At first, Novalis had asked if she could be the one seeking, not hiding but - no, Lilith told her, laughing. Novalis had every means to cheat.

"I don't cheat," Novalis said, harumphing (because surely the Symphony itself was never a cheat) but in the end, Lilith's laughter broke down her barriers and she laughed and fled into the garden maze.

The bushes were made mostly of towering honeysuckle, the scent clinging to her. She could imagine it slowing her down, tiny spiderwebs of smell - but really, what hurry was she in? A lazy run only, turning here and twisting here and finally ducking under the bushes to hide, pulling her shirtsleeve up and over her face so the colour was hidden and she was inhaling the rich loamy scent of the earth.

And there she stayed as the sun slowly went down and the earth cooled under her cheek and flowers tucked their heads away to sleep (and dream the dreams plants dreamed.) She murmured soothing comfort to spiders and ants and insects that crawled tentatively through her hair and across her skin; she was in their way and they feared her, but their need to get where they were going was stronger. So she murmured comfort and they relaxed, decided she belonged there, continued on their way of gathering food.

Eventually, she grew concerned that Lilith hadn't found her. She should have, by now; the hiding space was good but no, not that good, and she hadn't even heard Lilith's foot on the ground nearby.

The only reason Lilith wouldn't come was if she was either caught by other Princes (or fleeing as Freedom always ought) or if she had wanted Novalis to find her, despite what she had said.

Novalis pinged resonance, felt Lilith - nearby, in the hedge-maze, not far at all but not moving. She apologized to the insects, removed herself carefully from her hiding place, and followed the green thread the Symphony spun between them.

Lilith was, it turned out, in a clearing; she sprawled there naked (she had never found any shame to being unclothed, nor to being clothed), her hair spread around her, her eyes closed.

For a moment, Novalis wondered if she was asleep.

Lilith said, "I'll never chase you. You have to know that."

Wryly, Novalis nodded. She had known, though trust a human to need a literalism to prove it. "Yes."

"Yet you'll go through with this anyway?" Lilith's eyes opened green in the moonlight.

Novalis came over and sank down beside Lilith, ran a hand over Lilith's white stomach. She pondered the dirt under her fingernails and the whiteness of the temptress in the moonlight. "Yes," she said. "I can always find you, whether or not you chase me."

Lilith watched Novalis' face, paying no attention to the fingers that stroked the lines of ribs. "You can't find me if I don't let you."

"You'll always let me."

Green eyes slipped away from Novalis' face. "Yes," she said, taking Novalis' hand and moving it to her breast. "I suppose so."

Novalis stroked, obligingly, smiling down at the tightness of Lilith's nipple, washed almost white in the moonlight. "Though now that I've said that, some day you won't, will you?"

Lips turned up slightly as Lilith made a low noise in her throat. "You're not the only one who cheats."

Novalis laughed. "No," she said, because she had indeed used the truth of the Symphony to find her human. "I suppose not."

She sat back on her heels and waited.

After a moment, Lilith reached for her.

Novalis let Lilith pull her down and thought, peaceful, that Lilith didn't even know how much she lied.

But that was all right, she decided, her mouth skimming across a throat that was famed for beauty.

She didn't mind being chased.