Breaking Tradition || #ONC2024

Chapter 2: The Gift Of Mangos

Hearing the Prince's voice made her relax, opening her eyes to see the Prince standing over her. Sunlight was now soaking both of them in a warmth that felt comforting compared to the coldness of last night. Erika stretched out her arms before rubbing her eyes, "It's daylight already?"
"If I had to guess it's probably around Noon based off the sun's position-"
"Noon??" Erika gasped as she got to her feet, Andrew's jacket falling to the ground. "You let me sleep for that long? Half the day is lost! We should've been on the move!"

"Relax." Andrew placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm the panicking woman. "This actually works out to our advantage."
"What..?"
"They're expecting us to stay on the move, probably try to head for the boarder. Going into the next state over means there's less people around that would recognize us."
"Right... I mean that was my original plan," Erika admitted, not entirely sure where Andrew was going with this idea.
"Most sane people would stay on the move, put as much distance as they could between themselves and the people looking for them! However, if that's what's expected to happen that means everyone looking for us are going to head straight for the boarders. Probably put everything on lockdown until we're found. So the best course of action is to stay put."

Andrew wasn't at all wrong, Erika's father had most likely already paid off local law enforcement to set up boarder control to prevent anyone from leaving the State without being checked over. They would have to sneak around main roads, attempting to travel some back way and even then she wouldn't be shocked if he had dogs out there ready to take down anyone who got close.

Erika took a few minutes of silence, trying to come up with a plan of what to they needed to do next, "Where are we? Outside of Woodrock?"
"Just on the outskirts of it, yeah..."

Andrew seemed confused by Erika's question but the woman only smiled. "I have a friend in town," she started to explain as she bent down to pick up the jacket. "She owns a thrift store, a cute little shop. We can head there and pick up a change of clothes, something to help us fit in better with the citizens here."
Erika handed him back his jacket, Andrew laying it over his shoulder as it was too hot to wear now. "That sounds amazing actually," he admitted. "Can you lead the way? I was supposed to have a tour of the area upon my arrival... of course that never actually happened."

"Oh I can be your personal tour guide," Erika announced proudly. "I used to sneak off to Woodrock all the time when I was younger!"
"Ah, so you've always been a little trouble maker," Andrew teased which earned a playful nudge from Erika.
"I doubt you were any better!"
"Oh I grew up in a large family of mostly men, I got into a lot more mischief than you."

Erika lead the Prince out of the trees and onto a small dirt path that eventually lead into the city all while Andrew told stories of how he and his brothers used to play pranks on the Royal Guards.

Woodrock was a small town mostly consisting of old architecture and families who had lived there for generations. Their money came mostly from surrounding farmlands - major corporations never lasted long due to the stubborn locals only wanting to support their local businesses. Once they had tried to build a mall filled with all kinds of new and fancy stores... it had only lasted about a month before it got turned into a cow barn/hay storage.

"This place certainly has charm," Andrew hummed as the two walked down Main Street. While the air smelled heavily of dirt and manure, the sidewalks were lined with dozens of little man-made booths covered with various goods people were trying to sell. There was even a group if kids selling lemonade from a table made out of old milk crates.

"I wanted to live closer to Woodrock but my dad wanted to be as far away as he possibly could - something about the smell of cattle making him sick."
"I only briefly spoke with him but I don't doubt that for a second. No offense but he seemed like a total ass."
"No offense taken! It's actually rather refreshing to hear someone say that," Erika laughed. "First time I've heard someone say that to be honest, most people are too afraid to speak their minds about him..." her voice trailed off slightly as she came to a stop in front of a farmer's display of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The smell coming from the display made Erika realize how hungry she was, they hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night. Though there was the possibility that Andrew hadn't had anything since he left his home, maybe something small on the flight over.

"Would you like something Miss. Voxx?" The boy behind the cart couldn't have been any older than 15, wearing dirty and torn up clothes but he had a bright smile on his face.
"Oh everything looks amazing, you've had quite the beautiful harvest this season," Erika replied while shaking her head, "Unfortunately I don't have any money on me right now..."

The boy smiled and grabbed two mangos, handing them over to Erika. "That's okay Miss. Voxx, you're one of our best customers. I'll give you these two on the house!"
"Are you sure your father will be okay with this? I don't want you to get into trouble..." Erika replied as she tried to hand the mangos back to the boy.
"I will be fine! Please, accept them as a gift."

Erika didn't like the idea of getting something for free, especially since she came from such a wealthy family. Money had never been a problem for her so why did she deserve to get things for free while others struggled to make ends meet.

"He treated you like royalty," Andrew teased as the pair walked away from the cart.
"Ah, I assume you're used to being showered in gifts then?"
"Only beautiful unmarried Princesses are allowed to accept gifts from the people," Andrew laughed. "Something about an ancient tradition we're supposed to follow... I don't know. I slept through most of my history classes."

"Well here you don't need to worry about any stupid old traditions," Erika stated as she handed Andrew a mango. "Here you're just Andrew, not a Prince. Though in that fancy outfit of yours is basically the same as you wearing a neon sign saying 'I'm not from here.' Hopefully we can find you something more suitable for blending in with the crowds."
"Blending in sounds great but what are we going to do about sleeping tonight? The forest provides great cover but it's not exactly safe..."
"Right, I still need to figure that one out," Erika admitted. "Unfortunately I didn't bring any money with me... maybe Lindsey will have an idea of what to do..."
"Lindsey?"

Just as the Prince questioned the name the pair came to a stop in front of a small store. The building was old, the wood rotting away at every corner and base - it looked incredibly unsafe, one strong breeze away from toppling over.
"Lindsey is my friend, she owns this amazing store right here!"

Andrew didn't think the state of the store or the sign spelling out Lnsey Fids looked like an "amazing store." In fact his brain was telling him to not step foot inside the building mostly out of fear that it would cave in with him inside. However, the pure excitement radiating off of Erika allowed him to ignore logic and follow the young woman inside.