Young Writers Society

“As am I.” Marion bowed. “Lady Marion, a sourdough cleric hailing from the Fermentation Nation, at your service.”

Aeron nodded to her. "Have any of you ever done anything like this before?"

Granted, Sir Edward had plenty of tales to share from his younger days in the knighthood, but he had a danish in his mouth. He was balancing a whole silver tray of danishes while walking towards the youngsters at the moment. It was tradition for knights of Toastlandia to share pastries after being assembled by the king for a mission.

"Well, Aeron it is then." Sabrina turned to Marion. "We have embarked on a quest or two her and there. Nothing quite this exciting however."

Marion nodded. “We’re happy to help however we can.”

Cristina had been listening carefully to the conversation so far, assessing each person’s likelihood of being a dragon slayer. The ladies Sabrina and Marion seemed like decent people, although if one was attacked by a frightened dragon, somehow Cristina got the feeling that the other would defend her at all costs— even if that meant the death of the dragon. As for Sir Aeron… well, he reminded her a little too much of the lads at the Focaccia Academy. But she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt! And Sir Edward… alright, it was hard to be suspicious of someone who was currently heading their way with a place of delicacies.

Satisfied with her analyses for now, Cristina jumped into the conversation with, “No formal questing on my part, I’m afraid, although I have hunted down criminals before. But I do have experience with dragons! I spent a wonderful two years observing them in the wild, and gosh, I could spend days recounting what I saw. Have any of you seen a dragon before?”

"A couple of times here and there," said Sabrina. "Beautiful things. Of course terribly dangerous sometimes, so it isn't the greatest idea to go close, but my lady and I were lucky enough to go fairly close to one once upon a time."

Crissy’s eyes widened. She would ignore the “things” for now, but just because she was curious what the dragon had looked like. “Were they a Rye Dragon? Those are fairly common. Or ooh, tell me, what color were their scales? Where was the encounter?”

Sir Edward swallowed the last of his danish. "Greetings young adventurers! Would any of you care for a -- woah!"

He slipped and fell, and the tray of danishes flew into the air. Sir Edward was alright, because he always wore extra padding in his knightly breeches in the case of falls, but wished someone would catch those poor danishes before they touched the floor.

Marion caught them in a flash, making sure to land in such a way that she disturbed none of the treats. “Your danishes, my good sir.”

Good reflexes were imperative for protecting a duchess. She offered them to the man with a bow.

Sabrina knelt by the elderly knight's side, offering a hand. "Sir are you okay? That was quite the fall. Do you need any medical attention?"

Sir Edward accepted the offer of help. "Thank you very much, Lady Sabrina," he said. "I'm as fine as a plate of hot donuts out of the oven."

"And thank you, Lady Marion." He took the tray of danishes. "I was about to offer you your lucky danish. It used to be a Toastlandian tradition to make a wish on your danish at the beginning of a quest. I've already made mine."

Cristina had rushed over as well, but it looked like Marion and Sabrina had everything covered. "I'm glad you're alright. And that is a delightful tradition!" She couldn't help but be reminded of her own grandfather and his stories of ancient Toastlandian celebrations and customs. "May I take this one?" She pointed at a danish that had what looked like lemon curd dabbed on top.

Sabrina smiled politely. "Oh that is a lovely tradition indeed."

Sir Edward nodded enthusiastically at Lady Cristina. "Go ahead, go ahead," he said.