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“This horse sucks!” Gigi announced to a sky that did not care. Her horse, that also did not care, snorted and just continued eating grass. She tugged on his reins. “Please?” She asked, so courteous and kind, utilizing all of her etiquette and diplomacy lessons till she was sure she could charm the wits out of a wizard. “Just one step. Just one, then we can go onto the road, doesn’t the road look nice? It looks so nice, so much dirt and dirt, let’s go, let’s get on that road, let’s go-”
Her horse swished his tail. She was sure he rolled his eyes.
“Is it gourmet grass? Is the stuff at the stables not good enough for you?” Gigi slid off his back with a curse that needed a spell to wash her mouth out. She kicked at the ground, the castle still a shadow in the not-so-far-away distance when she checked only three minutes ago when they’d stopped. “Hi, yeah, sorry everybody, couldn’t stop the witch, yeah it was my horse, yeah he wouldn’t stop eating grass even though we import apples for him. No, he wouldn’t make very good glue-”
“That’s rather harsh.”
Gigi screamed, whirling around. Her horse continued with his buffet. On the road was a way more majestic, way more imposing horse that actually looked like he could walk farther than three miles outside of a city before stopping. His rider wore armor that had an almost oil slick sheen to it, polished to the point that Gigi could just barely see her reflection.
“Have you tried his name?” The stranger asked curiously. Her hair poured out from underneath her helmet in a mess of red and orange.
“Oh.” Gigi racked her brains for what the stablehand had said it was. “Fleetfoot? Fleetwood? Mac?”
“Barney? Beastie?” They offered, dismounting and standing beside Gigi to stare at her horse. “They look like a Jessie.”
“I don’t remember if it’s a human name or not at all.” Gigi’s shoulders slumped. “Thanks for the help though. I’ll just figure out another way to get him to move.”
The stranger took off her helmet to squint closely at the horse. “Deborah.”
The horse whinnied, shaking his mane and trotting forward to butt his muzzle into the knight’s hand. Gigi’s mouth dropped open.
“We were nowhere close!” Cheerfully, the knight scratched behind Deborah’s ear. “I’m Kiara by the way.”
“Gigi.” Stepping forward hesitantly with her hand outstretched, Gigi hovered over Deborah’s neck before the horse snorted dismissively. She scratched at his mane, smiling hesitantly. “Thank you.”
“Anytime!” Kiara stepped back, settling her helmet securely on her hip. “Well, I have to go. Witch to hunt and all…”
Gigi perked up. “Witch?” She fumbled with Deborah’s saddlebags before pulling out a rolled up piece of parchment, opening it to reveal a rather offensive looking drawing of a witch with a demand for its death. A small cash prize was offered, from a collection of towns near the supposed last sighting. “I’m looking for one too!”
“Are you a knight as well?” Kiara looked at Gigi’s armor and the sword on her hip. “That might have been a stupid question.”
“No, it’s not, it isn’t.” Gigi scratched at the back of her neck. Her jaw tightened imperceptibly. “I am. Yeah. A knight.”
Kiara beamed, a very apt descriptor since Gigi felt like she’d just gotten a face full of sunlight. “It has been a while since I have seen a fellow knight errant! Most usually work for some sort of duke or king.” Kiara rolled her eyes. “Those are always the worst. They don’t actually help until someone sends them over because a problem is finally inconveniencing someone important instead of just the townspeople.”
“Oh, yeah.” Gigi smiled awkwardly. “Definitely. I agree.”
“So why are you doing this?” Kiara’s eyes went flinty. “Is the coin appealing?”
“The people don’t feel safe.” She felt more secure now that she was being more honest. It helped Gigi’s chest puff out a bit as she looked towards the rolling hills and glimmering lakes in the distance. “I want to help. That’s my job as- as a knight.”
Kiara looked at Gigi with a strange expression, one that made her flinch a little. It was probing and sure, it was her diplomacy teacher trying to find the fault in her to needle at, it was the people of the city looking down at her as just a child running around in the streets with no royal promise to speak of. No faith in her future of ruling.
“I’m glad.” Kiara’s smile made Gigi’s ribs give way, whatever adhesive that kept the structure together melted under the warmth of Kiara’s regard and left Gigi’s stomach as bone-and-organ soup. “That’s a rare thing.”
Gigi’s smile was shakier, but it was proud. “I try.”
-
-
The treeline marked the very edge of the lands that Gigi truly knew. Everything beyond existed only in maps and stories for her. They had been traveling for some days, and had only just now reached the end of the plains that the majority of the kingdom’s citizens inhabited. Out here, it was harder to be reached by a knight squadron. Out here, the monsters were braver.
“Is that right?” Kiara chewed on a piece of dried, spiced meat. “Stuck to the capital, huh?”
“Yeah- yeah, I did.” Gigi’s grip tightened on the reins. “Little stuff, small disputes.”
“Anything coastal?” A grin spread across Kiara’s face as she recalled something. “I remember a kraken one time-”
Almost falling off Deborah, Gigi exclaimed, “A kraken?”
Kiara giggled. “It wasn’t that impressive. Very, very big squid. Very, very big seafood dinner.”
“You ate it?”
“What else was I supposed to do with it?” Shrugging, Kiara urged her mount forward. “We should pick up the pace. We don’t know the scale of the spell the witch might be attempting.”
Gigi bit her lips, trying to remember the rumors surrounding the witch’s existence. “Something about failing crops? Sick farm animals?”
Kiara cursed. “Blight, then. A big one.”
“Blight?” Gigi struggled to catch up to Kiara as they ended up racing through the woods.
The bushes and trees fused into a big green blur as Kiara explained, “Nature-based curse, almost like a plague that affects the local ecosystem.”
“Well that sounds ba-”
There was a huge crash, something squealing as a tree to the side of the road exploded into splinters. Gigi’s horse balked, pitching her off its back and into the heaving earth ahead.
“Gigi!” Kiara called out as a mass of vines and dirt swallowed her up.
She couldn’t think, she couldn’t see. Something pierced into her side as churning mud encased her. She flipped upside down and was shunted back and forth, her stomach beginning to tighten before searing heat suddenly exploded into existence. The dirt around her dried out and cracked. Flames singed Gigi’s palm, her right hand sticking out of her cocoon. She kept her mouth firmly shut as she squirmed, trying to reach wherever the light was.
A hand, its gauntlet boiling hot on Gigi’s skin, grasped her forearm. With a crunching noise, the now crusty mud broke around Gigi’s form as Kiara tugged her out of the ground.
There was a ringing in Gigi’s ears. Her eyes couldn’t open from the mud covering them, and her hand remained stubbornly curled up from the burn. Her fingers twitched, and the pain felt so raw that a feeble groan was all that could be wrung from her.
She felt weightless, someone took her in their arms.
“You’ll be alright.” She recognized Kiara’s musical lilt, quiet and sure, worry in every syllable. “I’ve got you.”
-
-
It was cool where Gigi awoke. Her armor sat in a pile next to her bags, Deborah on the ground munching from what seemed to be a bowl of feed. Her hand was wrapped in cloth, a slimy balm underneath from what she could feel that seemed to be numbing the pain. Her side seemed to be treated in the same manner, but was tight and sore underneath rough bandages.
Her tail stretched, having been bound to her body and trapped under her armor. It was now an unruly thing, refusing to listen to Gigi’s attempted commands. She was hissing at it to stop digging into the dirt before she heard someone giggling.
“Sorry sorry, don’t stop on my account.” A woman stood halfway hidden behind a tree. Her hair was pulled back in a braid with flowers interwoven through the strands. Her eyes twinkled. “You’ll get it at some point.”
“Oh!” Gigi scrambled to her feet, cycling through every etiquette lesson she’d ever been taught. She stumbled through a bow, looking at the lady from underneath her lashes. “Thank you?”
“You say it like it's a question,” the lady tittered.
Straightening, Gigi tried to smoothen the front of her shirt while trying to hide her tail. “It is?”
“That’s a question too, darling.” She rocked back on her heels, dress all swishy by her thighs. Her golden eyes were sleepily amused. “You don’t need to hide your tail. By the way.”
Gigi’s mouth opened and closed, her tail escaping her grasping hands to wind around her ankles. “I- thank you.”
“I’m Fauna.” After inclining her head, the lady pivoted and started walking away, leaving Gigi to scramble after her. “Your friend says your name is Gigi?”
“Oh, oh yes.” Gigi tried to gather her armor in her arms to follow, her tail hooking through her gauntlets. Fauna giggled and took the armor from her to put it back down on the ground.
“We aren’t going far,” Fauna soothed. She dusted off Gigi’s shoulder, knuckles pressing against the muscles underneath. “Surely, it’s a pain to wear it all the time?”
Weakly, Gigi tried, “I don’t wear it all the time-”
“But isn’t it heavy?” Fauna’s eyes were so shiny, Gigi noticed. Like polished gold coins. “It wouldn’t hurt to leave it, just for a little bit.”
“Just for a little bit,” Gigi repeated. She felt a little dizzy. Fauna’s smile made her insides fizz. “A little bit.”
“A little bit,” Fauna agreed. This time when she left, Gigi followed.
-
-
Kiara wasn’t far. In a quaint little house in the middle of the woods, where the horses ate grass by the porch, and she sat in a chair by the window, Gigi found her. Nursing a cup of steaming tea, Kiara smiled when Gigi and Fauna walked in, greeting them gently.
The walls were covered in flowers, the kitchen had drying herbs and jars on every surface. Every bit of furniture looked like they’d been grown, twining and curling wood naturally forming seats and tables upon which books and even more jars rested.
“Would you like some?” Fauna offered. She picked up a kettle and began pouring a cup for Gigi before she could even respond.
“I don’t know,” Gigi said. She sat down next to Kiara, hand pressing against her side to alleviate the ache.
“It should help with the pain,” Fauna said kindly. She put the cup right in front of Gigi and began to putter around the home. While putting jars away and sliding books into little shelves built into the walls, she apologized, “I’m sorry for the mess, I wasn’t expecting visitors.”
The warm, sweet tea indeed seemed to help with Gigi’s pain. Kiara put her own cup down and adjusted her armor, which looked a little bit singed.
“Thank you for the help,” Kiara said, tapping her fingers on the tabletop. “We were just passing by.”
Fauna paused in sweeping up some purple dust back into a jar. “Do you know what happened?”
“Something- something exploded,” Gigi remembered. Her head hurt a little bit now that the rest of her seemed to be alright. “A tree?”
“And the road turned into a mess,” Kiara put in. “I had to pull Gigi out of it.”
Gigi bit her lip, turning to Kiara. “Did you see where the fire came from?”
“Fire?” Kiara inclined her head. “There didn’t seem to be one. The forest isn’t burning around us, is it?”
“But,” Gigi frowned, “It was so warm.” Her hand tried to flex, the tight skin of the burn protesting the action. “I was so sure-”
“A fire in a forest would spread rather quickly,” Fauna took a seat at the table, then. Her own cup of tea was cradled in her palms as she blew on it delicately. “It is the dry season, there is usually quite a bit of flammable material on the forest floor. I’m sure any sort of fire would have caught quite quickly.”
Gigi blinked hard, hand coming up to rub her forehead. “I’m- I’m sorry, I suppose I’m rather tired.”
“Take a nap then,” Fauna offered. She and Kiara helped Gigi stand and wobble over to the bed nestled in the corner, a pile of blankets and pillows in earthy greens and wheat golds.
“Oh no, I can’t,” Gigi protested. “This is your bed, I don’t want to-”
Fauna cupped Gigi’s cheek, silencing her quickly as her cheeks reddened. Her skin was soft. “It’s no trouble at all,” Fauna reassured. “You’re a guest, and you are tired. What kind of host would I be if I didn’t let you rest?”
“I can go out and find the monster,” Kiara added. Her hands were warm as she slipped Gigi’s shoes off and tucked her in. Gigi wasn’t entirely sure when she ended up lying in the bed, but her eyes were already fluttering shut as the knight brushed her hair from her forehead. “And then we can tackle it together, once you feel better.”
“Monster?” Fauna sounded intrigued. “I might be able to help.”
Their voices faded away. The home smelled floral, but not overpoweringly so. Gigi merely felt like she was falling asleep in a grass field in the springtime, with the sun warm on her skin. She wondered if this was what it was like to be happy.
-
-
The feeling persisted when she awoke. Gigi felt light as a feather, jumping out of the bed with a laugh. Her tail tucked the sheets back into place albeit messily. Her hands didn’t hurt, and neither did her side.
Gigi peeled her bandages away to reveal clean, unharmed skin, with no evidence of every being hurt at all.
“Oh,” she said. She thumbed over the skin of her palm. “That’s… odd.” She lifted up her shirt, fumbling with the wrappings there. The scars on her waist were old, training injuries and the occasional battle wound. But where the bandages were blotted with little bits of red, the skin underneath was, again, unharmed.
Gigi felt a cold feeling come over her. The herbs and jars were in a different light all of a sudden. The books’ titles seemed illegible, peeling scripts off dark and blotchy covers.
“It’s a misunderstanding,” she told herself as she slipped her shoes back on. The door creaked open when she opened it to peek outside. The world was damp and cold, on the edge of evening. It had rained. “She’s kind. She made me and Kiara tea. She let me rest in her home.”
Gigi walked, then jogged, then began to run. The world around her was unrecognizable, every lengthening shadow a monster, every creak an omen of danger.
“She helped us. She gave us a place to stay.” Gigi caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, the dying sun reflecting off of the plate metal.
The sound rang out through the trees, clumsy hands and tail working to pull every piece of armor on. Her teeth chattered.
“She liked my tail. She said she’d help-”
“Oh, Gigi.”
It was an odd sort of deja vu that flooded through Gigi as she whirled around. There stood Kiara, hair pulled back and an expression of pity on her face.
“Gigi,” Kiara said gently, “she means no harm-”
“She’s a witch.” Gigi was near breathless. Behind Kiara stood Fauna, flowers still in her hair, eyes like molten gold. Her hands fiddled in front of her, she looked guilty. “She’s a witch,” Gigi said louder.
“She hasn’t hurt anybody-”
“Why are you defending her?” Gigi stumbled back till she was pressed against a tree. All she had on were her gauntlets and the loose beginnings of her chestplate. But she knew with a cold sort of desperation that the strongest armor in the world would be no match for a witch in her domain. “She’s- she’s hurting people-”
“Those people hurt themselves,” Fauna interrupted. She put her hand on Kiara’s shoulder, slipping in front of her. She seemed so small, so slight in her dress and bare feet. “They turned to unnatural means to work their crops and are paying the price.”
“How do I know that you weren’t the ’unnatural means’?” Gigi’s fists tightened till it hurt. “How do I know that you aren’t still lying-”
“When did I start lying?” Fauna sounded almost helpless. There was a ring in it, though, of familiarity. As if this were a situation that she was no stranger to. “I never misled you. I- I wanted you to be better. I really do like your tail, Gigi, I don’t know why you hide it, it’s the cutest thing ever-”
“Stop stop stop,” Gigi’s face was hot. She didn’t know what to do, so she turned to Kiara. “You can’t seriously believe her.”
Kiara’s hair flared three steps before white, heat radiating off of her. Gigi flinched, her hand aching all of a sudden. Steam rolled off of the earth as the dew evaporated. “Gigi,” she said. She would say she was too proud to plead, but she was pleading. “She helped us.”
“She’s a witch!” Gigi felt the bark of the tree dig into her. “And- and I don’t know what you are either-”
“I’m your friend!” Kiara’s brow furrowed, making a visible effort as she stepped forward. The temperature around her decreased to a summer day instead of the vicinity of a volcano. “I’ve only ever been your friend.”
Gigi’s chest felt tight. Her tail lashed, digging into dirt, bark, and skin alike, leaving nasty scratches on Gigi’s calf.
“Gigi,” Fauna said, very gently, like she was a scared animal who would bolt. “You’re hurting yourself.”
“I don’t-” Gigi’s voice broke. She felt very childish, when she ran around the tree to sit at its base, head buried in her hands. “I just wanted to help.”
“Oh, Gigi.” She wasn’t sure who said that. It seemed that with these two strangers that had stumbled into Gigi’s life, they only knew how to say her name as if it carried the weight of the world. All of the love, all of the sadness, all of the feelings within and without that had walked the world, were trapped in two syllables. They made Gigi’s name rhyme with adoration.
“I only ever wanted to help,” Gigi sniffled. Her tail pressed into her knees, rubbing over the welts it had left. She nosed into its comfort. “I wanted to prove that I could help.”
Leaves crackled and twigs broke. Someone kneeled in front of Gigi. Fauna murmured something, lyrical and under her breath, bird song if it came from human lungs. Gigi’s eyes opened to a blurry world, a blotch of orange in front of her.
“I don’t know if you ever had to prove anything.” Fauna tucked the flower behind Gigi’s ear. Her hair was tangled with antlers now, and the flowers bloomed in the shades of fire. “I can tell you care. Is that not enough?”
Gigi, quite stubbornly: “No.”
Kiara chuckled, coming up on Gigi’s left side. She was warm like a living room in winter was, when the fire roared and there was a hot drink in your hands, a blanket on your lap. She was comfort incarnate, and she was curling into Gigi’s shoulder. “You expect too much of yourself,” she murmured, “from a world that only wanted you.”
“The world wants more than me,” Gigi’s eyes closed when they wouldn’t unblur. “It wants a prince. A king. Someone who can lead.”
“Someone who can lead,” Fauna started, quite thoughtful, “starts with someone who cares.”
They sat with that for a minute. Gigi breathed in the night air, the fog that rolled in and the spice of the trees. It was different from the markets and the artifice of the capital. It was nice in its own way, in a way that wasn’t made to be nice, and that was honest.
“I think,” Kiara said, a little sleepily, “I might have missed something. Prince?”
“I’m a prince,” Gigi said. She nosed into Kiara’s neck, where she was heat and heartbeat. She felt sleepy too, like she was back in that home where everything mattered. “The prince. Prince. Yeah.”
Kiara inhaled deeply, eyes wide. She did not move a muscle. “Hm! I feel I should have figured.”
“But what brought you out here?” Fauna’s question woke Gigi up a little bit, but not enough to knock her into embarrassment. She remained tucked into Kiara’s arms as she made a questioning noise.
“Did you want a mission?” Fauna’s eyes twinkled. “A town to save? A damsel in distress?”
Gigi’s face burned and she floundered for words. “Well, no, not really, a little bit, maybe? A bit yes, mostly no, tiny, the smallest bit.” She huffed. “Yes.”
“Well,” Fauna hummed, “there’s a witch who could use some help with stopping a Blight.” Her hands were cold on Gigi’s knees, tingly. Gigi watched her scratches disappear and looked back up at Fauna’s smile. “If you don’t mind?”
“We don’t mind,” Kiara said for the both of them. “After dinner. I’ve had enough of jerky.”
“A real meal,” Gigi was almost wistful, like it was a far away dream. “A plate.”
Fauna giggled, tugging them both up to their feet. They were close together, a little trio in the darkness of the woods. “I have bowls, will that do?”
A very slow nod, solemn and in unison from both Gigi and Kiara.
With a princely sort of air, Gigi said, “That will suffice.”
“Suffice?” Kiara scoffed, pushing Gigi’s shoulder away. “Get that language away from me, prince.”
“Hey!” Gigi looked miffed. “I thought we were friends!”
“That’s before I learned you were a blue blood,” Kiara looked down her nose at Gigi. “All high and mighty in your castle. That’s probably why you didn’t know your horse’s name.”
Fauna gasped in mock affront. “Gigi, it is quite rude to ride a horse without knowing their name.” She had clasped their hands in hers and was leading them while they talked. Her hair smelled like flowers, Gigi noted while walking beside her.
“I was nervous,” Gigi defended herself while trying not to overthink about the weight of Fauna’s hand in hers, or the heat of Kiara’s body by her side. Were those princely things to consider? Was it chivalrous?
“And here I thought,” Kiara sighed, “you were a man of honor.”
“I am!”
The home peeked out from between the trees. The windows glowed with a soft light. The chimney puffed out smoke. The horses acted like nothing had happened at all. Gigi gave Deborah the stink eye.
“I thought you were going to ask what I was,” Kiara said conversationally, as Fauna made dinner. The two of them had already set the table, though it didn’t take much.
“Something with fire?” Gigi shifted in her seat, looping her tail through her fingers. She was watching Fauna move from cupboard to cupboard, measuring and cutting and pouring into a copper soup pot. “A dragon?”
“Aww,” Kiara nudged her foot against Gigi’s. She too was watching Fauna out of the corner of her eye. “A phoenix. Close guess though.”
“Oh of course.” They watched Fauna ladle out the soup, smiling all the while. “Wait, what?”