Welcome back, good Reader, it's good to see you again. I find it funny that children are bad at keeping secrets. If they don't tell another adult, they tell other kids, and they tell their parents. I wonder, however, if they would hide a secret if it benefits them in some way. What if its something horrible and want to stay out of trouble? Children can be more complex than we give them credit, but enough about that. How about I just get back to the story? Let us continue.

After knocking on the door, Dorothy hears a gasp coming from the other side.

“Ava, its me, Dorothy. Can we talk?” asks Dorothy.

“I'm busy,” answers Ava and scrubbing sounds starts coming from inside the lavatory.

“It's about your sword.” The room goes silent for a single second.

“What about my sword?” Dorothy takes a moment before giving an answer.

“I saw it.” Silence falls once again, and is shattered by the sound of the doorknob turning. Before Dorothy could react, Ava managed to pull the princess into the room, close the door behind her, and push her against it.

“You're not going to tell them anything, do you hear me? Nothing!” Ava has a hold on both of Dorothy's arms, and gives the princess a shake. The princess expected such a response, but doesn't confront Ava because she knows that it could make the situation worse.

“I won't tell them anything, I promise.” Dorothy tries to make her voice as soothing as possible, and it seems to have some effect on Ava. She blinks once, her fury disappears as soon as it appeared, lets go of the princess, and looks at her own hands while slowly walking back. Ava only stops when her back hits the wall behind her, and sits on the floor.

“Oh god,” she rests her head on her wrists, and tears start to well up in her eyes, “what's wrong with me?” Dorothy looks at Ava down on the floor, who's barely able to contain herself from sobbing. The princess walks up to Ava, kneels next to her, and Dorothy gently pulls Ava's head to her chest. Ava is stunned, she wasn't expecting such a thing in the slightest, but she cannot deny that she feels no need to pull away.

“Was it scary?” asks Dorothy while caressing Ava's head. Ava couldn't hold it anymore, she hugs the princess, buries her face on Dorothy's chest, and cries freely. “Let it out, I'm here for you.”

“I didn't mean to do it. I told him to stop, but he didn't listen.” That confirmed what Dorothy was suspecting, Ava killed the assassin, and it weighed heavily on her.

“I believe you,” Dorothy cups Ava's face, gently moves Ava's head so they look each other in the eye, “you tried, even when you were bruised and bloody, you tried your best, and that's what matters, okay?” Dorothy wipes a tear from Ava's face, and Ava grabs one of Dorothy's hand. She wants to keep feeling such warmth and gentleness just a bit longer.

“Thank you.” They stay like that, enjoying the comfort they feel with each other, and is interrupted when someone knocks on the door.

“Hey, Ava, are you in there?” asks David from the other side, which makes Ava start to wipe her tears away with her sleeves, and clean her snot.

“Yeah, she's in here,” says Dorothy.

“Wait, why are you two in there?”

“Oh, well, we were–”

“Doing girl stuff,” interrupts Ava, and everyone goes silent for a moment.

“You're doing girl stuff?” asks David in complete disbelief.

“Uh, yes?” Silence again.

“Is everything okay in there?”

“Okay, that's kind of hurtful. I mean, I am a girl, you know?”

“The last time Wendy tried to talk with you about makeup, you said, and I quote, 'what's the point if you're just going to wash it off anyways?'” Ava doesn't have a response to that.

“Okay, you got me, but everything is okay, I promise.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, everything's okay.”

“Well, hurry it up then, I gotta wash my hands too.”

“All right, all right.” Inside the lavatory there's a washbasin on top of a stand, and next to the basin was a glass bottle with liquid soap. Ava gets up from the ground and helps Dorothy get to her feet. They wash their hands together, and once they're done, they open the door. When they come out of the bathroom, David instantly notices something about Ava.

“There's something different about you,” says David to Ava.

“What do you mean?” asks Ava.

“Its like the air around is lighter, better than when you arrived. Did something happened in there?”

“Small talk, that's it,” answers Dorothy, and Ava puts a hand on the princess' shoulder.

“Its okay, they should know what I did,” says Ava, and Dorothy puts a hand on top of Ava's.

“Are you sure?”

“I'm right here, just in case you forgot, and what is it that we're suppose to know?” asks David.

“Let's go back to the table, I'll reveal everything with everyone present,” answers Ava.

“Okay, let's go then, this sounds important.” All three of them starts heading downstairs. Once they reach the first floor, they can see that Harold is already at the table, and Wendy was serving bowls of soup. She notices all of them arriving, and by the looks on their faces, she can see that something is about to happen.

“What's going on?” asks Wendy

“Ava wants to say something, and she requires all of us to hear it,” says David.

“Is it about her attitude from earlier?”

“I assume,” David turns to Ava, “whenever you're ready.” Dorothy puts a hand on Ava's arm, and Ava gives a nod to the princess. She takes a deep breath, and she's ready to let out what was crushing her soul.

“Let me begin by saying that, I would never hurt any of you. To me, you're my family, and I would do anything to protect every single one of you.” Everyone can see that she's losing her resolve.

“Ava, if its too hard, you don't have to say anything,” says Wendy out of concern, and that's what gives Ava the courage to continue.

“I saved Dorothy, and tried to leave, but on the way, I saw her in danger again. I saved her again, but an assassin chased us, to the alleys, and all the way to a roof. I hid her, but I couldn't leave, or he would have killed her.” David walks up to Ava, and puts a hand on her shoulder.

“We get the idea, you don't have to continue if you don't want to,” says David.

“I tried to leave after I beat him, but he wouldn't stop.”

“Oh god, Ava,” says Wendy and runs up to her to give her a hug.

“I killed him, even though I didn't want to,” says Ava, and Wendy cups Ava's face to make her look down, so they can see eye to eye.

“You gave him a chance, no one else would have done what you tried to do, and that says a lot about you.”

“Yeah, and the fact that you arrived half dead is proof of that,” says David, and Harold gets out of his seat.

“We still love you, Ava,” says Harold as he runs to Ava and gives her a hug. David and Wendy join in, and when Ava notices Dorothy standing besides them, she invites her into the group hug. All children hug, letting Ava know that they believe in her, and she couldn't be any more grateful to have them in her life.

I think I'll stop here for the day, don't want to spoil such a wholesome moment between the children in our story. Of course, this isn't the end of our tale, since I did promise an epic adventure. Come back soon, I'll have more to tell once I'm rested, and I'll be right here waiting for your return.

Until next time, good Reader.