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Maka had grown in two years. Though she still yearned to avenge the death of her family, who had been killed by the previous king, she realized that, if any of the royal family had survived, then justice enough had been done unto them. Besides, she had her uncle. It wasn't as though she was completely alone, whereas if any of that family survived, they would have been. Honestly, she just didn't like the Fairen family, but that didn't mean she liked Gailor. She had yet to forgive the new king for throwing her out of the window. She could have died! Thankfully, she hadn't, which was why she was, well, alive. And thriving, too! Ah, it was good to be young.

Currently, however, Maka wasn't really thriving at all. In fact, she was glaring, quite angrily, at a bunch of robbers, who she'd caught in the act of harassing and stealing from a woman. And now they were making fun of her, which was just about the last straw. Her eye twitched. So did her hands. She set the basket of groceries(which she had purchased that morning) down, and out of a leather thong, removed a sickle. The robbers pretended to be scared, making noises that were supposed to make her feel small. They didn't. They were actually just annoying, and Maka would like them to stop.

"Look, I'll say it one more time: get out of this village, or have me make you." Maka turned the scythe so that the sun would flash upon the sharp blade. This was really less because it was a good idea, and more because it looked scary. And cool. And scarily cool. And coolly scary. And...yeah, you get the point. "Your choice."

The men, however, still seemed unaware of how very dangerous certain thirteen-year-olds can be, and continued to prance about, pretending to be pansy. Maka closed her eyes and took a breath in, counting to ten, and out, counting to ten. She did this three times, then started on a fourth time when she heard a cat-call from one of them.

The resounding snap (probably) heard for miles around came from Maka's patience. The sickle flew through the air, whirling up and back down in an arch, and landing perfectly in the center of the ringleader's chest. The man fell back, and Maka smiled. Perfect aim.

Maka had already figured out the roles. This was a five-man group of robbers. However, she had identified the roles, as her uncle had instructed her to do. In a five-man group there was always one ringleader (the one she had already taken out), two supporting followers, and two reluctant followers. Once you took out the first three, the other two bolted. So it was never really a five on one. The worst it ever made it to was a three on one. Which she was prepared for.

Sure enough, as her predictions had told her, two of the group dropped to their knees to, quote unquote, 'check to see how Ed was doing'. Maka rolled her eyes as she drew her scythe from her back, preparing herself for the next two. He was DEAD, obviously. That's sort of what happened when you stabbed someone, even if it was only with a farming tool. But that wasn't the point. Right now, she had two supportive followers to take out.

It couldn't have taken more than five minutes to take out the next two. They were on the ground and crying in that time. As Maka was deciding not to kill them, she heard the familiar sound of two people getting the ******** out of there. Maka sighed, kicked both men out, and picked up her groceries. She then proceeded to pull her sickle out of the chest of the dead ringleader, wipe the blood off on his shirt, and head back to the market.

~!~

Dr. Stein scratched his head. Actually, he did what his niece called the 'Stein Equivalent' of scratching his head, which was turning the screw which was jabbed through his skull. Big difference, but they did about the same thing:helped people think. Which was what the doctor was doing right now. Thinking. The screw in his head made a faint click-click-click noise as it turned, similar to a spring being wound up. For the life of him, he could not understand the man in front of him, no matter how hard he tried. Many, many times, he had attempted to understand the psychology, but it never went together. His eyes dropped to the papers in his hand. Nothing wrong with him so far. The doctor sighed. "Alright, I'll check your heartbeat. Would you mind removing your shirt, your majesty?"

Maka squinted against the sun. Then she wiggled back and forth on her chair. She was at her booth at the farmer's market, one of the seven booths that sold food. Not to mention that her food was sold at a lower price than her competitors. So why was her business going so slowly? Ah, yes, it was because she lived with 'the crazy doctor'. As she hadn't told anyone that she was his niece, they all thought she was his wife, which could be slightly embarrassing when they reminded her that he was twenty-four years older than her, and she should be careful, alright, dear? Then she had to awkwardly dodge it and tell her customer that they were, uh, just living together for now. The customer would then (being a woman, usually) give a little giggle and pat her on the head and tell her that it was OK if she was in love, but to be careful, because he was probably rather strong, and then they'd walk off without their change. Which was exactly what was happening right now.

"No. No. We're not married. We're just...I mean...just...uh..." Maka's cheeks were on fire, and her head felt like it was going to explode.

"Oh, it's alright, dear. Love is just one of those things, you know? If you love him, go ahead and tell people that you're married, and don't let them make you care." The girl in front of Maka was about sixteen, and had blue hair. Everyone thought that maybe, gasp, the prince had actually been a girl, and was this girl? But no. It wasn't. Maka had known Piki (the girl) most of her life. Well, not 'known', but she'd talked to her every once in a while. She knew that Piki was married to an older man, which was why she gave Maka this talk. Every time she came and bought something from her. Every. Single. Time. It sometimes made Maka want to strangle something. But Piki was a good person, and so Maka never did.

Maka waved goodbye to the older girl, who had left extra for her. Piki wasn't so bad. She was just oblivious. Well...not too much oblivious. She just didn't believe that Maka had lived with an older man for a full two years, and hadn't married him yet. Maka shook her head, trying to rid herself of her blush, and returned her attention to the book in her hands. It was The Iliad. Which you should know about by now.