Fight for Me

Lace & crew, upon exiting the forest, are met by a squad of 10 knights with Aspen leading. He's supposed to take her back to the city of Thalassius.
Lace refuses, they square up, and our 4 heroes absolutely wreck shop.

-Aspen was honor-bound to report finding the princess, and was sent to fetch her.
-Lace telling Aspen the truth about her.

-Lace realizes how far she's come and the full extent of her sword-fighting abilities.
-Aspen decides she's the woman he's going to marry and that watching her sword fight is a huge turn-on.
-Valiant is jealous of Aspen & angry that Lace refuses to just sit back and be protected.

Lace & crew square up against Aspen and his knights

-Establish how far Lace has come as a fighter.
-Establish the power of her relic.
-I want some unresolved sexual tension, baby!
-Lace is so freaking clueless when it comes to actual romance. She has no idea that Aspen likes her, she's convinced they're just friends.
-To demonstrate Aspen's "I love my big, strong wife" energy.
-Further demonstrate the differences between Aspen & Valiant.
-Another flash of Valiant's possessive nature, and his "if I can't have you, no one can" attitude.

The real point of this scene is to build up to a really sexy moment at the end.

Aspen somehow manages to knock Lace's sword out of her hand, grab her from behind, and get his knife against her neck. They're both breathing hard and sweaty. It is EXTREMELY hot and there's a lot of sexual tension...but Lace is clueless. She's just like, "oh shoot, I lost."

But then, BUT THEN! Lace uses the crown to get him to release her. She snatches his knife, tackles him, gets on top of him with her knees pinning his arms, and puts a sword to his neck.

Aspen has never been more turned on his entire life. He's bright red, stammering, the whole nine yards. Lace gets him to stand up and has one hand on his shoulder. Their faces are at most, six inches apart. Aspen keeps looking at her lips, then back at her. They are staring directly in each others eyes for a really long time. It is so, so hot.

And Lace is like, shoot, we don't have any rope. Oh well, it's not like you can follow us. Aspen says something about how he'd follow her anywhere. Lace: "Oh, you already know where we're going."

Lace, Delia, and Valiant start riding off. Fayne circles back to say goodbye. Aspen says something to the effect of, "I just met my wife, holy crap." Fayne is confused. Why would Aspen fall for a complete nut?