The night went exactly as she had expected it to go. An extravagant dinner where she was seated in the highest place of honor and all her suitors looked up to her with already love struck eyes. Of course her half mask never left her face so she knew the look that was in the eyes of the men that all looked on her. None of them had spoken with her, none of them had looked into her eyes and read her emotions there. No these men where not in love with her, they where in love with what she represented, what a marriage with her would mean.

She ate in silence, carefully pretending to not notice the stares and the looks that each of them was giving her, and certainly remaining stubbornly quiet. To occupy her mind she thought of the clothing and supplies she had had Marie gather for her in the days leading up to the fateful night of the party. She thought about the way the air would taste and feel, the way the men and women out there would not recognize her. Escape should hardly be a problem, but she knew she would need to get far far away if she was to stay missing.

After the dinner was the dance itself. One after another her suitors would ask to dance with her, and one after another under her fathers careful eye she would agree to a dance, but she was still careful never to remove her emerald green mask from her face, careful to mask her looks, though more then one of the prince's hinted at it. But still she could tell by the eagerness in there voices that they did not care about what she wanted, what she felt. They only wanted her power and what she could give them. It was a sickening sight for her to bear.

Finally after many hours of excruciating torture the party was over and she escaped to her rooms. Marie was already there waiting for her. As soon as she shut the door to her chamber the undressing began. First they started with the hair, pulling the emerald ornaments out of her hair until her hair fell down her back in the unruly curls that where normal of her, although she was careful to slip an emerald or two into her bag for leverage later if she needed it.

Next came the undoing of the bodice and the skirts, tonight she would not be needing those extravagant clothing. No, after today she would never again be adorning those clothes that where made for those of false wishes and careless worlds devoid of love. She laid the clothing, as well as any spare emeralds that she would not be keeping on the bed for her maids to retrieve in the morning. She dressed herself in the clothing of a traveler. It was a pair of plain pants, A loose fitting cotton blouse, and a hooded cloak.

Marie had gathered her shoe polish which she took the time to carefully pull through her hair, to give her hair a grungy dirty look. She was careful to wipe a thin layer across her face and hands as well, so that by the time she was finished, she was hardly recognizable. She pulled her hair back into a pony tale with a simple ribbon before looking once more in her bag of things, she had a small pouch of gold coins and emeralds, soap which she knew was quite a luxury that simple folks could rarely afford, but still she would pay for some lesser man's soap in the upcoming weeks, and also a small ration of food. It was the basics but at least it would get her through until she could devise the next stage of the plan.

Creeping out the back window and crawling down some lattice she carefully made her way to the stables. Here she took the time to saddle her horse and hop on. Careful to secure her bag to the horse she rode. She pulled her hood over her head to hide her face and rode for the front gates. Q would have seen her ride past the front doors towards the front gate, nearly only a blur, she was trying to get out of there faster then anything, because if they stopped her they she would fail. She did briefly glance in his direction knowing that he was there, but she continued on. She pulled out a gold coin, bribed the gatekeeper and gave him a false name, the name of one of the princes, and after he opened the gate she left, and rode as fast as her horse would carry her.