It was next evening, when the three girls finally pulled their horses to a stop at the top of a hill.

"Get a load of this place." Renee mumbled.

"It's so cute!" Aramina sighed dreamily "Makes me think of Giselle!"

Viveca groaned "And I was looking forward to something… homey."

Renee snickered then nudged her horse forward.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Viveca asked, looking at the small cabin and large barn.

"It is." Aramina answered "There's Miette!"

The kitten was sitting on top of the fence, and seemed to be talking to the horses. But the girls quickly dismissed that as impossible.

When they reached the cabin, the front door opened and Corinne stepped out.

Her face lit up and she smiled when she spotted the three girls "Hey!"

The three quickly dismounted, then the four hugged.

"What are y'all doing out here?"

"Well," Renee answered "There's a little problem. You probably already read it in the newspaper."

Corinne chuckled "Don't get the newspaper out here."

Viveca gasped "Civilization is further than I thought!"

"What happened?" Corinne asked, slightly sure she already knew.

"The Prince went missing about two weeks ago." Renee answered as Corinne nodded her head slowly "They declared him dead the other day without finding the body."

Corinne crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby tree "What about the musketeers?"

"They're all missing."

Now that she didn't know.

"So," Aramina said "We were going to see if we could track down the Prince and see if he's really dead."

Corinne rubbed her forehead "He's fine physically. But mentally, he's not doing so good."

"In other words, he's pretty much the same." Renee commented, then she froze "Wait. You know where he is?"

"Yeah." Corinne answered "He's sitting in my living room."

"What!?" The other three girls gasped.

"Long story." Corinne said "Too long. But, to make it short "He was attacked, either fell or was thrown into a river, my mom found him and now… he doesn't remember anything."

"What!?"

"He doesn't remember he's the crown prince of France."

"What!?"

Corinne's eyebrows raised "Are you going to say 'what' every time I say something?"

"The prince. Is here." Viveca said slowly "In your house?"

"Yeah."

Renee quickly clamped a hand over Aramina's mouth before she could exclaim again.

"I'm not sure what to do." Corinne said "We can't take him back to Paris if he doesn't know he's the prince. Plus, that would put his life in danger again." she shook her head "Not to mention he has an arrow wound in his right shoulder."

"Wow." Renee said "He's been busy."

Aramina pushed Renee's hand from her mouth "So, Corinne. It's been forever! What have you been doing?"

The blond laughed "Aramina. Ir's only been two weeks and like... three days."

"So... tell us!"

"You pretty much heard it. The day after I got back, Louis showed up."

Renee smirked "You called him Louis."

Corinne rolled her eyes "Sorry. He thinks we're weird when we call him 'Your Highness' so I had to switch. What have y'all been up to?"

The three girls quickly caught her up on the past weeks events.

"We miss training." Viveca ended with a sigh "It was so fun!"

"Well, I do have a scarecrow you can fight with" Corinne chuckled slightly as she turned around "Come on inside."

She led the others to the house, pushed open the door and stepped in.

"Whoa." Renee mumbled.

The cabin was smaller on the inside than it had looked on the outside.

The living room and kitchen were connected, a small table sat in the middle. Two doors, not far from each other indicated where the rooms were.

The living room had two rocking chairs and a small couch. Louis was sitting on the couch.

"He is here." Viveca whispered, then she cocked her head "What happened to his hair?"

Corinne's eyebrows lowered "Mom." she said stepping over to the lady "Did... you cut his hair?"

"Mm-hm." Marie nodded "Looks nice doesn't it?"

Corinne opened her mouth then closed it again. Yes, he looked nice. But he was still the prince!

"You know." Viveca whispered "The whole stable hand look works on him."

Corinne rolled her eyes "Sit down."

Louis smiled at the girls "Hi."

"Hi." Aramina waved.

"Louis. These are my three best friends." Corinne introduced "Aramina, Viveca, and Renee. They're from Paris."

"It's nice to meet y'all." Louis got a slight feeling that he knew those girls from somewhere, but, like Corinne, he just couldn't place it "What brings y'all all the way out here?"

"Just came to see an old friend." Renee answered, not exactly sure how to answer the Prince.

"Are they staying?" Marie whispered.

Corinne shrugged "I don't know. Do we have anymore room?"

"They could bunk in the attic with you."

Corinne chuckled "Viveca is going to have a heart attack."

Marie glanced over at the three girls then at her daughter "How did you four become friends?"

"If I knew, I would tell you." Corinne answered "We're all so different it's not even funny. I guess it was just the fact that all four of us wanted to be musketeers."

Marie nodded then turned to the small group "Would you girls like to stay? You can sleep with Corinne in the attic."

Viveca gasped "Attic?"

"We don't want to cause any unneeded trouble." Renee said quickly.

"You won't." Corinne said "Besides. If you stay..." she smiled brightly.

The four girls beamed "We can practice together!"

"Practice what?" Louis asked confused.

"Nothing." Corinne answered. She smiled as she turned around. Not to mention when Louis finally gets his memory back... that might be when they could become musketeers!

"Why don't you go do your evening chores?" Marie suggested "Dinner should be ready by then."

"Yes Ma'am." Louis and Corinne said in unison as they both headed for the door.

Louis opened the door and allowed Corinne to pass through then followed.

"Wait wait wait." Viveca said "The Prince is doing chores?"

"Since he only has one arm to work with, he lets out and brings in the horses." Marie answered "He can use his other arm a little bit now, so that helps."

Renee stood up from where she had sat on the floor "Let's go see if we can help."

Viveca's face twisted into a look of disgust "In a... barn?"

"This is going to be so much fun!" Aramina squealed "Experience stories in real life!" then she bounded out the door.

Renee grabbed Viveca's wrist and pulled her out the door.

Marie shook her head and smiled "I have a Prince, a fashionist, a musician, a romantic and a... well... Corinne, under one roof on a farm." she chuckled "This could get interesting."

"Nice barn." Viveca groaned as she and the other two stepped inside.

Corinne smiled from where she was mucking out a stall "What's up?"

"We came to help." Aramina said "What can we do?"

Corinne stared at the three for a long moment "Renee, have you ever milked a cow?"

"No."

"Alright." the blond sat down her pitchfork and let out a high pitched whistle. A few moments later, a heifer came wandering in "This is Jaylee." Corinne said as she led the cow over to where a stool was sitting and secured her to a post "Wanna give it a try?"

"Sure." Renee shrugged then went and sat down on the stool "What do I do?"

Corinne quickly showed her how to get the milk from the cow "Have fun." then she turned to Aramina "There's a hen house on the back of the barn. Baskets are already out there."

"Yes!" Aramina cheered "I get to collect eggs!" then she ran off.

"And Viveca..." Corinne stared at the brunette for a long moment, trying to think of a farm chore that wouldn't be totally evil to give to the fashionista "There's some clothes lines out behind the house. Fold and take in?"

Viveca sighed with relief "Clothes. Yes, clothes I can do." then she happily left the barn.

Corinne picked up her pitchfork and turned to resume her chore "Until she sees the clothes."

Two minutes later, there was a high pitched scream.

"I think she reached the clothes line." Corinne cringed.

Renee laughed "Hey, I think we have some milkshakes."

Aramina came walking into the barn with a basket "Well, I got a couple of eggs. But I think they're a little scrambled."

The three burst out laughing just as Marie came running in "What happened?"

"Nothing, Mom." Corinne answered "Viveca just saw our wardrobe. That's all." she finished mucking out the stalls then started putting the food in the bins.

"Here's the horses." Louis said as he walked in leading Tessa, Alexander just following behind "Who screamed?"

"Viveca." Corinne chuckled "Here, I'll take 'em." When she took the lead from him, their hands slightly met, causing both of them to freeze momentarily.

Renee and Aramina glanced at each other as Corinne hurried over to the stall, her face taking on a pink hue.

Aramina smiled them mouthed "Oooh."

"Thanks." Corinne said a moment later "You... um... can go inside. See if mom needs anything."

Louis nodded "Uh... yeah. Sure. Right." with a nod he quickly retreated from the barn.

"What was that all about?" Renee asked with a smirk.

"What?" Corinne asked locking the stalls.

"The blushing and the stammering." Aramina answered "Your fingers barely bumped and it about sent the both of you into oblivion."

Corinne tossed a forkful of hay into Alexander's stall "I... don't know what you're talking about."

"We're talking about your strangely endearing crush on Prince Louis." Renee said.

"What!?" Corinne dropped her pitchfork and spun around "Are you crazy!?"

"No."

"I do not have a... like Prince Louis!"

Aramina smiled "Are you sure? Your face turned awfully pink a little bit ago."

"That doesn't mean anything." Corinne shook her head then turned back to her work.

Renee shrugged then reached down and picked up a couple of dried clumps of mud "Let's see how she's been doing." she whispered to Aramina, who nodded mischievously.

Renee took aim then shot the mud straight at the back of Corinne's head.

Right before it hit, Corinne spun around and swung the handle of the fork through the clump.

Renee picked up a couple more "Heads up!" then she threw them.

Corinne easily destroyed those too.

Aramina joined in the throwing as the clumps of mud flew across the barn. Corinne smashed every single one of them with the handle to the pitch fork.

"Dinner's do-" Louis started as he stepped in the barn, but was cut off as a he was suddenly pelted with small pieces of dirt "Whoa!"

The three girls gasped "Sorry!"

Louis shook his head to get the dirt out of his hair "Please tell me that was just dirt."

"It was." Corinne said trying without success not to laugh.

Louis looked over at her "What?"

"Nothing."

"Mm-hm." he turned around "Dinner's done. Your mom said hurry."

Corinne placed the tool on it's nail on the wall "Come on. Don't forget the milk."

Renee looked down at the pail "Thank goodness there's no mud in there."

With a laugh, the three girls headed for the house.

Viveca was sitting in the living room when they entered. She took one look at them and frowned "I don't even want to know."

Marie took the pail of milk and put it away "Wash up."

"You two go first." Corinne said "I may turn the water brown."

Renee and Aramina quickly washed off their hands and faces, then Corinne got off all the dirt that was stuck to her from playing baseball with the mud.

"May I ask why y'all were playing with mud?" Louis asked, a sight sparkle in his brown eyes.

Corinne shrugged "To have fun. That's all."

Dinner was served, and since there were only three chairs at the table, they all just crashed in the living room.

"This is really good." Viveca commented "What is it?"

Marie opened to mouth to answer but Corinne caught her attention and shook her head.

"So..." Marie said instead "How do you like the farm?"

"It's amazing!" Aramina gushed, then she went on about how adorable everything was and whatnot.

Renee leaned over to Corinne "What are we eating?"

Corinne smiled "Rabbit."

"Ah."

As soon as they were done eating, the dishes were washed and they all moved outside to enjoy the cool of the evening and watch the sunset.

"Now this is living." Viveca sighed as she leaned back and looked at the sky.

"Agreed." Renee nodded.

"It's sooooo romantic." Aramina added "Now I know why everyone always gets their first kiss at sunset."

Corinne chuckled "If you say so." she looked around "Hey. Where's Lou-" she gasped as she was suddenly doused with freezing cold water "What!?" She looked around to see Louis standing off to the side of the porch, an empty bucket in his hand.

Corinne stared at him "Did you just...?"

"No no. Of course not." Louis said innocently as he sat down the bucket. Then he grabbed another one, which was also full of water and threw it's contents on her "Okay. Maybe I did. It's payback for the mud."

Corinne jumped up from where she had been sitting "Payback? We'll see about that."

Louis grinned then splashed her with yet another bucket of water. Without waiting another second, he spun around and took off running, Corinne right behind him.

"For a city boy, he sure can run." Marie chuckled.

(Sorry for the three long boring chapters, but I promise action comes soon! Here's a little Sneak-Peek into the next chapter:

"Are you sure you couldn't find the body?" Philippe asked his henchman.

"Yes sir." The man answered "I searched the river. Maybe an animal carried him off."

"You're sure it's not possible that someone found him?"

"No one lives anywhere near there, Sire. It would be days before anyone would find him. By then, he'd be dead."

"And everyone knows who Louis is." Philippe stood up from his seat "So no one has found him." his eyebrows furrowed "Or you had better hope. I want you to go back to where you left him and find some proof that he is indeed dead." he looked back at his henchman "And if you should find him alive, kill him."

"Yes Sire."

Well, bear with me folkz! Happy Readingz! Laterz!)