The Price {Completed}

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Back at the Wellington, Rachel asked for a room and inspected it before handing over the payment. The landlord refused another cut to nine Ruma, and so Rachel begrudgingly slid twelve into his greasy fist.

"The Vigilant Men are in the process of taking over all private industry," Rachel muttered to me as we walked upstairs. "He'll just be putting that twelve Ruma back into the pot within a few days anyway."

Rachel's room was much the same as ours, but for her full payment she earned herself a room across the hall where the stench from the river wasn't quite as overpowering. Her room lay as barren as our own had, and we stood in awkward silence as she shrugged deeper into her coat at the chill.

I saw she wouldn't soon be having any dinner at the rate of her nearly emptied pocket and the state of her stove, and so I invited her to come over in an hour to eat with Ferdinand and myself. We didn't have much, but I thought I might be able to spread it thin for just one night.

Rachel accepted and offered to bring something, which I told her was not necessary. I'd seen the few small coins left over after she'd paid her rent. She'd need it all for keeping alive, and I'd been paid by the innkeeper that morning.

After we parted ways, I returned home and toasted some bread on the stove. Ferdinand arrived a few minutes later with a small iron pot and another stool. I smiled at the scent of rain and cold that he brought with him. He handed me the pot with a flourish.

"My payment for a few odd jobs around the city. They offered me a Ruma, but I thought these might be more welcome," he said. "The pot will make the food last longer."

"Thank you, it's perfect," I said, taking the pot to the window and hanging it from a hook in order to gather fresh water from the raining sky. While we waited, Ferdinand stripped his outer layers and hung them from the musty rope that divided the room. They steamed gently, and he sat down to hold his red fingers toward the fire in only a shirt and trousers.

"I couldn't find anything permanent," he said. "No one wants to hire."

"I ran into Rachel today-- you know the girl from the corps-- and she said that the Vigilant Men are in control of hiring laborers," I said.

Ferdinand grunted. "Figures."

"They want men in the army, so they try and fill the position with women."

He shook his head and blew on his stiff fingers. "This is ridiculous. They took down a government they said oppressed them, yet they make sure that you can't find even employment without them? They're practically forcing us into their army."

"I suppose they're afraid that the Lenotskaya and Prest kings might get the young men first," I replied.

The pot had filled with rain water by then, and I went to fetch it to place on the surface of the stove. As I waited for it to boil, I chopped up the meat Ferdinand had brought back that morning. While I worked, we began to talk about really nothing, just relating our days and other subjects that popped up. As we talked, and I tried to make a stew at least vaguely edible, I wondered at how freely I talked with him. This sort of talking, where it just flowed from me as easily as pouring tea, was not something I was used to. With Mr. Lennox, my conversation was mostly about dance, and with the others I met during the day it was perhaps a hurried greeting if anything at all. Now I was laughing about nearly stepping in horse dung, and jokingly complaining about the rain. Ferdinand told me of hauling bricks and boarding up windows of houses so that new families could be assigned to them. My lips kept curling up at the ends no matter what I did, and I ducked my head to try and hide.