The Warrior of Avelyn

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Clara huffed as the black horse refused to let her put a saddle on him. Shadow kept moving around and wiggling to stop her. After ten minutes of no success, Clara settled for bribery.

"If you let me put this on you I'll give you three more sugar cubes."

Shadow puffed air out of his muzzle.

"Okay fine, and two apples." She rolled her eyes. "Deal?"

Shadow stilled in response and Clara finally let out a breath of relief, putting on his saddle for the long journey ahead. She fastened all the grips and made sure they would not come undone whatsoever. Once she was done, she patted his mane, running her hands over the thin braids Lila insisted she do for the stallion.

"You're very hard to work with, you know that?" Clara chuckled, putting a hand on her hip and leaning her weight on one leg.

Shadow let out a short neigh before he nudged her shoulder lightly with his muzzle. Clara let out a laugh, bringing her arm up to hug him as one would do with a horse.

Carmen walked into the stable, making a beeline towards Clara. Hay crunched under her feet as she called out the knight's name with a smile. Clara turned to the princess with a warm smile, bowing her head in respect. 

"Your highness." Carmen raised an eyebrow at the formality, but pushed it to the back of her thoughts.

"How are you?" She asked. "Ready to see Elvaria?"

"I'm good." Clara smiled. "If I'm honest, I'm quite scared of leaving Avelyn...I've never really travelled much."

"Really?" Carmen was surprised. "I thought you'd have travelled more, given Edwin's job...well, now yours."

"He only let me go with him once." She smiled stiffly, remembering where she'd been. "He had to go to Crounia once, and I was so worried about him going there, nothing eased my mind other than going with him."

Carmen frowned and put a hand on her friend's shoulder, hoping it would comfort her even in the slightest way.

Clara racked her mind for anything she could remember about the general of Crounia, but all she could see was his blinded eye. He'd taken her world away from her, and all she did was take an eye.

It was not enough for her.

"So, how can I help you?" Clara changed the topic, replacing the scowl on her face with a smile.

"I wanted to ask if we can bring an extra horse." She said. "I really don't want to miss out on a ride in this weather; I hate being stuffed in a carriage."

"Of course, I'll arrange for it with your men-"

"No!" Carmen cut her off. "My father doesn't want me out in the open, but I'm so tired of hiding away."

Clara bit her lip, thinking about the consequences bringing Carmen a horse would bring her. However, when she saw the pleading look on her face, she sighed in defeat, offering a smile to the princess.

"I'll bring one." She said. "I'm going to end up in the dungeons again if I keep defying royalty."

"Please never joke about that ever again." Carmen hit her arm, her tone serious. "We all lost our mind at your disappearance...and hearing what happened to you..."

Clara gulped and looked down, biting down on her lip in shame. She knew more than anyone that her failures were not hers alone; others paid the price as well.

She'd paid too many times herself.

It only got harder for her to look at her reflection in the mirror, even now as she stared at a blurry reflection of herself in a puddle of water on the ground. She looked too much like the woman who left her. The woman who gave up on her. The woman who caused her the greatest pain. And each day she felt as if she were becoming more and more like her with every worried eye that gazed at her.