“You were right,” said Tomas. It was later that same day. He wasn’t sure where Dove had gotten off to, but he was hoping she was okay. He figured she was most likely out helping Esther with something. “She needs to go to town.”

His mother looked up from her work, her eyebrows raised. “And what was it that changed your mind?” She smiled. “I know it wasn’t me.”

Tomas swallowed. “She tried to write something for me. I couldn’t read it.”

Adelaide’s smile faded a bit, and she came to his side. “How did she take it?”

He just shook his head. “I… I’m not sure. Not well, I think.”

“Where is she now?” she asked.

“I don’t know. She just… walked away. I’m not sure where she went.”

His mother looked thoughtful. “And you want to take her into town?”

A sharp laugh escaped his throat unconsciously. “I can’t send her on her own. She’d get lost, or mugged, or worse. You can’t take her, and neither can Ansel or Esther. I’ve got to take her.” He stopped himself before continuing. He normally didn’t sound so harsh when he spoke. “I’m just worried about you guys here. I mean, I already left to town once this week. Are you sure that-” He was cut off as his mother laughed.

“Tomas, dear, we can manage. Esther can milk the goats, and I’ll just have to pick up a few more chores than usual. We’ve done it before, we’ll be fine. You go.” She looked him straight in the eyes. “After all, if you don’t help her, who will?”

His mother knew him all too well. He almost would have felt manipulated if he hadn’t known that she was right. If he didn’t help her get home, who would? There were few people out there as kind hearted as him, he knew that. Naive as he seemed, he was no fool.

He nodded. “You’re right.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “When should we leave?”

“Tomorrow,” she said without hesitation. He was surprised at first, but then realized she must have already planned everything out. She was his mother, after all. “It will give you enough time to prepare without wasting too much time.”

Again, he nodded. She was right, of course. There wasn’t much more that could be said. Tomorrow he would leave and take Dove to find either someone who could read, or someone who knew who she was.

“I’ll talk to Dove later,” his mother said, eyes on his less than smiling face. She gave him a small smile of her own. “You have chores to finish, after all.” He forced a smile in return and she leaned up on her toes to give him a motherly peck on the cheek before sending him back out into the fields, telling him that lunch would be soon.

After Mirabel had walked away, she realized she had no clue where she was actually going. She ended up stopping on the side of a hill and sitting down to think. She didn’t know what to do now. She felt numb inside, at a loss.

She plucked a small flower from the ground and twirled it’s stem between her fingers, watching the petals spin. It was a yellow daisy, a common flower. She stopped twirling it and looked at it instead. Daisies seemed like such simple flowers, she thought, until one looked closely at them. Nothing was ever truly as simple as it seemed. The shape of a daisy’s petals was simple, but so complex. How did each petal form in exactly the same shape? Always the same tapered teardrop, together all of them forming a little sun. Perfect.

She tossed the flower away. The yellow streaked through the air, more like a shooting star now than a sun. It landed not far from her, and she turned her head away, resting it on her knees.

She’d overreacted earlier. She’d known it then and she knew it now. All Tomas had done for her was to be kind. He’d offered her a place to stay and clothes to wear. The look on his face as she’d walked away nearly broke her heart as she saw it over again in her mind. As if it was his fault he couldn’t read.

She wasn’t sure how long it was she sat there, lost amidst her own depressing thoughts of home, but it didn’t seem like long before she was interrupted. Esther came sprinting down the hill, her giggle heard before anything else.

She slid to a stop beside Mirabel and grabbed her hand.

“It’s lunchtime!” Esther said with a grin. “Come on!” Mirabel allowed herself to be dragged to her feet and followed behind Esther.

“Everyone was wondering where you were,” Esther said with a glance up at Mirabel. “Why were you sitting out here all by yourself?”

Mirabel just shrugged. It wasn’t something she could explain through motions, and she now knew that attempting to write was useless.

But Esther just smiled. “That’s okay. Sometimes I like to go off by myself too. It’s nice to be alone sometimes.”

Mirabel smiled back, relieved at the young girl’s understanding. She’d been worried that she would press for answers, but she seemed to know when to leave things be.

They reached the cottage in what seemed like no time at all, and Mirabel hesitated before walking in. She was afraid Tomas would avoid her after what had happened earlier. Then she realized that she was doing exactly that by not going in. She took a deep breath and walked in behind Esther.

Tomas and Ansel were already seated at the small round table in the middle of the main room, dishes in front of them piled with food. Esther skipped merrily to her seat, and the two looked up. Tomas offered her a tentative smile and, relieved, she returned the smile.

She took her seat and began to eat. She realized that, even though it wasn’t home, she felt welcome here. It felt almost like it could have been home, had her home been in the country on a farm.

Of course, this thought only led her back to thoughts of her actual home. Quickly stifling the depressing thoughts, she instead focussed on her meal. Anything was better than those thoughts again.

She knew that around her were conversations and that perhaps listening to them might help distract her, but she couldn’t concentrate on their words for some reason. The stress of the past several days was beginning to wear at her, she realized. Her mind was constantly torn in several different directions, unable to concentrate solely on one thing. Her body was fatigued, sore from the work her muscles were unaccustomed to. She never even knew she could feel so utterly exhausted.

Her eyes caught Tomas’s again, and she saw his brow creased with worry lines as he looked at her. She gave him a small smile of reassurance, even though she wasn’t sure what she was reassuring him of. Her sanity? Her capability to handle her exhaustion? She had no idea. But still she smiled, and managed to gain a smile in return, which relieved her. Tomas was a sweetheart, and she really didn’t want him to have to worry about her any more than he absolutely had to. She could worry about herself. She was good at worrying, she’d discovered.

She found herself worrying about what was happening at the palace on a daily basis, as well as how she was going to get home. She’d rehashed both thoughts so many times that she was sure there was no reason for her to continue thinking about them, but still she found that she could hardly think of much else.

Due to her distracting thoughts, she found herself the last one still eating. Everyone else had left, presumedly to get back to work. The amount of work each of them did each day never failed to astound her. While she may have had boring or tough lessons, she had never had to do anything quite like what they did here.

Adelaide was the only one left, being the one to do most of the housework, and Mirabel shifted a bit in her seat. She didn’t really like being stared at, something that seemed to be one of Adelaide’s favorite pastimes.

However, this time Adelaide did more than just stare. She took a seat across from Mirabel and crossed her hands in her lap before speaking.

“Dove, I think we need to talk,” she said. “Or, well, I’ll speak and you’ll listen.” Mirabel’s brow scrunched, but she nodded. “We don’t know who you are, and little about where you came from,” Adelaide began. “And, as you discovered earlier today, we cannot communicate with you beyond your actions.” Mirabel’s throat tightened, but she only nodded in acknowledgement.

“We’ve decided it would be best to take you into the nearest town tomorrow and see if we can find someone who can communicate with you better. Tomas will be taking you tomorrow if you’re okay with that.” Adelaide’s eyes were kind, showing only good intentions, but Mirabel couldn’t help but feel slightly terrified of going into town. The thought of her kidnappers hadn’t crossed Mirabel’s mind since she’d arrived, but now it returned to haunt her. She hadn’t a clue where they were, and she worried they might run into them if they left the farm.

Despite all these thoughts, though, Mirabel nodded, forcing yet another smile to grace her lips. She was forcing more smiles than she was giving freely, she realized, and she felt the smile slowly fall.

If Adelaide noticed, though, she didn’t say anything. She instead sent a smile in return and stood, running her hands down her apron.

“Let me know when you’re finished there,” she said, nodding to the dish in front of Mirabel. She’d almost forgotten it was there in the turmoil of her thoughts, but now she nodded and picked up her spoon, beginning to finish what food she had left.

As she ate, she realized something that made her appreciate the food all the more; tomorrow she would be leaving, and who knew when she’d get food this decent next?

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A/N Decided to put up another chapter, since it is a holiday, after all :3 Hope you like it! Things are moving forward x)