Disclaimer: (sighs) Yes, yes, as we all know I do not own Crest of the Stars. I don't own it, you don't own it, and the disclaimer for that is here...

A/N: And alas, it has taken my longer than I wished to update, but still it is an update... (Feels under pressure) I try to do a better chapter though! Just please don't quit reading, I do try to make it enjoyable even if it doesn't work out that well...

Previously:

"Tis time for you to go now your highness," the young servant sweetly said in a small lovely voice that reveled her envy of Lafiel and her position.

Chapter 3: Escape and the Fateful Meeting

Lafiel walked into the grand room and sat herself on a wooden chair with deep crimson velvet cushions and gold accents on the wood. She lifted her head high and took a small sip from a glass of wine of which she held in her delicate hand. She looked out upon the empty area in front of her and watched as the villagers came and the area filled up.

Man after man came to her, each bearing his own problems along with one other, Jinto. A boy named Jinto seemed to be a problem for many of them.

"Jinto, Jinto, Jinto, is that all I'm going to hear from them?" Lafiel thought irritably after awhile. It wasn't that they weren't complaining about other things, for they were, it was just that this Jinto kept coming back again and again. By this point Lafiel had already finished her glass of wine and was ready for another.

Finally, after the last villager came and finished his complaining, Lafiel stood up. All eyes turned to her as they watched her prepare to speak.

"It seems," she said, "that a common problem comes up for many of you, that problem in being the boy Jinto. Before I make any decisions as to what to do about him I would like someone to tell me exactly what wrong this boy has done, for all of you have failed to specify exactly what and I'm not mind reading and all powerful like some of you may be lead to believe."

An elderly man walked up and said, "he had been chased through the streets and would not surrender over, the ending cause being mass chaos. Mothers were pulling their children indoors, men and women alike were chasing the boy and crowding up the streets so no one could get anywhere. None the less my fruit stall was knocked down and my fruit spilled on the ground and then trampled over and ruined. It's the boy's fault for starting all of that."

"But it was not the boy directly who did that to you, but rather your fellow villagers," sighed Lafiel. "And why was he running from people in the first place, I do hope there's a reason for that other than a childish game of tag."

"Yes! There is a reason!" boomed the voice of a man from in the back. "There was a reason for me to be chasing that wretch and trying to catch him!"

"Well if there was such a good reason, I pray, do tell me. Or don't you have a great reason and this is a bluff?" Normally Lafiel may have tried to act less rude, but at the moment she was mad and beyond the point of caring.

"This is not a bluff! I was chasing him due to a problem that he created with me! That problem was that while I was working and minding my own business that wretch came over to my small store looking for some stuff that I had. Another man pushed in line ahead of him and so he started to destroy stuff like a lunatic! He knocked stuff over and made a huge mess! None the less he refused to pay for what he had done, rather he ran!"

Lafiel closed her eyes and sighed. "Well that was a long story," she muttered.

Another man then walked up. "And after he did all that to him he came looking in my store and managed to make a wreck of the place also!"

"Yeah, and I being a store owner don't want my store to suffer such idiocy," complained another person.

"Well then," said Lafiel, "you may all head home now and rest assured. I will make sure that something is done about Jinto and try to help in whatever way possible for your other problems." The worst thing Lafiel dreaded about it would be hearing rumor mocking her words coming from kids. "Oh joy!" she though sarcastically. "Well at least it's over now..."

It was only a matter of days though before Lafiel became really annoyed, her parents proposed an arranged marriage for her and still Jinto managed to elude her guards.

"This is all just rubbish!" she angrily thought to herself while pacing back and fourth in her room. She had just spent an hour yelling and arguing about how she did not want an arranged marriage and would not participate in one. He parents argued back that she would, and being parents grounded her to her room and took victory on that miniature battle.

Lafiel, being unhappy, formulated an idea in her head. A daring, risky idea, but yet one that may work. She'd run away, and take Jinto with her. She'd take him to win the favor of the townspeople and when she was really missed she'd consider coming back. That or she'd run off, find true love, elope, and then come back. Either or would work for her.

That night, after everyone in the castle was asleep Lafiel made a rope out of her sheets (A/N: don't we all see that a lot...) and climbed through her window and began slowly scaling down the wall. It wasn't long though before her sheets reached their end and she was still hanging above the ground. "Shoot!" she mentally though as she dangled and one of the knots started to loose. "Ahh!" she shouted in a lower voice as the knot completely loosed and she began to fall. She hit the ground with a thud and felt herself slowly losing conscienceness.

It was a two hours later when she awoke and the time was two o'clock. She quickly sat up, but moaned in pain because her back hurt. Lafiel had always been determined and strong-willed so she did not let this stop her. Rather she forced herself to stand and run. After ten minutes of running she stopped as she reached the gates and wall that surrounded the castle. She could not open the gates, for that would make too much noise.

"Well, here goes nothing," she thought as she started to attempt to climb over the tall wall. By the time she reached the top her hands were cut and bleeding from thorns from vines that grew on the wall. As for that matter, her arms, stomach, and legs were also cut, bleeding, and bruised, though her outfit did protect them a bit before it tore. "Well at least I wore pants and not a dress," she though bitterly while staring at her bloody hands.

After five minutes of resting she gathered up her courage and with a look of sheer defiance she jumped from the wall to the ground on the other side. Her feet hurt from the impact, though nothing was broken or sprained.

While Lafiel was doing this the only other awake person in the town was currently sneaking about a small and narrow alleyway. "It's kinda creepy here," he though, "but at least no one's here. But if everyone's asleep I may as well try to get somewhere. I could run to the next town, but I'd have to pass the castle... well if everyone's asleep there I'll try that."

He quickly ran, being carful to remain silent while doing so. "Almost to the castle," he though, "and no trace of a guard. Wow, my luck must be increasing."

Lafiel was also running fast, only away from the castle, she'd take one of their space ships later, but first she had to find the town problem, Jinto. "Darn it!" she muttered as she tripped over a rock and fell to the ground.

Jinto ran faster and faster, he had to pass the castle as quickly as he could. "What!" he exclaimed in a whisper as he found himself falling quickly towards the ground. He had tripped over a rather large something. As he hit the ground he looked over to see what he tripped over, and was greatly surprised to see that it was a girl sprawled on the ground. "Sorry, are you okay?" he asked the girl in a voice that was only barely above a whisper.

"You dare ask me if I'm okay!" stated the girl furiously in an equally low voice. "Wait a minute, you're the one the villagers complained about, you're Jinto!"

"Oh shoot," though Jinto panickingly. He just realized that it was only the Princess Lafiel that he had tripped over. "Yes," he muttered weakly and the sprang up to run.

Lafiel instantly reached out and grabbed his ankles, tripping him. "You're coming with me," she said.

Jinto sighed as he followed the princess over the wall that separated the castle from the village. He resented being in there and the fact that he had chose such a time to run, since it got him caught. "Wait a minute," Jinto said, "this isn't a prison room, this is the royal hanger."

"Yes, this is where all the ships are kept and I'd appreciate it if you kept it down a bit because I am trying to run away and I am trying to take one of these with me.

"You are not trying to steal one of the royal ships and take me with you!" Jinto argued.

"Yes, only I am not only trying to, I am. And also, it's not really stealing one, after all am I not royalty? And doesn't that make me entitled to take one with me? And as for you I think that I may need someone around and they, being the villagers, clearly don't want troublesome you.

"Hey you two!" rang out the loud voice of a guard.

"Come on!" Lafiel silently whispered to Jinto, pulling him towards a rather nice and expensive looking ship.

The guard saw where they were heading and began to run, trying to make it there before them.

"Why me!" Jinto thought. "Why do I always end up in some sort of bad situation?" "Ouch," he muttered as Lafiel pulled harder on his wrist. She was pulling him along while running much faster than Jinto wanted to move at the moment, but much slower than he felt they should be running. Not that he minded much, he already realized that it was only a matter of time before he was caught, and be it by villagers or guard it wouldn't make much of a difference to his sentence in the long run.

Lafiel quickly yanked Jinto in a sharp turn as to run towards the ship a bit faster than the route that they were taking.

The guard, all the while, was only running faster and faster, all his years of training were paying off.

Lafiel made it to the ship and quickly began to work on opening up the hatch, while Jinto stood still watching the guard as he neared them and was only a few feet away. Suddenly the hatch opened and Lafiel jumped in, hitting the close button and pulling Jinto in on the way.

The guard put forth a final burst of speed and grabbed onto Jinto's ankle.

"Hey! Let me go!" exclaimed Jinto while hanging on for his life.

Lafiel ran over to Jinto and quickly grabbed both of his wrists and yanked both him and the guard aboard. Though, with a quick shove, the guard was soon out and falling to the ground.

The hatch then clicked shut and the ship began to rise in the air. "Finally," muttered a very ticked off and irritated Lafiel.

"Umm... so now that we're traveling together, what should I call you?" Jinto asked.

Lafiel looked at him for a moment and then smiled. "You may call me Lafiel!"

A/N: Okay, so here's this chapter, sorry for it taking so long. All excuses may be found in other stories or listed on my profile page so I won't list them here. Though here's an idea, why don't you check out some of my other stories... or at least submit a review for this one...