“Hey, Mother! It sure has been a while, huh?” The newer, much stronger, Princess Victoria greets Queen Izabelle after two years of absence.

 

“Princess Victoria, you-”

 

“Sorry, gotta stop you there.” The princess interrupts. “It’s just Tori now. Pretty sure the letter mentioned that.”

 

“...Princess… Tori then…” She’s clearly not happy about the new name. “You certainly look quite… different… from when we last saw you.” She says with a sneer.

 

“Oh, this?” Tori gestures to her body. “You always said that a queen needs to rule with strength and honour, so I figured I’d use the time away from home to work on that strength part, y’know?”

 

“That was referring to strength of will, not… whatever you’ve done to yourself.”

 

“There’s no need to worry about that, Mother.” Tori puts the hand that isn’t carrying her sword on Izabelle’s shoulder. “I think you’ll find I have more than enough strength of will.” She’s smiling as she speaks, but the tension in the air is palpable, and only exemplified by the firmness of the grip on her mother’s shoulder. “The strength of will to choose your own path, to take charge of your own destiny. It’d be a pretty bad look for a newly crowned queen to just roll over and do what other people tell her to do, wouldn’t it?”

 

The two of them look at each other dead in the eyes, neither one willing to back down. “I guess we will have to see just how far that will take you, won’t we?” The queen finally breaks the silence.

 

“Great, guess it’s settled then!” Tori sheathes her weapon and claps once, breaking the tension between the both of them. All of the onlookers breathe a small sigh of relief. “How have things been here? Boring as usual, I assume?”

 

“‘Things’ have been fine here, but more importantly, I think you owe us an explanation of where you’ve been all this time. Were you not kidnapped by bandits?”

 

“Once again, Mother, I believe I already mentioned that in one of my letters, I offered them a better deal, but I guess you want the specifics? They keep me safe, and teach me how to defend myself in battle, and in return I make them part of my royal guard once I become queen. It’s much more stable work than what they were doing, and on my part, I’d say the deal has worked out pretty well, wouldn’t you say?” Tori gives one of her arms a small flex to exemplify her point, and Elise has no choice but to avert her eyes, or risk causing a scene.

 

“You would so readily associate yourself with such lowlifes?”

 

“If it bothers you that much, think of it as me just making the most of what I had to work with. And besides, they only ever stole from royal families and nobles, so it’s not like they took anything important, like money that a family needed to get by.”

 

“I fail to see your point, princess.”

 

“Then I’m sure it’ll please you to hear that they’re no longer bandits then, I got them onto mercenary work about eight months ago.”

 

“...And how exactly does a princess convince a group of bandits to change their occupation?”

 

“Oh, that’s the simple part.” Tori says, as if any of what she’s been saying followed some sort of logic the queen could get behind. “I became their boss.”

 

“I beg your pardon!?” Izabelle exclaims.

 

“Yeah it kinda just happened.” She explains, clearly enjoying her mother’s reaction. “All the training I was doing with them was paying off, as you can so clearly see, and after a while I was the best fighter out of any of them, so putting me in charge was the obvious choice.”

 

“You cannot possibly expect me to believe that the next in line to the throne has been leading a group of ne'er do wells?”

 

“I mean, if you don’t believe me, you can always confirm it with them.” With that, Tori turns around to face the castle gates, and calls out in a voice that’s much more powerful than anyone present had ever heard from her in the past.

 

“Okay! Everyone in!”

 

As soon as she says that, a group of twenty or so men and women start walking in, and line themselves up in front of Tori. She turns back around to look at the shocked crowd.

 

“Say hi to the crew!”

 

“What on earth does she think she’s doing…” Izabellla mutters under her breath before stepping forward to speak to the group.

 

“Is it true that you’re the group that kidnapped the princess?”

 

“Indeed it is.” one of them replies.

 

“And you thought it would be a good idea to just walk right into the castle gates?”

 

“The boss, Tori that is, said she’d take care o’ it all.” says another.

 

The queen sighs. “So you’re confirming her story then? The princess of the kingdom has become the leader of a gang?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“And all because she promised to make you knights?”

 

“I can explain that one.” one of the mercenaries steps forward. “I was the old boss before she came along, I was, back when we were still bandits. If we could get fancy jobs just for showing the lass how to swing a sword around then it was at least worth givin’ things a shot, I thought. Plus I figured if she were lyin’ we could just go back to the first plan and put ‘er up for ransom again.”

 

She’d never say it out loud, but she has to admit she sees the logic there, not that she isn’t still furious about the whole situation. There’s one part that still doesn’t line up though.

 

“Tell me, what happened in the past two years to turn the princess into… that?” she says while motioning to Tori.

 

“I can’t rightly explain it myself, ma’am. We thought just lettin’ er’ play with a wooden sword would be enough, but she took to it well, almost too well, in fact. Wasn’t long before she started askin’ to duel all o’ us with real weapons, and then she started winnin’.” Tori grins with pride. “Eventually we realised none o’ us stood a chance against her, she was just too strong.”

 

“And fast.”

 

“And scary!” Two of them chimed in.

 

“Yeah, yeah, all o’ that too. Became pretty clear that she could do whatever she wanted and none of us would be able to stop her, so we decided to just make her the boss and do what she says.”

 

The queen gives up, it’s clear that if they do know what happened to her they’re too loyal to reveal the truth so easily. She starts walking along the line of people, sizing up the group. If nothing else they’re certainly dressed like real mercenaries, their outfits are quite similar to what the princess is wearing, with the main difference being that they’re wearing more armour than her. Is there something that they need protection from that she doesn’t? The other thing she notices is that while they do look fairly tough, they’re also covered in bruises and scratches, and several have recent scars. The women in the group seem to have even more injuries than the others, though she can’t begin to guess why.

 

“You certainly don’t look like you can handle yourselves in battle.” She says matter of factly.

 

“With all due respect, ma’am…” One of the mercenaries near her speaks up. “We didn’t get these injuries in battle, we’ve got a great track record when it comes to our missions.”

 

“Then where did you get them?”

 

“Training, ma’am.”

 

“I beg your pardon? How on earth could training leave you all like this?”

 

They don’t reply, and just glance in the direction of Tori, who is grinning widely with her hands on her hips.

 

“Yeah, I’ve been toughening them up with some mock battles. If they’re going to be part of my group they need to at least try to keep up with me.”

 

At this point Izabelle is trying to ignore most of what Tori says, and just keeps walking down the line. At the end are three women who don’t appear nearly as strong as the others.

 

“You three don’t look like much.”

 

“They’re new recruits.” Tori jumps in. “For whatever reason our little mercenary group got a lot more popular after I took over. They aren’t ready for the full training regimen yet.”

 

“That’s the closest thing to a sensible answer you’ve given me all day, but regardless, you can’t expect to just make these people knights without good reason.”

 

“You’re completely right, mother. That’s why we need a test!”

 

“That’s not what I-”

 

“Okay!” Tori yells. “I need the strongest knight here to step forward.”

 

Silence falls over the crowd before someone speaks up.

 

“I believe that would be me.” A knight in full armour steps forward.

 

“Ah, Sir Frederick.” The queen announces, hoping that he’ll be able to put an end to this nonsense. “You remember him, don’t you, princess?”

 

Indeed she does, before she was kidnapped Sir Frederick had been put forward as a potential suitor for the princess, not that she ever had any real interest in him. She looks at him with a puzzled expression and a hand on her chin.

 

“Is something the matter?” The queen asks?

 

“Nah, it’s fine. It’s just… I remember him looking a lot more… I don’t know, stronger? It’s probably just me though.” Sir Frederick isn’t sure how to take that.

 

“You said you had some kind of test in mind, your highness?”

 

“That’s right, we need to see if my mercenaries have what it takes to be knights.”

 

“Ah, so you would have me duel one to test their mettle, then?”

 

“Right on the ball, Freddie.” Princess Tori unsheathes her blade, and assumes a fighting stance. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

 

“P-Princess…” Frederick stammers. “You can’t possibly mean…”

 

“Oh yes I do.” Tori’s grin has grown even wider. “You’ll be fighting little ol’ me.”

 

Everyone is shocked to learn the true nature of the test, except for the mercenaries of course, who go through the same thing on a regular basis.

 

“B-But… How could I possibly… To strike at the princess would be…”

 

“Do it, Frederick.” Queen Izabelle interjects. She thinks this might be just what’s needed, no matter what her daughter has been getting up to these past two years, there’s no way she’d be able to stand up to a seasoned knight. This will put her back in her place.

 

Frederick collects himself, and readies his sword. “Very well. If the queen would have me do so, I will face you in battle, Princess Vic- Princess Tori.”

 

“Great! Let’s get started then.”

 

Nothing could have prepared Sir Frederick for what came next. The princess suddenly took off in his direction, and he barely even had time to assume a defensive stance before he was subjected to a flurry of blows. It takes all he has to merely block the attacks, as despite the size and weight of her sword, each strike comes so quickly that there’s no time to think. The powerful blows quickly prove too much for him, and after blocking the seventh he leaves himself open, leading to a strike to the stomach that dents his armour, and a sweep to the legs blows him off his feet. He barely has time to register that he’s landed on his back before the princess starts sitting on his torso, claiming her victory.

 

A silence falls over the courtyard, Sir Frederick is the strongest and most experienced of the knights, and the princess soundly defeated him in seconds. The castle staff and fellow knights are in disbelief, but none more so than Elise, who noticed something the others did not.

 

The way she moved as if swordplay was second nature to her was impressive, but as much as she had been watching her princess’s body so far, she found herself drawn to her face during the match. Tori has worn that confident grin for most of the time she’s been here so far, and that was true for the test as well, but there was something else in her eyes that went away as soon as she stopped fighting. There was an intensity to her gaze as she never once took her eyes off her opponent, it was like nothing else existed to her in that moment, like she knew exactly how the battle was going to play out before it ever began, and what she needed to do to win.

 

It was like…

 

Ba-bump.

 

Princess Tori was built to fight.

 

Elise can’t dwell on it for long though, as the courtyard is suddenly filled with Tori’s laughter.

 

“Well I guess that settles it!”

 

“What exactly does this farce settle?” The queen asks, hiding how furious she is at this outcome. The princess’s behaviour is appalling, it’s as if she’s intentionally trying to break as many of the rules the queen set for her when she was young as she possibly can.

 

“That my guys are more than enough to compete with your knights, they’d at least be able to take a swing at me before ending up on the ground.” She says casually while sitting on the stunned Frederick.

 

“This proves nothing. All your joke of a test has done is make a mockery of the knights, and your title as princess!”

 

“Ohhhh, okay, okay, I get it.” Tori replies, getting up from her seat. “We need to have a proper test! The people won’t trust them to be knights if they don’t get to see them in action themselves!”

 

“Victoria, I-” Tori ignores the queen and turns towards the castle staff.

 

“Who here is responsible for organising events?”

 

“T-That would be I, your highness.” a very intimidated man says while raising his hand.

 

“Excellent! We’ve got a week before the blood moon, so I want you to organise a day where the knights and my mercenaries can compete in a mock battle. The stadium didn’t collapse while I was gone, did it?”

 

“N-No, your highness.”

 

“Great! We’ll hold it there, let us know when you’ve chosen a day, and make sure you invite the public as well, this is an excellent chance for me to prove myself before the coronation.”

 

“O-Of course, your highness. I-I’ll get on it right away, your highness.” He practically runs away to start the preparations.

 

“Well! Talk about an exciting reunion, eh? But we’ve had a long trip to get here, and I need to get some rest to prepare for all the big things that’ll be happening around here soon!” The crowd takes that as a sign that they’re no longer needed, and many of them are more than happy to disperse. One of the maids steels herself to approach the princess.

 

“S-Shall we prepare rooms for your…” She looks at the mercenary group. “...G-Guests?”

 

“Oh, don’t worry about that for now.” She cheerfully replies. “I know all of you were only expecting me, so I’ve already set them up at the Inn in town.”

 

“O-Oh… Very well, t-that’s… quite thoughtful of you, your h-highness.” She returns to where she was standing at a much faster pace than she approached.

 

Tori looks like she’s about to announce something else, but before she gets a chance she suddenly finds something grabbing her arm from behind, and she turns to see the queen giving her an intense glare.

 

“Princess Victoria, I will not tolerate this! The way you speak, the way you act, this is not how a princess should behave!”

 

“Well then…” Princess Tori leans in with a defiant expression, her confidence unwavering. “It’s a good thing I won’t be a princess for much longer then, isn’t it, Mother?” She effortlessly breaks free of her grip and looks back towards the castle staff. Most of them have already left, but there’s a familiar face among the few that remain.

 

“Elise.”

 

“Y-Yes princess?” Elise stands to attention, her emotions are running high just like the rest of the staff, although in her case it’s much more than just fear and intimidation.

 

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve been home, I’m afraid I might need your help to… remember where my chambers are located.”

 

“O-Oh, yes of course! I can take you there, right this way princess!” Elise isn’t any more sure of what’s going on with Tori than anyone else is, and it’s hard to not be jumpy after that display, but she certainly understood the true meaning of what she’s been asked to do.

 

Elise starts moving quickly in the direction of the princess’s chambers, with Tori following behind, easily keeping pace. Before long the queen is the only one left in the courtyard, with her hand on her forehead.

 

“This will not do, this will not do at all.”