Tum found himself walking down a pathway towards the river and the garden in the palace. It was something that he loved doing: exploring wherever he went, and the palace was not an exception.

The king had provided them with clothes from the royal wardrobe when Tum lied about his clothes being stolen on the way. Bonnie was tasked with sewing him more clothes, but he knew well enough that that was not going to happen.

With his hands inside the pocket of the robe that the king had so graciously lent him, he walked along the pathway, hoping to find a quiet place by the river where he could sit still and think. The world was swirling before his eyes, and it was getting more and more difficult to engage in royal conversation.

At first, they had come along on this mission because it provided them succor from the jobs they were bound to lose. They had security because Quil would pay them, then the king got involved. Then Buckle accused both of them of being selfish.

If they managed to get their hands on the sword, what would they do with it? Would they give it to Quil or would they just hand it over to the king? The thoughts troubled his conscience.

He got to the end of the maze and found himself staring into the clearest body of water he had ever seen. It was a glittering river under the morning Sun. As he sat down beside the river and let his naked legs feel the cold massage of the water, he wondered how Bonnie was handling Buckle. Buckle had always been the emotional one, the one who thought more with his heart than his head.

Right now, his heart was with the peasants. Bonnie just wanted to see the other side of him. As for him, he did not know what he wants. Maybe he wanted adventure, but every time he thought about the sword, Quil's face would appear in his mind.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned quickly. The princess was walking down the pathway. Tum froze when he saw her. She had on a flowing gown that accentuated her shape. She had nothing on the gown, but it was probably because she was in the palace, and because the overcoat was going out of fashion. He turned back to the river and pretended he had heard nothing. The princess had not seen him yet, but she would.

When he first started down the pathway, lined by the side with flower hedges, he never thought that anyone would be interested in seeing where it led to. The maze was intricate and tiring. He himself had been so deep in thought that he did not even know when he got to the end of the maze.

"You found the end of the maze," the princess's soft voice fell on his ears.

He continued staring into the river. "I guess I was drawn here," he replied.

The princess flopped down beside him. He was concerned about her white dress and quickly turned to see that she did not care. She had a wondering look in her eyes as she stared at the river and not at him. They were behaving like people who had been drawn here by the spell of the river rather than by their own volition. He looked away.

"You like the silence then?" the girl asked.

Tum summoned the courage to look her way again. She was still staring into the river. Her facial features were clearly defined. Her nose was long and pointed; her jaw jutted out, clearly defined; her lips… Tum pulled his eyes off her face.

Adventure and fantasies made him mad. They were the reasons he was here in the first place, and he knew that the knot would keep getting tighter, till he and his friends would need to run away from here. Sir Greg, he thought, cringing at the name he had given himself. It was the first name that had come to his head. He did not know why.

"Not really," Tum said. "I love listening to nature. It is never silent here. The birds sing, the river murmurs, the cricket calls. As he spoke, he was lost in the charm of the moment, looking around him. The trees formed a canopy over his head, but they did not entirely block out the stare of the morning sun from the garden. Through the space between the trees, the sun made love to the river, producing glitter as an offspring.

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"You speak like a poet," the princess said.

Tum turned to her. "Have you listened to the noise outside the palace?"

"I never go outside the palace."

"Well, there is a woman who pays kids to sell her wares. She does not pay them much, but they are okay with that."

"Really?"

"Yes. They sing and chatter and joke with other traders. Always, there is something to say, one adventure or the other. On days when they feel brave, they make jokes of royal knights strutting proudly up and down."

"Why would they do that?"

"Because they have their whole world out there, in front of them. What is there not to do? They are not afraid of embarrassing themselves? They do not have expensive garments on. They are free."

"You speak with a longing."

"Yes. Royalty is a burden."

"Burden?"

Tum recovered from his daydream about the outside world. He knew he had to say something intelligent or he would be caught and the princess would begin to suspect him.

"My father died when I was young."

"You still look young, sir."

"Call me Greg."

The princess gasped. "I cannot. It is against…"

"Norms set down by people like you and me."

"You don't behave like a knight. You have little regard for rules."

"Useless rules. The rules in my heart are the rules of nature. Listen."

Silence fell on both of them, but it was magical, not the oppressive silence where no sound is heard. This silence brought the song of the birds closer to their ears. The princess could hear the river whispering to her.

Her eyes were on Tum while she wondered what kind of a knight he was. He was certainly different from the rest. The way he spoke, the way he threw the rules out of the window. They were not supposed to be here together for this length of time, but that was on her. His voice had cast a spell on her, one that bound her.

How did he know too much when he looked so young? How did he know about the traders in the city? And these kids he spoke about, they must be peasants, yet he did not speak about them with the same agitation that she had seen royals speaking about the stubborn, dirty peasants. He was certainly different.

When Tum towards her, she realized the color of his eyes was light brown. The brown was so light and drew her in. She found herself leaning towards him before he turned away. She turned away too, feeling a little embarrassed.

"You have not asked for my name yet," the princess asked. She felt offended, like she meant nothing to this strange knight whose hand was reaching into her heart and grappling for it with her.

"I don't need to," he replied.

"You don't need to?"

"Yes. When I hear the bird sing, I remember what your voice sounds like. When I see the river flowing, I remember you are graceful just the way the river flows. When I see the sun smile, I remember I will see you smile one day."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Your name is nature. That is the only beauty there is."

The princess was blushing so much now that her cheeks resembled roses. She pulled her eyes away from the knight, so he would not see her blushing, but it was already too late.

"You have cheeks of roses, nature," he said.

"You cannot keep calling me nature."

"Why? I call you nature because she is easier to woo. You just have to stare in wonder."

He stared at her and wondered what had gotten into him. He had seen men profess their love for their love interest and found all of it cringe-worthy, yet here he was doing the exact same thing. Buckle would consider him a fool. Bonnie would think that he has a plan. He had none. He was just going with the flow of things the way he usually did.

"Meredith," she said, "because I would love for you to know it."

"Meredith," he said in wonder.

"Where did you learn to speak that way?"

"In the streets where little matters more than love and life."

"You seem to love the peasants more than your own kind."

"You should be in the streets to learn the way of your people. You would be surprised at what poetry they speak, how much alike we are."

"What if there is a war between the peasants and the crown?"

"That is why I am here, to prevent the war."

Again, the silence fell on them, but this one came with a lot of questions. Meredith wondered if she could kiss the knight. He looked as young as she was, but she was not sure about that. This particular knight was full of surprises.

She decided that Sheer would not like the knight at all. He would try to do everything within his power to keep him out of the palace. Sheer was one that played by the rules. His insistence on adherence to these rules was suspicious, almost as if he was the one that drafted these rules and wanted to force them on people.

Their lips met while Meredith was still wondering about Sheer, and their kiss deepened. His hand went around to the back of her head. God, he could kiss. He took it slowly, nibbling at her lips, then sucking, then biting lightly. Her eyes were shut in ecstasy, and she did not realize that she was moaning.

When he pulled away from her, his eyes sough to penetrate through her. She stood up quickly, shakily.

"I have to go," she said, staggering. She almost fell into the river, but he was quick. He kept her from falling in and pulled her back.

"I have to go see my brother," she repeated, unable to hold Tum's gaze. Tum just stared at her, having lost his voice in the kiss.

She disentangled herself from his hold and hurried up the pathway, her gown flowing gracefully behind her.