Tainted Magic, Tainted Blood ~ TSAMS AU

Chapter Six

A/N: This one's a long one, bois! So buckle up - because some shits about to go dOwN.

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When the princess opened her eyes, there was a sliver of sunlight streaming through the fabric of the entrance to the tent. She took a moment to allow the sleep to leave her eyes slowly, surprised she wasn't being woken by Sun again. But after a while, her back began to ache, so she decided to leave the tent anyways.

She crawled out of the entrance and blinked into the early morning sunlight while her eyes adjusted. Her eyes swept the area of their temporary camp, landing on the sleeping figure of Sun - next to where the fire had been burning the night before. It was nothing more than a few smoldering lumps now, though. She stepped gingerly over to him, checking to see if he was actually sleeping or just waiting for her to wake up.

His eyes were closed, and his body rose and fell slowly with his even breath. She decided to take advantage of the opportunity, feeling a little twinge of childhood excitement as she looked at her surroundings. She could pretty much go wherever she wanted until he woke up, and he'd be none the wiser as long as she made it back before he did. Had Sun wandered off to find a stream last night? If he had, where had he gone?

The princess scanned the rolling green grass, seeing if her eyes could catch the sight of sunlight being reflected anywhere. But from where she stood, there wasn't much she could see besides wildflower-dotted hills. She decided she needed to get a higher vantage point, so she bounded towards the trees that the tent she slept in was tied to.

The first spot that she could place her foot was a bit too high off of the ground for her to just step onto. She had to jump and hoist herself up, almost immediately regretting her decisions as her body still ached. But Y/N ignored it, laughing to herself as she felt some of the cuts on her body open back up. She could deal with them later. Especially if she found a stream to bathe in.

She continued her trek up the tree, huffing by the time she reached the point where she could see the expanse of green for miles. She took a moment to catch her breath as she just enjoyed the view. The cool, early morning breeze tickled her exposed skin, making her suddenly thankful to still be wearing Sun's cloak. The sight before her was one to die for - the green rolling hills hugged tightly together as the rainbow of colorful dots scattered about gave it depth. The sky was perfectly clear, allowing the sun to beam down uninterrupted over the landscape. She wished suddenly that she had the ability to paint what she was looking at, so she took a moment longer to memorize what she was looking at to recreate later, once she was back home.

Home.

A sadness overcame her suddenly as she pictured herself back within the confines of the palace walls, destined to be queen to a kingdom that she knew close to nothing about. Married to Eclipse, doing boring queen stuff every day. Y/N sighed. She only had these few days of travel left of her freedom. Then she would be trapped in domestic life forever.

She perked up once a glimmer of blue caught her eyes, just at the bottom of the hill they were closest to. Looks like she'd be getting that bath after all. She looked back down to the ground, smiling at just how high up she was. A thrill ran through her body that she hadn't felt in a long while.

She used to climb all the time when she was younger. She knew that. She would be in places she shouldn't have been, constantly keeping her mom on the verge of a heart attack with how much she would pop out from up above just to scare her. There was something she enjoyed about being able to see more from higher up, allowing her to analyze her surroundings better.

After a few more minutes of staring, the princess finally descended the tree, slowly and carefully. She made it back to the ground safely and checked to make sure Sun was still asleep before setting out towards the stream. The walk through the tall green grass tickled her bare feet, making the childish smile return to her face. Before she knew it, she took off down the hill, just laughing up into the air as the breeze grew stronger in her increased speed. She discarded Sun's cape and left it hanging on a tree branch once she reached the shoreline of the water. She then stripped herself of the rest of her clothing, adding them to the same branch, before stepping into the stream.