Chapter Text
A giant gleaming sword. A majestic towering steed. Flowing red hair. Entrancing green eyes. Soft brown lips...
These were some of the first things I noticed about the woman who strode gallantly into my life one spring morning, changing it forever.
"Excuse me, noble farmhand. Might you point me to a place I may quench my thirst?" she had said, staring down at me from high atop her magnificent horse.
Trying not to stutter in my shock, I pointed to a hill behind me. "That way ma-ma'am." Dang it.
Bowing slightly, the woman smiled and said, "Thank you, dear... be you a maiden, or a fellow, or something else entirely?"
I blinked, processing the choices. "Maiden?"
"Excellent. I thought you to be quite a treat for the eyes, but I dare not presume how one identifies. Well, good day, gorgeous maiden!"
And like that she was off, just like my heart in my chest. She was odd, but also absurdly beautiful, and I was not immune to flattery, especially given how little I ever received of it.
I didn't expect to ever see her again, so I contented myself in fantasizing about her for the next hour or two as I went about my business. These fantasies were abruptly but not unpleasantly cut short when I once more heard the sounds of a horse drawing near, coming in the same direction the woman had left in earlier.
It was her! For some reason she was back, and she wasn't just passing me by, she was headed right for me! She brought her horse to a stop a few paces away from where I stood, a sly smile on her face.
"Fair maiden!" she called out, even though I wasn't far.
"I'm less 'fair' than you," I pointed out with a smirk and a roll of my eyes. Her light brown cheeks flushed with a little more colour than they normally contained.
Clearing her throat, she said, "Ah, yes, my apologies. That aside, I wanted to bestow upon you a proposition."
Raising an eyebrow, I muttered, "Um, alright...?"
"How would you like to accompany me on my adventures?" She had either noticed I was attracted to her earlier, or was just really presumptuous, given how alluring an expression she was attempting, and failing, to make.
It didn't take me long to consider the offer - while part of me would have loved to, there was no way I could just leave behind my family and my duties. We had to make money somehow, and they couldn't do it all by themselves anymore. "I'm sorry, um...?"
"Fabrienne."
"Um, Fabrienne," I continued. "I would love to, but..."
"If the issue is that you need to help your family make money, I can assure you they've no need of that anymore."
I had no idea what she was talking about.
"I got a great deal of gold from my last adventure, and was looking for something to do with it. Your father is the man in the house over the hill you pointed me toward, correct?"
I nodded, eyes wide.
"Well then, yes, your family should be good for quite some time. And I already talked it over with them - they are fine with you leaving, if that is what you want to do."
My reasons for staying now removed, I found I couldn't help but agree to accompany her. A significant part of me had always wanted to do something else with my life, but I'd never before felt like I'd actually get the chance to figure out what.
Beaming, the woman helped pull me up onto the back of her horse, and the two of us rode off into what was, for me, the great unknown.