Caitlyn let out a small groan of annoyance as one of the stitchings of her sleeves tore off. She vehemently cursed the current fashion statement- a full length gown with way too many layers with ridiculous draping sleeves that got caught on literally everything, whether it be food, jewelry, or door handles.

Forget it. Tunic and trousers it is.

As a lady of her position, her maids and seamstress balked at the idea of her even owning a pair of trousers and a tunic. Caitlyn had to make do with the ones she secretly had the town seamstress make all those years ago. Sure, she was not much taller than she was back then, but apparently she was a lot thinner. Caitlyn admired herself in the mirror one last time. Her hastily resized tunic was loose enough to hide her gender should she encounter anyone. Who know sewing classes with Karen could be so useful?

Caitlyn donned her cloak she had Natalie buy for her (a gift for a friend, she claimed). She grinned at the way the cowl concealed her face. It made her look mysterious. Step one: get dressed. Check.

Step two: How the heck does she get out of here.

"You think she'll really come?" A very nervous Clarke asked as he paced back and forth next to the hole in the densely grown bush.

"Come on, she's not your sister. Why so worried?" Gilan chuckled. He had decided to practice some silent movement while they waited, and he snuck up behind Clarke, making the latter person jump. Clarke whacked him on the shoulder.

"The purpose of 'silent' movement is to be 'silent', is it not?" Halt muttered dryly as he materialized beside him, causing both apprentices to jump. Gilan had to steady Clarke before he could fall in the bush.

"Yeah, but startling the person you sneak up on gives a moment of confusion, which can be used to your advantage." Gilan retorted.

"Either that or they panic and strike out at you…" Clarke added.

"Who's side are you on?"

"Well…"

"Besides, Halt, you also talked when you were ghosting around."Gilan crossed his arms with a smile of triumph.

"I, however, was not practicing. I purposefully revealed myself."

Gilan rolled his eyes. He sat down on a fallen log and started checking to make sure all his arrows were in perfect condition, while also actively ignoring Halt and Clarke. While he was adjusting the fletching on one of the arrows, he felt a sense of unease that something- or someone- was watching him. He continued fixing the fletching as he tried to determine where that someone is. Gilan tried to put on a face like Halt's serious and unafraid expression. Don't panic don't panic don't panic. His ears picked up the slight rustling of what sounded a little like footsteps. He got up and walked away from the sound a little, and ghosted behind a nearby tree. His bow and arrow was trained on a patch of grass just behind where he had been sitting. The tall grass shook a little as there was a little movement. Gilan edged closer. Slowly… slowly…

A huge rabbit kicked up dirt and grass as it bounded off into the forest. Gilan breathed a sigh of relief. Wow, he was getting jumpy. He missed Blaze, who would have probably told him it was a rabbit and laughed at his panicked face. However, Halt had hid them farther away next to the other side of the lake, as the three horses were significantly harder to hide this close to the castle than three people. They would be able to get here relatively quickly if anyone got in trouble, but no one would be likely to accidentally find them.

Clarke came up behind Gilan, "Who's nervous now, huh?" Both boys laughed before Gilan punched him on the shoulder.

Caitlyn has never been more thankful she convinced Ferris to give her the suit with the balcony a floor above the gardens. Not only is it relatively peaceful, it is secluded from the noisier parts of the castle, meaning there are less guards here. A small wind rustled the leaves of the graceful trees grown in two straight lines outside, forming an arch of leaves and branches. Caitlyn breathed in the night air and waited. For the next half hour , she watched the two guards patrolling. Shifts were about two hours for each guard, and one of them changes every hour while the other stays for the second hour of his shift. This means one of them is probably slightly more alert than the other. They took turns walking back and forth twice around the garden walls and back to their little station while their partner watched on. This was mainly for not falling asleep, but Caitlyn doubted she could take them out while they were apart, no matter how fatigued they were. Not that it was a good idea anyways. She estimated the time. She has approximately one hour to figure out a way to get to Halt- or to whoever wrote the letter.

She decided to try something completely mental and crazy, but it might work. Hopefully. Caitlyn bit her tongue in concentration as she knotted some sheets together. The long makeshift lasso should be enough to bear her weight down when one of the guards starts his second round around the garden and allow herself to climb back up when needed. She would have to climb down as quickly as possible, hide the rope behind the bushes under her window, and sneak out into the open for a few seconds. When she gets to the trees, she'll climb up and go through the branches; hopefully the wind will be strong enough to conceal her movements. After that she'll just climb over the gate, which for some reason was shorter than the wall around it. And voila, one escaped princess.

Why did I ever think this was going to work? Caitlyn asked herself. The easy part was over. She had climbed down with only a slightly bruised elbow (Why the heck were castle walls so uneven?). The trees had bore her weight, mostly. She still had to stay still for an excruciating amount of minutes when one of the guards seemed to hear something (they weren't completely incompetent). Now she had to climb the gate.

The concept of it seemed really easy. Grab the rail, hoist yourself up, go over it, land like a cat. However, she hadn't accounted for how high up the rail was. Even though the gate was shorter than the wall, it was still a substantial height. She would waste precious seconds pulling herself up using the slightly uneven bricks of the wall around the gate, in full view of the guards. She considered jumping from the closest tree. Nope. Definitely a nope. Even if she could jump more than ten meters. Still nope.

Voices came across the courtyard as one of the guards greeted his replacement. Caitlyn stiffened in fear.

Wait. This is her last chance! The new guard would be more or less extra alert. She streaked across the path between the trees and the wall and started climbing. Her nails were getting scraped, and she could feel her arms trembling under her full weight. She dug her fingers in a little more on one of the slightly larger cracks and heaved. She was over! But then she fell rather ungracefully off the other side. Landing on bushes and grass was not very comfortable.

Caitlyn thought of how she and Halt had often sneaked out using the little hole in the wall. No one knew about it until one day Caitlyn was playing in the garden when she accidentally slipped and fell in the azaleas. They had used it often, emerging unseen because of the way the wall camouflages it on the outside. Now she was too big to fit through it. Which brings up another problem. The letter said Halt would meet her at their hideout. Would he be in it? How? How would she fit through the opening? What would she say to him? Oh hello, I'm glad you're not dead, how've you been? or HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE HALT YOU BETTER TELL ME EVERYTHING BEFORE I KILL YOU.

The latter option sounded pretty appealing right now.

She started towards the woods.

The three rangers are all up and pacing now. Gilan and Clarke both look at Halt from time to time. It was getting close to the planned meeting time. They tried to figure out how Halt was feeling. His sister thought he was dead for years. What would she say? What would Halt say? Halt still showed no sign of nervousness. All he did was raise an eyebrow and grunt one or two word replies whenever Gilan or Clarke asked him something.

Gilan had wandered slightly farther than he had before. He watched the calm ripples in the lake as insects landed and took off. Suddenly he felt the uneasy sense again. Might be just another rabbit. Or even the same rabbit. Even so, the apprentice loosened his sword from his scabbard. There was a small crunch and Gilan turned around.

"Drop the sword." A menacing voice said. A knife was held to the side of his neck. Gilan tried to push the person away, but she held on tighter. "I said. Drop. It."

Gilan didn't want to hurt Caitlyn, but it was obvious she was capable of hurting him without a second thought. He lowered his sword. Gilan opened his mouth to talk.

"I will be doing the talking here. You will answer my questions, after I ask. Understand?" Caitlyn shook the knife threateningly. She had no intention of using it, as she noticed how the boy had complied. She knew by the way he held his sword that he was well trained, and he could've probably disarmed her in less than a second. "Who are you?" Caitlyn started, "And why did you write me that letter?"

Gilan took a breath, "My name is Gilan Davidson. And I didn't write the letter. Halt did." He noticed Caitlyn flinched a little at Halt's name. "He's-"

"Nuh uh. I'm talking, remember?" Caitlyn said. "You know Halt?"

Gilan nodded "He's my mentor," He said. "And he's also right behind you."