Mary watched as the girl slowly picked her way over to her, stepping carefully over twigs and branches lying on the ground. Mary's horse was gone and so was her cloak, and she stood as the girl neared, staring at her suspiciously. She'd taken a long time, at least an hour, probably more like two.
"I led them off your trail," the girl explained. "Let them catch me instead of you and made up some crap story about finding your stuff and wanting to return it. The man who found me wouldn't let me keep it. Sorry. But it worked, so you're welcome."
Mary frowned. "Who caught you? Were they mean to you?"
The girl glanced at her oddly and then laughed, shaking her head. "Mean. You're how old, and you still say that? I don't know who it was. He was tall, blue eyes, black hair. In love with you and all."
Mary almost choked. "What?" She shook her head rapidly, her curls shaking limply by her face. "No. Nicholas doesn't . . . he can't. He hates me."
"Nicholas, huh? You knew him pretty quickly for that general of a description." The girl gave her a particularly suggestive look, and Mary blushed a dark red, looking away.
"So who are you anyway?" the girl asked, retying her brown hair into a loose ponytail. "What's your story?"
"It's not important," Mary muttered. "Who are you?"
The girl narrowed her eyes. "If I don't get a name, neither do you. Sorry, Princess."
Mary jerked back. "Excuse me?"
The girl laughed, throwing her head back in a way similar to Mary's mother. "You thought I wouldn't know? We're still on castle grounds and all those people are searching for you and with the way you talk and act and look." The girl looked her over. "It was obvious."
Mary shook her head. "I'm Meredith. Who are you?"
The girl smirked. "Alright, Meredith. I'm Clair. I was bored. I'm not bored anymore. C'mon, let's go."
She mounted the horse, Snow, and reached down to help Mary up. Mary, extremely wary now, because this girl was a wild card, and if anything happened that made her want to turn her in, there was nothing Mary could do to stop her. But she didn't really have another choice, and the girl wasn't planning on turning her in for now at least, so she accepted her hand and mounted Snow and let Clair lead her off to wherever they were going.
♦︎ ♦︎ ♦︎
Sir Gordian was forced to relay the story to the king, since the blame technically fell on him. He'd been the last one to see Mary, after all, and that was enough for it to be entirely his fault.
Nicholas didn't know what happened to him. He spent the entire day out in the woods on horseback, but it was too large a land mass to cover and by the time someone got to the outer perimeter guards, it was too late.
James and his father visited that night, to offer condolences, and James promised to make sure that his guards were out searching for her as well. For some reason Nicholas couldn't comprehend, George was incredibly thrown off by Mary's disappearance. They had been so tense and uncomfortable with each other for so long now that he couldn't remember seeing George looking like he cared. Of course, if she ever came back, the king's first response would most likely be to yell at her and throw her in a cell until he was quite sure she wouldn't run off again, but for now, he was different.
Nicholas wasn't required to spend any time in the same room as James, as Mary was no longer here and his job had been to stay with her. But as he was reentering the castle after spending the last sixteen hours outside searching, James happened to be strolling down the same hallway.
