By the time the sun climbed high enough to warm the stone walls, the smoke in Princess Stephanie Goldenleaf's room had accumulated veiling it in a soothing hotbox.
A new pale ribbon, curling lazily toward the ceiling.
The afternoon bells rang somewhere deep in the palace, dull and distant, like they belonged to another life entirely.
Oscar lay stretched on the floor, one arm tucked beneath his head, yellow eyes half-lidded as he stared at the ceiling. At nineteen, he already carried himself like someone who'd seen too much road for his age—six feet of lean muscle, his dark skin catching the light, long dreads spilling across the rug like ink. Stephanie sat cross-legged on her bed, golden hair cascading down her back in a shining curtain that nearly brushed the floor.
She exhaled slowly. "You always get so quiet after the first few pulls,"she giggled.
"Thats how I know, that this is the good stuff,"he said puffing out a ring of smoke into the air.
"That's when the good thoughts show up," Oscar said, hitting the blunt again before passing it.
She smiled faintly. "Hmph... I agree."
"Cough ,cough!"
He reached into his ,Bag of Holding, and pulled out a book, heavier than it looked. The cover was dark leather, scarred and worn, the edges softened from years of travel.
Strange glyphs and hand-drawn leaves were embossed across it, their lines faded but careful. When he opened it, the scent of dried herbs and old paper drifted out.
Stephanie leaned closer with interest. "You treat that thing better than most people."
"Because it earned it." He scoffed looking at the book longingly.
Inside were sketches—plants with twisting stems, glowing buds, leaves shaped like claws or feathers. Notes filled the margins in tight, slanted handwriting. Maps overlapped maps, coastlines redrawn, forests crossed out and renamed.
"This is where it starts," Oscar said adventure briefly shiningin his eyes. "Every strain I've ever heard of that doesn't come from a back alley or a noble's greenhouse."
He flipped to a page showing description of a pale blue cannabis flower growing out of ice.
"Frostveil Kush. Only grows in the deep glacier caves up north. Smoke it ,and see your breath fogs over ,even in summer." he said excitedly.
Stephanie's eyes widened. "That sounds incredible." Stephanie's eyes twinkled like a kid in a candy store.
"I know, right." He turned another page.
"Embercoil ,this strain only grow near volcano slopes. Smoking it feels hot—but has a smooth inhaling, exhaling it looks as if your breathing smoke and sparks of ambers. Plus it'll keep you warm for days. Sailors swear by it."
She laughed softly. "So what ,you're just going to…travel the world and smoke weed?"
"Hey don't forget the me selling them part," Oscar said. "Maybe trade seeds ,too. Funding the next trip with the wild cannabis I'll find from my travels and sell them to the black market. No kings. No borders that matter." Oscar already thinking about the sure to come endeavors.
Her laughter faded. "That sounds like freedom."Oscar didn't miss the way her fingers tightened in the sheets.
"But," he continued, closing the book gently, "dreams don't move without coin or product."he said matter of factly.
Stephanie sighed in agreement even though she's never had a wallet or to worry about financial struggles. "So, what are you going to do ?" She asked.
"First I'll need to steal ,me some supplies," Oscar said. "Enough weed to trade ,enough money to disappear for awhile ,but there is only one group that survive the ,Colorada'Sierra, kingdom knight raids many times over." He said a grim look settling in his eyes.
"No, don't tell me ,your planning on stealing from them, Oscar your going to get yourself killed!" She said completely flabbergasted.
"Yeah the ,Thornveil Syndicate," he said with no waver in his voice. "They run the drug trade in Colorada'Sierra. Weed may be illegal on paper, but —thats its—just paper ,half the court in the kingdom looks the other way."
"They're the dangerous and most wanted group in the kingdom," Stephanie said.
"All the more reason why a solid plan is needed ,I won't fight them head-on." His voice stayed calm.
She slid off the bed and sat beside him. "So any ideas? "She said with worry in her eye's.
He hesitated, then spoke. "They grow everything outside the city their cultivation fields far in wilds. They rotate to a different locations each harvest. Hidden fields, warded land. No maps. No witnesses." He explained.
"But how do you know all this and the location where they are," she said her genuine surprise on her face.
"I helped move a shipment once or twice, during their harvesting time. " he replied. "Long enough to remember the path."
Her brows knitted together. "So your really going steal from them."
"Yes, I don't have many options at the moment."he said nonchalantly.
"But how are you stealing anything while the entire ,Thornveil Syndicate is breathing down your neck?" she pressed.
Oscar glanced toward the window, imagining green rows under open sky. "Hmm... thats easy I'll just need to burn one or two."
She blurted out. "Oscar—!!"
"Shhh...! Your not the one at risk of being executed, remember. As a distraction," he said quickly. "The fire will draw eyes. Guards. Panic. While they're scrambling to save what they can, I hit the warehouse. Take what I need and vanish."
She shook her head. "That's reckless. What if you gets hurt?"
"What if I stay?" he countered softly. "What happens to me then?"
She didn't answer, because they both knew.
Silence stretched between them, heavy but not hostile.
Stephanie stared at her hands. "If you do this…you wouldnt be able to come back."Her voice hold tinge of sadness.
"I wasn't planning to."
Her heart thudded painfully at that. She wanted to tell him—how the palace felt like a cage, how every smile she wore was practiced, how the thought of endless ceremonies made her chest ache.
Instead, she asked, "And after?"
Oscar's lips curved into a small smile. "After, I'll leave the kingdom ,I'll travel south first... I heard an interesting rumors about elusive strains only growing in the forest. Then west, across the sea with islands with soil so rich it glows at night."
She laughed again, softer now. "You sound like a madman."
"Madmen get remembered ya'know," he said with a chuckle.
The afternoon light shifted, shadows lengthening across the room. Somewhere beyond the walls, the palace moved on, unaware that plans were being laid within its heart.
Stephanie looked at him, really looked—at the half- dark elf who sold her illegal weed, who spoke of freedom like it was something you could pick up and carry.
"I hate this life," she said quietly.The two met each other gaze in that moment.
They didn't say it.
But a quiet understanding form between two.