Chapter one

Ten years later...

Rennie St. Claire was doing her best to ignore the awful pain in her shoulder. She'd fallen from the hay loft of the King's stables the night before. It was causing her trouble as she attempted to muck out the stalls.

At the sound of hoove Rennie dropped what she was doing and went to greet the visitor.

It wasn't just one visitor, but two. Both were broad shouldered, strong, nicely tanned, and handsome. Visiting nobles, Rennie thought as she took in their expensive dress. There was a ball coming up in a couple of weeks and many nobles were coming every day. Both men dismounted with grace and rubbed the necks of their horses with compassion for the animal. This was much different then what Rennie usually saw. Men would jump off their horses and throw the reigns at her, not even caring to thank the animal that just carried them on it's back.

The taller of the two men, the one with the darker hair, smiled as he turned to her to hand her the reigns to his chestnut stallion. He did a double take when he saw that the face hiding under the hat was not that of a man but a woman. "What's your name?" He asked studying her carefully.

"St. Claire, milord." She said not knowing what his rank was. His face broke out in a wide grin, a grin that was oddly familiar. He reached out and pulled off her old hat releasing her hair. It tumbled around her shoulders and down her back, the feeling of having it free was strange to her.

"Rennie St. Claire." The man said with wonder. How does he know my name? Rennie thought. "Still wearing breeches and covered in mud. Just like alwyas. Maybe we should give you another bath in the creek." It was then that Rennie looked the familiar stranger in the eyes. They were cobalt blue eyes, eyes she hadn't seen in ten years.

"Tristan?" She asked a small smile playing on her lips.

"At your service, milady." He took off his hat and bowed regally. Rennie couldn't help but laugh. He was no longer the awkward eleven year old that had left all those years ago. He was now a man, and a fine looking one at that.

"What the devil are you doing Tristan?" The other man called, "any female with two legs you'll find him trying to enchant. Even ones in trousers." The man looked her up and down and smiled, "Misfit?" Charles asked stunned.

"The one and the same." Rennie was actually surprised that they were having difficulties recognizing her. She looked just the same as ever, only taller.

 

Charles couldn't believe his eyes. Ten years ago he and Tristan had left a scrawney, homely, ten year-old covered in mud. Now they come back to find a comely woman. She was still in trousers and covered in mud but she'd changed. A lot.

"I barely even recognized you!" He said honestly.

"I haven't changed a bit. You two have though. It looks like it's going to be harder to clobber you both now that you've been through training." Rennie said her eyes glittering with mischief once again. It felt odd smiling again, she hadn't in so long.

 Both men thought back to when she could defeate them at any game, even the ones where the rules were tilted in their favor.

"St. Claire!" An angry voice called from inside the stables. In an instant Rennie turned from smiling and laughing to serious and humble. She averted her eyes and took the reigns from them and started off to the stables. A large man with broad shoulders came out ahead of her.

"What are you doing? You don't socialize with the visitors! You know that! Now get inside. You'll be shifting hay bales for the rest of the week as your punishment.

Both Charles and Tristan frowned at thsi. Rennie may not have been like other women, but she was still a woman. Shifting hay was a man's job. "I'm going to have a word with the stable master." Tristan said and started off toward the man. Charles followed without question. "Don't punish Miss St. Claire." he said, "It was my fault she was held up." Tristan said the words with authority, yet the arrogant stable master refused to back down.

"Who're you?" He asked sizing them both up.

"Tristan Rendell." He said, "Crown prince." The man's eyes bulged and his face drained of all color.

"She won't be punished for that sir." The stable master said.

Satisfied both men left, hopingt to see Rennie again later.

***

She hated the stable master with a passion. Five minutes after she'd been given the punishment for dawdling, it was taken away. She had decided that Tristan had used his authority and the punishment had been void. Rennie wished he hadn't don't it. Not ten minutes after that she was yelled at because the bits and bridles weren't done to his specifications. So as punishment, she was given two weeks of shifting hay, cleaning all the bits and bridles and mucking out all the stalls for the rest of the week.

Now as she was dropping the hay from the loft she felt like crying. Nothing in her life seemed to be going right, especialy today. She had to go to the village a couple of miles away to pick up a package and some material for a new dress. She was not going to make it home before dark, not with the amount of work she had to do. Her shoulder was screaming in pain by the time she picked up the third bale of hay.

"Rennie?" A familiar voice called. She dropped the hay and poked her head out.

"Up here," She called to the two men who had come looking for her.

"What are you doing?" Tristan asked outraged.

"Fulfilling my punishment." She said. "I appreciate what you did this morning but it just got me into more trouble." Rennie got down from the loft and came to stand in front of them. "I know we were friends when we were children, but now were no longer little. Social status, money, and rank never mattered to us when were were young, it does now.

"Tristan, you're the crown prince to this kingdom. You aren't supposed to be friends with stable hands. You're supposed to be courting a woman you want to be the future queen. Charles, your father has been talking about relinquishing his title to you for months. A noble doesn't associate with people like me either. This life isn't a fairy tale, we don't get to have friends in different ranks.

"From now on, to keep us all out of trouble, please let's use formal titles. If we just follow the rules of society it will be better." It was the hardest thing Rennie ever had to do in her entire life, but it was necessary.

"What?" Tristan asked astonished.

"You have both been gone for ten years, you've grown closer to each other and no one is going to over look our friendship anymore." Rennie had been thinking about this the entire day. It had never occured to her until they had left the stables that this would happen. "Your friendship meant the world to me when I was younger. I couldn't have wished for better. It's time now for you to take your proper places in society." She smiled sadly and left them both standing there, stunnded.

Author's Note

Ignore the spelling. Just give me your thoughts on this chapter! Thanks! Enjoy! :)

Reviews

[Lyndie Bolt aka JustRac..]

The word is reins, not reigns, This needs correction "hadn't don't it" to "hadn't done this" Show the reader some of Rennie's thought processes before speaking out to the 2 men. I am assuming she is the centeral character to this tale, so let us see what she thinks, sees, smells, and hears in this chapter.