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Okay, so, the way I see this situation going forward, facing me now I\'m standing between a crossroads leading into two completely separate paths. 

On one end, the skies were bright and blue, flowers of all sorts also bloomed along a path paved with gold, just go and get Ash out of there, and follow along the yellow brick road.

Then on the other, a murky forest path shrouded by an even murkier fog, just a single step through and I\'ll know only the unknown and the uncertain, stuck waddling the thick gooey mud of wait-and-see only to simply come to a halt at a destination that was just as unpredictable.

Sure, at first glance, pathway one seemed like the no-brainer out of the two, and speaking from the heart, I even wholeheartedly agree. But, let me just preface this by saying, what would be the point in me doing that?

Here was a chance for her to experience something new, something exciting, and at the same time, something very much familiar. Horses and Knights, Victory and Defeat, who was I to take that away from her?

Nostalgia\'s gotta be pretty hard to come by when you\'re living in a totally different world.

Besides, the roaring masses surrounding the ring wasn\'t the only one itching to see them in action. By the makeshift bleachers was a man taking bets for either contender. Many had already placed their picks, and I was one of the few minorities there shouting team Elf.

The jousting ground was a modest space, a fenced-off long horizontal stretch of dirt with a tall narrow wooden beam at the center separating the combatants that stretched out for just as long, on either end of it sat a small stage where everything was being prepped. It was also where I would find Ash too, most probably.

On a whim, I squirmed my way through the hustle and bustle towards the left stage, hoping I\'d maybe catch a glimpse of her somewhere in all the clutter. 

Then, cue trouble.

"Hold on, you over there - halt!" 

A man clad head-to-toe in silver guarding the perimeter came at me with his finger drawn out. Me, knowing not what I\'ve done, immediately went for the brakes, stopping just short in front of him.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, the little narrow slits in his helmet slanting down at me. "You\'re not supposed to be here."

Oh, busted.

"My bad, I just wanted to see if - see, my friend\'s one of the contenders and…" 

"You\'re supposed to be on stage," His muffled voice continued to say. "Hurry up, you\'re gonna miss the show just standing out here." 

My bells rang in unison as I titled left. "Huh?"

"VIP access," He said, pointing and poking the same finger at the badge on my chest. "Go, go, go… or you\'ll be left standing."

The guard moved aside, flourishing the way forth with a hand extended. I only had a second to bask in the surprise before I spurred myself forward, parting open the curtain entrance and indulging in the privileges of the luxurious. 

Thank you greatly my dear Princess Amanda for this gift you\'ve bestowed upon this unfortunate soul from up on your throne of high society. May your days be blessed with coffee aplenty, and your canvas never empty. I\'m still waiting on sketch #25 btw. Amen. Ps: Keep the reward. I\'m gonna be here for a while.

Once in, the phrase inside-looking-out stuck out to me in particular, in its most literal form. I could see all the way across to the other contender\'s stage, if I squinted my eyes and stuck my neck out a little, I could even see said contender, albeit, only barely. 

He was a smudge of shining yellow and silver standing beside his trusty horse - yellow being his strikingly long flowing hair, and silver his dazzling plated suit of armor. 

Even from afar, I could see the charm and suave practically oozing off of him and every flamboyant sway of his swagger. 

He took one brief peek out the curtains and into the crowd, and trust me when I say that even the acute hard of hearing would be begging for earmuffs from the sheer magnitude of the shrieks and cheers that erupted from the stands, particularly more from the female side of the audience.

Leon The Valiant, eh? Well, with a face and physique like that, I\'d be plenty valiant too. Unfortunately, my name along with it won\'t really roll off the tongue as well as his. 

Shame. 

"We\'re starting soon! Everybody clear way, make way!" proclaimed a member of staff, exasperation in her hurried strides up and down the stage. "George the lances, come on I needed them yesterday, hurry it up! Linda, we talked about this, no staff on the VIP seats, shoo! Oh! Ash! You\'re almost up, let\'s get you ready."

I immediately followed the woman\'s gaze, almost twirling a full 180, expecting to see a narrow-eared maiden with her snowy-white hair flowing free, instead my eyes snapped abruptly onto a full suit of armor walking forward. No narrow ears, no snowy-white hair. 

"Uh, yes, yes, of course," spoke a familiar voice beneath the extra-large headpiece. "But, uh, excuse me once again, but just to affirm… participating in this event, are you certain this would aid Lady Amanda with her plights?"

"Oh, sure, sure, yeah," The lady hastily reassured, waving her arms out in front of her. "Amanda was having a serious headache all morning trying to find a last-minute replacement. You do this thing for her, and she\'ll forever be grateful. Trust me."

Uh-huh, pretty sure the only headache Amanda was having was the one she got when one of the chickens pecked at her skull that one time, other than that though, she was all sunshine and smiles.

"Alright…" spoke the suit of armor, bowing, slanting the headpiece with a clunk. "So long as it serves to lessen her burden, then… I suppose…"

"Attagirl."

For real, I just can\'t get over how ridiculous they made her look with that bobblehead of a helmet there. I\'m serious - she looks ridiculous! And I\'m a human belltower!

You have a perfectly fine suit of armor right there, spotless, immaculate, every bend, every corner, fitting her frame just snug, just right. Then you move on to her head and it\'s as if someone just pumped the helmet full of helium or something.

Dude, seriously, I could cry, honestly. Just look how they massacred my Elf. It\'s as if a toddler just crayon\'d the Mona Lisa, mustache and everything. Don\'t they have anything else better to give her?

"Okay, only thing left\'s the plate guard pauldron thing… pauldron… pauldron?" The woman whirled around. "Oi, where\'s the pauldron?! Derrick! Where in the hell did he - Ash, wait right here - Derrick, you get your ass here now or I\'ll…!"

I took the woman\'s stalking away to look for this poor soul Derrick as my chance to tiptoe in undetected. 

And though the helmet may have detracted from her presence, it did little, however, in dulling any one of her senses.

Just one small tink, from one small bell, from one small nudge, and she was instantly spinning right around towards me.

Big suit of armor, no face facing mine, and yet somehow, she was still as expressive as ever.

"Master, you-you\'re here!" She exclaimed, her voice echoing in its little echo chamber. "How did you know that I\'d be here?"

Could hear the happiness, could hear the relief, I could even hear the smile she was definitely harboring beneath. 

"Can\'t get rid of me that easy," I said, reciprocating that hidden smile. "It was a good try though."

The helmet sunk forward again - brazen shame on display. "I\'ve lost sight of you in all the disarray back then… it was suffocating, all those people, all those demands… then before I knew it, I received an earnest plea from a close acquaintance of Lady Amanda, so I, uh…"

"Became a Knight for hire, put on a dumb-looking helmet, and go charging forth as a battering ram for the sake of goodwill?" I said, finishing for her.

"I confess, said aloud like that, it does indeed sound mildly inane, doesn\'t it?"

"Mmm, yeah, I think maybe you forgot which one of us was actually wearing the jester hat here."

She giggled. "Perhaps so…"

Her little adorable giggle I rarely ever hear was amplified a hundred times over under that metal hood. It was like a soft slow kiss to the ears. Okay, so, maybe that dumb helmet does have its perks too.

"Three minutes! Places everybody! Let\'s go!" 

The woman returned, holding what I presumed was the paldron-thing in her hands, standing at center stage, tapping an urgent foot onto the floorboards.

"Ash! Need you here too! Your horse is ready now, I just need to put this around your chest and you\'re good to go."

"I\'ll be there in a moment!" Ash called back before lowering her voice significantly, and also quite noticeably, submissively. "Or… should I have not done so… after all… do you think?"

Doing things without my consultation or knowing was a crime comparable to that of treason of the highest order for her. She\'s already done it once so far when she went ahead and made that deal with Sera to my utter dismay.

No doubt that memory is still fresh on both our minds to this day, and especially now… with history repeating itself once more. But whereas I vehemently disapproved of it before, that wasn\'t always gonna be the case each and every time.

Sometimes you agree on things, sometimes you don\'t, and in this particular case…

"Tsk, tsk," I wagged a finger. "Eshwlyn of the Old Guard, former Knightess to the late King Ardvair and Sworn Seeker of the Lazarus Stone, backing down from a challenge? No qualms at all having her Master\'s name sullied and ridiculed across the land? The Eshwlyn the Elf-Knight? The very same?!"

"Um…" I could hear the confused blinking already. "Master?"

"Preposterous, right? Of course not, right?" I gave a smile, patting her shoulder pad going clink and clunk. " You\'ll make me proud, won\'t you?"

"Ash, we\'re on in two!" The woman bellowed, fidgeting all over. "You doing this or what?!

But, really… she didn\'t have to worry one bit.

"Yes!" Ash called back, her voice stronger than ever. "I will! You can be sure of it, you will not be disappointed!"

Her walk towards the front of the stage had her standing high and tall, suddenly even the helmet on her head started to look a lot better now. I guess all it needed was to be propped up a little.

There was a row of leather-padded seats nearby, the VIP exclusive, almost filled save for one vacant in the middle, without skipping a beat, I settled myself down just as Ash mounted her steed.

I\'d wish her luck, but… frankly, I don\'t think she needs it one bit. Her opponent, on the other hand, Leon the Valiant was it?

Well, let\'s just hope he\'s able to live up to his name… \'cause he\'s going to need a lot more than just a valiant effort if he wants to win this.

Good luck to him. He\'ll definitely need it.