Damsel in distress

For the next two days Alice rarely left the carriage while they traveled. The rest of the refugees used it as an excuse to hate her even more, of course they would have to walk while royalty rode in a carriage. They never blamed Leo, as he was the one who freed them, but that didn't stop them from hating her. Alice herself, was going through a constant cycle of sleep for at most an hour, before waking up wanting to scream again. She had been exhausted mentally and emotionally, and would drift off, but subconsciously seeing the horrifying scene once more would awaken her once more.

Leo and Iris had no idea how to help her, mostly because neither knew what was wrong with her. Alice was adamant about not discussing what she was seeing in her sleep, something Leo found suspicious. He knew what was happening to her wasn't something normal, and there were only two conclusions he could reach, either she was somehow cursed, or it was possible some god was interfering.

He hasn't heard much about curses in this world, so he doubted they were that common. So he concluded it was a god. Arriving at this conclusion angered Leo even more, as he himself had dealt with Artemis being unreasonable on more than one occasion. When Leo thought back, it seemed the only time they agreed was when he was imprisoned, and they destroyed a Capitol city together. The problem was though that since there was also the possibility that she wouldn't be able to talk about it, he couldn't help her. He could only leave her until she decided to help herself.

Alice herself wondered how long she would see the horrid nightmares, Leo and iris's dead eyes looking back at her. Most of all was the fact that she was entirely helpless to assist in any way whatsoever. She was, as Venus put it so perfectly, a damsel in distress, and that was all she was. As she thought about it though, she knew instinctively she'll never be good at fighting, she never developed the instincts, the attitude. Then, a thought hit her. It took two days of this sleepless cycle for her to realize it, and she hated the conclusion she arrived at, as it was undoubtedly the same direction Venus wanted her to go.

"Where are you going?" Iris asked as Alice stood and went to the carriage door. Alice looked back at her, and said simply,

"To stop being a damsel in distress." Iris sat there dumbfounded at her words, as Alice exited the carriage and walked towards her first target, the elderly woman carrying a pack far larger than she had any right to.

"Would you like some help with that ma'am?" She asked in a friendly voice. The woman looked at her with some suspicion, and when she saw Theos not too far away to ensure she couldn't run off with her things, said,

"That would be lovely." And happily handed off her pack to the younger woman, in order to rest her older bones. Alice almost staggered under the weight of the pack, but quietly bore it, as she shouldered it herself, and marched on.

***

That night Alice sat carefully at the fire, as she waited patiently for her supper. She carefully removed her shoes, to tend to the bloody blisters she accumulated, that matched the ones on her hands. Due to the fact that she had tried to rest as often as possible before her encounter with Venus, Alice never really worked herself while traveling. Today she had helped carrying some of the packs of the elderly refugees, helped with a stuck cart while Leo was hunting, and helped all of those who needed it with pitching tents. Having never worked so hard in her life, it was no wonder she now carried blisters from the experience.

At first the others didn't trust her actions and doubted her intentions, but when they saw the bloody marks on her hands and feet, they immediately looked away in shame. Leo soon brought her a bowl of soup made with the meat of a stag lord he hunted. He usually went and brought some fresh meat each night for dinner, and after removing what they needed, gave the rest to people who needed the extra food. Though even with this there wasn't enough for all of them, and some went with only bread, or watered down porridge.

As Alice was about to dig in, she noticed a couple kids a little ways away that had unfortunately missed out on the stag lord meat he brought. Alice looked down at her own bowl, and slowly stood up on her bloody feet, walked over to them and handed it over.

"Here, it's better for growing boys to eat more meat." They looked at her in shock, along with everyone else in that area. The older one took it with a bit of hesitation, before they both said their thanks and started eating the meat with relish. She walked back to her own fire, all eyes on her, and tried to ignore her growling stomach. Shortly before she went to bed that night, Leo arrived again, and handed her a few things.

"Here, this is a pouch of herbs I collected, they're called silverherb and are used to heal minor injuries. And this is some more soup from a jackalope I just got, after I saw you give yours away. Finish eating and I'll help you bandage your hands and feet for the night." Alice nodded bashfully, as she ate with gusto, if the palace maids saw her lack of manners then they would faint. After she finished eating, Leo chewed on the herbs for a few seconds, then started spreading them on her blistered hands and feet, earning a blush from her.

"You know, I love that you started to feel better, and that you're helping more. However, you need to take care of yourself. You can't help them all, and if you try to do too much then you'll wear yourself out, and the already low numbers you'll help will drop to none. You also can't carelessly give away your food, or you'll collapse of starvation soon if you want to be more active." As she listened to his reprimands, Alice's blush deepened. She looked over, and saw Iris beaming at her for her improvements.

Soon his first aid was done, and Leo went back to Iris after wishing her a goodnight. As Alice laid down that night, she thought back to Venus's first task, one she grudgingly knew she needed to fulfill.

'"First is that I want you to get your family's former subjects to accept you. Convince them you are all on the same side, and that you are their ally."'

Alice had realized, even if she couldn't be a fighter like Iris, she was still able to be of valuable help to Leo, and the people who followed him. The first step to that at the moment, was gaining the approval of those people, and assisting with as many issues while traveling as possible, to ensure things were as smooth as possible. Alice went to sleep that night with newfound determination, and for the first time in the last two days, she didn't have any nightmares.