“I will.”
With that, he walked away, returning to the courtyard while I stepped further into the gardens. After a while of walking along towering bushes, I realized I had inadvertently entered a hedge maze.
Gods, I was terrible at these things. I tried to retrace my steps but that only made me even more hopelessly lost. After a while, with a frustrated huff, I gave up for the moment and sat down on a bench. I could just call someone, and they would come get me.
But I didn’t.
Maybe I wanted to be lost for a little while. Here, in the shadow of the tall hedges, I didn’t have to be anyone special, or pretend to be someone I wasn’t, or interested in things or people I wasn’t. I could just be myself.
Allowing myself a moment to slouch, I breathed deeply, in through the nose, out through th
