Aliana woke up with the worst headache she had ever suffered from. As soon as she was fully conscious, her hand went to her head and she moaned in agony. She tried to roll over, but a sharp discomfort on her side prevented her from doing so.

She felt a hand be placed on her shoulder. "How do you feel?" asked a concerned voice.

Although she had her eyes closed tightly, she instantly recognized the voice as Iora. She tried to open her eyes to see her, but the dim lighting around her was too bright for her sore lens. "Where am I?" Her voice was scratchy and hoarse, and her throat ached fiercely.

"You're in an inn. You're safe."

"Why am I hurting?" She coughed and her lungs burned.

"Because you're an idiot."

The insult was enough to get Aliana to open her eyes, despite the pain it caused. She rolled her head to the side, searching for Iora. When she found her, she frowned deeply. "And why am I an idiot?"

She brushed aside the ragged, dirty hair that was covering the princess' eyes and tried to put on a serious face. That failed and she burst out into a high-pitched laugh. "You fell down a hill because you got scared by a deer."

Aliana struggled to remember the previous night's events. All she could recall was seeing something in the woods and being filled with fear. After that, her mind was blank. "I don't..." she shook her head, "I don't remember anything."

"Not surprising. You've been out an entire day and hit your head fairly hard. I had not wanted to stop in a city this early on, and pray it will not bode too ill for us.We must wait until you can travel, but we must also leave as quickly as possible. I have some errands to run today. In the meantime, you cannot leave this room. Do you understand?"

"Yes," the princess agreed not wanting to get up for anything anyway. "Now will you please tell me what happened?"

Iora smirked. "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yes."

"We heard a noise while we were camped out. I got up to investigate. While I was gone, you decided to investigate on your own. It was too dark to see decently. You saw a deer, I'm not sure what you thought it was, but you screamed and ran away. With not being able to see where you were going, you tumbled down a hill and hit your head. I found you against a tree and completely unconscious. Your arm was broken and you already had a knot forming on your head. There was a town within a few miles and so I carried you to the first inn I saw. Even though it was the middle of the night, the landlady, bless her, allowed us in. I stayed up all night, making sure you weren't going to die. For a while, I wasn't too sure if you were going to make it. I haven't gotten a wink of sleep."

"Thank you," came the weak reply. Aliana was too out of it to fully appreciate what Iora had done for her.

"You are welcome. We must keep you cool and rested while you heal. I hope it does not take longer than week for you to be able to sit on a horse. It will definitely be a lot longer before you are healthy again, but time is a luxury we cannot afford. Even with precautions, we are not yet far enough north for me to be easy with stopping."

"Why does breathing hurt?"

"I have no doubt that you bruised a few ribs. You hit a tree after all."

Aliana tried to sit up, her current position growing uncomfortable, but found that her right arm was restrained. Looking at it for the first time, she was surprised to find it bound and in a sling.

With her good hand, she pointed to it and asked, "Why is my arm like this?"

Iora grabbed her cloak from where it was draped over a chair and put it on. "Are you daft? I've already said that you broke it. Now, I must leave and may not be back for a few hours. I have important errands to run, but I was not about to leave you alone while you were unconscious." She placed a sheathed dagger on the nightstand beside Aliana. "If anyone breaks in and tries to kill you, stab them as best you can. Got it?"

The princess nodded absentmindedly. She was too preoccupied staring at her injured arm. The worst injury she had ever had was a skinned knee, and even that had frightened her. This level of bodily damage was completely unknown to her. With her arm in the sling and her chest aching, movement was difficult and uncomfortable.

"I will be back soon. Don't leave." With those words, Iora whisked out of the room and shut the door firmly behind her.

Alone, the princess finally took the time to properly examine her surroundings. The room she was in was cramped, filthy, and not at all fit for a princess. The walls were wooden, with a single window located on the wall to Aliana's right, and the floor was filthy, as if it had never been swept. A crude chair was resting against the far wall, and most likely was where Iora had spent the past day. A basic nightstand was a few feet away from the small, stiff bed had two bowls resting on it, one filled with water and the other filled with what appeared to be broth.

As soon as she saw it, she realised just how parched she was. The only problem was, the bowl was just out of reach and she would have to stand in order to get to it. She ignored her thirst, though, because she knew she lacked the ability to stand. Instead, she stared longingly at the bowl.

After a few minutes, her thirst won out giving her the motivation she needed. Using her good arm, she slowly raised herself to a sitting position then very carefully inched her legs until they hung over the side of the bed turning her body with her good hand as she did so. Taking a few deep breaths, she braced herself as well as she could and painstakingly stood up. Almost immediately falling back down.

I can do this. I need to do this. I'm so very thirsty. Once again she took a few deep breaths and braced herself as well as she could. This time, she was able to stand. It was not far to the table the food had been left on, and she was able to lean somewhat against the wall as she walked. She was glad there was a chair at the table for she nearly collapsed into it.

She reached for the bowl and did her best to drink the broth. Between one arm in a sling, her pounding headache, and her exhaustion, she spilled almost half of it. She then poured water into the cup, spilling much of that as well as she did so, and drank it down, finally not making a complete mess. Aliana laid her head down on the table and fell back to sleep.

The sound of the door opening jarred her awake. Her eyes flew open and her hand began to reach for the dagger, forgetting it was still on the nightstand. She could feel her heartbeat accelerating. "Who's there?" she croaked, her voice wavering.

"Hello, dear," came the soft reply. An older woman, approximately fifty years of age, stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Who are you?" Aliana asked warily.

The woman walked to the end of the bed and smiled at the princess. "I'm the landlady of this here inn. Your sister asked me to check in on you when she left."

"My who?" Aliana blinked in confusion. Her mind, still foggy from her nap and headache, struggled to process what the woman said.

"Your sister. Tall, scary lookin' girl that showed up at my door in the middle of the night with an unconscious person slung o'er her shoulder. Don't tell me your head got knocked 'bout so hard you can't remember ya' own family."

"Of course," Aliana mumbled, everything coming back to her. As soon as she remembered how she was supposed to be a boy, she lowered the pitch of her voice as much as possible. "Silly me."

The woman dragged the lone chair in the room to the side of the bed and gently lowered her elderly body onto it. "I hope I ain't botherin' you. Your sister just wanted me to check on ya'; said she had stuff to do and didn't want ya' to be alone for too long."

Aliana waved her good arm nonchalantly. "You're fine. I've nothin' better to do." She struggled to match the peasant woman's vernacular.

"Is there anything I can do for ya'?"

"Just talk. It'll help to distract me from the pain I'm feelin' everywhere."

She leaned back in the old chair. "I'm not really much of a talker, but I'll do my best."

The woman, whose name was Hesse, began to talk. At the beginning, she talked mainly about the business she ran and how she took over the inn after the death of her husband. This part, Aliana found boring.

Her attention began to drift, and for the first time, she really studied the woman in front of her. She was small and feeble looking, with a hunched back indicating years of labor. Her brown hair, streaked with stripes of gray, fell down the length of her back and was pulled back into a braid. There was little remarkable about her; in fact, had Aliana been home at the castle and had encountered a woman like this, she would have never given her a second glance. But now, being in the predicament she was in, the princess actually looked at the woman and saw, hidden in the deep creases of her face like gentle dust, happiness and kindness.

It was a rare thing for Aliana to encounter those qualities in genuine, being a princess most of the people she met were either meant to serve her without complaint or wanted something from her. But this woman actually cared. And not about Aliana as the princess, Hesse cared about Allan, a peasant boy who showed up with his sister in the dead of night with injuries, someone she had never met before. This fascinated Aliana and gave her much to ruminate about.

"Don't ya' think, dear?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. I...I was falling back asleep. I didn't hear what you were saying."

"Ne'er mind. Just the ramblings of an old woman anyway." Her face had fallen, Aliana could see the woman was a bit hurt, and felt bad that she was the cause. "My goodness you made a mess! Let's get that cleaned up, shall we?"

The innkeeper grabbed a towel then wiped and scrubbed both the floor and table where Aliana had spilt the broth and water. "I'll be right back," she promised, exiting the room. A few minutes later, she returned with fresh water, broth, and bread.

"Come," said the amiable peasant after she had set both on the now clean table. "I'll help ya' back to bed and then we'll see about getting this food down ya'."

With a deceptively firm grip, Hesse helped Aliana back to bed, tucking the blankets around her tenderly. She then fetched the broth and bread and sat on the bed by the princess' side. "If ya dip the bread in the both like so, it softens the bread e'en more, which will make it go down easier." She lovingly fed Aliana each bite until the bread was gone, then helped her to sip down the rest of the broth. "Are ya thirsty yet?"

"No, thank you," came the sleepy reply.

"Then I'll leave ya to get more sleep. Heaven knows ya need it. I may be up to check on ya again if yer sister takes long. Soon enough I'll get ya' washed up and get rid of the mud coverin' ya' from head to toe; underneath all that muck, I'm sure there's a handsome young man." She patted Aliana's head and went to leave the room.

"Wait!" Aliana called out. When Hesse stopped, she said, "I don't know if my sister told ya', but we don't have no money to pay you."

Hesse gave a knowing smile. "Don't ya' worry about that. She and I have already talked. Now, you get some rest." She left the room and shut the door gently behind her.

The spoiled, materialistic princess watched her go with a smile on her lips. Hesse did not see Aliana as royalty, she saw her merely a poor, filthy boy that was hurt who was accompanied by his scary-looking sister. And yet, she had taken both of them in and treated them as if they were royalty. It was a calming, happy thought that managed to warm Aliana and helped lull her off into a peaceful sleep.