THE MOMENT
"WAIT!??" The king bellowed furiously at the Knight Captain. She remained still with her head bowed in respect. "My daughter is gone! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?" Celia did not know what she was waiting for, but she knew something bothered her enough to wait.
"Your Majesty!" A strong, familiar voice shouted from the back of the hall, followed by rushed, clanging footsteps. "I came as soon as I heard!" A lean, young, tan knight approached the throne; he casually stood closer than Celia and showed considerably less respect.
"A good thing," The king replied. "My Captain seemed hesitant to fetch you," Celia felt her cheeks burn. Even without looking up, she knew the King downcast his eyes at her in disappointment. "Please, rescue my daughter, Sir Archie. You're the only one that can."
"Why?" The stray thought surprised Celia. Archie knelt low before the king, then rushed out of the throne room. Celia gave her own bow, then turned to follow Archie.
"I would like a report within the hour," the king spoke as she neared the exit, Celia paused. "I'd like you to explain how exactly your knights let a dragon waltz in here and leave with my daughter so effortlessly."
"Your Majesty," Celia bowed. "Perhaps that can wait until your daughter is back safely; my knights will assist Sir Archie."
"Assist?" The king chuckled heartily, the nobles gathered in his court joined in to make Celia feel worse. "Don't be ridiculous, your knights are useless to the hero of the kingdom." The nobles laughed harder, Celia nodded.
"Of course, your majesty. I'll return with your report." For the first time in her life, Celia lied to the throne. She fled the room as quick as her dignity would allow, then paused in the hallway to steady her nerves. In a moment of stillness, she heard footsteps clanging down a hall. The steps seemed to be moving away from her, and she realized it was probably Archie.
"I don't care how good he is...," Celia mumbled to herself. She moved quickly to catch up to him, but kept her distance to follow him secretly. She followed him out of the castle and to her surprise, beyond the stables. The entire time she watched him move, a strange thought took root in her mind. "Why is he the hero of the kingdom?" She followed Archie out of the castle gates and into the town proper, luckily the crowds made it easy for Celia to stay hidden.
Celia watched strangers, rich and poor alike, wave and cheer at Archie as he walked by. They obviously considered him the hero of the kingdom, but Celia could not remember him doing a single heroic deed.
"Witchcraft...," Her mood soured the moment she realized she couldn't remember Archie at all. As far as she knew, he did not exist before the moment the king asked her to fetch, 'the Hero of the kingdom'. Celia followed Archie to his home; the 'Hero's House' on the outskirts of town. The sound of heavy wings startled Celia; she looked up to see a horse-sized dragon landing in the Hero's back yard. Its golden scales sparkled under the afternoon sun. Its out-stretched wings seemed translucent; like gold-tinged glass. And, a young, blonde woman rode atop its back.
"The princess!" Celia instantly knew that the blonde dragon rider was the princess; but, she also wondered how she knew that. She searched her memories, but could not remember ever seeing the princess before. Celia shook her head and gave a faint, frustrated growl.
"Witchcraft or not. My duty is to keep her safe," she mumbled to herself. She did not recognize the princess, but Celia was there to rescue a princess. She decided for the direct approach to see if Sir Archie was trustworthy. Celia knew she couldn't trust her own judgment then and there and did not want to barge in swinging her sword. Celia approached the door. She heard raucous laughter moments before she knocked; it was too late to stop herself. The laughter from inside quieted immediately. After a few seconds, Sir Archie opened the door to just a sliver and peeked out.
"Yes?" he asked, though not before staring at her for a few seconds. Celia noted he seemed confused to see her.
"His highness sent me to assist with rescuing the princess," Celia said.
"What?" Archie's eyes widened. "Since when?" he asked.
"What's going on?" A girl's voice said from inside.
"No wait-," Sir Archie tried to protest, but the door swung open wide revealing two blonde girls inside. One was shorter and younger with long golden curls. The other was the blonde princess."
"Princess!" Celia blurted. Despite her eagerness, Celia confirmed to herself that she'd never seen the young woman before.
"I think the quest changed," Archie mumbled to the two girls. "Did we abuse it too many times?" he asked. His question seemed directed at the younger blonde. She shook her head but kept her eyes on Celia.
"Too many times," that phrase echoed in Celia's head. She realized why she hesitated to follow the king's command; somehow she knew the Hero was going to walk into the throne room any second. That realization made room for the rest of the connections to fall into place. Somehow things that didn't make sense were starting to.
"Who are you?" Celia directed her question at the princess. "His Highness has ruled alone for decades; no queens, no princesses."
"I'm the princess!" she said proudly. The young blonde girl giggled, then stepped forward with an outstretched hand.
"I'm Honey," she introduced herself, then pointed at the princess with her thumb. "That's Morgan, and you probably know Archie," she said.
"What are you doing?" Morgan whispered at Honey; it was still loud enough for Cecilia to hear her. Honey giggled.
"It's already too late, she woke up," Honey said. She smiled at Celia, "Congratulations! You're not just an NPC anymore."