The next morning flew by in a blur of motion. Mirabel had been woken up long before her usual time of late morning. The sun had only just risen when she’d found herself awoken by a very excitable Esther. Shaking her awake, she’d eventually managed to drag Mirabel out of bed and, still in her nightclothes, sit her at the table in the other room.

There, yawning, she was served up a bowl of porridge. It was much better than what her kidnapper’s had had to offer her, but she found herself almost falling asleep while spooning it into her mouth, making it hard to truly enjoy. Her eyes kept closing of their own accord, and only opened again when she felt as if she was falling face first into the porridge in front of her.

After she had finished her breakfast - in record time for her level of consciousness, in her opinion - she had been whisked off by Adelaide into the next room again. She’d been handed several articles of clothing and left there in silence as the rest of the house busied themselves with other preparations.

Sighing, she laid the clothing pieces out to take a better look. There were three garments in total, along with a belt. It seemed a simpler belt than the one she’d worn previously, so she held out hope.

One of the garments looked as if it were to be worn under the others, and so, hoping she had it correct, she pulled it over her head and stuck her arms in the sleeves. Once it was on, the sleeves hanging open - since apparently they were meant to be tied shut - she looked at the other garments. She blew out a breath in exasperation; why was today of all days the day that she was given something complicated to wear? The previous days had been simpler.

Since one of the clothing articles seemed to clearly be a cloak, she set that aside and picked up the other piece. It was a long dress, rather more like what she’d worn before than she’d thought, colored in a dusty blue. The front was laced, which only confirmed to her that it went over the white garment she was already wearing.

She pulled it over her head as well and straightened it, pulling it down where it got stuck. She fiddled with the laces for a long moment, but only succeeded in tangling them. She sighed yet again. Perhaps tying the sleeves tighter would be a simpler process.

A few minutes later, she’d found that she was wrong. Tying something with only one hand was nigh on impossible, she decided. Whoever had designed the garment deserved a special place in the afterlife. And not a particularly pleasant one at that.

Giving a huff of despair, she decided that she needed help. Repressing whatever shreds of pride or dignity she had left to her, she walked out of the room and into the chaos of the main room.

Fortunately, it only took Adelaide a moment to spot her and bustle across the room to her side. Smiling sweetly, she apologized for not thinking that she might have needed help, and took her into the other room again.

Mirabel held still as Adelaide quickly and deftly laced up the front of her dress and looped the belt around her waist. She’d been right that it was simpler to tie on, but as she watched Adelaide do it for her, she accepted that she wouldn’t have been able to figure it out without help.

Adelaide then tied the sleeves, lacing them up as she had the front of the blue dress. When she’d finished, she stood back and smiled.

“There you are, dear.” Adelaide’s eyes turned to the cloak on the bed. “Will you be fine putting that on yourself?”

Mirabel nodded, smiling. She’d put on her own cloaks before; they were a simple matter. Toss it over your shoulders and tie the strings in a simple knot and you were done. Nothing like the strange lacings and other such contraptions of dresses. She’d never before thought it embarrassing to be unable to dress herself proficiently, but she found that many views of hers were changing recently.

Scooping up the simple cloak into her arms, she once more ventured out into the chaos. She was surprised at how much noise and commotion a mere four people could make. Granted, it wasn’t a very large room, but the shouts bouncing off the walls made it seem smaller than usual.

Esther was carrying a bundle of something across the room, while shouting something incomprehensible across the room to Ansel. Tomas had just entered the cottage from outside, his dark hair still mussed from sleep. And Adelaide was shoving some food into a pair of canvas bags. Mirabel merely stood and stared, unsure what she was expected to do.

A yawn escaped her, and suddenly what adrenaline she had been running on drained away. She walked over to the nearest chair and took a seat, resting her head in her hands. She was beginning to get a pounding headache from both her exhaustion and the noise.

“Hey, you alright?” Tomas’s soft tenor sounded beside her. She looked up and met his eyes, giving a small nod. She was fine, after all. It was just a headache.

He smiled gently, almost hesitantly, and gave a small nod in return. She wasn’t sure what to make of him, really. He was so kind, so gentle, that she was sure it was unnatural. Even her servants were never so kind to her.

It made her wonder if maybe people outside the palace were just naturally more kind. It wasn’t just Tomas, though he was the gentlest, but the rest of his family as well. The kindness and welcome was overwhelming.

A half hour later, everything was ready. Mirabel was handed a bag by Adelaide and Tomas took one as well. They held their lunch for the day, since the walk into town wasn’t a short one.

Mirabel fingered the cloak material between her fingers nervously as Tomas said his goodbyes to his family. He wouldn’t be home until at least nightfall the next day, and that was if they got lucky and found someone to help them early on.

Small arms wrapped around her waist, and Mirabel looked down in surprise. Esther had come to her side, hugging her as she had her brother. A smile as unexpected as the hug had been played on her lips as she wrapped her arms around Esther in return. While Mirabel had only been there for a few days, Esther felt almost like the younger sister she’d never had.

After a long moment, Esther let go and looked up. “I’ll miss you,” she said simply. And Mirabel could only smile and hug her. Surprisingly, she would miss her too, but she was unable to convey that sentiment beyond a nod and a hug.

Esther seemed to understand, though, and with another hug and a giggle, she was off and away. She never did seem to stay still for long.

Adelaide was the next to come over, giving her a motherly hug and a peck on the cheek. As odd as she was, Mirabel had come to appreciate the woman. Her patience with Mirabel was incredible.

“You be safe now, alright? I don’t want to see any scars on those wrists of yours, you hear?” Adelaide said with a teasing smile. She gave Mirabel another hug. “Best of luck to you, dear.” Mirabel nodded, smiling softly at the woman. It had been comforting to have a slightly motherly figure while she was away from home. She’d miss her.

Ansel, being the shy boy that he was, hid behind his mother and waved at her. Her smile grew as she waved back at the young boy. While he hadn’t been very talkative, he had been quick to help her when she didn’t know what to do.

It wasn’t long after that that they were off. As they headed up the hill to the road, Tomas turned back and waved one last time. Mirabel could tell he and his family were close and that they meant a lot to him. It meant a lot to her that he was willing to leave them to help her find her way home. He was almost too nice, she thought for what was sure not to be the last time.

He turned back and adjusted the strap of the bag on his shoulder, prompting Mirabel to do the same. The bag wasn’t particularly heavy, at least not compared to the milk buckets she’d been carrying for the past two days. It held only the few essentials needed for the journey, including, of course, a lunch for on the road.

The trip was roughly a day’s journey on foot, and so they’d be spending the night in town. How many nights, however, was dependent upon how soon they found someone who could help them. The prospect of finding someone who could read had excited Mirabel enough that she’d managed to put aside her exhaustion for the time being, though she was sure it would return in no time at all due to the hours of walking.

Fortunately, unlike the last time she’d made a long walk, she had shoes. Fairly nice shoes, at that. It was fortunate for her that Adelaide had roughly the same size of feet as she did. While they were far from the perfect fit of her shoes at the palace, they fit well enough that she hoped to avoid blistering.

Her shoes at the palace would be hardly fit for any walking of this kind either, she thought to herself. Those shoes had been made only for either dancing or simple garden walks. Nothing quite so rigorous as a day’s journey of walking.

They soon reached the top of the hill, the road now in sight. Mirabel considered the road for a moment. It wasn’t a particularly well travelled road, but it was worn enough that perhaps even in her slippers she might have been able to manage the walk. Her slippers hadn’t handled the sticks and underbrush of the forest well, and had been left behind at the cottage, almost in shreds.

Fortunately, her nightgown had survived. Adelaide had washed it, and while it still had a few bits of fraying from the trip with her kidnappers and the escape, it was still wearable. It, unlike her slippers, had been packed in the bag as well for her to take with her in hopes that she would be going home and not having to return to the cottage. As much as she may have enjoyed her stay, she really wanted to go home. She missed her own family.

They reached the road, and while it may have been rocky, it was better than scrambling through underbrush in a frantic attempt to escape the forest before the sun went down. At that thought, her eyes turned to the forest just in the distance. From where she stood, it was a beautiful forest, tall trees reaching for the sky. But all it held for her was the memories of hours of riding in a cart, bruises forming as she was jolted up and down endlessly.

She swallowed and drew her cloak tighter around her, looking away. Now wasn’t the time to think of that. She quickened her pace and drew up beside Tomas, who had outpaced her due to his long legs. They were going to town, and that was all that mattered. Not the forest.

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A/N Realized I didn't upload this yet, so here you go! New chapter :D What do you think? This one took a little while longer for me to write... difficult stuff. Hope you like it :3