Chapter 23 - In The Streets

"Alright, in here," Franke said. "This is the best empty room I've got right now and it's mine." He laughed, his voice hoarse and his teeth yellow under the dim light.

"You won't mind if Her Highness stays here for a while, would you? Could be possibly two hours."

"Naw," Franke said. "Just don't touch any of the drawers. And the closet, too. Wouldn't want the daughter of our Emperor seeing my dirty laundry, heh heh."

"Thanks, Franke. You can leave now."

Glancing at the both of us one last time, Franke the innkeeper stepped out of his room and closed the door.

"Haa..." I sighed, slumping down onto the wide bed. It creaked beneath my weight which made me instantly jump off it.

"Don't worry," Sir Gradral said, his eyes on me as he sat down on an armchair by the closet. "I'm sure it won't break."

"How'd you know?"

He shrugged. "I've been here before. All the beds at Franke's inn groan like an old hag. This one here is actually in a good condition, I must say. Typical of him to keep the best room for himself, ol' Franke."

Taking Sir Gradral for his word, I carefully sat down on the edge of Franke's bed and bent down to take off my shoes.

"Your Highness, let me-"

"Stop," I interrupted him. "I can at least take off my shoes myself." Defeated, Sir Gradral slumped back down in the armchair.

Millions of questions were running through my mind. I had so much I wanted to ask Sir Gradral about his life and his wife and his kids for I was naturally a curious person. Every single day I learnt something new about this man's life. I had first thought that he'd just be a well-off family man with enough money to run the house, but then he'd go and say something totally unexpected which always surprised me and left me with a lot of questions. But I maintained my control and focused all my thoughts of untying these pesky walking shoes. "Sir Gradral," I said, when I had finally taken them off and now sat cross legged on the bed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

The one most important thing I wanted to know about him was his age. Some days he looked like a young, twenty-year old man and then on some days when he seemed tired, he'd look near thirty or even forty. The suspense was killing me but I didn't know how to ask him this question without appearing weird or rather rude.

"You seem to have a nice family, yes?" I cringed at my own question. Seon, wtf were you doing? Sighing, I looked over at the armchair and was surprised to see Sir Gradral smiling at himself, genuinely.

"Yes, Your Highness. And I'm very proud of the fact," he said, looking out the window beside Franke's bed.

"Ahaha... good for you..." I just wanted to jump out of the same window Sir Gradral was looking out of. But I knew that before I could even get it opened, Sir Gradral would be by my side to stop me.

Bored, I looked out of the window myself, observing the small, colorful dots of people walking by. One black-headed dot caught my eye. Hey...was that Reynard? The dot moved here and there for a while, and then turned up to look at me for a moment before continuing on to a nearby stall. Hey! It really was Reynard! I could've picked him out of an identity parade any day of the week. But what was he doing outside the inn?

I jumped off the bed, by bare feet thudding on the ply-wooden floor. I pulled my hood back up and started to put my feet into my walking shoes again as swiftly as possible.

"Your Highness, what happened?" Sir Gradral stood up, startling me. "Where are you going?"

My neck sweating under the hood and my hair matted up to my skin, I huffed and puffed as I tried to get my feet in. I didn't answer him. Well, not immediately anyway.

"Your Highness," he called me, his expression worried. "Stop this. What are you doing?"

Ah, thank God. My feet were finally in. I fixed my cloak around my shoulders and shifted towards the door, glancing out the window one last time to make sure that Reynard was still there. Yup, there it was, the tiny, black dot.

"Sir Gradral," I said, opening the door. "I'll be right back."

I heard Sir Gradral call after me as I ran down the stairs, my tiny body providing me with agility and speed. I was halfway down when I started to hear Sir Reynard's heavy footsteps thudding on the floor above me. Crap, I had to hurry. Thankfully, my years of experience on running away came very useful at times like this.

I was out through the door in 2 minutes. I even made sure to clasp the hood around me so I wouldn't make the same mistake as with Franke again. Sir Reynard's distant cries were to be heard as I bolted out the main door, my eyes darting from face to face in search of Reynard's.

And there it was. A handsome, tan face among other white-washed ones.

Of course he hadn't spotted me yet. I wasn't even sure if he knew I was here, a tiny cloaked figure amongst the crowds of Eyress on Market Day. I walked into the middle of the street, glancing back once to see if Sir Gradral was at me or not, but it seemed that I had been swayed along by the large crowd. Sir Gradral wouldn't be finding me anytime soon. Then, I held my ground and focused back at Reynard. He had moved a few steps ahead, apparently, and was now checking out a pair of apples from the nearby stall, engaged in a very animated conversation with the stall keeper.

Like a cat about to pounce on its prey, I approached Reynard who stood with his back turned to me. Just when I was about to poke him in the arms, he turned around suddenly, causing me to stumble backwards.

"Ah! Hey... sorry. Are you alright," he said kindly, supporting me by the elbows. Hesitantly, I looked up at him with wide, green eyes which widened even more upon realizing that Reynard was looking down at them with his deep, see blue ones.

"You-" he was about to shout, causing me to wince. But then he suddenly stopped while turning his head in both directions to see if anyone had noticed.

"Hey!" I yelped as he pulled my hood down over my face to my chin and then pulled me along as he speed-walked through the crowd. I had a hard time keeping up with his pace and my wrist had started to hurt too. We walked till we reached a hidden alleyway where Reynard pulled me in. "Ha...really..." he sighed, letting go of my arm and leaning against the red-brick wall. I glanced up at him, rubbing my wrist to ease the pain.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" He hissed through his teeth, his face up close to mine. "Why are you here?"

"Why can't I be?" I asked quietly, adjusting my cloak.

Reynard paused to look at me and then scoffed incredulously, not leaning against the wall anymore. "You're really beyond belief, you know that?" He sighed and turned to scan the area beyond the partially dark alley.

I looked too but unable to see anything exceptional, I spoke, "I was wondering if-"

He stopped me with a gesture of his hand. "Hey, are you here alone? Aren't you supposed to come to town accompanied by a guard? I can't see one nearby. Or is he perhaps hiding?" He chuckled.

"That isn't important," I said huffily. "I was wondering if...you know..."

He tilted his head. "I know?"

Annoyed, I looked for words to ask what I wanted. "I was wondering if you could show me this 'Pond of Divinity' you mentioned once before." Reynard looked very surprised at this request.

"That pond? Why would you like to go there?"

"You told me that the next year, these people will sacrifice me there so-"

"Your 'Father'," he corrected.

"Ah, well, so it is. So I wanted to see what kind of place it is. I mean, isn't it pretty understandable that I'd wanna see the place of my *ahem* demise? What kind of special pond must it be to have been featured in a prophecy 500 years ago? And I wanted to see if I felt any connection with that place."

Reynard looked at me, puzzled. "But haven't you ever been there before? It's a pretty popular tourist spot of Eyress. I figured you'd probably have visited it once."

Ah… I had no doubt, actually, that the previous Princess had actually visited the Pond before. But unfortunately, along with her body, I hadn't gotten her memories as well. Well, tough luck.

"I've forgotten," I put it out to him bluntly. "So take me there."

After a while of looking at me with slight abhorrence, Reynard raked his hand through his hair (which I noticed were styled much neatly today, rather than the usual, messy look they have to them when he comes to visit me.) "Alright, fine," he said finally, breaking eye contact. "But only for a little while. Because unlike you, I am an adult and I've got a lot of duties on hand right now."

"Of course, Mister Big Guy," I said, rolling my eyes.. "Now lead the way."