Fanning the Flames of Rebellion [A Lunar Chronicles Fanfic]

Chapter 30

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Winter stepped off the hover, waving to Jacin. She was going to miss him. His smiles, though they were very few, his banter, and his warm soothing words. She waited until the hover drove away to put her glamour on. It felt weird, she hadn't used it in such a long time.

The person she transformed into was completely different from what she actually looked like, so no one would recognize her. She had midnight black, straight hair that stopped just above her shoulders, cherry red lips, dark brown eyes, and skin white as snow.

Winter also changed her clothes from an emerald gown to a torn, wrinkled neutral dress and made sure to add a few knots to her hair. She also changed her slippers to brown, rugged leather, ankle-high boots. She knew she would fit right in with this industrial sector. Their filthy clothes and poor hygiene, Winter never knew how dirty a person could get until then. She was glad Jacin had dropped her off at an alleyway, with no one around, so it wasn't suspicious when the princess turned into a town regular.

Winter started towards a small cottage that looked the least shady of them all. It was cute, she thought. It had cobblestone bricks up the walls and a little chimney upon the rugged roof. Though no one was allowed to emit smoke on Luna, people used them for decoration, they were made popular in the second era to do just that.

The little house looked unoccupied, there were no lights on, even the artificial plants looked wilted. A depressing sight, yes, but more depressing than the others? No. Winter looked both ways, a habit, before crossing the street.

The house was smaller than she thought. In fact, she was taller than it, even when her glamour made her six inches shorter than her normal height. Winter knocked four times on the wooden door. No one answered. She knocked again, but silence.

She looked around, it was mid-day, meaning all adults were off at work. Either someone owned the home, and they just weren't there or no one lived there at all. Winter decided to take a chance and try to get in the home. She wiggled the knob and suprisingly, it opened.

A gust of musty air greeted her as she stepped in the messy home. There were clothes strewn about, dishes sitting in the sink, dirt and grime splattered on the walls and what looked like... pasta sauce? It was a complete mess.

Winter made her way to the other side of the room. She jumped when seeing seven lifeless androids laying on the floor. She checked each one of them, all out of battery, in need of a good charge. She looked around for an outlet to plug them into, to her delight there was one behind a pile of small shoes. Winter crawled over to it, clearing the garments out of her way dragging two androids with her. She plugged them in, with one socket available. She plugged another in.

Winter waited for a few minutes and got bored waiting for the androids to charge. She got up and impulsively, started doing the dishes. Washing them off, drying them, and putting them away gingerly. So much for not leaving any evidence of my being here, she thought.

After the dishes were done, the androids had been fully charged, well, three of them.

"It's about time." Winter said. "Hello there."

The androids flickered to life and stayed silent, except one. "Hello, what is it that you need?" It said, monotone.

"I kinda need help cleaning. It's a mess over here."

The androids started moving but were held back by the cords that were still plugged into the outlets.

"Wait!" Winter yelled, ripping the cords out of the sockets. "You have to wait until I disconnect you guys."

"We are sorry, Mistress." Another android said, rolling off with the others. They started picking up clothes they registered as dirty and put them in the lower compartments of their pear shaped bodies and rolled off.

Winter pulled three more androids to the outlets and plugged them in too. She sighed, it was going to be more stressful than she thought. She got up, checking her glamour. It was still up, good, she thought, you'll need to have it up for a long time. It didn't take much energy to do it, actually, it felt like setting natural. That's what sickened her.

Winter shrugged it off, there were more important things to do than sit and think about how much of a disgrace she was, like cleaning the filth off the walls.

She filled a loose bucket with water and soap and began scrubbing the walls. The androids came rolling in again, loading more clothing into themselves.

"Where are you putting those?" Winter questioned, curious.

"The washer and dryer, Mistress. Do you have any other preferences?" One replied.

"No, no, it's okay." Winter returned to her work. The filth started coming off, to her pleasure. But she started getting hot and got up to turn the air conditioner on. A rush of cool air filled the room. Winter sighed and continued working.

Hours later, the clothing was all gone, walls clean, dishes washed and dried, androids charged, and floor cleaned throughout the house. Winter made sure to spray the air with freshener to wash away the musty smell of sweat and metal and grease. Winter was more than tired, she was exhausted. She laid on the couch and quickly fell into a deep sleep.