The building was small, no bigger than the princess's washroom by the looks of the outside. It had one small fogged window built into the top and a brick chimney spout rising from the wooden cabin. It was the kind of place she would be warned to avoid in the kingdom. And it was exactly the place they were headed now.
Izzy let her gaze wander to the neighboring buildings. Small streaks of smoke rose from their own rooftops and lifted into the now nearly night sky. The journey itself felt as if it took hours but she wasn't too sure of anything anymore.
"Are you coming?" August stood in the now open doorway of the shack. Izzy stepped her way into the small space. She couldn't recall if she had ever been in a room so small. She reckoned that if she stretched her arms out she could nearly touch both ends of thinner end at once.
August spoke up, "I know it's probably not what you're used to, but it's home. And for right now it's safe. And that's what's important." Izzy watched as she made her way over to the small fireplace and crouched down to examine it's contents.
"Fuck," August mumbled under her breath, she had been so busy literally saving the princess that she forgot all of the firewood out on the forest floor. She looked around in the pit to try to see what she could salvage but all that was left was ash of previous warmth. Sighing, she realized what she had to do.
August didn't like to take the easy way out, and being able to do what she could, gave her every opportunity to take it. But using her power meant risking someone seeing and she knew what a village would do if they found out someone like her lived in their midst. And now here she was, with the princess of Aldham sitting in her midst, risking far too much. August let her hand down and buried her fingertips into the cold ash. She let her eyes fall shut and began to concentrate her energy on the task at hand. If she couldn't get a fire started, both were sure to freeze through the night. And princesses didn't survive frozen winters in Sennewick. In fact they didn't survive at all out here. No one could know she was here,
She felt the energy grow. It was small at first, almost like a memory and slowly grew into the magnitude of a orchestra rushing through her veins. Her fingers felt the heat grow and grow until finally she opened her eyes and saw the small flames beginning to grow from the ashes. Finally she let her palm fall into the fire just for a moment, sealing it in place so it would hold in the night.
August brought her attention back to the girl she had smuggled into her home.
Princess Isadora. She had recognized the Aldham carriages from the moment she arrived at the scene in the woods, but had no idea they were carrying the Kings daughter. August had only heard stories of the young princess. How she would be placed on the throne next. Her engagement to one of her fathers own knights. The story had spread through the land like a wildfire. August had scoffed at the news. Love didn't exist in the lives of the royals. They only cared about their own power and fortune. But she couldn't help to wonder if the Princess actually loved the man she was due to wed.
Emphasis on the "was" though, because by the looks of the events from the morning it had seemed her knight was no longer.
The princess had sat herself down in the corner of the cabin. Her blonde hair seemed to glow off of the dark oak background she laid against. Her bow lay at her feet. It stretched nearly as long as the cabin was wide and strung across her torso was a small quiver of about half a dozen arrows. August saw that her hands were trembling in the shadows.
"You're cold. Here take this." She rolled the fur coat off of her shoulders and handed it out to the reluctant princess. From the looks of things, the shock of it all was starting to hit her.
Izzy grabbed the coat and wrapped her arms in it. She knew that her body was cold because of the shaking from her arms but her brain felt nothing at all. Her gaze was stuck blankly at the small flames dancing in the fire. Just this morning she was sitting below the great fireplace in the palace with Louis. Oh god, Louis. The image of the arrow piercing his chest replayed over and over in her mind. The tears began to fall once more, and Izzy let them come. Her shoulders shuddered as her head fell in her hands. He was dead. For all she knew her father could be dead. She had watched so many men die. It was too much for anyone to handle.
Suddenly she felt an arm wrap around her. August had sat down next to her.
She didn't say a word. But held Izzy close as she cried, as if she were porcelain and August was afraid she would break if someone didn't hold her together.
The sobs continued deep into the night. August pressed her hand against the floorboards, quickly concentrating her energy and preventing any of the sound from leaving the home. She couldn't risk her neighbors overhearing. The poor girl must've cried out every emotion she had ever felt. Eventually the tears were replaced by shallow breathing and that replaced with the silence of both girls asleep on the cabin floor, holding one another. Two broken girls subconsciously trying to keep themselves together.
