Natalia was combing her hair insider her room when she heard a knock on her door. " Come in " Natalia said, and the door opened, revealing her mother. Natalia quickly courtsied to her mother and she smiled. " Natalia, you are called by your father downstairs " her mother said and she nodded. She was led to their dining hall, where maids, butlers, knights, and most of all - her father was waiting. A knight stepped forward and pulled out a chair for her to sit on. She smiled at the knight as she muttered her thanks. There was total silence inside the hall, but then her father spoke.

" Princess Natalia, your mother and I will be away for a while. You do understand that we have to plan the strategies for the war, right? " her father announced and Natalia could do nothing else but nod. She felt saddened by this. But protecting their people was their job, and they had to keep their vow. " Is that all, father? " Natalia asked her father with a sad smile. Her father grinned and stood up. He rarely does, so in this case, this must be very important. " Since we will be leaving, I am more than obliged to assign a knight to you. He will be protecting you, in case attacks from the other kingdom will be involved. He is one of the best knights that we have, and he's around your age. He's just a new graduate, but he's really tough " her father announced.

" You'll be assigning a knight to me? " Natalia gasped in surprise. Her mother nodded with a smile. This was new to her. In her fifteen years of existence, this was the first time that a knight had been assigned to her. " Okay then, let me see him " Natalia replied to her father as she looked at the knights standing on the side of the hall.

' I hope that we'll get along ' Natalia thought.

Michael had returned to his place along the wall, having been the knight who had pulled the chair out for Natalia, when he was called forward again. This time to formally meet the princess, since he was the one assigned to her now. What a pain...
His face was expressionless as he stepped forward again, and gave a deep bow when he approached the royals.
"I am Michael Abyssus. It will be a great honour to serve you, Princess.", he said in his usual flat monotone. He couldn't allow himself to show any emotion here, not just because he was among those of much higher rank, but because he had never done so. The emotions were there, sure, but he kept them blocked off, as he always had. It would not do for a knight to show his feelings, only to perform his task to the best of his ability. Even if this task involved baby-sitting a royal...

Valentine kept low as he ran through the silent forest, his squad behind him. The night was as empty as the depths of hell, the cold biting at the men's skin like a thousand needles.

He saw the town up ahead, and his grip tightened around his halberd as he approached. A man was tending a field directly in front of them; a large scythe was in his hands as he cut the grass next to a fence. Why he was up so late, Valentine could not tell, but he was in there way, and sneaking past him would be time-consuming.

He held up a fist - the universal sign for 'stop here' - and crept forward, halberd in hand, sword sheathed at his hip, bow slung over his back. When he reached the edge of the forest, he saw the farmer directly in front of him, not more than ten feet away, still obliviously slicing at the grass with his scythe.

Valentine charged forward silently, covering the ground in an instant, stabbing the man through the chest before ripping the halberd's blade out and swinging it around, slicing off the man's head cleanly. The corpse dropped with barely a whisper, the tiny rivulets of blood sounding like raindrops on the ground.

The squad walked into the town, Valentine not giving any thought to the man he had executed. Just another name on a list that was far too long.

When they reached a street quiet street in the town, Valentine stopped his team, and they conversed. No-one was unsettled in the slightest by Valentine's kill, which impressed him; then again, he expected nothing less of the finest knights Cresta had to offer.

"We must gather information. Split up, get some rest, and look for information tomorrow. Meet next to the hollow in the forest tomorrow night and we shall share what we have learnt," he said.

The squad nodded, and headed off quietly. Valentine himself went to a small house on the outskirts, with a small barn out the side. He slipped into the barn and laid down on a bale of hay, and after removing his armour and changing into a white shirt and black trousers, went to sleep, his weapons and armour now hidden in his bag.

Little did he know, however, that he had inadvertently slipped into the barn of the person who would change his life forever...

(What I'm thinking is that he's inadvertently fallen asleep in Pheobe's barn, and in the morning, she'll walk in to find him sleeping there, and wake him up rather rudely then demand some answers. Also, this has got to be the best first post I've done in a while.)

King Lance was so proud when Michael stepped up and introduced himself to his daughter. The king smiled as the two teenagers met. He was planning this for quite a long time already. The first reason was to give his daughter protection from whatever chaos will happen, because he knows that something will happen someday. The second reason is that his wife was insisting that she should have her own knight because of Princess Natalia's age. And his third reason might be quite selfish, but he knew it might result to something good someday: King Lance wanted Natalia to get romantically involved with one of the best knights someday. He silently thinks that his daughter do not really know other guys that much.

As Michael stepped forward, he said to him, " Michael Abyssus, as a knight, you must only have ONE WORD. You swore to protect this kingdom when you joined the knights. And now, I am giving you one of the most difficult task: to protect my daughter, Princess Natalia Everdeen. "

King Lance's wife gave him a side-look, and he knew that he must say what they have been arguing about the last night. Clearly, his wife won over him. King Lance cleared his throat as he looked over at Princess Natalia and Knight Michael Abyssus. He was not going to announce this part, but then the stare of his wife urging him on made him guilty.

" Michael Abyssus, as the knight of Princess Natalia, you are sworn to protect her with all your life...um..er.., You are to sleep inside her room for added protection. I'll be sending a spare bed for you to sleep on. But be warned, I am not allowing you to sleep with Princess Natalia in one bed " King Lance told them, emphasizing the last sentence.

The knight who stepped forward was the same knight who pulled out a chair for her. How nice of him. But he looks really...cold. Natalia thought as she looked at him. He introduced himself to her as Michael Abyssus. Little did anyone know that she was already thinking of a nickname for him. But when he spoke, really monotonous. And I wished that I would really have fun. I WAS excited to have a knight, even expected it to be a friendly one. But instead, I got a cold-hearted knight., Natalia kept on thinking while keeping a smile on her face. But what surprised her the most was what her father added.

" Michael Abyssus, as the knight of Princess Natalia, you are sworn to protect her with all your life...um..er.., You are to sleep inside her room for added protection. I'll be sending a spare bed for you to sleep on. But be warned, I am not allowing you to sleep with Princess Natalia in one bed " King Lance told them, emphasizing the last sentence.

Natalia's eyes widened at this, she didn't even bother hiding the shock on her face. This is not happening. We don't even know each other that much yet. she thought as she eyed her parents, who were grinning like they planned for this for a long time already. And it was obvious that Michael already hated her, for whatever reason he had.

" Great, now I'm stuck with my own knight, who clearly doesn't like me " Natalia muttered silently, not knowing if someone heard her or not.

To say that Michael was surprised at the king's orders would certainly be an understatement. However, the only way one could tell this was in the way his cold blue eyes widened a little. He would have to share a room with her? He had always kept his distance from everyone, even before becoming a knight, now he would have to be around a girl? And he would have to be around her all the time too? This wasn't good, just the thought of it made a very faint pink color rise to his cheeks. Fortunately, his crimson hair hid most of it, so he was safe...for now...
"Very well. If it is permitted, Your Highness, I will retrieve my belongings from my own quarters post haste.", he answered, not that he really had a choice in the matter. To disobey a direct order would be seen as treason, and Michael had no wish to die. Not just yet.

Phoebe stood in her room, forcing a small ivory brush through her tangled nest of brown hair. After what seemed like forever, she had worked all of the knots out of her hair and tied it back with a red ribbon, it didn't keep the hair out of her face, because as soon as she took her hands away from it, her bangs and other strands of hair got out. She glared at her reflection in the mirror and tore the ribbon out.

"Your not doing it right."

She turned around to see her mother standing in the door, stirring something viciously. Phoebe's mother looked a lot like her, with wavy brown locks and soft, pretty features, though, her mother's hair was streaked with occasional gray and her eyes were green, the same shade that her brother's were before he was killed in combat, Phoebe got her dog crap brown eyes from her father, who had passed on when she was a baby when her home burned down. Now, all she had was her little sister, Kezi, her mother, and their cat, Olus. Kezi was off with one of her friends and Olus was never one to stay in one place.Though, he usually came home for milk in the morning.

"Then you can teach me later." She muttered, grabbing the bow and tying it around her wrist for later. She smoothed out her white cotton dress that when down just below her knees, made sure the bow in the back of it was secure, then pushed passed her mother and to the door of the hut. She tied her sandals on her feet and left.

Phoebe crossed through the grass and went straight for the market place, where she quick bought a fish and then went to the butcher's. She gave the butcher, Rotsie, her fish and in no time it was gutted and Phoebe had a bag of it's entrails, leaving the rest of the fish to Rotsie. She could have easily gutted it herself, but she wasn't exactly jumping to get lectured on the fundamentals of bow tying from her mom.

She made her way to the barn, a place the cat usually frequents, and slowly creaked the large door open. "Olus.." She called, pushing it open the rest of the way, letting light flow into the rickety old building. "Olus, you stupid cat, come here, I've got some nice fish guts for you." She shook the bag, and blood dripped from the cloth bag as the entrails sloshed around in it. She grimaced at the sound and stopped shaking it. "You're going to make Kezi worry if you don't come home soon."

Something in the corner of the barn where the hay was stacked moved, and Phoebe tossed the guts behind her and made her way over to see what it was. She jumped as the dumb, fat cat raced out from his hiding place to pounce on the bag. She swore under her breath, but went back to seeing what it was. There was a goat. And a guy.

Wait, a guy?

She walked closer, and confirmed that it was a guy, with one of Kezi's goats, Iccha, chewing on his hair. "Shoo you dumb animal!" She hissed, shooing away the goat, it backed off and went to go eat something else.

Phoebe stomped up to the guy, he was handsome, she gave him that much, but he was also trespassing. She grinned and made her way to one of the hay bails and pushed it over, revealing a hole in the floor where her bow and sheath of arrows were kept, reserved for hunting, but freaking this guy out seemed like fun.

She walked back to him, and spit on the dirty hay next to his sleeping form, then stood over him, aiming the arrow right into his left eye socket. "Wakey wakey sleeping beauty." She whispered, then shifted her foot, and stomped on him, right in the groin, then brought it up to his face, pushing against his cheek with the bottom of her sandal, "tell me why your here or you get an arrow in your eye."

Valentine had experienced many strange events over the course of his life, but waking up to an (admittedly very attractive) girl aiming an arrow at his eye, standing on his face, and having evidently just kicked him in the groin was certainly a new one.

His brain was quick to process the available information. There was no way of knocking the arrow aside; if he could get it out of his face by other means, however, he could stand up, tackle her, and break her neck before she could make much noise. His knife was inside his boot, but he couldn't reach it without her releasing the bowstring. His other weapons were in his pack, and getting those was even less likely.

For now, he needed to convince her to remove the arrow. But to do that, he'd need to think about it extensively, and he was running out of time to answer.

With nothing coming to his mind, he simply did what he would do if someone had woken him up early at home, in order to try and start a conversation and buy him some time to think.

"Shut up and go away. I'm sleeping," he groaned.

"Shut up and go away. I'm sleeping,"

Phoebe's cheeks turned red with anger and she fought the urge to release the arrow right then and there. She dug her foot harder into his jaw and twisted it before pulling it away and using it to kick dirt and maybe a little bit a manure from the barn's floor into his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone to your beauty sleep." She sneered harshly, "I'll just go home and bake you some pastries and stuffed pheasant, just wait here, I'll treat you to breakfast in bed, make yourself comfortable. Oh, here, would you like me to rub your neck? Run you a nice hot bath?"

That's when she snapped, "I won't leave! You are the one who's trespassing on my property! Now, I suggest you get lost before I yell for the authorities, or, I could take matters into my own hands if you like." She gestured to the bow with a nod of her head, and grinded her sandal in the dirt, stubbornly.

Phoebe had never actually killed anyone, she hunted animals, but humans are on a whole other level. She wasn't planning on killing him, she knew she could never bring herself to do something that drastic, but he didn't know that, and what he didn't know wouldn't kill him (no pun intended).

Valentine just let his mind slip away, forgetting where he was and what he was doing. It seemed like the best option at the time; just let himself think that he was back in bed at home. Before it had all started.

"Some stuffed Pheasant would be nice, and I don't get pastries that often, so thanks- oh, wait, you were joking. My apologies," he replied. "Now, don't call for the authorities, because I'm actually a Knight Of The Empire from Cresta and I'm here to assassinate a member of your town."

He hoped that his story was too ludicrous for her to believe.

(Note that my replying will be a little slow, because my laptop got rained on, so I have to borrow my father's. So I have very limited computer access.)

Natalia was lead to her room escorted by a maid. She was feeling a bit disappointed, since Michael looked very forced. She didn't want to force him, but it wasn't her idea that he had to sleep in her room. But now, she felt extremely guilty, like it was all her fault. She wanted to talk to Michael, tell him that she's sorry for what happened. ' I would have to talk to him once were alone in my room ' Natalia thought as she entered her room.

"Now, don't call for the authorities, because I'm actually a Knight Of The Empire from Cresta and I'm here to assassinate a member of your town."

"You're kidding me, right?" Phoebe muttered, "you do realize that if you truly were a Knight from Cresta and if you truly were here to assassinate a member of my town, I'd have all the more right to send an arrow through what little of a brain you may or may not have and call for the authorities, right?" She rolled her eyes, and scuffed her shoe in the dirt a few times. "And if your story isn't true, then you must be crazy, which also gives me the right to call for the police, in order to get the proper care that you need."

"Phoebe, are you in here, sweetie?"

"Mom?" She whispered to herself, "ugh, you, stay quiet, okay? I'll deal with her." Her mothers footsteps were coming closer and she ran forward to meet her half way.

"Who were you talking to?"

She bit her lip and looked back, it was too dark to see the man laying in the hay from there, that's good. "Just myself." She answered nonchalantly.

Her mother didn't buy it, but continued, "and why do you have those arrows with you? And your bow?"

"Just going hunting."

Phoebe's mother pursed her lips and then smiled at her. "Okay, don't stay out too late."

She nodded and waited until her mother was gone before turning and heading back to where she had left the man. "Now, where were we...?"

(That's funny, I'm using my dad's computer, too, because my inverter stopped working and I've been waiting to get a new one for almost 4 weeks.)

Valentine paused. "Damn. Didn't think that one through..." he said out loud. "Anyway, what are you going to do with me? I suppose I could make myself useful to you if you agreed not to kill me..."

Meanwhile, his hand snaked down to his thigh, ready to pull out his knife.

(Ah, so that's why you hadn't posted.)

Phoebe held back a laugh, "why would I want to have you work for me? You're much too annoying!" She snickered, lowering her bow the slightest bit. "I guess, since my family needs that pile of hay your laying on to feed the animals, and I don't want to have to clean up any unnecessary messes... I'll let you go."

She turned to leave but stopped. "Actually, I do need help with something." She smiled innocently and pointed to the pig stalls. "My mom wants me to clean that, but I'd much rather not smell like pig dung for the rest of the day, would you mind?"
Phoebe shrugged, "if you don't want to, I can always shoot you instead."

Valentine Mikelus

Okay, now this presented a serious indignity to him.

He was a soldier; one of the best in the world, no less. He did not clean out pig stalls for insolent little farm girls. Ever.

He took a good look at his options:

A) Attempt to kill her, and possibly die trying
B) Run, and almost certainly die trying
C) Do as she said

As far as he could see, option C was the only functional one.

He sighed. Forgive me for this, father...

"Okay, I'll do it. But first, you and I need to make a deal. You see, I need somewhere to stay. And your house seems like an ideal place."

"Okay, I'll do it. But first, you and I need to make a deal. You see, I need somewhere to stay. And your house seems like an ideal place."

Phoebe pouted a bit as she thought about it, considering the only rooms in the house were the kitchen, her room, and the room that her mother and Kezi shared. She grumbled a curse word or two, closed her eyes, and reluctantly, nodded her head. "Fine, but you have to to a sufficient job, and you have to help me with other chores for as long as you stay in my house. Also, you have to keep yourself a secret from my mother and sister. If they find out I'm harboring a stray man in my room, they'll have my head. Sound reasonable?" She turned and sat down on a block of hay.

"By the way, my name is Phoebe, okay? Now, I want to see that pen sparkle." She grinned menacingly, this should be interesting enough...

Valentine sighed and walked off, grabbing the required materials along the way. He despised manual labour in all its forms, and this was downright humiliating. He was a Knight Of The Empire, the most skilled warrior in all of Cresta. Hundreds had been felled by his blade; his black armour was a sight to strike fear into the hearts of even the most hardened soldiers on the battlefield.

And here he was, at the mercy of some... some insolent girl, cleaning out a pig pen like a common peasant.

He considered turning around, drawing the knife in his boot and throwing it into her skull. It would be easy. Just another corpse on the mountain that he stood atop.

And yet something stopped him.

He shrugged and walked off, grumbling.

(Should we timeskip to the end of his work?)

Phoebe hopped off of her perch on the hay bail. In the time that it took for the man to clean out the pen, she had successfully tied her hair up with the ribbon, and she was beaming at her success, as well as the short time that he had taken. "Your very fast and strong." She noted, "how'd you get to be so efficient?" She waved off the question, "it doesn't matter, you don't have to tell me."

Her eyes went to him and she studied him hard for the first time, letting her eyes soak in what her new manservant looked like. He had handsome, well chiseled out features, and hair that hung in his face carelessly. His arms and legs seemed very strong, and, he was dressed well, apart from the pig feces that now clung to some of his clothing. She wandered where he had wandered in from, he sort of looked like someone from Cresta, but she doubted anyone from Cresta knew about this secret village, so she waved that thought out of her head. "You're a good worker." Phoebe concluded, "I think I'll keep you. Like I said before, my name is Phoebe, and yours is...?" She waited for a response and then continued, "I was planning to go riding for a bit if you'd like, you can come, too, I have an extra horse. If your too tired, I think my mother went into town for the day, you can rest in my room."

Valentine shrugged. "Years of practice. My father gave me a lot of physical exercise," he said. That much was true; his father had trained him for war since he could walk, and he was at peak fitness by ten. At least, before everything changed in his life. Since then, he'd kept his fitness up through his work, which was obviously extremely demanding on his body.

"Like I said before, my name is Phoebe, and yours is...?"

"Valentine," he said. "Valentine Arbites." He couldn't tell her his real last name; it would compromise the mission.

"I was planning to go riding for a bit if you'd like, you can come, too, I have an extra horse. If your too tired, I think my mother went into town for the day, you can rest in my room."

He saw little disadvantage to it; he hadn't ridden for some time, and needed practice. Besides, getting to know Pheobe better...

He realised with alarm that he had no logical explanation for his desire to get to know Pheobe. He'd need to think about that later. "Sure, I'll go riding with you," he said. "Try to keep up," he added, with a slight grin.

Phoebe shrugged and motioned for him to follow her. "I rode horses before I could walk, Valentine, I think it will be you who will have a hard time keeping up." She looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. "Here's the horse stalls, find one you like and stand by him, I have to go change." She pulled a set of keys out from behind a loose wooden board and tossed it to him. "You'll need this to open the stalls, but they lock by themselves, so don't let the doors shut behind you, okay?"
She jogged to the barn door and stopped to call back to him, "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, Valentine." Phoebe giggled and made her way back to her home.

When she got inside, she quick changed into a ratted pair of brown riding breeches and a white tunic. She tucked in the tunic and pulled on a pair of boots before making her way back out to the horse stalls in the barn. "You haven't locked yourself in one of the stalls yet, right?" Phoebe asked, grinning. She found her way to one of the back stalls and called out, "I'm going to need the keys to get my horse out, so hurry up."