Make It or Break It (Itachi | celestine)

Serenity was not quite a woman, yet not quite just a girl. The sole child of the king, she was one of the most cherished treasures of the kingdom - at least in regards to royalty. She was left with gardens and dresses of beauty and jewels that could easily feed some of the smaller kingdoms for a year. She was given all that she asked for and much of what she didn't even think to ask. When she'd expressed curiosity about archery after having seen an arrow, the king immediately put out a call for the best archers in the kingdom to tutor his daughter. When she expresses an interest in flowers, herbs, and plants, the king called put forth another call for those well versed in nature. It was no secret that her father doted on her, the only living memory of his late wife... But it was she whom he hid from the eye of his subjects just as he hid the rulings of the kingdom and its peasants away from her. She knew all that she wanted about music, flowers, archery, gems, and many other things... But something that she'd never be taught - whilst living under her father's thumb - was the poverty of the people and what the state of affairs was. In fact, the young princess might never have found out if not for her curiosity.

She'd been carefully moving through the castle, neatly avoiding her advisers, and in search of her father. One of the things that she'd never been shown or exposed to was what he did. Of course, she'd never really understood why. He'd practically placed in something of a garden filled with all the beauty and joy in life that a person could take and confined her there in locking away the other parts that she wanted to know about - all she knew about the kingdom was its border, its geography, and that it was happy and filled with wealth and bountiful food from several good harvests.

Of course, this was a lie.

Hearing her father's commanding voice, she gave a soft and contented smile, pleased to know she was near him. She couldn't yet make out his words, though. As she got closer, she gradually heard more and more... And grew confused.

"Y-Your Majesty! Please, we beg you to be lenient!" she heard a man calling out. "We can no longer feed even our children!" Well that certainly didn't make sense, Serenity though. Everyone had food! Were they from a neighboring country? She moved even closer.

"Enough!" she heard her father's booming voice. "You will continue to pay the taxes required of you! There is no reason for me to believe that you are starving! We take only two-thirds of your yearly harvest - the remaining one-third should be more than enough!"

"But Your Majesty, there are too many of us now! So many of us have begun growing ill from hunger that--"

"I said enough!" her father cut the man off. He returned to the royal we - "We will not change any of our conditions at this time, but you are welcome to petition again next week."

Her eyes wide, Serenity backed away from the place she heard the voices coming from and fled down the hall, back to her room. This... This required a lot of thinking. It was only an hour later that she made her decision: She needed to see this all for herself instead of relying on others.

Aware that her father would be in the audience chamber for several hours still, she called for one of her maids. The maid was a friend - someone that would never spill her secrets. Working quickly, they were able to pack Serenity a bag. It was filled with precious gems and jewelry. Serenity changed into a tunic and breeches, carefully packing her dress... She knew it wasn't something she'd be able to use or wear amongst the commoners simply from the grain of the cloth, but she still wanted to keep it. It was one of her favorites. They got two days' worth of trail rations, a pouch of the kingdom's currency, and a bow with a matching arrow-filled quiver. Serenity was a gentle girl, but she, too, could be strong... Or so she hoped. Having been sheltered all her life, she knew she'd need help.

"Won't you come with me?" she asked her maid.

The girl shook her head. "I shall explain to your father what you intend to do," her maid answered with a smile. The consequences would be dire... Which was something the maid knew, if not the princess. If the maid went as well, then others would suffer immensely. It was better for her to take the punishment she deserved... Besides, this was for the greater good. If the princess saw what was happening, perhaps she could convince her father to stop it...

Serenity left a letter with the girl, explaining what she planned to do and why. She hoped it would stay her father's anger, but there was only so much she could do.... But as it was, there was only so much she could do. They acquired a speedy horse from the stable boy - one that was guaranteed to return to its home because of the markings on the bridle (for no one was bold enough to steal a horse of the king).

Mysterious caravans had recently appeared, coming from no apparent city within the kingdom. Stories of the merchants giving discounts, charity and even arms to the lower classes began to circulate among the streets, though the peasants were careful to hold their tongues around their "betters," who paid high premiums for the same goods. More peculiar still was the fact that after the merchants left, they seemed to leave chaos in their wake; panicked guards could often be seen hurrying to attend to some matter or another, and occasionally an important document would go missing, or a government official's body would be discovered.

The suspicious activity had been noted, but there was rarely any contraband found when the wares were searched, and while those few who were caught were dealt with harshly, no connection had been formed between them and the other mysterious traders. Ander had planned too carefully to get caught, setting up strategically timed raids, selling the stolen goods to neighboring kingdoms, and bringing back foreign goods for trade. The King's careless spending was funding the rebellion under his nose, his taxing driving more and more people to fight him.

Breathing a sigh of relief as he was allowed to pass through a checkpoint, Anders urged his horses to trot faster, trying hard not to look over his should from the driver's seat of his wagon. He had slipped into the belly of the beast, and was on his way out again with a bounty of riches for his cause. The man was almost in disbelief at how well things had gone, when he heard hooves beating against the road, and saw the man in the military uniform riding beside him.

"One more thing we almost forgot," the guard sneered, gesturing to a rapier on Ander's hip. "Cur like you shouldn't be carrying weapons. Hand it over."

Ander's eyes widened for just a moment at the request. In addition to trading, he and his merchants gathered intelligence for the war and sabotaged what they could of the king's. In his haste to evade detection, he left blood on his blade, and if it was drawn there was no question that he would be taken into custody and interrogated.

"Of course, sir." he complied, removing the sword from his belt and handing it over. A noise somewhere between a laugh and a grunt escaped the guard, before he took his new prize and began to ride back to his post. Waiting until there was adequate distance between him and the guard, Anders whipped his horses into a gallop, driving them as fast as he could down a long road to a neighboring city. He pictured the smiling faces of his friends, and how they would laugh at their success when they next met; he refused to acknowledge the naked feeling of being without a sword on such a treacherous journey, nor would he turn to see if he the guard had drawn his new blade.

A few miles down the road, the intact wagon slowed to a trot, to conserve the horse's stamina for the long road ahead.

She'd long since found herself immersed in the world around her, but Serenity was continually being shocked by the events that she witnessed firsthand. People were starving... not just suffering, but dying because of the way her father was ruling. Simply introducing herself as a traveler from a foreign country had her welcomed easily enough - fortunately, no one recognized her because of her father's zealous need to keep her hidden from all but himself and a select few servants... Admittedly, she sometimes would sneak out of the halls she was allowed to wander through which had likely led to some ghost haunting stories, but nonetheless, she'd ventured out from time to time. She was obedient, but not stupid, but somehow, faced with the true extent of what her father had kept hidden from her, she couldn't but feel that she was, perhaps, stupid. How else could she have been kept hidden from the face of so much suffering? After the first few days, she'd been able to slowly amass an image of how her people viewed her father.

He was, without a doubt, a tyrant. She'd been horrified to learn it, but had been forced to accept it. She spent her money carefully, purchasing food and drink and shelter only when she needed it, but with the way these people were forced to live, it was no surprise to her that the prices had been driven up because of the way that the economy suffered and they all hungered for food and life. As a result, she'd decided she'd seek work. She did not yet want to part with the precious stones because each, despite its worth, also held sentimental value to her... And somehow, she understood that in a place ravaged by hunger, those that traveled would undoubtedly be threatened by bandits, many of whom drew their numbers from the poor... and yet fed on the slightly less poor. It was a cycle bound to strengthen the numbers of the bandits and weaken the number of those that could be preyed upon... And the richer the merchants were, the more mercenaries and guards they hired.

It hurt her heart to think about all the pain and suffering, but she could not help but feel that she must do something... No, as she'd heard of a caravan of merchants that traveled and distributed discounts, charity, and even weapons to those that could not afford them to protect themselves, she'd gained hope. There was a group that still believed that her countrymen could be saved - and she would join their number to seek their advice and aid.

It was well over three weeks when she began to get closer. She'd begun tracking them through rumors and whispers from the lower classes. The higher she'd seeked, the less she'd found, and so she knew to dig low... Now, though, her chase had her following on foot after freeing the castle's horse to return to its stable at home. She'd considered purchasing a horse, but had decided against it upon realizing that while it would make travel easier, it would make accommodating more difficult. And chances were, she'd be more likely to be robbed. Those with horses had the money to care for them, and money was the equivalent of food here in the city.

Despite the many troubles she'd come across - her father had not yet called for her return publicly that she'd heard of - but he had begun to increase the taxes on the lower class, this time at an apparently ridiculous rate... or so she heard.

Yet these thoughts would soon be behind her. She watched as one of the guards at the border post of the city followed after a caravan, leaving with an object - one that, as she drew closer - she saw the man strap to his waist. It was a sword. Serenity's eyes narrowed. A city guard had just taken a sword from a caravan... Knowing full well the dangers of the road. So not only did her people suffer, but now they suffered under tyrants lower than even her father - in the form of brutes and curs that thought only of their own bellies and greed. These were the men that made her country suffer further... And it was men such as this that she felt her country did not need. Disgusted, Serenity turned into her surroundings, keeping an eye on the man. Stepping into a dark alley, she watched her surroundings. Confident no one was watching her, she quickly strung her bow. She checked the alley for escape routes and then took her shot. He was the only guard at that particular post and he'd been greedy. The loss of one such as him would not do much, especially when it would help free the city of a cruel man.

Carefully, she drew an arrow, knocked it, prepared her shot, and, upon finding the perfect moment, released the arrow, immediately moving away from her location to a less opportune location - one that would seem less suspicious. She unstrung her bow and carefully coiled the oiled strings into the parchment she'd taken to carrying with her. Checking her surroundings, she realized nothing was out of place. Checking to see the guard, she saw that no one had so much as bothered to look at him, much less raise a cry of alarm.

She approached carefully, but in such a way that she would still look confident to those around her. Enough that they would not attack her. She took the sword from the man's body and straightened. Looking towards those that were watching her warily, she merely smiled pleasantly. She'd seen the weight of his belt purse as she'd moved the sword away. It was heavy and bulging with the obvious print of coins. "This is all that I wanted," she spoke gently. "If you saw nothing, then certainly, I will be happy to leave with what I have." At the sudden hope appearing in their eyes, she merely broke the end of her arrow off - the feathers were good and could possibly be reused - and turned to walk away, the sword strapped to her hip until she caught up to the caravan. It was, she felt, the one she was looking for.