Vivi saw as Russell tripped on a tree root and fell, clearly too distracted by the Scarlet flames to mind his footing as he landed on uneven ground.

Oh, don't get her wrong . The flames were marvelous — a big red floof! — Vivi thoughts so too. Just, not so marvelous that you'd loose your footing over it.

Deciding that it's not the time for it, she discarded that thought and tried to run to Russell. And she did run! At the mind boggling pace of one and a half miles per hour!

She was awkwardly dance-walking on the ground that seemed to be solely made to inconvenience Vivi, when suddenly a kick hit her hard in the chest.

Air rushed out of her lungs in an inaudible scream. Her legs gave away and she was submitted to gravity.

She fell on her back, a  root under her spine made her fall uneven and even more painful.

Dammit, where's all this people popping out of?

Wincing in pain , she looked up.

There was a sword in her face .

It was literally hanging three inches from her eye. Azure flames ran the length of the blade, dancing like a slowed down lightning. The silver underneath showed maroon colors of dried blood.

This sword had been thrust into somebody's flesh. The boy wielding the sword could just be a murder.

The most notable quality of the boy behind the blade was perhaps the fresh cut that ran across his left cheek. It was still running. Blood trickled down his chin. Boy himself looked no older than Russell or Vivi.  He had a stern look in his face. But even in that state Vivi could see his eyebrows above his blue eyes twitching. This guy is doing a poor job at hiding his nervousness.

"Don't move!" The boy said in voice that is obviously forcefully calmed.

Vivi continued to glare at him.

The girl who had fallen down yelled with a high pitched voice,"Let her go, Arron! I don't think they are with the soldiers!"

Wait, Arron?

"He pushed you down, Elli!"

Elli?

"He didn't push me down! We just happened to run into one another."

By then , Russell was already up, running to the girl and offering her a hand. She took the hand and helped herself up. Russell took a few steps back, careful not to trip again.

Then he bowed and said, "Your majesty. I am truly sorry . I wasn't looking and made a truly grave mistake. I would take any punishment you give me without resentment."

"Oh it's fine. Actually it's my fault as well for not looking where I am going. And about the whole majesty part....."

"Kingdom or no kingdom, your fire is proof that you are the princess of Forthfire."

Till now Vivi was keenly watching Russell sucking up to the royal family, then she noticed the sword still hanging three inches from her eye. She looked at the boy, presumably the prince, and tried to smile, "Your highness, it's an honor. Could you please move the sword before you poke me in the eye?"

The prince was also keenly looking at Russell. Vivi's words brought him back. The fire in the sword went out. The sword went back in his belt.

The girl had taken her hood off her head. She had gracefully flowing long golden hair, like the boy. Her skin was white , but running around had made it a shade of red. The hair on her front-left side was significantly shorter, as if cut unplanned. Her eyes were light blue, like the boy. She looked sixteen or seventeen years old.

"Okay, stop with the majesty thing. Just call me Elli," the princess insisted.

"But your majesty...." Russell was a determined shoe-licker.

"Not majesty. Elli," Elli waved her hand in dismissal, "I am Elizabeth Forthfire. What is your name?"

"Okay, um, miss Elizabeth. It's Russell Lowheart," Russell pointed to Vivi, "And she is Victoria Vindict."

They seemed to settle on that.

Elli turned to Arron, "Help the poor girl up, Arron!"

But Vivi was already up. It was hard on her spine after taking that fall, but she had enough pride to not let the guy who kicked her help her, prince or not.

Now that the formalities were over, nobody knew what to talk about. They stood around awkwardly looking at each other for a while. Russell still grinning that at-your-service smile. Vivi was glaring at Russell, disturbed and repulsed by how nice he was acting to the princess. Arron was looking at Vivi, amazed by something Vivi couldn't spot. The princess was looking around.

And it was the princess herself who broke the silence, "Do you happen to have some medicine for treating wounds? My brother got cut. It might get infected."

"Sorry Maj... Miss Elizabeth, we didn't pack any medicine. If we can do anything else.." Russell rubbed his hands in a way reserved distinctly for obese Date merchants.

"Who needs to pack medicine?" Vivi interrupted.

The princess looked at her questioningly. Russell was already on the ground.

"Golden rod." He said, holding up a weed with golden branches. Vivi took it in her hand and squeezed. A yellowish juice came out.

She walked to the prince. He was looking at Russell with wide eyes. A snap of her fingers caught his attention .

"What does that do?" He said, Narrowing his eyes .

"Clean." Vivi answered, trying hard not to laugh hard at how paranoid he was. Then again, they were strangers up until a few moments ago. It is understandable if they're skeptic, but still funny.

She held his head and slowly rubbed that juice around the wound.

He winced a little. "Could you go slower?"

"Would you really like to feel this pain for a longer time, your highness?" Vivi smirked. The pain wasn't for applying medicine, it was from moving the wound.

That shut him up.

The wound, however small, was grosteque. It was  done by a sharp blade, so it was cut absolutely clean. The way Arron was gritting his teeth suggested that the wound didn't hurt up until now.

The height difference was a problem. Vivi was having a hard time reaching up to his face. She was almost tripping over. If she does, she'll never hear the end of it from Russell .

A hand folded around her's. It was the princess's, "Show me. I'll do it."

Vivi looked at her. Trying to see if she's joking . No sign of humor in her eyes.

Does this girl really already trust us?

Arron also looked delighted that his sister was doing it, even though Vivi was clearly more fit for it.

One trusted them too much and the other too little.

She gave the weed in her hand and said, "Here. Do it gently. Don't use too much force. Don't rub it directly on the wound. Clean around it."

The princess squeezed the weed with her shaking hands and tried to clean around the wound.

The Polish lines were shaky and sometimes got in the wound. But in the end the wound was clean.

That, and Arron was begging with his eyes for Vivi to take over now.

Russell came from behind, glaring at Vivi for letting the princess do the work. He held out a ball of mashed green stuff. Wild garlic leaves. This is the main medicine. This will ensure that the wound wouldn't get infected.

Vivi took it in her hand and said, "Yeah , I think Russell should handle this one."

Russell took them from her hands and stood in front of Arron .

"Your majesty, if I cause any pain I'm sorry in advance," Russell stammered.

"It's okay. Let's just fix it."

Russell reached out with the green weed towards the wound. Then stopped.

"Your highness , this is gonna hurt a bit."

"Okay, I think I can handle it . Just do it."

Russell proceeded. Then he stopped again and said,"Yeah, actually, this is gonna hurt quite a bit."

Arron snapped, as would most sane people, "Yeah, yeah! I got it! Let's get down to it!"

Russell got down to job as Vivi and Elli watched. He pressed the green paste on the small wound and Arron squinced—squeeled with a wince.

"How do you know these things? I mean, not even our assigned tutors teach these." Elli tried to start a conversation.

"Well, people tend to cut themselves while handling knives in the kitchen," Vivi explained away, "And we don't usually have medicine laying around. So marianda taught us how to tend to cuts and bruises with things that are laying around in a kitchen."

Then she sighed, "Even a tiny cut can kill you out here."

The princess's words brought Vivi back to Earth, "All we've learned up until now are useless things. At least out here."

Vivi chuckled and quoted Arlo, "Nothing is too useless to learn." As if she was one to say, not even caring to learn to read properly.

"Oh, please care to explain how the knowledge of walking ladylike will be of a~n~y use here!"

"Flirting with some really handsome Boars?" As she spoke Vivi scanned the horizon to see if she jinxed it. Wild boars were bad news.

Elli hunched forward and giggled. She said through waves of laughter, "Wild boars may be slightly beyond my preference!"

"Hey, now," Vivi pushed it further, "They might lead you to a nice mudslide. Mudslides are awesome."

Another wave of laughter hit Elli. She raised a hand, from her hunched position, "Okay, okay, stop!"

Vivi crossed her lips.

Elli stood tall and looked at the duo before them, Russell focusing on Arron's wound, cleaning it with the tenderness of Clayfisher after a fish. Arron seemed to be a bit restless. He was the only one who gave any indication he heard Elli laughing.

Elli looked at them, and put a hand on her hair, "We can surely make a lady out of your friend, though."

Vivi thought of Arron walking around in a dress, one step falling exactly where previous one fell,as a fairly suited man came up and kissed his hand.
She barely stifled a laughter .

Russell was done. Arron's wound was not bleeding anymore.

"It'd be nicer if we could dress it," Russell disposed the bloody pieces of fiber, "but covering one eye could prove fatally inconvenient, your highness."

Vivi wondered where Russell could've learned these words.

"What you've done is enough . I don't know how to thank you." Princess nodded to Russell.

"Serving you in itself is an honor. And,um," Russell seemed to fumble with his wits, and then he clapped a little, "I'd be even more honored to serve you even after this predicament has passed."

Really? Really?

Everyone is dying and he's fishing for a job?

Vivi was ashamed.

The princess however, didn't change her expression, " I'd love to but in the current situation, I cannot make any promi—"

"You're hired." The crown prince said from beside, confirming to Vivi that he's never had to hire someone in his life.

"Oh, thank you, your majesty! I will forever be indebtted to you!" Russell looked ready to get down and kiss his feet.

Disgusting, Vivi decided, again.

"In the current situations, it is impossible to tell what would happen next. We may or may not get our kingdom back. So I'd prefer not to make promises I may or may not be able to keep." The princess said in a voice calm and fine, even a little sweet.

A fake voice for a fake person, Vivi thought to herself.

Russell looked disheartened. He looked over to Arron for reassurance, but he was mute to his sister's logic.

Haha, serves you right! Vivi Almost screamed out loud.

"However , we'd like to compensate you for your help anyway possible for us." Elizabeth continued, after seeing Russell's sad face.

Russell looked up again. He watched from Elli to Arron and then Arron to Elli.

Vivi suddenly had a bad thought of what Russell could ask. She felt the need to punch him in the ribs. But before she could he asked, "You know The map of this kingdom don't you?"

"By rote." Arron replied.

"We're trying to get out of this kingdom. Can you get us there?" Russell asked, his gears shifting from respect to business.

The princess looked at Russell for a moment, judging him. Her eyes narrowed a little. Milky complexion folded a bit.

After a while, she looked at Arron and said, "It'd probably be better for us to go out of the kingdom too, Arron." Arron was listless, seemingly deep in thought.

Then she looked at Russell and said, "Fine, we would guide you out. But in return you must continue to make yourself useful," her voice was calm and still soft, but it lacked that subtle sweetness.

"Wait, we're just gonna leave father?" Arron reacted late to her question.

"That was not father," The princess's voice didn't change a bit. But she wasn't breathing. Her face drained of all expressions.

Arron looked miserable. Poor guy wasn't getting much of a chance for the decision. Vivi almost felt sorry for him.

"Useful like just now?" Vivi spoke for the first time in a while.

The princess covered her face. Then she looked at Vivi and smiled, pulling her hair back. A real smile, "Yeah, just like right now."

Russell was already to their bag. It was laying where Russell had tripped on a tree root. He rummaged through it and found the two bags of grist.

Russell pulled them out and held it before his eyes. Then he looked at Vivi, "For only the two of us, it'd go for about two weeks."

Vivi looked at Elli,"Did you pack food?"

Both Elli and Arron shook their heads.

"How long will it take to get out of here?" Russell asked.

"About one and a half month." Arron fixed his hair. Vivi winced. Doing that could open the wound again.

Russell looked down, frowning, deep in thought. So did Vivi. One could go three weeks without food, before dying. At last Russell looked up and said," How far away is the nearest town or village?"

"It's a two days walk on plain grounds. Don't know how long through this though."

But they didn't have any money. Questions swirled Vivi's mind.
Russell seemed to come at something though,

"Okay, Miss Elli can you make a fire?" He spoke in a commanding voice, "Sir Arron , go collect some dry wood. Vivi come with me."

Nobody moved. Russell looked at everyone, appearently astonished how childish they are acting. Vivi grinned, making sure it was very visible.

Then he gave up and said,"Please. Could you do it, please?"

Arron moved first. Vivi felt a lot lighter on her feet. She pretty much jumped to Russell.

As soon as they got out of the sibling's sight. Vivi punched Russell, in the ribs, hard.

Russell sat down on the ground, holding his chest, coughing.

"Same spot. It's the same spot as last time." He managed in a broken croaked voice.

"You were seriously thinking about a job? In this situation?" Vivi stomped on the ground, "shame on you!"

Russell didn't say anything, just groaned and stood up.

He stretched his arm up, like that's where his problems are: up, and broke off a tree branch.

Vivi thought he's gonna use that to get back at her, but he just walked around a bit more and collected some vines.

Then he sat down, with that funny look in his eyes. The kind he gets when he's thinking something weird, and sometimes dangerous.

Then his hands started to move.

They never fail amaze Vivi, his hands. They moved fluent like water, but they'd hold tight as steel if needed. Occasionally he'd ask Vivi to hold a vein or keep a stick bent down. Before she knew it, it was made. But she couldn't really figure out what it was.

"It's a basic snare I came up with. It can catch small stuff. Like squirrels or rats." Russell answered, sensing her question.

"I don't wanna eat rats." Vivi listed, not knowing what else to say.

"Yeah, me neither. Let's pray we get squirrels," Russell said quirkily. Making stuff always puts him in a good mood.

Afternoon was crawling in. The golden sunlight slipped through the leaves. The cold seemed to come down from the branches, covering the ground like a blanket. The little pieces of sky that could be seen through the trees were clustered with clouds, red from the setting sun. Winter was whispering in the air. A breath of air blew some dried leaves to the ground. Birds chirped around, coming back to their homes. The signs of life showed one last time, before the dreadful silence of the night fell on the forest. A couple of things whished by their heads. Fairies. Maybe. You never know.

Vivi suddenly wished she had worn her own dress. These baggy cloths are nowhere near warm enough, and they let a lot of air in. Without a heat-source nearby, one could not last any longer than an evening. Vivi really hoped the fire was lit.

And she got her expectations met when they reached the camp. The fire was big enough to be actually effective for all four of them, small enough to be not very dangerous. It was cozy.

As Vivi sat near the fire with her leg in her arms , knees to her cheek, she had a misplaced, fleeting thought.

And she's not gonna tell you what it is.