Lumi took longer than she normally did on her appearance the next day.

Macy had a hard time with her hair, and Lumi still had to do the majority of the work on it. But the end result after their hours of work showed smooth silky long waves that flowed down her back.

Lumi caught a look from Macy in the mirror, frowning and turning to face the girl.

"What's wrong?"

Macy blushed. She was able to blush so easily that it was hard for her to hide anything from Lumi.

She looked down and then back up, staring intently at Lumi's hair.

"I guess...I know this is pretty also...but I liked your curls better I guess..."

Lumi smiled. She liked her natural hair more also. And something in her heart seemed to spring with happiness at Macy's admission.

Not many people in the winter lands liked Lumi's natural hair.

Lumi turned back to the mirror. Her mother always had her hair in this style. Lumi never understood why she took such pains to make it appear that way every morning, but it was nice to change your appearance every now and then.

"Let's not scare the locals too much today," Lumi laughed.

She saw Macy's small smile reflect back in the mirror.

"Is the dress ready?"

Macy nodded, turning to look at the package that was on the bed.

"I heard from the other girls who clean the rooms around the castle that the guests and other council members will be arriving today. This should be okay?"

Macy turned back to look at Lumi, a questioning look in her eyes.

Lumi stood and opened the wrapping slightly. She nodded.

Macy held back her shudder. Even if they changed her hair, there wasn't much they could do to change who the princess was and where she had come from. Macy knew that as she watched Lumi take out the dress. It had a mixture of both summer and winter court in it.

Well...Macy thought, looking at the setup, it just shows there's no changing where you are from.

* * *

The guards could explain exactly why they were tense.

Council members mingled in the throne room. Various tables had been set up, with men going back and forth, comparing the results of what they had achieved from their journeys and showing the King.

He would say a few words that left most of the men rushing back, frantically writing, and then going back to have his approval.

It was a madhouse, as it always was whenever the taxes were collected and the males returned.

The guards though were aware of the extra strain that seemed to be raised on the King's face. It became even more apparent when the doors opened and a single guard, escorting the princess, walked in.

The activity in the room stilled slightly, before coming to a complete halt.

Many of the men stared slack jaw and in disbelief as the girl walked into the room.

For some reason, many of the guards felt confused at why a small sense of pride entered them at the sight of her walking through the crowd of men with her head high and confident.

And then that pride quickly turned to panic when they took in her dress.

Could someone just give the girl a traditional winter court dress and be done with it?

Crimson red- bright and vibrant- adorned her. The top part of the dress was tight and long sleeved. It seemed almost like a normal dress at first. Before she passed the guards and put her back to them, displaying the full skin of it.

Many quickly diverted their eyes away from the sight, not knowing where else to look. Of course, the guards were used to the clothing style that the princess commonly wore- however the men and their first meeting only stared in open awe at the amount of skin that was on display.

No one from the winter court would ever think it appropriate to wear a dress like this one.

Marcos himself felt like covering his eyes when he realized the dress also contained a loose cut along the edge of the side, letting the princess' bare legs show.

Now there was another thing to distract them.

Just as she always did, the Princess sat at the foot of the steps, turning around to look at the King before putting her back to him.

The men moved slowly, eyes still glued to the creature before them. Their gaze only had to flicker up to the glaring King though, for them to jump-start back into action.

Lumi started at the sudden touch to her shoulder. She turned to find Wilmot staring down at her.

He turned and pointed in the direction of the King.

To Lumi's astonishment, a small stool had been placed to the side of the throne.

Lumi looked silently at Wilmot, a question hanging in her eyes.

He nodded, not saying a word, but then, not needing to say anything as he rose and continued walking around in the madness of the activity of the room.

With a sigh, Lumi rose and steadily made her way up the steps.

"This is a surprise."

The King said nothing.

Lumi was wondering if his actions last night would have caused them to regress backward, instead of forwards, but maybe she had been wrong.

"Your back."

She turned to face him.

He seemed to be struggling with his words, but his blue eyes stared at her from where he sat, his head still facing forward but the corner of them examining her face.

"Those marks..."

"Oh..." Lumi had forgotten about her marks that would be seen, "I told you already that I went through the trial for warriors."

"They burn their warriors," he growled.

"Yes," Lumi stated simply, "I can't explain why. It's a tradition that I can't speak about to an outsider but-,"

"They marked your skin like that."

Lumi hesitated, staring intently at him.

"Yes...It's my fault and I must take responsibility for my failure."

He seemed to be chewing on his words, holding himself back. His hand cupped his chin, covering his mouth to prevent anything else from being said.

Lumi watched him carefully.

"Don't you have scars?"

He seemed to flinch at her words.

"Yes."

His reaction made her lean closer, but his sudden glare in her direction at her movement caused her to stop.

She turned back to the front, looking down on what was happening below.

"So this is all the taxes you've collected from the Kingdoms?"

He said nothing. She looked at him but realized he was ignoring her.

"Is it a secret?" She whispered.

"You can't tell me how you received the marks on your back. I can't tell you how the taxes work."

Was he being petty?

She leaned closer in, "I guess I could tell you. If you promise not to tell anyone else."

He jerked back at her sudden closeness.

With that last reaction, the King suddenly stood and walked down to be with his men.

Lumi sighed and leaned against the wall, watching him as he moved from table to table.

Her attention soon went to the snow. It was not snowing as much anymore. Only one door had been opened on the side. Lumi could barely see the courtyard beyond it.

The hours passed until she watched Wilton approach her.

"It's time to go back."

He was acting nicer to her than she expected.

He even offered her his hand to help her stand.

To her surprise, Wilton was the one who led her back to her door and made sure she was inside before leaving.

Lumi sat in the room, staring at the emptiness.

She had only said a few words to him today.

Just those handful.

That had been it.

* * *

Lumi wondered if she was being a bother to the guards.

Of course she was.

They could be doing better things than watching her.

But for some reason, she had been led outside instead of the throne room today. It was the same garden she had visited when the King had gone to the library.

The wide vastness of it made her eyes widen as she eagerly looked at the guards.

"Can I stay out here?"

They seemed more relaxed without the watchful gaze of their King. Alone with just the princess, they both nodded and smiled down at her.

Lumi gleefully ran off, startling them as she slipped on the snow, before quickly rising and rushing back forward.

"She's going to give me a heart attack," one guard grumbled.

"Agreed," his companion said.

It was a good thing they were already used to the princess and her habits. Otherwise, they would not have been prepared to be outside in the cold for hours.

"Princess, maybe we should go inside," one guard suggested, "you may get sick again if you stay out here like this."

"I'm not weak!" she laughed.

Both of the men sighed and continued forward.

Beyond that garden was another garden.

Lumi eyed the arched door, looking at the guards with pleading eyes.

One shrugged, not seeing the harm in letting her explore another area of the castle.

And her enthusiasm was infectious.

They spent several more hours in this new garden. Lumi conversed with the gardeners, asking them about the different vegetation and how they planted the various flowers.

To the guard's dismay, she even participated in helping the gardeners in their work.

That was when the unexpected happened.

If anyone was watching, they would have thought the princess was a single-minded creature, someone who was not aware of her surroundings. They would have assumed that she was focused only on the gardener and what he was saying to her.

At least, that was what the guards assumed. They had become so bored of watching her, that their minds had lulled into an unconscious rest, watching but not really observing.

Which is why, it took them several seconds of furious blinking to realize the princess had suddenly stood, and ran in the opposite direction.

"What the-," the guards quickly ran after her, shouting for her to stop. But she had a clear head start and soon it became apparent where she was running to.

"Stop princess! Don't go there!"

But it was too late. To everyone's shock, the princess lowered her body, angled it down and slid across the ice of the small pond that was located in the garden. The pond was naturally frozen over, but a crack could be seen from where the boy had fallen in.

The gardener realized too late also, that his own son had somehow slipped past him, and strayed away while he was teaching the princess.

The guards could hear his frantic shouts in the background as his realization slowly caught up.

"Princess, do not move," one guard cautioned.

It was already too late. She was spread out on the ice, her arms and legs extended as she slowly wiggled forward.

She turned to the guards, a smile spread across her face.

"This isn't good."

And with her words, the ice under her broke.

Both guards screamed, frantic and unable to take hold of the situation. The gardener was there now, yelling for his son.

And as those few seconds passed, it was enough for the guards to stop in their movement and see the princess emerge from the water, gasping for air as she struggled to hold the boy as well.

"Swim here Princess! Come on, you can do it, just here and then we can pull you out!"

They all watched in amazement as she shoved the boy (not very gently) through the water, yelling and struggling with his weight.

One guard got down on his knees, extending his hands while his friend held him in place.

As soon as he could reach her, he started to pull both the princess and the boy to him.

The gardener grabbed his son, racing away from them to the castle where his mother worked. He was no doubt running to the kitchen where Jodi would be.

He shouted his thanks to the princess, but in this scenario, time could not be wasted.

A guard quickly grabbed the princess, repeating the same actions as the gardener.

"Alert the king, call for a doctor!" He yelled to his friend, already running with Lumi in his arms.

They both dispersed.

Lumi could not think. Her head felt frozen on her body and her limbs were like blocks of eyes. She wondered vaguely if all the blood in her body had frozen in that pond. She had not been in there long but it was long enough to make her feel the pain.

The guard looked down at her in worry, still unsure of what to do.

He raced to her room, and to his surprise, saw the King at the end of the hall, rushing towards them.

"My King I-,"

"Give her to me."

He quickly held out his arms.

Without a word the guard mutely handed her over, watching as his King took her close to him, walked inside her room, and slammed the door.

The guards that had raced down the hall with the King and the ones who had been with the princess now stared in shock at the closed door.

"The doctor..." One guard started lamely.

His friend only turned and shook his head, patting him comfortingly on the shoulder.

"If he needs one, he'll call for it."

* * *

"Why are you here?"

Lumi was barely able to get the words out of her mouth and she doubted the King was able to understand her.

He was too busy cursing at her.

"Falling in a pond...going for a swim...in the winter lands..."

To her shock, he started pulling down her dress. She was still coherent enough to understand that.

"I am not in the mood."

But between the chattering of her teeth, it came out very unintelligible.

"You need to get out of the wet clothes," he rolled his eyes.

Lumi groaned as the coldness seemed to hit her twice over once her dress was removed. She curled up in a ball, then remembered her hair and how this would ruin it.

He was quickly starting a fire for her, and soon the flames were ablaze.

Lumi felt herself being lifted before a thick blanket was wrapped around her body.

Her teeth were still moving against her will and her body was shuddering, stopping and then starting back again in an uncontrollable movement.

She didn't even protest when he lifted her, blanket and all, to be wrapped in his arms.

He leaned against the end of the bed, staring at the fire while she continued to shiver.

After a while he snapped at her, "When will you stop?"

She only shook her head, just as confused as he was.

"For god's sake you were in there for only a few minutes."

She only burrowed deeper into the blanket and him.

He scoffed, but allowed his arms to encircle her more.

"I thought you said you were a warrior."

With that insulting sentence, Lumi leaned forward and bit his neck.

He jerked back, glaring down at her.

"The hell?"

She glared up at him, but speech still seemed to be away from her.

Instead, she buried her head back into the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply as she tried to absorb some of his warmth.

It seemed hours before the shivering in her body seemed to die down.

He recognized it also, but continued to hold her, his eyes still looking ahead into the fire.

"Why did you go out into the water?"

Lumi still had her head on his shoulder. She was able to look up at him, and see his face as she spoke.

"Why did you come and help me?"

He scowled at her words, before glancing down to realize she could see.

"Answer me."

"A boy fell in," she whispered.

He only sighed.

"And you thought you would be the one to save him?"

"No one else was moving, so yes."

He looked back down at her, taking her in.

"I don't know why I came."

She stared blankly at him, unable to process his admitted words.

"That's okay," she said, "it's okay if you can't explain it. I can't explain why I saved that boy. My body just moved."

She watched as a smile formed on King Theros' lips. He shook his head and looked up as if he were pleading to the heavens.

And Lumi wondered if it had been the same reasoning for him.