A knight hopeful

Your name is Olivia Lynch, and you are doing something really stupid.

You do not come from a royal or noble line. You are not a princess, pale and well dressed. Your skin is tanned and freckled from working in the sun, your arms and legs muscled instead of dainty, your hair orange and wild. You wear simple hunting leathers, with accents of green to hide the grass stains. It doesn't paint you as much of a knight either, your hunting knife a poor substitute for a sword. Yet here you are, looking across a field at the Cobalt Tower, planning on messing with the affairs of dragons.

The decision had not been an easy one. You are the oldest of five girls, and with the untimely of your father your family has fallen on hard times. You've seen a knight ride through town once, the head of a dragon proudly mounted on his gilded carriage with a princess giggling in his lap. The horses were wearing enough jewels on them to feed your family and any grandchildren they might choose to have.

It made you sick.

It gave you an idea. A stupid, stupid idea.

What if, you'd thought as you twisted and turned in your bed, what if I could bring home that kind of treasure?

The idea sunk its fangs into your thoughts, the idea was delectable as a poisoned berry bush. What if?

Shoveling pig crap, tilling the fields, stabbing your fingers with a sewing needle, milking the cows. The idea of a better life sinking in with every chore and hunger pang. What if?

You made plans. Stupid plans. They got less stupid over time, turning them over as you shoved pitchforks into hay and cut smaller and smaller portions for dinner. One of the few upsides to your life, plenty of time to think.

And now you're here, starting at the shiny blue stones of the Cobalt Tower, thinking that all that thinking wasn't worth that much in the face of real danger. You had to drop out of school to support your family and you were never much of a thinker anyways. Doubt and fear makes your legs feel like jelly.

But damn it, you've come this far. The empty sac tied to your belt burns with a promise for a better life for your family. You just need to steal some treasure from a dragon.