"... not much?"

"Exactly! Not freaking much! And those pricks up in their castle in their fancy chairs with their fancy cloaks get paid gallons of gold every month! Their jobs aren't even dangerous. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be a soldier?"

"... well I--"

"To be fair the people I'm in danger of are your lot, but it's not like I have any choice but to attack when the Queen says to attack. You understand, right?"

"... sure."

-

"They're much healthier than the ones in the outer kingdom."

"That's because of me. I make sure the weather is perfect all year round. Because of me, nothing freezes, nothing dries up, and absolutely nothing gets swept away by the rain."

"That's a pretty important job."

"Thank you! It's about time somebody says so. Yet it's those dangerous people like the earth-shakers and the telekinetics that get a say in how the kingdom's run. It's no wonder we always have war-mongers like the Queen ruling things."

"There isn't a voting system?"

"Yes. But it's rigged. You – well, not you since you're a commoner – can elect Councilmembers. But you can only vote for people who have shadowed Councilmembers, and the votes are weighted according to status. My vote barely counts as anything."

"That doesn't sound good."

"No, it isn't good at all. It just sucks."

-

"Why not?"

"It's not allowed. I think. Not if you ask about anything important."

"What's considered important?"

"... I don't know. Secret passages maybe. War plans. That sort of thing."

"Then I won't ask about that."

"Thank you." The girl smiled at Gillian, her lips twitching up just a bit under eyes as wide as those of the dead fish in the vendor's stall beside them.

"I'm mostly just curious about who does what. Everyone talks about the Council as if they're really important. So what do they do? And what's left for the Queen?" Gillian tried to talk quietly despite the din of the marketplace. This was the first time she had questioned someone so bluntly, but it was also the first time she had met a non-magician with access to the castle.

The girl's smile faded. "You sound like you're planning a rebellion. They'll kill you, you know. The Queen's Guard makes it seem like the rebellions go wrong on their own, but it's all him."

"I'm not planning a rebellion. And if I was, I wouldn't tell anyone about you."

The girl watched Gillian, searching her eyes for something she could trust. "Okay. The Queen died yesterday, anyway, so everything I say won't be true soon."

"What do you mean?"

"The ruler decides how much power they have. Queen Samira let the Council decide almost everything. She only cared about drinking and fighting wars."

Gillian and the girl gravitated to the edge of the marketplace, ducking into the shade to avoid the burning sun overhead. With the shadows drawing lines into her face, Gillian saw that the girl was older than she had thought. Older than Gillian, probably, but trapped in the nervousness of youth.

"Do all of the Councilmembers hate commoners?" From what Gillian had learned in her regular field trips to the royal city, most of the magicians hated those who were stationed above them. It would have been the perfect environment for inciting a rebellion within their ranks if it weren't for the fact that Gillian had nobody on the inside. She needed a friendly magician, if such a person existed.

The girl thought for a moment, her eyes flicking back and forth, likely following the faces of the Councilmembers in her mind. "Maybe. They don't discuss that kind of thing. But none of them are nice to the servants. The bad ones mock and hurt us, while the good ones act like we don't exist unless they need something." Then she paused, more of a hesitation than an end to the conversation. Gillian waited as the girl searched the shadows around them with her wide, anxious eyes. Gillian couldn't remember if she had seen the girl blink. Finally, she leaned forward to whisper, "Don't tell anyone that I said this, since I think it could get him in trouble. If he gets in trouble he won't be useful for your rebellion."

Gillian almost interrupted to claim that she wasn't part of a rebellion, but held herself back. Repeating the lie would be an insult, since the girl was helping her anyway.

The girl continued, her voice so quiet Gillian practically had to press foreheads with her to hear it. "The Queen's Guard saved my life. He found out one of the other magicians was hurting me, and he told the Queen that he was plotting against her. And he remembers my name. None of the others remember my name."

Gillian had expected the servant girl to name someone she hadn't heard of, some low-ranking magician like the soldier or the weather girl. Not the Queen's Shadow himself, the faceless entity commoners and magicians alike feared. "But didn't you say he's the one who stops the rebellions?"

The girl's conspiratorial smile, having reappeared for a brief moment, vanished. She stared at her shoes. "Yes. But that's because it's his job. If he didn't do his job he would get in trouble."

By the shine in the girl's eyes when she talked about the Queen's Shadow, Gillian could tell that the girl idolized him. Her information was biased, but it had to hold some amount of truth. It was her only hope of finding a way into the magician hierarchy.

Then Gillian remembered another shocking fact, one that she had brushed past without recognizing its value. "Did you say the Queen was dead?"

"Yup. But don't get your hopes up; nobody killed her. The royal doctor said it was alcohol poisoning. She basically drank until she drowned."

Even for an evil queen, it sounded like a terrible way to go. Gillian nodded, catching sight of Chess shoving her way through the crowd on the other side of the square. By the bruises on her face, they would need to leave quickly. But first, she wrapped the servant girl in a hug. "Thank you so much. I would ask your name but that would put you in more danger."

Even in the shade, the heat of the sun made the hug sticky and they fell apart. Then the servant girl disappeared into the crowd of the marketplace while Gillian disappeared into the twisting alleys surrounding it, Chess quickly joining her with her face blackened by fists instead of soot. With the harvesting season beginning soon, Gillian would no longer have time for the field trips. But if the girl was right, and the Queen's Shadow was truly a kind soul, then she may have gained just enough information to finally begin the action phase of the rebellion.