Star Wars Republic Commando: Knight of Honor ✓

Chapter 21

The rest of Crimson all slept with their helmets on their heads and their hands on their weapons, and she found that she couldn't decipher which of the three soldiers was which. With the lack of the blue glow in the visor plate, they all looked like warrior droids from another world, another planet, and they were just awaiting some kind of directive to reactivate and begin wreaking warfare.

Gathering the blanket around her shoulders, Arlesse realized that she could never think of these good and honest men as droids. They showed her more compassion and kindness than most of the inhabitants of her father's palace. These men laughed with her and shared in her presence with genuine interest. She knew that she could easily believe it was because they just had no other choice, but last night she could feel the camaraderie amongst them. It was the kind of energy that gave her a sense of comfort and belonging.

She only wished that Jas hadn't been so distant, so closed off...and she suddenly shifted her thoughts from him. He had decided that distancing himself was what he needed to do, and Arlesse had to accept that. She shouldn't have been quite so aggressive in her interest about him. Jas was only being respectful to her, and she took it too far, forcing him away. After all, he wasn't the first man who had no interest in her, and she just had to cope the way she always had. 

She would create a mental barrier out of her loneliness and hide behind it where her emotions could not touch her and her fantasies were not permitted to enter. It was how she handled herself every time that Caspan avoided her at all the royal functions. It was how she dealt with being forced to share a dance with a member of her father's court who looked about the other guests instead of at her.

Arlesse was aware that she didn't have the comforts of her garden or her flimsiplast novels to help her hide this time, but she had the distraction of the world around her. She would not pass by the wildlife and remain oblivious to the creatures and plants she had never seen so free and uncultivated before. She would listen to every sound and bathe in every color. In just a matter of days, she would be home again, and Jas would be reassigned to a new mission anyway. It would be no different than Caspan spending the evening with some baroness on his arm on one of the many other women that seemed attached to his side.

Clearing her mind from the men that she had been exposed to in her life, Arlesse decided to handle the morning routine while it was still quiet. She stood and let her eyes catch Gath's, watching him nod silently to her as he knew not to question her disappearances, especially the ones consistent with particular times of the day. She knew that by the time she would return to the camp, Gath would have the others awake and before long, they would be ready to begin their journey once again.

By mid-morning, the group had managed to travel another five miles, and this time there was no incident with snakes or woodland creatures. That alone had allowed them to cross some of the extra distance that they had lost from the day before. Gath had figured that the princess could maybe push seven miles a day if they really needed. She was able to get three miles without too much exhaustion, but by the time they got to four, she needed more frequent breaks and more water. He attributed some of her extra vigor today to the breakfast she had brought them.

Earlier in the day when Arlesse had returned to the camp after her routine departure, she had with her an armful of dark purple fruit, each the size of a fist. The men of Crimson had been disappointed that it wasn't RubyFruit she carried this time, but she had cheerfully explained that the Plumrinds were more filling and would serve a better purpose for their breakfast than the RubyFruit.

Skeptically, the soldiers eyed the dark purple orbs. She took her Plumrind and peeled off the thick rind, sectioning off the dark green fruit beneath.

Dusty and Mouse had made comments that it looked like one of the most unappetizing foods they had ever seen and that a ration cube almost seemed more appealing. Mouse offered to hunt down another Fang-bird, and even cook the meat of a Pallid Viper if one came into their path again.