This world is rotten to the core

Alice stormed away so quickly that, under normal circumstances, every person on the street would probably have been watching. Thankfully, they were still all enamoured with the awful display put on by that wretched priest.

I followed close behind her, but had nothing to say. I was doing my best to keep it in check, but I was just as infuriated as Alice. So much so that I couldn’t think straight enough to get a single word out. So I merely followed her lead.

It wasn’t long before I realised we weren’t going towards the inn, however. Instead, Alice made her way through the windy backstreets of the commercial district, now at a jog, with me never more than a step or two behind. By the time we saw that same door with the familiar glow of molten metal, Alice was practically running.

She burst through the door without a moment’s hesitation, almost bumping into the young gentleman perusing the shop.

“Emma? What troubles you s- oh!”

Eleanor was caught completely off guard by Alice practically bounding at her and wrapping her in a tight hug. Probably an incredibly dangerous thing to do in a smithy, but in that moment I doubted Alice so much as gave that a second thought.

“D-dearest Emma, þough I much appreshiate youre sudden jesture of affekshon, myte I ask what haþ spurred þis on?” Eleanor asked, looking more than a little flustered (but returning the hug all the same.

“þ-þou may not…” Alice wept into her shoulder, not loosening her grip in the slightest.

“I-I see…” Despite seeming completely taken aback, Eleanor didn’t begrudge or pull back from Alice’s hug, instead putting her hand Alice’s hood and stroking, as best she could do without exposing her white hair. “Dredfully sorry, Ser, but I may have to make you wate a short wyle…” she said to the lad waiting in the shop.

“Ah, never ye worry, Ms Eleanor. A man who wouldst depryveþ a weeping lady of her shoulder to cry upon be’þ no man at all, I say. Take youre tyme, I be in no rush.” The lad chuckled, no hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Ah- if you needs someone to take over while you’s occupied, I can help ya’s out for a bit,” I said, and Eleanor finally seemed to realise I had also entered the shop behind Alice.

“Ah- my þanks, Barry. If you wouldn’t mind...”

I helped the lad out with buying his tools, gave him his change, and breathed a sigh of relief when he left out the front door. He was a nice enough chap, but the conversation we were set to have was not one we could risk other people hearing.

“Think we’s got some bits to fill you in on. And it ain’t anything good, I’m afraid.”

***

“‘Tis… not þe ferst I’ve heard of homosekshal men receiving such punishment,” Eleanor said, twitching slightly at the idea, “þough ‘tis more common to see þem hanged instead. A barbaric praktice, but þe norm in þis rotten place.”

Eleanor’s face was plastered with disgust, but there was also a certain resignation to her expression. As if she simply accepted that this was the way things would always be. I hated that people had to think that way, but I knew from history that they had good reason not to hold out hope.

“I… take it from this reaction that you’ve already talked to our lady here about… what we talked about before?” I asked Eleanor. Alice was still holding her tight and resting her head on her shoulder. Though she had stopped weeping, she yet said nothing.

“A-aye, we spoke on it þis morning…” Eleanor went slightly red, and nervously scratched her cheek. Whatever Alice’s reply was, it was clearly none of my business. “But… you needn’t worry for me. Even wert my proclivities to be noen publikly, þis naæshon haþ different vyues on same-sex love for women þan men. ‘Tis still beloaþed, but þe church believeþ þat… women such as myself will be ‘submissive’ to men, and þat we chooseþ oþer women only because we vyue ourselves too weak or feeble for men.”

She looked equal parts angered and disgusted by the idea, and I can’t say I felt much different, but it at least gave me peace of mind that one of my few friends in this world wouldn’t be so openly persecuted for daring to love someone unapproved by the church.

“…þis world be’þ truly rotten…” said Alice, still not removing her head from Eleanor’s shoulder. “þat a sole so good and pyure as þou couldst be so judjed for an imajined crime. þat þe good shouldst suffer at þe hands of þe wicked, and þat such cruelty is aksepted by þe many. Wat evil lurks in þe human sole þat could lead þe world to be so backwards? Be’þ þis speeshies utterly beyond redemption?”

She sounded completely and utterly defeated. It seemed like it was setting in for her, as it was too far me, that the blights on this world didn’t end with just slavery. The status quo was so rooted in violence and corruption that even the end of the slave trade wouldn’t magically make this world a fair and just place. The realisation seemed to have shattered her spirit entirely.

“You must not þink lyke þat, milady. ‘Tis true, þere be much about þis world þat ys rotten, down to þe very core. ‘Tis, in many ways, a truely horrid plase. But þis world also be’þ home to wonderful folks lyke youreself. If þis world be þe one þat gave you to me, I can only þank it from þe bottom of my very heart.”

“Oh, my dearest Eleanor…” Alice spoke in abject sadness, continuing to bury her face in Eleanor’s shoulder. I had yet seen her so distraught.

“I… don’t s'pose Alice could change it all? If she bumped off her old man?” I asked, though I wasn’t hopeful. And what little hope I had was dashed with a slow shake of Eleanor’s head.

“Unforchunately, it be not so simple. Reejonal lords haþ some control over þe laws of þeir land, but wiþ regards to cardinal sins, þe church’s auþority ys final. And, even were she to decriminalyse same-sex love, þe perseptshons of socyety be much harder to reshape. To be legal and to be akseptable are two very different þings. Nay, in my lyfetyme I doutt myne orientation will ever be aksepted, regardless of who takeþ lordship or even who sitteþ upon þe þrone.”

“þis blasted world be dammed. If a way to Barry’s world be found, þee and I should leave þis hideous plase behynd. Let it fester in it’s own decrepit rot. ‘Tis not someþing þose so powerless as us may ever chanje.”

Alice’s will seemed completely broken. The noble lady, who spake of grand aspirations and world-changing ideas, was on the verge of completely giving up.

I could never live with myself if I let that happen.

“Silly fool. Don’cha remember what you said, the first time we met?” I asked her. For the first time since we arrived at the shop, Alice lifted her head slightly. She said nothing, but seemed to be prompting me to go on. “You says to me, ‘I appreciate your offer, but I have a duty to my home. In my heart of hearts I know this is the place I belong.’ You know, don’cha? You’ve known all this time. This is your calling. This is your duty, your reason to be. You’re right that this world is rotten to its very core, that’s why you’ve gotta be the one to rip that rot out, right? Ain’t that what you’re here for?”

“I-I believed so, truly, but… hands so small as myne cannot pull out a rot so big. ‘Twould take a lyfetyme and þen some to so much as scratch þe surface. þis corrupshon runneþ deep, and I cannot dyve so low.”

“But you can make a start. If everyone for the rest a' time says ‘there’s too much for me to do alone,’ nuffin'll ever get done. You might not be the one to score the 'ole, but you can be the one to get the ball rolling. The 'ardest step on the road to changin' the world is the first one. Someone's gotta step up and take it. I would 'ope for that someone to be a soul as kind and noble as you.”

She didn’t respond immediately, though she also didn’t go back to burying her face, which I hoped was a good sign. I felt some guilt: the pressure I was putting on Alice was immense. To hold the world on her shoulders while those she’s trying to hold up do nothing but stab at her hands… it was a fate no one could want. But for all her faults and failures, I knew that Alice Edelweiss was the one who would have to hold that weight. And I truly believed she could do it.

“I… noe not what to do…” she said, after some silence.

“That’s okay. We can think of a solution together. The three of us. You won’t have to change the world alone.”

“Heh… þou always knowest wat to say, even wen I noe not wat I want to hear.” Slowly, Alice released her grip on Eleanor and wiped the last remaining tears from her eyes. “‘Tis not meerly slavery þat we shall root out. I, Alice Edelweiss, do sware þus to set þe winds of chanje in moeshon, to see þe corrupshon þat plagueþ þis land be wyped out. Even if I live not long enuff to see þe end result.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Alice’s spirit was strong, but not unshakeable. If we were gonna really change this bastard world, we needed above all else for will to be remain firm.

But more than anything, I hated seeing the woman who held my heart in such distress.

“‘Tis grand to see you stand praud agane, milady,” Eleanor said, “but I cannot help wondering wat our nekst move could possibly be. ‘Tis unlykely þat opporchunity will simply burst þrough þe door at u-“

With timing so convenient it made me briefly wonder if God was messing with us, the door to Eleanor’s shop swung open violently, and an old man frantically came to us at the counter.

“Arþur? What distresses you so?” Eleanor asked, her tone filled with concern.

“My boy… my dearest son… he is to be aucshoned tonyte… þey wish to sell my boy into slavery!”