Chapter Text
Since her childhood, Elizabeth knew that she was different from the others in the kingdom. When the other girls would play with dolls and drink tea together, she would be at the back of their house, swinging a wooden sword handcrafted by her father who was a knight that would pass by after missions outside and give her a warm smile, a gift when he returned from a long war and missed a bit of her life.
Elizabeth would sneak out of the house and into the castle's walls, crawling into a small hole. She'd seen some knights climbing out of it and thought that it wouldn't be a problem if she too had used it. She would run, avoiding the knights that patrolled, memorizing the pattern of each knight that was on shift to guard that it had become like clockwork to her.
She would sneak into the training grounds and hide behind the unused equipment, she would watch how the knights would learn from their master. Silently, her eyes never straying away as she imprinted them into her mind, then she would run away once the knights dispersed to spar amongst themselves, she would be immediately spotted once they were more alert and so she escaped, every time.
When she comes back home, her mother would be prepared with some small snack, thinking that Elizabeth had gone out to help in town, it was normal for Elizabeth to be seen throughout town too, the vendors knew her as 'Rose' with her signature red hair blowing with the wind every time she passed by with a smile, waving enthusiastically to everyone that greets her. She would also often help the vendors carry their things. At first it was small things like some paper bags filled with fruit but it slowly got bigger and heavier as days passed, even shocking the vendors themselves when one day she came running into town, pulling a crate quadruple her size, with a smile that would threaten even the sun with how bright it was. Her mother didn't know that, only that she knew Elizabeth had been helping the townspeople and singing whenever there were festivities around.
"Mother! May I use the back of the house again?" Elizabeth asked with giddiness that her mother couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, ruffling little Elizabeth's hair.
"Of course sweetheart, use it to your hearts content. I will be going into town to shop for ingredients for our supper, will you not join me then?" Her mother asked and Elizabeth stared at her, pondering her own response which pulled a laugh from her mother, pecking her child's cheek with adoration.
"I asked because I thought you'd want to buy something for yourself but if you wish to stay here and use the yard, then you are allowed to. It's not to diminish your earlier request, my love." She clarified and Elizabeth beamed at her, nodding her head before engulfing her mother into a hug.
"I shall stay here, mother! I shall await your return!" Elizabeth replies and her mother nods, returning the heartwarming hug before grabbing her purse and shawl, she drapes it over her shoulders before smiling at Elizabeth who bid her farewell through the window.
Once her mother has gone, Elizabeth pulls out the sword hidden under her bed and giggles as she runs to their yard. She feels the breeze that passes, watches as the grass billowed with the silent whistle of the wind, her nostrils flare as she takes a deep breath in and swings her sword up; with the adrenaline rushing through her body, she breathes out as she strikes down and watches as the same grass that moved with the wind— rippled with the swing of her sword. Slowly, she blinks her eyes before tampering down the squeals she lets out as she skips towards the edge of the yard, she looks around before continuing forth and venturing a little into the woods.
She reaches the clearing where a lone tree stands near the river, the scratches on the bark where she had practiced before. The first time she had tested out her sword on the tree, it did no damage, only made her arms weak as she struck and her legs quiver at the force that travelled from the sword, into her palms and down her whole body. Since then she'd trained, she ran laps from where the river would be cut from the outside of town and down to where it almost loops around the castle from the back. She would carry rocks that had piled... Hence, the clearing that no one had yet discovered, no one ventured into this part of the woods, because they knew the many rocks that had blocked it.
Elizabeth revised in her mind what she had watched earlier that day, she remembers the stance and how her swordmaster of a father had excessively taught the knights that their hips should pivot with the blade as they swung, their feet firmly planted on the ground, of which the knights would get wrong by only swinging their swords with great excess, getting shouted at by the swordmaster in return, to 'listen and remember'. She tries how the knights had done it, she swings and hits the tree, there was a bit of indent on the bark but Elizabeth feels the pang of the hilt in her grasp and immediately drops the sword, plunging her hands into the cold water of the river and biting her lips to not let out the sound of anguish that lodged itself in her throat, tears welling up in her eyes.
Once she feels the throb in her hands finally go away, she pulls them back out and wipes the water away on her clothes, not caring for the mess as she picks her sword back up. This time she takes another deep breath in, turning to her side and stepping toward the tree with one foot— The same exact stance that she had seen the swordmaster do. With a small grunt she swings, her hips turning with the sword as her back arched to fully extend her swing... Nothing happens to the tree, Elizabeth pants as the strain takes a toll on her body and she drops onto the grass with a frown as she huffs.
"Elizabeth!?" She hears her mother's frantic call before she realizes that the sun has dipped low in the horizon, she quickly picks her sword back up and turns to leave as her mother finally spots her with a worried look, her mother rushes forward before coming to a halt.
"What... Since... Since w-when was there a clearing here?" Her mother asks in disbelief as Elizabeth winced with guilt written all over her face, she sways with the heavy weight of her sword as her mother examines her.
"Is this where you run off to when you ask to use the yard?" Her mother asks gently and Elizabeth looks up at her, her eyes getting teary as she slowly nods her head.
"Oh... My love... I am not mad, you could have told me." Her mother reassures her with a soft look and Elizabeth finally starts crying, wiping her tears away with her arms as they keep falling and her mother walks forward to take her into her arms.
"I-I'm sorry—! I... I didn't w-want to lie but... But I am not like other daughters... I d-don't even like tea!" Elizabeth tearfully admitted and her mother shakes with laughter as she consoled her daughter, rubbing at her back to calm her.
"I always knew you hated tea, my sweet. However, It was still fun to see you try to drink it in my presence. I do not mind that you are unlike the other children that would sit and drink tea, I want you to do whatever makes you happy. I want to see you smile more than anything, do you understand?" Her mother asks as she pulled her head away just enough to look at Elizabeth's now puffy and tear streaked face, Elizabeth nods and buries her face into her mother's neck and it takes a few moments before her breathing evened out and her mother chuckles as she grabs the sword that was about to fall off of her child's grasp, she takes in the scenery before her before carrying Elizabeth into her arms, snoring lightly as she hugged her mother tighter.
Elizabeth didn't know it then but her mother had stood and froze... As the tree before the river had slowly slid off its trunk, cleanly cut and fallen into the water that later washed it up into the castle's reservoir where the knights and their swordmaster would later see the marks of her hard work, etched into the wood, embedded like stories that would never be forgotten.