Keira didn't stop running from Jack's until she finally reached the water's edge of the Goddess Pond.

"G-Goddess!" She cried as she kneeled down beside the water. "Goddess help me! Please!"

Her heart beat sped up with anticipation as she felt the wind pick up, much like it had when the Goddess first appeared to her, but her anticipation quickly fled when the wind died down but no one had appeared.

"Please!" She cried again. "Please…"

Then she remembered what the Goddess had told her. "Well you've never offered anything to me. I can only appear when someone offers me something."

"Y-You n-need an offering?" She asked rhetorically as placed her hand down on the grass beside her and clenched her hand. "Here!"

Just as she finished her cry she picked up a hand full of grass and threw it out into the pond, watching as the blades slowly fell into the water. They floated on the water's surface for a moment causing Keira to become disheartened, only for that feeling to fade away when the wind kicked up once more and the grass blades in the pond disappeared.

"Just what kind of offering do you think this is?" The Goddess angrily asked as she quickly appeared in her spot over the pond holding the grass Keira had thrown in her hand.

"Goddess please you have to help me!" Keira told her as she got back on her knees in a begging like pose.

"Oh, it's you again…" The Goddess remarked as she noticed it was Keira who summoned her once more. "What is it this time?" She asked as she discarded the grass in her hand.

"I… I don't know where to start!" Keira replied, shaking her head.

"Well you can start by calming down." The Goddess advised.

Keira nodded her head.

"Now… What exactly is the problem?" The Goddess asked. "I mean, it's only been a few days since you were last here, what could've possibly happened since then?"

"A lot…" Keira answered quietly as she looked down at her reflection in the pond water. So much had indeed happened since she first talked with the Goddess and she truly had no idea where to start.

"I'm waiting…" The Goddess sighed impatiently.

Keira took a deep breath. "W-Well, I did what you told me to do and did what I felt was best by choosing to be with Jack instead of my suitor but then when I returned home I got in a fight with my mother that ended with her hitting me after I yelled at her so then…"

"Wait." The Goddess interrupted as she held up her hand to stop Keira. "You were struck by your own mother?"

Keira nodded her head.

"That doesn't seem every parent-like." The Goddess commented.

"Please… my father did the same thing a few days later when I argued with him about his choice to have me married to my suitor, Edwin…" Keira replied in a very sad tone.

"First they hit you and then they force you to marry somebody you don't love?" The Goddess asked rhetorically. "Some parent's…"

"T-That's not e-even the worst of my troubles…" Keira told her as she felt more tears form in her eyes from sadness. "L-Last n-night when I w-went back to my castle after leaving Jack's, Edwin was waiting for me… H-he told me that he knew that I was seeing Jack and so h-he j-just threw me on the bed and… and… he…"

Instead of continuing her sentence Keira fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, she didn't want to continue.

"He, he just… r-r-raped…" Keira choked.

"Stop!" The Goddess ordered. "You don't have to tell me," She told her as she floated down towards her. "I understand…"

Keira continued to cry.

"Look if you're life at home is that bad you shouldn't even bother going back, you should stay out here with that farmer of yours." The Goddess advised. "I'm almost sure that's the right choice."

Keira's arms fell to her sides as she looked down. "I… I can't…"

"Well why not?" The Goddess asked, confused as ever.

"J-Jack…" Keira began as she looked back up at her. "He… He doesn't want to be with me anymore… I… I was just at his farm… and he sent me away…"

The Goddess floated back up to her spot in the center of the pond. "I… I'm not sure what to say then…"

Just then the faint sound of voices in the distance began to fill the open area around the pond, voices Keira recognized too quickly. It was her guards, likely out searching for her. The sound of their voices, though still far away greatly startled both her and the Goddess.

"W-Where are you going?" Keira asked frantically as she noticed that the Goddess was disappearing.

"I'm sorry." The Goddess apologized. "But I can't allow anyone else to see me, not without an offering."

"W-What?" Keira asked in a greatly upset tone.

"Sorry, it's just the way it is…" She told her just before completely disappearing.

"No wait!" Keira cried as reached out towards were the Goddess just was. "Come back! Please!"

Knowing it was useless to try and call her back; she wrapped her arms around herself and began to cry. She knew once the guards out in the forest found her they'd bring her back to the castle and keep her under close watch until the wedding finally arrived, something she didn't want, something she couldn't allow to happen. Then she felt a new resolve form inside of her. She wouldn't allow herself to be married off to Edwin and have her royalty preserved, even without Jack's help she wouldn't allow herself to remain a princess any longer. Slowly, she looked up at the pond.

It wasn't deep, but it was deep enough…

A/N: Sorry for another short chapter but unlike the previous one this one was meant to be short.