Lavenders Blue ❦

*:･ﾟ✧*:･*:･ Chapter Two; I Will Not Be Weak

"Sh—," Keith grumbles, ducking a bit behind Red for any chance of hiding from him. Shiro doesn't know that Red is his horse, or that Red even exists for that matter, so he could potentially continue past him if he acts casual and uses Shiro's unknowns to his advantage.

The thing is, Keith knows that Shiro has seen the cloak he's wearing, and he's beyond familiar with his thick, raven-toned mullet. He can hide behind Red as much as he desires, but staying 100% in the clear will be difficult.

Keith also knows that if he goes back to the castle, he won't be punished. He could probably sneak out again and again, until Shiro puts his foot down to put it to an end. His mother, the Queen, would never care enough to do it herself. She's been far too busy lately, busy with everything else in this world but her own son.

He still hides nonetheless. He doesn't know why and he doesn't care to find out. Maybe he wants to prove a point, or show that he can do this without a guard showing his position and worth to the kingdom, without being judged just by who he's escorted by.

No, he clearly hasn't thought at all about it and he clearly doesn't care.

After muttering out a second curse, he yanks his hood off of his head and rips off the entire cloak, looking around hurriedly for a disguise, a different drape to wear, anything.

The merchant in front of him.

An elderly man with thick curly hair twirled down from sideburns into an unrefined, scraggly beard.

He's wearing one of the most convenient hats he'd ever seen. Thick straw woven into a fine sheet, a blood red strip of ribbon around the base. He can't even make out the man's eye color, it's that amazing. It's just what he needs.

"Sir," He says lowly, creeping up to the booth slowly and avoiding as much recognition as he can. "I will give you fifty pieces and my cloak for your hat."

"It's.. it's my only hat-" The man replies, and the Prince lets out a frustrated grunt.

"One hundred pieces." He adds to his offer, and the greed can be seen in the man's unintelligible colored eyes.

"Deal." He says and rips off his hat after Keith's words, and Keith counts out something barely over the price he promised, giving it to him quickly. He also throws his cloak over the man's assorted product- types of bread loaf. And with that, he was gone.

-he then comes back to the booth quickly with his hat on his head, taking the largest sample slice of honey wheat and grabbing Red's reigns before leaving one last time.

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"Three pounds each, sugar and flour." Lance says kindly, and the merchant gave a quick nod before going to weigh out his purchase.

The boy looked over at Blue's saddlebag, holding his collection from his shopping day. He was so proud of what he had been able to round up, and at the prices he had found to do so.

Two loaves of bread, ten apples, a new iron bucket for the well, a jar of honey, seed for the chickens and oat for the horses, just too much to name for well under one hundred coin. His bundle of things would normally cost him at least one-hundred fifty, but he was lucky, and he'd choose luck over overspending any day.