The boredom grew ever intense and Aviana was slowly losing her will to defy her mother. That was the whole purpose of her imprisonment, make her spirit dampen and her character obedient. The lengths her mother gone to make her will true, they were astounding sometimes. But always seemed incredibly petty to Aviana.

Instead of meeting her in a leveled field, Trisna always used every underhanded tool at her disposal. It might have been a good quality for a ruler to have, but as a mother it made Trisna rather lousy.

Even now, the last words she spoke to her daughter, before locking her in her chambers, were picked carefully, just to anger Aviana as much as possible.

"Send word, when you are ready to enter the world of adults." Trisna said. Aviana had been repeating the sentence every day. Whenever she came close to caving in, she reminded herself of the condescending tone, and she always decided to last.

But now, she slowly realized, that her inner victories were hollow. She was holding herself in this room, unable to do anything. Cormac's killer has been on the loose. She had to catch Gavin and deliver justice. She had to do at least this much for Cormac.

She had to leave these chambers of hers, even if it meant gulping down her honor, living through her mother's insults and betraying her own beliefs. But her mind was made up, she refused to stay in a room for the rest of her life, having nothing but a weak mind to show for it.

She walked to the doors and knocked on them twice.

"Yes, princess?" a servant said from behind the door.

"Let me out, I am ready."

"Apologies princess, but we are strictly forbidden from opening your doors. If you wish, we are to alert the queen, who shall decide whether to free you or not. Are we to send word?"

"Yes. Just give me two hours please." Aviana did not even attempt to hide the irritation from her voice. The fact that her mother was to let her out personally could mean only one thing, a very awkward conversation was about to take place. All she could do to prepare herself further, was to clean as much of her chambers as shou could.

It did not take her majesty long to come inside after she was alerted. She must have been waiting for this eagerly. Aviana tried as much as she could to look composed and unaffected by the time spent alone inside. She brushed her hair straight, donned on one of the dresses her mother liked and prepared tea…well, told servants to bring some tea.

"Well, hello dear." Her mother entered the room with a beaming smile.

"Welcome mother, please sit." Aviana gestured with her hand.

The queen sat down with grace. She reached for one of the cups, while still holding onto her scepter with the other. She took a sip loudly, then she set the tea down.

"You still have another eight months of isolation, dear daughter. Why did you call on me I wonder?"

You know exactly. Aviana thought. She would have said so as well, if she was not trying to get in the queen's good graces.

"I feel I undergone an evolution of character, dear mother. I do not want to grow stale and sully our name for being behind on my studies. I want to be let out for this purpose."

"That is very responsible of you. Although, I would object that furthering your studies is a venture one can freely immerse oneself in regardless of their surroundings." her mother pointed out, while she sipped from the cup again. Her pinky was at attention and the noise was annoying.

"Yes, that by itself is true. But I personally learn better from a discussion rather than written word. Do you not want me to grow as knowledgeable as you, dear mother?"

"Of course I do. In my dreams, you know of that which I do not. But I gave a verdict once, going against it would undermine the value of the royal word."

"But there is the pissibility of absolution. Why, you can pronounce me clear of outside influence and drop the ordeal." Aviana replied, still holding her tone with lack of emotion.

"True, but such an action might be seen as favoritism. I would be clearing the name of my daughter after all. We cannot let our loyal subjects feel overlooked."

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"We can integrate them into the process. Let them vote whether I am fit to leave isolation or not." Aviana tried. She knew that that would never come to pass, as her mother feared giving but a few drops of her power away. Trisna instinctively grabbed her cup harder. This time, she sipped quicker, more quietly.

"That we can. I see, my daughter, that you have thought this through. That is evidence enough for me, to see your head is clear and focused. For now, you will be free to traverse the citadel. In approximately two months I will allow you ventures to the capital, though you will have a limited permitted zone. Regrettably I won't be with you, as I have a situation here I need to attend myself. I will find and assign a capable tutor to you, so you can learn of the things important and essential. I will be taking my leave now. Unless there is more you wish to discuss?" she stood up abruptly.

"I bid you farewell mother." Aviana said with a smile now, content with her victory.

Her mother stopped in the doorframe and she quickly looked back at Aviana. She wore a smile, the kinds of which sent a chill down Aviana's spine.

He awoke in a pile of corpses. The smell of rot and death was dense enough, that he felt he might have even saw the miasma of it. He felt weak and something was not right, but it was hard to pinpoint anything. His mind was blank and it hurt to even try to think.

He wiggled himself out from under the bodies. It was disgusting, the sounds the mushy meat around him. He grabbed a hand to pull himself out, but he just torn it off of another corpse.

He was not confused per se, but he certainly was not in the right state of mind. Honestly, it felt more like he was not there at all. Like he was elsewhere and this was a dark forgotten part of his imagination. But there were still two things inside his mind. Run. One of them said and so he did.

He did not know what from, or if there was even something he had to run away from. But he ran anyway. The circumstances he found himself in were unpleasant and as such, he really would not miss anything.

Still, he got weak. The pile of bodies seemed endless. He must have been running in the same direction for more than five minutes, but all he could see were bodies. Though the farther he ran, the more decayed they seem.

Being in such a place must have been bad for his health.

It took another five minutes to finally see a wall of something else than bodies, though it was just dirt, nothing fancy. It was quite high too and had a recline he feared he might not defeat.

He started climbing up the wall, but whenever he got to about two meters in height, which was around a fourth of the wall, he always slid back down.

He had no way to get around the wall. The only idea he had was to pile on the bodies, but for some reason, that seemed too obvious. It would have been difficult and frankly disgusting too, but he would be leaving signs of his escape and for some reason, he knew he should not. Why? Why he knew so little, yet felt so strongly about it? He knew not.

But right at that moment, the only other thing he was sure about emerged.

"Need a hand?" asked Cormac from up the wall. He was too high to help him get up there, but maybe he could find something.

"Is there rope up there?"

"No rope, nor a tree to tie it at unfortunately, just little old me to keep you company." said Cormac with a smile.

It felt reassuring, to know that he was not here alone. That at least someone was here for him. Even if Cormac did not seem the most capable of friends.

"Well, what do you think I ought to do?"

"You are smart enough Gavin, you can figure it out?"

"Gavin?" he inquired curiously. "Gavin you say?"

"Well that is your name isn't it? Or were you lying about that?"

"I…yes. I suppose so. My name really is Gavin. Thank you for telling me." For some reason, the reminiscence of his name ´brought him joy. He liked his name. Gavin. It was nice. It brough a smile to his face.

"Still, you better get a move on. You know these patrols, they will be here any minute now."

"I know them?" Gavin felt confused.

"Let us worry about that later huh? Priorities my good man. You should get out first."

"But I can't. I have been trying for quite a bit but I always fall down."

"Here, let me help you. When you get to a point where you feel like falling down. Just imagine that you are forming a nice soft, yet sturdy cloud right beneath your feet. Maybe that will help yeah?"

Gavin trusted Cormac, he was his sole friend after all. He climbed to the part where he was numerous times already, but this time, instead of reaching up with his hands, he reached down with his mind. He pulled at something unseen beneath him. He pulled it together and twisted it into a rough shape. Then he stopped, fearing that he would fail.

"Oh come on Gavin! You can do it! I will not leave without you!"

His friend trusted in him and he would not leave him hanging.

He let go with his hands and fell…about ten centimeters. It worked and he would get out.