, but I didn't want to wake him. To be honest, I would have loved to simply lay there and watch him sleep for a while! Unfortunately, I was apparently needed already.

Gently lifting Nathan's arm, I slid out from under the sheet and made sure that it covered him adequately. Then I sat up in bed, shifted to the side, and stretched my arms high over my head. A huge yawn escaped me, reminding me that I could have used a bit more sleep, but otherwise, I felt wonderful. Now if only I could get rid of that infernal sizzling in my blood!

“Do I have time to take a bath?” I wondered, pretty sure that they didn't have the technology for showers yet. I made a mental note to see that it was invented soon because showers were convenient when one was pressed for time.

“Of course,” Sir Barrett stated with a patient smile. “You have time to do whatever you want, Your Majesty.”

“Well,” Lord Antony amended softly. “Within reason. If you shirk your responsibilities, you'll create hardships for the whole Kingdom.”

“Got it,” I stated dryly. “I can do whatever I want so long as I do what I'm supposed to as well. No problem!”

I'm pretty sure that I can multitask if I have to. Maybe on days when I have far too much to do, I can simply insist that Lords Antony and Gregory join me in my bath so that I can work while I relax. The thought made me giggle!

“Right this way,” Sir Barrett informed me, gesturing to a door I hadn't noticed yet. Or rather, I suppose that I had noticed it, I just hadn't used it yet. “You're own private bath was prepared just in case you felt like bathing.”

I followed him into the bathroom, and then nearly fainted in shock. “This is my private bath?!?!” I demanded incredulously as I looked around.

This wasn't a mere one person tub or even an eight person hot tub like I had imagined. This was practically an olympic sized pool! Except that instead of being rectangular, it was octagonal. And – from what I could see – it wasn't very deep, maybe three to three and a half feet at the deepest. The tub seemed to be carved from white marble (roughed up so that it wasn't slippery) and was decorated with copious amounts of gold.

“Yes,” Sir Barrett confirmed, amused by my incredulous expression.

“Why the hell do I need such a huge tub?!” I wondered crudely.

Sir Barrett chuckled. “You probably don't but it was built during a time when the King – several generations ago – had a large harem and apparently needed a lot of space. If you look over there, you'll see another door that used to lead to the harem, but was long since converted to the “Queen's” chamber. By that, I mean the wife or consort of the true ruler, so don't worry that you're staying in the wrong room. I assure you that you are in the right room.”

He looked away and grinned. “And in fact, Lady Sophia is currently staying in the Queen's chamber. Just in case you wanted to know that...”

By this point, I was already in the tub, purring happily at how wonderfully warm and soothing it was. At this news, I perked up. “Oh? She is?”

Laughing, he explained that: “King Henry had given her permission to use that chamber and continue using the bath after she had abdicated. He himself tended to bathe very late at night, and she bathes either early in the morning or right after dinner, so there was never a conflict. However, I suppose that even if they shared the bath on occasion, neither would care. They were not attracted to each other in the slightest.”

“Good to know, I guess,” I murmured. “I don't mind if she bathes in here. Could you scrub my back?”

“If you'd like,” Sir Barrett replied.

“I'll do that!” Nathan announced abruptly. He also hadn't bothered to cover up before coming into the bathroom. The sight of him made me want to melt into a puddle of bliss!

“You're awake!” I exclaimed happily as he slipped into the tub.

“Yes, well, it's hard to sleep when the maids start chattering on about how romantic it is that we are already sharing a bed,” Nathan informed me with a shy grin.

I kissed him quickly a couple of times before turning my back to him so that he could scrub it. “I'm sorry that I was so tired last night. I'll try my best to go to bed a bit earlier tonight so that I can do better.”

Nathan pulled me close so that he could whisper in my ear. “Don't say such embarrassing things where others can hear them!”

I giggled. “Why – my Lord Nathan – are you by any chance shy?”

He harrumphed but didn't answer me. Over my shoulder, I noticed Sir Barrett smirking in a way that let me know he was suppressing laughter. He was also busy pretending to be interested in a statue in the corner so that he wasn't staring at us the entire time.

If I had to guess, I'd be willing to bet that Sir Barrett probably didn't have to guard me in my bath, but that he wanted to understand me better and this was a good way to do so. After all, not too many people could resist chatting amicably while they relaxed in the bath. At least, not in my experience. My friends at school and I were always talking about this and that while we bathed.

After he finished with my back, I had Nathan wash my hair. It was fun to let him do so. He kept sweeping my hair out in the water, playing with it and marveling at how long it was. I liked it long, but it was also a bit of a pain, so I tended to keep it braided at all times. My party had been a notable exception since I had gone to a professional hairdresser to have it styled.

Once I was clean, I pounced on him. “Your turn!” Washing his hair was heavenly, and then I tickled his back and thoroughly groped his sexy buttocks.

“Hey now!” He protested, blushing hotly. I followed his eyes to find Sir Barrett still examining the statue. I'm betting he was utterly bored by now.

Finding Nathan's blush both sexy and adorable, I lightly bit him on the neck, and then took pity on him.

“Sir Barrett? Would you please leave us alone for a while? I think I am probably quite safe in the bath...”

“Plus, I am a soldier quite capable of protecting my fiancée if necessary,” Nathan added.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Sir Barrett replied with a small bow. He quickly left.

“You are?” I blurted out incredulously.

“Of course!” Nathan stated with a tone that suggested he was confused by my incredulity. “All citizens of Rolandia are trained soldiers in one way or another.”

“Even the women?” I wondered, finding this unusual for a world that seemed stuck in the middle ages.

“Yes, but granted, they have different options. Yes, women can be regular soldiers if they want, but they are also encouraged to become medics and offered reserve status much more quickly than most men. Only those women who are truly serious about being a soldier stay in the army longer than a year. Whereas men are obligated to remain in the army for many years.”

“Even now? Even during a time of peace?” I asked, not sure how that worked.

“Well yes and no,” Nathan replied, tilting his head side to side. “Most have been recalled from active duty, and so it might be fair to say that they are on reserve status, but in actuality, they can be called on at any moment if our enemies attack us.”

I scratched my head in confusion. “So... They are on active reserve status?”

Nathan laughed. “You can think of it like that if you want.”

He was sitting – leaning back against the side of the tub – so that the water perfectly covered his shoulders. I decided to straddle his lap and press my body into his as I kissed him. His hands rubbed my back lightly for a few moments before holding me close. I wiggled my hips in a slow rhythm to stimulate his passion, and was rewarded for my efforts when he moaned and shifted his hands down to cup my buttocks.

“Oh my! I'm so sorry, I never expected the bath to be occupied at this time of day!” Lady Sophia exclaimed in a tone that was both apologetic and utterly thrilled.

We looked over to find her standing at the edge of the tub naked. I purred in appreciation, liking what I saw, which made her smirk in pleasure and sort of sway her body side to side to show off for me. Nathan buried his face in my neck for a moment and shook his head.

“Mother!” He protested in embarrassment. “Have you no shame?!”

“None at all!” She assured him with a cheeky grin.

I stood up and faced her. “Feel free to use the bath any time you like, Lady Sophia. I don't mind sharing.”

“Thank you, Majesty!” She purred in delight.

“Kaitlynn,” I reminded her, and then pointed to a pile of soft and fluffy towels. “Could you hand me one of those? I have a feeling that your son would appreciate some cover at the moment.”

“Certainly!” Lady Sophia agreed.

I took the towel from her and turned to hold it out for Nathan. He promptly used me to hide from his mother while he covered up the hardness we had created just moments ago. There was an adorable blush on his face that made me want to kiss him a thousand times!

Lady Sophia apparently had a wicked sense of humor, because she obviously delighted in teasing her son. “What's wrong, Natey? We used to bathe together all the time! Why are you so shy now?”

“Mother...” Nathan growled, turning redder than ever. He knew she was just teasing him though because he didn't say anything else. Rather grumpily, he exited the tub and leaned against a wall while he waited for me to finish my bath.

Lady Sophia took the opportunity to hop in the tub and splash me playfully. I splashed her back which provoked an epic battle. The battle continued for several minutes and ended when we were both laughing too hard to continue.

“Oh Your Majesty – Queen Kaitlynn,” Lady Sophia amended with a smile. “It's such a delight to have another Monarch around who knows how to play!”

“Was my father a dull man then?” I asked, calling him my father out loud for the first time that I could remember. As I listened to her reply, I took the time to remove my diaphragm and wash it thoroughly.

“Dull? No,” Lady Sophia replied with a soft shake of her head. “He simply didn't have time to play very often, with the war...”

I looked over at her to see if she planned to go into detail, but she was staring at my diaphragm.

“What is that?” She asked curiously.

I explained it to her, which made her pout prettily.

“Aww, such a shame! I was looking forward to having grandbabies soon! My darling son hasn't seemed interested in matters of love, so I was beginning to despair!” She leaned over to whisper in my ear, resting her hands on my shoulders. I felt an interesting tingling where she touched me. “He is almost a hundred years old, after all.”

“He is?!?!” I blurted out in astonishment, my eyes flying to examine the man who looked like he was barely old enough to shave.

“What?” He asked defensively.

“Yes,” Lady Sophia confirmed almost grimly. “It's something that a young and beautiful mother is ashamed to admit...”

I could not respond and my mouth gaped open incredulously.

“What?!” Nathan demanded, becoming agitated.

Lady Sophia flapped her hand at him. “She is merely trying to figure out how a mother as young as I am has a son as old as you are.”

“Oh, is that all,” he stated and relaxed once more.

“All?!” I asked incredulously. “I only just turned 18! And you... you're...” I couldn't say it out loud!

“In my 90s?” He supplied helpfully, and then shrugged. “Age is strange in our world. People grow into full adults in their first 16-20 years, and then don't seem to age at all for a very long time. Take my mother, for example. She's already 425 years old. By rights, she should be an older woman with beautifully silver hair and lovely wrinkles –”

“Don't say that!” Lady Sophia gasped in dismay, holding her hands to her face as if trying to cover up any potential wrinkles.

Nathan scoffed at her reaction, and then continued. “Instead, she still looks as young as she did when I was born.”

I had already finished washing my diaphragm, so I set it on the edge of the tub to dry, and then relaxed as I listened to this story. Something intrigued me. Well, the whole age thing intrigued me too, but something intrigued me even more.

“So wait, you're saying that Lady Sophia was already in her 320s when she had you?” I asked Nathan, and then turned to Lady Sophia. “And you're worried that he hasn't started having babies yet at only 90... something?” Neither of them had specified his exact age.

Lady Sophia shrugged. “I love babies, and I miss having them! I sincerely wish that my son would provide me with a whole bunch of fat and happy grandbabies to adore.”

“They would be adorable, wouldn't they?” I murmured with a grin.

“That they would!” Lady Sophia agreed. Suddenly, she looked down and an intense wave of sadness emanated from her.

“What's wrong?” I asked, instinctively pulling her into a comforting hug. She returned my hug freely, snuggling her face into my shoulder.

“I just miss them so much,” she murmured morosely.

“Miss who?” I wondered, having no idea who she was talking about.

“My older children,” Lady Sophia clarified. “I had three sons and two daughters who have died in the war.”

“What?” I whispered in shock. The more I heard about it, the more this war seemed like a terrible thing!

“Yes,” she murmured vaguely, but didn't elaborate.

“They all died in the line of duty,” Nathan stated as if this was simply the way life was. “There's no greater honor than that.”

“Yes,” Lady Sophia agreed softly.

I rubbed her back, knowing that anything I wanted to say would likely just anger her or make her feel even sadder, so I kept my mouth shut. Slowly, her mood changed again. She looked at me with a mysterious expression.

“Thank you, Queen Kaitlynn,” she murmured, and then kissed me. This was no mere pressing of lips either. This was a kiss designed to make my toes curl and my blood boil. I moaned in sudden longing, pressing my body into hers.

“Hey now! Wait just a minute! Mother!!!” Nathan roared, pulling me out of the tub.

“I'm sorry baby,” Lady Sophia purred in a tone that suggested that she wasn't sorry in the slightest. “I just couldn't help myself! She had her naked body wrapped oh so lusciously around mine!”

I chuckled softly, amused by this fascinating woman. “My luscious body! Have you looked in a mirror recently?!”

“Why yes,” she replied with a naughty grin. Twisting her body side to side as if modeling a new dress for me. “You like what you see?”

“Mmmhmm!” I moaned with a grin.

“Kaitlynn!” Nathan burst out in shock, which actually shocked me. He was literally the first person to call me by name – without any form of title to go with it!

I looked at him curiously. “What?” I asked, finding it interesting – and a bit frustrating – that the man of my dreams would be jealous. “I'm just flirting. It means nothing.”

He scoffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Flirting with my mother! Surely you can understand how that would make me uncomfortable!”

I opened my mouth to protest, and then opted not to say anything. Instead I closed my mouth and wondered how to change the subject.

“Is everything alright in here?” Sir Barrett called out. “I hear shouting...”

Perfect!

“Everything is fine, Sir Barrett. We're just coming out now,” I announced, grabbing a towel and using it to dry my hair as I walked toward my bedroom. A thought occurred to me, prompting me to backtrack for my diaphragm.

A minute later, I found myself in the middle of a quartet of maids who were ooo-ing and ahh-ing as they used other soft towels to dry me off and fluff my hair. “Your Majesty has such lovely hair!”

I'd grown up with a maid to clean my room and help me dress when I really needed it, but most of the time, I dressed myself. This was an interesting experience to say the least. All of the maids were pretty and wore adorable matching outfits in different colors. I wanted to flirt with them and reward them with kisses, but I also didn't want to upset Nathan again so soon.

Go figure, I finally have an interesting dream (most of my dreams were boring), and my dream lover had to be possessive. I really needed to teach him to share so that I could enjoy this dream to the fullest. I watched him slip into a robe and sit on my bed as he watched me be fussed and fawned over. Man! He was so handsome that I was tempted to throw all the maids off and jump back in bed with him!

A glance at Sir Barrett and Lord Antony made me wonder what they would do if I did. The thought of them gasping and trying to look away as I licked my fiancé all over made me giggle. Would they stay and patiently wait for me to finish, or would they leave and spread the word that I was taking an extra long time getting out of bed this morning?

The maids interrupted my thoughts by helping me into my new dress. This one was blue, a vibrant shade that matched the color of my left eye. I was impressed that the Royal Seamstress – who I hadn't actually met – had managed to fit the dress to me so perfectly. She also seemed to understand that I planned to wear whatever I wanted in this fantasy world of mine. I had no rules of modesty enforced by my mother, so I could wear something sheer like this and not have to apologize to anyone.

The dress hugged my chest – the lacy material playing peekaboo with my breasts – bared my shoulders and arms, and flared out at my hips. I twirled around several times to see how it moved, and was delighted to see it spin beautifully. The bottom hem – edged in black lace – tickled my calves and made me laugh.

“I love it!” I pronounced giddily. “Please give my compliments to the seamstress, and also let her know that I'll gladly wear anything she cares to make me, no matter how revealing!”

The maids all bounced and clapped at this news. “That's wonderful, Majesty!”

“Why do the women in the palace always seem to insist that they should wear very little?” Lord Antony asked of no one in particular.

Sir Barrett laughed and tried his best to answer. “Probably because no one dared to tell Lady Sophia no when she was Queen, and all the rest of the Ladies felt that it was only fashionable to follow suit.”

“I'm ready for breakfast!” I announced as my stomach growled.

“Oh, but Your Majesty!” The maids protested. “We haven't done your hair yet!”

I was already in the middle of braiding it and paused to look at them. “What would you do with it? I usually prefer a simple braid.”

They sighed in disappointment. “That's a shame. We could have done something fabulous with it.”

I smiled at them warmly, finishing my braid and securing it with the cloth covered rubber band that I usually used. “I'll tell you what, you can practice doing fabulous things to it tonight for dinner, but now I'm too hungry to wait any longer.”

“Yes, Majesty,” they mumbled sadly. They immediately began whispering suggestions to each other – and wondering what the stretchy thing in my hair was.

I left them chattering and led my entourage to the breakfast room now that I remembered where it was. Nathan – still wearing a robe – had gone his own way, presumably to his room to get dressed. This gave me an opportunity to ask Sir Barrett an important question.

“So...” I began, grinning at him flirtatiously. “If I were to leave the castle and stay the night in an inn, you would have to guard me at all times, right?”

“That's exactly right,” he confirmed with a smile.

“But what if I am with my fiancé or a lover?” I wondered.

“I would face the wall, but I could not abandon my duty to ensure your safety at all times,” he stated, clearly having a protocol to follow.

“Hmm,” I murmured, thinking this over.

Breakfast fairly flew by, and then Lords Gregory and Antony dragged me to my office so that we could do some work. By the time we were done, I was ready to tear my hair out in frustration. There had to be a better way to do this!

The sizzling in my blood got worse and worse the longer I sat still, so the moment they said we were finished, I ran out of the office and just kept on running. I had no idea where I was going and really had no destination in mind. I just needed to move my body! Therefore, I ended up simply going outside and running around the palace several times.

Lord Barrett caught up to me fairly quickly and ran at my side. He looked perfectly comfortable jogging like this and made no comments asking me to slow down or wait for him. In fact, I think he might have been hoping that I'd speed up a bit. When I was ready to stop, he helped me stretch for a few minutes, and then handed me a basket that he had been carrying.

“I brought a jar of water and a sandwich,” he informed me. “I figured that you might prefer a solitary lunch...”

“Thank you!” I gushed in appreciation. The sandwich disappeared into my stomach in no time at all, making me feel like a pig, but I pretended that nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Now what?” I wondered, looking around.

“How are your sword skills?” Sir Barrett asked.

“Uh... nonexistent...” I muttered because this was not something I ever expected to be asked.

“Would you care to learn?” He wondered with a kind smile.

“Sure...” I replied hesitantly, and then shrugged.

He led me to a sparring area, and then handed me a practice sword. It was made of metal, but not sharp in the slightest. I swung it around like it was a baseball bat a couple of times.

“Is it supposed to be this light? I feel like it's going to go flying out of my hands at any moment.”

“Really?” Sir Barrett asked, sounding intrigued. He exchanged the sword for a different one. “How's this?”

“Better,” I murmured with a frown. “But it still doesn't feel quite right.”

His smile turned into a wide grin. I felt as if he knew some shocking secret but wouldn't tell me what it was. Without a word, he gave me an even bigger sword.

I swung this one around exactly like I had seen done in countless movies. This one felt almost perfect! I pretended that I was a fantasy paladin fighting off a hoard of orcs!

“Take that! Ha!” I exclaimed as I defeated an imaginary bad guy. In a way, I felt like I was dancing. In my mind, an entire field of orcs was slain by my hand as I made goofy noises of triumph.

“I thought you said that you knew nothing about sword fighting,” Sir Barrett remarked with a puzzled frown.

“I don't,” I stated, not bothering to end my epic battle. “I'm just playing.”

“Huh!” He scoffed in disbelief. “That's some playing then! You're exhibiting real skill – the kind that takes most people years, if not their entire life, to master.”

“What?” I wondered, stopping completely to stare at him. “Impossible!”

He shrugged, unable to think of anything to say. Grabbing a practice sword of his own, he advanced on me slowly. I defended myself awkwardly. The really strange thing was that I knew what to do, except that I really shouldn't know what to do, so I wasn't confident in the slightest about what I was doing.

So focused was I on Sir Barrett that I didn't realize that people were slowly crowding around us. None dared to enter the sparring ring with us, so I paid them no attention, but they were watching us with interest. Only when their whispering got louder did I notice they were there. Suddenly, I was unnerved!

Sir Barrett trounced me unexpectedly, sending me flying a couple of feet before landing on my butt. “Ow,” I muttered silently, my pride wounded more than anything.

“Are you alright?” Sir Barrett asked me as he held out a hand to help me up.

“Yes,” I murmured. “I simply got distracted.”

In the background, I heard someone say: “The new Queen fights like a second year soldier.”

“Is that her?”

“No wonder Sir Barrett needs to tutor her.”

“Yeah! With skills like that, she'd die in her first battle!”

The last statement offended me. Not because I thought I was better than that, but because they implied that I would allow there to be any more battles. I straightened up indignantly. Sir Barrett hastily intervened.

“Her Majesty is new to our world, and hasn't ever used a sword before,” he explained. This piqued everyone's interest even higher.

“She hasn't?!?!” Clearly, this boggled everyone's mind.

Sir Barrett sent those who were supposed to be training or working back to their tasks, and then basically ignored the small crowd that was left. “Let's try that again. I get the feeling that you were holding back.”

“I wasn't holding back,” I assured him. “I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing.”

“So you say,” he murmured as he attacked me and I defended myself. “But clearly, you do.”

Lord Antony could be heard in the background talking to Lord Gregory. “Look, she's using his Majesty's practice sword.”

“I noticed,” Lord Gregory stated dryly.

“I wonder if she could use his real sword?” Lord Antony asked.

“Impossible!” Lord Gregory scoffed. “The sword was magically attuned so that only he could wield it.”

“But she does carry his blood,” Lord Antony pointed out.

A new voice entered the conversation. “And she said that he turned into energy and entered her,” Lady Leeza reminded them. “I think it's worth trying.”

“I do too,” Lord Antony agreed before sending a pair of guards off to fetch it.

Meanwhile, I was gaining confidence fairly quickly. I blocked everything that Sir Barrett tried to hit me with, getting ever so slightly faster with each movement. The skill seemed to be a part of my body, and that sizzling in my blood felt good, for once.

I felt like I was pulled out of a reverie when the guards returned and Sir Barrett signaled an end to our match. Both of us were breathing heavier than usual, but not so heavy as to be called panting. It felt like my body was singing triumphantly!

“Majesty,” the two guards murmured as they knelt before me and held up the sword.

It was beautiful! The hilt was wrapped in bright red leather and had a large gem in the very end. I would guess a ruby or a garnet. The crossbar was etched with gold swirls, and the sheath itself was made from red leather and gold wire. I think there might have been wood in there somewhere too, but it was hard to tell.

I took the sword in my hands and felt a rush of energy hit me. Holding it close for a moment, I inspected it once more. Suddenly, I felt like I had to lift it to the heavens, as if offering it to the Gods. A moment later, I drew the sword and roared as if I was a lion showing my pride who was boss.

And then I felt silly and giggled. “Where did that come from?” I asked no one in particular as I examined the naked blade of the sword. It shimmered and gleamed as if made out of pure sunshine. “Ah, beautiful,” I sighed, loving this sword even though I wasn't particularly into swords in general.

“Well that answers that,” Lady Leeza stated smugly. I looked over just in time to see her smirking a bit meanly at Lord Gregory.

“What?” I wondered curiously.

“You can draw His Majesty's sword,” Sir Barrett informed me, as if I hadn't noticed this already.

“Yeah, and?” I drawled slowly, not understanding why this was unusual.

“And no one is able to draw it but him,” Sir Barrett explained. “Sheathe it and I'll show you.”

As I did so, he held up his own sword. “See, my sword is similar to but smaller than that one. I can draw it as easily as if I was breathing.” He demonstrated a couple of times, and then returned his sword to his side. Holding his hand out, he accepted my sword. Then he tried to pull the sword from its sheath, only it refused to budge. He exerted ever more pressure, but still, nothing.

Taking the sword from him, Lord Gregory did the same thing. As did Lord Antony, and then Nathan.

“You see?” Sir Barrett asked as if it should be obvious. “Only King Henry could use this sword, and now you.”

“That's a good thing,” Nathan explained with a nod. “The people will consider this a sign that you truly are our rightful Queen.”

“A magical sword, huh? I guess this dream is turning into some sort of role-playing video game,” I murmured to myself, admiring my sword again now that Nathan had given it back.

“What?” Nathan asked in confusion.

“Never mind,” I stated, waving away his concern.

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