Title: Destiny Reborn

Author: Queen Serenity

Fandom: Labyrinth

Chapter: Six – Makes Sense

Tah'rina awoke to find herself being shaken. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into two very anxious and angry-looking eyes which looked familiar.

As she got to her feet, she looked around to see that there were eleven other elves around her, a couple of them older, but most not much older than her. She looked at Althor and met his steely gaze.

"Kah'rel, may I ask what you are doing here? That I know of, you weren't asked by me to come…"

To anyone watching him, Althor looked calm. Quite calm. But Tah'rina (I'll call her Kah'rel when she's in disguise), she knew better… Althor was very angry with her, and was worried, too. Most likely, he was thinking about what her father would do when he found that she was missing.

Kah'rel grinned, and scratched the back of her head as she let out a chuckle. "Did you really think that I would let you go on this journey without me, Uncle? If that is what you thought, then I am sorry… but you should know me better than that…"

Althor nodded. "Aye, I do… come speak with me for a minute…"

Leaving the others to eat their breakfast of rations, Althor led the disguised princess out of earshot. He glared at her. "You should not be here, Princess. When your father, the king, finds you to be missing, you know that he will send out a search party. If they find us, there is always the chance they shall somehow find that you are not a commoner nephew of an old soldier, but rather the royal princess in disguise. If this happens, it shall be figured out that I covered for you these past years when I said you were my nephew… and then I would be either thrown in the dungeons, exiled, or killed… none of which I would like to happen."

Kah'rel smirked. "Alright, first of all, Althor, you do not have to worry about a search party… Think, okay? I just got into an argument with my father. Tell me, Althor, what do I do whenever I get into an argument with my father?"

Althor frowned, thinking. "You… lock yourself into your room, refusing to speak with anyone, until you actually have to eat… which can usually be anywhere from two to four days."

Kah'rel nodded, smiling. "So, most likely, it won't be until five days have passed that he will have someone break my door down. When he realizes that I am missing, it will take a few hours to get a search party together… all in all, unless every one of us breaks our legs, then it is very highly unlikely that they will catch up will catch up with us… and that is without even taking into account the fact that they will not know our exact route, and would have to have very good trackers with them to follow our footprints.

"Second of all… even if they could find us, there would be next to no chance of them finding out that I am Tah'rina. I have been using this disguise for several years now, and everyone is familiar enough with me that they would not be suspicious of me."

Althor frowned, but nodded. "You are right… It is too late anyway. We are already too far away from the castle."

On the way back to where the others were, Althor thought of something. "By the way… one of our scouts found a couple of bodies not too far from here. I do not suppose you had anything to do with that, did you?"

She smiled innocently. "I noticed the bandits approaching your camp, and I needed the experience in real fighting, anyway."

Althor gave her a stern look. "I am glad that you stopped them, but that was not smart of you, Kah'rel… there were two of them, and you were not experienced."

Kah'rel nodded. "I know, I know… I shall be more careful, Althor, I promise. Just… don't treat me any differently from anyone else here, okay?"

"Agreed."