CHAPTER ONE: The Forest for the Trees

"Eponine!"

She is up in a flash - quite a remarkable feat, considering the deadweight of hair attached to her head. Eponine Thenardier slips downstairs and rushes to peer out the small window from the top of her tower to smile at the boy and his spotted steed down below.

"Hey, Eponine!" calls Prince Marius Pontmercy, grinning from freckled ear to freckled ear as he dismounts his horse. "Let down your hair?"

"You know it!" she exclaims, sending her long brown locks tumbling over the edge, where it lands in his waiting grasp. "Try not to fall this time?" Eponine teases, as he tugs lightly on her hair, placing his boot against the wall of the tower. It takes him a second to find purchase on the rough rocks, but he begins to pull himself up. Eponine tries to ignore the annoying little tugs at her scalp as he does.

He's still grinning as he starts to climb, although it does begin to appear a little strained as he works to pull himself up. "You fall off one tower," he huffs at her, sighing as he nears the top, "and they never let you forget it." Marius grabs a hold of her hand as she offers it, and she pulls him into the room. He seats himself on what has become his chair: a stylishly ornate wooden stool. Eponine seats herself on it's twin. These are the only things she really has to offer him to sit upon besides the bed in her loft, which is upstairs.

"Don't you ever think about leaving this place?" he asks her suddenly, his gaze moving from it's languid drift across the empty space around her to her face.

"Not really," she answers him. The truth is, if he asked her to be his, she'd leave this tower in a heartbeat. "But tell me more about the goings-on at your fancy castle," Eponine changes the subject, swinging her legs out to bump his shins with her foot. "That's always more interesting. How's M. Courfeyrac? He still chasing the handmaidens around the castle?"

Marius' face grows serious. "I discovered a letter from my father the other day. It - it turns out my grandfather has been keeping them from me. He wanted a Republic, like in Liberté and Égalité, and spent lots of time talking with the ruler. My grandfather didn't approve, so he threatened to disown him. My father ... I thought he left after my mother died, but my grandfather sent him away, saying it was the last straw. I think it was because he didn't need my father as an heir anymore: he had me."

Disturbed, Eponine reaches out to place a hand on top of his. "Are you alright? That's a lot to take in, I mean. Your father and all ... I can see why your grandfather disowned him ..." she trails off, unsure how to continue. Eponine doesn't consider herself to be good at comforting; she's spent her whole life in a tower, after all. "What are you going to do?"

"I've been doing some research," Marius goes on, "and I don't blame my father, Eponine, not for his beliefs - but my grandfather has been hiding this from me the whole time. My father - I'd always thought he was some evil villain because that's what my grandfather had me believe, and now I feel terrible. I think - I think I don't want to be royalty anymore if that's the cost. I want to leave the castle."

From his expression, Eponine could tell he was being completely serious, even as her own face shifts into a dubious expression. Marius could hardly climb a tower, let alone live without his pampered, luxurious lifestyle. How could even even consider leaving when he knew nothing about living like the poor? "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I want my grandfather to know how much he hurt me. I can't live with him until he apologizes." Marius scrunches up his face, heaving a sigh. "I have one more affair to attend to before I can leave - I'm supposed to visit Liberté and Égalité's newly elected leader. I'm actually looking forward to going now that I realize what a republic is, and how much fairer it is to the people. Then I guess I'll be looking for a new place to stay." Marius glances around her tower. "Too bad I couldn't just come to live with you, Eponine."

Her cheeks blush. "My parents would probably hold you out for ransom before the end of the day, Marius." She tries not to think too much about what it would be like to live with Marius, to have him all to herself and to not have worry about her parents or his grandfather looking for them. It was simply a fantasy; a dream that could not be.

"Maybe I'll ask Courfeyrac," Marius concedes. The son of a duke or somesuch, Courfeyrac was Marius' closest friend and advisor. The two had known each other from a very young age and grown up together. From what Eponine could recall from Marius' descriptions, Courfeyrac was a tail-chaser and flirtatious ladies' man with a wonderful sense of humor. She had the feeling she would get along well enough with him if they ever met.

"The kingdom's a big place," she says slowly, thoughtfully. "But with everyone looking for you, it's a good idea to stay away from towns and cities. That's where they'll expect you to go, and that's where you'll be most easily recognized. I'd say there's not a single man, woman, or child in this whole land who doesn't know your face, Marius."

"So the woods, then." Marius had finally seen the forest for the trees.

"You can stay nearby," she suggested eagerly, leaning forwards, "and when you come to visit me I can give you food."

Marius frowned at this, his already doubtful face tilting the corners of his lips downwards. "Don't you already not get enough to eat?"

Shrugging, Eponine waved that off. "My parents would never let me starve. I get by well enough. I can always you know," she tugged at her hair, "sell some of this, and you could go buy the food for me." She would never accept charity from Marius, but she was happy to let him buy things for her with her own money, earned from the sale of her blessed magical hair. Her mother never noticed if a few inches were cut off every once in awhile; it grew back soon enough.

"What about the rumours?" Apparently, there was a group of mischievous revolutionaries around in the woods, looking for recruits to help them overthrow the throne. They were wanted all across Fraternité, especially their leader, who had once been a prince himself according to the legends, and had left his kingdom, the kingdom of Liberté, a republic.

"They wouldn't hurt you," she snorts idly, picking at the fabric of her skirts. "You're royalty, remember? They want to overthrow you, not kill you."

"So are you," Marius retorts in return, laughter dancing in his eyes. He's convinced she the long-lost princess of Égalité, named something-or-another. Eponine just laughs off the notion like she always does, a cheerful sound. She likes that fact that Marius believes she could be a princess. It gives her hope that someday he will whisk her away to be a real princess at his castle.

"You should probably go. My mother will be here soon, and she's not afraid to hurt you," Eponine says, standing up and shooing him towards the window. Gathering her brown hair, she launches the armful out into the air so Marius can begin his descent.

Soon enough, she's watching as he rides away on his steed, Napoleon.

AN: Marius you adorably oblivious boy. Anywhoo, the plot thickens!