The atmosphere between them was somewhat tense, leading Tomas to wonder if Dove was still hung up on the incident of the previous day. While they’d shared a few hesitant smiles back at the cottage afterward, he couldn’t help but worry that she was still upset over it. He wouldn’t blame her if she was, he thought. She had seemed rather emotional over it.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind along with with most of his discomfort, he glanced sideways at the pale girl beside him. She was huddled in her cloak, casting sneaking glances at her surroundings. She looked scared.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, brow creasing with worry. Her head lifted up in surprise, eyes the color of ice meeting his. She gave him a quick nod and a smile before returning to her huddled posture. It was the same response he got to everything lately. She didn’t even try to motion, just a smile and a nod. He had to admit, it worried him. Was she angry with him?

She cast a sideways glance at the forest to their right. He followed her gaze in curiosity. Perhaps whatever she was seeing would explain her odd behavior.

To him, though, the forest was as normal as could be. The tall pines swayed at their tips, waving gently to all passersby, of which there were few. Only those going to Winterthur came this far north. Not many chose to do so, and much less on that particular road. There was a main road that connected further south on the road they walked, and it was more frequently travelled than the current road they walked. They themselves would be travelling it once they reached it. But that was many hours off.

His eyes returned to Dove’s downcast face, and he frowned. He wasn’t sure what it was about the forest that unnerved her so much. It was the same forest she had been hiding in when he’d discovered her, after all. Why should she be so afraid of it?

In an attempt to alleviate the discomfort in the air, he spoke, asking one of the questions that had been most prevalent in his mind for the past couple of days.

“Why were your hands tied when I found you?” He realized how very blunt it sounded, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

Her head jerked up and her eyes once again met his. For a moment, the atmosphere grew awkward, but then she began to motion with her hands.

First she put her wrists together, as if they were tied together still. She paused for a moment and seemed to think what to do next. Then she reached her hands behind her head and pulled up the voluminous hood of her cloak, pulling it over her head and across her face. She pulled it off so he could see her again, and looked at him hopefully.

But all he could do was shake his head in confusion. He had no idea what she was trying to tell him. Her hands had been tied, but he knew that. He’d cut the ropes himself. As for the hood over her face, he really had no idea what that represented.

Her face fell, and her lips quirked to one side as she thought. After a moment, she just repeated her previous actions, which did nothing to clarify her meaning to Tomas.

“I really don’t know what you’re trying to say,” he said, his confusion clear in his voice. She frowned and bit her lip in thought, but he interrupted her. “How about I ask you some questions, and you can answer yes or no? Just nod your head or shake it. It would be easier.”

She nodded, and he was glad to see a bit of her former enthusiasm returning. Clearly the conversation was distraction enough from whatever thoughts she’d been having before. It reassured him that it wasn’t him that was causing her discomfort.

He thought for a moment on what his first question should be. Deciding to first confirm his mother’s notions, he asked, “Is your family of high standing in Lucerne?”

She nodded emphatically at that. His mother had been right in her assumptions, then. Now he thought about it, though, it did make sense. It explained many of her odd behaviors and strange incapabilities. Nobility were rarely taught to cook, after all.

He pondered on how to phrase his next question. He wanted to know why she was in Pommern if she was clearly belonged in Lucerne, but that wasn’t a question that could be answered with yes or no. Nor could his other question of why her hands were tied.

“Were you brought to Pommern of your own free will?” he asked, though he suspected he knew the answer. Her hands would hardly have been tied if she was acting under her own free will.

As he’d thought she would, she shook her head, just as emphatically as the first time. In what seemed to be a subconscious manner, she again drew the cloak around her protectively.

“Are you cold?” he asked. She looked at him and shook her head, but not letting go of the cloak’s edges, staying cocooned. He decided to let it go. Perhaps she just found security in having something wrapped around her.

He then asked the only question that to him explained why her hands had been tied. The fact that she was noble only made the thought more likely in his mind.

“Were you stolen from your home and brought here?” A nod, her face attempting to be nonchalant. “And you escaped your captors?” Another nod. “All by yourself?” When she nodded again, he couldn’t help but be faintly surprised. While he knew not to underestimate her, from what he knew of her so far she wasn’t the kind of person that could overpower someone else easily. However she had escaped, he doubted it was through her own strength. She had little enough of that, as was made obvious by her small frame.

A silence fell once more as he mulled over the new information. It was a less awkward silence than the previous one had been, but that could have been because he was distracted by his own thoughts.

She’d been kidnapped. He had to repeat the phrase in his mind more than once as he processed it. Probably to be held for ransom, he figured, since she was of noble birth. But why Pommern? Why not take her to Winterthur? Or why not simply stay in Lucerne? He felt like he was missing a large piece of the puzzle.

The feeling reminded him of when his father and him would have riddling games with each other. He always knew that the answer was there, hiding in plain sight, but only after his father gave him the answer would he find what he’d been missing. It always seemed so obvious afterwards, but he could never figure it out himself. He’d never been very good at riddles. He had a feeling that once he found the missing puzzle piece to the situation, though, it would seem as obvious as one of his father’s riddles.

He cast another glance at Dove as she walked beside him in her perpetual silence. Now that he was looking for the signs of nobility, he could see them plain as day. She had high cheekbones, a clear marker of nobility. The way she walked, as his mother had stated, was mincing, small and precise steps. He’d had to slow his own pace to compensate for hers, and hoped they’d still make it to the town by nightfall.

They’d already been walking for a few hours, and had made less progress than he’d hoped. He wished they had horses, or at least a mule. They’d make better time if Dove were riding instead of walking. She picked her steps far too carefully.

At the very least they should be well on the main road by the time night fell. It would be better to make it to town, though, and get rooms at one of the inns. It was what he normally did when he went to sell milk; since it was two day’s journey there and back, he would set off early in the morning and make it there by the time the sun was setting. He’d buy a room for the night and stay until the next day and sell his milk.

He crossed his fingers in hope that they would get there before dark. Walking past nightfall was never a safe idea.

Mirabel’s feet hurt. While she’d been in high hopes of her borrowed shoes protecting her feet from blistering, it appeared those hopes were in vain. The shoes were, of course, still intact, unlike her unfortunate slippers. She began to wonder if the ache in her feet was more from the shoes or more from the walking.

But still she continued to walk, trying her best to keep up with Tomas. It wasn’t fair, she thought, that his legs were so much longer. With his head towering at least a foot above hers, he definitely had the height advantage between the pair of them.

At least she was more awake now, she thought. They had been walking non stop for a few hours at the least, and it seemed that the constant movement was helping to keep her awake, contrary to what she’d thought would happen. She’d thought that the walking would only make her more tired. Although, she wouldn’t be all too surprised if later she was more exhausted than usual. For all she knew, she was running on adrenaline.

She found it mildly terrifying to be out in the middle of nowhere with no safety to be seen. The trees of the forest were a far sprint away, and without them there was nothing. She found herself huddling into her cloak in an attempt to hide herself. So much empty space scared her.

Tomas hadn’t said a word since his last question about her escape, and she wondered what he was thinking about. Probably about her answers, of course, but what about them she didn’t know. Did he believe her? She knew how odd it seemed that she had escaped on her own.

When he’d asked the question, if she’d escaped on her own, she’d hesitated a brief second before nodding. She wasn’t sure if she should count the horse as help or not. In the end it had been a hinderance, tossing her from it’s back and into the ravine, but she wouldn’t have been able to escape had it not been for the horse. She’d decided, in the end, that of course the horse didn’t count. She assumed he was talking about human help, after all, not unknowing animals.

It had been a fortunate escape. Had the other horse not spooked, she most likely would not have been able to get away. Not with those men watching her so closely. She’d never thought she’d have another chance to get away after that first attempt. She had been purely lucky.

The sun was high in the sky now, beating down on her wool covered back. Had it been summertime, she surely would have been sweltering already. She wondered if it was lunchtime yet. The food in her bag tempted her, but without knowing what time it was, she wasn’t sure if she should eat it yet or not.

She glanced at Tomas, his face blank as he wandered amongst his own thoughts. Surely he’d know what time it was. But how could she ask? Then again, if it was time to eat, wouldn’t he start to eat? She sighed softly. She had no experience with these sorts of things. Her lack of knowledge made her perhaps more uncomfortable than the rest of her circumstances combined.

She’d always been a smart girl, learning everything easily. She soaked up knowledge like a sponge, she’d been told. But everything she had learned had been from books and musty old scrolls, and none of it applied to her situation now. She knew fairytales, of course, which told of long journeys, but they were always described as far more glamourous than what she was going through. Fairytales lied, she’d discovered. Nothing was ever as glamourous as they portrayed.

Glancing at the sun and their wide empty surroundings again, she wished that they could be at the town already. She disliked walking. She’d much rather be on a horse, even sidesaddle. But she knew they wouldn’t reach the town until at least sunset, and until then she’d just have to suffer in silence. Literally.

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A/N Chapter Eighteen! Things are moving along again. What did you think? Let me know in the comments! (please? I'll give you a cookie)