Heavy is the Crown

1

"This isn't right."

"But everyone is hungry and we haven't been paid in weeks. So too bad."

"...Fine. But we're only getting one bag and that's it."

The two girls could agree on that. They kept their voices low as they walked amongst the other townspeople in the marketplace, trying not to draw any attention towards themselves. It was best to do this when there were more people around instead of less. This way, not all eyes were on them.

It wasn't like they wanted to do this. They would prefer not to. But when their boss never paid them on time like he was supposed to, they unfortunately had to resort to other ways to feed themselves and their loved ones. As if they didn't suffer enough working as blacksmiths and coming home with bloodied and burnt hands, they never knew when exactly their next meal would be unless they stole it.

Anetra was always more hesitant to do this type of thing. She knew the townspeople who worked to sell their produce worked just as hard as they did, but she had no choice. Not when her pockets were empty and so were the mouths of the younger kids she lived with. Her family had to come first.

Irene was the opposite. Unlike Anetra, she wasn't afraid to potentially start some sort of fight over a simple apple if it meant getting to take it home. After years of living this way, her morals that told her stealing was wrong had melted away. She was purely focused on feeding their family.

So she did most of the work while Anetra held the cloth bag open for her.

"Just don't cause a scene..." Anetra said quietly, watching as her friend's eyes landed on a fruit laden stand. The owners of it were too busy talking to other people to notice them.

"I will if I have to." Irene mumbled under her breath, acting as if she was examining the produce. She slowly knocked down a pear, and Anetra quickly caught it in the bag that she kept down close to her legs. The two girls paused for a moment, waiting to see if anyone would call them out or pay attention to them. No one did.

So Irene moved on down the line, discreetly knocking down different fruits and other produce for Anetra to catch as they walked. Anetra watched as the bag filled up, her anxiety growing the longer it took to do this. "Irene...?"

"Almost done." Irene said, turning to face another one of the marketplace vendors. Loaves of bread were piled up on one end of the tables, and the girl's eyes sparked with determination. "Come on, just one more thing."

Anetra shook her head. "This is enough-" She grabbed onto her friend's arm to stop her from walking over. "Please, we've already taken too much."

"But I'm hungry-" Irene huffed quietly, turning to face her. "And so are the others. Sasha especially, even though she won't admit it. I know she hates when we do this, but we have no other option."

Anetra sighed and hung her head, glancing down at the bag. "Fine..."

And so Irene led her through the ever growing marketplace crowd and over to the other vendors. Anetra hated doing this. She felt so guilty and selfish. She was silent, kicking up gravel from the ground underneath her as Irene pretended to examine everything until the townspeople were distracted. She grabbed a loaf quickly and shoved it down into the bag, taking it from Anetra and quickly closing it. "Alright, let's get out of here."

"Finally." Anetra mumbled, letting her grab her arm as they maneuvered their way through everyone else who was busy actually shopping until they were out of the marketplace and on the road to home.

As the sun went down, the soreness in Anetra's muscles began to settle in. Just like it did every day. She sighed as she lagged behind a little. She didn't really like what they had to do for work, but they had to do it. Making horseshoes and nails and other metal items wasn't at all fun, and it was wearing both of them down. Anetra just showed it a little more than Irene did.