Snow
"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Snow said as she descended the stairs to the soft fragrant soil below.
Hunter made a noise behind her that sounded an awful lot like a snort. "No, we only had to orbit the planet a dozen times before we spotted the clearing."
That was definitely irritation she heard in his voice, but Snow didn't look over her shoulder to give him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of her. "The important part is that we found it," she said, frowning a little at herself. How did the word 'we' find its way so casually into her sentence?
She licked her chapped lips and tried to free herself of that question, instead looking ahead to the quaint little cottage that she assumed had once belonged to her mother. Bright blue vines climbed up the walls, their leaves nearly white from all the light that filtered through the atmosphere. The windows were cloudy, covered with an algae-like growth.
No one had been here in ages, Snow realized, pushing aside the vines that crisscrossed the door. They hadn't been disturbed in years. Decades, probably.
"Thank you for your assistance. I think I'll be alright from here forward," she said, turning only long enough to make sure he'd heard her. If his black look was any indication, he'd certainly heard her — and disagreed with her. But he didn't argue, so Snow assumed he was going to let her dismissal go without comment. She was the Princess, after all, she could dismiss him if she liked.
She made quick work of the vines blocking the door, avoiding the tiny red thorns until she had access to her mother's cottage. She took a deep fortifying breath, not sure what to expect beyond the door. It could have been ransacked when the Queen took power, for all she knew.
Her chest tightened at that thought. What if this place wasn't as safe as she assumed?
The door squealed on rusty hinges as she opened it, using most of her weight to push through the friction of the neglected workings. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Hunter was right there. Close on her heels, not giving her an inch of breathing room.
"You're free to go," she said, pursing her lips, one hand perched on the edge of the door, poised to close it on him if necessary.
But Hunter didn't give her the chance. He barged right on in, disregarding her altogether. "I've told you, Princess, whether you like it or not, we're in this together. I helped you escape and that makes me as much of a wanted person as you are. The scout scanned me. They'll have my chip number, they'll know who I am."
Snow's brow furrowed at that. "Chip?" Was this some other new technology the Queen had introduced in her absence?
The interior of the cabin was dark, sparse starlight trying its best to work through the algae-covered windows. Hunter rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, the whites shining in the dimness. "Forget it. Don't worry about it. But I can't leave you alone anyway. How are you going to go anywhere? What's your plan, even?"
There was that question again. Her plan.
As much as his persistence irritated her, he had a point. This planet was so remote she didn't know how she'd get off of it without his ship.
"I don't know," she admitted, surprising herself. "I was hoping there'd be something here. Something that would help..."
She still stood in the doorway of the cottage as Hunter took a long stride towards her, one brow arched, something sparkling in his topaz gaze. Snow fought the urge to retreat, holding her ground instead of tumbling back outside.
"Why did you burn down the Summer Palace without a plan? Or is there something you're not telling me, Princess?"
There are a lot of things I'm not telling you. But she was sure he was keeping just as many things from her.
Snow swallowed and side-stepped away from him, kicking up dust with every step. The door closed, cloaking them in darkness, only broken up by the faint blue glow that filtered through the grimy windows.
Hunter was too curious. He was too insistent. What was his angle?
She tried to ignore the pressing questions of his loyalty as she fumbled around for a light switch. She had to find a way to get rid of him, but she needed to at least be able to see first. Snow took another step forward in the dark, her toe catching on something solid, sending her tumbling to the floor. Her skull erupted in pain, lights dancing in front of her eyes as her head bounced on the dusty planks.
She cursed, her brain throbbing as something warm trickled down the side of her face. Snow touched her fingers to the tender spot at her hairline and winced when her fingers came back sticky with blood.
But before she could manage to pick herself up, the thing she'd tripped over in the dark moved. There was the creak of metal first, rusty hinges squealing to life as a strained humming filled the room, like an overloaded rotor trying to get lift. Beeping followed, electronic squeaks and crackles, and then there were flashing lights strobing, enough to make her dizzy as she dropped her head back to her hands, fighting a wave of nausea.
Her shoulder sagged under a warm solid weight. Snow looked up, meeting Hunter’s gaze. He crouched next to her, one knee on the dusty floor, his eyes soft with worry. "Hey, are you okay? Let me help you up," he said, turning her chin so that the flashing lights illuminated her injury.
Another light appeared. A single ominous red dot, centered on Hunter's chest.
Snow swallowed, her skin prickling with adrenaline. Slowly, she gathered her nerve to turn and look over her shoulder.
"Step away from the Princess," the menacing robotic voice thundered. The android stood tall, towering over them both where they huddled on the floor. Its entire body glowed faint blue, flashing red with a steady rhythm. It was enough light to see the outline of the android, enough to see his arm morph and turn into a deadly-looking weapon with a series of whirs and clicks.
Snow was suddenly very worried for Hunter's safety.
Hunter, on the other hand, couldn't seem to care less. He rolled his eyes, ignoring the order. "I'm not trying to hurt her," he said, dabbing his shirt sleeve against the drying blood on her face. "I'm just checking to see if she's okay."
"Step away from the Princess," the android repeated, this time shuffling closer, clanging and creaking like a sack of scrap with every movement.
Hunter groaned, shaking his head. "Stupid metal piece of—" a blinding light cut off his muttering, filling the room for a split-second. On the far wall, a clay pot shattered, taking the full brunt of the shot, and the smell of charred foliage erupted in the air.
Hunter sprang to his feet, jumping back from Snow like she was the one who'd shot at him, cursing the whole time. "What is wrong with you people? You don't just fire at someone because they don't immediately obey you," he growled, his body poised for action.
Snow tried to blink away the spots left by the bright flash of light, looking from Hunter to the android, hoping there wouldn't be more confrontation. She still hadn't managed to pull herself off of the floor. But it seemed that the distance between her and Hunter soothed the robot and the android's weaponized arm receded, becoming a normal non-threatening arm once more, dropping to his side.
She gathered herself and struggled to her feet, still looking around the cottage, but it was much too dark to see anything other than the faint blue glow of the android. The red flashing had stopped at this point, which seemed encouraging. Snow turned to the bot, trying to forget Hunter for a moment and how he could have died just for trying to check on the little bump on her head.
For some reason, that realization made her feel warmer inside. A tiny bubble of brightness swelled in her chest. But she couldn't think about that right now. There were more pressing matters. Too many questions swirling in her head.
"Uh... Hello," she said to the android, waving her hand in front of it. It didn't respond, but its eyes glowed brighter, clearly watching her. "I'm Snow White—"
"Princess Snow White, daughter of Queen Adriana White and King Stuart White the third," the android recited stiffly.
"Riiiight..." Snow responded, dragging the word out, more than a little apprehensive about this thing knowing so much about her. But, this was her mother's getaway cottage. So it made sense, she supposed. "Who are you?"
"Artificial Intelligence Unit R0B-685.2," the android answered.
In the cover of darkness, Snow allowed herself a frown. "That's quite the mouthful."
The android's head tilted slightly, its eyes pulsing with a welcoming blue. "Your mother called me 'Robbie.'"
"Much more manageable," Snow said with a nod. "You knew my mother? How?"
"My prime directive is to protect the royal family."
Her throat tightened, closing in a painful knot. Did this android have any idea that she was the only royalty left?
"Thank you," she said, not wanting to upset it. If that was possible. She wasn't quite clear on its full abilities, but no need to risk a hysterical killer robot. She turned slightly, pointing at Hunter. "Don't hurt him. He's okay," she said, hoping it was the truth. If Hunter was out to get her, she'd just disabled her best line of defense by telling the android to give him a pass.
Robbie regarded Hunter briefly before waddling over to him, joints creaking all the way. Robbie thrust a metallic hand between them and Hunter looked at it like it might bite him.
"I think he wants to shake your hand?" Snow guessed, seeing Hunter's puzzled look in the glow of the android's light. He made a face, but then extended his hand slowly.
Robbie took hold of Hunter's offered hand and the robot's grip glowed bright and white. Hunter hissed and snatched his hand away, retreating another step, crunching broken shards of pottery under his boots.
"DNA registered," Robbie said, his hand dimming as it lowered to his side.
"So..." Snow said, rocking on her heels. She didn't have any idea where to go from here. "Any way we could get some lights on in here?"
"Request granted, Princess," Robbie answered as the cottage was suddenly bathed in light.
She blinked quickly, her eyes slow to adjust to the sudden change, and instantly, her heart ached at what she saw.
There was no denying that this place belonged to her mother once. On one side of the room, there was a worn floral-print armchair sitting in front of an old-fashioned fireplace. A shelf full of dead-tree books was nestled into the corner — the kind of books Snow still remembered her mother reading to her by a fire just like this. The kind that had been too much of a luxury for Plick to smuggle to her.
There was a compact writing desk, too, with more dead-tree books, but these looked less like bound and printed stories and more like diaries. Snow had the sudden urge to thumb through every page, to trace over the looped writing with her fingertips, to lean in and see if she could smell any lingering trace of her mother's floral sunshiney scent. She kept her hands at her sides, though it was only through sheer force of will that she managed it.
On the opposite side of the room, a kettle sat on the wood-burning stove, neglected for who knew how many years. And everywhere Snow looked, there were flowers. Or, there had been flowers. Now, they were long dead and wilted. Only a few were preserved by dehydration.
"So, your mom really liked flowers, huh?" Hunter said from right behind her, making Snow jump a little. She'd almost forgotten he was there.
She swallowed and gave a stiff nod, trying her best to keep her expression flat and keep the prickling tears at bay. "She did," Snow said, her voice a little distant. "Every year, she'd wait eagerly for winter to end, for the flowers to come back in full bloom. She said it was like watching the world wake up from a long nap, coming back to life."
Snow wandered to the desk now, not able to resist the urge to trail her fingertip along the spines of the neatly-lined-up diaries. She was certain she could smell her mother's sweet scent lingering in the air and her chest constricted.
"The year I was born, Spring had already arrived. The flowers were blossoming, blooms painting the palace grounds with a riot of color, but during the night, while she was in labor, a late flurry came through. I was born just after sunrise and she always told me that she'd never seen flowers as beautiful as they were dusted with glittering snow."
His hand found her shoulder and squeezed. She froze. Had she just said all of that out loud? "That explains the name," he said, a strange look in his topaz eyes. Snow struggled to keep herself from looking at him, to hide her moment of weakness best she could. She nodded, trying to free her expression of the wistfulness she was sure was written all over her face.
A loud rumble from her stomach pierced the silence and Hunter's hand fell, his brows lifting. His face broke into a smile and then a laugh, and Snow found the corners of her mouth drifting upward, too. That strange bubble of brightness glowed warmer.
"I guess this place doesn't have any food after being abandoned for so long, eh, Robbie?" Hunter called to the android.
"There are dehydrated meal packs in the cupboard," he answered.
Hunter pulled a face that made Snow stifle another laugh, nervousness, fear, and exhaustion taking their toll on her. "Sounds scrumptious," Hunter said, his nose wrinkling.
Snow had her share of those dehydrated meals in the past few months, but she couldn't argue with him. They were awful.
Hunter glanced over his shoulder, looking contemplative, and finally said, "There're woods all around us here. I'm sure I could find something... fresher."
Snow arched an eyebrow, her arms folding in front of her. "What, you think there's a market nearby?"
"No," Hunter said, scoffing like that was the most ridiculous notion. "I was going to hunt for something, obviously."
"But you're a merchant. What do you know about hunting?" Snow asked, the hairs on the back of her neck raising with renewed suspicion.
"It's literally my name, Princess. Would be pretty embarrassing if I couldn't manage such a simple task. Besides, I wasn't always a merchant," he said, sounding defensive. "When I was growing up, we were pretty poor. I was the one responsible for putting food on the table while my dad worked to keep the roof over our heads."
Snow dropped her eyes to the floor. "I didn't mean to assume," she said, playing demure while covertly watching for another reaction. At the mention of his father, something had flashed through Hunter's eyes, but it went too quickly for her to see. She was sure it was there.
"It's fine," he said, almost a bark. Then, his voice getting a little softer, he added, "I won't be long. See if there's anything useful to us here." He headed to the door, pausing in the threshold to turn back to Snow one more time. "Don't open the door for anyone. Robbie, keep her safe."
"That is my prime directive," Robbie answered, sounding as testy as a robot could.
As Hunter walked out the door, Robbie turned to Snow. "Princess, may I offer you a hot beverage?"