Loud clangs and shouts rang out from the practice field as the knights sparred against each other. I had just finished a practice bout myself. I stood up on a bench and conjured my magic as Marina watched.

"Infuse the light into the water of life, and blow like a merciful wind..." I muttered an incantation as I waved my arms. I used my water magic to create a mist, and enhanced it with my light magic to give it healing and refreshment properties. I then summoned a light breeze to carry the soothing mist all around the practice field.

The knights shouted and whistled in appreciation.

"Thank you!"

"It's our Angel!"

"Angel-sama!"

I blushed and looked down. My reputation of being the Angel of the Royal Knights wasn't anything new, but it was still embarrassing. I leapt down from the bench and stood by Marina's side.

"How was it?" I asked.

"Very cool." Marina nodded. On days where I had practice with the knights, Marina would come and watch from the sidelines after she was done with her work.

A year had passed. We had considerably improved our control over magic, and were given grey robes to signify that we're apprentice mages. Our goal was to one day don the court mages' red robes, known as the Magician's Red.

I used water and wind magic to give myself a quick refreshing wash.

"Shall we get going?" I asked. It was still midday, and Marina was given a break and permission to leave the castle grounds.

"Un!" Marina nodded happily.

We went over to get a carriage to take us to the middle of the city. Although I hadn't been cooped up on castle grounds like Marina, I haven't had the time to go strolling through the city lately so it was exciting for me too. Even more so that I had a friend to go with.

Marina was so adorable as she stuck her head out of the carriage window to look around.

We left our grey robes in the carriage when we arrived in the city, since they would probably be too conspicuous. We had simple blouses and skirts on, but I had a feeling that we probably gave off the air of being nobles. I tried to rely on my past life's memories to shake off any noble mannerisms I might have.

"What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I'm kind of hungry," said Marina. It was the middle of the day after all.

I clapped my hands together. "Let's go get street food then!"

"The stuff on the skewers you mean?"

"Yeah!"

Marina nodded. "I know where to go."

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow as we walked together. "I thought you were locked up inside the Baron's estate."

Marina looked at me with a sad smile. "Before I was taken to my father, I lived with my mother in the... less savory parts of the city."

"Oh." I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to go see your mother?"

Her lips curved as a complicated expression fell on her face. "I'm not sure."

The smell of food made our stomachs growl and we hurried our pace. Within those smells was something deeply nostalgic to me. Nostalgic to the me of my past life. I couldn't help myself and ran towards the food cart.

My eyes widened. Thin pork skewers were being cooked on top of a coal grill. It was the moo ping of my past life. I quickly bought some with sticky rice and bit into them. The sweetness of the pork and sauce blended in with the sticky rice as I chewed them together. It was a taste that I never thought I would ever find again.

Tears fell from my eyes as I kept gobbling them down, making Marina and the shop owner gasp.

"Jou-chan, did you not like it?" the shop owner asked with a frown.

I vigorously shook my head. "I love it. It's just... I never thought I would have this again. It brings me many memories." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.

"Oh, did you go to the eastern part of this country before?"

"The east?"

"Yeah, that's where I came from." The shop owner smiled. "I'm happy to find someone who likes food from my home."

"I'll be sure to visit one day!" I smiled.

Marina was intrigued by my reactions, and she bought a large serving for herself too. We happily ate together before moving on to other stalls. Each time our hands got dirty I would use water magic to wash them.

"You seem really used to this, for a duke's daughter," said Marina.

"I, well, I have a lot of circumstances." I looked to the ground as I remembered my past life. All the people and places that I'll never get to see again. I hated that life, but there were still things that I missed.

"You have that look on your face again."

"What look?"

"A faraway look." Marina made a sad smile. "Like you're going to leave us all one day."

I threw my arms around Marina and hugged her. "I'm never leaving Marina!"

She clasped my hand. "I hope not. We have to become proper mages together, right?"

"Yeah!" I nuzzled against her cheeks a few times, then we continued walking while holding hands together. People passing by looked at us with warm smiles.

We went through some clothing and accessory stores, and bought a few things here and there. As a duke's daughter I could get fancy clothes brought to me at any time, but it was fun to look at things with Marina and buy them myself. Plus I had an appreciation for simpler clothes after my memories returned. I found a set of simple necklaces with colored beads as pendants. When I showed them to Marina, she suggested that we buy a matching pair. I had a cream-ish white bead on mine, the color of Marina's hair, and Marina had a pink bead on her's, the color of my hair.

I couldn't help but think that it felt like a date. Marina was probably too young to be aware of it, and I didn't even know if she was into girls. But it still gave me a giddy feeling inside every time Marina smiled.

Well, I was supposed to be too young to be aware of it too, so I'll push it out of my mind and just enjoy having a close friend.

While I was thinking such things, we ran into the people that I least expected to see in the city.

"Lumina?" I blurted out. In front of me were Roy, Chrom, and Luminaria. They didn't have any escorts, and were dressed in clothes that were probably supposed to be plain but looked obviously like people trying to hide their status.

"Tia?" Luminaria raised her eyebrows.

I summoned an invisible wind barrier to keep our conversation from being heard by others. "What are you doing here?" I hissed. "I thought you were being kept under protection until they found the culprit."

"But it's so boring being locked up all the time!" Luminaria pouted.

"You sneaked out on your own?!"

"Roy took us out," said Chrom.

I glared at the redheaded First Prince. As the first in line to the throne, and several years older than Chrom and Luminaria, he was no doubt spoiled. I wondered how often he sneaked out to town. And to be so irresponsible as to bring Luminaria along without any escorts. I understand how bad it would feel to be cooped up inside all the time, but the situation wasn't one where they could afford to do this.

"You really should have known better," I spat at Roy.

"Who do you think you are to lecture me?" he snarled.

I decided. I hated this guy. "Being all high and mighty like that gives away your position. Could you really afford that here without any escorts? You're lucky I already cast a barrier so no one else could overhear."

His eyebrows shot up and he looked around.

Luminaria's eyes were aimed behind me. "Who's this girl?"

Marina had been looking on silently, but her eyes widened in recognition. "Y-your Highness?! My apologies, I'm-" She was about to bow but I threw my arm in front of her to stop her.

"Act natural," I warned. "If you bow here everyone around us will know." I turned to Luminaria. "She's Marina Lauset, my friend and also an apprentice mage like me."

"You became an apprentice mage?" asked Luminaria. "How could you never told me?"

"Because I couldn't even get to meet you ever since then." I grit my teeth. "I missed you but thought that it was for your own good... and now you're out here sneaking around town by yourselves? Why wouldn't you invite me over, or let me see you when I requested?"

Luminaria looked to the side. "I didn't know how to face you. Chrom told me that you had no interest in him no matter what. So I thought. You really meant that you wanted to marry me, right? And that you actually like girls."

Chrom stared at the ground with a crestfallen look on his face.

I pursed my lips. "Yes."

Luminaria flinched at the answer. My heart felt like it shattered into a million pieces.

Something pressed against my thin barrier and dissipated it. When I looked around, it turned out that we were surrounded by malicious looking men.

"You're a bunch of noble brats aren't you?" said one who seemed like the leader. "You stand out too much. How about you come along with us, and get your parents to fork over some money?"

"How dare you?!" Roy shouted. "As the prince of this country, I can demand your heads!"

A thick silence fell over the street we were on. The thugs surrounding us were surprised, then smiled with glee at the catch that they got.

I slapped a hand to my face. "You dumb, fucking, idiot," I muttered. Certainly not words a noble nine year old girl should ever utter, but at this point, I was straight outta fucks to give.

I threw my palm into the sky and fired off a burst of light magic. It erupted as a signal flare above our position, forming the crest of the Royal Knights. "Knights! Please come save us!" I screamed at the top of my lungs and used wind magic to carry my voice further away.

With that done, I lowered my gaze to the thugs and sighed. "The knights will be here soon. If you run away now, I might show you some mercy."

The thugs glared at me and ran in to attack. "You're just a little brat, what do you think you can-"

I punched a burst of compressed air at him. The sudden burst blew him and a few others besides him into the wall of a store. The other thugs were shocked, and I used the opportunity to erect a stronger wind barrier around us. I summoned two swords out of my Infinite Arsenal and threw one towards Chrom. "Chrom!"

"Thanks." Chrom snatched it out of the air.

"What about me?" asked Roy.

I looked at him with disgust. "I've never seen you at the training grounds. I don't trust your abilities."

"Hey!"

I ignored him and turned to Marina. "We just need to hold them off until the knights come."

Marina nodded and held out her hands. "Fall into dreams," she muttered. A dark mist flew out of her hands through my barrier and sent the group in front of her to sleep.

One of the bandits could use magic, and he destroyed my barrier. Two of them charged in towards me, but I immediately cut them down with my sword.

There was a commotion as more people rushed to the scene.

"Save our Angel!"

"Charge for the Angel!"

"For Tia-sama!"

It was the Royal Knights. I used their arrival as a distraction and disarmed as many thugs as I could. The battle was over immediately with our victory, and the thugs were all rounded up and taken into custody.

"I'm glad we arrived in time, Tia," said Dan. "Though I have a feeling you could've held them off all by yourself." A bunch of knights crowded around me to make sure I was okay.

I chuckled. "I could, but considering these three, I decided to play it safe." I jerked my thumb over at Luminaria and her siblings.

The knights saluted at attention to them, but there weren't many emotions on their faces. Were they more loyal to me than the royal family now?

Anyways, the royal siblings were safe. I asked to be escorted back to the castle with Marina separately from the royals.

"Tia!" Luminaria shouted after me as I walked away.

I turned around.

"Um, thank you, again." Luminaria fidgeted. "I'm sorry for doing something so irresponsible."

"You should be apologizing to the knights, not me," I said.

Luminaria nodded. "And... about... us."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Let me think about it." Luminaria smiled awkwardly.

"Okay." I smiled. Even if my feelings weren't returned in that way, I wanted to remain close friends with Luminaria. It made me happy that she didn't want to avoid me anymore.

"I still want you to marry me!" Chrom blurted out.

"I know." I laughed and walked away, waving over my shoulder.