"Rownin! Rown!" Sophie shrieked, tears spilling from her blue eyes. "No! Let go of me!" she screamed at the Royal Guards holding her back. She shrugged harshly away from the soldiers's grasps, but they held her tightly in their iron hold. She gasped, for one Guard had bent back her arm too far.
Rownin looked back at her through the marketplace commotion with a torn look on his face. Their eyes met, and Sophie grew quiet for a moment, thinking for a short, fleeting moment that he would stop and come back to her. The look in his eyes said, "I'm sorry," although he said nothing. He then turned back around without stopping. He wouldn't stop.
Piper, hanging uselessy at her side, unable to go more than a few feet away from her without causing harm to her sanity, said softly, "India." India, Rownin's horse-like Dream, didn't turn around or acknowledge that Pip had said anything to her, though both he and Sophie knew Indie could hear him. Sophie stared at India for a moment, thinking something was different about her, until she realized that she was almost entirely opaque. So this was his Dream, she thought numbly. He wished to go to the palace. He lied.
Within seconds, Rownin and Indie had turned the corner, disappearing from sight. A Guard stood in front of Sophie and unraveled the scroll in his hands. He cleared his throat and read, "His Highness, the King Scrayson III, has declared a restraining order on anyone intent on keeping his son away from the palace, and therefore must not go within 300 feet of the castle or 100 feet of His Majesty Prince Rownin." He closed the scroll and turned his steely glare on Sophie. "That means you."
The Guard stared at her for a moment more, obviously memorizing her face, then walked off. The Guards holding her suddenly let go, dropping her on her hands and knees in the dirt road. Sophie remained there for a few minutes, not wanting to move until she was sure everyone had stopped staring. Finally she stood up and walked in the direction of her house with Pip laying limp on her shoulder. She told him, "Pip, he's the prince. Of course. Of course his dream would be to return to the castle. Why didn't I see it before?"
Piper didn't answer. They both understood they would somehow have to get to him again. Somehow.
Pippa-chan-face Community Member 
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