The carriage finally arrived at the capital city. Emma looked out at the amazing metropolis in all of its sprawling glory. She had never seen anything as impressive in her entire life.
Emma was just a village girl, and the biggest buildings she had ever seen were the countryside's mills next to the rivers. The Kingdom's capital city, meanwhile, was surrounded by walls ten times the height of her region's tallest mill. Her breath was taken away.
She turned to Arys and Peter. Her childhood best friends. Emma was a tomboy and always had been one. She had never been friends with girls. She had always loved fighting and playing at sword duels with the boys in her village. Ever since they were young, Arys, Peter and her were inseparable. Emma the redhead, Arys the blonde and Peter the brown, each was recognizable for his traits, though all three were fit and athletic youngsters of 19 years old with similar body types: that of healthy young people who worked the fields and walked alot.
Emma looked like just one of the boys. She always had her long red hair tied in a bun, and no one could really tell she was a girl because of her masculine clothing and masculine demeanor. At the end of the day, she was never treated as the trio's "girl", she was just one of the boys and the other two practically always forgot her gender. They probably thought of her as a guy for all intents and purposes.
"I can't believe we're finally in the capital city!" Arys said.
"I can't believe we're finally going to join the town's watch!" Peter added.
Emma had to contain her excitement. "Our wish came true, guys," she said. Years ago, at the age of 14, all three had sworn that they would join the city's town watch together. They were tired of ploughing the field and living the countryside life. All three had spent their childhoods adventuring in the forests and wrestling. They were fighters and adventurers. They were meant to carry swords and fight for the innocents in the city, and they were meant to do it together: the inseparable trio of best friends since childhood.
"I can't wait to see how good the armor is gonna look on us," Arys said, all excited.
Emma could already imagine herself wearing that town guard armor alongside her friends, wearing that iron armor and helmet that was the mark of the protectors of the city.
"I bet we'll beat up bandits," Peter said.
"Or storm drug dealer compounds," Emma said.
"We'll chase thieves together and catch them. Emma is the lightest, you could go on the roofs and jump on the running thieves and smash them to the ground!"
The three friends clapped with excitement. They couldn't wait to be introduced to their adventures in the city as town guards. Finally, their boring countryside life was over. Now they could become the trio of heroes they had always dreamed of being.
The carriage stopped in the middle of the city's bustling marketplace, and from there, Emma, Peter and Arys walked to the great watchtower not far from where they were. The great watchtower in the city was a tall fortress where the town's guard operated, and they were always looking for more recruits to keep the streets safe. The pay was good, and adventures were aplenty there.
The three friends reached the great watchtower of the Town's Guard and walked up the stairs. There, they were greeted by a handsome blonde guard in his early twenties wearing the proud armor of the Watch.
"Ah, new recruits I see!" he said, welcoming the youngsters at his doorstep. "Here to join the capital city's town watch?"
"Yes!" Emma said excitedly. "We've come together from our village. We want to help protect the people of the city and fight crime."
"Then you've come to the right place, my dear. Follow me, I'll have you sign the registration forms, then you'll be given your uniforms, and I'll explain to you what the job will be like! My name's Tom, by the way."
Tom the handsome blonde guard led them through the Watch's inner halls. There, the three childhood friends saw many guards, armed with swords. Some were dragging handcuffed prisoners next to them. Ah, Emma couldn't wait for them to catch their own criminals and bring them in! The glory, the adventure! It was all theirs.
Tom brought them to an interior garden at the other side of the fortress. The place was cozy and calm, with trees offering shade from the sun. There was a table there with papers. Tom presented the papers to them.
The three childhood friends signed the papers, filling out the forms with their personal information, addresses, names, etc. Once that was done, Tom's smile got brighter. "Well my friends, that's all it takes to get recruited. Now, I'll bring you your uniforms, and then we'll sit down and I'll explain the nature of guard job to you. You'll begin as novices--you won't have the right to carry swords or chase criminals until the third week, after you've proven your skills with smaller tasks."
Emma looked at her childhood friends with disappointment. They had thought that they would be given swords the moment they entered the Watch, and that an hour later, they would be fighting villains, but the rules of the Watch were realistic. First, they had to prove themselves.
As Tom left to get their uniforms, Emma remarked how little they had actually done research about what it was like to be in the town watch. They'd heard stories, but they didn't know all the details yet.
"Don't worry," Arys said, "he's gonna explain them all to us now."
Tom returned with the uniforms. He passed a chainmail tunic with the capital's lion symbol on the chestplate to Arys, another one to Peter... and that was it. There was no third one.
"Where's mine?" Emma asked innocently.
Tom chuckled. "You don't get an armor, obviously. You have your own uniform." Instead of an armor, he gave her a metal collar and two pairs of cuffs.
"What is this?" Emma asked, all confused.
Tom just shrugged as if she had no reason to be confused. "Your uniform, obviously... A collar and cuffs."
Emma turned to her best friends, completely confused, and she could see that they were too.
"What do you mean that's her uniform?" Arys asked. "Why can't she wear armor?"
"Different rules for her," Tom said. "That's always been the rules in the Watch. You're men, she's not. As a girl, different rules apply to you, Emma."
"What rules?" she asked. She now regretted not having informed herself about the Watch more before deciding to join it with Arys and Peter.
Tom began explaining what the rules were: "As a girl, you're not to be treated the same. You have to wear a uniform that's more appropriate for your place as a girl among men. The men wear armor, you wear this."
"So I have to wear this collar and cuffs with my clothing?"
Tom chuckled. "You're adorable, aren't you? Sweetie, this collar and cuffs are ALL you're going to be allowed to wear."
