The Princesses Luna

”Noooo! ”

Cassandras pupils dilated as she shed all pretense at defense, doing nothing more than batting the male bandits sword aside before depositing her own sword in his belly as she ran past him.

Her next step was on all fours as she crouched, tail coming into play for the first time since the battle began. Then she pounced, somehow managing tenderness in her touch as she brushed past the princess who was still standing with the female bandits sword protruding from just above her right breast.

The bandit panicked on seeing the enraged halfcat coming at her with claws out. Giving up on trying to free her sword, she managed to half pull a dagger out of her sleeve before stumbling over her own feet trying to run backwards.

Cassandra hit her before she hit the ground, the force of her impact turning into a somersault before it resolved with her straddling her chest, ripping into her young face with her claws.

Princess Monas eyes widened as she turned her head to follow the flash of skirts and fur streak past her. ”No, ” she gurgled as the halfcat set into the bandit.

”Sto– ” A cough made her world turn black for a moment, and she dropped to a knee. ”Shit. Abate. Abate! ”

The sound of a gong resounded throughout the battlefield, and the pressure on Monas lung faded away.

”Cassandra. Cassandra! Stop! ”

Cassandra froze, one hand stretched high above her head in preparation for her next strike. Her head whipped toward the princess, revealing pupils so large, so round, they could almost be mistaken for human.

”Im okay, Cassandra, ” Mona said. ”Im okay. ” She paused to suck in a breath.

”The exercise is over. ”

Cassandra blinked, slowly, and when her eyes reopened the pupils were much smaller. ”Exercise? ” Her eyes moved to the fading red on Monas breast surrounding the nonexistent stab wound.

”The ambush we just went through was just a training exercise. Everyone here is on the Palace Guard. They usually look forward to their chance to play an attacker, ” Mona said, motioning to the girl Cassandra was straddling, ”though training rules ” – she grimaced – ”only allow royalty to follow through on killing blows against royalty. ”

Cassandra looked down at the girl laying there with blood still streaming from her face.

”Unfortunately, ” the princess went on, ”the Illusory Damage enchantment doesn work on natural weapons.

”Your claws. ”

Cassandra took a moment to process this information before realization hit her. Jumping to her feet, she looked around to confirm that the girls was the only blood that hadn vanished, though it was hard to tell through the couple dozen men that now occupied the battlefield.

Princess Mona stepped forward and put her arm around the halfcat. ”Thats right, everythings going to be okay. Is Selena here? Selena! ”

A blue hooded figure was already kneeling next to the prone girl, a glowing hand going to her face. Then the hood turned to the ladies, revealing blonde hair over blue eyes going back and forth between them before settling on the one that seemed in need of reassurance.

”Shes going to be okay, ” the girl under the hood told the halfcat. ”You were fortunate to miss her eyes. Everything else, the power of Life will be able to knit back together. She might be left with some beauty marks, but there wasn time for enough Life to escape for it to end up twisted. ”

Then she winked. ”Though in our extensive experience, healing enhanced by a twin bond has been known to minimize even the scar. ”

She turned back to the girl on the ground and held out her hand. The girl grasped it and stood to his feet.

”May I present her Royal Highness Princess Aadhira Luna, ” the blonde said in a slightly exaggerated tone.

The redhead – Aadhira – rolled her eyes. ”Yeah thanks, Selena, ” she said. Her fingers went instinctively to her face and she winced. ”And you – Cassandra, right?, ” she said, turning to the tutor. ”You do some fine work. ”

Then, turning to Princess Mona, she added, ”I don know about you, but I like this one. ”

Princess Monas eyes flicked to Cassandras face just in time to catch her eyebrows knit together in thought. She opened her mouth to reply, but–

”A ten hut! ”

Everybody milling around the clearing not wearing clerics robes – including, to Cassandras surprise, the princesses – immediately stopped what they were doing and came to attention as the trees admitted a man whose nearly tangible cloak of authority was as much a sign of his rank as the finer leather armor and jewels that were clearly intended to mark him as the exercises bandit lord, followed by a sturdily built young woman with dark skin and close cut hair of pure white in complementary attire.

”Fall in! ”

It only took a few seconds for the scattered chaos to turn into a few straight lines. Cassandra cocked an eyebrow on seeing the princess positions in the rear.

The commander walked from one end of the formation and back again before speaking.

”Private Luna! ”

”Sir yes sir! ” two voices echoed simultaneously from the rear of the formation.

”Private Mona Luna! ” he clarified.

”Sir! ”

”Do you not like my bandit lord costume? ”

Princess – no, Private – Mona knit her brows in confusion.

”No, sir? ”

”Does it make me look fat? ”

”Uh– ”

”I asked you a question, Private! ”

”Its not the costume, ” Monas redheaded sister stage-whispered next to her.

The air in the clearing was suddenly filled with the meticulous deafening silence of guards pretending not to have heard.

Aside from an obvious inhale as he resumed pacing in front of the formation, the commander chose to act as if he had received his expected answer.

”Then tell me why, Private, I was sitting there waiting for my cue, when instead I heard the gong of the end of the exercise! ”

”My apologies, sir! It turns out that the civilian whose benefit this exercise was for was better able to resist the attack than expected. We could have kept going, except she was using her natural weapons to deal real damage to another participant. ”

The commander stopped next to the lone patch of blood remaining on the forest floor and looked down at it.

”Tell me, ” he said, ”how this circumstance came about. ”

”Tutor Cassandra seems to have some natural aptitude for fighting, ” Mona replied. ”She was able to contribute to our defense better than any previous applicant, and when Aadhira stabbed me from behind– ”

”Stabbed you from behind? ” The commanders voice was soft like silk across a sharpened blade. ”You turned your back on an opponent? ”

Monas cheeks colored slightly but she didn waver in her response. ”We wanted to see how she would respond if I were to die in front– ”

Mona had her eyes on Cassandra while she was saying this, so she had caught the tightening around her eyes that preceded her interruption.

”You did that on purpose? ” the halfcat hissed, stalking up to the princess from where she had been standing on the sidelines. ”You deliberately set up a situation where I would think you – the princess! – had been murdered in front of me?

”Never mind that I was going to be next; theres every chance I would have been implicated. And what if your death had led to war? I have friends, family, both in the capital and beyond that would be affected.

”And furthermore, your apparent murderer was actually another princess? What if you hadn been able to stop me in time? What if I had…. ” She trailed off, the rest of her question too unspeakable to complete.

”You were right, ” Princess Aadhira said approvingly after a moments silence. ”She has got spunk. ”

”Shes definitely proven that shes both capable of handling herself in a fight, and interested in your well being, ” the white-haired young woman who had been following the commander around chimed in.

”Once she receives some combat training, ” the commander interjected.

”Still, protection is only secondary, ” a voice behind Cassandra said; she turned to see the blonde one – Selena? – eying her. ”How was she in her primary role? ”

”Some of her questions were annoyingly basic, ” Princess Mona replied, ”though thats most likely due to her trying to gauge where I am.

”But her foundations seem solid, she comes with solid references, and her response to finding a subject that I know more about than her was curiosity rather than defensiveness.

”I think shell be a worthy replacement for Tutor Elsbet. ”

The mood turned momentarily somber as everyone in the clearing save the halfcat bowed their heads in respect for the dead.

Cassandra knew she probably shouldn , but the hairs threatening to stand up on the back of her neck compelled her. ”How – how did she die? ”

Princess Selenas arm came around her. ”She was our mothers tutor before us, ” she said gently. ”She died peacefully in bed. Of old age. ”

”And you are most likely to die the same way, ” the woman following the commander put in. ”Still, the sentiment you shared with Captain Trent this morning has long been held by our mothers family in Caris. ”

When Cassandra turned a puzzled face to her, she prompted, ”Regarding the last line of defense? ”

Cassandras face changed to one of understanding, and the white haired woman went on, ”Though while our mothers family has always ensured combat competent companions for royalty, we have always considered that the male heirs needn be the only ones that are their own last lines of defense.

”We daughters receive full combat training as well. ”

”Well, according to our level of interest, anyway, ” Selena interjected.

”Come on, ” the elder girl replied, ”you know you could handle the average ruffian quite well by yourself. ”

”Even Lucine could do that, ” Mona put in helpfully.

”Though shed be just as likely to fling him away with a whirlwind so as not to disturb her skirts, ” Aadhira snickered.

Mona looked down at her own skirts. They were definitely not going to be wearable after today. ”Perhaps she has a point there. ”

A part of Cassandras mind had been keeping track throughout the whole unexpected back and forth, and by her count, of the five princesses of the Luna kingdom, four had been named so far, either here or absent.

She looked at the closecut white haired woman. ”You must be Princess Luna, ” she said softly.

All eyes turned to the tutor for a moment before the eldest princess smiled. ”At your service, ” she said, turning the beginning of a shallow bow into a rough skirtless curtsy that she looked ridiculous attempting.

She looked at her sisters. ”Its all settled then? Shell be your new tutor? ”

Cassandras brows tightened as she opened her mouth, but Princess Mona was already speaking.

”Thats assuming she still wants the job. ”

All eyes turned to her in surprise, including Cassandras.

”What do you mean? ” the halfcat asked.

”You make a valid point about our – my – betrayal of your trust, ” Mona replied. ”We gave you no warning that you would be evaluated on your willingness to stand beside us and defend us.

”We have given our reasons for doing so, but the fact that I led you into what you believed to be a life or death situation remains. This is not minor.

”But besides the lies, there are also the truths you have seen today.

”If you accept this position, you will have three utterly reckless ” – Selena cleared her throat – ”two charges so totally reckless as to completely make up for the perfectly placid personality of the third to keep up with.

”I threw myself into combat while you were trying to stop me. Just to be perfectly clear: if this scenario really happened, I would have done exactly the same. And Im not even Aadhira. ”

Aadhira snickered. ”You
e so cautious. ”

Mona ignored her. ”So you will be expected to at least try to protect us from ourselves. General Hatha? ”

”Thank you, Your Highness, ” the would-be bandit lord replied.

Cassandra raised an eyebrow at the reversal of deference.

”You will be expected to try, ” the general repeated, ”but the king and queen do understand how difficult they can be to keep up with. If, Moon forbid, anything were to happen to one of your charges on your watch, there will be an inquiry, but it will be fair. You will not ultimately be held responsible beyond your capabilities.

”Do not! ” he thundered, ”expect this to mean you will get off lightly. You want to be their last line of defense? You will train with them during their normal training times with the Royal Guard – both together and individually – so that they, and you, will be able to familiarize yourselves with each others fighting styles and capabilities.

”So that you won get in each others way. Again.

”You will be expected to continually increase your capabilities, and thus the level of responsibility you will bear to keep them safe no matter what. ”

”So I will be training with the Royal Guard, ” Cassandra said incredulously.

”Daily, ” Mona said.

”With the best military units in the kingdom? ”

”We occasionally bring in some of the best experts from other kingdoms as well, ” Luna said.

”And Im expected to maintain a curriculum of mathematics, science, magic, history, politics, etiquette ” – her eyes drifted to the carriage – ”needlepoint, besides? ”

Mona smiled at what she saw in the halfcats eyes.

”So, what do you say, can you forgive me for todays subterfuge?

”Are you in or are you out? ”