Jeb's new shift led him to the kitchens first, with several hours in the gardens later. After his long ride on one of the borrowed horses, he took a quick shower, and found his way down there with the help of a map his father had drawn for him.

Soon after, Jeb realized why going through the actual kitchens to get to the back door was not a bright idea on his part, though it was already too late to turn around and leave the other way. The time was just after lunch, and while he hadn't had time to eat, he still wasn't hungry after the breakfast he'd had with his father earlier. Of course, the castle's cooks never stopped cooking. After lunch, there was dinner to cook, after that, cleaning up, sleep, and breakfast early in the morning.

"Young man!" One of the heftier women in the kitchen hurried up to him, fixing her hat atop her head as she did so, and bearing a tray of pastries. "Oh, young man! Jeb Cain, isn't it?" She didn't give him a chance to do more than nod in agreement. "Your dear father mentioned you were coming, a nice man, a very nice man, just needs to get a little more healthy food into that system of his. I can see you take after him…" She stepped back, studying Jeb, and he stared back at her with surprise. "Here you go, then, eat up, eat up."

Before he could refuse, Jeb found the pastry brimming with cream already in his palm, taking a small bite of it. "Than-thanks." It was a good pasty, though overly sweet and surprising for Jeb. He wasn't normally a fan of too much sugar on his food, but putting the pastry down now seemed rude to him. "I… I do have to go to my shift now."

"I'll see you then, young man!" She'd put down the tray, and grinned broadly at him, patting him on the shoulder in a motherly fashion. "Feel free to come back for pastries whenever you like now, eat more, young man, eat more."

"Right. I will…" Taking another bite out of the newly gained treat, he returned the smile tentatively, heading out the door and past a couple of snickering guards.

--

After breakfast, both Az and DG went off to lessons. DG had to learn proper posture and bearing for a princess, Az went off to foreign relations: both classes sounded boring, though she'd much rather be in DG's place. At least learning how to walk and talk was easy.

Several minutes into the class, she'd already fallen asleep several times, and the man lecturing her began to complain about her attention span more than he was lecturing on relationships between Oz and Ev. To Az, they barely mattered. She knew enough basic history to get her through life, but DG was taking the throne, and DG should know all of these itty-bitty details a crazy historian decided to write down, Az did not.

The exasperated professor decided to let her go after only an hour of verbal torture, and off to a dance class she went. Dancing, compared to any other class at least, was always fun. Glitch spun her around the room for a few hours, making the woman almost forget that the rest of the world existed. It was relaxing, learning how to dance.

Finally, that hour passed as well, and after grabbing a bowl of fruit from the kitchens and a book from her rooms, Azkadellia made her way down to her favorite lake in the gardens. The entire place was surrounded by thousands of different flowers, several trees, and a swing facing the statue of an angel in the middle of the water. Oftentimes, if she dipped her fingers into the chilly lake, little fishes would come to swim around them beating their toothless lips at her skin and making her giggle.

With the sun up and shining brightly, Azkadellia chose the shaded swing beneath a particularly large oak tree, pausing to settle down and watch a couple squirrels chase each other across the lawn before opening the book on her lap. Every page, she would reach her hand down to the bowl of fruit, plucking the occasional grape or strawberry or piece of orange to draw it to her lips.

It was peaceful, calm, quiet; just the way Az loved it. No one bothered to go into the gardens in mid-afternoon aside from the several guards, and of course her own massive shadows, who stood several meters off now, watching the still air.

Az never understood how a guard's life worked. They always appeared interested in the surroundings, always alert of what was around them, and never seemed to get bored with the same scene, day by day. She tried to create variety for her guards by picking different parts of the garden to stroll through.

With the end of yet another tale in her book, Azkadellia got up, leaving both book and bowl of fruit on the swing to pick up later, she made up her mind to follow the rose bushes around, just for a little bit. Sitting down for so long, even with the interlude of a dance, made the woman restless, anxious for a little bit of fun.

Tossing her guard a smile without any returned expression, she picked her way through the grass, stopping in front of a particularly large, red rose to run her fingers along the velvety petals. It was so beautiful. This was what Az needed more of in her life: the simple beauty of joy. She had Deege, and her happiness, of course, but as selfish as it felt, she wanted her own. She wanted the life she'd dreamt of with DG when they were little children, she wanted someone to give her roses and tell her they loved her. What woman wouldn't?

Her mind flitted briefly back to walking in on Wyatt Cain holding out a bouquet of roses for DG. The look on her little sister's face was to die for, and locked in her memory forever. Pure, simple joy. Caught up in the memory, she hadn't noticed that she plucked the rose from it's stem and was holding it closer to her face than before, nor had she noticed a young man approach.

"Beautiful, aren't they?" Jeb approached Az, keeping in mind what his father had said and starting up a conversation just because. She looked quite picturesque, holding the flower up to her nose, and appearing quite lost in thought, and for a while, Jeb couldn't think of what to say, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.

Az whirled at the sound of the voice, her eyes opening wide and the memory of her father and sister fading. "Oh, oh yes…" It took a few seconds to calm down again, as she nodded and gave him a hesitant smile. "They are. Sorry, you startled me a bit. I didn't expect anyone else to be here at this time… I think I should leave, perhaps."

"I was assigned here, guard duty." Jeb shrugged, conscious of the gun he had at his side, and her gaze when it landed on it. "No, no, please. It was my fault, I interrupted your walk, don't leave. Go ahead, I'll be on my way, patrolling." He was just as uncertain in his words, picking them carefully around her.

"Goodness no, I couldn't… I mean… I don't know, I'm just…"

A question hung from his lips, and as much as he wanted to suppress it, it slipped anyway. "Azkadellia, why are you afraid of me?" The moment Jeb asked, he wanted to turn around and walk away, as it had come out sounding impertinent for his stature.

"I'm… I don't know, Jeb." She looked down, muttering his name barely audibly and glancing down at the rose she held cradled in her hands. "I really don't know. It's just that, I've always… I guess I've always expected someone… someone like you to come and kill me some day. Kill her, not be, but… you know…" The flower slipped through her fingers, Az watched it fall, not wanting to look up at him again.

Jeb promptly bent down and picked up the rose, holding it out to her. "I'm not going to hurt you. Not only would it be completely immoral, but I've got no grudge against you, Azkadellia. She was the one who destroyed my life, not you, you needn't be afraid of me."

Gingerly, Azkadellia took the rose, the memory of DG and Cain hovering close to the front of her mind once again, and a small, genuine smile spread across her face. "It's silly of me to be afraid. I know that. Really, I am sorry. I'll go on my walk then… and you continue on your guard duty, okay?" She glanced up at him, meeting the gaze, for once without fear, convinced the sincerity in his voice.

"All right," not exactly friends, but at least she wasn't terrified anymore. It was better than watching her run away once more. Jeb brushed a hand through his hair, watching Azkadellia walk away from him before turning to continue on his way.

Guard duty in the gardens was rather nice.

Author's Note: Jeb's a scrawny little thing! That kid needs to eat more.
Jeb: I do not. I'm fine. I'm just not hungry often.
Shut up and eat your pastries, kid. Honestly.
Jeb: I'm older than you.
What did I say? Don't make me sic the head cook on you.
Jeb: Yes'm. .

Anyyywayy. I figured I should add a disclaimer or something somewhere, 'cos everyone's doing it. So I don't own these guys, I didn't own them in the past chapters, and I won't own them in the future ones either unless I come across a lot of money or win the lottery and buy them. Which I would do. But I didn't yet. Because Lena is poor.

Thankoo to y'all for the reviews, keep reading, stay healthy, whatever it is you do.