The King's Rebel

Rea Roade looked out at what was supposed to be the window of her dingy flat if you could call it that. It was a decrepit room in a half torn, barely standing building in the middle of Orania, the home of the lowest lows of the Kingdom of Helia. Rea was born here and her mother before her, well, at least six generations came before she did. The eighth member was stirring sleepily at her feet. Her daughter whimpered a little,probably having a nightmare. She was almost ten now. It was time for her to leave Estella to find her own way in this bad world. Rea herself had been only seven when her mother left. It wasnʼt unheard of in Orania to leave her spawn as soon as she could walk to fend for herself, it was also not unheard of to find little boys and girls dead from starvation and neglect on the streets of this little hell. She herself had only managed to get to her twenties by the skin of her teeth. She turned when she felt her little girl get up abruptly,breathing heavily,definitely a nightmare. She looked at Rea with her brown eyes blinking repeatedly, “Mama, the rats were coming for me again!” she gasped,holding back tears. She was not allowed to cry. Rea would slap her if she did, never showing weakness was the first rule of surviving Orania. “Go back to sleep and fight them,Estella” Rea said coldly. She didnʼt mean to be so cold with her,Estella was her life but she had to let go and Estella would have to let go too. Estella nodded and tucked herself back in the light blanket Rea had traded her body for in the next town over. Estella herself was a result of a badly timed trade all those years ago too. “Wait”, Rea said, stopping her before her head hit her pillow made up of rags, ”I need to tell you something and you must listen to me carefully”. Estella sat up attentively, her mother's tone of voice alarming her a little, she sounded a little sad. Rea breathed in deeply,training her dark grey eyes on the brown ones of Estella, "It's time now, Pot. I have to leave you.” Estella didnʼt cry. Not that night or in the morning when she woke up and her mother was really gone. She always knew sheʼd leave her someday. Her mother had spent a lot of time preparing her for it too. Estella didnʼt know how she was going to survive but she was determined to try at it anyway.