Aliana nudged Iora's leg with her foot. "Wake up."

"No."

Aliana nudged the tired woman again. "Pay attention to me."

Iora swatted at her. "Be quiet." The guard was sleeping, like she had been for the past week, in the chair with her legs propped up and resting on the foot of the bed. It looked uncomfortable, and Aliana offered to let her sleep on the bed numerous times in the past week, but Iora insisted the chair was a comfortable enough place. The one upside to it, though, was that it allowed the princess to easily wake her up.

"It is time to wake up."

"You wish," Iora snorted, keeping her eyes closed. She pulled her cloak, which she had been using as a blanket, over her head. "I'm tired."

She nudged her again.

"Do that one more time and I'll break your other arm."

Aliana gasped, jokingly looking angry. "How dare you threaten me, the Queen of this entire kingdom! I could have you beheaded!"

With the cloak still covering her head, Iora said, "If someone overhears you and calls the soldiers on us, I'm leaving and you're on your own."

"Why are you so tired, anyway? I'm the one who's been injured."

Aliana knew the answer to her own question: Iora worked nights at the inn's tavern downstairs to pay for their room since they had no money. It had taken Aliana a few days to learn of this, and it wasn't even Iora who told her.

Hesse often came in during the day to talk to the girls and keep them company. It was on a day where Iora had left the inn in the morning - where she went, Aliana had no clue - and Hesse had dropped by. The elderly inn keeper had mentioned how hard of a worker Iora was and how impressed she was with her work ethic.

This of course confused Aliana, who was forced to asked what she meant.

Hesse had explained that in order to pay for their room, Iora worked at the tavern serving alcohol and cleaning up the place after hours. She seemed surprised that Aliana hadn't been aware of it. "Her bein' your sister an' all, I thought she woulda told ya'," was what she said.

It didn't surprise Aliana though. Iora had probably guessed that their current financial status would have stressed the injured princess even more than she already was. But, once she found out, it only made her feel worse.

For the week they had been staying there, Iora always left around sunset and came back after Aliana had fallen asleep. Aliana, too absorbed in her own misery, hadn't thought twice about it.

Aliana hadn't mentioned it to Iora. She knew that the guard wouldn't want her to bring up the subject, so she didn't and continued to pretend as if she didn't notice.

With this all coming back to her, Aliana finally stopped poking Iora with her foot. It was already late morning, but the least she could do was allow her to sleep. She stopped poking her. It didn't take her long to drift off again.

Instead, she focused on something else: her injuries. Her arm was still broken and ached constantly. The sling it was in was uncomfortable, making sleep almost impossible, and often caused it to cramp up. As if that wasn't bad enough, her ribs were clearly bruised, if not fractured. Breathing was awkward and painful sometimes, and when she lifted up her shirt, she could see the dark bruises. On top of it all, headaches were a daily occurrence.

Despite all these injuries though, Aliana was feeling surprisingly well. She didn't know what it was, but something about her just felt good. Maybe it was her newfound freedom or maybe it was the fact that she had been living relatively carefree since arriving at the inn. She couldn't remember a time in her life when she was allowed to simply stay in bed for as long as she wanted. Even when she was sick, she was still forced to get up in the morning and attend her classes. This laziness was a completely new experience for her and she was greatly enjoying it.

Aliana let Iora sleep until around noon, when the sun was high overhead in the sky. She was bored out of her mind and wanted someone to talk to, so she began nudging the guard again. "Wake up."

Once again, Iora put up a fight. "Go away," she yawned. "I want to sleep."

"You've been sleeping for a long time."

"It's not like we have anywhere to go. You made sure of that."

With her good arm, Aliana grabbed her pillow and hurled it at the unsuspecting guard. It hit her on the head.

With a yelp, Iora fell out of the chair and onto the floor. She hastily climbed to her feet and brushed her tangled brown hair out of her face. She pointed a finger at Aliana. "That was mean."

Aliana stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. "But you weren't paying attention to me."

"I was sleeping."

"But it's almost the afternoon."

"Are you serious?" She walked over to the room's one window and looked out. She groaned and ran her fingers through her hair. "I really did sleep a long time."

There came a knock on the door. Iora's hand instantly went to her blade. "Who is it?"

The door creaked open and Hesse entered. "Hello, dears," she cooed.

Iora relaxed, her hand slipping from the blade; no matter how many times Hesse visited them, Iora always seemed suspicious at first.

Aliana waved at her elderly friend. "Hello, Hesse."

"Good morning, Allan. Good morning, Iora. How are you two doing today."

"Iora was asleep until five minutes ago. I thought I was lazy."

Hesse set down the tray she was carrying in her arms. "Go easy on her." As a change of subject, Hesse pointed to the bowl of broth she had brought in. "I've brought ya' two lunch."

Iora eagerly walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, next to where Aliana had propped herself up. She gave Aliana the first bowl of broth and took the second for herself. The first had more in it.

The three women sat together and chatted pleasantly, like they did most days. Aliana was rapidly growing attached to the kind woman. It never ceased to amaze her how much charity, love, and laughter was fit into the innkeeper's small body. Sometimes she momentarily forgot both who she was and who she was pretending to be when she was around Hesse, this was both a relief and a blessing: never before did Aliana have the luxury of forgetting who she was, and being able to just simply relax. The only issue was that, occasionally it would slip from her mind that she was supposed to be pretending to be a guy and she would forget to deepen her voice.

Hesse had hoards of stories - some about her youth, some about her children who had grown and gone (or died), some about her dear, late husband and many about the visitors to the inn and tavern. She would have the two women roaring with laughter one minute and choking down tears the next. Aliana couldn't help but wonder if she and Iora would have the honor of joining the lady's archive of stories. Perhaps Hesse would tell a story to someone else about them after they left, and whether that story would include any theories of who the woman and her "brother" really were. She hoped the innkeeper did not suspect the truth, and that any speculation would be left unvoiced until when, or if, the danger was ever past.

The broth was soon gone, but the conversation ensued for a good while. It didn't take long for an uncomfortable subject to come up.

"Did ya' hear 'bout the princess?"

Aliana and Iora both stiffened. "What are you talking about?" Iora asked tensely.

"Well, of course ya' two know about good King Amaster being killed, right? Well, turns out it's been said it was the princess that did it. Can ya' believe it? And right after she was accused of it, she ran away."

Only one thought ran through Aliana's mind: she knows who we are, this is so not good. Her hands began to tremble and the cup of water in hands almost spilled. She couldn't speak; no words would come out.

Iora held her composure better. She faked surprise, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth as she gasped. "When did this happen?"

Hesse frowned and began counting on her fingers. "Around... a week and a half ago? Maybe. My memory is not what it used to be."

"I can't believe that happened. I mean, I knew the king was killed - may his soul rest in peace - but I hadn't heard 'bout the princess. I thought she was a good person, or at least not crazy enough to kill her own father."

Hesse sadly shook her head. "I spend most of my time in this inn, so I don't go out a bunch. All I hear is what the drunk men in the tavern talk bout. I heard bout the king not to long after it happened, but it took longer to hear 'bout the princess. I was so sure they was just rumors."

Iora nodded sadly. "This is tragic. Who will lead the country now?

"I don't know." Hesse's attention turned to the still-petrified Aliana. "Allan, are you okay?"

"He's just shocked." Iora placed her hand on Aliana's knee in a gesture that looked like comfort. "We haven't stayed in a town for a while and have been kinda out of the loop. We were aware of the king's death, but not the princess' betrayal. We, like everyone, loved the king. It's just so hard to believe." Iora pulled Hesse to the side and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Also, our own father was killed not too long ago and Allan here witnessed his death. I think this is bringing all of that back for him.Can we please have a moment to gather our thoughts?"

Hesse nodded, "Poor boy. That must be hard on him. It's good he 'as you to keep him company an' all. Of course you need some time. I fully understand. I'm sorry I brought it up and upset you all like that."

"No need to apologize, you didn't know."

Hesse excused herself to get to chores, taking the empty bowls with her. It wasn't until she was long gone that Aliana began to breathe normally again.

"We have to leave!" she urged, trying to get out of bed.

Iora held her down. "No. You're not well."

"She's onto us!" The princess tried to push her away, but the guard held her down. She was obviously panicked, her eyes wide and her face pale.

"She's not. She has no clue who you are. To her, we are poor siblings, one of which is injured."

"We can't risk it! We must leave."

"No, Allan!" Iora cried in exasperation, slapping the princess lightly on the face. "Your arm is still broken and your ribs are still bruised! As much as I want to, we can't leave until you're completely healed, or else we won't get very far."

Aliana stopped struggling, but her heart was still racing. "We can't get caught, Iora. We can't!"

"I know." Iora sighed and sat back down on the bed. She put her head in her hands and ran her fingers through her hair. She looked at Aliana. "Just get better. Everything will be fine once we get to the Northern Lands."

"You're right."

"Just get some sleep."

The spent the rest of the day lounging around the room, like they had been for the past week. Had it not been for the worried thoughts racing through her head, she might have been bored.

It wasn't until well after sunset that things began to take a turn for the worst.