Vienna ran. She ran back to the house, her breath hitched in her throat. Tears pooled in her eyes; it was happening. The prince was going to side with Adeena.

 
Vienna's eyes searched out her Pop. As soon as her eyes fell upon him, his arms were open wide for her. She ran into Pop's embrace tears streaming down her cheek.

"Can I go home, please?"

"What's wrong, little flower?"

"I..." She looked up into his dark eyes and found herself at a loss for words, the fears of old shutting her up. "I...need to go home. Can Ezzie or Frey take me home?"

Her Pop hesitated looking back at the Rolands' before looking down at her.

"Stay Pop. I'll go. It's important to keep promises." Vienna's heart felt like it was breaking as she left Pop's embrace.

Later as she rode in the wagon home, she would hear her name called out. Her mind was in a dense fog though one which would not lift for some time.

It would be not enough to be the little Vienna in the tiny hamlet. Her father would argue that he could protect her from anything that came her way. Vienna sat on her bed at night and stared at the ceiling she pondered that perhaps he could. She couldn't break his heart by leaving, could she? She was his only family. A broken sob escaped her.

She raised a hand toward the ceiling watching as the moonlight hit in the right light she could play with the camouflage. Her hand turned nearly translucent.

She had been practicing for so long. Melting into her surroundings as if she were part of them, it was the easiest when she was amongst the trees at the back of the estate. By Old One she would blend into its old trunk as if she were part of its long history of loss, hope, and rejuvenation.

The next day passed, her father was home from the festivities and Vienna sat beneath the Old One writing her 'good-bye' letter. She couldn't have him in danger, she loved him too much; and even if it hurt him she'd rather him live than be hurt by another because she existed.

"I don't know what to do 'old friend'." Vienna would often speak to the 'Old One' as if it were a long-lost relative or friend. Her head rested against the tree she could almost imagine a wave of reassurance that swept through her as if to say that her father wouldn't be alone. "I suppose he won't be."

She climbed up the wide base of the tree and scaled it as she was taught since she was able to walk from her father. Her breath eased and her eyes even shuttering close as her hands reached out for handholds instinctively never missing one. Nestled at the highest top she felt at home, safest that she had ever felt except for when she was wrapped in her father's arms. She had been so terrified and yet she felt as if everything would be alright if she followed her instincts. Her hands caressed the worn divots of the tree's bark as she bit the inside of her lip, her mind crafting the letter to her father in her mind. In the end, she knew she could tell him nothing but the truth; she owed him at least that.

She'd fallen asleep, but it was a light, disturbed sleep. The light tapping of the Old One's branches' fingertips was enough to rouse her.

She opened her window and looked at where the Old One's branches reached out toward her window, it would be so easy to jump over and run now. No, she had to give her father her letter. 

She couldn't leave until she did.

She snuck back through the house. She was tiptoeing until she made it to her Pop's door which was cracked open as if open waiting for her.

Her father lay in his bed asleep and Vienna's heart clenched.

Her whole body wasn't visible even the letter in her hands that crinkled in the otherwise silent late-night air could not be seen by any other individual except herself. She swallowed as she stepped closer, afraid but almost hoping he'd wake from his deep sleep to see her somehow as he had an almost uncanny ability to do so sometimes in every other way and stop her from what she was about to do. Lock her away even, she might hate it, think she hated him for it but deep down she'd love him even more for it; but she knew he wouldn't, he never would even in his deepest states of protection seek to clip her wings.

She furrowed her brows as she wondered if he had some sort of foresight that something like this would happen one day, after all, he had taught her everything she would need to survive on her own out in the wild if she ever found herself there.

How to protect herself even with a staff; how to defend herself and where to aim to slow down her opponent just long enough that she might get away. How to build a shelter to weather the elements.

Tears began to fall down her cheeks but she wiped them away and held her breath even though she was still at the door of his bedroom Vienna worried her father would somehow be able to sense her emotions, even in his dreams, as he always did.

After composing herself she stepped forward, eyes watchful as Pop breathed steady sleeping breaths in and out. Soon she stood at his side and she looked down at the envelope in her hands, she froze as he rolled on his back. His breathing changed for a moment before he went back to his usual slumbering breaths.

Vienna didn't want him to miss the letter and think she was kidnapped; he needed to know she was safe. She pursed her lips before her tree bark eyes raised in determination he needed to know everything he deserved the truth. Carefully she tucked the letter in his clasped hands on the top of his chest.

She sprinted back out of the room not allowing herself to look back as she made it to her bedroom. Swinging her staff onto her back via its harness, along with a ready pack with essentials Vienna jumped onto the waiting limb outside her window.
Sliding down the trunk she felt one of the branches catch on the back of her, a tear escaped her eye.

"I know. I don't want to leave him but I must." Her head rested on the trunk before she felt the branch release her from its grasp and she landed at the bottom.

She ran through the woods that night. A small map in her bag of the land, enough provisions to last her for at least several days, and clothes to last her several years she wondered what her subsequent life in this world would be like.

The further she ran into the woods, her hands trailed the tree trunks. She found herself surrounded by one feeling that could only be summarized in one thought, 'We are here with you.'

~END OF SEASON ONE~