Like a trio of vultures, the squires and I watched closely as Beet Barbie flounced her way up to the serving maid, bowl in hand. She spoke animatedly, gesticulating wildly with her arms as she made her complaints known. The maid, meanwhile, just stared at her, eyes wide as she vaguely nodded- more out of acknowledgement than agreement.

After a minute of the Barbie’s tirade, the maid held out her hand for the bowl of slop. Marianne handed it over, pleased with her apparent victory- only to watch as the maid dumped the contents of the bowl back into the pot, and return the now empty bowl. A roar of laughter burst out from the surrounding footsoldiers, accompanied by jeers and shouts; evidently they had been watching closely. To her credit, Marianne did an excellent job of ignoring them as she walked back to our table with a haughty pout on her lips.

I sighed, turning back to my food. “Told you so.”

The boy sighed as well. “For a moment there, I was sure she had succeeded.”

“Not likely,” said the brown skinned girl. “Despite all the fancy speeches about us being the future knights of the realm, we’re still squires. Expendable.”

I paused eating, taking a closer look at her as she spoke. Her hair was long and hung low in front of her eyes - almost like she was hiding behind it. It didn’t take too long for me to figure out why; a white patch of skin that I recognized as vitiligo blemished the right side of her face, running across her cheek from her lip to the tip of her ear. It was enough to give me pause to reconsider the assumptions I had made about her. “What’s your name?”

“...Hastings. Tressa Hastings,” she answered, her voice low and reluctant. I furrowed my brow; the name didn’t ring any bells, nor did I recognize her from The Monster’s Daughter. I doubt I’d have forgotten a face like hers; the entire cast had been blindingly white.

“Tressa… nice to meet you Tressa. I’m Freya,” I said with a smile, holding out my hand. She eyed it suspiciously.

“Yeah… I know. You kind of made a name for yourself.”

“Ah,” I laughed awkwardly. “All good, I hope? Ow!”

I yelped as a hand came down on my head. I turned to see Beet Barbie, her face still angry and flushed from her adventure to the serving table.

“Of course not, commoner! Have some self awareness!”

I rubbed my head where she had hit me. “So, did you get your three course meal, milady?”

She sniffed. “I wasn’t hungry. Besides, I’d rather starve than eat something like that.”

I rolled my eyes dramatically and returned to my food, unwilling to argue further. If she starved, it was her own fault.

A period of awkward silence followed as Tressa and I focused on our bowls. Marianne sat down and made a point of staring around the room, at everything that didn’t involve me. The young boy, however, fidgeted restlessly.

“I- I’m Fayette d’Esclade!” he volunteered, after no one asked.

“Hmm… Marianne d’Antoinette, at your service,” answered Marianne as she glanced at him.

I squinted at him. The boy looked no older than eight. “Fayette? Isn’t that a girl’s name?”

“N-no!” He flushed, flustered under my gaze. “Not at all! I’m a boy, a real boy!”

I snorted- “Sure, just don’t let your nose grow too long.”

Marianne frowned at me, confused by the reference. I could tell she was curious, but not enough to have to engage with me again; instead she turned back to him.

“I’m afraid I’m not too familiar with the d’Esclade family. Are you the eldest in your family?”

Fayette shook his head, still nervous. “Y-youngest. I have two older brothers… and a sister!”

“I see. Well, it must’ve been a great honour for you to have been chosen as a squire!” said Marianne confidently. “Your father must be very proud of you.”

The boy wriggled his eyebrows, puzzled. “Really? Was yours?”

“Oh- Of course!” answered Marianne. “I am the first woman of House d’Antoinette to have been accepted as a squire for Lord Rhinestadt! It is truly a great honour!”

“Wow!” said the boy. “My father said that becoming a squire was a waste of time.”

“Ah- really?” asked Marianne, startled. “I find it hard to believe Baron d’Esclade would hold such an opinion.”

“Is it really that hard to believe?” interrupted Tressa, in between bites. “After all, only two or three out of every class actually become knights. Your chances of actually surviving the training are slim.”

I stopped eating, staring at her in surprise. I hadn’t heard of that before. “Really?” I asked, unable to keep the shock out of my voice.

She gave me an unpleasant smirk in response. “Yup. Why? Thought it would be easy sailing now that you’ve passed the first round?”

“No, I just-” I frowned. “I thought every noble wanted their kid to be a squire.”

“Ha!” she barked out a laugh. “Don’t believe everything Miss d’Antoinette tells you. Listen, you may have joined our noble circles, but don’t think you’re any better off than you were before.” She spat the word like it was an insult. “In fact, you’re probably worse off. The squireship may have once been dignified, but now it’s naught but a place for families to throw away inconvenient children- the extras.”

“That’s not true!” Marianne suddenly shouted with shocking crudeness. I looked over and was surprised to see tears at the corner of her eyes. “That is not true at all! To be here is an honour- to serve Lord Rhinestadt is an honour!”

Tressa simply shrugged. “Fine. If that’s how you see it, I won’t argue.”

Another awkward silence settled over the table as Tressa returned to her food and Marianne turned away, looking to regain her composure. I was surprised that she didn’t pursue the argument further, but perhaps she afforded more respect to a fellow noble than to me. Regardless, after a moment she turned around again, her face betraying no sign of agitation whatsoever.

“Hastings, correct? I wasn’t aware Count Hastings had a daughter your age.”

This conversation was not going well- almost immediately I could tell Marianne had made a poor choice of topic. Tressa’s hand clenched around her spoon, and she stared into her food like it was going to kill her.

“That is correct. I’m… a distant relative.”

“A distant relative?” I cringed as Beet Barbie blathered on, utterly failing to read the mood. Tressa’s family was clearly a sensitive topic. “Really? Why did you join the squireship then, if you disapprove of it?”

To her credit, the girl did a good job of keeping her cool. “I never said I disapproved of it. I merely said it was a place for families to throw away inconvenient children.”

“And so you joined because-”

“Because I wanted to,” said Tressa as she bent over and took another bite of the unpleasant food, her eyes narrowing from behind her long bangs as she did so. “Isn’t that why you joined, Miss d’Antoinette?”

“Ah, yes of course,” said Marianne, her voice trailing away. I was relieved she seemed to finally be picking up on Tressa’s discomfort. I scooped up another spoonful of gruel, when-

“You must be from quite far away though, correct? Not many people like you around-” Beet Barbie cut off as a piece of gruel flicked into her face, splatting her neatly in the eye.

“How- How DARE you!!” she shrieked, hurriedly wiping her face. “This is why I can’t STAND commoners! Have you the manners of a pig, you disgusting carrot top?!”

“Oh, I am SO sorry, milady,” I answered dramatically. “The gruel was simply so repulsive it flew right off my spoon!”

“As if! I clearly saw you throwing- throwing that SLOP at me!” I ducked as her fists came down on my head, laughing until-

“Agh!” I screamed as a blaze of hot pain burned right through my wound. It felt like I was being stabbed again- my body convulsed, and I collapsed to the floor. Marianne stepped back, shocked by my response.

“I-I didn’t hit you that hard!” she stuttered, her face a deathly white.

“I-it’s fine,” I gasped through the pain, trying belatedly to pretend there was nothing wrong. “I’m f- ah! I’m fine.”

A few other soldiers glanced briefly in my direction before turning away; I even heard a few sniggers as I tried to recover. Fortunately the pain, though intense, was brief and I was able to pull myself up onto my chair again. Strange looks greeted me as I looked around the table - I returned them with a stupid grin, as if nothing had happened.

“Just a little prank of mine, haha. Nothing to worry about.”

Marianne let out a sigh of frustration- or was it relief? Tressa gave me an odd look, but returned to her food without question. Fayette, however, was staring at me with eyes the size of dinner plates.

“Go on, eat quickly,” I encouraged. “We won’t have much more time to finish up.”

“That was really good acting,” he said, breathless. “Almost like it was real.”

“Thanks,” I answered, flashing him a quick smile.

“I’ve never heard anyone scream like that.”

“Well, you better get used to it.”

“Huh? Why?”

“ATTEN-TION!! SQUIRES, ASSEMBLE IN THE PARADE GROUNDS IN THREE MINUTES!!” bellowed Cassandra’s voice from the far end of the hall, saving me from further explanation. I nodded to the wide eyed boy.

“See? Finish up quickly. Time to go!”