The girl sighed. The Prince managed to locate the last of the dried venison and three large rolls of bread and a wheel of cheese that must have been scavenged off the Defenders.
“All right,” she said, “what’s funny?”
The Prince was sure she was hiding a smile and so he continued on boldly.
“Her name was Leah too. But you two couldn’t be more different.”
The girl froze, and then slowly turned to him, her face blank.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Well,” he said, “she’s one of the daughters of the Most High, so she’s trained in all of the courtly manners of Lucien. I don’t think she’s ever seen a dagger in her entire life much less held one. And she was always wearing the most fashionable dress of the season. I don’t think I could see you in a dress, and certainly not the ones she wore. I don’t know how she got into those things;someone must have poured her into them. Which is part of how you’re different, because you are much more—”
He cut off as he caught a glimpse of her face, which looked as though she were ready to torture a small woodland creature.
“Are—are you all right?” he asked, suddenly concerned.
“Fine,” she said. “I think I’ll just leave you to your reminiscing about the Lady Monsunne and the dresses she needed to be poured into. Not really something I’m interested in.”
She turned on her heel and stalked off across the clearing, brushing past Tomaz, who had just returned from the stream. He looked from the girl back to the Prince and shook his head.
“You couldn’t keep a memory or two of how to talk to a woman?” he asked.
The Prince had no response to this, and so he refrained from speaking and helped Tomaz with the fire, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. He’d only been trying to compliment the girl. Sure, she wouldn’t fill out a dress like Lady Monsunne, but who cared about that out here? What she could do with her daggers was worth ten times that!
Leah came back sometime later, her arms full of rather large white mushrooms.
“Surprise!” she called to them, and the Prince was glad to see that whatever anger she had been holding against him had passed. “I found these down by the stream. We can cook them tonight and store them for travel.”
“Mmm,” Tomaz said, licking his lips. “Daishains. My favorite!”
They made and ate dinner quickly that night, talking happily amongst themselves. Afterward, the Prince and Tomaz sparred as Leah watched on. When they were done, the Prince was covered in sweat and sore beyond belief. A sudden idea occurred to him.
“Did you say there was a stream nearby?”
Tomaz nodded.
“I think I’d like to go,” the Prince said. “It’s been a long time since… well, I would like to clean myself… that is to say, I—”
“Yeah yeah, you wish tobathe, we understand,” Leah said. “It’s that way—though why you want to go when it’s so cold is beyond me.”
“I like it cold,” the Prince said, and then excused himself, gathering up the grooming materials Leah had loaned him and making his way through the trees in the direction the girl had pointed.
She’d been right: the water was close to freezing. But when the Prince stripped off and washed his bruised and battered body, he felt that the cold was worth the cleansing. He scraped himself with Leah’s comb and some of Tomaz’s soap, thinking about what he would have said about all of this back in the Fortress if he could see himself now.
Once he’d finished, he made his way back to the fire, wrapped in every piece of clothing he owned. As he approached the camp, he heard the Exiles conversing softly. His comb slipped from his hand, and he pulled up short and bent down to pick it up. As he did, he overheard Tomaz speaking.
“…and then through the Pass and on to Vale.”
The Prince froze. They must be consulting the girl’s map, something they never did when he was nearby. He straightened up, comb in hand, and watched them through the trees.
The girl and the big man exchanged glances and then both broke into smiles.
“Home,” Leah said.
“Home,” Tomaz agreed. They held the gaze for a long moment, sharing a joy and elation that made the Prince giddy just watching it. He began to come forward but stopped when Leah spoke again.
“What about the Prince?” she asked.
