sparrow and lion

Chapter 11: away

It was not, of course, difficult at all for Leo to sneak away without Wren noticing.

He could not, after all, follow her into the women's lavatory after breakfast. So Leo told him that's where she was going and she went. From there, it was as simple as walking back out and leaving the inn. Wren was far too anxious of his size to stand guard outside.

It was nothing personal. Wren would take it personally, yes. Leo couldn't let herself worry about that, though. He had followed her all this way to take her back to the estate. She would be dragged back to seamstresses pinning blue tulle to her waist and wedding arrangements. She would be banished to a household far away and never seen again. Leo wasn't stupid enough to think that she would manage to escape the estate a second time.

She left the inn through a backdoor. Wren would notice she was gone soon. He would come looking for her. Leo made her way to the busy market street. Even in the throngs, she still stood out. It was of no concern, though. She was used to standing out.

Noticeable or not, acting like you belonged made people believe that you belonged. Leo was an excellent actress. It was trying not to be noticed that made people remember noticing you. Leo had learned that a long time ago. Wren never had.

The hard part was deciding the next step. She had kept up a steady stream of chatter during every waking moment with Wren. He knew her too well to trust her silence. Leo knew Wren too well to believe that babbling mindlessly would fool him. No. She had to concentrate when she talked to him. Even if she had tried to lie to him, he would have seen right through it. That was why she had told him she was going to the lavatory and had actually gone there. She had never claimed she would come back after.

Maybe that was the problem with knowing someone the way they knew each other. They could see right through you. There was no deception. Only secrets. And was a secret really a secret if the other person knew you held it?

Leo had spent a long time not thinking about that. She forced herself to return to not thinking about it. The secrets were out in the open. You didn't need to know what was in the box to know that the box existed. That was all there was to it.

Now she had to decide how to lose him for good. It was very sad, of course. This was the most uninterrupted time they'd had together in a very long while. But it had to be done.

It was best, of course, to stick to her original plan. It had gotten her this far before the unfortunate run in with the constable at the bandit leader. That had just been a fluke anyway. Her path had been too obvious. It made sense that Wren had followed it. She had taken the main road. Even so, he would never have found her if she had just stayed in the bandit camp. It was really her own fault. But there was no way he could guess what she had planned for the next leg of her journey.

Leo turned towards the mountains and kept walking.