***

The trip was a pretty good one. People played music on the boat and it was just very lively. I ended up making it to where I needed to be with no problem. I walked through the forest, trying to find some herbs that I could use. I had found quite a bit already, but I wanted to keep looking for more. You never know how much you'll need. I saw a flash of pink and white from the corner of my eye.

I turned to look at them and a big smile broke out on my face. They were pink and white flowers. I rushed towards them, bending down to get a better look at them, "I could use these for remedies."

"Hello, Purplelocks." A masculine voice spoke from behind me. I glanced over to see a maroon ribbon. My eyes widened and I turned as quickly as I could. Before I could even get a look at the person, I felt the person hit my neck and all I saw after was blackness.

***

I woke up to feel the hard floor beneath me. My back was starting to hurt probably because of how long I had been laying there. I slowly open my eyes and take a look around. I was in a cell of some kind... I had to get out of here. By moving my body around, I finally realized that my hands were tied together by rope. This was going to make it ten times harder to get out of here. I just came all the way out here to get herbs, I didn't want to be kidnapped.

The same voice from before spoke making me jump a little, "Good. You're awake," I didn't even notice that he was here. I moved my gaze over at him. He had brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail. He had been looking through my satchel, "My name's Mihaya," I don't care what your name is. I just want to get out of here. He placed my satchel beside him and walked over to me, "We met earlier. Remember?"

"Unfortunately," I grunted as I sat up. Sitting up was much harder when you couldn't use your hands, "So... I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you have an agenda."

Mihaya bent down at eye-level, "Well if there wasn't, you wouldn't be here right now," He rested his head on the palm of his hand and just stared at me, "Tell me, what do you think I should do about a rare treasure even a prince couldn't get his pampered hands on?" He knew about Zen? That must mean that he had been watching me from even before I left. "Whomever it's presented to, would pay a handsome reward for such a find," Not wanting him to think he was getting to me, I stared back at him with a bored expression. His hand reached out to push some of the hair out of my face, "A fiery, purple-haired beauty decorated with natural jewels. Just imagine."

I sighed and looked away from him, "Yeah... I'd rather not. So you're going to sell me."

"No need to be vulgar," Mihaya waved it off, "It sounds ugly when you put it that way. There are tons of rich people who have very strange taste."

I scoffed and a smirk made its way on my face, "Well, that's exactly what you're making it sound like," I finally glance back over at him, "Why do you want to do this?"

Mihaya stood up and started making his way out of the room, "Of course... Heh. I could also wait patiently until your hair grows out a little more. I think I would enjoy the pleasure of your company a great deal during the down time. Great. It's settled." He grabbed onto the bars and brought it down, locking me inside.

I could feel the anger rising in me as he did this. I shouted at him as he walked away, "Son of a bitch! You-" When he was out of sight, I cut myself off to sulk, "I wanted to shout at him some more." If I was going to stay here for a little bit then why not annoy him to death?

***

Looks like I couldn't keep my promise to Zen about when I would be back. It was now the next afternoon and the sun was setting. Only a little light shone through the one window I had. I had barely gotten any sleep because of how hard it was to get comfortable here. So the time I spent not sleeping, I used to saw at the ropes binding my hands together. That was what I doing now. I was running the rope over the stone wall to get it to break. I finally started to feel the rope loosen when I heard footsteps approaching. Knowing exactly who it was, I stopped and remained as still as possible.

Mihaya opened the cell, "Hungry? Here," I glanced to see him placing a plate of food down on the barrel beside me. I smirk as I put my plan into action. I threw my body against the barely making the food spill everywhere. Mihaya jumped back with shock on his face. I pulled the rope until it finally broke. I reached down, grabbed the rug he was standing on, and pulled. Mihaya yelped and fell, "Wench!" He exclaimed. I ran out of the cell and closed it, "No!" He ended up bumping into the bars and fell back.

I bent down to say, "Too bad. Better luck next time," I grabbed my satchel and ran as far as I could. I ran up a flight of stairs which lead me to a door. No matter how hard I tried, the door wouldn't budge. I decided to leave it and find another way out. I went back down the stairs and ran into a hallway.  I kept running until I ended up in a bigger room with bigger doors. I went over and tried to get the chains off, but to no avail, "Dammit! Is everything locked?"

"Ah, welcome back," There was no way. I turned to see Mihaya standing on the second floor with keys in his hand, "I think you might be looking for these. You're going to need them to get out of here," Did he use one of those keys to get out? "I feel compelled to remind you you're up on a mountain, Purple. Even if you escape, you have no idea how to find your way back."

I crossed my arms and glared him down, "Well, if you must know, you are totally and completely wrong. I already know exactly where I need to go," It was a total lie, but hopefully it was enough to convince him that it was true. "I have a place that I need to go to by myself. And I, sure as hell, am not looking for your company. Another thing, what kind of nickname is 'Purple'?"

I took off running once again. I ran until I found a staircase. I was about to run up it, but standing at the top was him again. He was just everywhere that I don't want him to be and I hate it. As soon as I saw him, I ran down the hallway, not bothering with the stairs. I turned down a hallway to find a door with bars on it. I could hear him coming so I crouched down and looked around in my satchel. I pulled some of the herbs I got out of my bag and grabbed a match, lighting it. I could feel him a little way behind me. I put the herbs and match inside a lantern I found then closed it.

"Are you finally done running, Princess?" I heard his stupid voice say.

I stood up, making sure to hide the lantern behind me, "For now."

Mihaya laughed, "Then it sounds like you're ready to let me catch you," When he started to walk toward me, I held the lantern up in front of his face. I covered my mouth and slammed the lantern into the wall. It smashed and smoke started filling the room, "Curse you!" He tried to grab me but only fell.

I ran around him and turned to say one more thing, "I burned herbs with paralyzing effects, so you're gonna lose feeling in your body for a while. Sorry, not sorry." I took off again and moved my hand off my mouth when I was far enough away from the paralyzing smoke. I ran up the staircase where he was before and turned the corner. There had to be a way out on the second floor if he was hanging out up there before. I rushed to a nearby window and opened it. I climbed out, trying to jump toward a tree limb. I managed to catch myself on it, but I still ended up slipping and falling.

"What a valiant effort," I gasped. I turned to see Mihaya standing there with a torch. He was supporting himself with the wall so the paralyzing smoke was still affecting him, "But... Bad... News. Sadly, this is the end," I lifted myself into a sitting position, "I'm afraid those herbs you burned didn't have much of an effect on me," He was taking a few steps toward me. I tried to run away when I felt him catch me by my shoulder and throw me against the wall. Probably knowing I was going to try to run, he caged me in with one of his arms and the torch. I tried to remain as calm as I possibly could, "You might as well stop fighting now. Suppose you do escape me and this mountain, you'll just get chased by someone else with worse intentions.  Wouldn't it be much safer in the care of nobility or royalty? You'd be protected and live in luxury. Doesn't that sound vastly more appealing? So, what do you say?"

"You, know... I'm gonna have to say no," I glared at him harshly and there was a bite in my voice, "I'm not really a person who craves to live in luxury."

Mihaya lifts the torch and started to bring it down on me, "That's the wrong answer, you're coming with me!" I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the burning flames to hit me. I was confused when I didn't feel it coming. I opened my eyes to see Zen had come bursting through. I watch him with shock. When did he get here? How did he know where to look? Mihaya unsheathed his sword and swung at Zen, "Back off, bastard!"

Zen dodged each swing that was thrown at him. He hit Mihaya in the stomach with his sheathed sword then hit him in the face. The dark-haired man stumbled back into a tree, completely knocked out. Zen turned to me, placing one of his hands on the wall beside me, "So, Emi, wasn't this supposed to be a day trip?" I couldn't bring myself out of my shock to reply, "Are you hurt?"

"Uh, no," I finally broke myself out of my trance and shook my head in response, "I'm-I'm okay."

Zen smiled, "That's good."

Coughing was heard behind Zen and I glanced to see Mihaya coming back to consciousness, "Heh. You have your own guardian. My luck. I wanted to have that job myself. I could present her almost anywhere, and I'd finally make some money."

"Was that actually your plan this whole time?" I grabbed the strap of my satchel with one of my hands.

"Yes, it was," He replied. The look on his face looked like one of shame. Not shame about kidnapping me, but shame toward the fact that he allowed himself to get caught, "This mansion here? It belonged to my family. Our vacation home when we were nobility."

"That's how he knew it so well," I mumbled to myself.

"Today, I have to live in hiding. Like a dirty, stray mongrel," He finally turned to look at us. He had a small smile on his face like he was remembering something, "This house was once lavish, but that was a very long time ago. Social status and family name can be swallowed up by darkness in a moment. Your self-proclaimed elegance and fancy clothes won't save you if you found yourself penniless. You could wind up filthy, and shamed, just like me. No, I refuse to live like this a moment longer. I swear," He narrowed his eyes with a determined expression, "I'm going to be rich again. I don't care what I have to do to make it happen. That's why I thought you'd be a good insurance policy for me. You're a guarantee."

"That's enough," Zen snapped. He walked over to stand in front of Mihaya, "You can keep your offensive metaphors for her to yourself. Emiko will not be a pawn. For you or anyone, got it?" I could feel myself tearing up a little. I haven't felt this loved since my mom was alive. I wiped the tears away before they could see them.

Mihaya glanced around Zen to look at me, "So your name's Emiko."

"Do not speak her name!" Zen grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"Calm down," He spoke to Zen with the biggest smirk on his face, "Are you her father or something?"

Zen got up into his face and was threatening to draw his sword on him, "You are seriously asking for it," He moved away from him and said, "Emiko, quick question. Was this guy alone?" He was glancing back at me, waiting for my reply.

I nodded, "I think so. I didn't see anyone else."

"If he's by himself, we can just take him down the mountain. We won't have to escort him all the way to the castle," Zen stood up, "We'll hand him over to officials down at the base." the prince started moving to my side and his sheathed sword rested on his shoulder.

Mihaya looked at Zen in confusion, "Castle? What am I dealing with? Who are you?"

"Zen," Zen stated.

"Huh... Wait..," Mihaya's eyes widened as he slowly started to realize, "As in Zen, the Second Prince of Clarines?"

Zen turned back to him and smiled, "As well as Emiko's friend."

***

It was now morning as Zen and I stood on a bridge. We were just looking out and talking about everything that had happened. Well, I was talking. Zen was barely saying anything to me which made me start to worry. I tried not to worry too much about it, but I couldn't help it. He was never this nonverbal around me.

"From what the officials were saying, Mihaya doesn't seem to be working with any other bandits. He's working by himself. Just in case, I'll be more cautious of my surroundings from now on." I tried to reassure him.

Zen was resting his chin on the palm of his hand, "Good." He wasn't even looking at me. I wasn't all about people looking at me, but he was barely talking to me too. Zen was the type of person to have a lengthy conversation with and he would look at you while conversing.

I decided to finally ask him about it, "You okay? You seem angry. Are you?" Zen replied with a simple no, but still didn't look at me. I let out a sigh, "Then look at me. Make eye contact with me!" I turned Zen so he was finally making eye contact with me. He looked at me with slight surprise, "Listen here, you came to rescue me. I don't exactly have the right words, but... Thank you-"

Zen placed his hand on the top of my head, cutting me off, "That's all I need," Zen moved his hand off and looked back out at the water, "I'll admit, I was a bit upset. Not with you, though. It's hard to explain, but I was really mad at myself. Exploring life outside the castle, I learned a great deal. But after learning these things, I realized I'm not doing enough." Zen's hand was curled into a tight fist.

"Zen..." I trailed off.

"Emiko, what was the answer to the question that mountain monkey asked you earlier?" Before the guards had taken Mihaya away, I gave them the balm to use for his injuries. He had asked me about what I said to him about having a place I wanted to go to by myself, "What is the place you're planning on going by yourself?"

I took a deep breath and a small smile appeared on my face, "I decided to stay in this country for a reason. I want to know it. See how the rest of you live in Clarines. Find out where I belong here. That's the place where I'm going. The place where I'll feel at home."

"Well, when you're there, I hope I'll still be able to see you anyway," Zen said. I wouldn't have it any other way. The two of us turned to each other, "Emiko. Thank you, too," He grabbed my hand that had been resting at my side, "I'm happy that you're all right." We smiled at each other.