Daisy and Benji were starving and had no food left to eat. Neither one had eaten much recently. Now that the rush of excitement subsided weakness finally overcame them. As they stopped to rest on the roadside outside Haverston, sleep stole up on them, leaning against each other and a small boulder.
Daisy came to in a warm bed with a fluffy comforter covering her. Daylight streamed through an open window high off the floor. She yawned and stretched lazily. Then she came fully awake and started. She was in a small room in a farmhouse. A portrait of a farmhouse with several people gathered in front of it had a prominent place on the whitewashed wall in front of her. It was an idyllic looking painting, amaturish from Daisy’s point of view but still intriguing.
She began removing the covers, to get out of bed and realized that except for a shift she had no clothes on. And this shift was not one of hers, being made of course linen instead of silk and laces. Her raggamuffin outfit was no where in site. A pale cotton unembroidered farm dress was laid upon a rickety old chair near the door which was ajar.
A plate of roasted fowl and cheese and fruits lay by the bed on a small unsturdy table, which also held an unlit lanthorn. Famished she did not hesitate to dig in, not minding the mess she was making. She heard voices as she finished and looked around for something to drink. An urn with a crude opaque glass cup stood next to the food and she poured herself whatever liquid was in it. Spring water as the liquid turned out to be was just what she unknowingly craved. Though used to watered down wine at meals she found the unmixed water to be perfectly refreshing.
She poured herself another cup as the voices approached the door. In walked her highness, Duchess Temla Goodfell, Daisy’s aunt. Ignoring the girl’s state of disrepair she smiled kindly at her niece and said "Dairissa! You are awake and well! This is terrific news. Your uncle and I have been worried sick since we received word from the patrol captain who happened on this farmstead while you were sleeping. We rushed to get here by coach as quickly as those poor horses could bear us. How do you feel dear?"
Daisy could hardly get a word in edgewise when her loquacious aunt got started. Daisy relaxed back in the bed and let her overly doting aunt fill her in. She never really got to know her aunt before this and felt a change in attitude within her. Maybe her aunt and uncle were not so bad. But then there was the matter of the marriage betrothal.
Sensing her thoughts Lady Temla spoke "We talked of your running away escapade, dear and Marisso and I have decided to withdraw the betrothal arrangements with Earl Laroch. He will of course demand recompense but we are not poor and your welfare is more important to us than some political alliance. Though dear it seems the lands your father held might become contested by Lavilla as it is on the border with that nation. Marisso tells me that ... " Daisy lost interest and let her aunt’s nearly breathless chatter lull her. Then her mind fully awakened and she realized she had forgotten someone important.
"Auntie! What about Benji? Where is he?"
"Oh lass, that young little scamp is fine. He is downstairs even now charming the farmer’s daughters into feeding him enough provender for a small army. Never thought someone so tiny could be so voracious! I do declare he is quite the poor urchin. He speaks worse than anyone I’ve ever met..."
Daisy again tuned her aunt’s chatter out and got out of bed. She put the cotton dress all the while nodding or murmuring at appropriate moments to the rhythm of the babble. Lady Temla was quite sweet but she really needed to take a break from talking or no one would ever take her seriously. Daisy reflected on that and realized few probably would anyway. Being female in this day and age meant that they were relegated to behind the scenes positions if at all. Daisy hoped someday to change that.
After she was done dressing there was a warm reunion and an equally warm thanksgiving to the farmer and his family who took the princess in; rescuing Benji and her from dire straits. Eventually they took their leave from the farmstead and road back to the City of Goodfell via coach at a leisurely pace.