This is my first Fanfic so enjoy! (:

Disclaimer: I don't own Deltora Quest

Warning: Spoiler for the end of the first, second and third series, if you have not read the books, DO NOT READ ON!

Jasmine looked around the city, people bustled from stall to stall and business owners ran around trying to sell their items. The Del market was crowded with eager people trying to get their hands on the strange and wonderful things that it had to offer.

She ran along the path until she reached a large tree. With easy grace she climbed to the top and peered through the branches at the view. Jasmine could see the Os Mine Hills and the River Tor. Although she had bad experiences in both, they were both very beautiful to look at.

Jasmine caught her eye on the palace. To her it was more like a suffocating prison then a fine castle. She missed the outdoors and her old home. Filli came from her tangled hair and sat next to her and Kree flew down from the sky and perched on a nearby branch. 'Things are so different now that the quest is over and now that Lief is King,' she thought to herself. She didn't fit in with the snobby palace guests that cared nothing except for what you looked like. And besides that, Lief had changed. The new Lief stays locked up in a study all day and attends meetings for hours on end. The old Lief however would be running around the streets of Del getting into mischief. Jasmine couldn't blame him though, and felt extremely sorry for Lief. He was barely 17 and had an entire kingdom weighing down on his shoulders.

Lief looked down at his desk, the dark wood reminded him of the trees he once slept under when he was on the quest for the belt. On Lief's desk sat an endless pile of letters, documents and more papers he had to read and sign. Lief in utter boredom picked up a report on the new road that was being built from Del to Ringle. 'I did not ask for this,' he thought to himself, 'I need to be free, this is no place for a person my age'.

Feeling extremely sorry for himself, Lief remembered the good old days when none of this pressure was ever around him. Days when he could climb on roofs, tease the Grey Guards and explore caves and tunnels with his friends. But apart from that he missed being able to go anywhere and do anything he wanted, and that's exactly what the quest was like. Lief missed the adventure and thrill of doing something for the sake of his home and loved the good company of his best friends: Barda and Jasmine. 'Others may think of Jasmine as a strange wild girl' he thought to himself, 'but to me she is one of my dearest friends and maybe even more than that...'

With that, Lief decided he had to get out of this jail cell. He opened the study door and saw that Doom was out in the corridor talking to one of the guards. Lief silently closed the door again, 'Doom would just send me back and say that it would be my duty to sit behind a desk'.

Lief hated that word, duty, it made his hands clench when ever someone said it.

He scanned the room looking for a different option. His eyes came across the window. He grabbed some rope that he had in some drawer and tied it to the windowsill. With a deep breath he grabbed the rope and jumped from the window. His feet smacked against the wall and he began to climb down the side of one of the palaces towers. Before he left, he had checked to make sure no guard was on duty underneath his study. Lief felt good inside as he slid down the rope, he was finally being himself, not King Lief but just plain Lief. Thinking about that he wondered what people would think to see their King climbing down a tower on a rope, Lief grinned at the thought. He longed to find someone to talk to. The stuffy elders that lived in the palace droned on and on about nothing and were extremely boring.

When he reached the ground he deliberately fell on his knees to ruin the white pants he was wearing. He hated more than anything that he had to act royal and dress royal. Before all this he was a black smith's son and so the first thing he decided to do was to go back to his old home, the forge.

The bellows were still resting against the fire area and Lief's old bedroom was still the same, just a bit dustier. After he was back in his old clothes, his boots, simple pants, faded blue tunic and his mother's cloak he left his old house and was off roaming the streets of Del. Now he was free.

Jasmine was still sitting in the tree, watching over the markets when she saw lief walking down the path. "Lief,"she cried out, a bit confused at his appearance, she had not seen Lief in those clothes since he had become King. "Jasmine, I am so glad to see you," he said climbing up the tree and sitting beside her.

" Should you not be signing documents or something, is that not your dut-,"

"Don't say that word, I hate it so much, do you have any idea how hard it is to be a King? All the meetings and manners and formal dinners," Lief cut her off, "it gives me a headache!"

Jasmine laughed at Lief's joke, "How did you get away, Doom keeps a pretty close eye on you?" Jasmine asked very interested, she could see a gleam in his eyes when she asked that question.

"Look back at the palace."

Jasmine turned around and saw a rope swaying in the wind that was tied to the second tallest tower, her face broke into a smile and so did Lief's.

'How like the old Lief' she thought, 'he's finally back.'