Will You Be My Canary? [AllStar & Aorigami]

[Aorigami]

Ilse Enis Corinthia let out a sigh as she closed the book on her lap and proceeded to look up to the window of her room. The clouds that hung over the castle had gone away for the moment, giving way for the full moon to shine brightly into the room. She was probably the only person awake in the whole castle again that night, except for some night guards that patrolled the ground floor, having spent most of her evening re-reading the novel "I Want to Be Your Canary" for perhaps the seventh time.

She wasn't entirely sure why she liked the book so much. It was a regular story of forbidden love, with a princess falling in love with a peasant and planning to elope together. In the end, the princess abandoned the plan to marry with a prince from a foreign land in order to prevent war, and like any story of forbidden love, it ended with both the princess and the peasant dying in a subsequent confrontation that followed the marriage.

It was definitely not the overused ending theme - that much Ilse knew - that attracted her to the story. Perhaps it was the fact that the princess in the novel actually did something meaningful to her country, something that Ilse had hardly the chance to do. As far as she knew, the last big rebellion that threw the kingdom the closest into a civil war was vanquished by the Chancellor, and all she needed to do was follow his instructions to keep the peace. Even though his instruction required her to stay enclosed in the castle like a sitting duck; the only productive thing she could do was read books and occasionally do divination for the Chancellor.

Ilse raised her arms to stretch and eventually covered a big yawn. It was indeed late, and she really had to retreat to bed soon since the Chancellor would be visiting early in the morning. With that in mind, Ilse stood up to her feet and picked up the novel, with the plan of putting it back to a shelf in the library. She turned off the lamp and chose to walk to the library with only the light of the moon, believing that there was enough light for her to go on. Once she stepped out of the room, however, the scene that she saw afterwards made her freeze. A window was open in the corner of the hallway, letting in night breeze that blew at the curtain softly.

[AllStar]

Terryn smirked as he put three handfuls of gold coins in his bag. He had prepared by shoving his old clothes and rags inside his bag to help diminish the rattling noise. Everyone he had spoken with warned him against coming here, but now that he was here, it was pretty easy. He had planned to steal from the castle for about a week; gathering the items he needed and scoping out the guard schedule of the castle. The only guards that were posted were on the ground floor, and once he had figured out their blind spots, which wasn't very hard at this time of night, he just had to rely on his climbing abilities to get to his target floor. Since it was an easy entrance, he decided he wanted to come back and steal a little at a time rather than steal a lot at once and raise suspicion. When he ran out of the gold, he could come back for more. Terryn couldn't help but grin as he tied to the knot to his bag and swung it behind his shoulder. It was such a large profit with minimal effort.

He turned for the door and placed his ear next to its grainy wood, listening for footsteps. Confidently, he placed his hand on the handle when he heard the soft creak of the door and the floorboards. Terryn felt his blood run cold and his heartbeat rise. He knew it had been too easy of a mission. The only way out was the window in the hallway and there was no second door in the treasure room to get there. All he could do was hope and pray that whoever was in the hallway wasn't interested in his treasure room. Terryn scrambled under a table close to the door and hid himself behind the table cloth. He held his breath as he waited for the footsteps to pass.

[Aorigami]

When nothing out of ordinary happened after a few moments, Ilse released a breath of relief. The day had been humid and warm, so one of the maids must had forgotten to close the window. Within a few strides, she reached the window and proceeded to close it. The open window seemed to do its job very well in balancing the temperature inside and outside the castle; by the time Ilse pulled back from the windowsill, she was lightly shivering from the cold hallway. Abandoning her earlier plan to trace the hallway all the way to the library, she turned towards the treasury room with the aim of reaching the library through the connecting rooms.

And so Ilse withdrew her keys from the pocket of her night dress, knowing that for security reasons, the room had always been locked and only select maids were allowed entrance for the annual cleaning. It took her only a short time to find the right key and insert it into the keyhole, not realizing that the door was already unlocked all along. With a soft creak, the door opened to reveal the treasury room behind it. All that Ilse needed left was the lamp, and she was quite sure that a maid left one somewhere on the clothed table in the corner...

[AllStar]

He swore his heart skipped a couple of beats when the door creaked open. From behind the clothed table, he couldn't tell who had come inside nor could if they could see him. If there was light, he may have been able to make out a silhouette of the figure, but, of course, there was barely any light to see at all. He held his breath as the footsteps inched closer and close. His fear amplified the sound of the creaking floorboards and the slow pace of the newest member of his quick and easy treasure room wasn't any more comforting. Terryn gripped the top of his bag, determined to escape. If the being looked under the table cloth, he would jump them as quickly as possible, hit them over the head with his bag of gold, rendering them unconscious, and make a quick dash for the window to his escape. In his mind, it was a great action replay.

Please don't come any closer..! His thoughts raced through his head as the creaks got closer. Terryn tensed, ready to flee as soon as his cover was blown.

[Aorigami]

Ilse reached her arms out like a blind, trying to find a candle stand that she could light up. Being in the dark, it was hard for her to direct her step; it wasn't for very long until she hit her toe on one of the table's leg. She was left with no time to lament her pain, though, as a shadow-like figure suddenly jumped on her from under the clothed table and knocked her flat to the wooden floor.

"Ow..." Ilse ran a hand on her throbbing temple as she tried to sit upright. "Careful where you go... Wait." She looked back up with widened eyes. Only select maids could access the treasury room for annual cleaning, but she'd never heard of any maids who did cleaning in the middle of the night. "How did you get in here??"

[AllStar]

Terry panicked and pinned her down. Quickly, he covered her mouth with his hands to get her to stop talking. "I don't want to hurt you," He whispered harshly with urgency in his voice. "Just don't make a sound"

He looked down at her with pleading eyes. His heart raced and he could barely think straight, but he had to keep calm. He had just taken an entire bag of gold from the treasury room and he was about to be caught red handed. They'd either kill him on the spot or make an example of him outside in public, neither one sounded very pleasant at all.

[Aorigami]

Ilse let out a muffled cry as she fell down. Her fumblings were more than just to escape the restrain, however, especially when the princess of Corinthia realized that the stranger's palm touched her lips skin-to-skin. Nevertheless, with her waifish frame, the man was ultimately stronger than she was. Seeing no chance to escape, she eventually gave up struggling and shut her eyes tight; her arms crossed in front of her temple as she braced herself for the strong visions of premonition that would swarm her mind senseless.

But it never happened.

As she lied there on the wooden floor, waiting for a storm of visions that could potentially cause her headache for one day and one night, it came gradually to Ilse that she was actually, well, fine. Despite being pitted on the ground by a potential criminal, of course. Carefully, she would open her eyes again; her breaths pumped in and out of her lungs briskly under fear and distress. "W-who are you?" she would mutter, regardless whether the intruder would let her mouth free.