The noises subsided as soon as the door shut, it had been a hectic Tuesday morning; Wess had been doing last minute preparing, Jacob and Nathan were fighting for a reason that I never figured out, and Lyssy had been whiny all day.

Wess had ended up walking with Jacob and Nate to the schoolhouse because that was where the hunting party was meeting. As they were walking out the door, Isabella came in to take Lyssy. I realized that Isabella had turned from a best friend to me into a babysitter for Lyssy ever since father died.

I felt sorry that I was not able to be a sister to Lyssy and a friend to Isabella.

I had been banished from the Berggren house until I was quote, 'Fully recovered from my little sickness.' You can imagine exactly how annoyed that made me.

I tried cleaning my house that morning, but I quickly found that since I deep cleaned it every Saturday there was really nothing for me to do.

I finally gave up. I changed into the gold and cream dress; it really was not very fancy when it did not have the mesh skirt. I put on my regular shoes and walk out the door.

I walked aimlessly, hoping I would run into Isabella and Lyssy, but I did not.

I only turned back around when I reached the edges of the north district. As I was heading home, I passed through the tent market. This was the only tent market in all of Rhenia; it expanded for quite a distance, and nomads from all over came just to sell their goods here.

People were rushing about trying to finish their errands. I wandered around, looking at all the pretty things, and taking my time.

As the sun reached its limit in the sky my stomach growled, so I bought some fruit and sat on a large unoccupied crate. I watched the people push by each other; they concentrated only on where they were going.

I noticed a little girl, around the ages of six or seven; she sat huddled off behind one of the smaller tents. When I made up my mind to go talk to her, a loud crash off to my right made me momentarily forget the hungry looking girl.

A fat man had thrown a big mettle bowl at a retreating boy, "Thief!" He yelled. One of the men that were standing near by grabbed the boy by the ear and dragged him back to the big man, the boy tried to kick or bite everyone that touched him. I smiled at the fire in the boys eyes; I could tell he had a good reason for stealing whatever it was.

I moved closer, both so that I could hear what they said to each other, and so that if anything went wrong I could do something quicker.

"Where is the apple that you took?" The large boisterous man asked, or rather yelled at the boy.

"I do not have it. I did not steal from you." He nearly whispered. I knew he was lying, and everyone else did too.

"Why, you little…" The man raised a large hand up behind him, ready to bring it down as hard as he could on the boy.

"Stop!" I screamed, but when the man ignored me, I did the only thing I could think to do; I threw myself in front of the boy. He struck me across the cheek. I tried not to cry out in pain, but it felt like he was crushing my face, and he probably was. I gasped for breath.

"What are you doing?" The man yelled in my face.

"He's my son." I lied, but it was believable. He had blond hair and brown eyes, just like me, I figured that acting like he was my son would be the only way to get him out of there safely. I had never seen the boy a day in my life.

The man took a step back; he probably realized how hard he had hit me. I could feel my face swelling up, and I'm sure it was bruised.

He looked up and down me then said in a desperate tone, "I'm sorry m'lady, if- if there is anything I can do to make it up to you…" I realized that it was a good decision to wear the dress today; he seemed to think that I was a noblewoman.

"Come along Jacob, your father is going to hear about this." I hoped that I did not overdo the air of a noble. I gave the man a coin that was four times what one apple was worth, and then I picked up two more apples, grabbed the boy's hand, and walked out of the ring of onlookers that had amassed in size.

So many people had been watching what I had done. Some of them saw how much damage my face had gotten, then they turned to the man with disgust written on their faces.

I weaved through the crowd, dodging horses, "Excuse us- Pardon me.

We walked until we were far enough away and we would not be noticed by anyone. Then I ducked down a path between two tents.

I handed the boy one of the apples, he looked into my eyes, questioning why I was being so kind. I just nodded to the apple. He paused, then pulled another apple out of one of his tall boots, I wondered how no one had noticed the lump. He held it out to me, but I just shook my head.

He held the apple I had given him close to his chest, and then bit into the apple from his boot. He closed his eyes as he slowly chewed; it looked as if he had not had a thing to eat in a very long time. We sat down on some chopped wood. I then remembered the girl behind the tent, and wished I could go back to give her the apple that I had picked up for her.

"What is your name?" I asked quietly, the reason we had not been talking so far was that the people in the tents we were between would hear us.

He studied me; I could tell he was deciding whether he should tell me or not, but in the end I think my kindness won out. "Edmund Blake."

I smiled, "My name is Brietta, and you can call me Brie. How old are you Edmund?"

"I turned thirteen last month." This made me pause; he was surprisingly small for a thirteen year old.

"May I ask? Do- Do you have any family Edmund?" I really hoped that he did.

"I have me a sister, our parents died over a year ago in a fire."

"I am so sorry; I lost both of my parents also."

He looked at me sympathetically, and I could not help but feel like I was the child that needed comforting in this situation.

"Where do you live?"

"We go in woods, and I hunt with my bow, but the wolves scare Anna, so we come to the kingdom."

"How old is your sister?"

"Seven."

I sat up straighter, "Was she with you in the market today?"

"Aye, but I lost her in all the commotion."

"Well, let's go get her then, I have an apple that was meant for her."

He smiled at me with a look of awe, I flushed at this, and I could see that I was not going to be able to simply part ways with this boy.

"I stole the apple, because I was afraid for her, she is sick and needs to eat. I've never stolen before; the Good Book says it is sin."

I had known it was for a good reason, I nodded, "It was okay… this time."

He rounded a corner, and we came to a small place under some stairs. "We meet here, if she lose me, she come here. 'Tis a safe place." His accent broke through at some points I smiled.

I stood a little ways away, so that I would not frighten the girl. As soon as Edmund got close to the stairs, a little body flung itself out from under them, and clung to her big brother's leg, he picked her up in a hug. I felt tears coming but I suppressed them in time for Edmund to turn around with a pale Anna holding onto his neck.

"This is Brie, she is good." He said into Anna's hair, she had buried her face into his shoulder when she saw me.

She slowly peeked at me, I held out the apple to her, and her eyes went round. The doctor in me pointed out several things that needed seeing to. I handed it to her; she looked at Edmund, asking permission, before she took it from me. She ate it quickly, unlike the way her brother did.

"Edmund I'm going to go get some milk for Anna, I will be right back." He nodded gratefully.

I hurried away; I decided that even though Wess and I already had our hands full, I was going to take them home with me. Anna could sleep with Lyssy in her big bed, and Edmund could sleep in Jacob's room on the extra bed from the attic.

When I got back I presented the idea to Edmund, he was hesitant. "I trust you, but I do not want to be trouble for you." He said sincerely.

"You would not be a trouble, you would fit right in. You and Anna could go to school with the boys. And important most of all, Anna would have the food she needs." I knew that I had just played a little dirty, but I already cared too much for both of these children.

He had a look of defeat, "We will go wit' you, but if we are trouble you must make us leave."

I smiled, "I promise."

Over the week, Edmund and Anna were settled comfortably in our home, the two of them got along nicely with my siblings. I was rather proud of the way Jacob and Nate welcomed them, and made them comfortable.

I called on the Doctor from the north district to have a look at Anna, because I did not have the equipment that he did. The whole hour that he was there was tense, when he finally finished looking her over he came out of the room with a frown on his face. He pulled me aside and said in hushed tones, "She is very sick, it is possible, not likely, but possible that she may die from this." I caught my breath, that poor little girl.

"She has a strong chance of recovering, just do as I say." He then described to me a long detailed list of what to do if some specific thing happened. Like if she started throwing up, then I should do such and such. Most of the stuff on the list I would have done anyway though.

Wess came home two days after the doctor's visit, he was ecstatic about having the children. However, I saw weariness in his eyes about how he could make extra money to feed these two new mouths.

After praying and thinking about it, we both decided that it was best that I brought them home with me that day.

Wess had taken some convincing when it came to the fat man at the market. When he heard about what happened he had stood up and started walking out the door, I had barely been able to stop him in time; he had been ready to pound the man into the ground.

Edmund looked up to all the males in the family, and I often caught him watching and mimicking Wess.

Wess' report on the wolves was that they were all dead, I felt a little sorry about this, but I decided that it was better this way.

Now everyone was one step closer to safety.

Prince Damian's POV…

I was riding back to the castle from the fighting arena, when I noticed a small crowd gathering at the tent market. I eased Thunder through the people, and stopped just far away enough to hear what was going on. There was a boy and a man, I heard the man say something about an apple.

The boy responded to quietly for me to hear, but I knew his answer angered the man. "Why you little…" I was about to send an arrow through the man's hand as soon as it went up, but a woman's scream stopped me. I thought someone had seen me with the bow and was panicking that I would do something rash.

But then I saw her… she was just as beautiful as I remembered. I realized what her intentions were a second to late. Smack! I flinched, then I was off the horse, the man had had enough time to see Brietta throw herself in front of the boy, and he could have stopped the blow if he had tried.

I was going to either have him arrested, or whatever punishment I could think of in the time it took to get to her. When I was only a few people away from her she said something that shocked me to the core. "He's my son!" She cried desperately.

The man's face showed the shock I was feeling, he apologized to her. I could not have prepared myself for the thing she said next, "Come along Jacob, your father is going to hear about this."

"She's married." I whispered, I felt defeated.

I turned around and walked back to Thunder, it seemed that many more people had gathered since I had gotten there, I mounted Thunder and rode in the opposite direction than she had been heading.

I was not sure how to explain the feeling that was lingering around my heart, but I knew it hurt terribly.