Prince Shoto of house Todoroki.

He just couldn't get used to it. Until a few days ago he'd been a young nobleman, admittedly not a common position but he had been just one of a group. Now his father was preparing to ascend to the throne, he was his truly his fathers heir now. He was trapped.

He rode his horse as fast as it could go. He wasn't sure how far away from the castle he'd gotten at this point but he just wanted to keep moving. His father had a new set of armour and sword delivered to his room, they might as well have been shackles, both engraved with the family crest, a flaming wreath above the word 'endeavour', the minute he'd seen it it of course brought up a flood of memories about his mother.

She had fled back to her family in the North when he was a child, he didn't blame her for not taking him with her, she'd been terrified of his father, paranoid to the point he'd caught her muttering to herself that night in the kitchen she'd given him his scar.

The idea of using that sword, of wearing that crest... the walls had suddenly felt like they were closing in. He'd burst into a run for the stables as short of breath as he was feeling. Thinking of swords, the lack of a scabbard on his hip was becoming increasingly noticeable to him. In a moment of absent mindedness one of his hands let go of the horses reigns and began to wander to the place where a weapon usually hung from his hip.

It was at this moment of course that his horse decided to abruptly stop in its tracks.

Shoto found himself flung from his saddle and flying through the air, his head was the first thing to hit the ground, followed by a painful impact on his back. The momentum sent him into a full forward tumble so he wound up with his face in the dirt, moaning at his aches and pains. The horse whinnied behind him before he heard it gallop away. He wondered if that was going to become a habit with this horse. For a while he didn't feel very inclined to try moving, so he just lay there wondering just what higher power he had angered so.

He was pulled from his melancholy by the sound of approaching footsteps, moving at a quick pace, "Hello?" Called out a feminine voice, Shoto lifted his head out of the dirt and looked forward to see a girl in a yellow dress hurrying towards him. She came to a skidding halt in front of him and knelt down by his shoulders, "Are you alright? Can you get up?" She asked as she leaned over him inspectantly.

Shoto pressed his palms against the soil and began to push himself up, but his spine protested his efforts with a sharp pain, he yelled out in reaction as his hands scrunched into fists and his arms lost their strength, but before he was reunited with the ground the girls arms flew out to hold him up by the chest.

"Easy, easy" she chided as she pulled him closer to her, she slowly started to stand while pulling him up with her, she manoeuvred him so he was leaning most of his weight on her and they slowly began to make their way inside. Shoto lifted his eyes to get a better look at the building, it was large stone construction with a steeped roof and warm light glowing from the windows, he was fairly sure it was some kind of church, he thought he heard voices coming from the open door but he must have hit his head harder than he realised because his vision was starting to get cloudy around the edges, and before they were close enough for him to see through the threshold everything was going black.

:::::::::::::::

When he finally started to wake back up he was lying on a soft surface, at least he thought so, a large portion of his back and torso were tingling with numbness, but he could feel warmth in the air, so he knew he must be in doors.

He cracked his eyes open slowly, wincing at the flood of light. Once his vision adjusted he looked upwards and he saw a pair of extended arms manoeuvring something around his head, he tried to lift his arms up but his limbs felt stiff and pillowy so he could just about get them a few inches off the bed.

The arms above him ceased their action and one of them reached down to place a hand on the arm he was trying to lift, "You're awake." said a familiar voice.

He got a better look at his saviours face this time around. She had a round face, framed by yellow hair that glowed in the rooms light, the length of it was tied into a lose ponytail that hung over her shoulder, her honey coloured eyes were looking down at him, full of concern and happiness at his consciousness.

She smiled kindly at him, "I was starting to get a little worried." She said jokingly,

Shoto opened his mouth to say something but his mouth was much drier than he realised and all that came out was a cracked croak. The blonde's hands left his arms, she shifted from her place at his side, she came back and slid one arm under his back so that she could help him into a sitting position, once he was up she brought a cup to his lips so that Shoto could drink the icy water it contained.

Once he was done drinking he turned his head to look at her again. "Better?" She asked,

"Yes." He replied briefly.

She set the cup down on a table near the bed (he realised that's what he was lying on) and lowered him back down gently.

"How do you feel?" She asked him

"Numd." He realised that the shortness of his answers probably seemed rude, especially to the woman who saved him, but the entire ordeal coupled with his still healing injuries had left him more than a little heady.

"That's the ointment I put on your bandages, it has a bit of a numbing agent, luckily you didn't brake anything when you fell but you had some nasty bruises and a cut on your head, I didn't want to risk you moving around in your sleep and hurting yourself anymore"

"I didn't fall, my horse threw me off." He wasn't sure why he had responded in that way, the words had fallen out of his mouth in his usual deadpan tone before he could think of a proper response. Maybe he'd hit his head harder than he'd realised.

But the blonde just laughed in response, covering her mouth demurely as she did so. "Well at least your pride isn't as bruised as your back. Don't worry about your horse by the way, a friend of mine is out looking for him."

"Thank you." Shoto croaked, once again she brought the water to his lips, "Not just for my horse I mean, I owe you my thanks for... well, very likely saving my life."

"You owe me no such thing, I saw a person in front of me who needed help and simply did what anyone else would."

The young noble couldn't help but smile at the simplicity with which she stated that fact, "Then allow me to thank fate, for seeing me to your line of sight lady..."

Her eyes widened slightly in realisation, "That's right, we haven't exactly had the chance to introduce ourselves have we?" She smiled at him again, and the numbness of his medicines momentarily gave way to a sensation of warmth, "My name is Mami."

"I am-" he managed to catch himself short of using his full title, he didn't want to burden such a kind woman with the pressure of a noble in her care, "My name is Shoto."

::::::::::::::

After that evening it took another week for his injuries to heal. Mami brought him meals in bed until his muscles allowed him to get up and walk around, everyday, little by little he got stronger.

His initial guess about the building had been correct, Mami had told him that the modest grey stone building had once been a church to a religion that was close to being long forgotten, she was part of the last generation to learn the practises, but continuing to live in the church and offer a helping hand to those in need was enough to still count her as a sister of the church. The interior was esentially one big room, pieces of furniture pushed into corners and against the walls, the only really noticable feature was the large stain glass window. It depicted a compassionate goddess dressed in white, her long pink hair floating around her as she lay against a field of gold, though when he'd first arrived he could remember looking at it as he fell asleep under the influence of Mami's medicines, thinking that the colours had inverted to swirling blacks and purples.

His third day up and about they had worked out a kind of routine, the house work was good exercise for his limbs but Mami kept a watchful eye over him in case he over exerted himself. It was on that day the truth came out. He was back on his horse, cantering around the open space in front of the church, she was sitting watching him by the front door, she always had composed look about her, it made it hard for Shoto to guess what she was thinking.

"So," she began once he was close enough to hear her, "when were you planning on telling me you were the prince?"

Shoto didn't think he could live with himself if he fell off his horse again, but he came close to doing just that.

Mami laughed at his shock, not bothering to cover her mouth like when they first met. "Even if you're clothes weren't clearly tailored for nobility, two toned hair and a burn over the right eye isn't exactly a conspicuous description."

His mood quickly sliding from shocked to grumpy, he jumped down from his horse and tied it up next to the trough.

"How did you find out?" He asked once they were face to face, he couldn't recall a time when Mami had been away from the church, or seen anyone else came by.

"Well when the crown prince goes missing-"

"I'm not the prince!" He snapped.

As per usual, she didn't snap back at him or get hurt and defensive, her face remained neutral, inviting him to explain himself. Shoto closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

It didn't come out all at once, he just couldn't bring himself to talk about everything. But every time he finished with one explanation Mami would ask a question that would prompt a whole new story. On the final night, the two of them were sitting on the floor in front of the fire, they were sipping summer wine from the two cooper cups that hadn't rusted through. He had brought Mami up on all the events leading up to his horse throwing him onto her doorstep.

"And what do you plan to do now?" Mami asked him after five minutes of amicable silence.

"Excuse me?"

"You ran away from your home because you didn't want to be prince, correct?"

"Not while my fathers king." He grunted, Mami just nodded curtly. His father had come up a lot over the past few days.

"That I understand, but it still leaves the question, once you leave this place where will you go? To a friend? Board a boat and travel to the edge of the world? Or maybe you'll go looking for fairies and ask them for advice." She added that last part with a mischievous smile.

Shoto crossed his legs and leaned his elbows on his knees. He hadn't exactly left home with a destination in mind, and over the last few days he had allowed himself the luxury of not thinking about anything beyond the tree line surrounding the church. There wasn't anyone he could go to that his fathers influence wouldn't reach them, he didn't want to put anyone in that kind of danger. But as Mami said, that left him with the question of where would he go from here?

Taking a shuddering breath, he straightened his back and looked the woman who had saved him in the eyes, "I don't know. I can't go to anyone I used to know, but I don't know what to do with myself on my own."

Mami brought her cup to her lips and tipped it up, draining the vessel of its contents, then she stood up from her seat, dusted off her dress and smiled down at him.

"Well lucky for you, no one said you had to figure it all out right now." She told him cheerily. Mami turned towards the wall and began going through a chest that had been functioning as a table for various sheets. "The thing that few people tend to realise about the world, or even the countries they live in," as she spoke her arms were disappearing deeper and deeper into the chest, "is that its much bigger than they realise, which means you can spend a lot of time exploring it!" The last word turned into a bit of a shout as she yanked a long item out from the depths.

As she carried it back toewards him he saw that it was a sheathed sword, knelt down in front of him and held it out for him to take. He picked it up with both hands and felt its weight, he then examined the leather sheath, slightly worn but still durable. He then uncovered the blade to see the sword in its entirety. Admittedly he had grown up around the finer things in life, so it wasn't really any surprise when his first thought of the sword was that it was... well, rather basic. The blade was undamaged but needed some maintenance to be up to professional standards, the hilt was standard leather and wood, the one remarkable thing about it was the yellow gemstone in the centre of the hilt.

"Walk the land," Mami spoke like she was reciting a sermon, "live one day at a time, work randomly and live sporadically, have new experiences and let new people into your heart. And then one day, you'll realise there's something out there for you to do."

Shoto stared dumbly, first at the sword then at her. He wanted to ask why she would do all this? For him, a stranger? She assured him his status meant nothing to her. But how could she have so much to offer? How did she know what to say?

But instead of letting him ask any of those questions, she leaned forward and pressed her fingertip to his lips.

"You don't have to say anything, just rest on the thoughts tonight, and see what you think when they sunrises." She then leaned even closer to his face and brushed her lips against his cheek "Good night, Shoto."

She left him sitting by the fire in a daze, after a few moments he blinked his eyes back into focus and looked over to see her curled up on her bedroll. He extinguished the fire and went over to his own. He attached the sword to his belt and lay down on top of the covers. That night he closed his eyes and went to sleep thinking about Mami's words.

::::::::

He was woken the next morning by blinding sunlight, he screwed his eyes tight and put a hand up to cover the offending light, when he finally opened his eyes he saw that he was under an open sky, his other hand felt grass beneath him. He sat up to look around him. All there was were stone ruins of a buildings outline, and his horse tied to a tree branch, the sword Mami had given him was still attached to his belt, but there was no sign of her. He was about to start shouting for her when he remembered something she'd said last night.

About fairies giving advice to wanderers.

He smiled to himself halfheartedly as his hand rested on the swords hilt.

He got back on his horse and rode to cliff over looking the castle that had once been his home, he wondered if his family was still living there. He heard the sound of voices behind him, and he looked over his shoulder to see a knight in armour, a witch in pink, and a squire in green.