The Princess and the Knight (Aleta & Crab Claws)

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Aleta

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Princess Maya Dyfe knew that her father did not want her to be outside. He had made it clear enough that she was expected to stay in her room, doing whatever amused her, until he stated otherwise.

Unfortunately for him, what amused Maya was finding ways to sneak out of the palace.

So, of course, Maya was walking down the long hallways of the palace, attired in a simple, flowing white dress, her purposeful steps leading her towards the small servants' tunnel she had found days ago. She was almost certain that this tunnel would lead out of the palace; after all, the servants needed some way to get out. The four tunnels she had previously searched hadn't been what she was looking for, and the servants could only have so many tunnels, right?

Maya pushed a tapestry aside, revealing a small door and quickly slipping through. The tunnel was completely dark, and Maya thrusted her hands out in front of her, groping her way through the darkness. Before long, she reached another door, which opened with a gentle push from the princess.

Harsh sunlight glittered on the other side of the doorway and Maya stepped through gingerly, looking around herself. The girl bit her lip in disappointment once she recognized her surroundings. She wasn't out of the palace, but rather in the small training yard where the knights practiced jousting.

It's a small accomplishment, but it's still something... Maya thought to herself, watching as the two jousting knights clashed their lances against each other. I might as well as just watch them joust for a bit...
 
Out in the yard Camille found himself preparing for his next joust. This was officially a training session for him to better understand mounted combat and lance training, but he knew they would take this time to make sure he knew his place. He has yet to win one so far, and with the next knight being Geoffry the Knight of 62, another defeat was a very likely possibility.

Still, this didn't dishearten Camille at all. Winning at least a few of battle is possible if he tries hard enough. Psyching himself up, he braced his practice lance as he began the charge. He could feel it, this would be the he wins. He'll finally get the other knights to acknowledge the knighthood of Camille! With this, he'll begin his path to the knight of-

Suddenly, a certain figure caught his attention mid-charge. A girl in a white dress was observing them.

Who's that? He thought, which caused him to lose focus. This gave the enemy knight just the opening he needed to get in a decisive strike. Even though only his shield was hit, it had felt like he got hit by a boulder. This was the power of the knights he had the honor being a part of.

"Waah!" He cried out. With a large thud he fell flat on his back, still trying to comprehend the power of the strike that just hit him.

The enemy jouster scoffed. "I know he has the name of a girl and even looks as soft as one, but does he have to be so weak as well? How did he become a knight?" He and his horse trotted away to the other knights to discuss who would go next against Camile.

A different knight and their horse made their way to the grounded Camille. Lifting their helmet visor, this knight was definitely a woman. "So, we decided to take a break before continuing our training. Try to hang in their okay kid?" With that, she too left to join the other knights.

Camille however, only partly heard what both of them said. He was too busy running through his head how he could win against at least one of those knights. Laying on the ground, he continued to look at the sky.
 
As Maya watched the knights clash against each other yet again, one of them seemed to falter, giving the other knight an opportunity to attack. Hmm, it's obvious that one of them is stronger than the other, Maya thought to herself. Immediately, the stronger knight thrust his lance at the other, and the other flew backwards, causing Maya to gasp softly, her hands flying to cover her mouth. The wind carried the victor's mocking words towards Maya, and the princess instantly disliked this knight; just because he won didn't mean that he needed to mock the knight he had beaten. Then, Maya noticed that the knight who had fallen in the joust had not yet gotten back to his feet.

Quickly, Maya hurried over, kneeling down beside the boy. Concern glittered in her eyes as she blinked at Camille. "Hey, are you okay? Did he hurt you badly?" she asked the fallen knight, her voice gentle and melodic, though the shakiness in her voice betrayed how worried she was. It was one of Maya's issues, according to her father; she got worried about everyone. However, it looked like this knight had really been hurt badly, and Maya felt that she was responsible for making sure that he was okay.
 
His train of thought was broken yet again by the girl now looking down on him. He blinked a few times, trying to get a hold of reality. There was no way a cute girl like her would suddenly appear out of nowhere and care for his well being. Maybe he got hit harder than he thought, or there was always one other reason.

Wait, am I dead? Is that why an angel is standing above me?

Actually wait a minute, if he was dead he probably wouldn't be staring at the clouds, he would be on them. Besides, he recognized that dress, it was the girl who distracted him! Meeting eye contact with her, he quickly turned his head away. It wasn't out of anger for screwing him up, but rather embarrassment. He could handle the female knights since he could hardly call them females with how they act, not that he would tell them that. But an actual lady this close to him? No way.

"Ah, um, I-I'm fine." He looked at her face again before averting his eyes again. In truth he was still pretty hurt, but he couldn't trouble a girl with his injuries. "Aren't you getting your dress dirty though by kneeling? You should go." He said with a slight stern voice, trying to make it sound deeper than usual.
 
At Camille's attempt at telling her what to do, Maya almost rolled her eyes, instrad giving the knight a small smile. "I'm sure a slightly dirty dress won't kill me. Are you sure you're okay? The other knight really hit you pretty hard," she murmured, giving Camille another glance-over. Her eyes lingered for a moment too long on the knight's face as she recognized how, well... attractive he was. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Maya instantly blushed a pale-pink color, hoping that the knight hadn't noticed.

It's true that he is attractive, Maya. More so than any of those foreign princes Father parades around.

N-no! I can't fancy a knight! Father would never stand for something like that!

Shaking away her thoughts, she gave Camille another smile. "So, um... if you're absolutely sure you're alright, I can take my leave now..." Maya mumbled softly, half-hoping that the young knight would ask her to stay.
 
While he wasn't into politics enough to know she was a princess, Camille knew for sure one thing. He moved his head again and began to stare at Maya. This was a cute girl who had a cuter smile. This was one of the many smiles he wanted to protect, this one in front of him at the moment being in the top five on the list. This was why he was happy to become a knight.

"Well, um..." He had to come up with a reason for her to stay a while longer, and fast! "I'm on a lunch break now from what I remember. If you want to, you can, um... you know..." He tried his hardest, but the words he wanted to say weren't coming out.

Not knowing what to do, he reached into his armor and pulled out his lunch, a piece of bread. He hadn't been officially paid yet, so he was still struggling by with what money he did have before. Breaking the bread in two, he offered one to Maya. "Food, we can share it." He suggested nervously. "It's still warm."

What on earth are you doing Camille! Once again a girl comes close to you and now you're clamming up. Just shut up shut up shut up.

"Ah, you don't have to if you don't want." He said almost as if his mouth wanted to deliberately go against his thoughts.
 
Maya fervently shook her head, her eyes widening in surprise at the young knight's words. "N-no! I can't take that from you, sir!" she exclaimed. "That bread's for you. I-I've already had lunch anyways." She gave Camille a shy smile, realizing that Camille hadn't recognized her. There was nothing wrong about that. As a matter of fact, she liked it; being recognized was annoying sometimes.

As a matter of fact, that doesn't look nearly enough for lunch, especially for a knight who's been running around and jousting all morning. Maybe I should "accidentally" slip him a few coins so he can buy some more for himself some time? Or maybe I can bring him some food from inside the palace?

Maya looked at Camille, concern once again being radiated from her glittering eyes. "Are you sure that's enough for you to eat? I know the knights' wages are quite small... I could get you something from the palace," she mumbled to the knight, her ever-so-innocent smile still on her face.
 
The palace? Did she work there or something? Maybe she was one of the helpers for the princess Camille had heard they have. It make sense why she was around here and in nice clothing. He heard that princess was a real looker, and if the one standing in front of him was cute enough, he couldn't possibly imagine how the princess must look.

Wait, that's not important right now! A girl is offering to risk her own self to feed you some food! That's not knightly at all, I should be the one risking myself!

As much as it pained him Camille rejected the kind offer. "No no no! I wouldn't want you to get in trouble for stealing food and giving it to a knight like me." The lowest ranking knight, a commoner knight no less, like him had no business eating the food from the palace. Besides, he didn't want to have Maya be punished for it. "It's too risky, I wouldn't want you to get hurt." Besides maybe the princess was really mean or something that looks for any chance she gets to punish her servants.
 
"M-me? Stealing?" Maya managed to stammer out. It wasn't stealing if your family technically... owned it... but of course, this knight didn't know who she was. Giving Camille a sly smirk, she winked. "You don't need to worry about me," she told him. "I don't think it would count as stealing... and I wouldn't get hurt. I might be a girl, but that doesn't mean I'm in any way weaker than you."

The princess finally stood from her kneeling position on the ground, amusement shining in her eyes. Some of the amusement seemed to disappear as Maya glanced over towards the castle once, realizing that she should probably get going. "I-I should really stop bothering you and get going, if you don't mind. I'm sure you don't want to spend your short lunch break chattering with someone like me," she told Camille, giving him a small smile.

Suddenly, Maya's eyes widened. "Oh, I must have forgotten my manners. I... I'm Maya. It's nice to meet you," she mumbled, instantly feeling rather shy as she waited for Camille to respond to her statements.
 
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