Sylvie sat smug on Cato’s back, nervously twiddling his mane hair until she could see the comfort of her father’s shop up ahead.

“Do you think that was wise? I think you have enough enemies, to make the Colonel angry was not in your best interests.”

“Cato! What are my best interests? Perhaps I should have joined Avery today, I am so sick of being treated like this.” With a sigh, Sylvie swung her leg over and jumped down, “Please fill the others in, we will increase the safety barriers on the stables…I need to talk with Blanca.”

Of course, nodded Cato and began to trot in direction to the only home he had ever known.

Sylvie found Blanca exactly where she thought she would be, in the kitchen watering one of her hundreds of plants. The family’s exotic looking, but extremely dumb cat lay half asleep purring in the sun.

Blanca looked worried, and without turning around asked, “and is it as Sage says?”

“Hmph, depends on what he actually has been trying to say to you”.

“Well, not everyone can speak to the animals like you, but they still try to communicate with us too” Blanca sighed, “I think he’s been trying to say ‘orc’ all morning”.

It was Sylvie’s turn to be surprised, “Well for once Sage is unfortunately correct, three of them were found dead about a mile up the path ahead. They were covered in Elven arrows, but that isn’t what killed them. An old forest hermit claimed it was the bear with blue eyes.”

Blanca stiffened her back, but remained silent. She plopped some garlic into a stone mortar and broke off a sprig of thyme. A sprinkle of salt and a dash of chili she bought from a traveling merchant topped it off. It wasn’t until she started rhythmically grinding with the pestle that she spoke, “Thinking about that day, that bear…. I just can’t, I won’t think about it.”

Sylvie took a deep breath ready to start their common argument, but Sage was quicker. He glared at Sylvie, farted loudly, and then swayed out of the kitchen.

“Ugh!!!! I don’t know how you can stand that smug little cat!”

“He was a gift for our mother from faraway lands, that is enough for me. By the way, I believe we ought to pay Auntie Mabel a visit”.

“Nooooooooooo, I can think of a thousand other people I would rather go see.”

“It’s your own fault Sylvie, if you would just work on your Germanish a little bit….”

“I don’t need to speak like the city folk! Everyone understands the old language, and…” she looked around for support and saw a little bird outside, “….and I can speak to animals! Auntie Mabel should be proud”.

Blanca rolled her eyes, she set the garlic paste on the side of the worn wood counter and began to slice an apple. She handed Sylvie a piece. “I think you are missing the point.”

“Fine. You win.” She ate the slice in one bite. Her mouth was still full when she continued, “I will send one of Avery’s beloved pigeons to inform her, and then we can take off. Would you rather we take the stream or ride?”

Now smiling, Blanca wrapped the apple core and added a carrot to her handkerchief before slipping it into her cloak pocket.

“I think Avery already knows, I told her I would persuade you. But ja send a pigeon. And perhaps we ride today; I feel safer with the horses.”

“Alles klar”, grumbled Sylvie heading back outside.

Avery stood like a proud flame in the old market square. It used to be the most colourful and joyous part of the city, but after the new market was built about twenty years ago, no more funds were invested into the old market. Plants were sprouting out of needed repairs, draperies were faded, but the streets were still very clean, and the elves felt at home here.

Avery also thought the layout of the old market was much more practical. As the city architects moved the statue artefacts to the new market, the elves had planted trees in their places. This project had brought two benefits to the elves. The huge weeping willow in the middle of the market provided welcome shade in the hot Harvest season. And where the little statues used to be, were now over 30 orange trees. They had been a gift from the elven state of Ellastern. In Ellastern, the climate was much milder, but the Azuren elves took very good care of the trees. Even wrapping them in blankets during the winter. The city architects had first laughed at the effort until they tried their first glass of the sweet orange nectar. Half of the produce were kept for themselves, and the other approximate 6000 oranges were sold for mighty coin. It was the elves one luxury item that the city hadn’t taken away.

Avery scanned the crowd; only around 900 had showed up today. The majority elves and Elf-hu, but there was also an occasional human, dwarf, and even one giant.

Avery cleared her throat, the crowd hushed and then was still, “We are equals! Gleichberechtigt sein!” Her voice steady and strong, she continued, “Starting today we will conduct our first strike…(pause)…We will not bake any bread, tailor anyone’s robes, draw anyone’s baths, until we are paid our fair share.”

The crowd was already beginning to nod their heads excitedly. Avery held her hands up for silence, “If anyone refers to you by anything besides your given name, you will NOT respond. I will warn you, this will not be easy, they will protest back, they will try to instil fear in us, as they have for the past few years. But what they won’t be prepared for is we are no longer afraid.”

With that she stared hard at the Legionnaires watching the crowd. The ugly new colonel whom she had crossed paths with earlier was looking at her with pure hate. She could tell he wanted to disrupt the crowd, taking advantage of her pause, he bellowed “You all should be grateful you aren’t slaves! You get good jobs as servants and are still a pitiful ungrateful group of Leaf Ears”.

Avery interrupted, “Beg your pardon Colonel….”

“Colonel Rojel, you Halfler!”

The crowd began to roar. The giant was shaking his big fist towards the Legionnaires. Some were glaring back but the majority looked very uncomfortable. Up until 10 years ago, there was actually elves in the Legionnaire. But when the kind King Kalen died his son King Kalvin took the throne. His son couldn’t tolerate elves. There were whispered rumours that an elf broke his heart, but no one seemed to know exactly what had happened.

Avery sighed, making a mental note to hold the next rally somewhere more private.

“Aye yes, Colonel Rojel, you see the jobs aren’t paying enough to survive. Some of us are working 2 jobs, never seeing our families, and still don’t have enough to supply our families” the crowd nodded along. Avery continued, “We are only asking to be treated like the equals we are! We want fair pay, our children in better schools and enough…” but before she could finish, she was interrupted again.

“Hahaha, you think your children deserve to be schooled? I think your little bastards should be grateful that they have food on the table. If you were to see west of the Azuren, where proper folks come from, you’d see how things should be done”.

The crowd began to mutter threats under their breath, while the lone giants face was turning even redder than Rojel. Avery didn’t want to do it, but felt she had no choice. She turned and grabbed her friend Faren. “Take over for a minute, okay?” Faren grinned and then very slowly tucked her silky black hair behind her pointy ears. She winked at the crowd and began to taunt the Legionnaires with much encouragement.

Avery briefly closed her eyes, and allowed herself to see into the Colonel’s mind. At the beginning, it was always the same; memories would come flying at her so fast it would just be streams of colour and noise. But then slowly, the prominent memories would start to form. It wasn’t as uncommon as Sylvie’s gift to speak with animals, but still a rare talent. Her mother had trained her and helped her make sense of the chaos of mind reading.

She began to see a starving farm boy sitting at the table begging his mother for more food. She was crying because she had nothing more to give. Then came a large man, his father, he beat the woman to the ground, while the little boy watched. He was very afraid, looked at his mother, and then started to run.

Avery stopped, she felt a little bit sad for the Colonel and knew this was only one of many dark memories, but she had enough ammunition.

Faren threw her head back laughing as the Colonel spit in her direction. Avery took over, her voice now booming with confidence.

“Proper folks Colonel Rojel? Like a farmer that beat his wife and starved his little boy? I think around here we have a different definition of what ‘proper’ means.”

The crowd gasped and started whispering among themselves.

The Colonel’s mouth gaped open and closed like a fish. He clenched his hands in fists and then turned so red Avery thought maybe he had stopped breathing.

“You stupid red-haired bitch!” he screamed. “This rally is over, by order of the Legionnaire”. His hand quickly over his sword, ready to draw at any sign of protest, when a younger Legionnaire, grabbed his arm and said “Colonel Rojel, come, this is not worthy of your time. I will have the men end the rally.”

The Colonel allowed himself to be led slowly back, spraying salvia on the unfortunate people nearest to him. He had to add in one last word and shouted, “They are not worth our time, but that witch will get what’s coming for her”.

Avery ignored him, and continued to the crowd, “Here is enough flour, butter, apples, and potatoes for the next week, take a little of each, make bread, share with your neighbours, and be strong”.

Avery winced at the thought of how furious Blanca would be when once she noticed that she had emptied over half of their food wares. But a strong believer of ‘ask for forgiveness instead of permission’, she was resolute in her decision.

“And this, my fellow Azurens, is the start of our new beginning!”

Avery wondered what else she should add, but it was unnecessary, as the crowd began to increasingly loud chant, “We are equals! Gleichberechtigt sein!”

Faren leaned over and whispered, “Wow, look what you did today”.

“You mean what we did”. Avery smiled at her friend of almost twenty years.

A little bit blinded by the sun, she squinted thinking she saw something flying towards her. A few seconds later, one of her beautiful white pigeons was in view. Avery’s heart began to beat faster, and instantly she remembered Blanca talking about visiting their Auntie Mabel.

“Come here my darling dove, what have you brought from my sisters?”

The pigeon cooed softly, allowing Avery to untie the small parchment. From the short text and rather ugly handwriting she knew instantly it was from Sylvie, "Avery, important meeting, Auntie Mabel’s hut" followed by a sketch of a woman with dragon horns and warts. Avery had to laugh, she adored her Auntie Mabel, but she could really be a nasty lady when she wanted to be. She smiled once more upon the excited crowd, nodded at them all, and then slipped down the alleyway. She would take the stream down to Auntie Mae’s and needed to charter a little boat.

Faren linked her arm through Avery’s. “And where do you think you are running off too? Shouldn’t we grab a goblet to celebrate?”

“Boar’s Breath Faren! It’s barely past lunch.” Avery almost tripped over the uneven cobblestones heading down towards the port.

Faren giggled, caught her friend and batted her eyelashes, “Well can I at least go ogle your father’s shop?”

“Are you sure its his shop you are ogling? He’s not interested in anyone.”

Faren’s eyes flashed dangerously but she wasn’t in the mood to tease, she laughed instead, “I’m not into humans currently, however, the one that has been trailing us is pretty handsome”.

Avery whipped around to see the Legionnaire that had side casted the colonel walking closely behind them.

“My lady, you are Fergus’s youngest, may I be of some assistance?”

“See, I told you he is handsome”. Faren laughed and slipped down an alleyway lined with pink flowers and a lone orange tree. “I’ll send you a pigeon one of these days”, she shouted before disappearing.

Avery blushed angrily, “And whom might I be addressing? I can hardly imagine someone from the Legionnaire would fancy helping me, especially after today.”

He took one long stride towards her. His white and gold armour was almost blinding in the hot sun.

“I know your father, although it is already many years since we’ve seen each other in person…. You may call me Alaric, and you may use my small boat if you promise to one day return it”.

Avery’s green eyes narrowed, “Who told you I needed a boat?”

“Forgive me, my lady, but you are walking to the port, glancing up and down the stream as if you are looking for a boat to magically appear out of the water. It was just an educated guess”.

His smile was disarming, and Avery relaxed a bit, “very well, thank you Alaric, may I offer you a coin for borrowing it?”.

Alaric shook his head, “No”. Untying the rope from the pier, he added, “I saw your sister earlier today.”

“Which one?”

“The one brilliant with a bow” he said smiling even larger.

“Mother of Gods, what did she get herself into this time?”

“I believe, my lady, that perhaps she has the same distaste for the Colonel as you.”

It was Avery’s turn to grin as she hopped in the small but sturdy boat, “Please Alaric, address me as Avery, I am very well a lady, but I think once someone has a name, they are far more memorable”.

“Aye, Avery”.

She waved at the handsome man, then turned her attention to the stream. It would take less than two hours if she had luck with the currents.