A Housewife in Combat Training: Part Three

“I want you to live here.”

The king sat at the grand banquet table, meats and pies and the freshest fruits they had ever seen piled high on plates. Alec sighed, knowing this conversation was coming.

“There it is. Sir, how long do we have to tell her goodbye before we have to leave her here?” Alec asked.

“What are you…sir, I was directing my words at everyone seated.”

The Willingham family took a solid thirty seconds before their brains started working again.

“I…you…all of us in the…you want us to live…” Rose stuttered

“Castle…” Violet said softly.

“This is insane. This is honestly…” Hunter mumbled.

“CASTLE!” Violet shouted, standing on her chair.

Hunter grabbed her head and pushed her back into her seat.

“There is a dungeon in this castle. Do not tempt the king,” Hunter scolded.

“But…they have school. My husband has work. What would they do here?” Samara asked, shaking her head, unable to comprehend.

“We have excellent tutors, and the royal academy should they want more structure. And your husband works with magitech. I’m sure he can find something to tinker around with in our workshops,” the king said with a nod towards Alec.

“Working at the castle…oh, think of the budgets I could get for all those side projects…” Alec said, practically drooling.

“You’d put us all into royal service…because of me?” Samara asked.

“And why not?” Mirabelle asked, her patient eyes wandering over each family member’s face. “Samara, you will be a force which will change our world. If you take on this role, we would never dream of separating you from your family. A family…”

Her eyes moved ever so briefly to the large portrait on the wall. The queen, beautiful, poised, standing tall and regal with a knowing smile.

Gone ten years.

“A family needs their mother.”

Samara studied the princess closely then, examining the young girl she had only seen in photos and on magitech screens. She had always seemed so put together, the right words leaving her lips. But as she sat in the grand dining hall, she saw something different.

A girl no older than Hunter.

“Alright. So long as the rest of my family agrees…”

“CASTLE!” Violet shouted again, straining against Hunter’s hand.

“I will drug you. You will sleep until Tuesday,” Hunter scolded her.

Mirabelle actually laughed at their antics, hiding it behind her hand.

Samara saw the spark in her eyes.

“Absolutely. We would love to stay here,” Samara said, plans already starting to move in her mind.

*

As Hunter laid on his plush new bed after night had fallen, with the whole thing starting to feel more real and permanent, his door opened quickly and shut as fast. Rose locked the door, turned and faced him.

“Time to talk, husband.”

“Oh, not this. Do we have to do this? Now of all nights?”

Hunter grabbed his pillow and shoved it over his face.

“You married me when I was five. Need I remind you of our vows? Honesty at all times?”

“I was six and it was pretend!”

“It was real to me! Also, it's never stopped me from dragging the truth out of you before.”

Rose sat down close to her brother. She heard him sigh into the pillow.

“Point taken.”

He waited for her to start.

“I noticed your knuckles.”

“Crap…”

He slid his hand under the blanket. It was useless to hide it, but still.

“How do you feel about mom and this whole sword thing?”

“It’s…I’m proud of her. She…”

Rose pounded her fist into his thigh.

“Ow! Spousal abuse!”

“No lying! You punched a wall or something and I’ve been waiting until things got a little less weird but it looks like it never will now so you might as well tell me!”

Hunter threw the pillow off to the side and sat up. He held his right hand in his left, his thumb tracing over the bruised knuckles.

“Yeah. Okay. I punched the wall the night it happened. Happy?”

“Yeah. I’m overjoyed, obviously. Why would you do it?”

“Because…it was supposed to be mine.”

Rose waited. Nothing else came.

“No way those seven words are all you have in there.”

“What else do you want me to say? I had the thing I wanted my entire life right in front of me! It was…another few feet and I would have grabbed it, Rose! I nearly had it! And then it flew right past my face! Why did it even call to me if it didn’t want me?! Was I only bait for mom?! Is being bait to get the real hero there the only way my life mattered?!”

“Is all this why you let the militarized hobo smack you today? Guilt or disappointment or…or feeling like you have to make up for…”

“No. I’d have volunteered to get smacked anyways. I mean…it’s kind of my thing. Assisting the girls in the family, right?”

“Hunter…gods damn it…”

Rose hugged him tight, refusing his little twitches as he tried to disengage.

“You should have ignored my ankle. Idiot.”

*

Samara didn’t know where she was wandering. The sword was leaning against the wall in the bedroom. Alec was asleep, his glasses still hanging off his face because the goof forgot to take them off. Her children were quiet in their new rooms.

She was alone.

It had been so long since she had felt alone. Alec had always been there for her, and then her children had filled her world with such light. But now…

A clang startled her out of her thoughts.

She looked out the window and saw someone in the training courtyard. They were practicing against a mechanized training dummy, their training sword clashing with the dummy's. For a moment she could only see Hunter back home, doing his best to define his fate.

Then she realized who she was looking at.

Her body moved with purpose, rushing down the stairs and finding her way to the nearest entrance to the training yard. Her feet moved softly over the grass, trying to preserve her presence until the last moment. Finally, as the training figure struck the dummy, Samara clapped. The girl before her leapt and shrieked.

“Good hit!” Samara said.

“Mrs. Willingham!” Mirabelle stuttered, grasping at her chest. “What are you…why did…”

“I’m sorry, did I startle you? And please, call me Samara. I am the Hero, after all. No need for formalities, dear.”

Mirabelle laughed and leaned against the dummy. “Okay. Samara. And you can call me Mira. I like it better. More…”

“What?”

“Nothing. What are you doing up?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Mostly wondering how this became my life.” Samara pushed some hair from her face. She finally noticed how the princess was dressed. It was a much more common set of pants and a shirt. “What about you, Mira? Why is a princess grunting with a sword this late?”

“You’d think it’s stupid,” Mira said, hoisting the sword onto her shoulder and beginning to walk away.

“My daughter Daisy once tried to immerse herself with squirrel tactics by living in a tree. I am used to the ridiculous notions of girls. You can open up to me.”

“Can I?” Mira sighed, looking up at the starry sky. “I’m the only child. Everyone knows it. My mother was killed by an assassin. She took an arrow for my father. No new heirs. If I had one other sibling, a brother or sister, I could be…myself. But I can’t be me. I have to be the princess. The future queen. I can’t…”

“What?”

“If I could…it may seem ridiculous, but I’d be a knight. I want to be brave like my mother was. I want to save lives. I sit here each day, watching them train, fantasizing about being able to go on missions and…” She let out a short, rueful laugh. “But I have responsibilities to others. My dreams have to…”

“Be put aside?”

“Yes. How did you…”

Mira went quiet. A warm hug enveloped her, disarming her. The girl’s arms instinctively wrapped around Samara.

“Let’s say I know about both deferred dreams and dreams coming true. I don’t think you’re stupid. I think it may not look like you originally thought…but a girl like you will make her dream come true.”

Mira looked into the strange woman’s eyes, and somehow she believed in her words.