For the Kingdom of Hablon!

≡ “For the Kingdom of Hablon!”

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#NobleKnight // LGBT+ amino

Weekly Challenge

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₍ Credit for Template ₎

₍ Credit for artwork goes to the following people: Jonathan Kemper, Joran Quinten, Henry Hustava, and stockvault contributor I can't exactly the name of for the background wood image.₎

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This is the interesting story of how I survived my quest of becoming a knight. Yeah, it didn't exactly go as planned.

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“You are now a new knight!”

The ruler bestowed upon me a sword, one which lightly tapped my left and right shoulders first before landing in my hands.

Wow. Me.. a new knight! I've done so much training to get here, from casual spars with my buddies on the training grounds to more “elaborate” battles with the gremlins and trolls that would attack our kingdom. Sure, I never got to go on serious missions, since I wasn't a knight yet, but I often snuck out of the gates before I was caught to face some of the fellas. The gremlins were often smelly than not.. and the trolls can be really mean sometimes.

“Wow!” I said, brandishing my sword in the warm light that seemed to glow more vibrantly than normal through the stained glass windows from behind the ruler's throne.

I finally can go on real quests and potentially rank up as one of the best knights ever known to Hablon! Well.. speaking of quests, I'm a little scared about the first quest every knight goes on. I've heard it's extremely difficult, and it requires wit, patience, and humility- some of the best traits any knight can have, my father always used to say.

Oh yeah.. my father. He was a great knight, and a better parent. I miss him so much.

“Well..” the low voice of the ruler snaps my attention up to their face. “Not a knight so soon. I'm quite sure you're a little familiar with the quest I will send you on?”

“Oh, yes!” I bow slightly out of courtesy. “Yes your Highness. And I believe no one has ever died as a result, but I have heard rumours that some have had their status as knight revoked as a result of failing this quest!”

“Oh, yes..” the ruler leans in a little closer, seated still on their throne. I was not very far from where they sat, so it was almost like we were whispering. “This is a very hard quest, only befit for the most worthy! Should you fail, I will not be able to see you through as a knight. I gave you your sword for this quest, and you shall keep it, save for if you fail..”

I quietly stare into the ruler's face. I wonder what their gender is. It always confused me. They are a little large but not in a masculine way? They have short grey hair that curls around their crown, and a facial structure that gives off "old" but not particularly /male/ or /female/ I've always been afraid to ask..

“Do I make myself clear?” they abruptly cut through my thoughts.

“Yes-” I feel my face grow slightly hot, scared as if though they could read my mind.

Well, this'll be interesting enough. All people are to go on this quest alone. It makes sense, but I hope I can manage.

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So I am off, the ruler gave me a com and a map and told me to "figure the rest out"- whatever that's supposed to mean.

After what seemed like a few hours and too much sweat under my chainmail armour and leather.. my mother prepared it for me, saying, “wear this on the day you are knighted” so I'm doing this for you, mother! Ugh~

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So I finally made it to where I believe the map was marked, outside the kingdom, but it is a simple little cottage.

“Hmm..” I set the com and map on a nearby tree stump and take out my sword. “Must be some kind of trap.”

So I sneak up, check left and right, then try and peak through a window. I saw a figure moving and a shiver went down my spine.

‘Come on.. you can do this!’ I think to myself. ‘1....2.....3!’ I break down the door with a large war cry.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” A little old woman screams and I do too.

“Why did you break down my door!?” she has a slight accent, voice slow and sweet like molasses. She is obviously frantic.

“Why is this where the ruler sent me!?” I ask her as if she had the answer.

“Ohhhhhh!” she points a finger and shakes it at me, as if saying ‘of course?’ “You're here because you're a new knight.”

“What are you talking about?” I'm still confused.

“You have to make me cookies!” she grins.

What?

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After gathering ingredients, I brought it back to her little kitchen where I mixed, mashed, folded, strung up, and baked some kind of concoction she's referring to as “cookies”.

“Uh-uh” she shakes her head in disapproval. “You have to make them with love!”

“What is that even supposed to mean!?” I stare back at her in frustration, getting some gooey batter on my apron and looking down with a sigh.

“As long as you don't make the cookies with love, you're not becoming a knight!”

“What does this have to do with being a knight!?”

She stayed silent and stared lovingly, her big brown eyes feeling like a comforting hug.

“Ugh, whatever.” I go back to the forest to gather ingredients for her baked biscuits.

She has continued to say “no”, “nope”, “not quite” several times before I felt like quitting. What do I not get about baking these things? My mother taught me how to bake when I was real young, saying I was going to need to know how to do it when I was older, but this isn't what I thought she meant!

“Grammy Toad,” I ended up giving her a nickname. “What am I doing wrong?”

She chuckles lightly before making her way over to me, she waddled when she walked and was short and stout, kind of like some of the creatures I've faced but she's much prettier and smells like flowers. Not so sure about how nice she is though! If she was nice I would've already been a knight.

“Now, now..” she pats my lower back in a consoling manner. “You've got to mix slowly, tell them you love them, and then give them small kisses while they're cooling.”

“You've got to be kidding me?”

“Nope!”

Grammy Toad throws herself back in laughter and I groan over realizing what I'm going to have to do. I'm going to become a knight, there's no doubt about that. So I will do this!

I combine the ingredients one at a time, careful to preserve every bit. Add some milk fit for a calf, and slowly begin to mix.

“Slower, slower~” Grammy Toad chants. And I listen, slowing down to a pace where I can see the ingredients piling onto each other and mixing into a doughy consistency at the speed of a snail. “Yesss,” I swear she says smugly.

I then start to form them into little circles, trying to be careful to not make them too big or small, and then look back to check for Grammy Toad's approval. She seems to be content so I plop them into the oven. I sit anxiously while it bakes, Grammy Toad fiddling with a needle and some thread while we wait. About another hour later and it's done! I go and take it out and set it on the stove.

“Oh, they're pretty!” she smiles. “Look much better than the other ones you made.”

I shake my head with a small smile before realizing I'm going to have to kiss them. I glance over to her in her little rocking chair and she gives me a smile full of fake teeth - presumably rock. I look back down at the cooling rack and take a deep breath.

Slowly, just enough to make it look like it's not rushed but fast enough to not spend the night here, I kiss each of the cookies. Luckily they were hard enough so none of it stuck to my lips- that would be gross.

We needed to wait a bit more before I could place them on a porcelain plate, then, I walked over to Grammy Toad and handed her them.

“Yes! Wait, where's my glass of milk?” I sigh and go and prepare her a glass, when I made my way back I saw a look of disgust on her face.

“What is it?” I ask, my stomach sinking at that moment. There's a bite mark in a cookie already, though I never saw her pick it up.

“This is disgusting! What did you use? Tall grass and sediments?” she begins to scrap her tongue off with her nails.

“I just.. used some nearby stuff to make them- like you told me to!”

“Well, yeah, I wanted to be a bit healthier. But I decided that I don't like them. Would you be a dear and grab a box of mix from my cabinets?” she blinks a couple times with a little smile on her face.

UGHHHHHHHH-

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Finally, I return back to the kingdom after completing my quest, officially a knight according to the ruler, angry.. straight faced with no chance of budging.

The ruler tried to keep back some laughter as they gazed at my face.

“What.. was that?” I ask after moments of silence.

“A friend from outside the kingdom! She takes care of communicating with other friendly creatures, something that she sometimes teaches the nobles of this land! I like to treat her to sweet treats, so I tell her to name any she wants to any new knight that finds her! And from there you must decide how to do it to her liking~” The ruler smiled grandly.

“It was exhausting!” I sprawl myself across the floor, my sword making a large 'thwack' noise- echoing in the corridor. The nearby servants just looked to one another, one shrugging.

“Well, take care in the fact that some don't succeed and they simply give up! Respect to other creatures and the elderly is essential to our survival as one of the top kingdoms in Eldevam!”

“Yeah, yeah..” I place an arm under my head for more comfortable lying. “Just never make me do it again!”

“I can make you do whenever I please!” Their booming voice echoes throughout, some birds outside scaring away from their nests.

“You're right- sorry!” my voice reduced to a small nothing, I laid petrified ing the ruler was still definitely more powerful than I - even in such a seemingly silly situation.

“And I will bake...” I begin to say, jokingly. “For the Kingdom of Hablon!” I raise my sword, finding a balance perpendicular to the marble floor.

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Thanks for reading :)