"I am simply myself. No more and no less. And I want only to be free."

-

-8-

She did not believe she would be able to make it in time. When Ashelia managed to step in front of the cab driver's path, she was a little breathless, "Please, is it too late for me to step in? I have some gil," with fumbling actions, her fingers pried the small pouch ties loose, reaching for what little she had left within.

The driver eyed her curiously, shaking his head, "I'm sorry miss, but you need a sandalwood chop to get in." He looked at her fraught expression, and like the merchant in the store, became a little soft, "really, I'm sorry, I would take you; however, it's against regulations that I bring anyone in the cab without the proper entrance fee. They're extremely severe about that here."

"Damn," she cursed beneath her breath, looking around, her eyes scanned the crowd and saw not a hair or sight of Gabranth; turning back to the driver, she paused his way into the seat, "wait! Is there any other way?"

He sighed, "There's another cab coming up soon, and there is, but it's through Old Archades," the driver looked at her clothing, "I'm afraid, that area is a bit too rough though; but it's nary impossible. You can ask one of the Imperial soldiers to accompany you through the area—from there, you can go through Sochen Cave Palace."

"Sochen Cave Palace!" She repeated dumbly, this is not to be; was she not there not long ago, vanquishing the mandragoras with Gabranth?

"Yes, miss, I regretfully inform you, but I need to get going; the passengers are waiting," he told her in kind, tapping his hat to her before climbing into the driver's seat. She stepped back, and was about to leave, but the cab driver called out, "Imperial soldiers should be stationed around, you'll find them by the Old Archade's entrance; those are the ones you need to ask to accompany you."

"Thank you." She called out, then ran towards the direction to where Old Archades would be. It was a long walk down past the stairs, past the long narrow walk, passing humes dressed for theatre or an afternoon stroll; their coiffed hair, the stylishly cut material draped over their bodies told her that this was a far different appeal than the common, yet modest streets of Dalmasca. She had taken some time earlier before leaving Gabranth's home with one of his mother's long coats, draping over her shoulders, and covered her usual armour. She could not-for some odd reason part with her pink skirt; the gold and thick buckle, and the chain linked mail plating which hugged her thighs. How she longed to walk generously across the simple streets of Rabanastre again; but she has never been able to do so, at least—not without company or guard. For the first time, in her life, she was truly alone.

------

It wasn't too long before Gabranth realized that the Princess had, perhaps lost her way within the bustling Imperial City. When he turned to search for her, he sighed openly, wishing he had not saddled himself with such a quandary. He could only guess that she had tried to procure a cab first; he strolled towards the passenger loading location, finding the public transport gone. There were a few passengers waiting for the next one, and he asked them if they had seen a hume female with her description. None of them had. She did not possess the necessary traveling prerequisite required to ride. But something in him itched in memory at the merchant at the weapons store; he had listened, without trying, heard a little to what their exchange was about—something about a hunt and a ring; and though, he tried not to intrude too much into her affairs, he had hoped that she would swallow that damnable haughty-princess pride of hers and ask him for the extra gil. He should have known, that was not something Princess Ashelia would do so easily---not when, a certain merchant, perhaps had offered a little more.

At once, he returned to the shop and found the shop-keeper humming to himself, looking at the ring Ashelia had apparently traded with him. For the years Gabranth has spent time being a Judge, one of his specialties was to listen; to spy without being noticed; to see without eyes; and to hear without ears; an artifice without being seen.

He sauntered before the counter and placed his palms with deadly calm face down on the smooth lacquered surface, his voice low, and it took him some effort not to pull the man over the counter and land a blow to his head; but, he was not overtly emotional—not often; however, a silent rage seemed to course through his veins at the princess's little dramatic escapades, "the woman, the one I was with, what hunt did you give her?"

The man was startled out of his reverie, and nearly jumped back, "Oh my! You nearly rattled me out of my concentration and had me almost dropping this rare gem!" his finger was still holding Ashelia's ring, and he sputtered, "did she not tell you?"

"Do not play games with me, what hunt did you offer her? I won't ask again."

"You mean your little lady?" The hume grinned sheepishly, but thought better of it—his facial expression changed hastily, as Gabranth waited, not wishing to mince words; the store owner cleared his throat with a kind of nervous inflection, "Barnheim passage. The hunt's in the passage, right beneath Nalbina!"

Then the shop-owner leaned in, almost whispering in awe, "Is she going off on her own?" the marvel in his voice indicated that he had not expected Ashelia to actually pursue a dangerous hunt on her own, "I thought—perhaps that she would have companions, such as yourself." He reached up to scratch his head, looked very anxious.

"I have no time for this; inform to me what manner of hunt, and where I may find the creature."

"A vampyr bat, which resides deep within the Barnheim passage. I told her I'd give her two thousand gil if she is successful; plus, her ring back, if the sword returned it to me."

Gabranth took a deep breath, mentally shaking his head; he procured the bag of gil that was stashed, hidden securely in his pocket; he dumped the contents on the counter, "Provide me her ring, in exchange for everything I have here; surely I have enough?"

From the amount of coins, it would appear to have been more than enough; and the merchant's eyes nearly bulged out from such generosity; conversely, the hume pursed his lips—took his black rimmed eye-piece from within his pockets, securing it over one eye; his dark bushy brow fanning over his lid, "Twenty-four thousand gil? That is a lot for a ring, but the ring is perhaps worth more." There was an unmistakable glint of greed in the merchant's eye, because his customer was indeed full in his pockets.

The Judge's patience was wearing incredibly thin, grabbing the merchant's lapels with a curl of his fist, "Again, the ring. Bestow it to my possession; and I shall furnish you with more when I return."

The shop-keeper sputtered helplessly, "I'll alert the Imperial soldiers in here! You can't frighten me in my own store, this is uncalled for!"

Gabranth released him, angry at himself for losing patience, "No need. I'm not in uniform, and am part of the Imperial army; he sighed, raking his hand through his short hair in frustration, "but this is important; you need not worry that I would malign your business by cheating you; you will certainly make more out of this than I."

For all the false gods of Ivalice, he was a man of the law. Acting in this insensible manner could only be brought upon the dire, yet ridiculous situation at best.

The owner visibly relaxed, straightened his lapels, "Fine. How do I know you're not lying. That you're with the Imperial guards?"

"Do you doubt me?" he asked in a smooth, chilled tone.

The response Gabranth received was a stutter, "Nay! Nay, I – I do not. But you must hurry, I fear the young lady would not be able to live if she is to trek to the passage alone. I had assumed-surely that you would be with her. You seemed like a couple." He was curiously peering into his eyes; his profile, as if trying to decipher his emotion and intention.

Gabranth procured the ring, pocketing it within his person, eyeing the merchant coolly; he replied with derision, "we're not." Then left the store in a matter of seconds.

----

Ashelia stood in front of the entrance of Old Archades; it had been a long trek, but gratefully, was too caught up with the sights—gazing at the steadily meandering traffic above, the sky streaked pink and purple, the dark colours indicating the hour of sunset soon; among the platform were patterns, directing her way to the edge of the end of the beginning. That was what she heard while stepping near the stairway leading to the slums. And indeed, she would have found her way to the decrepit neighbourhood by the smells alone. She wrinkled her nose in disgust, and set about to search for an Imperial soldier. It wasn't too long before she was bumped by a poor, wretched looking hume whose hair was matted, tangled in some kind of permanent manner of never seeing a brush in its entire life; the hume grinned widely, gazing at her with a kind of desperation.

"Would you be happening to want some company?" he showed her his lack of teeth, and she resolutely stood firm, gazed back with an austerity that set him back.

"Nay, t'would behoove you to find me an Imperial guard, so I may find the entrance to the Cave."

"The fine lass wants guards at her beck and call? No worries. For a couple gil I can get you two fine soldiers to take you."

She nearly contemplated the idea then shook her head, "I can manage thank you." And walked determinedly past, her eyes scanning through the despairing state of condition. As she turned away, she heard him mumble something about uppity Archades women. Ashelia was mildly surprised that she was even mistaken for that—perhaps it was the clothing, or the cloak around her shoulders—the fine material that set her apart from the poor that sat hopelessly around the barren grey walls, by the smell that seemed to reek from their clothes, the sewers that were never cleaned. She managed to spot two uniformed soldiers a ways off and set about on her task. Freedom seemed to be within her grasp.

Ashelia glanced hesitantly back--at least--she told herself--just once; to glimpse at the streak of faint purple splashes in the blue-white sky, searching for a sign, before resuming her direction.

-----

Gabranth had been too late. When he finally reached Old Archades, he saw two Imperial guards and walked up to them. They had not recognized him without his armour at first; but recognition settled in; they both stuttered, "Your honor, the citizens have not been rioting, so the situation here have been well and good," their uniformed clanked with attention, standing straight. Many would not have recognized Gabranth, but few soldiers knew his face in Archades; he was fortunate that these two had seen him and the other Judges without their full garb during one of the speeches at an earlier extravagant fete that was given by Vayne.

"I'm searching for a young woman, in fine clothes, pink skirt, wearing a thin, almost grey wool-trimmed cloak?"

The soldiers gave each other looks, then turned to him, "Aye, sir, she went into the cave."

He closed his eyes, he really did not have time for this. There were things he had to do; duties he had to attend to before chasing her down all over hidden places in Archades and back, "then I hold you two responsible. Retrieve her immediately, return her here, lock her up in chains if you must to hold her down. I'll send more men down here to take your stations."

"You- you want us to go search for her." They stammered nervously, "But sir, we don't know how far she's gone."

"I'll return here within two hours." He said this without argument; and with that, he strode back to the Imperial City, wishing he had the time—wishing that he could have paid more attention, but she wanted sovereignty, did she? She'll get her liberty and know that she could not do this without protection. Gods! He had not cared for anyone in so long, why would he care so much about her condition? Shit. There was his task in Nalbina Dugeons first. He hoped those insipid fools find her before she wound up in some troubled snag. But he wagered, with some kind of justification that she knew how to protect herself—perhaps more so than most would trust of her.

--to be continued--