A Prince, A Frog, A Damsel - part 1

We had a family meeting about what had happened the day before. It was unpleasant to say the least. I am pretty sure that if my mom had not clung onto my father, he would have attempted to kill the Duke, and while I love my new father he was just a low level town's guardsman. He just did not have the oomph to make that happen. We moved onto schools and while we did not say it out loud to spare my father his dignity, we all knew we needed a school's power to block the Duke from coming after us again. I did not know which school the stranger at the end was from but it was obvious that the Duke was afraid of him. Whichever school he was from would probably offer the most protection simply through an intimidation factor.

So my family spent most of the next day repairing the house to the best of our ability waiting for this mysterious man to appear. We started in the kitchen and worked our way towards the door they had smashed open. The list of damages was mild but the bill to actually fix it was not. The kitchen floor now had a noticeable dip whenever you went in or out, there was a fresh coat of paint trying its best to coat over random spell damage, our door now had to have something leaning against it to keep it closed and our table now wobbled. My father had shown up at the end and had taken mother and me to a friends while he did most of the cleanup that night. While father was still helping repair the house, I could see his fists were clenched when he was not using them.

He was mad and while I did not show it, I was as well. I kept replaying what happened over and over trying to come up with alternatives that would have led me to be the victor but sadly my class had too much defense and no offense. I just had to accept this fact.

He did not show until after noon. When he did he stood straight as an arrow as if he was greeting a king and not a town guardsman's family. There was not a wrinkle to be seen, no hair out of place and no dust on his boots. He was perfect as if he just appeared out of an oil painting. "Ah we meet again, as always it is a pleasure…" He bowed to me and my mom and then turned to my father "…and you must be this talented young lady's father. It is nice to finally meet you."

My father puffed up at his words, "Yes that is correct. You must be Gideon. My wife has told me about you saving them. I am very grateful for your help."

"It was nothing. I was just at right place at the right time." He smiled and at that point I took note of how perfect he really was. The guy could have been a model and I briefly wondered what he would look like without a shirt on. I caught myself and cursed puberty and the hormones that were coursing through my body silently. I wonder if the purify spell could remove them. Sigh, probably not, I will just ignore this issue and focus on the adventure in the dungeon. Confident of my new plan, I began to listen to them talk again. "Yes, I came from the Royal academy and if I may say so this lovely bell would be a fine addition to our school. She will raise both the quality of our talent and the beauty of the females that go there." I blushed. Are you kidding me? I knew this type of man from my friends before and while I was not good with the ladies I have seen these honeyed words used by a friend that went through women at a fast pace. So why did I blush? I was becoming more unhappy the more I heard but my parents were becoming just the opposite. Their smiles became so big I thought they might need a healing spell to remove them later.

I kept repeating "He saved our lives, he saved our lives" in my head and tried to ignore him. I saw him glance at me, "You should not worry my dear. I hear the Duke Oliver is in hiding. You see he has made a lot of enemies with his pastime and some have made moves to collect. He should be tied up for the foreseeable future." Did he think my frown was because of the Duke? And was that his name? Oliver? I think I remember Gideon calling him that yesterday now that I thought about it.

"Umm .. ok. Thank you." What else could I say? Stop flirting with me or I will gouge out your eyes? It seemed too harsh for the person that saved my mother and me. He went on like this for about a half hour and by the end I was not sure if my parents wouldn't just wrap me up to send me to his room. I laughed at the image and all three looked at me like I was insane. Cough, "Yes your school does sound nice." I managed to get out unsure exactly what they were currently talking about.

"So you agree to come to the Royal Academy?" He smiled again and I saw my parents look hopeful as well.

"Uh, Yessss?" I hesitantly said. What else could I do? The other schools were run by insane people and we needed a schools protection. I will just ignore this guy at school.

"Great, I will be looking forward to your debut inside the dungeon." He bowed once more and walked off like he was walking on a runway. He was just too perfect.

After he left, I looked at my parents and said, "Dungeon?" and my mother just lost it. She started laughing at me much to my puzzlement. "What?" I finally asked the confusion apparent in my voice.

My dad was the one that answered because my mother was still laughing, holding her belly as if it was in pain. "It is just that you stared at that young man ever since he got here with … well.. fiery eyes." My father coughed to hide his embarrassment from telling his daughter that she was looking at a boy like he was her favorite dish. "Then to top it off, my daughter, you apparently did not hear anything he said."

Son of a .. it was the hormones. Do they even know what those are? Damn it! My face flushed and I quickly moved on to ask the important questions. Which set my mom off again. She was not helping as my ears turned scarlet from shame. Yes! Shame because there was no way I was embarrassed; no way, not at all. "So, what dungeon? Isn't it too early for us to be put into a dungeon?"

"In two weeks, there will the enrollment for people of lesser means. They have designed a course through a low-level dungeon and assigned everybody to teams. Each person will be judged on how they act within a team and how they do personally. The top thirty children will be admitted." My dad smiled at me, mirth dancing in his eyes. It was not that funny. I turned my head away and pouted.