(Nathan)

I leaned forward to press a soft kiss to the top of Sang's head. It lolled back against my chest as I held her carefully against me, not wanting to hurt her anymore but not wanting her to slip off of the horse either. My arms tightened reflexively. I would never let anything hurt her ever again.

"Don't squeeze her side Nathan." Victor called from behind. His voice was steady but if I were to look back I was sure I would recognize the frantic light in his eyes.

I was so so tired. We'd been riding since mid morning yesterday, alternating between a canter and a gallop. Now it was well past mid day and I was tired and frustrated and scared. So so scared. And so while I wanted to snap at Kota and Victor as they pelted me with reminders every quarter hour I didn't, because I knew they were just as scared and frustrated and tired as me; only they didn't have our little angel in their arms to soothe it away.

"If I held her anymore loosely she'd be at risk of falling off Victor."

"I know, I know, I just.." He trailed off. Even over the sounds of thundering hooves I thought I could hear his growl of frustration.

"Perhaps we should take a break." Kota shouted over his shoulder, pulling in the reins of his horse. Victor and I followed suit.

"Why are we stopping?" victor cried in frustration.

"We're all tired, the horses are tired, we need to rest or something bad will happen." His eyes flickered to Sang who was still nestled in my arms.

"Not for the night!" Victor protested, "Sang needs medicine, she needs food, she needs an actual bed."

Kota shifted his tormented gaze to Sang once again, warring within himself, do what was best for us or do what was best for her?

"How long will the drug last Kota?" I asked, drawing his gaze to me.

"Dr. Green said about 12 hours, but for someone of her size, who hasn't eaten or slept properly, I would think it would last a bit longer."

"While she sleeps she can't feel anything. While she sleeps we don't have to worry about her-"

Victor scoffed, "the day I cease worrying about her is the day all the stars fall from the heavens."

"Don't speak so soon brother," Kota interrupted, "once she is safe within the walls of the keep we'll never have to worry about her again."

Our eyes all went to her sleeping form at once, her brows were furrowed and her pink lips were twisted in a tempting pout. Asleep we needn't worry, but awake...

"We stop to eat." Kota said bringing his horse to a full stop before leaping off. He held out his arms expectantly and I handed off our greatest treasure to him. Victor jumped off his horse and collected the provisions from the saddle bags as Kota ambled towards the shaded ground. He slid down the oak, he'd certainly hear about any tears or stains later from Gabriel, cradling Snag in his arms.

I was slower to get off my horse. I took the reins of all three of our animals and tied them to a low hanging branch, surrounded by rough shrubs for them to graze on.

Asleep we needn't worry, but there was no telling the trouble she would find once she was awake.

...

"Hello?" a soft voice called. "Hello is someone there? I-I'm in need of some assistance."

I pulled the reins of my horse, not quite sure if my solitude had gotten the best of me or if there was someone calling out. The voice was far too lovely to have been a real person. And yet-

"Hello. P-pl-please help me." it was a bit stronger this time, though no less beautiful. I guided my horse to the left of the fork in the trail, the opposite of where I needed to go. What did it matter though? I was late already. The storm had kept me in the neighboring village for far longer than expected, what was another half hour one way or another? Especially if I were to meet the charming damsel in distress with the beautiful voice?

"Is someone there?" I called out, wondering if the girl was hurt or if she had just strayed from the trail and gotten lost in the thick underbrush.

"Yes! Yes, I'm here, I-I-I'm in a t-t-tree."

I let out a little chuckle. In a tree? She had trailed off there at the end so it was hard to be sure, surely she hadn't said in a tree. Unless of course it was some strange figure of speech from her village, in that case stuck up in a tree would make perfect-

As I rounded the bend of the trail I saw a large tree had fallen across the path, and in the midst of it's branches was a girl.

I felt my lips twitch, but I tried my best to remain expressionless as I asked, "How did you manage to get stuck up there?"

She blushed and pressed a finger to her lips, "I use these trails quite often, I-I like to explore. I suppose the storm knocked the tree over." She finished with a shrug and a bashful smile.

Her smile was like a strike of lightning in that i could almost feel the electricity surging through my limbs, paralyzing me. She was so beautiful when she smiled, when she blushed, when she spoke. In my addled state it was if I could find no other word to describe this enchanting creature. An image of her overtook my mind, in a beautiful gown under shimmering lights with soft music playing in the background. Holding onto me as we danced, smiling at me.

I shook myself, realizing what a fool I must look, standing about daydreaming while she was stuck in an infernal tree of all things. Speaking of which...

"If you don't mind my saying so, that doesn't really explain how you came to be in this predicament."

Her blush intensified, "While I was exploring I found a flower, it grows by a pond that's not too far from here. It's a Draconean river lily. I guess you could find it near any body of fresh water but I've only seen it here sir. The tree didn't look quite so hard to navigate from the other side, and I really needed the flowers, so I thought I'd just try to climb over." She pressed her finger a bit harder on her bottom lip, "As you can see my plan didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped."

I smiled up at her, "any chance you could find your way back the way you came?"

"Ah no, I tried that a little while back and it didn't go very well." She raised her hand from her lip to grasp the branch next to her, "would you mind directing me out from your side sir?"

She asked so sweetly, as if she didn't realize she already had me in the grasp of her delicate hands.

"It would be my pleasure. There's a smaller branch to you left and down a ways I don't know if you can see it. Just reach your foot out, just like that..."

And so I coached her down, everything was going fine until she ran out of foot holds, and even then I just had to leap off my horse and hold out my arms and she complied right away. To feel her in my arms was pure heaven. Afterwards helped her onto my horse and felt her slender arms wrap around my waist. We rode to her pond and found her elusive flowers, to which the explained the purpose of was to burn in order to create vapors that helped those with trouble breathing. Afterwards I asked her the use of each and every plant we came across, just to hear her beautiful voice.

It wasn't until I asked her if she ventured into the woods often and she stiffened that I realized something was wrong.

I turned my head over my shoulder to see her gaze cast downwards and her face drained of it's color.

"Do you mean do I take things from the woods very often?" She asked so softly that even with only a hair's breadth between us I could scarcely determine the words.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, baffled by her sudden shyness.

"I'm sorry sir, I just meant," she raised a finger to her lips, "Are you from here sir, not the village but maybe somewhere close by?"

"Yes, just to the east," I replied thinking of the high stone walls of BlackBourne Academy.

"Then you know the harshness of our laws in regards to stealing. I-I know that it's not right, to steal that is, but the people in my village, they really are in desperate need sir."

"Darling girl, " I said realizing through all of our talk I still hadn't learned her name, and she had yet to inquire about mine, "I don't think picking a few flowers really constitutes as stealing."

"No, perhaps not to you or I, but to the heads of the land it would be considered a crime of the highest offense!" Before I could put her mind at ease she continued, "The woods, they are considered property of the BlackBourne Academy, you need expensive permits to do anything in regards to it, be it hunting, or lumbering, or even picking flowers. The people who need the herbs don't have very much money, not many people in my village do."

I paused completely mystified, "Permits?"

"5 gold pieces a quarter, sometimes it goes up depending on the season but it's never less than that. It cheaper to buy land to plant on, or go to the butcher or baker in the next village over. The families who can't afford that make due."

"Like you?" I asked gently.

She flinched back as if she'd been struck, an angry flush filling her cheeks. "I don't do it for a profit. I do it to survive, and to help others to survive."

"I didn't mean-"

"I know it would be hard to understand, you obviously live a comfortable life," She said a bit softer, some of the anger leaving her eyes, "but sometimes you have to do something wrong in order to do what's right."

My heart ached at the thought of her having to endure anything harder than climbing out of a stupid tree. I wished that I could kneel and give her vows of love and protection, she'd gasp and blush and beg me to stand, but I wouldn't until the seriousness had left her face and all that remained was her brilliant smile. But there was nothing silly about this situation.

"How does one acquire one of these permits?" I asked, gently as not to stir her anger again.

"In the commons, all you have to do is ask for Mr. Hendricks. If you slip him something extra the process goes quite a bit quicker." She confided with thinly veiled disgust. I clenched the reins in my hands at the thought of what the 'something extra' entailed.

...

As I munched on my bread I couldn't help staring in the direction of her village, so small and quaint, and seemingly unexplainably destitute. She had lied to me about where she lived, or at least tried, bless her heart, claiming a small patch of land many miles west of the village she referred to as her own. It didn't escape me that she listed the opposite direction of where I had said I resided not a few moments before. It was easy to leave my horse grazing and follow her through the brush and brambles to her humble abode where she was greeted with screaming the likes of which I hadn't heard in a very long time.

Even then I longed to go to her and whisk my angel away from what was clearly her personal hell but the something didn't sit right with me. The BlackBourne Academy didn't use permits to limit the removal of resources from the forest, and if we did we would never think to charge such an exoberant price. Why had the complaint of such an imposition never reached our ears.

I couldn't help wondering if she had asked my identity that day if Sang herself would have been so forthcoming. How lucky I was that I had been wearing a merchants simple garb instead of my fine linens and crest which marked me as the noble class. How afraid she would have been of me then.

Not that her opinion of me was probably much better know, I thought with a snort.

I shook my head at the questioning stares of my brothers. "What if she hates us?"

After all how could she not? Every lie, every awful rumor she had ever heard had come to life the minute Luke and North knocked on her door.

As if reading my mind Kota replied, "Sang is a smart girl, brilliant really, to have learned so much just from reading and her own studies..." Kota stared down at her with a serene smile on his face.

Victor cleared his throat.

"She'll believe what she see's not what she's been told. She's witnessed the poison of false words enough times to have learned to make judgements for herself."

After that we fell silent. What she had seen so far was a group of feral admirers chasing her to the ends of the earth in order to possess her. How in God's name would they ever be able to convince her they were anything else.

Kota shifted and we all stood. He handed Sang off to Victor who pressed soft kisses along her brow before handing her to me. Our saddle bags were repacked and we were resaddled in a matter of minutes. Sang rested softly against my chest, my arms circling her once more. Asleep she was safe, but what would happen once she awoke?