Sure enough, Airril woke Merida rudely by ripping her cloak-turned-blanket from her tightly curled form as the sky turned from pink and gold to blue. Frost covered the leaves around them and Merida's teeth were chattering so much she hardly noticed the grumbling her stomach was protesting with. Thoughts of the pastries her brothers had no doubt stolen from the kitchen since she'd last seen them filled her mind and made her will to get home even stronger.

"Breakfast," Airril dumped a small bundle of wild vegetables at her feet and Merida's shoulders slumped at the selection; at least he knew what was poisonous and edible.

"This looks delicious," she said sarcastically with a wide yawn.

"Sorry I can't whip up something spectacular." his tone was mildly offended as he sat himself across from her. "If you haven't noticed, we're not exactly living like royalty right now."

"I've noticed." she mumbed, beginning on her breakfast.

They continued walking, always following the one direction so they would have more chance of finding the end of their path sooner. While they travelled, Merida asked Airril questions, since he seemed so persistant on closing himself from the world and herself. Despite their similar humour, Merida detected an underlying bitterness in her new companion, and was determined to rid him of that. She knew her patience would not last long with such an attitude if they were stranded for a longer time than anticipated.

"Do you enjoy your time on land?" she asked.

"Not at all," he returned. "Sure, it's nice to clean myself up properly and have access to fresh food, but society reminds me of my lack of family."

She watched him silently, reminding herself to being that one up later as he continued. "But I'd rather just be out on the water, away from it all. Coming back just reminds me I have a duty to my clan and I'm under the leader's control. Out on the water there's a greater sense of freedom; I hardly remember I'm part of the Dunbroch clan."

"Don't you want to be part of the clan?"

"Not particularly," he murmured, raising his eyebrow in a cocky way Merida hated as her boot slipped on a rock in the way. She wished she'd at least dragged Angus along with her so she could seem more agile. "I have a grudge against Dunbroch's leaders." he pinned her with a look as he said this, and she tried to seem nonchalant on the subject. "I won't forgive them for taking my life away before I'd even started living."

"Is this the family thing again?" her words were thoughtless, and her feet paused when he turned and glared at her. She spoke again, her voice more careful and gentle. "What happened?"

"I doubt you wish for me to trouble you with my pities,"

"No, no, I'm sorry," she insisted, rushing forward a few steps to catch up with him. Her dress was constantly being snagged on the floor of the forest, and she had it pulled up in her hands to reveal her boots, her shins shown to just under her knees. She wasn't going to play the part of respectable young lady when lost in the forest with a boy who seemed he simply didn't care. "Tell me. I'll listen."

He didn't say anything for a long, time, but Merida kept her eyes on him. Finally, he spoke. "You know more about me than I do about you." was all he said.

"I'm not worth hearing about," she insisted, her pulse quickening at the thoughts of him discovering she was the princess of his clan. What would he do? Turn against her? Had she done something personally to 'ruin his life'? She doubted it, but she still wondered.

"A girl who thinks herself a man is insteresting enough." he joked, grinning to himself and Merida rolled her eyes.

"I do not think I'm a man! I just don't wish to live like I'm told a lady should."

"Ah, yes, my mistake." he chuckled to himself. "And how did you find yourself out here?"

"I came out here to get away from my family for a while."

"You ran away."

"No! I didn't run away! I was planning to go back before sunset, but then those wolves attacked me, and you showed up, and -"

"Why did you want time from your family?"

She weighed her answer, unsure of how much she should say. "They don't understand me."

"They treat you too much like a lady." he guessed. "They don't appreciate your love for shooting things, and they've tried to introduce you to a comb."

"They don't mind the way I act." she said through clenched teeth. "But I've been given a proposal, and there's really no way out of it."

"A marriage proposal?"

"Yes,"

He was silent for a moment, then gave her a blank look through half-closed eyes. "Congratulations."

"Well I don't want to get married," she continued. "That's why I'm out here!"

"You want to be alone as you go on in your life?" his voice had taken a slightly aggravated tone, and Merida sensed she was stepping on dangerous territory with someone who apparently didn't have anything but the sea.

"I want to get married one day, but not yet. I'm not ready to lose my freedom."

"And what if you miss your chance? What if, when you're ready, it's too late."

"That doesn't mean I should take the chance I'm offered now." Merida said sternly. "I had no choice in this whatsoever. And the one time I actually tried to talk to my fiancé he was rude and horrible, so no. I would gladly miss my chance if it meant getting out of a relationship that just - won't - work!"

Airril sighed as he continued walking, and he didn't look back at Merida as he spoke. "Did you ever think you might be the problem?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, in the short time we've known each other, you've managed to wear on my nerves a score of times at the very least -"

"Well then, would you mind telling me what I've done so I can correct it next time?"

"First of all, watch where you're riding. You almost crushed me for an introduction."

"That was completely your fault," Merida muttered darkly.

"What's more," he stressed the words to bring the attention back on himself. "Would be your smart remarks...your constant unlady-like presence, and your snoring was enough to keep me awake for a good portion of the night."

Merida's mouth hung open as he looked back to give her an amused look. "Ugh, you're so rude! Speaking to a lady like she's some -"

"As if she's a man?" he guessed. "Isn't that what you've been aiming for, my lady?"

"Ugh," the princess just snorted and turned her face away from him.

Small, more friendly conversations were held between them for the rest of the morning. Nothing too personal, however, as both knew getting too intimate would cause their personalities to clash once more. Their stomachs were complaining loudly at five hours to sunset, and Airril did his best to forage what hadn't been taken by the cold weather for them to eat. Merida accepted without anything more than a grumpy look and dreamed of apples while she bit into something raw and quite sour tasting.

Just as night was falling they stumbled upon a thin river winding its way though the woods.

"Perfect," Airril said decidedly, kicking a round rock into the running water. "We'll just follow this from now on. It has to lead somewhere."

"To the top of a mountain," Merida sung sarcastically. Airril ignored her and followed the river, his boots occasionally sloshing through the water that rose too high.

They camped on a small hill when their feet grew too tired and the woods too dark to see. The sound of the river was ever-present over the small fire they built and Merida frowned into the flames, her hands pressed on her demanding stomach as its gurgles got louder and louder.

"It's too dark to find anything more to eat." Airril told her from across the fire. "You should have eaten everything I gave you for lunch."

"It's not all flavourless vegetables, you know." she sneered.

"Then please," he leaned back in a superior way. "A roast with all the trimmings. What do you propose? Tree bark? Dirt, perhaps?"

Merida rolled her eyes and grabbed her bow and an arrow, standing and looking around with narrowed eyes. As if on cue, a pair of fluorescent eyes peered out at her from the distance and she let the arrow go surely. There was a quiet thud of the arrow hitting its target and she looked unmodestly toward Airril. "Dinner."

Fox would not have been either Merida nor Airril's first pick for dinner, but both were greatful to have something real to eat. Airril moved to sit closer to the redhead as she readied their meal, watching carefully as her fingers and his dagger did quick work of the fox before setting it over the flames. Merida wiped her bloody hands on the inside of her dress, followed by his dagger and handed it back without saying a word.

"You're quite handy, aren't you?"

"I used to camp in the highlands with my family all the time." she sighed for an explanation. "My mother would have died if she knew everything my father taught me. But, I guess it wasn't all for naught in the long run."

"Aye, I think I'd be lost out here on my own." Airril chuckled, tugging at the ends of his hair uncomfortably. "Thanks,"

"That's alright." she murmured with a small smirk.

}~*~{

Merida twitched in her sleep as something cold fell upon the tip of her nose and left a slight stinging sensation. She pushed the thought away and tried to fall back further into her dreams, but was interrupted again by another. And another. Her eyes cracked open the tiniest of amounts and she grunted, thowing her upper leg over to kick Airril in the chest. The boy had been wringing out his wet hair over her to wake her, and laughed at the angry expression on the princess' face.

"You slept in," he said, as if his behaviour had been acceptable. "I took a bath in the creek. I suggest you do the same before we start off again. It'll be too cold to do so tonight."

"Well don't watch me then." she muttered, her feet hitting the ground heavily until she was down by the water. She checked one last time to make sure he hadn't followed her, then removed her boots for the first time since getting herself lost; the nights had been too cold to sleep without them. Her bare feet immediately froze as the water hit them and she gritted her teeth, pulling her dress over her head so she was left in her chemise. It needed a wash as well, and she wouldn't risk going without it should Airril decide to ignore her wish.

"Oh, lovely," she said bitterly as she slowly waded into the deeper part of the water. She held her breath, and all at once dipped her head under the water, her chest contracting with the feeling that she'd been frozen in ice. She breathed deeply upon rising again and sought out the larger rocks on the floor of the pool of water to hoist herself as much as possible out of its reach as she rubbed her hands along her face and body, doing her best to rid herself of any marks and stains she'd come across.

Once she'd hurriedly washed her face she decided she'd had enough and followed the taller rocks out of the water. Her right foot gingerly stepped on a pointed one, but as her left lifted to get her out quickly she slipped, and a slight pain was felt through the numbness of her legs. She had to look down to make sure she'd been uninjured, but knew the clear water quickly blossoming with red wasn't a good side.

She swore quietly under her breath, shaking her head and hobbled the rest of the way out of the water to sit on the stones marking it. Lifting her foot gently to her lap she looked closer, and her stomach lurched at what she couldn't yet feel. Her foot had been sliced cleanly through the middle, from just underneath her heel to the pad before her largest toe. It was thick and deep, and the skin rolled back on itself on either side, assuring her the next part of her journey with Airril would not be a comfortable one. As it was, she did not want to walk back up to the camp they'd set up, a ridiculous fear of half of her foot falling clean off and hanging by the skin. She shook her head at the immature thought, but held both sides of her feet together despite herself as she pushed it back into the water to clear off the blood obscuring the wound.

"Stupid rock," she mumbled, in a small amount of shock at the sight of her foot. It wasn't as if she had a weak stomach, but seeing it on herself when her foot was still half-numb from the freezing water was enough to leave her bewildered and scared. She tried to work as quickly as she could, her teeth pulling at her chemise to gain some kind of bandage as she held her foot with one hand. She thought of calling Airril for his assistance, but even in this situation seeming weak before him did not feel like something she would like to participate willingly in.

She heard his boots on the ground behind her only moments later, but did not turn. She heard his weary groan, but did not comment. She saw him lean down beside her, but did not make a move toward him, still working on making a tear in her shift.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long." he sighed, opening the bag he'd kept slung over his shoulder containing his dagger and who knew what else. "Here," he brought out a thin scarf and moved her hand from her foot, dunking it once more into the water to clean it before gently wrapping the material around it, tight enough to reassure Merida her foot would not be able to split into two.

"You've done a good job of this." he said with sympathy. Merida watched him work quietly until he tied it securely and continued to hold her foot. "We need to get you back to Dunbroch. It's likely to get infected with all the walking we'll be doing. Who knows what could get into your wound."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I'm just going to slow us down now."

"Well, you'll be more careful next time, won't you?" he said, as if she wasn't to blame for anything at all.

"I should have been watching where I was going. I shouldn't have been walking so fast and carelessly."

"It was an accident." he finally placed her foot back into her lap and looked at her with an expression that told her he didn't want to hear her apologise any longer. "We'll get you home and fixed up. We're sure to arrive in some clan along this river." he reached behind her to take her dress, and the princess was suddenly aware she was sitting with someone in nothing more than a soaked-though chemise. She pulled her dripping hair over her chest and took the dress from him quickly, not bothering to wring out the white material before dressing herself.

"Let's go," she finally said, struggling to push herself up from the ground. Airril offered his hands, but she did not accept, pretending not to see. However, she didn't let the fact that he was carrying her cloak and bow and had her quiver around his own waist past her. "I can carry those,"

"You just concentrate on walking. And don't put your foot flat on the ground. You don't want any pressure on it." he looked around for a moment, then dropped the things he was holding to pick up a round stick, breaking bits off it until it only had a fork at the top. He measured it beside her body then, approving, handed it to her. "Lean on this, seeing as you're too proud to accept my help."

"Thank you," she said simply as they once again set off, a lot slower than they had been travelling the couple of days before.