Jade contemplated her quizzically, but Camille just smiled enigmatically. She sighed and replied, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Edward. I’ll be in your care.”
“The honor is mine, Lady Jade. If you’ll just come with me, I think we’ll start with the bow.”
It was quickly apparent that they had a dilemma. She could only barely draw the simplest of bows, but she knew she was going to be getting stronger faster. She sighed. Better go with what I can use now, even though I’d save money by getting the higher level ones… She looked wistfully at one of the prettiest bows she’d ever seen. It was a dark wood, covered in jade green paneling. Silently, she vowed to come back for it and turned away.
“On to swords!” She left Camille to collect the bow into her bag, then followed Sir Edward over to the sword section. She had a hard time controlling any of them! They weren't super heavy, but holding them for any length of time to test them was tiring her out.
Embarrassed, she muttered, “Maybe we’d better skip the sword.”
Sir Edward shook his head, saying simply, “Camille is convinced you’ll grow stronger quickly. So perhaps stop trying to swing them around, and just see how they feel in your hand. You’ll grow faster with a goal in mind.” It was solid advice, so she nodded and started to follow it.
Quietly, she muttered, “Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something, after all…” She eventually picked a sword as Camille had joined them, and she was only a teensy bit envious when Camille picked it up like it was nothing and stuck it into the bag with the accompanying things she needed to attach it. Camille had wandered over to other parts of the store, talking to a different attendant, but Jade’s attention was quickly drawn back to her own dilemma.
“Last, the small blades!” Jade goggled in awe at the massive collection of different pointy things on display. She had no idea what to do, but something caught her eye. She wandered over to a section that was done in the same style as the bow she’d been mooning over. Elated, she began to pick the knives up, hefting their weight and balance like she’d seen them do in movies.
Camille came over, and with her advice, Jade picked up a set of six blades, with the accompanying sheathes and buckles. Exhausted and hungry, she sat down as Camille finalized their purchase, putting everything away. How did she still have so much energy!? Even Tisha was taking a breather next to her.
Coming over to Jade once she was done, Camille pulled her and Tisha up and said cheerfully, “Okay. We’re done. Let’s go find something to eat!”
Jade smiled, suddenly finding she had more energy. “That sounds like a plan to me!”
Chapter Twenty-Three – Friends
The princesses were staring at her, slack-jawed. She really worried Tisha might catch some flies, given how far open her mouth had dropped. Jade finished cleaning off the last plate and sat back, rubbing her stomach with a satisfied smile. The meal had started off lively enough until she’d ordered three times as much as they thought they could eat, but they laughed it off, thinking she wanted to try everything on the king’s dime. When they were full and she was still going full-tilt, they started to just watch her in awe until she finished everything.
Camille finally spoke in a voice barely above a horrified whisper, “Do you always eat that much?”
Jade finally seemed to come to, realizing she’d just been a complete glutton in front of the princesses. With an awkward smile, she nodded. “Uhm… Yes. It’s the downside of my ability. I’m experiencing tremendous growth, but the energy to fuel it has to come from somewhere, so I just about eat my weight in food every day.” She snorted a little self-consciously. “It’s kinda sucky, actually. I had to get special permission from Eric to sneak food into the library so I don’t pass out. Not really sure what I’m going to do during the classes…” Her voice trailed off because she was seriously pondering the problem.
She was never going to make it five hours in the middle of the day without food while practicing magic. Camille nodded, having understood the problem. Instead of thinking she was a freak, she was also trying to think of a solution. Suddenly, she remembered, “I know! You’re getting a room there; we’ll just install a coolbox and stock it so you can run over between classes if you need to!”
Jade stared at her. It was a brilliant idea, but…she had a feeling coolboxes were fairly expensive, being that they were magic. She smiled and deferred, “It’s a good idea, but I don’t want to spend any more than you already have… My eating habit is a little ridiculous…”
“Pfft!” Tisha burst into titters, unable to hold it in anymore. She grinned at Jade and chattered, “You are the most amazing thing ever! Papa gave us WAY more than this to spend on you! You just don’t seem to have a greedy bone in your body. You’re starting with nothing! It’s okay to let other people help you, you know.” Jade looked down uncomfortably. It wasn’t that she wasn’t greedy, she wanted things too… But she didn’t want to impose. Realizing that that was the problem, she nodded and gazed up.
She explained. “In my world, because I was crippled, I was entirely dependent on other people for my whole life. I guess I thought for once, it would be nice if I could provide what I needed for myself.” Camille looked reflective, while Tisha looked muddled.
Finally, Camille smiled and emphasized naturally, “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you have to. I’m sure in the future, you’ll be totally self-sufficient. But until you get there, let us help. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?”
Jade felt her eyes stinging as a bright smile played across her lips. “I like the sound of that.” She reached up, dabbing at her eyes in embarrassment. Who cried over someone saying they were friends?
Tisha was the one who decided to completely ignore decorum, bouncing over to her side of the table and squishing her in a hug. “Me too.” Quietly, she remarked, “Besides, we don’t have many friends either. No one treats us normally like you do, except family. It’s nice.” Jade gave her a watery grin and hugged her back.
“It’s a deal then.” She could imagine they would’ve been getting a ton of strange stares from the people around them…if they hadn’t been in a private room.
Camille stood up, brushing her clothes off and offering a hand to Jade and Tisha. “Well, now that that’s settled, let’s go grab the last of what you need for today.” Jade grinned, and she and Tisha exchanged a knowing look, then grabbed her hands and pulled themselves up, but also pulling Camille into a hug. She laughed and hugged them back as they all giggled before separating.
With broad grins, they left the restaurant, The Black Heron, and made their way towards the stores that sold coolboxes. When they arrived, the man who came out of the backroom reminded her of Gaston, swoosh haircut and everything. His voice was booming as he greeted them. “Welcome, my dearest princesses! How can I help you?” She couldn’t help but wonder if someone from her world had seen him in a dream when they were creating the character. Maybe the fairytales of her world were really visions of another?
Before she lost herself down that particular rabbit hole, Camille had stepped forward as he bent over each of their hands and brushed his lips against them. “And who is this lovely lady?”