Justice for the Forest-Beasts

Chapter Twelve - In Which the Twins Hide

That night, the twins snuck out once again. A while after Bayou fell asleep, the twins carefully climbed out of bed, got dressed into plain clothes with plenty of layers, then left the castle through the servants' gate. They walked to the outskirts of the city, where they stayed in a motel room for the night. Neither of the twins slept well in the creaky, old room they rented out. The next morning, the twins were more tired than they'd been the night before. Regardless, their walk to the hills began. They left the motel and began walking north, rarely stopping to take breaks. When they came across a river, they would drink. When they came across familiar-looking fruit, they would eat. When the sun set and it became too dark to see, they would sleep. About halfway through their journey, it had begun to snow. It made walking harder, and both of the twins felt chilled all the way through to their bones, but they persevered.

It was after five days that the twins came across a small fort in the woods. It was a little, handmade hut, made of branches, leaves, and twine.

"It looks like one of Rain's," Lucian signed.

Estelle smiled softly. The fort was completely free of snow, both inside and out. Estelle hoped that meant it had been built recently. Increasing her hope even further, she found that a number of footprints surrounded the fort and led in and out of its entrance.

"If we follow the footprints, it should bring us to the village. Right?" Estelle said.

"Probably," Lucian agreed.

They had only been following the footsteps for a minute or two, when they heard voices approaching. The twins walked cautiously, and soon saw others following the trail of footprints the opposite way. The twins peered closely at the three distant silhouettes, watching as they came into view. Once it was clear enough to see who it was, Estelle began to run towards them. It was Rain, accompanied by two of xyr younger siblings.

Lucian hesitated to run after Estelle, and he didn't bother to hurry quite as quickly. Rain and xyr siblings, on the other hand, stood completely still. A smile had made its way onto Rain's face, and xe grinned when Estelle finally got close and stopped running, followed by Lucian.

"Estelle? Lucian? Why. . . Why you here?" Rain asked. Xyr siblings only looked at the twins with confused expressions.

"We were told that you were banished, so we came immediately," Estelle told xem, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am okay. The people grab me, and they walk with me, and they tell me 'You are banished! You must leave! Go! Scram!' and I go home. I thinked, 'The humans do not like me. I have to leave.' I feeled sad."

"Oh, Rain, you weren't banished because the humans don't like you. You were banished because the Queen has a strict idea of who Lucian and I should be spending our time with, and she just does not like your whole species," Estelle explained.

Rain tilted xyr head, "Humans do not want me away?"

"No, of course not!" Estelle said, "In fact, we were hoping you would try to come into the kingdom just one more time. By the time we're back, it'll be our birthday, and we really want to experience it with you."

Rain hesitated, "I do not know," xe said, "I hate the. . . uhm. . . the cage."

"We promise you, you won't be sent to the dungeon again." Estelle held out her pinky to Rain.

"A. . . pinky promise?" Rain asked.

Estelle nodded.

Rain smiled, then hooked xyr pinky on Estelle's, "Okay. I will go. We stay here tonight, leave tomorrow. Yeah?"

"That sounds perfect," Estelle said.

"Sounds good," Lucian signed.

The twins spent the rest of the evening with Rain and xyr family, and they slept on the floor beside xyr bed once again. It was yet another uncomfortable night, but the twins no longer cared to complain about such things. The next morning, after breakfast, they set off for the kingdom for what Estelle sincerely hoped would be the last time. She'd made the trip far more times than she would've liked to, though she felt like it must've been building up her leg muscle, and she couldn't imagine that she was as chubby as she'd been previously.