Arianna shivered violently, wishing she was still staying back in the Al Kharid palace; the palace with the soft, silken sheets and the rich, succulent food. She sighed as just the memory of her stay in the palace made her body ache. The hard, cold stones were a far cry from the plush, feather mattresses she had slept in during her stay.

She had been kept in her cell for nearly a week, much longer than Captain Borcus had originally said. Another blizzard had fallen over Ardougne, dropping the temperature of the prison even further. The lack of guards within the prison suggested that many of them were out in the city, aiding those trapped by the snow. The Captain was likely too preoccupied aiding the citizens of the city to care about the lowly thief he held in the prison.

One of the infrequent patrols was a young guard by the name of Joel. She quickly learned that he was new to the city's guard, urged to join by his father. She couldn't help but sit and listen, being the captive audience that she was. As days passed, though, she grew to like his company; it brought a nice change to the solitude of jail. The more she learned about him, the more she realized why it was him who was constantly down on prison duty. While Captain Borcus was fierce and ruthless, Joel was kind, even in knowing that she was a thief. Borcus would only wish to have the help of those that were like him. Joel was still new, and not yet broken to be a man like the Captain.

Joel quickly became genuinely interested in her and the stories that had. Soon, in getting to know her, he started to feel bad for her, for the situation that she had gotten herself into. While she never wanted anyone's pity, Joel's pity came with a few, small perks. First came in the form of a blanket, if you could even call it that. It looked as though it was an old guards' cloak. Giant moth holes spotted the deep burgundy cloth. He gave her an apologetic shrug as he passed it through the bars for her.

"It was all that I could manage to get for you," he explained. "Anything more and the Captain would've noticed. He'd likely have my head for it."

"Every little bit will help," she said, taking hold of the cloak. She wrapped it around her shoulders. Maybe if it didn't actually aid with the chill during that day, she could convince herself that it helped once the deep freeze set into the prison through the night.

Joel also managed to get her a little more of the poor excuse for food that was served to her. He passed through a small piece of nearly stale bread and a small cup of water. The water was the first to disappear as Arianna drained it as soon as the cup was placed into her hand. He'd take the cup back and refill it with water and return it to her. This she'd take slowly; she didn't know if the next would be as generous as Joel.

"So, how did you do it?" Joel asked, taking a seat on a small wooden stool set across from the door to her cell. Since she was the only one held within the prison, he didn't have to patrol the whole place.

She swallowed the small lump of bread she managed to pull off from the main piece. "How did I do what?" she asked then took another bite.

"How did you manage to get into that storeroom?" Joel asked. "The one that Captain Borcus found you in. The storm that night was terrible, and many of the guards were on patrol that night, myself included. No one ever saw you until the Captain gathered a few of us and brought us to the storeroom where you were."

She nodded. "Then I was doing my job right," she said. "I had spent the week before my attempted heist studying the paths that you guards took through the city. I had your routes and timings down to the seconds when guards would show up where. Armed with that knowledge, I used the fallen log to get myself across the river and get onto the rooftops-"

"The rooftops?!" Joel said, cutting her off. "You traveled across the rooftops of Ardougne? What did you when you came to the Handelmort Estate?"

"I jumped to the roof of the mansion," she said simply, but she could see a kind of amazement shining in the young guard's eyes.

"Jumped? From the residents' roofs to the Handelmort Mansion roof?" he said, stunned by her claim. "That's got to be…what? A fifteen feet gap?"

She shrugged. "Probably closer to twenty," she said nonchalantly, not caring that she embellished the story some. 'Nothing that Ozan wouldn't do,' she thought to herself.

Joel shook his head, smiling. "That's amazing, just like you hear in all of those childhood stories that my pa used to tell me when I was growing up," he said. "Where did you learn to-"

"BOONE!" came a shout from the other end of the prison.

The shout caused Joel to jump, knocking over the small stool and himself along with it. He hit the flagstone floor hard then quickly tried to scramble to his feet, tripping over the stool as he did. He glanced down the prison and instantly straightened, seeing who it was that shouted his name. He saluted. "C-Captain Borcus," he said, his voice faltering some.

The Captain strode down the prison, his eyes solely on Joel, who still held his salute. Arianna took that time to shrug the mot-eaten cloak from her shoulders and carefully hide it behind her. It was the only thing she had to help fight off the cold and she wasn't about to lose it so easily. But the Captain took no notice of her.

"Joel Boone," he said, his voice quiet and full of anger, "what do you think you are doing?"

"Well, sir," Joel stammered, "I…I was just…just uh…"

"Conversing with a convicted criminal," snapped Borcus. "You are aware that this woman is a thief, right?"

"Well, yes, sir," Joel said, "but she wasn't hurting anyone."

"Not hurting anyone? You do realize that she was stealing from this city," said the Captain, pointing at her for emphasis, but never taking his eyes off of the young guard. "And you also realize that anyone that steals from this city is stealing from every citizen within Ardougne."

"I'm sorry, sir," said Joel, lowering his head, but the Captain wouldn't have any of it.

"I don't want to hear it," said Borcus. "Get yourself out of here and I don't want to see your face around here again." He watched as Joel just stood there, staring at his now former captain, uncertain of what to do. The Captain only seemed to grow more furious. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted at Joel.

Joel jumped slightly, glanced over to Arianna, a sad look in his eyes, then hurried out of the prison. The silence seemed to stretch on and on as Captain Borcus stared at the door that Joel had exited through. Arianna kept her eyes on the Captain and held the silence until she couldn't take it anymore.

"You were much too hard on him," she finally said, moving. Her chains clattered across the cold stones she sat on. The looked that Captain Borcus shot her would've made someone with a lesser mettle than she flinch, but she kept her cool.

"Who are you to say if I've been too harsh with one of my men, thief?" he snapped at her. "If he had wished to keep his job then he should've known better than to go about chatting with the detainees." He gave her another one of his many glares.

But she returned it with a smile, a trick she had learned from Ozan. "Whatever happened to you, Captain? What made you into such a callous man who treats his men so harshly?" But the man just held his glare, and she knew she wasn't about to get an answer out of him. "You're a chatty one, and a very busy one since that second blizzard."

"Oh, don't think that I've forgotten you," said Borcus, "but the king has dedicated all of his attention to aiding his people, thus taking up too much of his time to deal with you. But since you're all nice and cozy here, I'm sure that you won't mind waiting until the king can see to you." He sneered at her through the prison bars. "Until then, though, I'm sure that you will enjoy your stay, alone. I'm not wasting any more of my guards on you."

She watched as Captain Borcus started to stroll back down the cell block. "All alone? You're not worried about me breaking out while left unattended?"

He just shook his head, his back still turned to her. "There is no way out of this place. You're stuck here, thief, until I come to collect you." He headed quickly up the stairs, not allowing Arianna to have any more comments.

She sighed, and tried to find a comfortable spot in the stone cell, with very little success. She sighed in frustration as she pulled the burgundy cloak tight around her should, seriously hoping that this night wasn't as cold as the last.

Unfortunately, when the sun finally dipped down below the horizon, the temperature took a severe drop with it. The cold seeped through her body into her bones. She started to shiver violently as she was beginning to think that she'd never feel warmth again.

"D…damn it, Oz…Ozan," Arianna said through chattering teeth. "That favor could really c-come in h-h-handy now."

She pulled the sad excuse of a blanket tight around her shoulders. She tried to fall back into an uneasy sleep to escape the frigid temperature.

So, there we go. Another prison chapter For Arianna. I have to admit, it's been pretty cold where I am, and I'm beginning to feel a lot like her (blankets have become part of my wardrobe).

Be on the lookout for Diamond in the Rough chapters coming up soon.

Cheers :)