___________________________________________
C a l i
___________________________________________|Username:| Ivyscribblez
|Name:| Cali
|Biological gender:| Female
|Crazyness:|
“Is this the… resistance?”
Cali stuck her head inside the cabin and gazed around. A black and icey blue Viscet was standing with her back to the door, muttering to herself. Cali cleared her throat.
The black and blue Viscet looked up. “Oh! No.. uh, this is the
farmers council,” The black Viscet glared a little at Cali, emphasizing that Cali had made a mistake. As was usual.
“Sorry. Right. Um, may I come in..?” Cali said a little awkwardly. She’d already messed things up with the resistance leader and she’d only been there about 10 seconds.
“Yeah. Come in, sit down. The rest of us should be here soon..” The black Viscet quickly gestured her in, closing the door behind Cali.
“I’m Rachel,” The black Viscet said as she stood with her back to the door. “And yes, this is the resistance,” she added in a quieter voice. “We can’t exactly go around telling everyone that. If you want to join us, you’ll need to be more careful.”
Cali nodded, though she could feel her cheeks going red. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m Cali. I can be bad about those things sometimes.”
Rachel shoook her head a bit. “It’s fine, just don’t do it again.” She grabbed a few parchment scrolls from a nearby table and came over to the table she had been sitting at when Cali came in. “Well, you going to sit down or just stand there?”
Embarrassed once more, Cali dragged a chair out and sat across from Rachel. She wasn’t sure if she should start a conversation or wait for Rachel to tell her what was going on; so she sat there and waited for Rachel to do something. Very awkwardly.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. “You got any questions before you decide to join or anything..?” It looked as though she thought Cali was moderalty stupid; based on the way her cold blue eyes swept her over.
Cali blinked. “Uh, yeah, actually.” She shifted in her chair. “How many other people are doing this?”
Rachel considered this for a minute. “Well, probably around 30 to 40. Some people aren’t really active members, though.”
“30 to 40?” Cali exclaimed. “That’s… it?”
Rachel glanced at Cali. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”
Cali shook her head rapidly. “No, no. I just thought there would be more people who want to take down the Emperor. He’s a really big jerk. Which is why I want to take him down..” Cali frowned. “I’d certainly like to join.”
Rachel snorted a little. “Sounds like you hate him enough, then,” She scribbled down something on her parchment. “Which is what we’re looking for in members. Not that we can be picky.” She stood up and held out her paw. “Congrats, Cali. You’ve officially joined the most dangerous farmer’s council in the world.”
***
Cali shivered and shook the snow from her fur. She glanced around at the path ahead of her, away from her village and into the woods. She’d gone down it before, in late fall. Now, in the middle of winter, it was time for the Resistance’s first official meeting. Cali had to be sure she was quick and careful.
She stepped out into the snow and wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck. Glancing to see if any of her neighbors were looking, she made her way into the snowy forest ahead.
It took Cali a while to find the cabin again. When she finally did, a Viscet she had never seen before opened the door for her. She thanked them, then stepped in to the cabin. She took a glance at the room- like Rachel had estimated, there were around 30 to 40 Viscets mingling around the cabin. Cali didn’t see Rachel anywhere, so she just sat at the same table she had talked to Rachel at.
A door opened and Rachel came in from a sperate room in the cabin. She had a roll of parchment and a quill in her paws, and she was muttering to herself about something. She brightened up when she saw all the gathered Viscets, and jumped up onto the empty fireplace.
“Alright everyone, quiet down please,” Rachel said, keeping her voice down but talking louder than the rest of the gathered Viscets. “We’ve officially started our farmer’s council.” She smirked.
“Now that we’re- not exactly decently, but maybe
sufficiently sized- we can actually start to tear the Emperor down. But of course, we’ll need to start small. Small could mean anything you want it to, though. So we’re going to set fire to the Emperor’s artifact room.”
Cali froze.
Fire.
No, no, no.
Not fire.
Cali drew in a breath. Calm down, she told herself. It’s okay. You can talk to Rachel after the meeting, tell her you can’t do fire… Cali tried to get control, squeezing her eyes closed.
Just the thought of a burning building made Cali clutch her scarf protectively. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered the huge, angry red flames devouring her childhood home. No, she told herself. Don’t. Not here. Not now.
Cali took a deep breath and tried to re-focus on what Rachel had been saying. More talk about fire. She shook her head and stood up, heading towards the exit. She had almost made it to the door when Rachel stopped her.
“Cali,” Rachel started. “You’re not going to chicken out on us now, are you?” She asked, her eyes narrowed.
Cali shook her head. “No, no. I just can’t stay with all this talk about fire. I- I had bad experiences with it as a child. I don’t want to burn a building down.”
Rachel seemed like she wasn’t sure if she should be sympathetic or angry. She considered Cali for a moment, her blue eyes calculating. After a moment, she asked; “What kind of… bad experiences?”
Cali wanted to scream. She drew a shaky breath, holding back tears. “My childhood house burned to the ground. My grandmother died in that fire to save me.” Cali whispered.
Rachel nodded slowly. “Oh… uh, I’m sorry. You know what, Cali, you don’t have to burn the building if you don’t want to.”
Cali exhaled. “Thank you,” she breathed. “I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll do better in future plans.”
“It’s not a problem, Cali,” Rachel smiled at her. “You can go, I guess. See you next meeting.”
Cali nodded. “Bye then,” She said, and headed back through the snowy forest.
***
Cali lay in bed that night staring up at the ceiling and remembering.
The fire was her fault. She had left the hearth going after her mother had told her to turn it off. Cali was tired and convinced they would be okay. It wasn’t likely that anything could get out and start a fire.
She was wrong, though. Cali and her family wern’t sure, but their theory was that arouge ember had gotten out onto the rug, just hot enough to set it on fire. That had caused the rest of the house to go up in flames as well, Cali and her family still inside.
Cali had been trapped in the corridor with just her and her grandmother, a flaming beam seperating them from the exit. Cali’s grandmother had held the beam up just wide enough for Cali to escape, but the heat of the beam and the position wasn’t right for two Viscets to escape. Cali had gotten out with nothing but her scarf, a gift from her grandmother that she had been given the past night.
Cali still felt guilty about it as she sat in her bed, staring at the pale moonlight filtering through her window. It was her fault that the fire had started in the first place, as far as they knew. It was her fault that her wonderful grandmother was dead.
She thought about Rachel’s plan to burn down the artifact room. To be completely honest, it was a good plan. The artifact room was something that only the Emperor used, unless you had permission. Cali wondered what the Emperor kept in there that was too important for anyone other than him to see. Then again, he was the most tyrannical leader the kingdom had ever had. He technically wasn’t even supposed to be ruling.
Cali turned over on her bed. What if she got into the artifact room? She considered this for a second, her stomach a little queasy. Would that be a mistake, like usual? It might be able to inspire more Viscets to join the resistance if she was able to steal something terrible enough. Maybe she could find something motivating enough to burn down the room.
Why not? She was already in a resistance against the Emperor, and it wasn’t like they kept the room heavily guarded anyways. In fact, Cali was pretty sure they just had a lock on the door.
Cali slowly slid out of bed. This was a good idea… right? She hoped it wasn’t a mistake like most of her other choices. Regardless, she silently opened her door and snuck into the town. She tried to keep in the shadows the best she could. After a little while, she finally came upon the round, gazebo-like shed that held all the Emperor’s treasures. It was time to break into the artifact room.
Cali fiddled with the lock for a moment, but it wasn’t hard to pick. Her heart was pounding as she pushed open the polished oak doors and found…
An empty room.
Oh, no.
It was a trap. The artifact room was empty- and, knowing the Emperor, there were probably guards on their way right now. Cali needed to get out of there fast. She turned around to run- but guards flanked the outside of the room, their polished metal armor reflecting the moonlight into Cali’s eyes.
“I didn’t- I..” She stuttered, trying to think of an excuse.
“Next time, cover up your tracks, kid.” One guard grunted. He shoved Cali out of the room, and she didn’t even protest. “Not that there will be a next time.” He chuckled.
Cali closed her eyes and silently screamed.
Every choice was a mistake.
***
“We found this one in the fake room,” The guard huffed as he threw Cali to the Emperor. Cali didn’t look at him as he examined her, making the occansional “Huh” as he studied her.
“You’re the one who’s house I burned down for fun a while back,” The Emperor mused. “I suppose you didn’t know that, of course. Ooh, how I love my mages with their memory spells.”
Cali blinked.
The fire wasn’t her fault…
She wasn’t sure whether to sing and dance or to kick the Emperor where it hurt. At least her grandmother hadn’t died for nothing.
The Emperor looked up at the guard that had brought Cali to him. “What do you think we should do with it?” He asked, glancing at Cali as if she were a rabid animal.
Suddenly the huge dark oak doors to the palace swung open, and in came Rachel and the resistance, all holding flaming torches.
“You’re not doing anything with her,” Rachel said, giving a sweet smile to the Emperor. “She’s ours.”
“Resistance,” Rachael turned back to the rest of the Viscets, “You know what to do.”
Mass chaos began as the Viscets ran about the throne room, each doing their best to torch everything they could. The Emperor and his guards ran.
Cali stood and sprinted over to Rachel. ‘Give me a torch,” She panted.
Rachel raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were traumatized by fire?”
“Well, I know who did it now, and I’d like to get revenge.” Cali looked intensely at Rachel.
“If that’s what you want to do, go crazy,” Rachel said, grabbing a spare torch and lighting it with her own. Small, cowardly, worried Cali was gone. It was time to show the Emperor that he couldn’t control her.
Joining the resistance was a choice that wasn’t a mistake.
[exactly 2,000 words]