She glanced at the first day, having waited. This was an assembly that had not happened in her father’s lifetime. 

“I never thought that this would happen.” 

“The problem is that the nobles and the clergy would have more electoral votes by power, they would insist on it, they also control most of the governmental positions, this was a move meant to bypass them they would shoot it down the moment it made it to the Parlement. Even if the third estate elected double the representatives, I’m not sure it will change much.”

There was some genuine interest in the country's running, as it was obvious they were in serious economic troubles, and their solutions would not help much.  

Though she would have none of it. They would all be men. Her brother, Percival, had followed them too. As they sat in the coffeehouse near the street. 

She only prayed for prosperity and peace, and if their country was starving, there wasn’t much. Her father had sold her off a long time for the sake of the family, and hence, either way, it wouldn’t change much.

But Percival often chafed under it. He was just twenty and young, and unhappy at the state of affairs. He was soon to turn twenty-one. 

She was going to wait for him. 

“Godefroy promised me I would get an authentic account of what’s going on, since I didn’t get elected. But the people who did were a lot more eloquent.” 

Godefroy had been in the second, one of the richest landowners in the country, for his mother had been an heiress, though he would not see her inheritance until her passing. 

“Are you excited?” Percival asked, dropping by.

“Perhaps this would be a chance, since the King is asking everyone to help him rule.” She didn’t have any personal opinions about it. Even at the best of times, politics was not the place. Though she knew.

Leandre, her father was much less enthused. “I’m not sure. It’s more like he needs to ask the estates to pass some reforms that is necessary, but he cannot with the Parlement, or rather he needs the third estate to provide that counterweight. And it will include much reform, especially for taxes with the nobles.”

“My husband would seethe at that.” She didn’t need to know otherwise. Personally, she felt that they should have done so. And the amount they took from her family was much things that she never understood. Those were adding up all over the years, but not once in her marriage. But she would adjust and endure.

“Well, I’m sure he may have known, but he wasn’t quite interested in that. Besides, it’s just a calculated move. There is a reason it has to be done.” 

“Because the country won’t survive without it.”

Her father had started out as one of the textile merchants, though he was closest to the King’s non-noble financier than perhaps anyone else. 

“Is it really that bad?” 

“They’re trying such a radical solution because the state is that bad. It always had been that way, and the war helping with Revoa has helped little. But the nobles and clergy would block anything. The last two kings didn’t have the iron grip to control the nobles when he alienated them from their power and forced to go to his palace to serve him,” he said.

“They remembered what life was like. Fighting over who wanted to dress the king, serve him so that they would not plot while he ruled. It was to isolate them, but with a weaker king on the table changed it as they seized back everything that once belonged to them.”

She heard it from her own mother by marriage, who had heard it from her mother who served the dying days. It was well known that they had no power. The king’s favour was all that mattered. And when he died, only to be replaced by his five-year-old grandson, they rejoiced. Even the current king, being twenty when he succeeded, was still easy to control.

Indecisive, and seemingly uninterested in power and ruling, interested in clocks. She found it quite charming, as a whole, but few else did.

“It would mean they would encroach themselves.” She used her common sense.

“Some did, but most did not. But you have to be a noble to gain any traction in the army, in the government. The only reason Monsieur Aubry is here is that he’s one of the most talented bankers that could keep a lid on what’s going on with his own financial know-how. Because the nobles would think it’s beneath them.”

Then, Percival stopped, standing up. “They’re all coming out of the meeting right now.” 

She looked forward to reuniting with Godefroy again, even if she wasn’t sure. Hundreds of men were streaming out at this instance, all looking to go back. Most of them were nobles before the delegates belonging to the third estate came.

She knew it too. First was the robes of the priests, then the fine coats, breeches in many colors. Finally, was the muted colors and the long trousers. She had spotted him.

“I didn’t know.”

“It’s quite the commotion as it’s quite an event. Most of them have heard and quite a few have come from here locally as they tried to find grievances.”

He blinked. “I didn’t know that.”

“Papa told me that.” As they had walked off the streets of Paris wanting it to be faster. “What went on inside there?”

“Well, the third estate wanted each deputy to be given an equal vote instead of voting by a body. The problem is that we didn’t think that way. It’s incredibly infuriating.” 

“The third estate or the others?” She asked. 

“I’m not sure, but I’ll look for advancement. In the nobles section, I barely made the cut and most of them wanted a preservation of their dues. But what’s going on with the deputies of the third worries me a little?” 

“In what way?” She asked. 

“Because I can feel for them. They remind me of Percival sometimes when he stops rubbing in my face just how easy I have it. Although I spend all my time going around collecting rents and doing things I don’t like. He has no one making him get married for the sake of the noble house.” He let out a sigh. “But all the things they say is probably true. The starving poor, that we’re going to make them pay. I don’t know about that.”

He wasn’t quite a corrupt noble, or perhaps all the years of being married to a commoner had changed him.

“He’s much younger than you and is a young man.” Her father rarely paraded it, but in private, he would tell him of it all. But in public, he wasn’t, having already adjusted and lived under the regime that was his entire life. 

“I know, I never had a younger brother, so I didn’t know how infuriating they could be.” He shook his own head. “But I forgive him for all of them.”  

“Also, the third estate is still there, I think.” 

And then there was a rampage. Percival had gladly joined them, eagerly following them to wherever they went, likely the nearest cafe to discuss ideas. 

“What happened?” Asked. 

He let out a sigh. “They didn’t like the fact that they decided it they would go by power and not by head.” 

“Technically, they make up our entire population.” There were much peasants than say clergy, noble and even royalty combined. 

“I’m sure they’ll come around.” He went to fetch the carriage, exhausted from the entire meeting. “I’ve never been so tired from it.” 

But her brother had not. Instead, they talked. She knew they were rebuffed and angry, but too dignified to say it in public. How would they if their complaints would go into either jokes or abyss?

She knew things could not be the way it was before. Her father agreed that something had to go, and she couldn’t disagree too. From all the charity she doled out and the hard times, the people were poor and had little else to give.

“Was it dry?” She asked, not having any issues listening. 

“Painfully so, I wish it wouldn’t be so dull but it’s more of this. Almost made me regret when I said yes to it, I didn’t know that it would be filled with so much standing around and waiting for someone else to talk and then other people add their opinion in until you get your turn or you’re sick of it.” 

She gave a chuckle. “I’m sure you’re glad to return home to something more relaxing. I have dinner planned out, and invited a theatre troupe to come and perform.” 

She could only wish that this would resolve itself. Life would go back to the way it was. That perhaps the deputies and the King would resolve their differences and find a reasonable compromise.