"We could make you some too," Edmund jokes, seeing Adan carefully observing the girl.
"If I wanted to walk like a newborn Foal," Adan huffs. Edmund winces and stuffs a hatchet into his bag.
"It's that bad?" he asks, leaving his packing and crossing to the cave entrance. Unfortunately, Adan's comparison is a good one. Edmund watches the girl— her bright lavender cloak unnervingly bright in the early morning light— and her wobbly progress for only a moment before turning away. "We'll wrap laces around the soles," he decides, backing away. He turns to pick up the remainder of the lacing and splits it into two equal lengths with his knife, wrapping the cords slowly around his hand while surveying the saddle bags and other supplies. After a moment of thought, he cuts off another shorter length of cording from his cloak and shoves it all in his pocket.
Edmund returns to the back of the cave and moves the blanket and bedroll closer to his pack. He's stuffed all the food he can into the bag. What's not coming— heavy cooking gear, mostly, that though nice to have is neither practical nor essential when they'll be stopping only long enough to rest overnight— has been packed into the saddle bags. Edmund studies the bedroll next. The down-filled canvas mat will be a bit cumbersome, but bivouacking in these mountains means they'll need a way to keep off the frozen ground, especially if they aren't able to get below the snow line before nightfall.
Edmund pulls out a rope from his pack and hastily attaches the bedroll to the underside of it. The whole thing will be heavy and unwieldy, but seeing the girl's gait confirmed in Edmund's mind that it's not worth it to split the load between the two of them.
"Was there a good place to hide all this?" Edmund asks Adan, looking over the saddle and saddle bags again. Edmund hadn't gotten a good look around before dark yesterday, and he'd gone out only long enough today to scoop up some fresh snow. Adan, turning from his surveillance of the girl, looks over the discarded supplies as well.
"There's a cleft in the rocks above the cave, if you can throw them that far." Edmund picks up one of the saddle bags and considers its weight. With the exception of the saddle, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to toss them a fair distance.
When the princess returns, picking her way carefully up the slight slope to the cave entrance, Edmund is just tossing the last of the saddle bags. He turns to watch her, holding her skirt in one hand and trying to maintain her balance with the treadless shoes.
"Here," he says, grabbing her elbow before she can crash to the ground. He guides her back into the cave and quickly sits her down near the extinguished remains of their fire. He'd already dumped some snow on it, hoping to throw off anyone's guesses of their departure time, and stowed away the pan and waterskin in his pack.
"We'll wrap these around to give them some grip," Edmund explains, kneeling in front of her and pulling the two longer lengths of leather cording from his pocket. He hands the princess one and starts wrapping the other around her left foot. Once finished, he has her stand and test it.
"Just wrap the other one and we'll get moving," Edmund says when he's convinced the cords will hold. The girl sits back down and does as he's asked. Edmund watches for a moment, but then turns to his pack and pulls out a few bundles of dried foods. He passes some to the girl and slips the rest into his own pocket before picking up Phillip's saddle— a custom piece of expert leatherwork that's only recently been worn in to the Horse's satisfaction. It's a shame to lose it, but it can't be helped. He carries it outside and tosses it as far as he can into the snow-laden brush before returning to the princess.
"If we move quickly we can get to the river in a day or two," Edmund tells her. She ties off the cord on her right foot and stands. Edmund passes her to grab the folded blanket from beside the pack. "But it might not be any warmer until we get down out of these mountains," he adds, turning back to the girl. The lavender velvet of her cloak is too noticeable. Covering it up is their best option for now, but there's no reason to scare her. She hadn't mentioned being followed again after he'd admitted to he and Adan trailing her, so perhaps she didn't realize there were still others out there. Besides that, using the blanket as a cloak would keep her warm and there'd be one less thing to stuff into the overloaded pack.
Edmund drapes the blanket over the girl's purple hood and instructs her to hold it while he pulls the last length of cording from his pocket and the small hunting knife from his boot. After slicing two small slits in the blanket near the princess's neck, Edmund uses the cording to hold it in place and grabs his pack before declaring it to be time to leave.