Chapter 18)

The next morning her tears had abated but red rimmed eyes and a pale face testified that she'd wept the entire night. Sabine regarded her daughter with worried eyes. "Asrai, you must know that your poppa and I were terribly worried about you." She said quietly.

"Your mother and I felt terrible because we didn't realize you were so unhappy here with us." Amon said slowly. "And then we couldn't find you anywhere, and neither could Raden."

Sabine nodded. "And we missed you." She said gently and smiled at the surprised look she received from Asrai. "Yes, we did." The queen confirmed her words. "I had no one to talk to at breakfast since your poppa isn't usually awake enough for conversation and your sisters are no better."

"I missed our sparring sessions." Amon said quietly. "We missed our daughter." His sapphire eyes were dark with concern. "Why did you run away?"

Asrai sighed. "I…I wanted to follow my own dreams." She said haltingly. "Here it seems like everyone has a purpose but me, and I get tired of being the tag-a-long." Her shrug was melancholy. "I liked being in the woods, but I miss people and I always wanted to try acting. And when…" She looked down. "When I finally figured out that I was never going to be enough like Andreas to make him happy I decided I would do what I'd always wanted to do."

"Then you want to learn to be an actress?" Amon inquired carefully. "You're very young to be out on your own and even if you don't like it, you're still a princess."

"I know." Asrai sighed again. "I'm sorry that you were worried. I knew you would be, but I figured you could tell I wasn't in any danger." She looked at him. "I want to go to school in Silverymoon. I want to go to the university Tredorian attended."

"Silverymoon." Her mother repeated flatly. "In the Silver Marches."

"Yes." Asrai nodded looking from her mother to her father and back again.

"Why not the college in Aeliara? Or New Olam in Waterdeep?" Amon asked hopefully. "Why Silverymoon?"

"Poppa, I know it's hard to understand…but I…" Asrai hesitated and then blurted out. "I want to get away from everybody." She shook her head. "That came out wrong. I like being your daughter. But I hate being a princess. I want to go where that won't matter."

"Do you think the teachers or students in New Olam would care about your rank?" Amon asked.

"In Aeliara you would be a student just like everyone else." Sabine pointed out a bit desperately. "Anywhere but Silverymoon!"

"Momma, Poppa, I…" Asrai took a deep breath. "They're too close to home, they're too near everything I need to get away from." She looked at them and pushed her hands through her hair. "I…its Andreas. He won't talk to me, and he won't be my big brother, and he hardly looks at me anymore. And if I can't have my big brother back, my Andy, then I need to go as far away from him as I can, as far from the Western Heart and Cormyr as I'm able."

Amon and Sabine looked at each other and Amon bowed his head after a moment while Sabine dabbed at her eyes. "We understand better than you realize Asrai." Amon said in a husky voice. "If this is what you want, then we are prepared to make the arrangements."

"You know that if you ever get lonely, or the other students are unkind and you want to come home that we want you here." Sabine sniffed and beckoned to her daughter to come closer. Taking Asrai's hand the queen tugged the girl down into a warm embrace. "We're going to miss you baby."

"I'll miss you too." Asrai admitted. "But I think it's the only way I'll be able to deal with this." She looked up at her mother. "Momma, he's just…so closed off." She said sadly. "It hurts to see him and not be able to talk to him, or ask him questions. I'm afraid I'll just irritate him more if I'm around."

"I know sweetie." Sabine said softly. "I know."

"Besides." Asrai said practically. "To judge by all the weird stuff I've been making happen I can do magic and at least the folks in Silverymoon will be able to teach me that too."

"Oh yes." Amon said grimly. "If you didn't have that ability we wouldn't allow you to go, no matter what your reasoning. Northerners treat 'magic-null' folk too poorly for my taste. I won't have my daughter treated like that."

Asrai made a face. "They're really stupid about that aren't they. Tredorian told me how prejudiced they are about magic." She rolled her eyes.

"Just don't go native on us." Sabine said wryly. "And beware of too much ale or wine. Its hardly to the point to go and learn to control your magic if you are then unable to control yourself."

Asrai rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid. Forewarned is forearmed right?" She pointed out. Her mother nodded and looked at her husband who clearly had something to say.

"We have not relaxed to the point where we're willing to let you go so far away all alone." Amon told his daughter in a stern voice. "Especially since we could have avoided a great deal of worry if we'd done this when you'd turned thirteen."

"Oh no…" Asrai groaned. "I'm getting stuck with a Watcher?" She watched as her father rose and left the room, presumably to fetch the spy.

"Don't panic." Sabine tugged at Asrai's hair. "We're not forcing you to sleep with the girl if you don't want to. Think of it as having a roommate with all the same classes. I think you'll like her actually. She's already giving your brothers a hard time."

Asrai blushed as she thought of Faith and maybe doing more than kissing with her. In the back of her mind she wondered if she'd be able to find the dark haired girl before she left for Silverymoon. Maybe she could convince Faith to write to her?

"You need a body guard Asrai." Sabine said gently stroking a white finger over Asrai's blushing cheek. "And I want your word you won't try to get rid of her, or escape her the way you did us."

"I won't." Asrai moped, slumping into the couch. "But Night's Tears, I wish I didn't need one."

"Asrai." Amon's voice announced his return to the sitting room. "I'd like you to meet your Watcher Faith." Asrai jerked upright and stared. "Faith, this is the object of your attention, my daughter Asrai Aelaitha."

"Hey." Faith nodded striding forward with casual disregard for etiquette. "Your dad says you aren't too thrilled 'bout having a Watcher."

Asrai gulped and realized her parents didn't know Faith had found her before they did. "No I'm not." She made a face.

"Well I'm afraid you're stuck with one." The exotic looking girl put her hands on her hips and shook her head. Deliberately she repeated her words from the tavern where she and Asrai had met. "Night's eyes, you're still a baby aren't you?" She surveyed the princess with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"Asrai why don't you show Faith your room and get further acquainted?" Sabine suggested rising from the couch and forcing her daughter up with her. "We're expecting Tredorian later today so don't get in any trouble. And just in case you weren't sure, you are definitely restricted to the palace."

Amon grinned. "Oh, Tredorian's calling on you, not us, though he doesn't know it. Ask him if you would, if he'd write something more cheerful next time?" He offered his wife his arm and escorted her from the room.

Asrai looked at Faith. "We'd better go to my room. That was practically a command."

Faith threw herself on Asrai's bed, flopping on her stomach. "I like this bed a lot better than the little one in that rented room. There's more room for us." She stretched out a hand for Asrai and frowned when the other girl didn't take it.

Asrai came to stand by the bed slowly. "It gets lonely sometimes." She said of Faith's comment on her bed. "I thought I wouldn't get to ever see you again. I was hoping I'd have time to find you and ask if you'd write to me before I left." Her pink mouth was unsmiling and her bright eyes dark purple. "You knew who I was all along."

"Oh baby." Faith sat up and grabbed the younger girl, pulling her onto the bed and wrapping her arms about Asrai's waist. "You're so sweet, but so young still." She rolled her eyes. "Of course I knew who you were. It was a wonder more people didn't. You look just like your dad, only even better." She tugged at Asrai's hair teasingly. "But I didn't tell them where you were."

"Why not?" Asrai asked curiously. "I mean wouldn't it have been better to get me back to the palace before the princess made a spectacle of herself onstage?" Her voice was slightly bitter.

"Because babe, I had been watching you for two days before you and I met. Raden sent every spy/assassin he had free to look for you." Faith grinned. "I knew how good you were. So I convinced Raden to give you a chance to prove it." She kissed Asrai's cheek affectionately. "Its just a good thing you're such a bright baby or I'd have been in real trouble with your parents just now."

"Yeah." Asrai sighed. "I just…" She shrugged.

"Oh, you didn't make a spectacle of yourself either." Faith told her. "You had everyone in the audience riveted, including your family. They wouldn't let you go and learn acting if they disapproved of the whole thing." She regarded the silent Asrai with a frown. "Babe what's the matter?"

"I…guess…I guess I just liked it when I thought you liked me for me. Not that you're hanging around me because I'm a princess." Asrai said in a sad voice.

"Whoa, whoa!" Faith sat up and regarded the princess with snapping dark eyes. "Where did you get the idea I kissed you because you're the Princess Asrai Aelaitha?" She snapped her fingers in front of Asrai's nose. "I don't care that if you're royalty. I only kiss people I like." The assassin told her. "I liked you."

"But you wouldn't have even bothered if I wasn't the princess." Asrai said glumly.

"All right Asrai, you better listen good babe because I'm only going to explain this once." Faith pulled the golden haired girl up and regarded her soberly. "I found you, that was my job. The other part of my job was to tell my boss where you were. I didn't do that. Because I liked you I followed you around, made sure you were all right, kissed you a couple of times and then went and told Raden I'd found you. I still didn't tell him where you were. Instead I convinced him to wait until you'd had your play, and I would keep an eye on you in the meantime. He and I both could have gotten in very serious treason-level trouble with your parents because of what I did. But he took the chance because he knows me, and I took it because I liked you."

She tipped Asrai's chin up with one finger. "And I basically told him that he should introduce me to your parents because I wanted the job of being your Watcher." Faith tapped a finger against the princess' pale pink lips. "He wasn't going to consider me for it because it's not the kind of duty he knows I like, but he agreed because I wanted to do it and he knew I could. So I got introduced and then I went right back out and found you baby, and kept you as safe as I could until your play."

A crooked grin tilted her mouth. "I was even planning on hitting Sam over the head so you'd get a chance to perform, but luckily the little bolluck's voice changed and I didn't have to do it." Faith smiled wickedly. "If I didn't like you baby, I wouldn't be here right now. I'd be out in the field. I'm real good at that."

Asrai blinked. "Really?" She asked softly. It finally began to sink in that Faith had gone to a great deal of trouble because the spy liked Asrai. "You liked me?"

"Yep, I really did babe, still do actually." Faith grinned widely. "Now c'mon and cuddle with me. I like holding you, you're so cute and soft." She pulled the ribbon from Asrai's hair and watched it fall around the girls face. "Look at all this…its like a lions mane." She grinned running her hand through it. "Soft too." The dark girl shook her head. "I think I'm really going to like this duty baby."

"It's a little hard to believe you know." Asrai said softly snuggling into Faith's embrace. "No one's ever really bothered with me before, noticing me or liking me much really, except my family."

"Well there are a lot of stupid people in the world Asrai." Faith told her with a sleepy smile. "Think you could use a nap before Tredorian calls?" She asked. "I was up all night."

"Me too." Asrai admitted with a little yawn. "Crying over losing all my friends." She raised her face to Faith's hoping for a kiss and received a soft gentle one. "I was afraid I'd never get to see you again."

"Well now you can't get rid of me baby." Faith told her as she kicked off her boots and watched Asrai push off her little slippers. "So get some sleep." She pulled the soft knitted throw over them both and wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Hmm…good." Asrai murmured sleepily.

Fenneyman and Henslowe sat together, drinking silently. Fenneyman had received the return on his investment in silence, for once not terribly concerned about his next business venture. "Shall you rebuild the Rose?" The financier inquired finally.

"With what?" Henslowe shook his head. The Admiral's Men entered the tavern and joined them, all somber with the new morning's realization that though the play was a success, they were still without a home stage.

"Was it worth it?" Sam asked bitterly. "I mean…everything's gone because of her." The boy actor's voice was still hoarse and prone to squeaking or breaking when he spoke for too long.

"We're actors Sam." Ned said quietly. "Even without a stage, there is always a play to perform."

"But the Rose is gone because of her." Sam argued.

"If I may interrupt?" A vaguely familiar voice drawled from the head of the table.

The troupe looked up to see Prince Sebastian standing there in his elegant attire. Dark blue and grey clothing suited his golden looks, making his hair gleam more brightly in contrast. "Your Highness!" Henslowe exclaimed and began to rise along with the rest of the company.

"Please, be comfortable." Sebastian smiled. "I wanted to offer you my thanks." He explained. "And the gratitude of my parents and the rest of my family. Asrai told us how the Admiral's Men gave her a chance to act." He caught Ned's eye and bowed slightly. "She also told my parents how protective you were Master Alleyn, you and Tredorian, even though your instincts in part demanded otherwise."

To his chagrin Ned found himself flushing uncomfortably as he tried to protest. Sebastian simply shook his head. "Asrai also was extremely upset that the Rose was burnt down." He cast a chilly gaze on Sam. "I also dislike hearing her blamed for it when Tilney would never have known she was there but for being informed to the contrary." He shrugged elegantly and produced a pouch. "But be that as it may, my parents do not wish innocent folk to suffer from their daughter's actions. They offer their apologies."

"It's not Asrai's, I mean Her Highness's fault that Tilney burned the Rose." Henslowe protested.

"I know whose fault it was, and so do my parents." Sebastian said quietly. "But the fact remains that because of Tilney's search for Asrai, your theatre burned. My mother and father offer this as well as their apology." He placed the pouch in front of Henslowe. "My parents express the hope that you will not give up the theatre for lack of finances. You should be able to rebuild it you wish, or if you're of a mind to relocate, there is a grand theatre in Aeliara which has long been in need of a true company."

Henslowe was speechless with shock at the size of the purse and stared up at Sebastian with his mouth working like a carp's. "Oh." Sebastian grinned. "I almost forgot." He produced another smaller purse and a tightly rolled scroll of parchment. "Asrai wanted to be sure you wouldn't forget to relax now and then." He regarded the perpetually tense man curiously. "She said to buy yourself a new pianoforte, and that this was music for it."

Henslowe looked at the thick roll of sheet music Sebastian handed him. "I shall do as she says." He chuckled. "She's always after me to relax and enjoy life."

"That sounds most like my baby sister." Sebastian swept them all a bow and fixed an eye on Sam again. "Remember this Master Grosse, when nature settles your voice, and do not hold my sisters talent against her. She does not blame you for your jealousy or hold the actions of your envy against you."

Henslowe watched the prince leave and regarded the purses on the table before him. "Did you ever hear the like?" He asked. "An apology from the king and queen, and gold enough to start over again, maybe even better this time."

"In a new beautiful city perhaps." Ned suggested quietly. "Each city could have but one theatre, perhaps Burbage and the Chamberlain's Men would like to speak of sharing the boards. A brotherhood and profession." Henslowe appeared much taken with the idea but a thought occurred to both he and Ned simultaneously. "Exactly how did Tilney know Asrai was at the Rose anyway?" Ned asked as Henslowe glanced at Sam.

The boy shrugged and looked thoroughly miserable as the company began to fix their collective gaze upon him. "If she doesn't hold it against you, neither can we, but I do want to know what happened." Henslowe said firmly.

Sam took a deep breath and, haltingly, began to explain what he'd done.