Taelindwyn glared angrily at the maid as she sat sewing as the maid called it. Balegil thought it would be good for her to learn a proper skill for her gender. Her anger was not so much at the maid but at Balegil himself for thinking she needed to learn such an annoying skill when if she needed something she could steal it or the money to pay for it. She thought dourly. This had no point as far as she was concerned, not that reading and writing was doing any better really than it had been a week ago. She was so distracted she did not even notice that Talin was watching her until she managed to catch her finger once more with the needle staining the garment that she was to make herself for what felt to her like the hundredth time. She threw the garment aside despite the protest of the maid as she stood and stormed out of the room, catching sight of Talin and Balegil watching her. She narrowed her eyes and changed her path wanting to deal with neither of them, Talin because he had brought her to this cage and Balegil because he seemed bent on making her suffer mundane chores to try to make her a respectable woman.
She headed for the stables, having discovered that Balegil thought she needed to do more than watch if she was in the kitchen she needed to learn to make a proper meal for guests, the stables were for men. There were no feminine tasks to be done there and it had become her haven in the last few days while the rest of the castle had become a cage that was getting tighter and tighter.
Her attempt at escaping Balegil was short lived as he rounded a different corner setting her on her heals, he looked angry with her. An emotion she now harboured for him at times like this.
"You aren't finished your sewing." Balegil said grabbing her arm and starting to lead her back.
"And I am not some maid to be commanded about to do tasks." She hissed breaking her arm free from his grip.
"You are in my house, being fed and clothed by me, sheltered and taught! You will respect my wishes." He snapped grabbing her hard and shoving her against the wall as he glowered down on her.
"Learning to be a hand maid was not part of the agreement not stealing and behaving was." She said trying to leave again pushing on his arm she was in no mood to deal with this, the tutor had ridiculed her once more for barely being able to read and write a few basic rules, and then to be forced to sew afterwards until dinner! "Now I've behaved myself well enough and I am sick of being your bi-"
Her face felt then as if it has burst into flames and her ears were ringing, she didn't even realize she was sitting on the floor until Balegil picked her up by her shirt.
"Your behaviour has been far from acceptable - reminded what a lady does." She stood staring past him what he had just said had sounded so distant and she only caught parts of what he was saying. Her hand went to her face and when she pulled it back she was bleeding, the touch to her face had broken the tiny bead that had been forming on her lip and it spilled down her chin and she stared at her fingers for a moment coated in red. When she finally did look at him she did not see Balegil, the tall proud nobleman was replaced with the image of her father, angry and bellowing holding her up by her shirt and she shook then in fear a tiny sob, one that should come from a child escaped her lips and she did not even realise she had started speaking until the grip released from her shirt and she found her feet again though they threatened to not hold her. The contact with the ground brought her back to reality and she looked at Balegil wide eyed, he was pale and stood stone still she glanced at her hand and bolted.
At first she thought for the stables her original plan but Talin the thief was in her path and so she raced up the stairs for her room. Behind her there were no thundering footsteps she was not being followed though as she reached the floor where her room was she pushed past Aliriel who let out a gasp at the sight of her and tried to follow her to her room however the young thief was faster than the maid and she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it. She leaned heavily against the door for a moment or two shouting for Aliriel to just leave her alone. Something the maid seemed hesitant to do. Taelindwyn headed for the mirror and looked at her face it was swelling slightly and her lip was split she shook as she touched it. It had been a long time since anyone had struck her that way and her rage began to boil over.
She had been caged and now she knew what the price was for not following the whims of a Lord, and she was better off without learning to read and write she decided and with that she went to the window. Talin and Balegil would of course be undoubtedly blocking her exit through the house but she had looked at the walls several times and had seen cracks in them from outside she shoved the windows open and glared at the door angrily before climbing out onto the sill and beginning to climb down the wall.
She had made it perhaps five feet when a cry came up from the court yard and she glanced down after hurrying another distance down the wall her fingers screaming at her for their tiny purchase that she found to hold herself up by. The courtyard was filling. She would not make it out that way she though glancing about nervously as she dropped several feet onto the roof of the kitchen, already men were clambering up ladders towards her their eyes wide, not knowing what had happened that she had exited in such a strange manner. However she saw her escape and ran for it and soon she was on the wall and the guard rushing out the gate to meet her in the alley but she was faster than them and stayed ahead of them until she was out into Gate town.
There she lost the guards easily enough, and sank weakly down beside a chimney on a roof top, here she would not have to worry about guards or soldiers, she didn't even realise it until a ragged sob escaped her that she was in tears. She had not cried in years and she did not understand why she was crying now. She had come to hate the monotony of being taught how to be a lady that came with learning to read and write, and yet she missed it in some strange way. She shuddered as she managed to hush the ragged gasps though the tears kept flowing as she rubbed them away harshly remembering that the guards were not likely the only people Balegil had out looking for her to bring her back. She stood and found herself in Balegil's grasp. The older thief was looking at her, his hand went to her chin and lifted it to his face and he looked at the cut in her lip his expression giving her nothing to go by. She watched his hand and stayed perfectly still, knowing if she got a chance to escape it would be only one, and she should not put him on edge thinking she would flee.
"He should not have struck you." The thief said calmly apparently happy that the wound was for the most part superficial. "Though I am surprised you stayed long enough to raise his ire so." She looked at him narrowing her eyes wondering why he was toying with her when they both knew he could easily over power her. She had been sloppy. Her wits dulled by a long vacation in luxury, perhaps she should be grateful it was Balegil that had found her and not some other thief with a mind to gut her and leave her to rot. Suddenly she was released from his arms and he stepped back.
"I did not come to take you back." He stated and she took a few steps back.
"Then why did you come?" She asked not sure if she could trust this thief, he had already proven she should not let him near at all once.
"To make sure you are safe for the night. Balegil forced you to stop doing what has kept you alive, and he broke your agreement by striking you, he wishes to apologize and to let you know you can return at any time." He said with a smirk, "I figure it's not fair to let you stay out here on your own with skills unused for so long."
"Nobody cared the first night I was on the streets." She hissed finding his concern for her insulting rather than enduring.
"Your first night on the streets came because your father was pathetic and starved and beat you from what I hear. Not exactly that far from being on the streets." Talin snapped his browed pinching together and anger bubbling up in his voice. "Perhaps I should beat you as your father did and then leave you to the streets tonight."
She flinched and bolted then and Talin gave chase, she however had heard more than enough from him she had no plans of suffering that again. The two soon were out of Gate town and into the Ports areas that Balegil while he did travel them did not often need to travel them the same way as Taelindwyn had not long ago and she outpaced him easily enough. Dodging down several narrow corridors that led to mazes of their own with several option to choose she soon tucked herself away having lost Balegil on the rooftops in a hole in a the Inn where the back wall had heaved and broken away slightly. She had used it weeks before and from the dust on the ground it had not been used since. She would stay there until tomorrow, though she wondered what she would do in the morning.