Free Miya Black, Pirate Princess I: Adventure Dawns by Ben White Page B

nuisance!" she said, fondly. "Aren't you? Are you the biggest nuisance of a dog on Clover Island? I think you might be! I think you are!" Miya looked up at Lars. "What have you been doing today?"
    "Ah, pottering around town, that manner of thing. Nothing spectacular." There was just a trace of wistfulness in Lars's voice.
    "I know what you mean," said Miya, standing. "You didn't see Dad?"
    "I haven't seen much of your father lately, he seems to be busy."
    "Oh, I thought he would've talked to you about stuff—he's trying to figure out how to deal with this stupid Badger Pete thing, I would've thought you'd be the first person he talked to."
    "Well, you know I'm not such a great person for tactics and decisions and so forth," said Lars. "Your father always took the lead in that manner of thing. This is why he is a king now and I am just someone who teaches wilful girls how to wave around a sword like it was not a feather duster."
    "I've been squeezing rocks a lot lately, I've been worried and busy but I've still been squeezing them," said Miya. "And you know I've got Dad's sword now, I've been practicing with it—it's much heavier than my old one and the balance is different but I think I'm getting used to it. It's the same kind as yours, right?"
    "Not quite, his is—"
    "I know, a ROYAL Amician straight sabre, he's so funny about that. So yours isn't?"
    "My sword can be called a royal Amician straight sabre. But only by those ignorant of the bladesmith's art, of the history of these swords. Only by those who do not treat these matters with the proper respect."
    "Wow. You're worse than he is."
    Lars laughed. "Some things are important, Princess."
    "I know, I know—"
    "Now this looks like trouble. Three of the most wilful mischief makers on Clover Island all gathered together in one place. Hello, Knives."
    "I was just talking to the princess, saying it's been a while since I saw you, Boots."
    Tomas walked down the path to them, stopped beside Miya, and absently leant his arm on her head.
    "Dad!"
    "It's just such a convenient height," he said, as Miya pulled away and Lars laughed.
    "I should have had children," Lars said. "I often think, where do I lean my arm? Sam is too short for it, I know, I've tried."
    "Hello, Sam," said Tomas, addressing the dog. "How are you? Still the most beautiful dog on the island? Yes, I see that you are. How about you, Lars?"
    "I think probably there are some on the island more beautiful than me," said Lars. "Although perhaps you would be hard-pressed to gather a dozen of them in a room. Also I'm not a dog."
    "Oh, of course not. You know me and my trouble, I never could tell if someone was a dog or not," said Tomas. "How have my beautiful yet difficult though certainly not-a-dog daughter's lessons been going?"
    "You know her, a mind like stone. Very difficult to chisel anything into it, but once it is there, it is there ."
    Tomas nodded as Miya said 'hey!'.
    "Focusing on defence?" he asked. "I think her guards are a little sloppy."
    "I'm right here, you know," said Miya.
    "I would say her guards are fine, her guards have never been a problem, I think perhaps because some other teacher—not as fine a teacher as myself, but someone that at least knew which end of the sword to hold—spent so many hours hammering certain basics into that solid brain of hers. 'Sloppy' is not the word. You insult both her and yourself by using it," said Lars, his tone half-joking, half-serious. "Her grip, however—"
    "My grip's good!" Miya protested. "I squeeze rocks all the time!"
    "Grip, grip, grip, you're never going to forget that one time, are you?" said Tomas, with a grin. "I don't know, losing that sword was—"
    "The sword that I lost was not just a sword," said Lars. "And I seem to recall, not two months after that time, that my dedication to improving my grip was not so unappreciated, yes? Some matter of a certain person very definitely NOT breaking both legs, because another certain person was able to catch