Or rather, at what she didn't see. All that remained was the unconscious form of her assailant. Her saviour was nowhere to be seen. Had it been a ghost? She shivered. The idea was not at all appealing to the young princess.

"Let's go," she said softly to her horse, finally mounting the black animal once again and turning her back toward the palace.

Or at least, the direction she had thought the palace was in.

Upon finding herself at the front gate of a completely unknown estate, the princess sighed and hoped for hospitality.

The few servants tending the grounds surprised the princess by politely ignoring her. It was a treatment she was unaccustomed to, and was surprised to find that it irritated her. From courtiers in their bright colours and fake smiles as they glided about, she expected it – she did her best to be little more than a shadow when they were being so superficial – from the servants in the palace though, she had always received kindness and respect.

She was dressed as plainly as she could possibly be today though. She didn't look like the princess that she actually was. It took her a few minutes to remember this as she gently guided her mount to the estate master's front door.

There was a girl-child on the doorstep, very young but strangely of very white hair. She was spinning from a drop-spindle and Haru would have believed the girl absorbed completely in her task if she hadn't suddenly spoken to her.

"I am grateful to say that the lord isn't in ladyship," the girl said, looking up from her spindle. She had such blue eyes.

"Is he a such a bad lord?" Haru asked, dismounting and holding her mare's reigns.

"He is a cruel and twisted lord. He did kill our mistress who owned this estate before, and it passed legally to him because he had married her before he committed the vile deed. He has other estates though, so he is rarely here. Only the mistress' son stays always-times, and he is rare to leave."

"You have an old-sounding tongue for such a young head," Haru observed. "Is the mistress' son a good master?"

"Oh very good, but you will not see him, ladyship. Much as he would love to welcome all into his home, he cannot," the little one answered.

"Because it is your lord's property, and not his?" Haru asked.

The girl shook her white head.

"It is more than that, lady, but the root of it all is the lord," the little one said.

"Yuki! Stop filling the lady's ears with your words and open the door for her," a voice called from one of the windows. "It's time for tea, and it would be poor manners to not invite our guest to join us."

Haru thought she saw a shadowed figure, and knew that she recognised the voice as that of the one who had saved her.

The girl rose and opened the door.

"He shan't, but I will. I will have you swear to secrecy of all that happens in this house. We do not wish the sudden return of the lord and his sons, particularly we do not wish their foul-tempered return," the girl, Yuki, said.

Haru bent slightly so that she was on exact eye-level with the girl.

"I shan't breathe a word of it," she promised, following the girl into the house as one of the stable boys took her mare away for her.