Their Thirst For Pride

1 - The Archer Meets Her Match

Her jacket hovered a couple feet above the ground as she walked down the relatively empty streets of the Emavaria, the air brisk and quiet. Esme Fletcher liked to get to her class early, leaving home just as the sun began to rise. It gave her time to plan and prepare for the chaos the children brought to their archery practice with them. On the way, she stopped at the cafe just down the street from her destination and bought a latte.
“Here you are, miss,” Said the barista, handing her a small mug.
“Thank you, have a nice day,” She replied, wrapping her fingers around the warm handle of the cup.
The barista smiled and wished her a wonderful day in return. She turned around and sat down in the corner of the shop by a frosted window, pulling a notepad out of her bag and began to write some plans out for the day. She sipped the coffee and closed her eyes, the hot drink soothing her somewhat sore throat. Cold season was just upon the kingdom.
Once Esme had finished the last of her coffee and notes of ideas for improvement within her students’ skills, she stood up, ready to leave for her actual work. She stepped out of the cafe and started down the street once more. She passed the same old shops she’d seen every single morning but something had caught her eye that particular day, on the window of the archer’s shop hung a flyer.
“Two-hundred dollars reward and fame, huh?” She mumbled to herself, reading about the upcoming competition. She’d heard about the annual games before, they’d been going on ever since she was eight years old but she never cared much for them. Every year, a variety of competitions would commence, things like chess, writing, cooking, anything that required some skill but it was always different every time. This year, archery was included and it was the third year she’d been allowed to participate. She didn’t have much going on. How could she possibly turn down two-hundred dollars for something she was so good at? She’d been an exceptional archer ever since she was ten years old so why not enter? It couldn’t hurt.

Esme checked the clock on the wall tirelessly through the last hour of school, ready for the children to leave. They were all playing and talking for the last ten minutes of class, she couldn’t wait to get some peace and quiet. The bows were all up hanging on the wall but some arrows remained on the ground as she noticed. She decided to just ignore it and clean it up herself when the room cleared out. Finally, the time came to noon and she dismissed everyone, watching as they put their jackets on and headed outside.
“Miss Fletcher?”
She turned from the window she was looking out of, nearly closing her eyes, and saw one of the younger students standing beside her desk.
“What is the matter, Millie?” Esme answered.
“I can’t find my doll,” She said, her voice somber.
She let out a soft laugh, “You brought your doll to archery practice? Well, I suppose we should go find it,”
The little girl smiled and followed Esme to the closet located by the coat rack. Esme opened the door and reached into one of the many baskets sitting inside, pulling out a small crochet doll.
“Good thing I found her and kept her safe before anyone got to her. Here you are,” She said, kneeling down to the girl’s level.
Millie gasped, “Thank you, Miss Fletcher.”
Esme smiled and patted her head, standing back up, “You’re welcome. Come on, lets go get ready to leave. It looks like your mother is already here for you.”
Millie turned to the large window in front of the studio and saw a woman standing outside, waiting to take her daughter home. Esme walked to the coat rack and pulled the only jacket that wasn’t hers off, helping her student into it and sent her outside.
After Esme put her own jacket on and grabbed her bag she walked outside only to be stopped again. The little girl ran to her and hugged her, startling Esme. Her heart melted. Her younger students were always so sweet.
She kneeled down again and hugged her back, “Goodbye, sweetie, I’ll see you tommorow, okay?”
“Okay.”
And the little girl walked to her mom who shook Esme’s hand and wished her well.
As Esme walked through town, down her regular path to get home, she recalled what the flyer for the games had said. Sign up sheets would be located somewhere in front of the castle. Her memory was vague but she’d already passed the archery shop and decided she’d have to find it when she got there. Before heading to sign up, she stopped by home and dropped her school bag off, picking up her everyday one. She fixed her hair that was destroyed by the hands of chaos in that small little archery studio and left home. She didn’t have anyone to say goodbye to since she lived alone. Sometimes she wondered if she’d ever find someone to share her small house with and was becoming hopeless. Sure, she was only twenty-three but she couldn’t help but feel like a failure and lonely all the time. When would it end?
She walked through the kingdom, bag slung over shoulder, and jacket flowing like a cape behind her with every step she took. Eventually she entered the center of Emavaria and looked up at the tall castle. She’d never seen anything else like it, being that it never failed to wow her everytime she made the effort to come out there. As she walked through the market, she looked at all of the roses in the various designs on the castle walls, comparing them to the real ones planted out front. The queen had some weird obsession with the flower and it amazed Esme how much she committed to her love for the plant.
Esme snapped out of her daze when she saw the giant sign on one of the carts within the market. The cart was literally labeled: “Fifteenth annual games sign-up”. Esme, laughing at her stupidity, walked over to the stand and began to speak to the blonde haired man behind the counter.
“Good afternoon, miss. Is there anything I can do for you?” He asked with an almost weird smile on his face.
“Oh, I just wanted to sign up for the games-”
“Wonderful! Can I get you anything else? Perhaps one of my potions?” He responded, presenting the wall of various mixtures behind him.
She stared at the potions, then him, “Uh, no thank you, I think I’m good.”
“Are you sure? I’ve got love potions if that’s what you’re looking for,” He winked.
Esme began to reach for a sign up sheet on the counter, still looking at him, “Like I said, I think I’m okay but thank you-”
Once she picked a piece of paper off of the pile, she felt a tug and let go, looking to her side. Another man was looking at her, holding the paper she’d grabbed.
“Oh, my apologies, is this yours?” He said, handing her the sheet.
She took the paper back and stared at him, completely frozen. She’d just done nothing but embarrass herself for something dumb.
“Is this little merchant boy bothering you?” He asked.
Esme looked back to the merchant, not wanting to be rude. His jaw dropped at the insult, glaring at the man who had said it.
“He’s uh… no, he’s not.”
He looked at her for a moment, bewilderment crossing his face, “Follow me.”
So she did just that and followed him to the back of the marketplace, folding her paper up in quarters to distract herself from the embarrassment.
“The name’s Orion Blakesmith, you?” He said as they walked.
“Esme Fletcher.”
“Fletcher… I’ve heard that name before.”
“I’m a teacher. I teach archery a few blocks down from here.”
“Ah, archery, Fletcher, makes sense. So, that guy was bothering you, wasn’t he?”
“Yes, he was. Trying to sell me some of his weird potions. He even went out of his way to mention a love potion?”
“I like to call him the crazy magic man. I don’t know who let him have that job, he’s been doing that to women all day. I’m getting pretty tired of it.”
Esme didn’t say anything, only let out an awkward laugh. She really wanted to go home.
“What competition do you plan on entering? Wait no, let me guess. Is it archery?” Orion said.
“How did you know?” Esme asked, she couldn’t help but giggle a bit.
“I don’t know, guess I’m just a natural. I plan on joining the engineering competition. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten into that.”
The two made it to the back of the market place and Esme looked around at her surroundings. She’d just walked with this man to the complete opposite side of the kingdom. How lovely considering the work she was going to do, planning for the next day of archery practice.
“That’s nice. Look, I should really get going, I have work to do.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry to keep you from that. Well, good luck to you. I hope to see you at the games on tuesday.”
“Thank you, good luck to you too.”
Esme walked off, letting out the most relieving sigh she’d ever had in her life. Her face felt like it was nearing fire that entire time, she was so embarrassed. She’d been begged to buy potions and then grabbed the same paper as someone else. Then, she was so stupid, she’d followed some stranger all the way in the wrong direction just so she could play it off. She did not succeed in playing it off.