"How was school?", Ovia asked without looking up from her phone once she heard the front door open.

"Awesome! How was your day?", Ryesen chirped as she dropped her bag by the stairs. She heard Ovia mumble something that sounded like 'good'. She always admired how Ovia could be focused on something and still be alerted by her surroundings. Too bad that her peace will be demolished in three... two... one... "I going out with some friends tomorrow", Ryesen announced as she slipped quickly into the kitchen. She knew there was no way to ease the news to Ovia. She had trained for years on the many different ways she could deliver such news to her but nothing seemed to reduce the outcome to a simple 'Yes' or 'No' answer. 

"What?", Ovia shrieked and dropped her phone on the couch following her.

Maybe the kitchen wasn't Ryesen's best choice at the moment. Many sharp things. Why didn't I head to my room where there are pillows and fluffy stuff?

"Hi, Jarle", Ryesen chirped at the tall faerie sitting on a kitchen stool sharpening a sword with a whetstone in swift rhythmic motions. The edge of the sword glinting proudly under the light. There was a huge pile in front of him that consisted of more swords, daggers, throwing knives and arrows heads. Speaking about the kitchen being a dangerous place. The irony! 

Jarle bowed his head without stopping what he was doing, "Princess".

She rolled her eyes at him. No matter how many times she told him not to call her 'Princess' he just would't listen, "Hey, do you think you can hide those until this blows out?", she whispered tilting her head pointing at the sharp pile in front of him.

"What do you mean out with friends?", Ovia stomped into the kitchen. "Who are they? What are their names? And where do they live?".

Ryesen avoided looking at angry-Ovia and busied herself by picking a small crystal dropper bottle from the shelf and squeezed the top to get some of that yellow potion that swirled inside. "No, you are not going to track or follow them and most importantly you are not going to follow me". She squeezed a single drop from the potion over one of the many bonsai trees they had in the kitchen and watched as the soil absorb it instead meeting Ovia's glare.

"There is no way you'll leave this place without me", Ovia fumed. Her light brown eyebrows knitted, "We agreed on not following you to school, that's it. Not you going out with a bunch of humans that we know nothing about".

The shunk, shunk sounds of stone sliding on the edge of the sword didn't stop. Ryesen shrugged, "No... the whole point of coming here was to take a break from everything else. As for the humans I'm going out with - they are some kids from school. They are hardly considered a threat if you are worried about that". 

She could clearly see that Ovia was about to bellow so she went for her soft heart under all that strictness and gave her the best pleading pout and eye bating look she could muster in this good mood she was in, "I'm just going out to have a good time with some friends". She glanced at the bonsai in front of her. New buds started to grow and flowers began to form.

The tight knit of Ovia's eyebrows softened a bit but not all the way. However her arms did not uncross nor did her face relax.

Just a tad more. "Come on, Ovia", Ryesen dragged the words, "What's wrong with having some fun? You remember fun, don't you?". As Ryesen spoke, she saw Ovia almost giving in. Until she added the last part. Okay! Maybe I pushed a little too far. There was a slight change in Jarle whetting rhythm. Ryesen knew he was inwardly snickering. "Pretty please", she reached begging as a last resort.

Ovia huffed and turned to Jarle, "What do you think?"

Ryesen looked at Jarle too. 

Jarle's hands carried on what they were doing without interruption. "Where will  you be going to?".

"Ben's Bowling Alley", Ryesen said quickly finding that little speck of hope. Then she used the exact description Travis shared, "Right on the corner from the bakery shop".

"Do you know where that is?", Jarle asked.

"Not really", she mumbled under her breath.

"How are going to get there?", Ovia asked in a not so calm voice. 

Ah, the question that had her twisting from the moment she said 'count me in' to Travis a few hours ago. They might as well have grabbed a cleaning duster and swept away that little speck of hope. "Travis is picking me up"

Even the whetting beside her has stopped now. 

"Who?", Ovia screeched again, "Who in the name on the Ancient One is Travis".

Ryesen tried to keep a straight face at the mention of Travis's name, "He's a friend from school". However, she couldn't stop the warmth that reached her face.

"You haven't mention him before", Jarle said. 

"Really?", she knows she didn't. Ryesen scratched her warm cheek nervously, "Well, we just became friends. He's quite a nice person". 

Ovia started to list out, "You want to go out with a bunch of humans to a place you don't know where it's located. Not to mention a human boy you've just became friends with will pick you up and you don't want us following you?".

Ryesen could see where that was going. The big N-O was right there in front of her. She was getting frustrated, "What's the point of coming here if I'm going to stay home and just do my homework? I could have done that back in Tír na nÓg without dragging you all the way here with me".

"You have responsibilities", Ovia reminded her.

Not that she needed the reminder, "And I fulfilled every single one of them". She started to count out her -agreed on- responsibilities, "I kept up with my studies. Both of them, Fey and human. I kept up with my training with both of you. I'm reading the books Laigh sent. I'm practicing apothecary daily as promised. I never went anywhere without the two of you and I always call you if I'm coming late". Listing them out loud made her feel more trapped now that she was supposed to be free. She was not free. It just was a bigger cage.

"Humans can't be trusted", Ovia started to loose her patience and rapidly tap her foot.

Ryesen held on to reasoning, "But you can trust my judgement". She looked from Ovia's glaring stare to Jarle's calm posture. "I didn't come all the way here to stay trapped. I want to do what others my age would do". 

Alarms wailed in Ovia's ears and she jumped in quickly, "No! No, you don't!". 

Ryesen rolled her eyes, "You know what I meant". Then she pleaded looking at her two fairtheoir, "Come on, please." The silence lingered heavily around her as she waited. She promised her father that Ovia and Jarle were in charge and she wants to honor that promise. At the same time she can't be cooped in one place the whole time.

Ovia took a deep calming breath after a long moment and exchanged a look with Jarle. They both seemed to come to reach the same concept.

"I want to meet that Travis boy", Jarle announced. 

Ryesen eyes widened with surprise. Does that mean I could go?

"And one of us will be shadowing you", Ovia announced. When she saw that Ryesen was on the edge of objecting, she cut in before Ryesen utter a word, "That is out of discussion".

I can go! Ryesen shrugged, "Hey, I don't mind. Shadow all you want".

"And you're not allowed to stay out late", Ovia held on to her stern expression along with a threatening index finger. 

"And we'll be training early morning since you're going out in the evening", Jarle went back to whetting, filling the small kitchen with the steady sound of stone sliding over metal.

"I'll be up before sunrise", she promised smiling from ear to ear. Excitement was taking over until she was skipping, skipping and skipping. "I'll go send Travis the location of our house". She skipped out of the kitchen, but stopped at the threshold and turned around, "Thank you!", she smiled warmly before skipping her way to her room.

Ryesen dropped in the middle of her bed and crossed her legs. She smiled while texting Travis her location.

Then she sent another text to Zoe: Hi Zoe. What did your parents say?

While she waited for Zoe's reply, Travis sent her back: Hey. I know the place. I'll pick you up at 5:30 pm.

Her phone didn't notify her that Zoe has seen her message yet so she jumped off of bed and opened her wardrobe. What is suitable to wear for bowling? She studied the collection of clothes she had. The weather got  colder in the evening, so a jacket or a sweater was a must. A pair of skinny jeans seemed to go with everything. What about the top? Hmm... Something blue? White? Green? Oh, I have pink. Shirt or tank-top?

Her phone vibrated when Zoe answered: Hey girl, they said it's okay as long as I'm back before my curfew. I'll text Travis. What are going to wear by the way?

Ryesen felt a happy bubble in her chest. This was exhilarating. Like she stepped outside her cage and took her first breath of fresh air and it smelled like freedom. 

Ryesen texted back: Great news! I'm still deciding on what to wear. Any ideas?

They texted back and forth for a while. She noticed a few times while texting Zoe, the small notification that Travis was typing and then it stopped for a second before it started again. However, she didn't receive anything else from him except the previous text. Ryesen finally shrugged and focused on the conversation with Zoe. She could hardly wait for tomorrow. 

Her mind wouldn't stop thinking as she lied down on bed. The anticipation was keeping her awake.  A small whisper of doubt nudged her thoughts over that sense of freedom she was seeking. As a Light Princess and the future Light Lady, she was never or ever will be free. She grew up on responsibilities and duties. There were never a free time or a day off for her to do whatever she wanted. There was always something to do. Studying, training, learning the ways of the royals, the history of fey-kind, the duties towards the Darks. The list never ended. Perhaps the only thing that she has chosen voluntarily was the path of studying apothecary like her mother. She hoped that the freedom she was seeking would be as she pictured in her mind. Not some masked illusion other than what she hoped for.