The Sword of Blood and Roses

Chapter Six: The Great Escape, Part Two

The day passed in a blur, one event fizzling into another before Karin finally got to be in her room alone. The poor girl took off her shoes and rubbed her feet. Why were women expected to wear such uncomfortable shoes? It was madness.

"You can come out now Pira," Karin said. "It's just me."

Pira emerged from the wardrobe stretching her limbs. She had somehow managed to brush her hair and braid it up once again. the dark bags were still very prevalent, however. "How many dance classes do you take?" Pira asked.

"Three," Karin. "Doesn't your mother make you take dance lessons?"

"My Mother doesn't have much control over me," there was a pause, a beat in the sentence. "Anymore."

Karin decided to change topics, the far off look in Piras eyes told her that it was the right choice. "Feel better."

"I do actually, thank you," Pira said, sitting down on the bed. "To be fair though, squatting in a wardrobe for hours didn't help much"

"Well, it was either that or being discovered by Lily," Karin argued.

"Never liked lily much," Pira said. "Always gave me the stink eye. Acted like I was the devil's spawn."

"You sure did act like it when we were kids."

"Now that was a long time ago," Pira said. "Things were different then"

Karin would never say anything, but she always had a lingering thought that her friend never truly got over her father's death. After all, Pira had never been the mischievous child that she once was after King Georges death. Instead, her friend had grown moody with a mean temper. In fact, Karin believed that a piece of Pira had died with her father.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Just thinking that's all," Karin said.

"About?" Pira said moving her hand in a 'please elaborate' gesture.

"Things"

This caused Pira to roll her eyes, but she didn't push any farther. Instead, the two stayed in a comfortable silence. The one where no words needed to be said, the air spoke for itself. The cool evening air filtered into the room, chasing away the warm summer breeze. Karin could see Pira's eyes flutter close for a brief second before she jerked awake.

"You can sleep," Karin said.

"I can't," Pira said. It wasn't said in defiance or in retaliation but in some sort of defeated manner, as if Pira had given up the mere idea of sleep.

"you need to sleep," Karin said. "You look exhausted."

"I'm fine," this time Pira spit out the words, obviously wanting to ignore her state. "I'm fine."

This times the words were softer. "I'm fine."

Karin nodded her head and the silence returned once more. Then Pira stood up and walked to the vanity running her fingers along the wood before snatching a set of pearls. she stuffed it in her pants. She did the same thing to a diamond bracelet and several rings.

"what are you doing?" Karin asked. "Those were expensive."

"Exactly, the common man would pay a fortune for any one of these ornamentations, so we should be able to make a small fortune on these items."

"Pira what are you talking about?"

"Get changed into something comfortable. I've already stayed here too long, we need to leave."