I never introduced myself, did I? My name is Gardenia Wisteria Magnolia Pyllian. (What a name, right? My father likes flowers.) I am the oldest daughter of the crown prince of the Empire of Pyllia. A princess. At least, that’s who I thought I was. But that’s why I’m telling you this story. Even I’m not sure who I am anymore.

After my grandmother’s cryptic smile, I was worried then that I would wind up with some sort of terrible fate, like being forced to do more homework or recite the rules of the palace back to front a hundred times, or maybe to make a friend my age to make me more sociable, like they were always threatening me. But in the end, I was pretty happy with the consequences of that night, despite my trepidation. My imperial grandmother left me alone, and I was allowed to start lessons in self-defense, swordsmanship, and spellcraft from Captain Alea and Mage Discordia.

I proved mediocre at spellcraft, much to the head mage’s disappointment. She kept teaching me, though, on my grandmother’s orders. Fighting and swords? Not so much. Turns out, my freaky footwork with the assassin wasn’t a one-off. I really was a prodigy. Woohoo.

A few weeks after the birthday-assassin incident, I was training with Captain Alea. She had finally relented and let me spar with her. I knew she was going easy on me, which was frustrating, but I was thrilled to be fighting. Up to now, we had just been doing basic drills with a small wooden practice sword – small because as skilled as I was, I wasn’t very strong. But I was determined to change that.

“Excellent, Your Highness! Keep your center of balance low, just like that. Oh!” Captain Alea’s feedback was interrupted by a shout of surprise as I managed to trip her up, rolled behind her, and jabbed my wooden practice sword toward the back of her neck, stopping just before it made contact. I was very short though, so it only reached her mid-back. Frustrated, I jumped and tapped her neck with the sword.

She made an odd coughing sound and turned around. “Truly impressive, Your Highness.” Her face showed a mixture of shock and amusement. I huffed. I didn’t like being laughed at when it came to combat.

“I want to spar with other guards too,” I said, repeating a wish I’d stated before. I knew Captain Alea was the best, but she didn’t really want to fight me. She was insisting on this whole ‘learn the basics first’ approach, even though I was proving time and time again that I somehow already knew all of the basics. I hoped that if I got to fight others, maybe one of them would realize how good I was and fight me properly. But Captain Alea wouldn’t even let any other guards watch me train – I think that was actually my parents or grandmother’s order. Something about how it was better to keep my abilities as much of a secret as was still possible. I thought that was pointless, and also, I didn’t care.

Captain Alea fake-pouted. “Aww, Your Highness, are you bored learning from me?”

I shook my head, unamused. “No. I want to see how other people fight and test myself.”

Smile fading, Captain Alea shook her head, pieces of her greenish-blond hair slipping out of her braid. “It’s not proper, and it’s too dangerous. No, listen to me – you are a wonder. A genius. But you are still a child, and you could hurt your body terribly if anything happened. None of the other guards will risk it and I wouldn’t ask them to.”

I wanted to stamp my foot in frustration. So, I stamped my foot in frustration. “I’m not a child! I’m already five years old.”

Captain Alea shook her head with a wry smile. “Once you are a little older, you can start training with the squires. Actually, it might not be a bad idea to have you learn some with people your age now. Some children already start learning the basics.”

I scoffed, tossing my head a bit, imitating what I’d seen my mother do once when a courtier had said something offensive to her. “I’m too good for them. I’ll be bored.”

Eyes twinkling, Captain Alea shook her head again. “That’s why I think it would be good for you, Your Highness.”

“Ugh. No. They will want to talk to me, and then they will not understand why I don’t want to talk, and they will think I don’t like them, and then they won’t like me.” I looked at the ground, keeping my voice steady with a little bit more effort than I would’ve liked. I didn’t like trying to make friends. It was confusing to me, and for some reason, I usually ended up hurting other people’s feelings, which made me feel bad.

Crouching down, Captain Alea flicked my forehead. I looked up to see a slightly sad expression on her face. “Think of it as training, Your Highness. No, not swordsmanship, but for making friends. Practice makes you stronger, right?”

I felt a bit better but felt kind of childish for it, so I tried to look haughty. “Right.”

In the end, my parents were so excited to have another chance to try and get me to make friends my age they even waived their whole “keep Gardenia’s combat skills a secret” thing. I didn’t stand a chance against them, especially not after my grandmother approved it. And so, my first group lesson was scheduled.