Genevieve followed him silently. She felt so numb that it was hard to think straight. She would grab a few of her most cherished items, two or three dresses, and some jewels to sell later on. Once they arrived in her room she took one last look around and began to grab things. She took her brush and her hand mirror off of the vanity. She stuffed them into a bag and then grabbed a few books off of her book shelf. She opened her jewelry box and took her mother's locket, her opal ring, and a diamond necklace out. She couldn't possibly sell the locket or the ring, but the necklace would go for a lot at a jeweler.

She opened her wardrobe and grabbed her thickest riding cloak and also her thinnest cloak. She knew she may need them. For now she wrapped the thinnest cloak around her shoulders. It was still fall and winter wouldn't come for another few months. She then grabbed a few of her plainest dresses. "Lets go then." She muttered as she took one last glance around her room. She grabbed one last thing: a music box that had been sent to her by someone anonymous. The reaction that her mother had gotten from it made Genevieve think that maybe it had been from her father. She stuffed it in the bag.

Aeden nodded and headed back to the door. He froze just before he reached it, though, hearing noise outside in the hall. He backed up from the door quickly, glad that he hadn't unlocked it yet. "They're in the hall, we won't be able to leave that way. Where's the passage?" He looked around the room, suddenly curious how something like that had gone unknown by him all this time. Based on his luck earlier that day, though, that was obviously a good thing. The last thing they needed was for another escape plan to go awry, especially now.

(Sorry, it's kind of short this time...)

Genevieve nodded and walked over to her bookshelf. She smiled slightly as she pulled on one of the books. It caused the bookshelf to pop open. "Help me." She said as she pulled it open. It was a heavy bookcase. Before descending into the darkness she grabbed a candle and lit it. She then began to walk down the steps that would eventually lead to a long passageway under the ground.Once they walked across the tunnel Genevieve opened a trap door. When they emerged they were in the stables. The stable boy gave her a look.

"Don't call for the guards." She said, "They don't need to know we were here. Just grabbing my horse." She held her hand out and the boy took it to pull her up. She turned and pulled Aeden up as well. She found her horse and put the saddle on it. She then turned to Aeden, "Are you sure we can't save her?"

(Its okay. This is one of those parts of a story when shorter posts are needed. xD))

After helping the princess move the bookcase out of the way, the servant looked down the dark staircase. Nice, this would work. He followed closely behind Genevieve, since she had the candle and probably knew the passageway better than he did. When they popped up in the stables, he gave a grin to the stable boy and put a finger to his lips with a wink. While the princess went to her horse, he looked around behind a certain barrel and pulled out a bag he had prepared, throwing the strap over his shoulder before returning to her. He turned to the stable boy quickly. "Not a word of this to anyone, now. Think of it as payment for that thing you asked me to help you with before, if you like." Seeing the boy's face go slightly red, he gave a smile and patted his shoulder and turned back to Genevieve.

At her question, his face fell. He thought for a quick moment, but could only shake his head at the conclusion. "I'm afraid there's no way we can get back in without them catching us. The guards will likely be on high alert for a while, and if those Fae are still in there..." He looked down with a sigh. For all we know, they might have already finished the job just to keep us from getting the chance again. He knew that was not a good thing for her to hear, though. This was bad enough. "Princess, I'm sorry."

Genevieve gulped and ran a hand through her messy hair, "O-okay." She whispered. At this point it was allow her mother to die or die with her. It wasn't much of a choice and she knew Aeden wouldn't let her go back regardless. "Lets go. Just my horse. They won't notice if only one is gone. I think." She shook her head as she mounted the horse. She was scared and it was hard for her to not shake with it. She was leaving behind everything and allowing her mother to die. She felt like she had betrayed her mother even though the woman had insisted they leave her there.

Aeden nodded and climbed up behind her. He noticed her shaking as he placed his arms around her, giving a quick hug before he moved his hands to pick up the reigns. Directing the horse out of the stable, he turned them away from the castle and they set off into the night. There were not a lot of options for them, but for now, he would take the princess to the forest, where they would be less likely to be found. From there, they could decide a more exact course of action. First things first: They had to get away from here.

As they rode through the night Genevieve began to want to go back. Her mother would die if she was not already killed. How could she leave her mother like that? Silent tears rolled down her face. Soon it was to dark outside for them to continue on, "Lets stop." she whispered. They then spent an hour trekking through the woods until they found a good hiding spot. A small cave embedded in the side of the mountain. She quickly dismounted and stood near the mouth, "do you think its safe?" she asked.

Looking into the cave, Aeden took a moment to dig through his bag for a small lantern and lit it, providing a small amount of light for them to see by. "Only one way to find out. Stay here for a moment, please." With that, he entered the cave, looking around cautiously for potential dangers. There wasn't very much in there, certainly not anything alive in there right now as far as he could tell. Even better, there were no fresh signs of life here that indicated that something might come back. Returning to the princess, he reported his findings. "It looks like it's safe enough. We should be fine if we stay here for the night."

The inside of the cave had a few small piles of leaves on the floor, having likely drifted in from outside, and besides a few odd patches of moss and loose rocks was mostly empty. Aeden set about collecting some of the rocks and building a tight ring around a small depression in the earth to make a fire in. He left the lantern there and stepped back outside to collect some twigs for kindling, tossing them in with a handful of dried leaves and using the lantern to set them ablaze. He would need to gather some more twigs, but hopefully that would keep the cave a bit warmer and make it a bit easier to see for now.

Genevieve walked into the cave behind him and began to brush away some of the leaves. She picked them up and put them into the fire to help for kindling. She had no idea if the dry things would help the flames, but it was either that or walking outside and throwing them on the ground. She sat down and leaned back against the wall. She closed her eyes as she took a few deep breaths. She was so tired and her thoughts were driving her completely nuts. What was her mother doing at the moment? She was she already dead or were they preparing her for a nighttime execution? Or was she still sitting in that lonely and damp cell thinking about the daughter that had abandoned her. There was nothing to do and this made the Princess' heart hurt.

The worst part was she should have stayed back and fought. Surely she could have gotten her mother out and made a break for it...right? She ran a hand through her hair and then stared at the small fire before her.

Aeden dropped his bag away from the fire and picked up the lantern. "I'll be right back, I'm just getting a little more wood for the fire. I'll be staying pretty close by, so just call if you need me. There's also some food in the bag if you want it..." He stopped there and stepped out of the cave, looking around for some more twigs and branches in the nearby area. It was too dark to go very far, and he didn't want to leave Genevieve alone for very long.

As he gathered up the small pieces of wood he could find, he couldn't help thinking about all that had happened earlier that day. Everything seemed to go wrong so quickly. He should have been more careful to make sure they weren't being watched. And he must have miscalculated the timing somehow with the guards...or perhaps it was those Fae? Either way, it was too late to go back now. He sighed. Eve...I'm so sorry... He turned back to the cave, carrying an armful of twigs and small branches.

Upon entering, Aeden set the firewood down a little ways away from the fire, feeding a few more twigs into it to keep it going. He looked back at Genevieve. "You should rest. I'll keep watch, okay?"

Genevieve did everything she could to ignore Aeden. She didn't know why, but she felt this resentment towards him deep inside her. He had been the one that agreed to her mother's request and dragged her off. She laid down and closed her eyes, but her demons didn't allow her to fall asleep. For hours she just laid there with her eyes closed as the fire danced before her shut eyelids. They seemed more alluring with her eyes closed then when they were wide open. She finally did fall asleep sometime in the night when the fire disappeared, but she woke very early in the morning with a crink in her neck.

She sat up suddenly and wiped the grogginess from her eyes. SO it hadn't been one huge nightmare. She was half-fae and her mother was dying that very morning. She stood up quietly so she wouldn't wake Aeden up and walked out of the cave. She walked for a few minutes and then sat down with her back against a tree.

Upon waking up in the morning, the first thing Aeden noticed after stretching out the soreness from sleeping on the ground was how quiet it was that morning. There was the occasional bird and the rustle of leaves, but it was still a lot quieter than the mornings he was used to. It felt very odd.

The second thing he noticed was that the princess was gone.

A bit panicked, he jumped to his feet, looking around the cave in case he had just missed her in the shadows. Upon confirming that she really was not in there, though, he bolted out and began searching the surrounding area for her. "Eve? Eve!" Hoping that he hadn't lost her already, he kept running until he saw a familiar figure sitting against a tree. He sighed with relief at seeing that she was still safe, then approached slowly. "Princess, please tell me before you leave like that. I was worried something might have happened to you."

"Yelling my name through the forest is only going to accomplish those that are looking for us to actually find us, Aeden." she stood and wiped the leaves off of the back of her dress. Her face was pale and her hair riddled with dirt and leaves. She felt awful and she knew this translated into her appearance as well. "We need to formulate a plan." She muttered as she began walking back towards the horses, "Either we go back or we go far away. I know which you'll pick, but please take it into consideration. I'm sure there is still time to get there and get my mother out. No matter the consequences."

She realized what she was saying was impossible and highly dangerous. She frowned and ran a hand through her hair. Her hand came away with various objects, including a small bug crawling around. Her eyes grew wide and she suppressed a scream, "I need...I need a pond...or something. I Have bugs in my hair!! BUGS!" She began shaking out her hair wildly with her hands. She could now feel things crawling around up there and it made her silently go crazy on the inside.

Aeden looked down at the ground as he walked back with her. She was right about the shouting, he just forgot in his panic. The option of going back that she had asked him to consider, though...there was just no way. Even if they went back, it had taken hours just to get this far out. They had no plan, either, and he would not risk her life in an improvised break-in. His first duty was to her safety. It seemed that she had realized this as well though, so he said nothing.

As he was thinking about this, Aeden noticed her sudden start. He tried very hard not to break out into laughter when Genevieve started freaking out about the bugs. He knew that this was really not the time for it, but it was still just so amusing, and the sudden break in the tense atmosphere didn't exactly help him keep control. He resorted to biting the inside of his cheek to stifle the chuckles trying to leave his throat as he walked over to the princess. Catching her hands, he removed them from her head and looked through her hair for any more of the offending creatures. "Hold still, I'll take care of it. Ah, they're gone now."

When he stepped away from her, though, he realized that perhaps finding a place to wash up would be a good idea after all. They both were a bit worse for wear after that night, and perhaps it would help Genevieve feel a bit better if she wasn't covered in all the various extra pieces of nature left on them from the cave and the woods. "I'm sure we should be able to find a water source of some sort around here." He entered the cave once more to pick up the bag and lantern he had left behind, then returned to the horse. "Let's go look for one."

Genevieve finally had a chance to calm down when Aeden got all of the bugs out of her hair. She still felt things crawling on her, but that was just paranoia talking. She hated the crawling little buggers. She took in a deep breath. After searching for about an hour on the horses they finally came across a small creek. It wasn't deep, maybe only thigh level on Genevieve. She shrugged, "This'll do." She slid off of her horse and took off her shoes. She couldn't figure out how she was going to do this. Would she get two things done at once? Clean off her dress as well as herself? Of course that would be the way she'd have to go. She wasn't going to bathe with no clothes on.

She stuck her feet in the water to try it out. It circled her toes and a small giggle almost escaped her lips. She put her entire foot in and smiled at how relaxing the moving water felt against her ankle. Once she stepped all the way into the water she was shivering slightly from the sudden cold, but the water felt good. It did indeed only go thigh level. She took in deep breaths and then plunged under the water.

Kneeling next to the creek, Aeden took the opportunity to wash his face, though he kept looking up from the water to make sure that there was no danger nearby. It did feel pretty good to get the dirt off, and the water made him feel more alert as well. This was definitely a good idea.

Although he was a bit surprised that the princess had jumped in the water while still in her dress, he had to admit that it had certainly saved him quite a bit of awkwardness. He would have to make sure that she got the chance to change into dry clothes at some point, though. Or perhaps her dress would just dry in the sun? He hoped so, but made a mental note to make a stop should they find another cave or someplace equally suitable for her to get some privacy later on. At least the weather was still pretty warm during the day.

Turning his attention to Genevieve, he smiled seeing that she was enjoying her bath. "How's the water? Not too cold, I hope?" He leaned out over the water a bit and placed a hand in the shimmering substance, letting the current run through his fingers and calm his mind.

"Feels awesome!" She said with a smile. She knew that there was a lot of tension surrounding the two of them. What if they were found? If so, when would the troops descend upon them with swords in their hands and angry expressions on their faces. Were they traitors of this land or noble servants? She felt as if this tension needed to be lifted. With her devious mind she came up with an idea that would at least make him smile for a few minutes. She swam a little closer to where he knelt and as his hand played with water she grabbed his arm.

Pulling him into the water wasn't as quick or swift as she had planned, but he did fall in so it was a success. She grinned and backed away from where he had fallen in. She knew he'd likely get some revenge on her.

Aeden fell rather ungracefully and came up sputtering, completely unprepared for his sudden swim. After catching his breath, he smirked at the princess. "Why, Eve, I do believe you may have missed a spot while washing up. Let me get that for you~." He scooped up some of the water nearby and started a splash fight, soon forgetting about the difficult situation they were still in.

A little while later, he eventually realized that he had gotten completely distracted and that they should probably get going. A little more time had passed than he had thought, based on how much further the sun had risen into the sky. At least they had gotten a nice break, though. And they were definitely cleaner than before. He climbed out of the water and offered a hand to the princess to help her out as well. "I hope it stays warm today, we'll probably need it," he laughed. "Still, perhaps you should wrap up in your cloak for now, Princess. It wouldn't be good for you to catch a chill."

The splash fight allowed any tension that surrounded them to simply melt away. It felt nice to just goof off with her good friend instead of constantly looking over her shoulder. Maybe once they got to a safe place every day would be like this. Somehow she enjoyed this despite all of the problems they were currently facing. Time flew by quickly and the Princess fought back the urge to complain when it was time to move on. She accepted his hand and was lifted out of the water.

The cool air struck her and goosebumps spread across her arms, "Yeah. If it gets any cooler I may freeze." She laughed softly. As the water dripped off of her she could feel a little bit of warmth spreading. It was enough to allow the goosebumps to disappear some.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and the weather will stay warm for a while. I'm never quite ready for winter, but maybe a couple extra weeks of sun would cure that." Going back to the horse, he chuckled as he got ready to move on. "Then again, I might just build more of an intolerance to the cold during that time." After a moment, he looked down at his shirt, considering something before he turned, walked away a bit, and pulled it over his head. His back had a small scar or two on it, and there was some muscle from the heavy lifting he was sometimes required to do as a servant, but overall, there wasn't anything remarkable there.

Wringing out the fabric, it was a little surprising to him exactly how much water it held. Even though it was a fairly low quality material, it could apparently carry quite a bit. "Oh, wow. That would have been a nightmare to walk with." After shaking a few more drops out of the article of clothing so that it would dry a bit more easily, he put it back on and turned back. "There, shall we go now? I believe that there should be a town just down the road once we get out of these woods, so perhaps we should make that our next destination. I'm going to walk for a while, but you can ride if you want."