she dreams of stars || Belittled

The Woman Of a Thousand Faces
4.Belittled

Alex, Seven and the two nobles snuck back into the tavern discreetly; which, given the mass panic in the streets, was not very hard to do.

"Is this place safe?" Will had asked when they were a block away.

The question worried Alex; she didn't know how to respond. Thinking about it, she realized that it might not be. She had become quickly accustomed to her being completely unrecognizable to anyone else, that she hadn't thought about anyone at the tavern finding their escaped prisoners at all suspicious. She started to think about what that would mean.

"Probably not," Seven answered, interrupting Alex's thought process. "We should skip town in the morning."

"We should skip town now. Sticking around's not worth the risk," Will said.

"You can't!" Alex told him, thinking about all the travelling by foot she'd had to do before. Will couldn't take the stress of it, and Isabella certainly couldn't. "Not in your condition."

Will had no more interjections, although he did raise an eyebrow at the wanted posters on the tavern's wall.

When they arrived, Alex, Seven, and Will all looked back at the same time to make sure they hadn't been followed-- they hadn't-- and Alex opened the door. All four slipped inside.

The tavern entrance's lights were still all lit when they entered, and to their distress, there were still a couple of people working about the pub; the same two who had been there when they'd arrived. It was otherwise empty; apparently what they'd been told about not getting many travellers was true.

"You're not supposed to be out this late, you kn--" the man who wasn't behind the bar started to announce, before getting a good look at their faces. "Holy shit... Will Tamra?!"

"Oh no," Alex said, her voice filled with dread, assuming the worst. She thought to herself, she'd screwed it up after all; if only she'd thought about what they'd do when they returned to the inn, they wouldn't have run into someone actually recognizing one of their escaped prisoners. She took a step back, getting ready to bolt.

"Ku-rong! I thought I'd never see you again," Will said, putting his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Easy, Alex... he's a friend."

"Oh...," she said.

"Alex? You mean as in...," he trailed off, realizing who she must be. "No way... quick, come in! If you're... responsible for all that commotion, we need to get all of you hidden."

Will smiled just the slightest bit. "You're a saint, Ku-rong." He closed the door behind them.

"I'm just so glad to see you again," Ku-rong said, nodding. "After I heard about the siege on Fenelle... I thought you were dead."

Ku-rong led them to that door he'd been in front of before, taking out a key from his pocket to unlock it, then opened the door to reveal a set of stairs leading down.

"Come on," he told them, "I don't know what you did, but that's one hell of a panic outside..."

Ku-rong took a lamp off the wall and lit it. The four of them followed him down the stairs; Alex tried to think of how to interject, but nothing came to mind. Ku-rong and Will continued to talk, and eventually she just stopped paying attention; for the first time since the siege on Fenelle, she was able to walk along calmly, let somebody else take lead, and not look over her shoulder constantly. The next half hour went by in a blur. They went through a series of hallways, passing through a room with a giant table not unlike the one that her father and his advisors sat at; eventually being lead to a set of rooms.

Will probably asked about why there were so many beds hidden underneath the inn, but Alex enjoyed the luxury of not paying attention to a word of it. She didn't know how long the men stayed awake that night, but after all that she'd done that day, she was happy to fall asleep the moment she had the chance.

But first she helped Isabella, who was now so weak, into bed. Alex imagined she must've been even more in need of rest than she was. She felt saddened as she pulled the blanket over her poor guardian's skinny body, kneeling in front of the bed to hug her.

"I love you, Isabella," Alex said quietly. "You get strong again, you understand?"

Isabella smiled up at her. "I love you too, Alexandra." And then she closed her eyes.

When Alex went to bed, she didn't spend any time contemplating the insanity of orchestrating a jailbreak was, or what the woman she'd been the closest to throughout her whole life had been hurt so, or even how she was going to find her parents now that she'd managed to rescue those two. She didn't have a chance; she had barely gotten a chance to lay on the bed before she fell asleep.

She dreamed of a beautiful young queen, with gorgeous blonde hair, wearing a white dress and regal jewelry. She never got a clear look of her face, but Alex knew exactly who she was.

The next morning, she knew that there must've been something important to that dream, that there was some deep meaning to it. But she couldn't for the life of her remember what she had dreamed about.

Despite how tired she had been the night before, Alex woke up at her usual early hour. There was no sunlight in that basement at all; she normally got up at 6, when the sun had been up for several hours, and it felt very weird to wake up in perfect darkness.

She got up, stumbling about the room-- wishing she had gotten a better look at it the night before-- until she managed to find the door and open it. Dim candlelight filled the room. She stepped out of the hallway slowly. Disoriented, she moved her arm around cautiously until she managed to figure out which way was west; going through her morning routine of casting her disguise magic to ensure that she looked the same as she did the previous night. Satisfied that she looked right, she walked slowly down the hallway, starting to give thought to her current situation as she woke up.

For the first time since she'd escaped, she had no idea what she was going to do next. She knew that she still had to make sure Isabella and Will got to safety, but she figured they were probably in good hands now. And then she thought to her parents, knowing that she still needed to find them, too; slowly coming to the conclusion that wherever her two closest guardians ended up being kept safe, she couldn't be going with them, and they most certainly couldn't be going with her, not in their condition. I should keep going east, she thought, I'm sure to pick up some clues eventually.

She walked through the hallway, finding herself in the room with the big meeting table she'd passed through the previous night. Will and Ku-Rong were both sitting there, at the far end, talking to each other. She approached them, walking slowly; she still wasn't sure what to make of it all.

She stood there for a few moments, before Will finally looked up.

"Good morning, Princess." he started to greet her without thinking. He stopped too late, only afterwards realizing what he'd said. "Er, I'm sorry..." he said, trailing off.

"You don't need to apologize. I'm still me," she said in a quiet, flat voice. She pulled out the chair next to Will, and slunk into it. She gave it a moment's thought, then asked, "Does he know who I am?"

"Yeah," Will said, "I told him. Don't worry, he's trustworthy-- hell, I'd trust him with my life. We go way back; we served together, he's one of the best men I've ever known. Long story to go along with it, but don't worry, he ain't going to turn us in. Trust me."

Alex gave it some thought. Will wasn't the most sophisticated person she knew, but he was a good judge of character. She made a mental note to herself to find out what the "long story" was. She got the feeling that she'd be dealing with the military a whole lot more before she was through, and if the two had served together, she might be able to learn a few things from him. And may she was just a bit curious, too; she knew Will used to be part of the Mauvorian army, but defected, but he'd never given her the whole story. "When you're older," he'd told her. She hated that, mostly because she knew, whatever had happened with him, that she certainly was old enough to hear about it.

"Okay," she said, hoping that Ku-rong was as trustworthy as Will said he was. "I believe you."

"With that out of the way, it's nice to properly meet you...," Ku-rong offered his hand, trailing off. "I'm sorry, how should I address you?"

She wanted to give one of her fancy full titles-- like "Your Royal Highness", or "Her Ladyship", or the general "Princess Alexandra von Fenelle"-- that she'd grown to be so fond of. Royal addresses to her were like fancy jewelry; clearly superfluous, but felt nice and were fun just for the sake of having them. Modesty had never suited her very well.

"Just Alex," she told him, shaking his hand. She considered explaining how she usually went under different names, but she realized that it didn't matter; her current alias of the moment to go with her current appearance was Alice Mars, she'd decided, but she didn't see any reason to complicate matters with a name she'd only be using for a few days before picking a new one. Might as well just be straight, she figured.

"Of course, Alex," he said. She smiled, and he stared at her for a few moments, before he added, "You know... you don't look like the picture on those posters at all."

Will glanced at her; she wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she said, thinking quickly before Will got a chance to say anything, "Of course not." Even trusting Ku-rong, she didn't want another person to find out the extent of her magic-- Seven had caught her off guard, but she wasn't going to let that happen again. Her mind raced to think of a reason why. "Royalty always looks better in portraits," she joked. "Two kilos of make-up can make someone look completely different."

Much to her relief, Ku-rong just chuckled a bit. "Reasonable enough," he said, apparently buying it. She glanced at Will, who remained silent; merely giving her an acknowledging nod.

After a moment of awkward silence, Ku-rong said, "We were just talking about what the group of you will being doing next."

"Of course," Alex simply replied.

"This building is safe for now, of course, and we can hide you here; at least until the army eases up security. Right now, it's not safe for any human, let alone you three, to be seen outside," Ku-rong explained.

"Wait," Alex cut in, immediately curious of what he'd said. "Who's we?"

"The... Revolution," he said, after a moment's hesitation. "I was just telling Will before you woke up, we've got a whole series of safehouses across the country."

"Hmm," Alex murmured, giving it some thought.

"As I was saying, I suggest you three lay low for a while; we can keep you safe in here for now. Once they give up on finding you, we can sneak you out of the city, further south-- south-east, to one of those smaller villages. Well away from the heart of the country."

"Four," she corrected. "There's four of us."

"Oh... yes," Ku-rong said, hesitantly. "Your friend."

"Who is he?" Will asked her, mirroring Ku-rong's uncertainty.

"Seven? He's...," Alex trailed off. Who was he? That was a good question and she wasn't sure how to answer; she was sure she could trust him, and didn't want to raise any alarm bells with the two men.

"...a friend of mine," she decided. "We met on the road. Don't worry, I trust him; if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to rescue you or Isabella. He's a good person." She decided to omit mentioning that she'd just recently met him, knowing that they'd question her judgment if she mentioned that.

"And he knows... who you are?" Will asked.

"Yes," she said flatly.

"There's something about him that rubs me the wrong way," Ku-rong said.

"Yeah, me too," Will agreed.

Alex glanced back between the two of them, upset. She'd just told them that he was trustworthy; despite having just met him, she knew full well that he was a decent person. He'd been concerned when he thought something had happened to her, when he met her for the second time; and he was willing to go to great risk to help break two people he didn't even know out of jail. Knowing that, he couldn't possibly be a bad person. Why wouldn't they listen to her?

"I'm telling you, he's a good person," she insisted. "I know him. He saved you!"

"I don't know," Will said, shaking his head. "He just seems... off, somehow. I don't like him."

Alex sighed, getting more frustrated. He was just treating her like a little kid; and she knew she wasn't one, not anymore. She told herself, she had to be tough and grow up a lot quicker, given the circumstances. Compared to what her life was like before, she'd already been through enough misery escaping and getting this far. She knew she wasn't a little kid now; so why did he still treat her like one? Even after she'd rescued him?

"I'm going to go check on Aunt Isabella," she announced with a cross tone, getting up and leaving back down the hallway. She shook her head angrily to herself as she did.

She got to Isabella's door and opened it quietly. Some of the candlelight from the hallway shone into the otherwise dark room. Isabella was laying in bed, seemingly asleep; but after a moment, she murmured quietly, "Come in," opening her eyes but otherwise not moving.

Alex walked in, sitting on the side of the bed. "Good morning, Isabella," she said softly. She looked down at her, sighing; realizing just how frail her closest caregiver had become. She put her hand on top of Isabella's, gently.

"Oh, Alexandra...," Isabella murmured quietly.

She just sat there for a while and Isabella just laid there. Neither could think of anything to say, but it was okay; both were just happy to see the other safe, and neither had to say anything. They smiled at each other, silently, and were content to leave it at that for a good while.

They passed the day hiding underneath the inn, and quickly enough, the day turned into days. Each morning Ku-rong suggested that they wait just a bit longer, to wait until the heightened patrols eased up, to wait until Isabella got back to full strength.

"They're going to keep us here forever," Alex said quietly to Seven, stuffing her mouth with a spoon full of beans. It was halfway through their second week staying underneath the inn.

"That's probably the plan," he said, nodding. "I mean, after all... you're just a little girl. They want to keep you safe."

"I'm not!" she objected with her mouth full of food. "I'm not a little girl anymore, and I can," she gulped, continuing, "keep myself safer than anyone else can. I even just broke them out of prison!"

"Well," he paused. "What are you going to do?"

"Stick with the original plan. I still have to head further east... save my parents," she said. She took another mouthful of beans, staring down.

"So when are we going to leave here?"

She paused, swallowing. "Soon. Tommo--" she stopped, correcting herself, with a feeling of determination, "Tonight. We're going tonight."

"Fair enough," Seven just said, with a smile.

She waited until everyone was asleep and the inn was completely still-- unable to think about anything other than how maybe she could just wait another day.

But she knew she couldn't. Just one more day wouldn't help anything; it wouldn't make her feel better, and it certainly wouldn't help her parents. She left a letter to Will and Isabella on her bed, praying that they wouldn't be too heartbroken that she'd left without telling them.

With that last affair finished with, she quietly got Seven, and the two snuck out of the inn just a few hours before sunrise; the curfew stopped any travellers from coming in at that hour, and with the whole building asleep, neither of them had trouble sneaking out.

They hid in a nearby alleyway until curfew lifted. Surrounded by filth and garbage, Alex watched the sun rise for the first time in her life; she couldn't help but be unimpressed.

Shortly afterwards, the voice from the streets announced that the new day had begun and the curfew was lifted. The two made their way to the station that they'd come in from, catching the first train out. As the train left the station, Alex couldn't help but sigh to herself; she'd gotten Will and Isabella free and safe, and she was sure they'd be fine now, but she couldn't help but wish she'd been able to say goodbye, at least.

"I wonder if I'll even see them again," Alex said thoughtfully to her window. Seven said something in response, but she wasn't paying attention.