"Master Touga?"

Miki watched the lord of the castle stalk by, ignoring his majordomo, completely wrapped up in whatever was responsible for the disgruntled expression he was wearing. Saionji, on the other hand, had a fairly good idea of what was causing Touga's discomfort. While the younger boy watched Touga stalk down the hall, Saionji backed up slowly. Once the redhead was out of sight, he slipped into a side corridor and took off running for the Master's wing. He'd managed to get Miki a good distance away before the other boy realized Utena was not with them, and further still "backtracking" to "find" her. Whether or not Utena had found the Rose room, Touga must have found her - and found that he couldn't seduce her. But that should have broken the curse...

Saionji didn't even slow down at the doors to the Master's wing; they were wide open.

"Utena!"

Through sitting rooms, past bedrooms, afraid to spend the brief seconds to look behind every door, more afraid not to.

"Utena!!"

Where was she? There was the last corridor now, leading to the Master's bedroom-

"Utena?"

"Yes?"

Saionji nearly ripped the mirror off its hinges, dashing down the short hallway to the Rose room, afraid of what he would find. Touga wasn't usually one to become physically violent, but there was a first time for everything. To his relief, however, the worst Utena looked was dazed.

"What happened?"

Utena frowned as Saionji grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Let go!" She waited until he'd backed off a step. "I'm not sure. He tried to make me think he was my prince. Wanted me to be his princess. I told him that I was going to save the girl in the glass coffin, and he..." She trailed off, remembering that strangely defeated slump. "...he told me I was free to come and go, and that I could go anywhere in the castle."

Now it was Saionji's turn to frown. "That should have broken the curse."

"What exactly is supposed to happen when the curse breaks?"

The green-haired man glowered at an unoffending wall. "I don't know. Damnit!" One fist slammed into the stone. "There must be more to the curse than that."

"Wait...you don't know?" Utena raised one eyebrow at Saionji's angry mutter. "So who does know?"

"Touga," he spat. "He's the only one who would know. I should have known he wouldn't tell me the whole thing."

"So what do we do now?"

"I'll see if I can get more information out of him. In the meantime, I suggest you get some sleep. You don't have to stay, but..."

Utena shook her head. "I'll stay. I won't leave until she's free," she said, gesturing to the sleeping princess.

By the time Touga strode into the stable, he had almost completely convinced himself that he hadn't been defeated by that lovely flower named Utena, he'd just retreated strategically in order to lure her into lowering her defenses. The two flying horses whickered in their stalls, alerting the stablemaster that he had a visitor. Touga simply waited, that heavy-lidded smile firmly in place, as the tall, thin man with dark blue hair emerged from his cozy room, wearing nothing more than loose trousers and carrying a single lit candle.

"Master Touga," he said in surprise as the light illuminated the lord of the castle. "What brings you to the stable so late?"

"I have the desire to take a ride," the redhead purred.

"It's nearly dark, I don't advise taking the horses out this late."

The smile broadened just a little bit. "I wasn't talking about the horses, Ruka."

It was such a little thing. Just a nudge, really. But the candle had been precariously balanced, and one foot scrabbling for purchase on the floor slipped over a drift of hay and impacted against the wooden wall. The wall shuddered just slightly, sending the candle tumbling end over end, bouncing on an uneven bit of floor, changing the direction of motion. Still somehow lit, the candle rolled gently to the end of the little stable, where the flame licked hungrily at a stray wisp of hay. That wisp burned merrily, flame dancing down its length and hopping over to its brother, and from there to a sister, a cousin, a friend...

It wasn't very long at all before the fire reached a wall and began to climb, to seep through the cracks and lap at the hay on the other side. The white horse, already nervously watching the fire on the other side, quickly noticed that his space had been invaded. His screaming alerted the black horse, who began panicking as well. The two humans finally noticed the fire, which by this point was doing a good job of blocking the door leading to the castle's interior. The horses were not in any mind to allow themselves to be saddled; if the humans wanted to escape a flaming death, they'd have to ride bareback.

The humans chose to ride bareback.

Once out in the pearly dusk, the horses milled uncertainly. Between the smoke now leaking from the stable and the lack of light, they darted this way and that in confusion made worse by near-collisions. Ruka tried to guide the black horse down to the dueling arena, and was nearly successful, but lost his grip and fell a few yards up. Now free of his rider and the scent of smoke, the horse landed calmly next to the unconscious stablemaster.

Touga, however, had never ridden a horse without tack, and his mount was flying crazily among the towers of the castle, growing more and more panicked. It was all the red-haired playboy could do to hold on, and soon, even that wasn't enough...