Silver was oblivious to the silent exchange between the princess and the knight. He was simply happy that neither would be alone inside the palace.
"I am glad that is settled." He turned his attention to the table and began to gather the loose pages together. "Once I know what these papers say, I will deliver the message to you one way or another. Until then, you cannot under any circumstance mention me or let anyone--especially Borit--know we are connected. Do you understand?"
Rose and Ethyn both nodded obediently.
"I will do as I usually do when you are brought up: play dumb." Ethyn shrugged.
"And I shall not out you to anyone else…except my lady-in-waiting…for she already knows." The princess twisted her hair around her fingers nervously, but the Guardian simply grunted his acknowledgment.
"Very good. I do hope she is as trustworthy as you are." Silver had no choice but to trust his sister's judgment.
"She is," Rose answered without a doubt. After Silver, Caitlyn was the person the princess trusted most in the world.
The Guardian shrugged. "I guess we will find out soon enough. You are leaving in the morning, so you will be back with her day after tomorrow."
Rose stiffened. The journey back home was not something she was looking forward to. "But how will I--?"
"I have already arranged an escort back for you for with troops from the garrison." Silver answered before she could finish her question, leaving Rose more confused than before.
"When did you…the cove!" The princess recalled the hushed conversation between Silver and the Colonel Jay. 'So that was what they were discussing!'
"Yes, I requested a detail to escort a very important person on a journey to Burke. I did not elaborate, and thankfully few questions were asked." Silver stood and took his sister's hand. "Which brings me to my next point: if you are leaving tomorrow, that means I am done with this meeting for today." Two silver lights flashed beneath the man's hood.
"What would you like for us to do?" Ethyn reached to take the papers from Silver, ready to take charge. Refusing him, the Guardian stowed the document inside his cloak instead.
"Do whatever you must to prepare to leave. I don't want you more than a day behind the princess. As for the rest of you, go about your day and please do not disturb me unless it is of dire importance. I have family matters to attend to," Silver watched the others nod that they had heard.
Before anyone could answer, Silver wrapped his cloak around his sister and the pair disappeared in a blur of motion. If not for the gust of wind within the room, one would have thought that they had never been there at all.
—————-
"Are you sure we should have just left them like that?" Rose gasped as her brother set her down at the edge of town. She had not even felt him sweep her up into his arms before they were out the door and moving swiftly down the street.
"We can go back if you like…though that would make things slightly awkward after our exit." Silver looked over his shoulder down the lane. The few people around had the courtesy not to look their way.
"No, I would not want to ruin that theatrical display. It was pretty fantastic, I must admit. You do seem to revel in the mysterious and dramatic," Rose said, her voice tinged with amusement.
"Darkness was once my constant company. It was easy to put off an aura that made others wary. Now I have to make an effort to achieve that same level of ominous foreboding." The Guardian lifted his arms and held his cape out like wings.
In the pose, he resembled a monstrous bat, but his chuckling shoulders betrayed him. He relaxed. They fell into an easy stride as they continued out of town.
"What changed? For all your proclaiming gloom and doom, I don't really see it." Rose looked up innocently at the trees as she hummed lightly.
"What changed? Ethyn came, I suppose. There is nothing like an obnoxious child to force you out of your area of comfort. After you left, he and Sage were the ones who brought me back from the brink. And now that you are back in my life as well, the darkness…well, it is…gone."
"I'm glad." Rose hooked her arm onto her brother's elbow.
His smile hidden beneath his hood, Silver felt a warmth in his heart that spread through his body. Haven was home. With him. In Rynnlee. Short as the visit had been, it was not something he would take for granted. He would savor it for the rest of his long life.
"Where are you taking me?" Rose could see they were still heading out of town.
It was the same action that had gotten her in trouble with Ethyn the day before. However, the differences between the two outings were many.
They weren't on horseback, so they wouldn't be nearing the border. In addition, the men that had tried to attack them were captured and being transported somewhere far from the sleepy town of Rynnlee, so it was unlikely that they would be escaping again soon...or ever.
But even more than that, Rose was fully confident that should trouble arise out here in the wilderness, Silver would be more than able to get her out of harm's way. He was unusually strong, fast and capable. And his senses would alert them of danger long before it was within a range that could harm them.
Silver cleared his throat. "I want to take you you on a little journey, actually. That is, if you are up for a little bit of a walk. I suppose I should have asked that before we started."
"I would be honored to go anywhere you want to lead, brother. I love you and trust you." Rose smiled at him, causing the man's eyes to mist slightly.
"I think you may be the only person in the world that doesn't hold an ounce of fear toward me." The Guardian pressed his elbow against his side lightly, hugging his sister's hand.
"They don't know you like I do. You are a good man." Rose looked around as they stopped at a babbling brook. The water was fresh and clear, and she could already taste the cooling liquid in her mouth.
Bending down, she scooped up a handful of water and brought it to her mouth. She had not realized just how thirsty she was from the warm weather. When she had finished slaking her thirst, Silver gave her a waterskin from his cloak to fill with the refreshing droplets.
"So you can remember this time on your way back tomorrow," he told her. Nodding, the princess scooped as much water into the container as she could before closing it.
After handing the waterskin back to her brother to be stored in his cloak, Rose picked up a small, round stone and held it in her fist.
"I think I know this place," she whispered. A fuzzy memory formed in her mind. She turned the rock over in her hand many times.
"Go ahead," Silver motioned to the stone. "Just remember what I taught you."
The picture solidified in her brain. It was one of the many times her brother had tried to teach her this particular skill.
"Flick your wrist like this. Try not to let your hand turn over…there you go! That's a smooth release! Well done!" The Guardian had beamed with pride.
Rose remembered the hug he had given her. It had nearly squeezed the life out of the giggling girl.
Holding onto the advice she had received as a child, Rose flicked her wrist and released the rock at just the right moment. The rock went slipping upstream against the current, getting three jumps in before finding its home in the creekbed.
"Not exactly your record but not bad." Silver stroked his chin as he judged the results. Then he picked up a flat rock resembling a coin. "Now watch how it is done."
He pulled back his hand and let the pebble fly. It made six, no seven, no eight leaps before jumping out further upstream onto the bank where the brook curved to the left.
"I win," Silver said flatly. The princess knew underneath his hood, he was smirking.
"You cheated!" Rose cried, throwing her hands in the air.
"That was pure skill, sister. No cheating necessary." The Guardian laughed heartily. "Now do you want to try again or keep going?"
"You mean this isn't where we were going?" Rose was confused as her brother shook her head. "Then where are we headed exactly?"
"I should have thought it was obvious. We are taking a walk down memory lane. You may have forgotten many things. But I have not. So today, it is my job to remind you."
Delighted, Rose grabbed her brother's arm. "That sounds like a very worthwhile journey indeed. Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"