Recaptured

She drove an electric cart into a vegetable stand after saying, "no, I don't need a lesson, how hard could it be?"

She convinced Brian to go skinny-dipping with her in a pond overlooked by a seldom used wing of the castle, not realizing that Richard just happened to be holding a conference for local merchants in that wing. She showed up without a hint of embarrassment two hours later at a banquet for those same merchants, looking proper and elegant.

She hopped off the cart she was on during a tour of local farms to join several farmers trying to catch a wayward pig. She ended up in a mud puddle, giggling uncontrollably, her dress destroyed.

Far from tarnishing her image, these incidents only seemed to heighten her appeal, however, as people saw her as being real and fun, quirky and spontaneous, not just the girl with the vision of the city's future.

It took three months to plan the trip to Munroe. Richard sent a courier a month ahead to notify Munroe and request a meeting. A reply came back cautiously approving.

The diplomatic team was led by Richard and included prominent businessmen and civic leaders. Val and Brian came along as ambassadors. A hundred soldiers accompanied them. They brought several wagon-loads of goods and a substantial amount of gold to facilitate trade.

Richard and Val had a minor argument about how she should dress for the initial contact with Munroe. Richard thought she should project the most civilized and least threatening image possible, and wanted her to wear an elegant dress. Val knew he was right, but secretly she wanted to fulfill her original dream to return to Munroe as a triumphant warrior. She lobbied to wear her woven leather combat gear. Eventually, they compromised.

As they approached the main gate to Munroe, she wore her combat gear, but the look was softened with an elegant cape with fur trim and a crown of wildflowers on her head. She and Brian rode in the lead on regal black Frisians.

A large group of armed guards stood in front of the gates of Munroe, blocking their path, weapons at the ready. Val could see that there were many more on top of the city wall, their crossbows trained on the visitors. The city of Munroe was being cautious. No doubt they were aware of the reputation of Davisville and didn't trust that this visit was as peaceful as it had been advertised as.

Val felt a surge of pride at the preparedness of her old city. They would have put up a valiant defense against Edward and his men, though it would not have been nearly enough. Even now, with only 100 soldiers, the contingent from Davisville could probably fight their way through the defenses of Munroe simply due to superior weapons, had they wanted to.

The visitors stopped about 100 yards from the Munroe forces. Val and Brian continued forward to make first contact. Several men broke free from the Munroe side and moved toward them. Val recognized one of them when they had closed the distance in half. Overjoyed, she jumped down from the stallion and ran to him. She leaped into his arms. "DADDY!"

Tears of joy streamed down Evan's face. In a choked up voice, he said, "Princess!"

The tense standoff between the representatives of the two cities was broken. Weapons were lowered and the two sides surged together, greeting each other warmly. Carefully planned rhetoric was forgotten. Many people realized they were among old friends they had not seen in 20 years. Reunions were happening all around Val and her father, although they were oblivious of anything but each other.

"Oh Daddy, I missed you so much!"

"Val, I can't believe it. I thought you were dead. Your mom and I have been searching all over for you."

"I know, Daddy, I'm sorry."

"Val, how? How could you possibly leave just months ago, barely more than a child and come back now as an ambassador of another city? How is that possible?"

"It's a long story."

"One that I can't wait to hear. God, Val, look at you. You look like . . ."

"A warrior princess? That's the look I was going for."

". . . yes, just like your mother."

Val introduced her father to Richard.

"You have raised a remarkable young woman. Lady Val has literally saved our city from self-destruction."

Evan did not understand what Richard meant, but he beamed in pride.

Brian came over and slipped his arm around Val's waist. "Daddy, you remember Brian?"

"I see you two have kissed and made up."

"Yes, especially the kissing part. We've been doing a lot of that."

Brian blushed.

Evan looked at Val in amazement, "This has got to be one hell of a story."

"You have no idea."

The intermingled representatives from the two cities made their way in through the gates into Munroe. They made their way to a hotel, where those Davisville representatives who did not have relatives or friends to stay with would be put up. The meetings between the city officials would not take place until the next day, but a welcome banquet was planned for later in the evening.

Val walked through the city with Brian and her father. Children in the city recognized Val and Brian and ran over to hug them. They arrived at Val's family home. Val walked in behind her father.

Evan addressed Liv. "You will never guess who the ambassador from Davisville turned out to be."

Liv was puzzled, but saw the intense emotion on Evan's face and knew this was not just idle conversation. His voice cracked as he said, "They call her Lady Val."

Liv's eyes opened wide and her face went white. "Val? Our Val?" she asked in a barely audible whisper.

Evan stepped aside and Val rushed to her mother's arms. "Mom!"

An hour later, Connor burst in the door. "Where is she? I heard Val's home."

He found her in the kitchen and almost knocked her over with his embrace. Val could swear he had grown 6 inches.

That evening, all eyes were on two stunning and glamorous women in long evening gowns; mother and daughter. Liv was not accustomed to wearing dresses, but Val had provided her with one out of the extensive collection from the castle. They were so much alike in appearance and personality. They were the life of the party, recounting tales of danger and daring. The men in the room could attest to the fact that most of them were true.

The meetings the next day were a success. Each city realized they had much to offer the other. A plan to secure and develop the road between the two cities was quickly approved. Davisville, still having a surplus of security forces, agreed to supply the manpower in exchange for much needed food and textiles from Munroe.

Soon it was time for the representatives from Davisville to begin the long journey back.

Val and Brian stood arm in arm in front of Evan and Liv. Evan spoke, "So we can't convince you to stay?"

"Brian and I have made a commitment to Davisville. We are going to help it reach its potential. You will need to come visit us in four months."

"Why in four months?"

"You don't want to miss our wedding."

Two months after returning from Munroe, the changes to Davisville were taking root. As word spread of the change in leadership and policies, a trickle of people began to show up at the gates of the city, looking for citizenship. They were welcomed with open arms. Several outside settlements made inquiries into trade opportunities with the city.

Brian and Val took up residence in Edward's former master suite. Val was a little embarrassed by its opulence, but as Richard pointed out, who else was going to use it?

The castle was abuzz with the wedding plans. Val deferred most of the decisions about the ceremony to Martha. Val had no patience for discussions about floral arrangements and dinner menus, but Martha took great delight in them.

One day, Richard came to Val with a dilemma. "Over the past few years, Edward and his father had made it known that Davisville was in the market for any human trafficking of children and young adults. I'm sure you are aware of this, since that is how you and Brian ended up here.

So today we received word that a 17 year old boy is to be sold at a slave auction. The seller made sure that word got to us, because Davisville has the reputation of paying top dollar for such 'merchandise', if you'll pardon the expression, especially after what Mr. Davis paid for you."

Val looked upset. "You know how I feel about human trafficking, especially when it comes to children."

"I understand, but here's the thing. The poor boy is going to be sold to someone, whether we are buyers or not. We could purchase him and set him free in our city, or even offer him safe passage to Munroe. With children being such a precious resource in this world, can we afford to let him be sold off to just anybody for who knows what purpose?"

"But if we do buy him, we are just encouraging more traffickers to kidnap children for sale. Can we just show up at the auction and take him by force, then release him?"

"Certainly we have the ability to, but that's a slippery slope. How different is that than showing up and taking anything else we want by force? Slavery is not illegal where the auction is being held. Do we have the right to impose our laws on them because our weapons are better?"

"So if this trafficker were to try to sell the boy here in the city, we could rightfully confiscate the boy and arrest the seller, because we have enacted laws against it, right?"

"Interesting idea, Val."

The trafficker and his "merchandise" showed up at the city gate about a week later. He had been told that Davisville would no longer conduct such business at a remote outpost. Knowing where the "deep pockets" were, he went to the source.

He was allowed in the gates and directed to the castle.

Richard met the man and escorted him and the boy to a well-appointed conference room. The man made his pitch.

"Let me make sure I am clear on this," said Richard, "you have offered this young man for sale to us as a slave."

"Yes."

Richard gestured to two guards who were standing at the door. They stepped forward, grabbed the man and handcuffed him.

"Wait, what are you doing? You can't do this!"

Val stepped into the room, looking glamorous and royal in a velvet gown. "Indeed we can. Why hello, Mason. This situation looks familiar; except I believe last time I was the one in shackles."

"Ah, Lady Val, I see you know our prisoner," said Richard.

"Prisoner? What do you mean prisoner?" asked Mason.

"Yes, prisoner. It's a very simple concept, Mason, I'm surprised you are not familiar with it. It's where we lock you in a cell and throw away the key," Val said with sarcasm.

"You can't!"

"I believe we already went over this, but I guess you don't listen very well. We can and we will. You see, human trafficking is illegal in this city and carries a substantial prison sentence, especially if you try to sell a child."

"But you tricked me. You said you would buy him if I came to the city."

"No, we said we would no longer conduct such business at a remote outpost, a completely true statement. You assumed the rest."

"But I didn't know!"

"A mistake on your part. One should always understand the laws of a jurisdiction before conducting business there."

"Val, how? I sold you to this city and little more than 6 months later you are their fucking queen or something?"

"Remember what I said to the buyers when you put me up for sale? I believe it was, 'buy me and I'll kill you.' Well, that's what I did. Edward Davis bought me and I killed him. Now it's my city." Val was stretching the truth a little, but Mason didn't need to know that.

The guards hauled Mason away.

Val turned to the boy. "What's your name?"

"Grant."

"Pleased to meet you, Grant."

She turned to the guards. "Could you please unshackle our guest?"

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Oh, please, call me Val. I'm only a year older than you."

"Really? You look so . . . important."

"Thanks. I'm not really the queen, but Mason doesn't need to know that."

"Am I free?"

"Of course, but you are welcome to stay as our guest until you figure out where you want to go. If I were you, I would stick around. I believe we are having prime rib tonight and the chef is awesome."

Brian and Val were married in the castle garden. A contingent of 50 guests came from Munroe to attend the event. Liv was awestruck at the castle. "My god, Val, you live here?"

Grant, who was now fast friends with Brian and Val, was invited to be in the wedding party. Val paired him up with Athena, a childhood friend of hers from Munroe. The two were smitten by each other the moment they met and spent most of the day gazing into each other's eyes. Connor came with Zoe, Veronica and Martin's daughter. They had been raised as "cousins", but there was no actual blood relationship. When they found that out, their relationship took a turn for the romantic.

As she began her walk down the aisle on her father's arm, Val looked over at Evan. He was struggling to keep his emotions in check as he gave away his little girl. Val decided if she wanted to make it to the other end without breaking into tears, she probably shouldn't look at him. She squeezed his arm. "I love you too, princess," he replied.

Val was a bundle of emotions as she started this short walk, but as she made her way to the altar, one began to push the others aside until, by the time she reached Brian, only one powerful one remained. Love.