The wooden floorboards squeaked underneath his feet as he tramped across the mansion. Every step brought a flinch and a wince to his face. It's bad enough that the servants weren't known to leave him alone, their eyes always watching and ears always listening. As if Calaris was conspiring against Eldan, his entire family was home today.

His sister, Eralin, was home from the Academy for the academic breaks and was holed up in her room by being a brat to the servants. His older brothers, Rikiel and Tanni, were busy preparing for their eventual entry there as well. That left Eldan who was still grappling with his synnavaim before his passage.

The usual route he took bled by without a hitch. Most of the servants didn't care about him and where he was going, but someday, one of them might speak up. Gylka could only keep the rumors and news of his whereabouts at bay for as long as she would. It's a miracle his guardian even let him run out of the manor and turned a blind eye to every mischief he was capable of.

He made it to the kitchens, where the back door not a lot of servants used waited for him. Gylka even left it slightly ajar in case he couldn't reach the handle. A bag of dried meat sat on his arms, pilfered from the stocks. It's the only thing the krou ate, and he had tried everything—fruits, bland vegetables, fairy potions. He didn't even know krou were carnivores.

The last leg of the journey crept past him, bringing him closer to the door. A familiar figure zipped from his periphery and blocked his way. He screeched to a halt, staring up at the glowering woman in front of him.

"Mother," he breathed, eyes glued in shock at the khaki strands framing her face and covering the embroidered vest she wore. "I..."

Her green eyes narrowed. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded. "Why aren't you in your room like I told you to?"

Eldan opened his mouth to blurt a stupid excuse, but his mother beat him to it. "Your passage is getting closer with each passing day. Are you not aware of that?" She scoffed and pushed her hair back with an angry swipe. "I don't know if you're stupid or what, but I can't honestly believe you're this daft! I told you more than once. We tell you over and over, and yet you're still out here, doing..."

Her eyes zeroed in on the bag in Eldan's hand. "And what is that?"

Before Eldan could react, her fingers closed around the bag. His throat squeezed shut, his hands flailing to get it back. A hand slammed into his cheek in a hearty slap. The pain sent him crashing to the ground, his arms the only thing catching his weight. He heard the familiar rustle of cloth and the crunch of the strips of dried meat inside.

"What—meat? This belongs to the kitchen," his mother muttered under her breath. Then, she sighed. It wasn't a frustrated sigh. More like an expectant one. "I'm not even going to bother with you."

Eldan had just staggered up when a grip locked around his arm. His boots skidded against the kitchen's stone floor as he watched himself get farther and farther from escape. His mother dragged him across steps and corridors, her steel vise never easing even as he squirmed against it. She could have snapped his bones if she tried hard enough.

They were near his room when they ran into his father coming out of his study. Oh, no. His eyes landed on his wife and the son locked in her hold. "What happened?" the head of the Rovalen household asked. His tone wasn't threatening, but it wouldn't be for long.

Eldan's mother sniffed. "I found him sneaking into the kitchens," she replied. "He's looking to get out."

Silence.

Eldan watched his father's face settle into a passive expression then curl into a furious one. Within seconds, his mother had stepped out of the way and a different grip held him. "I should have done this long ago!" He yelled at no one, holding the back of Eldan's collar.

The door to Eldan's room slammed open, and Eldan's world swam both from the pain of his collar pressing against his throat and the strong shove his father gave him. His father braced the door frame with his hand. The other rested on the doorknob.

"Make something grow," his father rasped. "Or you're not getting out of this room."

That's when the reality of his punishment settled in. Eldan lurched forward, tears choking him. His father shut the door just as he reached it, leaving him to slam arms-first against it. The lock rotated and clicked. It's done.

Eldan knocked his fist against the wooden board. Perhaps Gylka could hear him and take pity. The krou needed its meal today. It'd starve if he didn't visit it. Please...

He sank to the ground, his sobs overtaking him without his permission. Why was everything dependent on him mastering the kaviste synnavaim? It's not his fault he grew from that flower. It's not his fault his parents claimed him later than normal. He didn't ask to be magicless in a house full of powerful fairies. He didn't ask to be a Rovalen. So, why was the universe holding it against him for being one?

And now, he couldn't even take care of the only thing he deemed important more than his stupid, nonexistent synnavaim.

No. He couldn't end like this. He's a Rovalen.

No way he'd run. Not in a fight for his right to live the way he wanted to.

He ran the back of his hands against his cheeks, wiping the last of his tears. While still sniffing, he edged towards the windows of his room. The manor wasn't as tall as it was wide, and his room was somewhere on the second floor. With a grunt, he wrenched his window open. A blast of midday breeze whipped him in the face.

The mansion's grounds bled before him. After a short distance of the landscaped yard surrounding the only fairy-made building in the middle of nowhere, the rest of the Telsbury forest swallowed even the silhouettes of mountain peaks dotting the horizon. The sky was blinding and blue, with sheets of white clouds zipping in leisure across it.

It was a good day, and he shouldn't spend it wallowing in tears and the impossible.

His eyes came across the orchards lining the mansion. As if his father couldn't decide to get rid of the forest or not, he had patterned an array of trees after the walls. One of such trees was below Eldan's window. An idea clicked in his head. A dangerous idea, but an idea nonetheless. He didn't have a surplus of those, anyway.

Eldan snuck a look behind him, noting the shadows dancing by the gap between the floor and the door. No movements. He's alone. Good. No one would have to see him plant his foot on the window sill, haul himself up, and launch his form into the bunch of leaves waiting for him. Or, if he missed, it'd be the floor.

A scream clipped in his throat as the wind drove his khaki hair off his forehead on his way down. He couldn't afford to be seen or heard. Not when he's essentially escaping. More pain slapped his face and limbs as he met the blue clump with a crunch. Some of the hard-shelled fruits broke free from their bunches and rained on the ground. If not for the grass not being mowed for a month, the thuds would have been heard all the way to the kitchens.

Releasing a breath, Eldan looked back to the height he had fallen from. Wow. That's...

Eldan just pulled his first rebellion. Nice.

Now, before anyone noticed he was gone, he shimmied to where the branches were and clambered down. He broke to a run when his boots hit the ground. Krou, he's on his way.

After doing a brief detour to the kitchen's backdoor, he finally arrived at the lip of the forest and at the krou's hovel. The krou squeezed past the rails Eldan made from fallen branches protecting its burrow, yowling like crazy.

"I know. I know." Eldan drew the bag of meat his mother confiscated from him and laid it in front of the krou. "I'm late. Something came up. I'm sorry."

The krou ignored him, going straight for the mouth of the bag. Soon, the sounds of fangs sinking into the hardened meat accompanied the distant hoots and caws around them. Eldan sighed and settled beside the hovel. It's no place for a majestic creature such as the krou, but it's the only thing he managed. He had to make sure the krou knew where to hide when its prey came for it, and the rails Eldan put as the final layer of protection should do the trick of warding them.

He rested his back against the nearby trunk and propped his elbow on his knee. The krou had made it inside the bag, chewing and gnawing. Then, it began buckling in panic. A giggle burst out of Eldan's lips. "Here," he said, loosening the string on the bag's lip further. The krou gave a happy mew as it hopped out. "Did you just get lost? In a bag?"

The krou yowled before hopping into Eldan's lap and licking its front paw. Its white tail curled against his thigh, swatting the insects following in its wake. They stayed that way until words bubbled up his gut and out of his mouth.

"You know, sometimes I wish I can understand you," Eldan said, staring at the krou's unblinking eyes. He didn't realize they were...blue. "I don't mind talking to you every day. It's not like I have anyone at home."

The krou blinked. Slowly. Then, a wave of warmth washed over him. It wasn't scalding, as if the flames were a billion fortweres away, and his skin only felt it twenty minutes later. But it was intense, and if he were any nearer, it would burn him. He closed his eyes and took it in. He hadn't felt like this before, and honestly, it was a wonder. It was comforting.

When he opened his eyes, the krou had slid off his leg and returned to its hovel. With a small smile, he replaced the rails and lowered his face at the kitten. "I'll come back tomorrow," he said. "Stay put, okay?"

He didn't wait for it to acknowledge him. His parents must have noticed his absence now. He had spent way too long in the forest. He had to go back.

His footsteps rang in his ears as he scrambled home. His temples pounded with the erratic heartbeats from his chest. When he threw open the backdoor to the kitchen, the servants greeted him, all lined up with their heads down. Gylka was on the front, distress coloring her features. "Eldan, I..." she started. "I tried to stop them, but—"

"If you're planning on running away, you shouldn't have come back," a voice cut her off from behind the line . Clothes rustled as the servants scrambled aside to give way to Eldan's father. Eldan's feet skidded backward, staring up at the wiry man striding towards him. The cold expression on the Rovalen Head's face was scarier than when anger twisted his features. "Now that you're here, I hope you're prepared for the punishment for your actions."

With fear growing in his gut, he aimed to lunge the way he came from and escape to the forests forever. His father was faster, hauling him back to where he belonged. And this time, there's little he could do to stop it.