23 1st Lifetime: Revolution

The girl brought her downstairs, her smile plastered on her face. Mai looked on, amused. When they reached the area where the inn served food, the girl's eyes shifted to a man in a cloak before they shakily returned to Mai.

"So," she began to stutter even further, "w-w-what's your name?" Mai could not help but inwardly flinch at the young girl's painful smile.

"Margaret," Mai's reply was curt and short.

"Oh," the girl awkwardly giggled, "my name's Annabelle."

Mai nodded. "What is it?"

"What?" The girl looked startled at Mai's question. She grew ever more nervous as she clutched the edge of her shirt. "What do you mean?"

Pointing at one of the options for breakfast- an omelet with green peppers and cheese- Mai raised a brow. "What is it?"

Relief flooded the girl's features. "It's an omelet. It's good."

Mai nodded, hiding the sly smile within. Annabelle and the man with the cloak were probably from the Revolution.

"S-s-should we sit down?" Annabell asked, gesturing towards an empty table and chairs. It was a few tables away from the cloaked man, but he would have everything that happened within his sight and in earshot.

"Sure," Mai exposed her pearly whites. The girls sat, and the girl uncomfortably moved in the clothes that were obviously too new and too big for her. They waited for their breakfast to be served before the girl began a casual conversation.

"What made you come here?"

Mai cooly stared at her before breaking out into a grin. "I actually escaped here," Mai began, spearing a vegetable with her fork before lifting it up to observe it, "I had met up with another guy that was like me along the road, and he just so happened to cross paths with a merchant. Both that guy- his name is Elijah, by the way- and me know how to fight, so the old man asked us to go with him. So we went and when the merchant went his merry way, he left Elijah and me enough money to live comfortably for a while in the city."

The girl watched Mai with rapt attention. "Wow," she said, in awe.

Nodding, Mai brought the vegetable to her mouth and ate it. "Yep! It came out to be eight silvers!" Mai held out eight fingers, her face a mask of pride and eagerness.

Annabelle sighed in envy. "You're so lucky!"

Grinning, Mai speared another vegetable. "Thanks!"

The girls shared a smile. Afterwards, however, Annabelle could only regretfully remembered her reason for inviting Margaret. Tentatively, she looked at the beautiful, young girl before her. "So you're not a noble?" The words spilled out of her mouth; she had no way to stop them.

Pausing, Mai looked up from her dish. She made sure to make eye contact with the girl, showing her her clear, honest eyes. "Of course not!" Mai's voice was filled with derision and disgust. "I hate nobles!"

"You do?" Her words were filled with hope.

Mai resolutely nodded her head. "Yep! They broke my mom." She ended her sentence with a ruthless stab at her soup... with a fork.

"Oh," the girl deflated, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be," Mai continued, "I left, so it doesn't matter anymore."

Their table returned to silence. Annabelle began to fidget, her fork scraping the bottom of her plate. After a minute or two, she couldn't take it anymore, lifting her head up to look at Mai.

"Um-"

"Excuse me," a deep voice stopped her- it was the man with the cloak. "I need to speak with her."

Mai looked up in surprise, but inside she raised a brow. Annabelle was obviously going to invite her to the Resistance. Why would the man not allow her to?

Staring at the man for a beat too long, Mai smiled her I'm-a-clueless-girl-don't-mind-me smile. "Sure, I don't mind!" She tilted her head and waves goodbye to Annabelle. When they left her sight, Mai sighed. It was a good thing that she's young- people don't put up their defenses before her, thinking that she's a child.

"You can come out now, Elijah," Mai placed emphasis on Nicholas' fake name.

Nicholas coughed and went to sit where the girl was just there moments before. "The seat's warm," he offhandedly commented.

"What do you think?"

Nicholas looked back at the direction the man and the girl left to. "I think they're who we're looking for. Or at least people who know the people we're looking for."

"I think so too."

"What do you think we should do?"

Mai lifted her bowl of soup and drank it. When she finished, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "We should go to the bar like we planned."

"Why? Shouldn't we follow them?"

"That's what'll be suspicious," Mai decisively said. "When I spoke to them now, I could tell that they thought I was a noble."

"But Margaret was taught-"

"It doesn't matter. They're still suspicious of anybody that's a noble. We need to make our face known- we need to ensure that people know we're noble haters."

Nicholas nodded in understanding. "Then to the tavern we go."

..........

Mai slapped Nicholas' hand when he reached for the offered beer mug. She smiled at the man that offered it, however, her eyes turning into little crescent moons.

"You wouldn't happen to have heard of the Resistance, have you, sir?" Mai cheerfully asked, pinching Nicholas' side as she heard him mutter about the loss of the beer.

The man looked surprised at Mai's words. Indiscreetly looking at the man's face, Mai caught his microexpression of suspicion. "You see," Mai leaned in further, pretending to hide the information that she'll tell the man, "Elijah and I want to join." Her whisper was loud enough for people to hear her. Inwardly, she smiled.

"I'm sorry, young lady," the man's face darkened as he slammed the beer mug onto the counter. "We don't deal with their kind here."

Mai purposefully schooled her expression into surprise. However, she knew that The Cob Web was a branch of their main operations, despite looking like a regular tavern. Heith had told her this at midnight. That was the reason why she had been so cranky with the surprise visit.

"I'm sorry," Mai apologized, looking for all of the world like a scolded puppy. She turned to look at Nicholas. "Come on, Elijah, let's go."

Taking one last look at the beer mug, Nicholas sighed. "Sure." They turned away, walking out of The Cob Web's doors.

"Well that was a bust, wasn't it, Margaret." Nicholas whispered, disappointment flashing past his eyes.

"No, that was good."

His eyebrows were raised. "That didn't seem good."

"But we got their attention. Now they know that we want to join. We just have to wait until we gain their trust. Or..."

"Or what?"

"We can act like curious children, tailing behind a man who looks like he's a part of the Resistance." Mai pointed towards a man. "Let's go." Mai scurried over, following him into an alley.

Nicholas followed behind Mai as she went behind The Cob Web.

The suspicious man ducked into a cellar while Mai and Nicholas waited a few minutes to do the same.

The man was there, facing them. "I thought ye kids wouldda never entered." He had a wicked grin on his face.

Mai looked past the man and made eye contact with Annabelle. She calmly looked at the man again. "Is this the Resistance?"

Looking at her in shock before he burst into laughter, the man took three menacing steps closer. "Yes."

Mai broke out into a smile and rushed up to the man. She grabbed the hem of his shirt and waved it up and down, conveying her enthusiasm. "I can't believe it!" She chirped, her glowing orbs getting wider and wider, "I can't believe that we finally got to meet Resistance members!"

The man was taken aback. Taking back his shirt, he glared angrily at Mai. "Whaddaya want?"

Mai tilted her head. "Want? I only want to be a part of the Resistance!"

A general murmur went across the members that gathered behind the man. Glancing at them, the man turned back at Mai. "Well, ye can't." He crossed his arm. "Only commoners can join."

"But I am a commoner!" Mai insisted.

The man crossed his arms. "Prove it."

Mai seriously thought for a second, but eventually sighed. She deflated like a balloon, and all could see the unshed tears within her eyes. "No, I'm sorry. My father is a noble, but my mother was a maid. So, I'm technically a noble."

"Then you can't join," The man was adamant, however, a general wave of dissent could be heard from the crowd behind him.

"Come on, Ray! Don't be stubborn!" A female voice said from the crowd.

"Yeah, let that wee little girl join if she wants to!"

"Look, the po' girl's about to cry!"

"Fine, fine!" The man, Ray, uncrossed his arms. He looked reluctantly at Mai. "You can join, girly."

Mai smiled, her eyes becoming crescents. "Thank you!"

"But the boy can't."

"What?" Mai said, taken aback.

"The boy can't join," Ray was stubborn. A woman walked out of the crowd at this moment and hit him upside his head.

"Don't go actin' like a child now, Ray," the woman scolded, "Let that po' chil' go!"

"I'm not poor!" Nicholas muttered. Mai shot him a look- he needed to stay quiet.

The woman turned to look at Mai and Nicholas, a beaming smile across her face. "Welcome aboard, children! The name's Ava."

Mai looked at the plump woman. She had short brown hair pulled tightly in a bun, an apron over a plain dress, and calluses all over her hands.

"Thank you," Mai smiled.

Ava smiled back. She then clapped her hands. "This meeting's over," she said. The crowd then left, and Ava turned to Nicholas and Mai.

"Now children, what made ya want to join the Resistance?" Curiosity could be seen on Ava's face.

Mai glanced at Nicholas before she stepped forward. "My mother was a maid for this noble, but she was forced to have me as there was no heir. Unfortunately," Mai pointed to herself, "I'm female. The real mistress also got pregnant at around the same time that my mother did, and she-"

"Hadda boy?"

Mai nodded. "Yes. So, I was cast aside, although I was allowed to learn how to read and write because of my mother's pleading."

Ava turned to look at Nicholas. "Now what 'bout you, boy?"

Nicholas straightened up. "I'm Elijah. I only had one older sister, but-"

Distress flashed across Ava's brown eyes, "Don't tell me-"

Nodding, Nicolas grew silent. He tucked his head onto his chin and took a sniveling breath. Ava took one look and her heart softened for the beautiful boy. She rushed to him and enveloped Nicholas into a hug, soothingly patting the boy's back.

"Taking advantage of wee lads, Ava?" Ray popped up from behind. Ava was shocked and let go of Nicholas.

"O'course not!" She hit the back of Ray's head. Turning her gaze towards Mai, her eyes softened. "Ye look just lak me daughter, ye do." She took a lock of Mai's long, brown hair. "But she warn't as pretty as ye!" Ava laughed.

Mai blushed. "Thank you," she said, softly. Ava nodded and pulled at Mai's arm. Linking their arms together, Ava began to march towards the stairs on the other side of the entrance.

"Come on, boy!" she called out to Elijah, still tugging Mai's arm.

They walked up and out of the tavern, crossing the street to enter a different- and much larger- building. They stopped before a large open room filled with beds. "Usually new recruits havta go through a test, but I think you done did great." She let go of Mai's arm. "Here's your room, Elijah and-" She paused and hit her head. "Now look at me! I done forgot to ask for ye name, girly!"

"Margaret."

"Margaret. What a pretty name. My daughter's name was Sarah, just so ye know." Ava smoothened out a bed before she lumbered her way outside toward the corridor. Mai and Nicholas glanced at each other then followed after Ava.

"This here's the dining hall," she pointed towards a larger open space with no chairs or tables. She continued on with the door, showing them the different rooms and their functions to the two children.

Finally, once the day neared dinnertime, Ava lead them back to the dining hall where already there were people sitting down with bowls in their laps.

"Go 'head and eat, dears," she said, her eyes filled with a kindness that was ever-so-familiar to Mai.

"Claire?" she asked, looking at the plump figure of a woman before her. Although Mai couldn't find the resemblance between the woman before her and her mentor of her previous life, the kindness and gentleness in their gazes were the same.

"What's that, dearie?" Ava asked, turning her head to the short girl before her.

"Nothing." Mai shook her head. "I was just wondering what we'll have to eat."

"Oh!" Ava looked around. "Ah'm guessing that it'll be porridge." She ruefully smiled. "Just lak it had been for a few days."

Nodding quietly, Mai watched as Ava left.

"She's quite interesting." Nicholas' voice entered Mai's ears. Surprised, Mai jerked away, covering her ear.

"Don't do that," Mai whispered back, furiously. It tickled.

"Margaret," Nicholas said. He looked around at the people on the floor. "Let's get something to eat."

Mai nodded. She needed to get into character. "So, Elijah," she said as they lined up in front of a person with a large pot of porridge. "What do you think of the place so far?"

Nicholas smiled, but his voice was monotone. "I like it."

Mai pinched his waist. Inconspicuously leaning in, she whispered, "Act natural, idiot!"

"Ahahaha," Nicholas said, "I loved the, uh, bedrooms...?"

"I think it's a good cause," Mai continued, ignoring Nicholas. She held out the bowl to the woman before the pot. Nicholas did the same. "I can't wait to go ahead and start helping!"

"Me too."

They shared a smile.

................

Returning to their room, Mai noticed that the others were there already. There were twenty beds. Mai noticed that the room was divided by gender- girls were on the right side of the room and boys were on the left side. Nodding her head bye to Nicholas, Mai went to her bed which was the nearest to the door. All of the rest of the children were already asleep.

Without bothering to change her clothes as she didn't have anything to change to, Mai laid down. She was waiting for night to fall, so that the black figure can once again arrive.

She smiled. Even without the trust of the people around her, as long as she pays attention, she'll be able to give valuable information to the nobles.

It was her goal to stop this without a fight.