"I didn't mean to scare you," called a voice. Anamaria would not look up. She layed face first in the ground, the only thing seperating her face from the ground being the position of her arm as her hand connecting flatly with the ground, her legs sprawled. She didn't know how to react to the calmness of his voice, knowing full and well that it could end up being a trap to recapture her. Unfortunately she knew, that the fact that he had caught up to her now meant that whatever she said would not matter and either way she would end up back with shackles and chains.

"I don't mean to scare you love," he said. "I just came to see what kind of noise was going around behind me." Anamaria warily rolled over, sitting firmly on her backside. She looked at the man who spoke. He did not seem to be a threat to her, seeming to genuinely be apologetic for the way he had frightened her and caused her to run away.

Daniel noticed the wariness in her eyes. He smiled, trying his best to reassure her that he was a peaceful person. "My name's Daniel," he said offering her a hand. "You are?" Anamaria gave him a suspicious look, not fully trusting anything that came from his mouth. "Really, I'm not going to hurt you. I swear." Ana nodded, figuring that she had nothing to lose and taking his hand. If he was going to lock her up and send her packing back to the plantation he would do it with or without her name.

"My name's Ana. Anamaria," she said assertively, so that he made no mistake that she was not afraid of him, though in truth, her stomach did all sorts of flips inside of her. She was suprised she concealed her fear so well.

"Well Anamaria, what is it you're doing in the middle of the forest?" Ana inwardly flinched not knowing how to go about responding to the question. Should she tell him she was a runaway? No, slaveowners were very tricky and this man was probably some sort of spy. She could tell him she was on some kind of errand. And what of her papers? She had no papers with her master's signature to varify that she was permitted to leave the plantation. She cursed herself for not thinking about stealing some sort of papers. If he asked she would have to say that she lost it.

"My owner sent me on an errand, take something to the next plantation as it were, only supposed to be about an hour's walk. As you can see I'm somewhat lost. Been out here about 4 hours actually."

"Owner? You're a slave?" He asked with some surprise. Why was this woman being held a slave? Where he came from only the warriors, men, were held as POWs. What business did a woman have being shackled. His father had clearly omitted that tiny detail from his stories.

Anamaria nodded slowly, not fully understanding why he was unfamiliar with that concept of slavery. "Dark skin, coarse hair, African blood... we tend to be enslaved in these parts," she said with some sarcasm, though not enough to have herself whipped if the occassion were to call upon itself.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. It's only that where I'm from, only men are slaves," Daniel said with all sincerist of apologies. He truly had not known. To add to his shock that a woman was a slave in the first place, he had not in all conciousness known she was an African. He had suspected she was from the stories his father had told, though in part, she looked similar to those he saw back in his home land.

"Where are you from?" She asked, not merely in need to making conversation, but in actual curiosity, not understanding his ignorance of her race. All men, or anyone for that matter who had come across her automatically knew who she was. Most only wondered if she was mulatto.

"I live with my people, the Cherokee, in the plains to the west. I've never seen anything outside the plains. No other races but the different tribes we interact with and my father, he's white." He spoke with a genuine ignorance that she somehow felt she could somewhat trust.

Ana laughed a little to herself, wiping the dirt from the back of her pants. "Hm, mine is too. He doesn't particularly claim me as his own though. Only the white ones." She looked down at the floor, somewhat ashamed that she had let that out to a stranger. It was nothing out of the ordinary she knew, owners took slave mistresses all the time, but her sharing this information with a stranger may have been a dumb move on her part.

"I see," he continued awkwardly. "It's getting late. I have a little makeshift camp back where I began to...chase you I guess would be the word. We should probably make a fire."

Anamaria nodded. "Alright." She would never tell him, but a fire was the most welcomed thing in the world right now. She spent most of her nights out on her jorney to freedom freezing and hungry out of her mind. She was wary to ask but somehow she couldnt help but wish that he would offer her some kind of food. Her food supply was running despreately thin and she couldn't take a chance of her stomach giving her away in her hiding.

A/N: Thanks to Ninna Boo. I hope that I can still keep a solid group of new followers for this story. I know it took a white for it get up and going again but I'm feeling pretty good about this oe and hopefully I can have it done soon. Please review. Spread the word on to your other friends. Honestly the more reviews I get the better I am with updating only because I know people are actually reading. So please drop a line. Hope you enjoyed! Review!!