Maree

Amelie smiles lightly at Valeraine, noticing how he gave her a little more insight into his personal life. Maybe he wasn't so stoic after all...

Amelie nods lightly, "yes, there is plenty to see. Perhaps if Lady Lorraine is done with Lord Asher and Hal, we may be going?" She gets up off her chair and walks past the prince over to the lady and knight. Catching the tailbit of their conversation, she smiles at Hal. "I agree with Lady Lorraine, Hal. Surely Abraham and Marcee will have much better luck next harvest." Hal inclines his head towards her and she looks at Lorraine.

"So! Ready to get going? There's a nice place I want to show you, but it does require a little bit of a trail walk," Amelie smiles and pays Hal with two gold coins, giving him a generous tip. He smiles at her with appreciation and inclines his head again in his comfortable way of a bow. She looks at her companions and smiles again, "let's get going, shall we?"

Amelie walks past all of the houses and shops, making a tight left down a country dirt road into the forest. Looking back, she slows her pace so she's in line with everyone else. "I know this isn't very ethical, but this is my favorite part of Maree besides the people and I wanted to show you," she says. She hadn't planned on showing them her spot. Her father didn't even know about it, and now two complete strangers, a knight, and half the royal guard. But, she could tell that she really needed to sell her kingdom, if only for her father's obsession about marriage=safety.

Coming to the entrance of her place in the woods, she takes a deep breath and pulls apart a wall of weeping willow leaves to reveal a medium sized clearing covered in beautiful grass and a pristine pond. The sun shines down and highlights the beauty of the place. In the pond, a mother duck and her babies rest quietly, while a herd of deer eat in the corner. Once the deer spot the newcomers, most of them flee except a small little baby. Amelie smiles and walks forward, kneeling down and holding out her hand gently. The fawn trots up and sniffs her, licking her hand before looking up at everyone else and galloping away after its herd. She sighs and gets up, brushing her hands off on her dress. Turning around, she holds out her arms and presents the clearing to everyone. "Welcome, this is what I think is the best spot in town. Please, be careful. I've managed to preserve this to perfection and I really...really don't want to see this place ruined."

"Please, be careful. I've managed to preserve this to perfection and I really...really don't want to see this place ruined."

Val softened at the Princess' fragile tone. He looked at the clearing and then to the guards that followed them. Their trampling already ruining the calm of the forest. "Halt. Men, that will be far enough. Why don't you wait about 20 steps back while the Princess and I rest here a while. Lord Asher and I will protect the ladies should anything happen and you'll be close enough to hear us call for you. We will meet with you when we are ready to leave."

The head of the guards looked towards the Princess for her permission and at her nod, they followed Val's instructions to step away from the clearing, leaving the four of them.

Val met eyes with Lorraine who immediately fluttered again to Asher's side to distract him, giving Val and Amelie the appearance of privacy. Val went to walk beside the Princess and said, not looking at her but at the beauty of his environment. "This is a beautiful place. Thank you for taking me here." He took a minute to breath in the forest air, so different from the musk of alcohol and sweat of men. The trees were gentle and swayed with the wind, the grass smelled fresh and clean, and the water glistened when the sunshine hit it just right.

"I have a special place like this in Foretiere. My land, like it's name as you can guess, is full of forests. The little place that I like to keep secret is about an hour's ride from the castle to the west where the trees are low and the shrubbery is aplenty." Val took on a dreamy voice and his eyes were far away as if remembering. He looked through the leaves above and into the sunlight, "If you went during the summer time, there would be a couple of bushes of bright red berries you could pick off and eat and they were sweet and tart. But you'd have to be careful they weren't the orange ones because they would make your belly ache for days on end. And when your belly was full you could take a rest under the shade and fall asleep to the sound of birds singing."

"In the winter, I like to walk over where the snow has fallen and the woods have fallen quiet. I leave my footprints and rarely are there any ones next to mine, man or animal. And then I walk over to the lake about a five minute walk from my clearing where the water there has frozen solid. I never walk over it, but I like to imagine I'm as light as a bird and hop over to the other side." Val dips his fingers into the clear water, scaring away a fish in the process.

"The best part is the spring, when the ice thaws and the animals return and everything is new and yet just the same." Val touched the bark on one of the trees and for the first time since coming into the clearing, looked at Amelie boldly in the eye and asked, "What makes your clearing special to you?"

Amelie thought about the prince's question for a moment before turning to him with a smile. "I love its ability to bring peace. Whenever I think about my mom or my future or the dan...imals, the animals out there, I just come here and sit for awhile," she says. She had been about to say "danger" but her father's voice rung inside her head about keeping that a secret and she hastily changed her topic. "That deer you saw me feed earlier is comfortable with me now. His herd knows me, but they are much more grown than to trust a human. I love that too. That I've been here long enough and been kind enough to this place that a deer can come up to me fully comfortable. And you mentioned winter, I love winter's here. We don't get much snow, but the frost on the leaves is beautiful."

She thought about when he told her about his place, and smiles at him, "I'm impressed. I didn't think you would ever open up, even if it was just about one little part of yourself." She turns towards the pond and looks out at the ducks. "Tell me something else, Prince Valeraine. I like hearing about you." She didn't mean this in any way in particular, she did like hearing about him. She figured if her father wanted her to marry the guy, she might as well know something about him other than he had a stuck-up personality.

"I'm nothing special." Val said, clamming up now that the pressure is on him. He didn't realize until after that he had spoken about his own special place until Amelie had brought it up. There was something calming and like home in this place, whether it was something that the place naturally had, or something the Princess brought with her. He was pleased that Amelie seemed to understand and agree with what he loved, but she didn't quite reveal anything new about herself. So Val asked, "You know that I get up in the mornings and I duel with my own knights. What is it that you do, Amelie? In your spare time?"