III. The Impact of Her

~ Twenty-Four ~

Nana's sudden appearance startled me.

I stopped what I was doing and slowly turned around. "Hello, Nana," I smiled at her amidst my shaking knees.

"Are you going somewhere?" she asked as she approached me. She glanced over to the basket behind me. "This is not the appropriate time to have a picnic."

"Oh, um, I was just... uh..." I stuttered as I tried to stay calm amidst my panicked state. "I was just preparing this for later in the morning," I reasoned as I prayed in my mind that it would work. "I already planned a picnic with Lady. I didn't want anyone else to use the basket."

She then nodded slowly. "That's good thinking on your part. It was supposed to be used to deliver bread to other servants tomorrow. But if you need it, you can use it," she replied with a smile.

"Thank you, Nana." An enormous wave of relief washed throughout my body.

"Don't forget to clean the kitchen once you're finished," she reminded me as she headed back to her quarters. The kitchen was connected to the servants' quarters. Nana has her own room, which she shared with Mallory. It was easier for their quarters to be there so they wouldn't have to walk far just to get to the kitchen.

"Yes, Nana, I understand," I briefly bowed.

She gave me a loving smile before leaving me on my own.

When there was no sign of her anymore, I quickly prepared the basket and blew off the candle. With absolute caution, I headed to the stable passage. I didn't want to create any noise so I used my power to walk through the metal door. I then grabbed Stallion and silently led him away from the stables.

As I mounted him, I realized that I needed Robin to open the gates for me. I couldn't have anyone see me leave the castle during this time of the night. To warn him with punishment wouldn't work. To let a monarch leave the castle at a dangerous time was never something we looked over here.

Then, another epiphany. 'Wind travel,' I thought to myself

Since we, my family, live in the kingdom of air, we were given the ability to travel through air. We turned ourselves into air so we could go wherever we wanted. No one would suspect a thing.

However, this was forbidden by James because enemies - even relatives - might use it against us. It was prohibited within the castle grounds to avoid prying eyes from seeing it. But outside our strong wall, we used it to our advantage.

I returned Stallion to his stable and walked to the wall where Laura fell. Guided only by the light of the moon, I proceeded to the garden and found a bush that had been crashed on. No wonder she had a lot of scratches on her legs. She fell right into the bush.

I began my climb up the wall, careful with every step. Mother's roses had the thickest thorns and I wouldn't want to be another victim of it. Her decision to put these bushes by the walls has had me question that decision for the longest time.

'Is it for decor or security purposes?' I would ask myself. Because frankly, it worked both ways.

I finally landed on the other side. I walked further away from the castle in case there were spies walking around. I then closed my eyes, put my hands together and whispered the spell in my head. My body slowly disintegrated as it joined the air. Satisfied, I made my way to the Mortal Realm.

~*~*~*~

I was about to knock on Laura's door when I caught sight of Grandpa Ben's door as well.

He slept just beside her room and should I knock on her door, it would wake him up. I turned myself into the air once more and entered through a small space under her door.

I remained in my wind form upon entry as I didn't want to scare Laura. But as I floated closer towards her, the sight of her peaceful sleep made me smile. I carefully turned to my mortal appearance and sat on the edge of her bed.

She slept on her left side. Her hands were under her soft pillow. Her blanket covered her up to her waist and her breathing was calm.

I then reached out and removed a small amount of hair from her face. But my cautious touch awakened her. She groaned and as she saw me, her eyes widened.

"Robert?" she shot up from her slumber. She quickly lit her candle and moved it towards me. As she confirmed that it was me, she let out a breath of relief. "Robert, what are you doing here? I thought you were some kind of intruder," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," I held onto her hand. "I didn't want to wake you. But it looked like I wasn't careful enough."

She put the candle on her bedside table. She pulled the blanket up to her chest and replied, "Why are you here? And during this time of the night?"

I smiled as I put the basket on my lap. "I thought we could go on a little picnic together."

"Right now?" her eyes widened. She looked around and leaned towards me, "You do know that you're in my room in the middle of the night, right?"

I chuckled. "Laura, I know that this isn't an ideal time to go outside. But I thought we could gaze at the beautiful night sky whilst everybody's asleep," I explained.

"But how are we supposed to get out of here? Leo would make a lot of noise downstairs. And Grandpa Ben checks on me every now and then," she replied.

I stood and settled the basket on the table. I helped her out of her bed and created a dummy of her, all snuggled up under the warm sheets.

"Does that answer your questions?" I smirked.

She rolled her eyes before she looked at me. "Well, how about transport?" she asked another as she crossed her arms, challenging me still. "Like I said, Leo would only make unnecessary noise downstairs."

I grabbed her coat from the coat rack. "Just hold onto me and everything will be fine," I replied as I put the coat on her. I grabbed the basket from the table and offered my hand to her. She looked at it sceptically. "Why will you doubt me now, Laura? Will I ever put your life in any kind of danger?"

She stared at me, still unsure and afraid.

Gently, I grabbed her hand and stood closer to her. "Trust me."

She took a deep breath and nodded.

I wrapped an arm around her as I pulled her closer. In a matter of seconds, we turned to air and headed to the hill where Lady was buried.