LES DÉSCENDANTS

~Chapter 4: Ce Qu'ils Ont Trouvé (What They Found)~

Avenir POV:

We arrived back to the peaceful wood, where the fierce girl was keeping watch while the rest of the Unnamed slept.  I introduced her to all of the amis, and she immediately picked up little Nadeleine with a gasp of delight.

"But what's her name?" protested Courf.

"Haven't chosen one yet," the girl shrugged.

"You have to have a name, though...otherwise, you're letting them win!  They're taking your power from you...that's what they meant to do.  To demean you all."

"Courf," I reminded him gently, "I didn't even pick a name for myself, it came to me."

"Precisely," commented the girl.  "As mine will, too, when it's decided.  What we must decide on now is the fate of Nadeleine, our ray of hope."

"We must leave immediately for Paris," I spoke up.  "Enjolras is headed there, if not already inside.  He could be in grave danger."

"I have felt a sense of doom," commented the girl.  "We must make haste."

"Wait," spoke Combeferre, "we can't have all of them going to Paris!  These are children."

"I can't have all of you going either," I said, regarding 'Ferre, Feuilly, Bahorel, Bossuet, and Joly.

"I should go; I'm a doctor!" protested Joly.  "I could help Enjolras if he's hurt."

"A fair point, ami," I responded.  

"And myself," spoke up Bahorel.  "These fists could cut through stone."

"I'm aware," I smirked, just as Bossuet spoke up that he wouldn't be much luck at all.

"You and Feuilly can stay with Combeferre," I spoke.  "There must be about sixty of us here.  That's about twenty Unnamed per student.  Plus, watch over Nadeleine."

"Enjolras would want us all there," protested Feuilly.

"Enjolras would want your lives spared," I corrected.  "And we have many leaders among the children here, who will help you watch over the young ones who are scared.  You can do much good here.  Have you brought weapons?"

"Some pistols; Bossuet has two rapiers," said Feuilly.

"Good.  You might need them if we're captured," commented the girl.

"We?"

"Of course, I'm going with you."

"You're the leader!" I protested.

"No, Avenir, you are they.  We have plenty of strong leaders here as well.  Sasha.  Trudy."

"My old friends," I mused.

"And new," she replied, smiling at Feuilly, Bossuet, and Combeferre - who were already going about checking in with those who were awake and frightened.  "I will not be missed.  I will come with you."

I walked over to 'Ferre.  "You could get trapped here," I whispered.

"It's you they want, not myself.  Not Enjolras," he protested.

"I know that!" I hissed.  "But they could kill you in the process!"

"Hush," spoke 'Ferre.

"I will not -"

"No.  Listen."

Young Nadeleine was with Bossuet again, the two having hit it off earlier, and she was singing:

I need a place where I can go

Where I can whisper what I know

Where I can whisper who I like