LOUIS
There's a boy running towards my tower. I watch from up high, legs out of my window as I watch in amusement. I giggle when he trips and comes back up covered in grass, but he seems to relax once he has no reason to run anymore.
"Are you okay?"
He looks around in response to my voice, spotting me in my tower as he brushes grass away. "How did you get up there?"
I open my mouth to respond, only it crosses my mind Mum never told me. "I'm not sure."
It's admittedly very, very puzzling, but I've never permitted my mind to linger on the matter very long because... I love you, I love you more, I love you most. Mum is only protecting me, says everything beyond my tower is dangerous to me.
"Do you suppose I can come up a moment?"
I consider his question only a second. Mum surely wouldn't approve, but I've never had company, so I push my robe over my windowsill and watch as he begins climbing up with an ease not even Mum has mastered.
"Why were you running?"
Floorboards creak beneath his weight as he spins to look at my wall paintings. He's beautiful, eyes green and curious, curls dropping into each one as his dimples pop.
"No reason," he says, voice lovely. "Did you paint your murals yourself?"
I nod in response. He's so handsome I can't concentrate, though I'm not necessarily feeling very pretty myself. My hair is newly washed, yet it's messy and paint-specked because I reached up high and dropped my paintbrush earlier. My shorts are only reaching me mid-thigh because they're tied at my waist. The material is so thin they're nearly see-through, matching my t-shirt that I've tucked into my waistband. I've never minded wearing nearly see-through anything, but I've never had proper company, much less anyone giving me once-overs the way my stranger is.
"I enjoy painting."
"Floating lanterns," he says, gently touching a mural. "That's tomorrow."
"Lanterns," I repeat, never having referred to them as such. "Every year on my birthday."
"Your birthday?"
"Yeah," I say, putting my hands on my windowsill. "They only ever appear on my birthday. I watch every year."
He turns to me properly. "Have you never been out?"
"My mum says I can't," I explain, pushing up to sit in my window again, only I'm turned towards my stranger instead. "My tower is proctoring me."
"From what?"
"Danger."
"Danger?"
"I can't go out," I say. "It's not permitted."
He steps towards me. "What's your name?"
"Louis."
"Louis," he repeats, puzzled a moment as though it's sparking memories or something. "Your mum is wrong. Someone snatched a royal baby once, but nothing even remotely bad has happened since."
"A baby?"
"Yes. But no one is gonna hurt you."
"I wanna go," I say, wondering if perhaps he's not wrong. "Just... where am I gonna go?"
"I can bring you," he says. "I can bring you to see your lanterns."
"Why?"
"You seem... I wanna help you."
