She said yes.

Her heart flooded with relief, Alice rushed to gather everything she might need now that they were leaving the cottage. She knew a little about what she might expect on their journey from reading the story, but her encounter with the ice-magic wielder had taught her that she shouldn’t rely on it too much. Every slight deviation they took from the original timeline could alter something important, and here they were departing over a month before the princess did in the original story. Even just going to town on the wrong day had almost led to Alice’s death, who knew what leaving the cottage permanently so early might cause. And on top of that, the princess didn’t know where to go, and she certainly wouldn’t listen to Alice’s advice now that she was convinced Alice was delusional.

Alice was so preoccupied with these thoughts and so excited that she had a chance to try and fix what she had broken that she didn’t consider that she would be leaving her first-ever friend in the process. As she packed, she looked up to see a set of gloves she’d never seen before on the bed in front of her.

Oh. Alice’s heart dropped. She had known, of course, that helping the princess meant she would need to leave the cottage. And she had thought she was prepared for what that meant. But it hit her all at once that this meant she was leaving behind the only real home she’d ever known, probably forever. More than that, it meant leaving the only being who had ever shown itself to care for her fiercely and sincerely. Even though part of Alice still thought and feared that this might not be real at all, it felt real, and parting from the cottage was harder than anything she had ever done before.

Leaving with Aurum was less dramatic than Alice had expected. They simply started walking in silence, Aurum leading the way, Alice following with trepidation. She was somewhat relieved when Aurum picked the path that would take them to town – if Alice could just guide Aurum to find the hero, maybe she could salvage enough of the original plot that everything would turn out alright. A happy ended for everyone.

Maybe that means you wake up, a nasty voice whispered in her head. The story ends, and everything might disappear. Or just you. You don’t belong here, after all.

Alice shook it off, walking carefully behind Aurum, keeping a distance of a few paces to try and make her comfortable. It was one thing for the princess to allow her to come along, and it was quite another for her to be at ease in Alice’s presence. ‘I don’t trust you,’ was what she had said only a few hours before, after all. Feeling a bit gloomy, and if she was honest, terribly nervous to be approaching the place where she’d been attacked not long before, Alice tried to distract herself by going through what she remembered of the novel.

The next step after the princess’s time in the cottage was her braving the short journey to the village, mostly out of necessity. The cottage was about as wonderful of a provider as one could hope for from a house, but the food it conjured ran out eventually, and the princess knew she needed to gather information somehow in order to move forward. Luckily, on her first trip to gather food, she coincidentally befriends a man in the village who falls in love with her at first sight. He has strong earth magic, and after a period of time with her repeatedly visiting the village and talking to him more and more, the princess trusts him enough to tell her who she is. He promises to help, then they leave the village to look for the fire crystal, something Princess Aurum had learned about during her education as a royal which was thought to be a powerful weapon against ice enchantments. Ice was stillness and nothingness, fire was heat and destruction and consumption, and the two stood in opposition. The princess still didn’t know at that time that she had all four of the great living magicks: earth, air, water, and fire. On their journey to find the crystal, a legendary item that no one had been able to locate before, they encounter a sage who senses the princess’s power. She starts training, and about half a year later, with the kingdom falling into an endless winter, she confronts the witch and defeats her without the fire crystal and with the hero at her side.

It really is rather sparse on the specifics, Alice grumbled to herself. If only she knew exactly where and when they encountered the sage, then she could try and ensure that they would find them sooner and avoid all the perils of the fruitless journey to find the mythical fire crystal. However, the book did not give concrete timelines, a map, or directions. Alice had asked the cottage for as much as she could think of; maps and compendiums on the great magic relics, and records of great wise sages through history, but she hadn’t had time to search through it all in-depth yet. I should have done more to study before when it was peaceful and I had the time. Now, she didn’t know how Aurum might react to her sifting through maps and papers like some sort of schemer. And god only knew how she could possibly convince Aurum to go along with her plan if she managed to concoct one.

And there was a more immediate concern. In the story, the trust and friendship between the hero and the princess had developed over time. The princess had come to the village once every few days for a couple of weeks. Now, Alice and Aurum were going together – strike one. They were just passing through one time – strike two. And they were going over a month early – strike three. What were the odds of even encountering the hero, much less convincing him to join their quest?

Fretting as she was, her back still sore and her heart hurting from leaving the cottage, Alice managed to run right into Aurum’s back as they arrived at the main road. The impact didn’t shake Aurum at all, but Alice bounced off and landed right on her butt behind Aurum.

“…”

Aurum stared at her for a long moment, face inscrutable. Then she reached out and helped her up wordlessly.

“Sorry,” Alice said quietly, so very nervous that Aurum might change her mind about letting her come along. Alice knew hat she was committed now – even if Aurum told her to stay behind, she would do her best to follow and watch over Aurum from afar. The safety of the kingdom was too important. And you are worried about her, a voice in her head mocked her. She ignored it.

After another long silence, Aurum reached out, murmuring, “Stay still.” Alice flinched slightly and looked down as Aurum clasped Alice’s shoulder gently. Alice felt a rush of magic sweep through her, steady and gentle. Her back suddenly felt much better, and her exhaustion from the sleepless night before eased somewhat.

“Thank you,” Alice said, looking up, finding Aurum’s face much closer to hers than she expected. She froze, eyes wide, caught in the pale golden gaze. Aurum’s irises were ringed with a brilliant, pale silver; Alice had never noticed that before. Her face suddenly warm, Alice flicked her gaze away only to have it catch on Aurum’s lips. With her heart stuttering oddly in her chest, she stumbled backward, landing heavily on a small branch. It snapped loudly, and Aurum’s face went pale as she started.

“We need to keep going, but we can rest a moment.” Aurum’s voice was a bit rough, probably from lack of sleep, Alice told herself.

Nodding vigorously, Alice stepped back a bit further to set down her pack on the side of the trail. They both sat, neither looking at the other. Alice almost spoke three times before finally, on her fourth try, working up the courage to ask, “What are we looking for in the village?”

Aurum took some time to reply, speaking softly when she did. “You said… you said we should start in town. That we would find someone there. Why do you care why we are going when it’s what you wanted me to do?”

Alice winced. She had no reply to that.

Aurum sighed. “I won’t find any information here. I need to know what’s happened at the palace, and if the witch has made another move. Then I’ll go from there.”

‘I’, not ‘we’, Alice noticed glumly. Nevertheless, she nodded in agreement. It was logical.

“What will we – what will you do if someone recognizes you?”

Aurum looked off into the middle distance. “I can only hope they won’t,” she finally answered.

Alice hesitated, then said, “Or I can ask for the information. You can keep a low profile. I don’t – no one knows who I am, or that we are traveling together.”

Aurum looked at her. “No. We will go together. It’s true that the witch thinks I’m alone, so having you with me might help some.”

Alice nodded, trying to hide the rush of elation she felt at Aurum saying ‘we’.

“We should hide your hair, though. It’s – ” here Alice stuttered a bit, choking back the word ‘beautiful’ – “it’s noticeable.” Her face warmed.

“Alright,” Aurum agreed, and when they continued onward about a quarter-hour later, Aurum’s hair was bound back and hidden under a beige scarf. There wasn’t much they could do about her eyebrows, but hopefully, people wouldn’t notice the gold color and assume it was a more common blond.

Taking a deep breath, Alice steeled herself. Maybe they would get lucky and find the hero. He was described as having black hair and purple eyes – he should be noticeable when they found him. How Alice would convince either Aurum or the stranger to go along with the plot, she had no idea. She knew socialization in general was not her main strength. If she couldn’t manage basic human connections in her previous life, how was she supposed to manage this?