Even though he'd thought he'd struggle to sleep in an unfamiliar place.

But he quickly proved himself wrong as he slept almost immediately in Rowan's improvised bed. 

Rowan's "bed" consisted of a large number of layers of animal fur, stacked up in a messy pile and with soft quilts and squishy feather pillows. 

Rowan had insisted for him to sleep there while he slept beside him over a thin blanket, Aerin had been determined to convince him that both of them fitted in the bed but Rowan just ignored him and told him he was capable of sleeping anywhere. 

Aerin went to sleep while complaining to himself and insulting Rowan, saying that he didn't deserve a bed anyway.

They left the camp the next morning and were on their way to the castle Aerin feared to reach.

The sound of leaves being crushed by feet filled the silence.

Everyone was walking while following Aerin, or so they thought. He'd never gone outside, so it was only fair that he didn't have a good sense of orientation. 

He'd left the castle while being completely blinded by darkness, his senses hadn't experienced the surroundings as they really were. He wouldn't be able to differentiate one tree from another. 

Instead, he walked beside Rowan who was the one who was actually leading everyone. Aerin noticed he was chewing on something, he must've noticed Aerin's stare because he turned his head to look at him and offered him a small box that was made with carefully folded leaves. 

Aerin took the offered box and pulled at the thin strings, the folded leaves opened to reveal two small yellow gelatinous beads. 

He looked up at Rowan curiously. 

"Chew them, they're very sweet. Kids love them", Rowan said.

Aerin looked back at the small pearls while scrunching his eyebrows and sighed dramatically while stuffing the two of them inside his mouth. 

He chewed slowly and was surprised by the liquid that escaped from them, a sweet flavor invaded his tongue and he moaned, pleased by the sweetness.

"This is amazing! Do you have more?", Aerin asked, disappointed that the sweet flavor had disappeared just as fast as it had come.

"No, but when we go to Evior I can buy as many as you want".

Aerin's shoulder slumped. If I'll even be allowed to go outside again.

He got lost in his own thoughts, thinking the many ways he'd be punished for disappearing for a whole day. Then he was suddenly awakened by Rowan's voice.

"We're here!".

Aerin looked up and saw the tall door of the main entrance, the one he'd avoided while escaping. There weren't any locks on it as expected, nobody feared any attack as they were completely isolated from other kingdoms. 

A whole group of guards was probably inside drinking or sleeping, he could just slip through the door and go to his room, but that wasn't an option. He was with a group behind him that was ignorant of the reason behind his presence outside the castle. 

Elves were also probably aware of his disappearance by now but were too afraid to go outside, only specially trained ones were able to leave the castle, and even sometimes they came back absolutely mortified for unknown reasons.

He'd been outside for a whole day now, even if it felt as if it had been weeks since he escaped, nothing had happened to him, he even found a way to leave the cursed place behind.

I'd leave Mom and Dad, Mara too. 

The thought invaded his mind and overwhelmed him with a sense of regret. 

Why did you do this?! 

A voice in his mind reprimanded him, he was so desperate of leaving that he left his family without looking back, even Mara who'd helped him.

Someone startled him by placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Rowan looking at him worriedly. He gulped and pushed the door, tilting his head to look inside.

Two guards were playing cards while talking loudly, their voices covered the sound of the door's screeching as he opened it a bit wider.

"Ohhh... he... trouble-", one of the guards spoke but Aerin wasn't able to make out what he'd said because Omar distracted him.

Omar's head accompanied his own through the gap between the wall and the door. Aerin tried to concentrate on what the guards were talking about but Omar's hair tickled his cheek and made his mind wander annoyingly. 

"Stop it!", he whispered. He'd felt a bit intimidated by the big figures of the group he'd met, even Noah who was extremely shy. 

But for some reason, Omar just gave a different aura, he wasn't intimidating like the others, he was shorter than most of the group but still would fit in an abnormally tall height by elf standards. 

He was lanky and his eyes carried a tired look, Aerin felt safe beside him but it also made it easier for him to complain at him with no filters. 

"What?", Omar whispered back. "I'm not doing any-, Ouch!", Omar hissed and stepped back after Aerin pulled at his hair.

Aerin was finally able to concentrate, ordering the best words to use so that he would be able to get out of any possible punishment and also get the group inside the castle to say whatever they needed to talk about with the king and his son.

Beautiful morning isn't it? I just thought that a walk through the woods would be perfect to enjoy the...

NO! Think of something else! 

Aerin was aware of the heated stare everyone was sending him from behind, but he just waved the thought away, getting nervous wouldn't help at all.

"Aerin, what are you doing here?".

Aerin looked up and saw both of the guards staring at him with wide eyes, there was joy in them but something in their stare also had a glint of fear which tainted him too.

Aerin was too stunned to speak and was only able to make a loud "huh?".

One of the guards who had long braided brown hair that dropped down to his back rose from his seat and walked cautiously towards him. His partner stayed seated while he stared at Aerin with now a full fearful look. Why?

"Oh no..." the elf in front of him muttered. Aerin recognized him, Elgar. He talked to him once some time ago while trying to bribe him into letting him use his armor so he could pretend to be him and be able to go outside.

"No, no, no, no, no...", Elgar continued muttering, "Aerin, you disappeared a whole day! What were you thinking?! If you were able to escape you shouldn't have come back!"

"Why are you saying that?", Rowan's voice sounded from behind. He'd pushed the door wide open revealing the group behind. Aerin looked at them and put his hands on his face while groaning as if he were embarrassed. 

The guard that had been sitting the whole time stoop up briskly, slamming his knees beneath the table. He unsheathed his sword as did Elgar.

"Who the fuck are you and what are you doing here?!", the guard cried.

Elgar pulled Aerin behind him and held his sword tightly, prepared to attack if necessary.

"We are here to talk to the royal family", Rowan stated, unbothered by the swords pointed at him. 

"Why?", the guard asked, walking closer to Rowan while Elgar stepped back, pulling Aerin with him.

"We have really important matters that need to be resolved", Rowan said confidently.

The guard looked at Elgar and then at Aerin.

"They mean no harm", Aerin said, although he wasn't sure what matters needed to be talked through. 

The guard eyed the group suspiciously, eyes going over the group, staying a bit more than necessary on Vienna's hand, which was placed on the handle of her knife. 

The guard then looked at Omar's skinny figure and nodded, walking towards the inside of the castle, his hand never leaving his sword.

Elgar followed behind, pulling Aerin with him who tilted his head at the group. 

They took that as a sign to follow them and soon walked behind them, Rowan glaring at Elgar's hand on Aerin's. 

"Aerin, you really don't have any idea of the mess you made", Elgar muttered, voice trembling in fear. 

Aerin gulped at his words.