I waited until Cedric was finished rambling about all the reasons he hates the king before revealing that I was willing to join the rebellion.

"I'll do it. But on one condition," Cedric looked at me curiously, most likely due to the fact that we hadn't been discussing me joining the rebellion at all, my head had simply gotten there on its own.

"I'll join the rebellion, but my father can't die," Cedric's face contorted to one of anger.

"What do you mean we can't kill him? He deserves to die. Did you not listen to me at all?" He pushed up from the table, leaning in close. "Don't think that just because I need you to join puts you in any position to make unreasonable demands," I raised an eyebrow at that.

"My demand isn't unreasonable. He's my father, Cedric. Besides, if you kill him, what makes the two of you any different from each other? Murder isn't the way of revenge," I spit back to him. It was true and I could tell I had gotten to him. He glared down at me, his forest green eyes piercing through me and making my heart pound. I had never been very good under pressure, but it was time for me to move past that. I glared back.

"I refuse to talk to you about this when you are being so unreasonable. You can join the rebellion, but I don't want to see your face until you understand that he must die," He turned from the table and I stood up, frustrated. I looked over to where Faylorn and Annette were still talking, Faylorn leaning towards her as she leaned back, laughing. I decided not to interrupt them and turned to follow Cedric. I wasn't going to let this go that easily. He left the pub, his cloak thrown around him carelessly. The streets were abandoned at this time of night, I didn't even see a guard in sight. I sped up, trying to catch up to him. He turned quickly, apparently having noticed that he was being followed. His eyes were cold and I felt as though they burned me to the core. I stumbled back a few steps before strengthening my resolve again.

"I didn't think you would change your mind that quickly. I suppose-"

"I didn't. I'm here to convince you not to kill him. He is your King but he is my father-"

"My king? He is my king? Please, tell me a time in which he has acted as my King," Cedric sneered in return, interrupting my interruption. I struggled to think of a reply.

"Perhaps this is how all kings are, but you do not need to kill to achieve your goal!"

"At home, the kings were not like this! At home the kings were kind and cared for us!" He strode forwards quickly, closing the large expanse between us quickly. "Do you think I have been gone from my home that long that I have forgotten? I am not one to so easily forget," I stepped towards him.

"You don't have to forget. You just have to choose not to murder someone. It's a fairly easy choice!" We glared at each other for a while before Cedric finally turned away.

"We can discuss it with the others. I'll call a meeting for a fortnight. Come back to the pub then. I won't discuss it any farther with you," He walked away and I stayed in my spot. I could only hope that the others would see the reason behind my request. If not, I wasn't quite sure what I would need to do.

I headed back to the pub, only to find Faylorn exiting. He walked up to me quickly, relief evident on his face.

"Don't just leave like that, Orla. I didn't know where ya had headed off to," I simply smiled in reply, tired from the argument with Cedric earlier.

The next morning, I decided to go back to the hotel and try and get more work there. I felt bad about taking the food from Faylorn's family that he worked so hard for. I wasn't sure how the work system worked here, but I figured that I could at least work until the rebellion meeting. Two weeks was a long time to wait before finding out if they were willing to let my father live.

The women who had been running the inn before was not there when I showed up this time. I approached the counter carefully, unsure of whether I should come back another time or not. The man behind the counter waved me over however, since the inn was mostly empty this time and I was in plain sight.

"'Ello girly! You here for a room?" He had a booming voice, the exact opposite of the shrill voice of the woman. I felt a little on edge at his chipper tone.

"No. I worked here for a bit of writing tools, but I was wondering if I could work here for a bit longer. Not for writing but for food," I spoke quickly and quietly. I wasn't sure of the reaction of this man, but he laughed heartily.

"If that's what you want girly, you can work!" He waved to the rooms. "I'm sure you know what to do if you've done it before," I nodded eagerly at his assumption. I started working immediately. The other women still didn't talk to me any more than they had before, but I didn't care so much anymore. I knew that things would be different soon. I pulled my weight at the inn and when they closed, I went back to Faylorn's, my arms and legs just as tired as they had been the first time that I had worked.

I tried to keep a general good mood while working, but being so long by myself let my mind wander too to many places. I had time to think over everything that Cedric and Annette had told me. Previously, I would have doubted their stories, but having seen the other things my father had done personally, I was much more willing to believe that they were only telling me the truth.

Three days into working, I was beating a blanket over the edge of the balcony and one of the girls who worked with me approached me.

"You're friends with Cedric, right? Cedric Pape?" I looked at her curiously.

"I wouldn't particularly call him a friend, but I do correspond with him. Is there a reason for your asking?" She leaned forwards to whisper her next words.

"Are you a part of the rebellion?" I withdrew quickly, accidentally dropping the blanket I was beating onto the dirty streets below. I cried out, reaching for it as though I could stop it from hitting the ground that it had already landed on. The girl next to me looked at me with wide eyes.

"So you are," I shook my head.

"No, I'm not," My words were sharper than I had intended and the girl withdrew. I rubbed my head, trying to clear my thoughts. If I kept worrying about things, before long I would be acting like Cedric.

"I'm sorry. Please, forgive me, I have a lot on my mind right now," I turned away from her and walked down to the road to pick up the blanket I had dropped. I retrieved it and went back where I had been beating it before. The girl from before was nowhere in sight. That was the last time I talked to anyone I worked with.

My days passed reasonably quickly, however. Working was very helpful to making the days pass quickly, even if I was mostly lost in my own thoughts. Soon, my legs and arms weren't hurting at the end of the day. However, my mind was slowly able to seep itself with the idea that these rebels would never let my father live and it would end up being a bloody war between the knights and the rebel. I was sure that the rebels would never be able to win against a well trained army. I tried to shove the images my thoughts conjured to the back of my mind.

It wasn't too long and it was the day of the meeting. I wasn't sure what I needed to do to in order to be ready, but I simply held onto the fact that my father didn't deserve to die and that to kill him would only make the rebels as bad as him. I held onto that idea as I worked and at the end of the day, I held onto it as I walked alone to the pub. Faylorn wasn't coming, he wasn't part of the rebels and so he hadn't been told about the meeting. Nor did he know that I was coming to the meeting. I found the pub on my own, thank goodness, and slipped in, looking for Cedric or Annette. I felt very out of place on my own. I spotted Cedric quickly and walked to him. He was speaking with a man I didn't know and Cedric barely glanced at me. I waited, off to the side, until his conversation was done. He approached me first.

"I won't tell them who you are and I would hope you have the reason to keep it to yourself until the decision is made," I nodded, unsure of why he would feel that I necessary, but I figured that it was best to trust his judgement for the moment. If things seemed unreasonable, I would reveal myself in order to make my case. I sat at a table as the pub slowly filled up with people, men and women alike. Some were older and some were younger, but all seemed to know each other. I watched their greeting while sitting alone. Annette and Cedric seemed to float around the people, talking to them and making their position as leaders known. Annette swung by my table for a bit, just to say hello.

Eventually, Cedric went took the stage, "Hello, my dear friends. As you know, we have been trying to get someone from the kingdom to join us, a maid or a servant, to tell us of the modern condition of the house. Well, it seems, we got much more than we anticipated. We received a princess," Murmurs sprung up all over the pub. Cedric raised a hand and they died down. "We were quite surprised as well. But she is willing to join our cause after seeing the our conditions. However, she doesn't believe that the King should pay for his acts with his death," Many people yelled out at once and I lost hope, "I told her I could give her no answer myself, that I would need to discuss it with all of you. What do you all have to say?"

The discussion began. Quickly, people began talking to each other and yelling things up to Cedric. He seemed able to somehow be able to follow all of these things at once, replied to most of the things that were called out to him in a calm, yet loud, voice. Soon the conversation died down and I could see that the decision had not been made in my favor. Cedric opened his mouth, a small smile dancing around the edges. Before he could say anything, however, I stepped onto the stage. His eyes snapped over to me, confusion evident on his face. I turned to the crowd, all of them giving me similar expressions of confusion.

"I am Princess Mona, youngest of the four princesses of the kingdom," The crowd began to speak, but I spoke over them, my voice gaining volume as I went on. "I know that you believe my father should pay for his crimes with his life, but I would like for you to understand my reasoning behind wanting the king to survive."

"My first reason, of course, is because he is my father. Imagine that the man you had only ever seen as your caring father was suddenly outed to being a murderer. Even if you see the evidence and agree, yes it must have been him who killed those men. Would you happily watch him be executed? I am not asking for you to not take his throne. Please do, surely there are people more suited to take it then him. But put him in a cell, not in a noose,"

"My second reason is simply that there should be no more bloodshed. Would killing my father give you the revenge you all so desperately want or is it simply a way to punish him and his family, as you feel you have been punished? Please, don't do as he did to you. If you kill him, you are leaving a family without a father. Regardless of him being my own father, he is also the father to three others and the grandfather to two. Regardless of his corruption, he deserves to survive, even if he is living in a cell," I finished my speech and curtsied before walking off the stage. I didn't go sit down, instead I walked out. I wasn't sure I could sit again after speaking such empowering words. I could hear the conversion of the pub raising in volume as I left and I also heard Cedric trying to pull the audience back into a civilized discussion.

I walked for a while with no destination in mind but after the moon had risen fairly high in the sky, I decided to go back to the pub to see if the meeting was still happening. I walked back into the pub, trying to draw a little attention to myself as possible. As it turned out, my efforts were wasted, as the pub was mostly empty. Cedric and Annette were sitting together at a table while a few other people were at the bar getting mead or rum. I went to the two sitting alone.

"What was the verdict?" I asked, leaning onto the table while standing. Cedric left the table, not answering. Annette smiled gently.

"You won, darling. The other decided that you were more valuable on our side than killing the king was worth," She set her hand on mine and I smiled. "Cedric will have to work over it, but he'll calm down," I nodded, most unconcerned with what Cedric thought.

"What do we do now?" I asked, sliding into a chair across from her. Annette sat for a moment.

"I'm not really sure. Cedric probably has a plan..." We both sat in silence for a moment. Suddenly, Cedric was behind me again. I looked up at him and he gave me a half-smile.

"Princess, we are going to go build you an army."  

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A/N: This chapter is dedicated to witchoria for helping me with an idea for last chapter.