Ten of Swords (Draft Only)

Chapter 26

Alena hummed a tune to herself that Elise had never heard anywhere else. The girl assumed it must have been a song that Alena's mother had sung to her a long time ago. Not that she had any idea what mothers were like, but she had read about lullabies in some of the children's books that taught her literacy.

Heavily pregnant, the woman carefully worked on creating coverings for her child. Since she would have no idea what size the infant would be, she had made wraps and cloth nappies to help her keep the child warm and clean. The items themselves were already in a functional state, so the work she did now was just for her own amusement. There wasn't a lot to do in hiding, and she had already ensured that the clothing of her young roommate had been cleaned and mended.

"Elise? Are you going out again tonight?" She sighed. "You really shouldn't go out when it's dark. It really isn't safe."

The girl was strapping herself into her boots and making sure she had all her tools hidden away on her person. "For most people, you mean." She had the kind of natural bravado and fearlessness that only teenagers and the inebriated possessed. Death and suffering were things that happened, but they wouldn't happen to her. At that point in her life, she simply couldn't conceive of a situation taking place in which she wouldn't come out on top.

There was some guilt to be found, knowing that she made Alena worry. Unfortunately, there was no way around it. Money was hard to come by, especially for a young pregnant woman and a fifteen-year-old girl who were out on their own. They were only lucky that the poorhouse's landlord didn't care about any of that, so long as they paid their rent on time. Most of the places around the city that offered cheap rent came with foul conditions or harsh entry requirements. At least it was affordable. The same couldn't be said for other essentials, like food and textiles.

Alena sighed. Elise frowned. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"I'm going to bed," the woman responded with a hint of frustration. When she was like that, Elise knew that she wouldn't acknowledge her until the next morning. It was a poorly attempt to have Elise listen to her, but there was little else she could do. Alena didn't have a single disciplinary bone in her body, and it wasn't as though she was Elise's caretaker. All the rooms were full and there was nowhere else that would take Elise, since she was child out on her own, but Alena had been kind enough to offer her a place to stay.

The sky was dark, and the streets were barely illuminated by lamps intended to help people find their way home. Most nights Elise would be working, breaking into shops and scrounging around for merchandise and money. Tonight though, she was going to take a little break before she went to work. It was her birthday, after all. Like every other year, she panned on being a terror. A big fuck you to the world that had given her nothing, rubbing in its face the fact that in spite of everything, she was still alive.

She broke into one of the warehouses though a high window while the guard napped outside the front door. Instead of looking for valuables, she stole a can of furniture paint. It was bright yellow, cheaper and more common than red, green, or blue, but certainly more expensive and eye-catching than a brown. After she escaped though the same window she broken in through and cracked open the tin with her dagger and got to work defacing as many businesses and homes of the fortunate as possible.

She wrote crude things that she had never read but could guess the spelling for and drew poor representations of guards being set on fire and jewellery being thrown in the river. Splinters dug into her fingertips from drawing on the wooden walls, but she didn't care. She wanted there to be something funny to see when she walked around town. Something that brought her joy. Drinking and eating may have brought some people joy on their birthdays, but that sort of thing was a waste of money when you didn't have much, and it wasn't nearly quite so entertaining.