After sneaking out of her castle Keira ran into the forest outside of town to find Jack only to soon realize she had no idea where he lived. She tried her hardest to think back to the morning when she followed him as he led her to his house but she just couldn't think of any noticeable landmarks along the way. Too stubborn to simply give up and return back to her castle defeated she began to wander around aimlessly through the forest hoping that she'd end up at his farm.
The birds of the forest began to sing their songs welcoming the morning sun as it began to rise over the kingdom while Keira continued to walk through the trees, lost. She rested up against one of the trees nearby and held her stomach as it let out a low growl from hunger. She remembered how she had once again skipped dinner the previous night but still felt her choice was worth it. Suddenly she heard the familiar barking of a certain doing coming from nearby and looked over near her feet and saw Buddy.
"Buddy it's me Keira." She said as she crouched down and removed her hood. "Remember?"
He examined her for a moment as he growled before leaning in closer and sniffing her. Once he seemed to realize it was her he backed up and gave a friendly bark before sitting down.
Carefully, Keira placed her hand on his head and began to slowly pet him for a moment.
"I hate to bother you again but do you know where Jack is?" She asked.
Buddy gave another friendly bark before getting up and walking into the trees behind him. Keira stood up and followed him and it wasn't before long that the two of them found themselves back on Jack's farm. She looked out in the field and saw him working out in the middle of it and soon found herself running towards him before stopping a few feet behind him.
"Hello Jack." She greeted.
Jack seemed startled by her voice and when he turned around he seemed to become even more surprised.
"P-P-Princess Keira." He said as he began to hastily dust the dirt off of his tattered green clothing while at the same time attempting to bow before her. "What are you doing here?"
She giggled at his actions and smiled. "What? Aren't you happy to see me?"
"I-I, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon…" He said still sounding surprised.
"I know my visit seems so sudden but I just couldn't help but visit." She told him.
Jack laughed a little uneasily. "Well that was nice of you to stop by."
She smiled at him again as she sat down on a tree stump nearby and began to fiddle around with the cape part of her cloak, trying to get some of her long hair straightened out. "So what are you doing today?"
"Well I was just planning on working out here in the field." He told her as she watched her continue to mess around with the cloak. "Is there any reason why you need that cloak on?"
"Oh this?" She asked as she held part of it up. "I… well, I sort of had to sneak of my castle last night to come and see you."
Jack's eyes widened. "You had to sneak out to see me?"
"Please Jack," Keira began as she stood up. "I know I can get in a lot of trouble and possibly get you in even more but I just really needed to come out here again."
"But why?" He asked. "If one of your guards sees you out here they'll think I'm trying to kidnap you and have me imprisoned or worse!"
"Please calm down; I know I could be putting us in harm's way but I really need to be out here right now." She told him and she walked up to him and placed her hands on his chest and looked at him with begging eyes. "Please just let me stay here for a while."
He looked into her eyes and when he saw that she almost desperately wanted to be with him he took a deep breath. "Alright, you can stay."
She smiled and backed away from him.
"But why do you feel the need to be out here?" He asked.
She looked down at the ground.
"It… it's kind of personal…" She said before looking back at him. "I... I'll tell you later."
"Alright." He said before throwing his hoe over his shoulder.
She looked at him a little curiously. "Are you getting back to work?"
"I have some seeds to plant today." He said before turning around.
"Do you think I can help again?" She asked as she took a step closer to him.
He looked back at her. "You really want to help again?"
"Of course I do." She told him happily. "You did save my life."
"I thought I told you that you don't owe me anything." He said.
"I know but I just really want to help you out." She told him.
"Alright, come follow me then." He said as he motioned for her to follow him with his shoulder.
She nodded her head and ran to catch up with him as he walked towards his house. He once again opened the door for her and let her inside the house first and when he entered he set his hoe against the wall next to the door and walked over to the shelf and removed a few bags of seeds that sat on it.
"Here." He said as he handed her two of the bags.
She took them from him and followed him back outside to the open part of the field.
"So what do we have to do?" Keira asked.
He opened one of his bags and removed a handful of seeds.
"You just have to take a handful and spread out the seeds." He told her.
He demonstrated it for her as he took then seeds in his hand and began to carefully spread them around the area around his feet. He then watched as Keira walked over to the open soil nearby and began to spread the seeds around the ground just like he had.
"There you go." He said in approval.
The two of them then began to walk beside each other and continued to spread the seeds around at their feet. As they did so Keira constantly found herself glancing over at Jack, thinking about her more recent thoughts about him. He was such a hard worker and didn't seem to care if she ended up doing some manual labor like her parents did. While they worked she didn't feel any different from him like she had been raised to believe and once again began to try and figure out why any possible relationship between the two of them could be forbidden.
She continued to think about him while mindlessly spreading out the seeds in the last bag until she stuck her hand into it once more only to find it was now empty.
"Something wrong?" Jack asked as she looked at him with slightly surprised expression on as the empty seed bag brought her back to reality.
"No nothing's wrong." She told him as she shook her head. "Just out of seeds that's all."
"I think I am too." He said as he flipped the bag in his hands upside and shook it, emptying out a small amount of seeds."
Keira wiped the small amount of sweat on her forehead as her stomach once again growled.
"Are you hungry?" Jack asked. "I got some more food if you…"
"Oh no I'm fine." She interrupted as she shook her head again. "Really I don't want to use up any of your food."
"If you say so." He said.
Keira looked up in the sky and suddenly became a little scared when she noticed the sun was now almost directly above them.
"It's almost noon!" She exclaimed. "I have to return back to my castle before anyone starts to get suspicious."
She turned around and began to quickly walk towards the tree line before stopping and returning back over to Jack.
"Please Jack do you know the way to town from here?" She asked.
"You just have to walk straight that way and you'll eventually come across town." He said as he pointed to a small opening between two trees beside the barn that they had gone through the other day. "Would you like me to accompany you?"
"No, that won't be necessary." She told him. "I don't want anyone to get any wrong ideas about you."
He nodded his head. "That's understandable."
She leaned into him and once again gave him a small kiss on the cheek, though this time it seemed a little longer than the one she gave him in the throne room.
"Thanks for letting me spend some time with you today Jack." She told him. "I owe you a great dept."
He smiled at her. "You don't owe me anything; it's my duty to serve you."
"I told you that you didn't have to treat me so special." She said. "I'd appreciate it if you just treated me like a normal person."
"Why is that?" He asked.
"Oh it's nothing really." She said as she turned around and looked at her feet. "I just don't want to feel all that special all the time." She told him before turning and facing him again. "I must thank you again; you've been so kind to me since we met."
She turned back around and began to walk towards the opening he had directed her to moments ago before turning back on last time.
"I hope to see you again soon." She shouted over at him before continuing into the forest.
Keira followed Jack's simple directions of walking in one direction through the trees the whole time and eventually found herself outside the town's walls. She followed the wall and soon found herself standing in front of the main archway leading into the town. She looked back at the opening she came through and made a mental note of the small oak stump that sat in front of it and took a step towards the archway before stopping. She looked down and realized she was still wearing the cloak she had stolen the previous night and immediately took it off and placed it in the bushes beside the town gate. Dusting herself off she then proceeded to walk into the town.
As she headed towards the castle she gave casual waves and smiles to the various townspeople she passed. When she arrived at the castles bridge she took a deep breath before walking up to the two guards that stood guard at the gate.
"Good morning Princess Keira." One of them greeted. "Where have you been this morning? I don't recall seeing you ever leave the castle grounds today."
"I left a little early for a walk." She lied. "I'm sorry if I caused anyone to worry about me again."
"No one's been greatly concerned yet." The other guard said. "Your mother would like to speak with you though."
She nodded her head. "Where is she?"
"She should still be in her chamber." The guard replied.
Keira entered the castle and began to walk through the many halls and rooms of it until she reached her mother's private chamber. She opened the door to find her mother sitting in front of her mirror fixing her hair long blonde hair.
"Mother?" Keira asked as she stepped into the room. "One of the guards said you wanted to see me."
Her mother continued to look at herself in the mirror for a moment before turning around and opening her arms. "Keira darling, there you are."
Keira walked up to her mother and gave her a hug.
"Where have you been this morning?" Her mother asked as she let go of her. "I was about to start getting worried again."
"I was out on a walk." Keira told her.
"You seem to enjoy getting close to some of your subjects don't you?" Her mother asked.
Keira turned away to hid the fact that she was blushing a bit at the comment. "I guess I do."
"Now come, tell me about your new suitor." Her mother said.
"You mean Edwin?" Keira asked.
"Of course I mean Edwin dear." Her mother said. "Who else could I be talking about?"
Keira became a little nervous. "Yeah, your right."
"So tell me about him." Her mother said.
"Oh well he seems quite nice." Keira told her. "He doesn't seem as dedicated to courting me as the other suitors have been which is pretty relieving."
"Is that why you made him so upset yesterday?" Her mother asked.
"What?" Keira asked surprised.
"Last night you made him a little upset when you didn't show up for dinner." Her mother told her. "He told us about you got a little angry at him."
"Oh it was nothing." Keira told her.
"Care to tell me what made you so mad?" Her mother asked.
"It was nothing, he… he was just getting a little too intrusive in my own affairs that's all." Keira lied.
Her mother looked at her closely as if she knew she was lying and was trying to get her to come clean but when she refused to budge her mother sighed.
"Alright, if you say that's what happened then I believe you." Her mother told her. "But I think you owe him a little apology."
Keira nodded her head. "Yes mother."
As she turned around to leave Keira's stomach once again growled from hunger.
"That's right you haven't had breakfast this morning." Her mother said causing her to turn around. "Why don't you head down to the dining hall and get one of the servants to get you a small meal first?"
"Yes mother." Keira said again.
She bowed before her mother before leaving the room. As she walked through the halls towards the dining hall she began to for once think about Edwin. He did seem to be much nicer than the previous suitors she had but if she ended up in a relationship with him she'd be losing that chance at being carefree that she could get from Jack and wanted. The only problem was her parents would greatly oppose the idea of the two being together, not to mention Jack didn't seem all that interested in her. Sighing at her current dilemma, she walked into the dining hall.
A/N: Dilemmas... They're always trouble.