After Ivy left, she wasn't quite certain of what to do next. Sure, she had some ideas. She could go to the ship harbor, or she could go find a job somewhere in the city. But both seemed to be quite steep in regards to the cost.

She had found the underpass to a bridge to sleep on. At least here, she didn't have to spend what was left of her money. And then the fact was that the members of the king's guard lingered in the city. She didn't understand why, but they threatened her still. She shouldn't have been threatened by them. She should have appreciated them like most citizens seemed to do. But there was something that felt wrong.

Ever since she was young, she had gone foul of the law. She had joined gangs she shouldn't have, and now, as she looked at the water in the nearby river, she felt as though she had made too many mistakes.

Maybe she should go to the other realms. And yet, there was some fear with it. The fact that most people here had accepted her as a part of the streets was one reason. Even after two days of remaining here, and only eating out of the dumpsters with the other homeless folk, she had felt like the others had accepted her. The upper class citizens all ignored her, and some even jeered at her. But most of them had accepted it, and treated her as though she were supposed to be there.

In her old realm, someone would kill her if she wasn't careful. Regardless of the reasoning, she wasn't likely to defend herself. A life of crime had lead her nowhere. And she tried to act as though she had helped, but the reality was. If Queen Lavender had really looked into things, then maybe there was the chance that things were wrong.

As the constant rain continued, Ivy found herself wishing she had made better decisions. After all, if she hadn't stolen from her parents, she wouldn't have been kicked out. And then she likely wouldn't have made any of the other decisions she had made. Rather, she would have only been a normal person.

Maybe she would have arrived in the other realms as a tourist instead.

But there was something else she had to think about as she considered what she wanted to do. She wanted to find her footing again, and she wanted to stop struggling. At this point, even still, after everything else, she didn't know what that looked like.

Maybe she should have given her scepter to Queen Lavender on the first day. Maybe she shouldn't have been so rude to the woman then. But then maybe the woman wouldn't have accepted her. Or rather, maybe the woman would be right in how she felt.

Eventually, Ivy found the shipyard again. As she watched the peer, she would look onward with a longing she couldn't quell. Perhaps she was looking for another ship, or she had a longing she couldn't quite extinguish.

There was also the fact that she couldn't stop thinking about Queen Lavender. Worse still, there was the fact that out here on the streets, she wasn't well off. Whenever it was cold, Ivy would yearn to find a place to remain inside, so that she could have something. But since finding herself on the streets, her hair had grown to be in worse shape. When she looked at herself in the mirror, there was something she couldn't quite get rid of. It didn't have to do with how she looked, but it had to do with the fact that she was still sorely out of place her.

Despite the initial days of feeling free, the weight settled. Sure, she was no longer formally a part of any revolution, but that did not do much for her. As she looked out at the surrounding area, there was something she wished to do. There were things she missed. And right then, as she looked out at the city, she felt as though she had become worse than one of the stray dogs in the city. When the stray dogs went up to a restaurant owner to ask for food, the owner usually caressed the head, and then gave a piece of meat. The dogs would wag their tail as they moved away.

If Ivy were to ask for food, she would likely face jeers for it. She would be mocked, and she would be told to get a job. Perhaps that was by design. Perhaps that was a part of the problem with a system where there were no rulers. Then again, she didn't know what a monarch could do to fix such a situation, but there was still the hope that she could try to find a way out of the situation. That she could find solace within the fact that someone could do something about it. Someone could offer a program, or a place for work.

Here in the city, there were a lot of people who claimed they didn't have housing. Most of these people had respectable lives before the fall of their king. But since then, according to one man, there weren't enough taxes to really keep the economy going. No one had fixed the roads, and no one had created an army so that people could find an easier escape out of their situation. There was just the endless  problem of what to do now that there was no formal government.

There were nobles out there. Somewhere. But they had become complacent. And while they had done their best to keep themselves out of trouble, it wasn't enough. They had resorted to fighting each other, and in some cases, they had resorted to attacking each other.

Indeed, while this country and its land held promise, the disarray and confusion weren't worth it. Not to the point where most people could support it here. As Ivy thought about herself, and her life, she wondered if people were facing similar in her old world. If they had found themselves foul of the remaining law as well.

As long as the rest of the revolution was alive. And so long as Queen Lavender held the base of the scepter. It had been a source of power, and as much as Ivy disliked parting with it, she took satisfaction with the idea that it had been pawned off to the pirate queen. It was still valuable, but now, it was treated as a piece key in the trade. It was no longer a symbol which had been used to kill innocent people, just because they said they disagreed.

Or, because someone reported a friend who had made a comment against the king, in return for money. Ivy remembered that. When one of her friends had died, because a jealous ex of theirs had reported them to the law. Because there was no real way to prove anything by word of mouth, it was enough. Within twenty-four hours of the accusation, Ivy received word that her friend had died.

She had been invited to the execution beforehand, but at that moment, she felt as though she had a lot on her mind already. She should have gone. Ivy knew that. At least she could be there for her dying friend. But in those moments, her anger had run hot--too hot. She refused out of protest.

Afterward, she went and found the revolution, so that she could get back at the king for ordering the murder of her friend. Now, she understood that such motives were petty. And while the after period of a revolution was allowed to be messy, perhaps this had been too messy. Perhaps she had been wrong.

Then again, maybe she was letting someone else's opinion on her accomplishments govern her decisions. Maybe she was being irrational with how she had treated everything.

Ivy looked at the surrounding area, as if she had wanted to find new questions. As if she wanted to find a new answer to the suggestions. As rain pattered on her face, she took little care of it. So what if she got wet again? So what if the rain soaked her through to the bone, and she wouldn't warm up until the morning?

If this was the way things were supposed to be, and if this was the result of years of her work, then maybe she deserved this. Maybe she deserved to live like this. Maybe she deserved to die like this to.

After all, she had no one. And as far as she knew, this would never change. Not really. She could have gone back to her old realm, or she could have shifted elsewhere. But as she closed her eyes to meditate, every time, she lingered on different memories. Whether it was the fact that her friends had died because of the old king, or the day her parents told her she was no longer their daughter, it didn't matter. Those memories permeated regardless, as if they were their own demons.

Her life, thus far, had been filled with misfortune, and it had partially been her fault that she had lost her way with what was likely her one shot at being normal. She had been the one to suggest those acts of mutiny. And while she could never claim she had something to do with Captain Val's death, she knew that she had been the reason for the two other deaths.

Over the next few days, even with the few morsels she would acquire, it would never be enough. There was one point where she had become sick after she ate too much of the food.

The nausea boiled in her stomach. And, at one point, she was certain the illness would take her out. If she believed in a god, she was certain she would pray to him right then. Although at that point, she knew that she was on borrowed time. It was only a matter of time before some of the sickness came back, as a result of eating more food from another dumpster.

When the illness finally passed, Ivy felt weak as she made her way back to a messenger's office. She still had enough coin to pay for everything. She could make the claim, and she could ask other questions, and she could tell Queen Lavender that she was needed. But that wasn't the whole truth.

If Queen Lavender saw it to reject her, or if Ivy failed to impress her, unless Ivy shifted into another realm to start over, this would be the end of the road for her likely. Especially as they would likely make the shift toward winter soon.

Ivy wrote.

Dear Queen Lavender,

I would like to re-discuss our terms, and I would like to find a new consensus between us. I still agree to the old terms, but I would like to add new terms the next time we see each other.

-Ivy

She put the letter down, gave the man the coins, and left. In finding the rock next to the pier, she buried her head in her hands. Her life had gone wrong thus far, and she was certain of that. It was to the point where her best lifeline was hoping that the person she had considered to be her enemy would respond, and soon.

She had not engaged in much violence recently. She still had her flintlock, and then she brandished her sword every now and then. But she knew it. Eventually, she would find an enemy to fight, she was certain.

I am going to see about surrendering myself to Queen Lavender the next time she comes into the port city. I don't like her, no. But working with her is likely to be much better than dying here on the streets.