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Macy tapped softly at the side of her teacup as she stared out at the outstretched capital city below her. In front of here laid a delicate porcelain tea set and an array of shortbread cookies and cucumber sandwiches. She was sitting on beautifully crafted wooden chair, a gift from a noble craftsmen family some decades ago long before she was born. The chair was part of a bigger tea table for two set that she had set on her room’s personal balcony in the Royal Castle. The thing would probably go for a small fortune if it was ever sold. In fact, she could probably spend a good few minutes analyzing every carving, grain pattern, and other details of the woodwork. But her mind was elsewhere.
Macy turned her attention to a clock on the castle’s outer wall. It read 12:48.
“Still another ten minutes until he gets here,” the knight mumbled to herself, staring back down at her teacup with a bored look in her eyes. She sighed, mentally cursing herself for setting up everything so early. She had been sitting in that chair for at least an hour. It’s not like she didn’t have other things to do, she could have trained a bit longer before setting the table. Even better, she could have had one of the servants set the table while she did who knows what until a few minutes before he arrived.
Suddenly Macy heard a soft ding from her pocket. She checked a phone to find a message from Clay.
Knights Code Glazer: Dear Macy, I am at the base floor of the castle. One of the squirebots is escorting me to your room. I hope to see you soon, sincerely Clay.
Macy couldn’t help but crack a smile. No matter how many times Aaron explained to Clay that texting was “totally chill,” he still typed as if it was formal letter.
Me: cool, im on my balcony
Me: I have snacks :)
She put her phone back in her pocket and carefully poured some tea into the second tea cup. For a second, she felt like she was a child again, doing her daily princess training. She tried to ignore the feeling.
It wasn’t long before she heard the soft *wiish* of the doors opening, and faintly she could hear Clay giving his tanks to the servant that escorted him. She turned her head, giving Clay a soft smile as she ushered him to the table.
“And here I thought you would never arrive, youre only five minutes early” Macy teased as Clay sat down, picking up her teacup and taking a sip.
“Hey I was stuck in foot traffic. This is when the kids have lunch and it’s harder than you’d think to make your way through a crowd of hungry knights in training” Clay said, picking up his teacup and smelling its contents. “What is this? It doesn’t smell like anything I’ve had before”
“It’s a flower and herb blend made in a small village from the eastern neighboring kingdom. I got it as a gift from one of their dukes a couple weeks ago. Figured I might as well use it” Macy said, not giving much of a reaction to its taste and instead reaching for a cookie. “And these are just shortbread the castle bakers made.”
Macy nearly dropped the cookie when she heard Clay loudly cough, almost dropping his teacup. “cough, cough O-Oh my god-! Sorry it’s just uh very strong… Im not really used to flowery stuff. I-It’s not bad! Just, uh, that the only tea I really drink is the bottled stuff from the vending machine in the teachers lounge” Clay said, awkwardly putting the teacup down as he tried to ignore the perfume like taste in his mouth.
Macy laughed, “Hah yeah I guess you either love it or hate it. How’s the teaching thing going? Last time we talked you said you were working with the third years, right?”
Clay nodded as he reached for a sandwich to hopefully get the tea taste out of his mouth. “They’re good kids. This newest batch of students has some promise. Principal Brickland won’t admit it but he seems very proud of their progress. And I’ve been able to show them the light magic Ive learned from Merlok, they love it” Clay’s took a bite of the small sandwich, looking down at the capital roads bellow them. “It’s beautiful up here,”
Macy let out a small hum in agreement as she took another sip of tea. There was a comfortable silence between them for a bit. But when turned his head look at Macy, expecting her to be eating or drinking (maybe even aggressively staring at him to freak him out like she used to do in the Fortrex) he instead saw her looking out to the distance. She looked almost… sad? Clay then noticed he couldn’t tell if she liked the drink or not. He may not have been the best at reading social cues or faces but even he could tell she was being more stoic compared to her usually expressive self.
“Hey, I don’t mean to be rude but… why did you call me over today? Not that we need a reason to hang out but we don’t normally hangout at the castle, let alone drink tea. Is something up?” Clay asked, his face turning to one of concern. Macy stayed quiet for a second, staring off into the horizon but not looking at anything in particular.
“I’m fine. Just a bit sad I guess” She said, looking down at the teacup, “I’m starting the process of looking for a husband in two months.“
Clay froze, his sandwich falling from his hand onto the floor.
“What?”
Macy didn’t look at him. “I don’t need to get married soon. I’ve got at least ten years left before pressure of marriage and making an heir really gets intense. But, it’s more logical to start looking for a potential partner sooner rather than later. It’s not the best look to be a solo ruler,” Macy said, taking another sip of her tea, “Ive already gotten marriage offers before, the only difference is that now I need to start taking them seriously.”
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Macy spoke up again, “The reason I called you over was to tell you that I’m not really gonna be a knight anymore. Of course should another monster uprising I’ll be back with the rest of the gang but for now, I’m going back to royalty training. I’m not going to be seeing you and the rest of team a whole lot anymore. And if we aren’t going to see each other anymore… I guess this goodbye for the foreseeable future”
Clay didn’t say a word. When Macy finally looked at him again, she had expected sadness, maybe some disappointment at her abandoning the team, but all she saw was determination.
“You’re going to need a guard”
“…what?”
“There’s going to be people from foreign nations coming to visit more often right? What if they try to hurt you or your family? You’re going to need protection and I know those squirebots aren’t enough! T-The academy is near by so I can still teach and Merlok’s tower is near too so I can train my magic to better protect you!” Clay said, standing up as his eyes darted around as if he was trying to memorize the layout of the balcony.
Macy was about about answer, insulted at the fact Clay would think of her so helpless to need protection, but Clay cut her off before she could say anything. “You said to never treat you differently just because of your birthright. You made me promise to never stop being friends with you because you’re a Princess! And I plan on holding onto that promise! I don’t want to lose you just because we’re going down different paths in life! You saved my life more times than I can count, you believed there was still hope for me when I was stone, and youre my best friend. You are not getting rid of me that easily!”
Macy sat there, speechless to Clay’s deceleration. It was quiet, the distance noise is the people below them was lost to Macy as she heard the sound of a tear hit the wooden table. He was crying, through his glaring, unwavering eyes he was crying. More silence followed, and just as Clay was going to sit back down, worried he had overstepped, she smiled and spoke.
“Okay, I accept your offer, Mr savior of the realm” Macy said, her causal tone wiping all doubts from Clay’s mind. She stared down at her teacup,
“This tea tastes terrible, want to go get some real food?”
Clay could only smile, “Yeah, I’d like that”