Jacin was chasing after her. Running, heart pounding. Although where he was going he couldn't be quite sure. As soon as Jacin saw the empty sofa, panic seized his heart. The window was opened and he rushed to it. There was no sign of her.

That, at least, was some small way, a relief. She hadn't hurt herself. And he was confident no one else had taken her. He would have heard them right outside the door, and no one could've predicted the Winter she would be alone in the study. She should've still been in the dining room eating pavlova with the other dignitaries.

So she ran away, he deduced.

If he was honest with himself, he couldn't entirely blame her. He knew the week had been hard on her, and he wouldn't have spent another second with the Australian governor if it weren't out of loyalty to her.

But Jacin was also cursing her a dozen times over. How could she do something so foolish? Didn't she know how dangerous this was? Where would she go? How many people could recognise her?

The Governor-General's residence sat in front of a bay and along the side ran a park. Knowing the would run away from the Admiralty House and hoping that she wouldn't try to swim the lake, Jacin headed toward the park.

There was someone lying on a park bench. Relief flooded through him. He slowed down as he approached her.

Winter was lying curled into a ball with one arm under her head. She mumbled drunkenly to herself, "bio-trickily system will protect everyone."
Jacin kneeled down in front of her. Whatever sedative the doctor had given her had knocked her out before she could get too far.

"How are you this evening?" Winter stuck her arm out and let her hand flop down. "It is so lovely to meet you."

Jacin nudged her, "Come on Princess, we need to get you back."

Winter groaned, but she sat up. Jacin tried to help her stand, but she just leaned into him.
"Hey! hey, hey," he hooked his arms under hers and pulled her up. " Hey, wake up! I'm not going to carry you all the way back."
"Thank you very much, delighted," Winter mumbled into his shoulder.
"Hey, look at me." He put both his hands on her cheeks and forced her to look at him.

For a moment, she just stared at him through droopy eyelids, but the she seemed to recognise him and her eyes lit up.

"Jacin! I knew you'd find me soon enough," she rested her head on his shoulder again. "I guess it was sooner rather than later."
Jacin sighed guided her toward the main road. He had to keep his arms around her waist to prevent her from collapsing. It would be difficult to walk her back to the Admiralty House like this, and he didn't think he could carry her the whole way.
In front of them a magcar lowered, "Hey, you young folks need a ride? It's a little late to be rendezvousing in the park."

"It's a taxi," Winter said pointing.

Jacin guided Winter into the back of the cab, before sliding in after her.

"Could you take us to the Admiralty House, please?"

The driver laughed. "Son, I don't think they're gonna be giving any tour at this hour."

Jacin hadn't thought about that. It would be difficult for them to get past security. If they tried to go through the front gates, it would draw too much attention. Probably nobody had noticed they were gone yet, and it be best to keep it that way. But if they tried to get in the way they came, they could get caught sneaking in. Probably would, considering the state Winter was in.

"I don't want to go back there," Winter whined playing with the hook on the ceiling of the car.

"Is there anywhere around here with good food. Somewhere open late?" Jacin asked.

The driver frowned. "Anywhere close is closed. But I know a good 24 hour diner in the city."

"That's fine. I can pay."

As the driver pulled away, Winter rested her head on him again, "Thank you, Jacin."

"Are you going to fall asleep again?" he asked, but she just cuddled further into his side.

"Say, youse got an interesting accent. You're not from around here are you?" the driver asked.

"No, we're from very far from here,"Jacin said.

"America?"

"Uh, no."

"Canada?"

"Something like that." It was probably best the the driver didn't realize their accent was actually Lunar. Not only was prejudice and hatred against Lunars the norm on Earth, but if he was paying attention to the news at all, he would quickly recognise the girl asleep in his backseat as the princess.

They passed the rest of the drive in silence. Winter snoozed on his shoulder, and Jacin stared out the window as the suburbs turned into Sydney proper. Almost thoughtlessly, he ran his hand over her back. She was safe. She was going to be ok.

Eventually the driver pulled to a stop in front of a brightly lit restaurant. Jacin nudged Winter awake, paid the driver, and climbed out. Their formal attire received a few quizzical looks as they walked in, but anyone who had looked up quickly turned back to their food. He took Winters hand and led her to a booth in the back.

"What a curious place," Winter said picking up a menu and propping it in front of her face.

A waiter came over and prompted them to order.

"Uh, just two coffees" Jacin knew the ID chip he had been given was loaded with some credits, but he wasn't sure how much or how far it would stretch.

Winter held up the menu and waved it in the waiter's face.

"And one order of the sunshine waffles with extra toppings."

A platter of waffles and two refills of coffee later, Winter had sobered up significantly. Jacin studied her the whole time she ate, looking for any signs of the demons that plagued her at dinner.

"I'm ok, Jacin." Winter started fiddling with the sugar packets, her head resting on the table. "I just let the stress get to me, and the migraines are bad but they're manageable."

Jacin shook his head. "I shouldn't have let you work yourself this hard. I should've-"

Winter cut him off. "It's not you fault, Jacin. I know you've helped me and watched out for me for years, but you don't control me. I made the decision to do this goodwill tour. Just like I made the decision to run away tonight."

"We have to go back. We can't just defect to Australia," Jacin said.

"I know. I just wanted a break." Winter said, no longer drowsy but resolute. "I want to do this. I want to help Selene, I just can't do so much."

"We just have a few more days, one more city after this. When we get back to Luna, you won't have to work another day if you don't want to."

"Let's take a holiday." Jacin looked confused, but Winter continued, "I want to see the city, Jacin, really see it. I want to go to the beach. Then, I'll go back. I promise." She looked at him pleadingly.

"I think it's a bad idea," Jacin avoided her eyes. So many things could go wrong if they went out and about the city. Anyone could recognise them, she could get hurt, she could have another episode. And what about everything Priya had planned for today?

"You thought the whole trip was a bad idea," Winter argued.

Jacin shrugged, "Well, I think everything is a bad idea."

Outside, Sydney was beginning to wake up. Somehow, Winter seemed to know where she wanted to go as they walked around the city. They walked across the harbor bridge and took a ferry back. Winter leaned far over the railing to study the fishes below. Jacin put a hand on her lower back to steady her. Eventually, they found themselves in a farmers market, and Winter delighted in seeing and trying all the new fruits and vegetables. She relayed what she knew of Scarlett's farm and hopes that one day they could visit it.

Everywhere they went people seemed to love Winter. Shopkeepers smiled at her. Children ran up to her. A few people tried to flirt with her, which Jacin was less pleased about. At one point a florist had tried to sell her a bouquet of flowers. Even when she showed him she had no money, he let her keep one.

"A beautiful flower, for a beautiful girl," the florist told her.

This, Jacin thought, is why Cinder sent Winter down to Earth. Not to sit in boring trade talk, but to be with the people. To win them all over in the way that she inevitably did to everyone.

The beach was her favorite part. She marveled at the waves and helped a child build a sandcastle. A group of teenagers were playing a sport called sand volleyball and invited them to join them. Jacin thought he held his own, considering he didn't really understand the rules, but Winter kept getting distracted.

"Look at the birds, Jacin."

"Wow, look at that big hole they've dug."

"Let's go try an icy pole."

After awhile they left the game and made their way across the beach to the food vendor that had set up shop there. Jacin bought them each a frozen treat; his orange and hers blue.

"What are you smiling at?" She asked, looking up at him through her long lashes.

"Hmm?" he said distracted. "Oh, your mouth. It's turned completely blue. Not like, cold blue. Bright blue." He laughed trying to explain. "Is mine orange?"

"Not really, it's just a really bright red."

Jacin blushed when he realized they were both staring at the others lips. And they were standing so close. Jacin though he shouldn't feel this awkward. They had kissed before. But those had been life or death situations. Not this. Today, it was almost like they were normal teenagers, going on a date, hanging out with their friends at the beach. He let himself imagine for a moment that was all this was.

"Jacin," Winter begged, barely a whisper.

He leaned in slightly.

She closed her eyes.

Before Jacin could close the gap between them, something on the netscreen interrupted his thoughts and demanded his attention.

"For those of you who I just tuning in, you should know there has been no further word from the bedside of Princess Winter, who suddenly was taken ill late last night, on the last leg of her goodwill tour. This has given rise to rumours and speculation for what this may mean for already tumultuous Earthen-Lunar relations."

Winter opened her eyes and was listening as well. Her face fell.

"I suppose we better be headed back now," she mumbled.

They rode back to the embassy in silence. Priya was of course relieved to see Winter back and safe She had looked back and forth between her and Jacin a few times, and then seemed to decide that they didn't need to be scolded. Instead she explained how she had rearranged the schedule to salvage the rest of the tour. Jacin was relieved to hear that rather than trying to cram four days of activities into three to make up for lost time, the new schedule was actually less busy than the original. Priya also explained that it would be best if they stuck to the story that Winter was sick, but made a quick recovery.

Winter went straight back to work. Smiling for a photo shoot. Answering questions to the press. She seemed refreshed, more composed. But other than that she did nothing to acknowledge the day they had. Jacin found her harder to read now. Was she angry? Disappointed? Lonely?

As they boarded their ship to head for their final Earthen capital, Winter turned at looked back over the harbor one more time.

"I think of all the cities we've visited, I liked Sydney the best."

AN: Hope you enjoyed. I've planned two more chapters for this story, because as you may have noticed, there is still one country they haven't visited.