Chapter 6

Knallia didn't understand what was happening to her. It felt like her head was rumbling, and her left eye wouldn't stop trying to open while she slept. Something had interrupted a dream about dancing with a young man out on a balcony and in her foggy, sleep deprived brain she couldn't understand it. Was this love? Was she sick? Her eye tried to open again, and she could feel something rough on the lid. Sick, yep. That must be it. Her brain tried to focus; the rumbling was close by and her pillow was vibrating. The rough sensation was on her lid, trying to pry it open again and she raised her hand up to feel it only to encounter a ball of fur.

A purring Bandit was licking her eyelid.

That was an odd way to be woken up!

Rolling onto her back she scooped the tiny kitty up and placed it on her chest, taking her fingernails and scratching his cheeks and chin as his purrs increased. She saw the ring on her finger and smiled, remembering the previous evening. "I think I met a relative of yours last night little Bandit. He was just as sweet as you!" she whispered, smiling like a fool at her little friend. "I think I'll go find him this morning and have him meet you. Do you think that would be a good idea? He needs to meet mother and father too, I suppose. No doubt they'll immediately start planning a wedding."

Well, that was a dash of cold water on her spirit. Maybe they'd just let them be happy getting to know each other more first? An engagement would be a logical first step, right? It didn't matter. Even with all of that to worry about, she had so much more hope for her future than yesterday. Prince Martin was out of her life, no other princes to deal with, and she had met someone nice in Evan who she could hopefully fall in love with.

She stared at the ring, still petting a now sleepy Bandit who had retreated to her pillow and curled up next to her ear and remembered that she could use it to find the other ring. She closed her eyes and thought about the ring on Evan's finger, and the hand with the ring started to move, it was pointing to the south. That seemed like a handy little trick! It was still early, so she thought perhaps she could bring Evan some breakfast. That would be a nice thing, right?

She sat up quickly, causing Bandit to tumble off the pillow and blink rapidly at his displacement, and then threw on her slippers. After a quick morning routine that included combing her long blonde hair out to make it more presentable and getting ger face washed, she found a nice skirt and top as well as a pair of comfortable shoes and headed off to the kitchens. She peeked in, and saw a plate of muffins and pastries, and took it while winking at the cooks who waved back at her. Humming a little tune, she put the food into a woven bag and hurried to the stables.

She had always enjoyed the stables, the horses were so majestic, though she never had many chances to ride. Other than short jaunts to her friends' manors, or to the hunting preserve, there were few places that demanded a horse to get to in the kingdom. Well, that she had been able to see of course. None of the kingdoms in the area were too large, perhaps taking a day or two by horse to pass through, so many people just walked.

But today she would ride, perhaps to make an impression, but also because she felt good this morning and wanted to. She took her lovely grey mare, Marmalade, and then rode out of the stables with a wave at the stable boy who groomed and cared for her. As she rode out of the gates, she concentrated on the ring again, and it led her down the street. It didn't take long before she realized that she was riding into the hunting preserve, where the guards saluted her as she passed.

The royal gardens were where she would spend most of her days, if only because they were right outside of her doors. But the hunting preserve put them to shame. Not that they were well manicured, or had flower beds all over, but because the trees were immense, and towered over her head as if they were a monument to some forgotten tree lord. Perhaps Evan enjoyed the forest as well, he did compare her dress to a tree after all.

Her ring was acting strange, however. At the edge of a small pond, the ring pointed up. Confused, she looked upwards and saw a small hammock secured to some strong branches. He couldn't really be up there, could he? "Ahem!" she called out. The hammock shifted, and the top of a head peeked over the edge. She recognized the brown curls and warm brown eyes in an instant and her whole face lit up as she smiled. He was so cute up there!

Prince Martin was not a happy man. He had done everything his father had asked, trying to get Princess Knallia to accept his proposals. He had stayed close to her the entire evening, glaring at any of the other princes that got too close while still dealing with her friends who were obviously trying to keep her away from him. It was infuriating! The prince had seen the young man who had returned the ring and saw how she and her friends had looked at him. Obviously, that was the main competition. But when he tried to keep her from going to see him by grabbing her, the wine spill had distracted him enough that she slipped away.

He had looked all over the dance floor for her, only to see her come in from the balcony after the music had stopped smiling more than he had seen before. This was a disaster! She had even rebuffed him afterwards, claiming she had made her choice. Rushing out to the balcony, he was determined to throw the other man right off and into the gardens. She couldn't marry someone who was dead.

But there was nobody there. In fact, the man was gone from the ball entirely. None of this made any sense!

Dejected, he made his way out of the ballroom with the rest, and back to the inn he was staying at. He would have to go home to his father as a failure, he couldn't imagine the punishment that would cause. He was just leaving the stables on his horse when he saw Princess Knallia ride by, staring at her hand and smiling. Curious, he followed. A thought passed through his head, perhaps he could take her home with him, by force if need be. She rode without her guards, so it would be easy enough.

When he saw the guards at the entrance to the preserve though, that thought left his mind. Why would she be going there so early? He waited a bit before following her into the preserve, nodding at the guards who saluted the prince, knowing who he was. He stayed well behind her, though she was not looking backwards at all. When she stopped, he dismounted and hid in the bushes keeping his horse further back in the trees. He didn't understand whatever was happening, but he was intrigued. When a few moments later the young man in black climbed slowly down the tree, he began to understand.

He continued to watch, his eyes narrowing in the beginning of a new plan. If he couldn't take the princess, he could surely kill her chosen once she left.

Aven had been exhausted when she got back to the preserve, and emotionally wrung out. It had taken forever to get up into the tree with her ankle throbbing, and she just collapsed into the hammock without even changing. In the morning she planned to leave, she couldn't stay close to the castle after the princess had identified her.

But she didn't want to leave her. She knew it wouldn't work, she was a thief, a common peasant with nothing to her name. The princess would be disgusted if she knew the real her, and that didn't even include the fact that she was a girl. And yet, the princess liked her. She had given her a gift! She had kissed her on the cheek! Other than her father, nobody else had ever kissed her. She had to see her again, if only to tell her the truth and say goodbye. She deserved it. Aven had fallen asleep thinking of her and this new plan, she could sneak back in after dark, it should be fine. In her weariness and pain, she slept much later than she normally would have in such a situation, but her ankle and her brain needed the rest.

A loud coughing from below her woke her up in an instant though.

Peeking carefully over the edge of the hammock, she looked down to see the princess staring up at her. When their eyes met the princesses face turned radiant, her smile shining like a second sun in the forest. Maybe she could just say goodbye now, it would save her the trip up walls with a bad ankle anyway. She slowly lifted her good foot out of the hammock and onto a nearby branch, and then started climbing slowly down. Every time she looked down, Knallia was there staring back up, it made her want to climb faster but her ankle wouldn't let her. Finally, she was able to get to the bottom, lightly dropping onto her good foot for the last few feet.

The princess was looking shyly at her and Aven had no idea what to do. "Good morning," she ventured.

"Good morning!" the princess said, her smile still intact. "I brought you some breakfast. Well, for us to share, if that is all right." She held out a small sack.

"Breakfast?" Aven wondered, taking the sack and peering inside. Her mouth instantly started salivating at the sight of the muffins and assorted pastries. How was this happening? Why was a princess bringing her pastries? "That looks wonderful!" she exclaimed as her stomach growled, prompting Knallia to giggle.

"Here, sit," the princess said, taking her hand and pulling her down onto the grass. She pulled the sack out of Aven's hands and reached in to produce a muffin. "Do you prefer blueberry or chocolate chip?"

Aven couldn't speak, she could only stare.

"Are you all right?" Knallia asked, pausing the muffin examination, and looking into Aven's eyes.

"My ankle, I hurt it. I'm hungry. I'm a little confused and overwhelmed. I was going to come find you tonight but you're here. Why are you here? How did you find me? Do you always deliver breakfast?" Aven couldn't stop talking, her mind had become disjointed and she had no clue what was happening to her tongue, it wouldn't stop moving! She slowly reached out her hand and cupped Knallia's cheek, "Are you real, or am I dreaming?"

Now Knallia was the one staring, she looked a little confused as well. But she didn't move away from the hand on her cheek. Aven finally came to her senses and jerked it away. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!" she blurted.

"Oh, come now, is it so wrong to touch your betrothed?"

Aven frowned, not sure what she had just heard. She hadn't really said betrothed, had she? "My what?"

"Betrothed silly!" Knallia said, lightly slapping her on the knee and handing her a muffin. "Here, eat this, then we'll talk." Knallia broke a muffin in half and took a big bite, sighing contentedly.

Aven stared at the muffin, it was blueberry, and looked delicious. Giving in to her belly, she took a small bite. In seconds, the rest was gone. She looked up, embarrassed at having eaten so fast, but she never did eat much at the ball last night and was famished. Raising an eyebrow at the princess, she glanced at the sack. The princess nodded while she chewed, smiling at her again, and she reached inside and grabbed a random muffin. She didn't even look at it, just kept her eyes on Knallia, and took a small bite, somehow able to keep from eating it all too fast again.

"I'm sorry, I somehow skipped dinner last night in all of the excitement," she murmured.

"I did as well, but my parents had the foresight to make me have a big snack beforehand, so I'm in slightly better shape."

"You never answered my questions," Aven said softly.

"You never answered mine," Knallia retorted.

"Which one was yours?"

"When I asked if it was so wrong to touch your betrothed," Knallia said shyly.

"You'll have to forgive me princess, I seem to have missed something last night. My mind was not working well while you were about, and I might have misunderstood the whole betrothal thing," Aven said, confusion on her face.

"Did you not understand what my father said in his speech about the rings?" Knallia asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

Aven winced. That would explain it. Oh no. "The rings, they signify a betrothal?" she guessed.

"Yes, precisely, the night was for me to choose someone to marry among all the guests, my father was most insistent, and you were the only one that I thought was worthy enough for me to marry."

"Me?" Aven hung her head in shame, how on earth did she let this happen? "You should have picked a prince. I'm not worthy of you."