<a class="postlink" href="http://i64.tinypic.com/14uvsz4.jpg">[ img ]</a><br/><br/>"Eloa." An old woman in livery spoke softly through an open door, light spilling across a sleeping firm. The old woman moved to a set of large windows and slid heavy curtains. Sunlight filled the room. "My Lady?" The old woman touched the sleeping form's shoulder and it stirred.<br/><br/>"Hmm?" A young woman rustled beneath the heavy blankets before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Today was the day of the ball held in honor for her betrothed, Prince Jergin. Eloa groaned at the thought and fell back upon her bed. Her day would consist of getting dressed and simpering for nobles.<br/><br/>______<br/><br/>"He is deplorable!" Eloa slammed the door to her room and stood in the dim candlelight. The shadow fell upon her freckled face, darkening it. She simply could not stand the way he stood so close to her. His words, or the smell of his breath as he tried to whisper intimacies into her ear. How he tried to pull her into dark corners. Why? Why should she marry such an awful man?? Eloa's jaw set as she made the decision to leave. Tonight.<br/><br/>_____<br/><br/>Weeks. It had been weeks since she had left the castle. Everywhere she went there were rumours of the missing princess. Rumours of the missing princess and a mysterious city popping up overnight. Some speculated that the two were connected. Some said this new city had assassins kill the princess. The King's guard had begun Recruiting in villages, cities, towns, and farms. Recruiting to search for the princess.<br/><br/>Despite the King's guard recruiting and spreading, very little actually knew what the princess looked like. Many were searching for a noble woman in fine clothes with coin, not a dust ridden young woman in disguise.<br/><br/>And so, Eloa found herself standing at the Eastern gates of this new city dressed in trousers, her hair pulled up into a cap. Perhaps if one didn't look too closely they could mistake her for a boy, albeit a very pretty, feminine boy. There was bustling all around her, but she was in awe of the buildings about her. Even the castle wasn't so impressive as some of these.