pencilandpapers
"You want to join the Suit of Swords?" The knight asked. She raised a thick eyebrow, smoothing down the feathers on her arrows.
"I do." Rose said earnestly.
"We cannot be dragged down by young, inexperienced fools. The Suit has a reputation to uphold." Lynn said sternly.
"But Lynn," Martha sighed softly, glancing at Rose out of the corner of her eye. "We need an Ace."
"Ace" is the tale of Rosalynn, a young lumberjack in the service of the Royals, told from the points of view of Rose herself, her best friend Prince Gray, and a knight in the Suit named Martha, who was the Suit's Queen.
The Suit is in desperate need of an Ace, for their last one was killed in a storm by her bucking horse. Rose is too young, and though she can hold a sword and swing it, Lady Lynn, the Suit's King, isn't impressed.
As a test, Lynn gives Rose a difficult task that she must accomplish by the beginning of the solstice.
Can Rose prove herself to be worthy of the Suit, even if the task Lynn gives her is something she can hardly do?