The Rugged Edge

Chapter 8: The Rebellion

The world could only seem darker still,
or at least that's what I thought.
Then I saw the smiles around that spot,
and I saw the light there, too.

. . . . .

Once outside, I found myself face to face with Aldith, the woman rebel. She smiled amiably at me.

"Would you like me to show you around?" she asked.

"Sure," I shrugged, though I was actually very curious as to the camp.

She smiled again and began to walk around.

Dozens of faces looked curiously at us as we went. I distinctly heard a young lady saying to her friend, "Must be a new recruit."

Aldith led me to the fireside, where Cyneric was already sitting. She sat down on an adjacent mat and motioned for me to sit, too.

"Alright," she began, "here's Cyneric, whom you already know; then there's Bertha;" pointing to a woman with brown, curly hair, and a curious smile, "and Zelda;" to a dark-haired young lady who only gazed quietly at the new recruit, "and Mae," Aldith pointed to a woman with dark brown hair and shockingly grey eyes, and a gentle and motherly face. "There's Curtis, over there; Elbert;" an elderly man with a thin face and grey hair, "And Roland is on his left side..."

Introductions lasted a while. I listened and nodded, acknowledging each face and trying to place names on each one. In the meanwhile, I noticed the tension throughout the camp. There was little talking, as if no one knew that they were in the middle of the forest and it was unlikely that anyone could hear them. Maybe the fact that it was so late, or maybe the importance of the task, or even the mere idea of being in a rebellion caused the stressed hush, but I couldn't say.

Eventually I had heard everyone's names and the hush lifted by a few degrees. Quiet voices discussed topics such as dinner and hunting. Nothing interesting happened to me for a while. I was pleased to listen to the small talk.

After a while, the hunting party returned. It was a small group of men, young or middle-aged, dressed in tree-blending green cloaks and carrying the kill on their shoulders. Most of this was rabbits, but the hunters had managed to catch a deer.

The women jumped up, hustling to the pots and starting to boil the water while the men settled by the cutting boards. I stayed where I was since I didn't know how to help, barely knowing how to cook. Presently a girl came up to me.

"Hello," she said happily.

She'd been introduced to me, but I couldn't quite remember her name. She looked about my age. She was wearing a very dirty red frock with an apron and her tawny brown hair was done up in a braid at the back of her head. But what struck me was her smile: her cheeks rose level to her big green eyes and were speckled with freckles and detailed with a dimple. It was the most genuine smile I'd ever seen. She seemed to have been made to smile, and this I couldn't understand, because the camp seemed so quiet and tense.

I'm also quite sure that it seemed amazing to me simply because I'd never been able to smile like that myself.

"My name is Quinnie," said the girl. "I saw you with Aldith earlier. Are you new? Did you come with your family?"

"No, I didn't. I'm Eloise."

"Perfectly pleased to meet you." And she looked it.

Quinnie plopped down next to me on the log I was sitting on. "What do you think?"

"Of what?"

"Of the camp."

"Oh." I would have said, "yes, quite pleasant," but for some reason I didn't feel like lying to Quinnie. "It's quiet," I said.