We walked outside, the sun was setting an orange pinkish color as the warmth of the spring weather casted over the small village. I couldn’t stop smiling. Emelia and her family, along with the comfort of this small village would always warm my heart. The memories that we shared together here would never leave my mind, I considered her more like a sister than anything else, we had known each other for so long and she had always stuck by my side no matter what.

“Ah, I forgot to ask, how is Amree doing?” Emelia said as she swung her sword around in her hands preparing to spar.

“She’s great, this is the longest I have been away from her. I miss her a lot.” I smiled sadly

“Well next time you come visit bring her again, the kids always love playing with her. But now it’s time to kick the princess’s butt once again.” She leaned over to where Kazuto, Reo and Eun-ji were watching from the side and said cockily, “She has never beat me once.”

Reo laughed, “Now i’m excited to watch this, it’s about time.”

We walked in a circle slowly getting ready to spar. “Not yet, After all I have been practicing much more than you would think.” It’s true that I have never beaten her. Ever since we were little she had excelled at hand to hand combat, although it wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to say that I would have her beat at archery. I knew some of her moves now, but she would always lead me into thinking I was winning before she went even half to her full potential. She was truly a skilled swordsman.

Suddenly she lunged towards me but I managed to side step quick enough to dodge it. “Come on, don’t go easy on me now” I said grinning. She laughed and lunged again, our swords clashing between each other. I turned quickly and made my first attack, I aimed towards her stomach but she quickly rotated her body and hit the top of my shoulder.

“Come on Kana!” I heard Reo cheering in the back.

“Not fair” Emelia said, “I want a pretty boy cheering me on!” She sidestepped and tried to knock me off my feet, before she could manage to get me off my balance I managed to land a hit on her upper thigh causing her to stumble for a moment. Taking too much time to appreciate the hit I had landed on her she swung her sword upward and managed to get another hit on the same spot on my left shoulder. I quickly regrouped myself as I swung back, but she had blocked it too quickly and stepped away.

“Not too bad Kana, you have gotten A little better” I took this opportunity to fake left before hitting my sword into her side. She grabbed it for a moment before our swords met again in the middle, blocking her hit to my right side. We were both breathing heavily as we circled around once more before she lunged her foot out kicking the side of my leg and hitting me in the stomach to the ground. The force of the sword knocked the breath out of me as I fell towards the ground. I panted as she held her sword over my body. “Better luck next time” She said taking a deep breath holding her hand out to mine. I grabbed her hand as she pulled me up and patted the dirt off my pants and shirt.

“I got you next time for sure.” I breathed.

Reo started clapping and ran over to me slumping his arm around my shoulder. “You did good, I was surprised how skilled you both were.”

“Now it’s my turn to spar with Emelia, don’t hold back on me either” he said winking. She laughed and nodded her head.

I walked over to wear Kazuto and Eun-ji were sitting and took a seat next to Kazuto. He handed me a water, “You did good. Your form was slipping after she hit your shoulder though, make sure next time to keep your balance no matter what.”

I nodded my head taking a long sip of the water. “Yeah, she’s much better than me though, i’m not sure if I will ever win against her.” Emelia and Reo had started their sparring and I could tell that Reo was going easy on her. Although I had never seen him fight before, if he was one of the soldiers escorting the prince on this journey, I had a feeling Emelia wouldn’t stand a chance in a real battle against him.

I handed the water back to Kazuto, watching the sparring match between Reo and Emelia.

“He’s amazing isn’t he.” I said more matter of factly.

“He is one of the best soldiers in the kingdom.” Eun-ji spoke eyes intensely watching the fight going on between the two of them. I was amazed at his skills, I wanted to see how Eun-ji fought as well, after all, she was most likely also extremely skilled to be able to escort the prince.

“Is your shoulder alright” Kazuto said motioning to my hand gripping the shoulder where Emelia had hit it twice.

“Yea it’s fine, that’s always been Emelia’s tactics, she likes to weaken one spot.” I said rolling my shoulder back and forth a little bit.

From the corner of my eye I could see Eun-ji glaring at me, giving me almost a warning stare. I coughed uncomfortable and quickly stood up. “I’m going to go check up on how dinner is coming… see if she needs any help.” I walked away briskly. I was still racking my brain with what Kazuto had meant when we were riding the horse. But you are making this even harder to figure out. Harder to figure out what? I shook my head trying to rid the thoughts of what he had said to me and walked into the house? I knocked twice, “Need any help in here?”

“Ah Kana, if you wouldn’t mind, getting some tundra leaves for the garden would be a big help, they are right on the outskirts of the village by the old WIllow tree. Then the stew should be done.”

“Of course, i’ll be back soon.” I walked back outside towards the old willow tree. As I turned the corner however I saw Kazuto walking towards me.

“Kazuto, I was just walking over to get some tundra leaves, are they still sparring?”

“Emelia demanded a rematch, with how it’s going it looks like it will take all night.” He paused, “I’ll come with you.”

“Ah, okay.” We began to walk in silence towards the Willow. I was feeling nervous, not the original nervousness I felt because of his intimidation, but my heart was now racing at the fact of us being alone together. I looked up at his face, it was hard not be nervous around him. His black hair was now ruffled and messy because of the days of traveling, and his face held a stern look, his features were almost unrealistic. He turned his head looking at me. I turned away quickly.

“See anything interesting?” He asked mockingly.

I avoided the question, “Here’s the willow tree.” I walked towards the tree. The sight of this old tall tree brought back so many memories of when I was a child.

“Isn’t it beautiful.” The leaves were in full bloom and the branches spread out long and wide throughout the whole tree.

“Yes it is.” But he wasn’t looking at the tree when he said this, he was staring at me.

I quickly bent down and started picking at the tundra leaves. “Why do you keep avoiding looking at me Kana?” Chills went down my spine.

“I’m not- I just want to get these back to Emelia’s mom so she can finish the stew” I stammered, finally standing up. Without a second to process what was happening Kazuto had pinned me up against the tree, his right arm on my waist and his left planted on the tall tree behind him. The sudden action caused me to drop the Tundra leaves.

“What are you doing” I said trying to get out of his grasp.

“I just want to look at you for a moment.” His gaze was piercing through me. I turned my head to the side embarrassed of how close his own face was to mine. He grabbed my chin and turned my face back upwards towards him. My heart was beating widely now. I’m sure my face was bright red.

“Why are you doing this, if Eun-ji saw this she would misunderstand.”

His face turned cold, “Misunderstand?” He suddenly released me. “Ignorance doesn’t wear well on you Kana.” He started walking back towards the village. Leaving me in the midst of confusion, and a widely racing heart. He was just playing with me, I was sure that this was just apart of his game to see how naive the princess that had barged into his castle threatening war was.

At least I was telling myself I was sure of it.