Her Rightful Place

9: The Journey

"So what happened with you and Jerôme back there?" Mireille asks Christelle as they ride away from Adrennes, the only home they have ever known, towards Vyrunia. She has only just recovered from seeing her house on chicken-leg stilts, blazing like Hell's gates and skittering about like a wild thing, while the Queen and her soldiers cowered in fear. For Mireille it was both hilarious and heart-wrenching, and she is desperate for a diversion both from thoughts of the home of which she has been deprived and a certain handsome young man who has set her heart aflutter.

"Y'know, I'm not really sure," Christelle blushes. "He came back to help me move things, saying it was the least he could do for us, and then he asked if all the girls in our village are as gorgeous as the two of us, to which I replied that no, we're the special ones, and he said that it was a shame we're leaving, then, because I'm the fairest he's ever seen and he'd love to see me again sometime--"

"Much like every other would-be suitor who's chased you," Mireille points out.

"Yes, but hush, let me speak. I told him that we'd see what happened and that, depending where you and I ended up more meetings could be arranged, once all the chaos died down, and he told me it was more than likely because he thinks the Prince is quite enamored of you," Christelle gloats. Mireille barely contains her blush as her thoughts fly back to the conversation with Xavier in her kitchen, where he might have almost kissed her. "So we chatted about that for a minute, and then he mentioned that he might have taken a liking to me too, and well, one thing led to another...and then you interrupted."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I just thought that maybe our impending doom and need for an escape were slightly more important." Mireille sighs and shifts her weight, much to the irritation of her mount. Neither girl is a particularly good rider, since neither had need for good horsemanship while they still resided in Adrennes, and both horses are thoroughly annoyed.

"Oh yes...and it doesn't hurt that you're fairly enamored of the Prince, too. You'd jump at any chance to marry him, you would, even a wild goose chase to a foreign country to claim that you're a missing princess."

"I've not the foggiest idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, please, don't play dumb with me. Why else would you willingly undertake this journey? You love that town as much as I do."

"He said that by staying I would endanger everyone, that she would execute your family for harboring me, as a fugitive.... I felt I had no choice."

"Only you would play off an action undertaken for a fledgling romance as a noble act for the preservation of my family."

"It's the truth! I don't deny that he's...not entirely like other men...but my views on men have not changed, and I've only just met him. I hardly intend to stake my entire future on whatever comes from this half-witted journey."

"Mireille, let's be serious. If the Vyrunian monarchs do think you're their long-lost daughter, your entire world is going to change. Even if they don't take you in, we can't exactly go back to Adrennes. Do you have a plan for what we do if this 'half-witted journey' is fruitless?"

"Xavier says he'll come to check on us the day after tomorrow."

"How will he explain that if we succeed?"

"Apparently he's friends with the Vyrunian monarchs and they'll have put out a notice publicizing the return of their lost Princess and so he'll be coming to congratulate us and nothing could be easier."

"The two of you must have had a nice long chat, if you discussed all of this. And he's clearly head over heels for you, if he's willing to ride all that way so soon after the Queen has been so thoroughly displeased just to see you again and make sure you're all right. Did anything...interesting happen between you, besides talking?" Mireille colors slightly and turns away. "Aha! So I've not been the only one who's been naughty! Tell me everything."