2 stopping crime in the back alley

Eva rose from the bed and began to undress.

Charlotte frowned, "What are you doing?"

"I have an idea." Eva mumbled as she opened the trunk in front of the bed, the only store of possessions they managed to keep when the family's property and money were seized after their father was imprisoned.

Eva fished out a pair of old trousers and a shirt from the trunk. Of course they had already sold anything of value so what was left was just some worn old clothes their brother used to wear when he went riding in the marshes with their father.

Eva gave the outfit a good shake before putting it on. Being eleven years old and skinny from lack of food for the past six months, she easily fit into her brother's old clothes. She finished off her disguise with a cap that covered most of her bob of brown curls.

"How do I look?" Eva asked standing with her legs apart and hunching over slightly.

Charlotte's frown deepened, "Like a boy."

"Perfect." Eva quickly headed for the door.

Alarmed, Charlotte called out, "Shouldn't you stay her and rest before work?"

Usually Eva spent this time sleeping before her next shift at the pub, but not today. With Katherine's intelligence swirling around in her head, she could look at the city with a new pair of eyes. Maybe she could come up with some ideas on how to make more money.

As for why she dressed as a boy, it was far more dangerous for a young girl to be walking around unattended compared to a young boy.

After taking out the measly 3 shills she had saved from under the bed, she ignored Charlotte's questions and dashed out of the room, and down the narrow staircase.

The warm morning light was accompanied with the cawing gulls flying over the bay. The pub Eva worked at was just across the street, it was closed during the day and would open up again at night just in time for the harbour men to get off work and spend their earnings on liquor and hot food.

The fishermen were on the docks setting up the nets and organising their boats. They would head out to catch fish soon, and return in time to sell their produce to the early customers who would buy at the first bell.

When Eva was young she would come here accompanied by a servant. She loved to see the strange sea creatures that were caught in the nets beside the fish. None of what she saw in the nets compared to the marvellous and grotesque sea creatures from Katherine's memories that were kept in huge glass cages.

Turning right down the next street, she headed to the north end where the farmers market was being set up. The farmers rode to Ardenshore early this morning on their carts and were busy lining their stalls with produce.

Eva's stomach growled at the sight of meat. In Katherine's world, due to the large variety of vegetables and supplements available it was very easy for a person to maintain a vegetarian diet. But here where the variety of vegetables wasn't that good, people who could not afford to eat meat once in a while were often malnourished. For Eva and Charlotte it had been a good few months since they had eaten meat.

An old lady with a cart of flowers pulled by a donkey rode onto the edge of the street. Everybody called her Granny May. She used to set up a stall and sell turnips but since the her husband died and her sons married far away, she couldn't take the back bending work so she planted some seeds and she sold cheap flowers instead.

Her cart emitted a nice fragrance and soon a few people gathered around her. In Ardenshore there was always an occasion to gift flowers, in fact every holiday stipulated the gifting of flowers. Many florists in the city were thriving. However those flowers were rare and expensive. What Granny sold were common spring flowers that ranged from white to light pink in colour. These flowers were mostly bought by florists to be resold as extras in a bouquet.

When Katherine was in school, her science teacher had used dyes to change the colors of the flowers. Eva's eyes lit up as the idea spark in her mind. She took a few steps toward Granny May's cart but then stopped herself. She didn't know how to make food colouring which was necessary for dyeing flower petals. If she could figure out a way, reselling the flowers she dyed at a higher price could make her a few extra shills each month.

Eva purposely passed by the specialised flower shops to see what kind of flowers they sold. After checking out multiple shops, there was a clear absence of blue and black flowers, as expected. In Katherine's world and this one, there were very few naturally occurring blue and black flowers, especially in highly esteemed flowers like roses and peonies.

Wouldn't selling blue and black roses in this world make quite a stir?

Granny May's white roses sold for 3 shills per bunch which was about ten stems. Her cream and off—white roses were about 2 shills per bunch...

Eva's savings were only 3 shills. So if she bought even a single bunch, two thirds of her savings would be gone. In other words, she had to be sure she could dye the flowers before she bought them. But how could she make the dye...

As Eva was wracking her brain, trying to sift through Katherine's knowledge, a loud scream caught her attention.

Many heads on the busy street turned towards a back alley, where a woman in a torn dress was struggling to break free from the grasp of a burly man. The obviously drunken man held her wrists in his large fist and had her pressed against a wall. He lowered his head grinning down at her with a hungry look in his eyes.

Although some people nearby dashed over to try and help her, they quickly turned around and went back to minding their own business, pretending they didn't hear or see anything.

Eva naturally understood that their were two reasons for this. First, the attacker was wearing the dark grey suit worn by officials who worked at the magistrate's office. The Saltspindle district was managed by the magistrate's office, naturally the people who worked there were officials with a higher status than that of ordinary commoners. Going up to save a woman against such an official was asking for trouble. And who could afford trouble from higher ranking people?

The second reason was the woman herself, or more specifically, the alley she was in made it obvious that she was a lady of the night. And such women, would never be treated well by the general public.

Despite Eva and her family being thrown into abject poverty overnight, and living in the same streets as prostitutes, Eva and Charlotte maintained the belief that such lowly women were dirty and deserved to be outcasted. Thinking about it now, those beliefs had been taught to her by her parents and other adults in her life, lessons she had never questioned before, because she could never have imagined back then that her standing in life would plummet so drastically. A few months ago, when Eva only had a single shill to last them two weeks, the most desperate part of her had thought about wondering these streets and letting a man pay for her body, she was so hungry then... In the face of hunger, what wouldn't she do. Eva shook her head, not wanting to think about that painful time. Although she couldn't bring herself to like the idea of that line of work, she had experienced desperation and knew that there was no bottom line when it came to survival. So, Eva didn't think that woman deserved to be ignored when she called for help.

Eva didn't know where this bout of bravery came from, but she quickened her pace and dashed into the alley where the woman and the officer were still struggling. He was forcibly planting slobbery kisses on her exposed neck while his other hand sloppily tried taring her skirt. She was screaming and frantically trying to push him off but even in his drunken state, she couldn't resist much.

Before she could think of the consequences, Eva seized a discarded green liquor bottle and aimed for the officer's head, jumping off the stone steps of the nearest house. The thick glass shattered upon impact. With a disgruntled yelp the official staggered backward, reaching for his pained head. With unfocused and bloodshot eyes full of indignation he thrust his thick fist at Eva.

Caught off-guard, Eva couldn't dodge in time. The heavy blow landed right in the middle of her chest, knocking the air out of her, and throwing her back onto the brick wall. She coughed in pain, clutching her bruised chest as she slid down the wall.

"You—" His enraged voice abruptly faded away as he collapsed onto the ground in a puddle of murky water.

Eva's vision grew blurry. The morning sky dimmed and blended in with the dark alley. Once again her world faded away.