Author's note: It feels like it's been forever since I updated this story. Thank you to everyone who is still reading, even if you just discovered this story with this update!

I am really sorry that there's a note like this on every chapter of this story now. I always mean to work on it, but with my schedule it never seems to happen. Feedback is a big motivator for me, though... so if you like the story and want to see more, consider leaving a review?

-x-

Chapter Four: Market Day

Lady Isabella Scott was waiting in the inn's common room when Trini came down in the morning. She looked well-rested: calm and poised and perfectly at home, all the things Trini wished she could feel herself. Isabella smiled as Trini made her way across the room, and gestured for Trini to join her at her table.

The lady was sipping at a steaming cup of tea. A stack of emptied plates stood in one corner of the table, waiting to be taken away for washing. Whatever the kitchen was serving this morning smelled delightful. All in all, today was looking much better than yesterday.

Trini sat down opposite Isabella. It wasn't long before someone came around to serve her a big helping of breakfast. She'd planned to tell Lady Scott about her trip to the royal gallery, but the scent of that delicious food had her digging in as soon as the serving woman set the plate down in front of her. It wasn't until she'd finished her first helping that she found the space for a conversation.

"I went to the royal gallery yesterday," she began, "to see the portraits of the royal family."

"And how did that go?" Isabella asked.

"It was harder than I thought it would be," she admitted. "I don't know what to do next."

"Isn't that why you have me, my dear?" Her lips had quirked into that gentle smile that always made Trini think of her as a foster mother. She'd felt so distant from Isabella lately that it was almost a relief to feel a little of that old affection.

"Is it?" The words slipped out before she realized what she was saying.

Isabella leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. "That sounds like something's wrong. Do you want to talk about it?"

"You knew who I really was the whole time."

Lady Scott considered that. "Someone had to. I was honored that Zordon chose me and my husband for that role."

"Is that why you always encouraged Jason to be friends with me even though I was a nobody? Is that why you cared about me at all?" This was not at all the direction she'd thought this conversation would take. In fact, she'd planned never to tell Isabella of her own conflicted feelings. And yet it had all come tumbling out.

"Oh, Trini." Isabella shifted over into the chair beside Trini and, despite the breach of Tayene protocol, slipped her arm around Trini's shoulders. "You were a scared little girl far away from home, the same age as my own son. How could I not have wanted to help you?"

Trini leaned into the embrace, relieved beyond words at Isabella's reassurance.

"For all we knew, you would only ever be Kimberly's friend and maid," Isabella went on. "You couldn't come to us with any fanfare or great wealth, and we didn't know if it would ever be safe to reveal your true identity. But once Jonathan and I met you, we couldn't help but love you as if you were one of our own."

"I was so afraid that it had all been a lie," Trini murmured.

"The only lies we told were to keep you safe. We had no idea that Taye would be sealed off after Zordon brought you to us. We had to consider that assassins might come after you to finish putting an end to your family line."

Trini nodded. It made sense. It also sounded exactly like something Zordon would have been concerned about, and went a long way toward explaining why she'd gone north with a bodyguard playing the part of doting uncle. And why that bodyguard had trained her into an accomplished fighter.

"I think you should do something fun today," Isabella said, pulling Trini out of her memories and back to the present. "Something to help you get your mind off your troubles for a while."

"Like what?" Trini asked. She couldn't think of much in Taye City that sounded like fun just now.

"It's Market Day," Isabella pointed out. There were markets and shops all over the city that were open every day, but the monthly Market Day was an event that brought every vendor into the streets and included vastly more shows and entertainers than the ordinary markets. Most everyone in the city found time to slip away from work for a while to enjoy the festivities.

"You should take Zack and Angela and go have some fun," Lady Scott continued. "I'll be working a few leads at court today. Once I can get you an introduction there, you may not have many opportunities for frivolity for a while."

Trini stared down at her hands where they cupped her teacup. The warmth had seeped out of the tea and now she just felt cold. Instead of telling Isabella any of that, she simply nodded.

-x-

It didn't take much convincing on Trini's part to get Angela and Zack to agree to go to Market Day with her. It seemed all three of them needed a break after the trip to the royal gallery, and since there was no sign of Richie today they would just go without him. Trini wasn't sure what to make of that. While it might have been nice to have someone with some local insight—who didn't constantly look at her askance for keeping close company with foreigners—to show them around, she knew Zack didn't trust him and it would probably be easier without him there.

They headed out from the inn a few hours before midday, heading toward the nearest Market Day hub. It wasn't hard to find. All they had to do was follow everyone else on the street, heading toward the large plaza a few blocks from the inn where everyone seemed to be congregating.

Every road seemed crowded with people, filled with tables and tents where vendors sold their wares. Food and drink, clothes, trinkets, baubles, everything was for sale. The corners and plazas where there was more space were only slightly less crowded, and that was only because of all the performers that had staked out space there.

As it turned out, Isabella had been right. Market Day was a pleasant distraction, and Trini found she'd needed one of those right about now.

With the money Lady Scott had provided them, they were able to buy as much festival food as they could eat and had enough left over to start shopping for gifts for their friends back home. It wasn't long before Trini had collected some intriguingly designed jewelry that she thought Kimberly might like, made of glass rather than gemstones, but all in the bright pinks her friend adored so much. And once she had something for Kimberly, she knew she would need something for Jason and Billy and Aisha and all the others.

While she was browsing the wares set out in front of a tent filled with cloaks made of the finest fabrics, one of which was a beautiful red that had her thinking wistfully of Jason, she felt the unnerving sensation of eyes focused directly on her. She glanced around as surreptitiously as she could. She didn't want to draw negative attention to herself, but she had to know. She didn't see anyone looking her way.

And yet… she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.

She rounded a corner of the tent and looked up, locking eyes with a girl of about sixteen years. The girl stared back at her, dark eyes seeming to see all the way to her very soul.

Trini was familiar with the customs here in Taye; she'd been teaching them to Zack and Angela along with the local language. The customs might not feel like her own, but she could follow them without thinking. They were distant memories, something some other Trini had known, a long time ago. It felt strange to follow those customs now, like they were someone else's clothes: perfectly suitable, but without the perfect fit of her own clothing.

Living in Kimberly's court under a false identity had probably saved her life. But it had also changed her forever. She could never again be the little girl who'd left with her bodyguard that day, all those years ago. Naive, trusting… malleable. She didn't remember the meeting with Zordon, or much else until she and Li had arrived at Hart Castle, but she knew the old sorcerer had locked her memories and identity away, transforming her from Princess Trinity of Taye into just Trini, Princess Kimberly Hart's new playmate and future handmaid.

But even Trini the erstwhile princess knew that direct, prolonged eye contact wasn't something that most Tayenes were comfortable with. If this girl kept staring at her like that, it couldn't mean anything good.

She broke eye contact and looked around for Zack.

Her heart raced, pounding with fear when she realized she couldn't see him anywhere. The sensation became even worse when she realized the girl had vanished.

Where was Zack? Had something happened to him and she hadn't noticed? Or was she just being paranoid because she'd caught that girl staring at her?

Angela must have noticed her rising panic, because she wended her way past a few people that weren't looking Trini's way and insinuated herself next to Trini. She took Trini's arm in hers and leaned in close. Smiling as if she were asking about Trini's purchases, she asked, "What's wrong?" She wasn't speaking Tayene.

"Something's not right," Trini whispered back. "That girl was staring at me... something's wrong. Very wrong."

"Where's Zack?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Angela, we have to get out of here."

Angela didn't nod or give any other indication of what Trini had just said. Switching to Tayene she said, "I'm sorry my lady, but I'm suddenly not feeling well. Might we go back to the inn?"

"Of course," Trini replied. "Hopefully we'll find Zack on the way so we can tell him where we're going."

They veered down the street in the direction of the inn without incident, but when they tried to turn onto a side street to escape from some of the throng they found their way blocked by a middle-aged woman. She didn't look like anything special in herself, like she might have been anyone at all, but she fixed her steely gaze on Trini and wouldn't look away.

Trini froze in horror, realizing that several other people in the crowd were now turning to face her and Angela. Were they closing in?

"I've been looking everywhere for you," the woman said. She didn't speak loudly but her voice came through clearly despite the noise all around. "Princess."

Trini recoiled as the woman reached for her, but she was too slow. The woman's hand locked around her wrist like a shackle.

And that was when Trini's instincts kicked in. Without even thinking about it she was moving, breaking the woman's hold and twisting away to crash into Angela. With the woman and her followers ringing them in, there was nowhere else to go.

Angela shrieked a warning as she caught Trini by the shoulders. There was anger written across her face, not fear. She might not be able to help fight off their would-be attackers, but she could certainly make sure everyone else in the crowded market knew what was going on. Trini, more given to silence than fearful cries herself, was grateful for it.

Trini fought the urge to reach for her ring and the security it promised. A marketplace packed with people was the last place she wanted to reveal that she possessed a powerful magic artifact, even if she would feel better armed and armored. If it came to a fight, she would have to rely on the hand-to-hand skills that Li had taught her all those years ago.

Zack pushed his way through the crowd from off to their left, in some places having to actually shove people out of his way, to rejoin them. If it weren't for the regulations that forbid going armed on Market Day, she had no doubt he would be brandishing his axe and wearing Erë's enchanted armor as he stormed to their rescue. He must have come to the same conclusion as Trini. Magic and weapons would be their last resort.

"What's going on here?" he demanded, managing a level of haughty condescension that he had to have learned from one of Kimberly's teenage snits.

The woman who'd grabbed Trini just a few moments ago backed off several feet, holding her hands up as if to protest her innocence. The people who must have been her cronies clustered around her, their eyes filled with something that looked disturbingly like malice. Trini fought off vivid memories of another group of Tayenes who had turned on her and Zack, Sunan Lin and his men who had been in the employ of Ivan Ooze, and tried not to freeze up.

"The prophecy speaks of this one," the woman, who Trini already thought of as the leader, said. "The lost princess shall be found, and with her magic shall return to the forsaken land of Taye."

Suddenly Trini was even more glad that she hadn't used her ring during the altercation — surely these people would take that as a sign that their prophecy was coming true. The last thing she wanted right now was to find herself surrounded by a conspiracy or, worse, a prophecy. She'd had enough of both in the past two years.

"If you are Princess Trinity," the woman went on, "then we can't afford to lose you to the Council. You must come with us. You must fulfill the prophecy before they put Taye at risk again."

Trini shivered despite the midday heat. "I can't do that," she said, her voice a horrified whisper. She hated how scared she felt in that moment, but could not stop from wondering if her friends would be able to find her if she were kidnapped a second time. She couldn't take the chance.

"She doesn't want to go with you," Zack told them. He stepped forward again, putting himself more firmly between Trini and the woman who'd been speaking. "I don't want to fight anyone, but I won't have a choice if any of you lays a hand on Trini again."

Zack turned, putting his back to the woman and her followers. "Let's go," he said. "I've got your back."

No one tried to stop them when they turned around and headed down the street. They had to take a circuitous route to avoid the place where they'd been waylaid the first time, but eventually they found themselves clear of the worst of the Market Day crowds and heading in the right direction. Trini was still shaking then, but she had managed to stop clinging to Angela quite so much.

"Hey! Hey, what's wrong?" Someone called out.

Trini glanced up, expecting the worst. Never in her life had she been so happy to see Bulk and Skull. The two guards loped over, already on the alert even though they were supposed to be off duty today.

"Someone tried to grab Trini just now," Zack informed them. "I don't think they'll try again, but we'd appreciate an escort back to the inn."

"Of course," Bulk said.

"You can count on us!" Skull added with a little salute.

Without any mention of what they'd been on their way to do, though the Market Day really left little doubt, they turned around and led the way back to the inn. They were so conspicuous in their monitoring of the passersby that no one dared to bother them, though the locals probably felt that they were being unconscionably rude.

Not long ago, Trini would have scoffed at the idea that she'd be grateful to have Bulk and Skull as her personal bodyguards. Now, as they made sure she got back to the inn safely, she was thrilled to have them.

-x-

Trini lingered in the inn's common room until late in the evening, or rather, early in the morning. Zack and Angela had finally given up and gone upstairs to bed almost an hour ago. She knew that the serving staff and several guards were also lingering there only for her sake, and felt a little guilty at keeping them at their posts so late.

But she couldn't bear the thought of going up to her room and once more facing the nightmares of her time as Ivan Ooze's prisoner. She couldn't know for sure that she was going to have a nightmare again… but she didn't want to find out. Remembering the events of that afternoon was enough to make her deeply uncomfortable. It wasn't a huge leap to think her nightmares would return after an experience like that.

You have to sleep, she told herself, striving to keep a grip on logic. Not sleeping would just make the next day or so even less bearable. And it would put her at a serious disadvantage if Isabella did manage to get her an appointment at court.

And yet.

Movement caught her eye, and the soft sound of footsteps coming down the stairs and entering the common room: Zack.

She felt another pang of guilt as he sat down beside her. "I'm sorry. You didn't have to come back to check on me. You should sleep."

"So should you," he told her.

"I know," she agreed. "But you remember what we went through, Zack. You remember the nightmares. I know you've had them, too."

He nodded. "I have." He was quiet a while. "I still think you should go upstairs and at least try to sleep."

"Zack."

"Everything will be okay. I promise."

"Zack."

"Don't make me carry you. Because I will."

She sighed. "Will you stay? In case…"

"If that's what it takes you to get you to sleep, I'll sleep outside your door or on your floor."

"Thank you."

"We've got guards at every entrance. Everyone's on high alert after what happened. No one is going to get in here tonight and hurt you," he assured her. "Anything that happens is only going to be in your mind. It's just memories, and those can't hurt you."

"I know," she breathed.

And somehow she managed to make herself get up and follow Zack to the stairs and up them and to the door of her room. She hesitated outside the door long enough to take a deep breath and let it go.

Someone opened the door from the inside. For a moment terror seized her, and then the shape that loomed in the shadows resolved into one that was deeply familiar — the best sight she'd seen all day.

"Jason!" She was in his arms in an instant, and didn't remember or care how she got there. She hadn't thought to see any of her friends, other than Zack and Angela, for months yet, when they were due to make their official visits to Taye. "What are you doing here? How are you here?"

He chuckled and folded her in an eager embrace. She had the impression of Zack grinning widely, inordinately pleased with himself for pulling off the surprise, and then the door shut behind her and she and Jason were alone.

"Zack's been in touch with Billy," Jason explained. "They've been testing the abilities of the Ninjetti magic, or at least that's how Billy explained it to me." He sobered. "Zack told Billy that something happened today that really upset you. And when Billy told me, well…" He trailed off, sounding as if he felt rather sheepish about it now. She gathered that Billy must have teleported Jason into her room, and then they'd sent Zack to retrieve her.

"Thank you," she told him, choking up a little. "It means a lot that you'd come all this way for me."

"Hey now. I've done it before, and this time was a lot easier."

That coaxed a smile out of her.

"That's better." He let her go long enough to go light the two candles that were the room's only source of light. This time of year the hearth was empty, as the heat from the day was more than enough to keep the rooms warm through the night.

Trini stayed where she was, feeling suddenly shy.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Jason asked, slowly pacing back to where she waited.

"I don't know."

"It's okay if you don't."

Lady Scott had wanted to know every detail. So had the guards, and the inn's owner, and what felt like everyone else Trini had encountered all evening. Not explaining it all over again sounded like a blessing.

"Can we… can we talk about something else, though?" she asked.

Jason's hands were a warm comfort on her shoulders. "Whatever you want."

It took her a while to get started, like she couldn't find the words now that she'd asked to say them. "I feel like I don't belong here in Taye, or in Phaedos, or even back at Kimberly's court," she murmured at last. "It feels like I'm an outcast, like I'm never really going to belong anywhere."

"Then you're the wisest, most capable, most beautiful outcast I've ever seen," he told her. "Taye is lucky to have you. Give them time. They'll figure that out."

She moved into his arms, holding him a little tighter than before, as if that would allow her to also cling to his warm, familiar faith in her. The compliment about her looks was new, but she found she wanted to cling to that, too. "It feels a little more like home with you here," she confessed.

"Then I'll be here every night if you want me to be." It was a simple statement, and she knew he meant every word.

She pulled away to look up at him, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry. "Do you really think Billy wants to use his Ninjetti magic to get you here every night?"

He shrugged. "I think he will, if I ask him. For you."

The warmth of Jason's love, and the love of all her friends, helped chase away the shadows and fears that lingered after the day's events. "I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything." And with that he kissed her deeply. There was a heated urgency in that kiss, the result of months of loneliness and longing. It was easy enough to recognize. She'd felt it all, herself.

She opened herself to him, her body reacting with stunning eagerness, flooding with warmth and desire. She hadn't realized just how much—and in what ways—she'd missed him until this moment. When he was here, despite the impossibility, and in her arms and every bit as eager and excited to be reunited as she was...

This powerful reaction, in combination with the stresses of the day, threatened to overwhelm her. "Can we just sleep tonight?" she asked, breathless as she broke away from the kiss, torn between wanting more and fearing it might break her. He hadn't asked for more, hadn't done anything more than kiss her as if his life depended on it, but somehow the thought of what a night alone together might lead to was thrilling and terrifying all at once.

Jason pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Whatever you need."

She all but melted against him. "Thank you."

With nothing more to say, Jason scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed.