AN: Hi everyone! I am sorry for the delay! I was in school for the month of July, and it was very emotionally draining and tiring, and then once that was done, I had major writer's block and was also in the middle of moving. But inspiration finally struck. This chapter is the longest one yet so I hope that makes up for the delay a little. I hope you enjoy! Expect the next chapter within the next day or two. Thank you all for the lovely reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Ella Enchanted.

My travels with the ogres had taken me away from the fork in the road that led up to the giant farms, but by nightfall, Blaine, the Warblers, and I had reached it again and decided it was a suitable place to set up camp for the night. I felt uncomfortable as I noted how close the ogres would be to me as I slept, but Blaine assured me that the knights had taken extra care to check their bonds and tighten the gags on their mouths. As we settled down, the uneasiness in my heart dissipated. We happened to arrange ourselves so that I lay perpendicular to Blaine, my head resting just inches from his torso. I turned my head and craned my neck to gaze at his face, handsome in the flicker of the firelight. Those long, thick eyelashes fluttered as he opened his eyes and smiled at me reassuringly, sending warmth spreading through my entire being in a way the heat from the fire never could.

I turned to gaze at the starlit sky with a sigh, enjoying the feeling of being able to fall asleep with relative peace of mind. The ogres were nearby, but with Blaine so close and the knowledge of my own apparent skill in persuasive Ogrese firm in my mind, I felt safe for the first time since I had left home.

The next morning, I awoke suddenly but remained still. I could feel the sunlight on my face and an unfamiliar weight resting on my head. I opened my eyes and shifted just a little, casting my gaze towards the source of the weight.

Blaine was sleeping, curled on his side towards me. One hand was tucked under his head, cradling his face, but his free arm was stretched out towards me, and his hand was against my head. His fingers had slipped in between the various strands of my hair, just resting there, as if they had stopped moving mid-stroke. I could feel my face turning red and my pulse quickening and cursed myself. Blaine was my friend, a very good friend. I didn't want to scare him off. I remembered how Finn had reacted when he finally understood what Dave meant by "freak." That had been unpleasant enough; I didn't think I could bear the hurt if the same thing happened with Blaine.

As I tried to calm myself down, Blaine's eyes slid open, focusing on his hand in my hair. "Oh," he said quietly as he met my gaze and withdrew his hand calmly, offering a little smile.

"I apologize, Kurt," he whispered in an effort not to wake his Warblers, "I must have reached out in my sleep."

"It's fine," I managed to reply, and returned his smile.

We decided to search for firewood to start a fire for breakfast and rose quickly, careful not to wake the others. We split up as we entered the nearby thatch of trees, but just as I had gathered a small bundle of kindling in my arms, I heard Blaine calling me softly. I made my way over to him, using the sound of his voice as a guide.

I pushed past some shrubbery and entering a clearing with a little pond. Blaine stood in a patch of sunlight, shading his eyes as he looked up at a tree. As I drew closer, he pointed to what he was looking at.

"Look," he murmured, and I saw a helpless little squirrel with its hind leg caught on a branch. The poor thing was struggling and clearly in pain.

Blaine was shedding his overcoat. "I need to go help it," he informed me, folding his coat on a nearby fallen log.

"No, Blaine; it's too dangerous!"

"But Kurt," Blaine turned to look at me, his eyes round and sad, "I can't just leave it there. It will be eaten by some predator or starve to death."

I sighed and began to shrug out of my own coat.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, we can't have you breaking your royal neck, now, can we?"

"Kurt, that isn't necessary! I know perfectly well how to climb a tree!"

"I'm sure you do," I placated him as I approached the base of the tree, "but you can hardly carry on besting ogres if you break a bone."

"Well," Blaine hesitated, but I was already starting to climb, "just please be careful!"

An order. I would be ever so careful.

I nimbly made my way up the tree, taking every caution possible, until I reached the little squirrel, about 12 feet up. The little thing seemed to panic as I drew near to it.

"Shhh," I murmured gently, "there's no need to be afraid. I'm going to help you."

Oddly enough, the squirrel seemed to understand my tone, if not my words, and stopped struggling about. I extracted the leg that was wedged at an awkward angle between two branches and held the dear thing in my hands.

"Is it hurt?" Blaine called up. "How badly?"

"I don't know," I hedged, "I will have to let it go and see how it fares." I set the squirrel down and watched it scamper down the tree, reveling in its own freedom. As it carried on, however, it began to limp more and more, and actually fell the last couple feet to the ground. Blaine grabbed his overcoat and rushed to the squirrel, wrapping it gently in the soft material of the coat.

"Unfortunately, I think its leg is broken," he told me. I felt bad for it, but then looked around at my own predicament, and how far I was from the ground. The tree was made for climbing up, but its design would not help those wishing to descend.

"I fear I will suffer the same fate," I called to Blaine, nodding at the distance I had to go, "I didn't think of this before I started to climb!"

Blaine tilted his face up and smiled at me, a sparkle in his eyes. "You needn't trouble yourself, Kurt. When you jump, I will be here to catch you!"

I looked at him dubiously, but he simply moved closer and raised his arms towards me, beckoning with his hands. "Are you certain, then?"

At his nod, I lowered myself on the branch so that I was hanging just by my hands to decrease the distance of the drop. I took a deep breath and let go.

"Oof," Blaine huffed out at I collided with him, and together we tumbled to the ground, falling in a tangle of limbs so that I ended up right on top of him, our faces mere inches apart and chests pressed together. I blushed at the proximity, unable to resist staring into those lovely hazel eyes for a moment before I hastened to get up and put some distance between us, muttering my apologies. Despite being flat on his back, Blaine tried to help me stand up, unhooking his leg from around mine and supporting me by the waist. I was positive I looked as red as a tomato, but I stretched out my hands nonetheless to help Blaine up.

"You didn't injure yourself?" he asked as we dusted ourselves off and I avoided his eyes. I rolled my eyes at his needless concern and assured him I was not hurt. We made our way over to Blaine's coat and the squirrel.

"Poor thing," I cooed as I picked the bundle up and cradled it in my arms. The squirrel's leg was bent at an odd angle.

"Aww," Blaine sighed out pityingly at my side, reaching forward to brush a finger gently over the squirrel's head. I could feel his breath against my cheek, and his free hand rested on my shoulder. I hoped he wouldn't notice the tiny shiver that coursed through me. For a royal, Blaine appeared to have no real sense of personal space. Not that I minded.

"Do you mind if I take care of it, Blaine?" I asked, cuddling the squirrel and the jacket closer, but keeping careful not to crush it.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Kurt. I have no doubt those ogres will be keeping me busy. Your choice of pet is better than mine," He joked, nudging his shoulder against mine.

Blaine gathered our firewood and I carried the little squirrel back to our camp. The knights had awoken during our absence and were waiting for Blaine to return to have their breakfast. As we ate, I fed my hungry new pet bits of bread. The conversation soon fell turned to the transportation of the ogres. As Blaine and the knights talked, I despaired of reaching the wedding in time to possibly find Terri. My time spent with the giants had set me back substantially. There was no way I could reach the giant farms within the next few days on foot. What concerned me most, though, was that Zuzipepa's command was still intact; I could not leave the ogres.

Sir Thaddeus's morose tone interrupted my worries. He was anxious once again about safely moving the ogres. "We'll have no choice but to drag them along. And how can we possibly gain their cooperation?"

"Kurt can make them do whatever we say! He should come with us and use his persuasion to keep them obedient," Sir Jeffrey piped up eagerly.

"The prince knows that to do," Sir David asserted calmly, "What shall the course of action be, Blaine?"

Blaine spoke with confidence and authority. He really was born to lead. "Wesley, you will escort Kurt to his desired destination. David and Flynt will ride to my father to recruit assistance. Jeffrey will continue to act as our scout. Thaddeus, Trenton, Nicholas, and I will take turns guarding the ogres and hunting for the remainder of the journey, or until my father's men join us. We will continue to use the wax, and the ogres should be complaint enough when they consider the sharpness of our swords and daggers."

"I'd rather stay with you, Blaine," Sir David said.

"You and Flynt are the fastest riders. I'll be counting on you to reach my father quickly."

Sir David nodded, straightening a little in his seat at Blaine's praise.

"Kurt shall be completely safe with me," Sir Wesley declared with conviction, "No harm will come to a single hair on his head. I –"

"Unless he talks him to death," Sir Nicholas joked, "It is best not to get him started on the subject of law, Kurt. It was the focus of his studies and once he gets started nothing will shut him up!"

"Well, Wesley is certainly better company than the ogres," Blaine smoothed things over while Sir Wesley scowled at his chuckling friends. "But Kurt, why didn't you go back to Frell once you left deportment school?"

"My mother is trading up north near the giant farms, and a giant wedding is taking place soon. She wrote that they are quite interesting. I thought I might join her there."

Blaine's brow furrowed. "You travelled alone and put yourself in danger to attend a wedding?"

I could feel my cheeks heating up and could not meet his eyes. He clearly thought I was a fool.

Sir Thaddeus spoke disapprovingly. "It is fortunate that most young Kyrrian lads do not take it upon themselves to travel alone in lands where ogres run wild. Our task is trying enough without having to rescue them."

Now my cheeks were positively burning, but it wasn't as though I could explain my real reason for going to the wedding.

"If more of the lads in Kyrria could tame ogres as Kurt does," Blaine said, "we would have a much easier job to do, Thaddeus."

I sent Blaine a small smile and he winked and beamed back at me. Perhaps he didn't think me such a fool, after all.

After we had finished breakfast and packed up camp, Sir Wesley mounted his horse and Blaine gave me a leg up behind him. As soon as I sat astride the horse, the symptoms of my curse began to set in. My head spun and I feared I would fall off the horse as soon as Sir Wesley spurred him into movement. Zuzipepa's order was not going to let me get too far.

"I don't like leaving you in danger," I said to Blaine through gritted teeth as I began to dismount.

"Go with Wesley," Blaine said reassuringly, "No harm will come to us; I promise."

I thanked him silently for the order. I was free to go. I sighed in relief when I felt curse's effects abate and settled onto the horse behind Sir Wesley. Sir Jeffrey handed me the squirrel, now swaddled carefully in some of the extra cloth the knights had for dressing wounds.

Blaine grasped one of the reigns before Sir Wesley could slap them against the horse and looked up at me.

"When shall you return to Frell?"

"After the wedding, hopefully," I told him, "if mother doesn't send me back to Dalton's or desire me to travel with her?" I wondered at his inquiry. Did he want me to return to Frell? "Why do you ask?"

He looked at me for a moment, his mouth opening slightly, but then glanced away, narrowing his eyes as he gazed into the distance. "I should be back within the fortnight. These expeditions never take too long." He spoke with the surety of a much older man, one who had been on hundreds of ogre-hunting ventures. Sir Wesley snorted, though Blaine did not seem to hear him.

We gripped hands quickly in farewell.

"Perhaps we will meet again soon, then," I replied, "and you can tell me about all the ogres you manage to catch."

"Perhaps you can tutor me in Ogrese and teach me the art of persuasion."

I spoke to him in Ogrese as Sir Wesley kicked the horse's sides and the animal started to walk. "It means 'so long.'"

"It sounds rather ominous."

I twisted in my seat to face him with an impish smile. "It is."


Unfortunately, I did not heed Sir Nicholas's warning and during mine and Sir Wesley's travels, the conversation somehow turned to law, proving the knight quite talkative indeed. He spoke at length and in great detail about several famous cases in the Kyrrian courts and told me of his ambitions to one day be a judge in the king's court.

"There is something about commanding a room, Kurt," he informed me fiercely, "something powerful in slamming that gavel down and demanding order. It speaks to the ultimate purpose of government: keeping society from descending into chaos and anarchy."

"When do you think we will reach the giant farms?" I managed to interject on one of the rare instances when he seemed to take a breath.

"At our current pace, I'd imagine it will take us another three days."

The wedding was in three days! What if we arrived after it ended?

"Is there any way we can go faster? I don't need to sleep long."

"Neither do I, but my horse certainly needs to have a decent amount of rest," Sir Wesley replied sternly. He then launched into a story about a court case involving the rightful treatment of domesticated animals as I tried to surreptitiously kick the animal's sides. Sir Wesley didn't notice my efforts, but neither did the horse. Once his tale was over, I quickly spoke up.

"Do you like serving under the prince?"

"Some men might consider it embarrassing to have to answer to such a young lad," he said after a moment's consideration, "but Blaine is sensible and amiable, and I am a toiling knight."

"A toiling knight?"

"Not so pampered that I cannot care for my own horse, nor so selfish that I do not have time to serve my king or my prince."

"And is Blaine a toiling prince, then?"

Sir Wesley nodded. "You know him well. I never saw a young man so eager to learn to do a thing right, and to do the right thing."

Sir Wesley was almost as enthusiastic about Blaine as he was about law, but while I had grown tired of him droning on about the latter subject, I was quite content to listen to him talk about the former. According to the knight, Blaine was quite wonderful. He was a fast learner, a formidable swordsman, and a clever fighter. And he was kind. The Warblers' departure from Frell had been delayed by Blaine's kindness, when a fruit seller's cart had overturned on the road ahead of them.

"The little old lady was screeching about how all her produce would be trampled and ruined. Blaine had us right the cart and fix the broken wheel, and then he spent a good half hour scrambling about, saving stray oranges and melons."

"Just as he saved me."

"You're a great deal more valuable than a grape or a berry to Blaine, in my estimation. And you hardly needed rescuing. We've never caught an ogre so neatly nor so quickly before."

"We have become good friends," I replied, grateful I was seated behind Sir Wesley and he could not see my blush. I turned the conversation back to the prince.

"He's very smart and very steady. Maybe too steady. Perhaps a little too serious for one so young, and that's coming from me," Sir Wesley chuckled, "He has a good sense of humor, but he doesn't laugh often enough, nor does he play enough. I think he spends too much time with the king's advisors, a bunch of very formal and very traditional men." In a rare moment, Sir Wesley fell silent. "He laughed more during the course of one day with you than in all the weeks we have been travelling together. As a result of his birthright, he cannot frolic with other young people. They are always on their best behavior. Except for you, Kurt."

I let out a quiet gasp of alarm. "I didn't behave badly, did I?"

"I don't think so," Sir Wesley said slowly, "You were yourself. Natural. Not like a reserved young gentleman of court."

I smirked to myself. Manners Mistress would be most displeased.


We spent our nights at inns. On the first night, I pulled out the phoenix Tina had given me. Sir Wesley marveled at it and recognized it as a Holly original. He began to recount a motion to lift the ban on unmonitored imitations of the works of great artists that had passed through every stage of government, but King Andrew had refused approve the appeal, stating that works made by the students of great masters needed to be clearly labeled so that traders and sellers could not cheat their patrons. Apparently, Mother had been indulging in some illegal activities. I made my squirrel a little bed with one of my pillows as Sir Wesley rambled on, and when his words began to slur as he drifted off to sleep, I pulled out my book from Carol.

The first page held advice on caring for squirrels, including what they liked best for food and recommended materials for making a brace for a tiny broken limb. I made note of this before turning the page, revealing a letter written in sloppy, hurried strokes.

Father,

Lady Susan's weird son has disappeared from Dalton's Academy. He must have left in the middle of the night. I say good. I always thought there was something strange about him. He isn't normal, and nobody here liked him. I was always nice to him but he was very difficult and unfriendly towards me and my friends. I don't understand why you insist on associating with these Hummel people. At least I won't have to put up with him anymore.

School is fine. I haven't met any marriage prospects, but for some reason Finn has two different girls ready to scratch each other's eyes out over him. I don't get it. Other than that, I'm quite popular here, and my friends and I know how to keep our inferior classmates in their place.

I don't really have anything else to say.

David

My mouth twisted in distaste as I took in Dave's rude words and omissions of truth. On the next page was a letter from Finn to Sir Sandy. I cringed at the spelling mistakes.

Dear Father,

I am so confused. My head doesn't seem to be working properley these days. Girls are so mysterius. I feel like I really love Rachel, but I know you said she isn't an acceptible choice for marrage and my freinds say I shouldn't bother with her. Quinn is really beutiful, but she's also kind of mean. I do not know what to do.

Kurt went missing. I know you said I should become his freind, but most people here didn't like him very much. He is really diffrent than most boys here. And after a while, it seamed like he didn't want to talk to me anymore. Still, I hope he is well.

School is hard. I wish the teachers wouldn't get so mad at me. I really am trying. I wish I had a teacher that could be a little more pashent.

Your son,

Finnegan

My eyes smarted and I squeezed them shut, hoping Sir Wesley was now sound asleep. What a coward Finn was! I didn't understand him; he was such a big, strong boy, and yet he was always afraid to do anything that would jeopardize his popularity or act in a way that would earn disapproval from others. I thought of Rachel, and how many tears she had wasted over this undeserving idiot. She was perhaps a bit difficult and grating, but she was truly a good person who deserved better than being Finn's second choice. I thought of how lonely I had felt on the journey to Dalton's and how isolated I felt among the other boys and how Finn could have remedied that, if only he possessed any strength or courage, and for a fleeting moment, I was angrier with him than I was with Dave.

I turned the page and found the story of Aladdin's genie. He had fallen in love with a pretty village girl, but her jealous suitor used magic to trap the genie in the lamp. He could grant anyone's wishes but his own, and spent year after year pining for his lover, wondering what had happened to her, whether she had ever married the crafty suitor, whether she had grown old or died, all while serving whatever master happened to possess the lamp.

I closed the book after that, convinced that it was determined to upset me tonight. I realized suddenly that I was crying silently. I wasn't imprisoned in a lamp, but like the genie, I was not truly free.


Around mid morning of the third day of my travels with Wesley, I noticed that things were gradually getting bigger. Shortly after noon, we passed a patch of pumpkins each as wide as the horse we rode on. Soon after that, we spotted a giant in the distance who was picking flowers as long as I was tall. I squeezed Wesley round the middle in my excitement.

"Kurt!" he yelped in complaint, "You are not a corset!"

"Sorry," I replied happily as the giant thundered towards us, grinning widely and calling out in Abdegi, a series of screeches and whistles. As she neared, the horse reared back in fright, but she extended a hand and petted the animal's nose with a finger. The horse calmed in response and even rubbed against the giant's thigh.

"Hello!" I called to her in her own language, "We have come to witness the wedding of William and Emma," I added in Kyrrian, "Hopefully we are not too late?"

"I am she," Emma replied cheerfully, crouching down to speak with us, "and you are just in time! I was just gathering the last of the flowers for the ceremony."

"I hope you do not mind us joining the festivities," I added politely once she had revealed her identity.

"No, no! Don't be silly. I cannot thank you enough for coming, actually! Giants love strangers," she paused, gazing at us with incredibly large, wide eyes, "and friends, too. There will be many strangers and friends present when I marry Will today!"

Her incredible enthusiasm and cheer was infectious, and I felt the happiest I'd been since I last saw Blaine. I let myself feel cautiously optimistic as Emma's house came into view about the wedding; perhaps Terri really would be there, and perhaps somehow I could convince her to break this awful curse.

Next chapter: Kurt attends the giant wedding ceremony of Emma and William and discovers something about his new friend the squirrel. Will he find Terri? Read on to find out!