The Name You Gave Me

Chapter 8 - Pawns

I had thought that I was crazy. I had thought that I was the only one who even dared to question society as it is. But oh, how wrong I truly was. Because now, as I sit deep in the gardens on a bench next to Aaron and listen to Asena explain, I realize that I am so far from being alone on my quest to find answers.

"So, let me get this straight...Not only are there rebels who are trying to find out a way to overthrow the Six Kingdoms, but there are whole groups of them in the Unknown?" Aaron asks, his voice overflowing with confusion. I understand though because I am confused as well.

"In camps, correct," Asena nods before she continues, "In fact, there are twelve camps in total that are spread through the Unknown. As a whole, they are known as the Fate Defiance. They have grown to rather dislike the term rebel."

"Wait, you say 'they' as if you aren't a part of the Defiance," I say as I look at her. She is standing up in front of Aaron and I and Kace is standing to the side, keeping a lookout to make sure that no one comes close enough to hear us.

"While I tend to help them, I am not officially a part of them. Not yet anyways. The directors have been debating on allowing me to be a spy for here in Cliden," she explains, as if what she is saying is making perfect sense. But, honestly, the more that she talks about it, the more confused I get and the more questions seem to grow in my head.

"Directors? Who are they? I thought you said that no one person is in charge in the groups?" I question.

"Yeah, and what do you mean by spies? Does the Fate Defiance have spies in all of the Six Kingdoms?" Aaron adds.

"If you both would stop asking questions and let me just explain, then it would all make sense," Asena says in a sharp tone.

Instantly Aaron clamps his mouth shut and shrinks back slightly out of shock. I, on the other hand, furrow my eyebrows at her. How does she expect us to not ask questions? We are literally being told that everything we were taught to be true isn’t. So of course, we are bound to have questions. Asena must have taken our silence as approval for her to go on because she soon begins to talk again.

"But to answer your questions since you have already asked them...Yes, there are directors, Rohanna. But there isn't just one overall director. There is one director for each of the camps. They just ensure that everything is secure and moving along smoothly," she explains before she turns and looks at Aaron, "And as for your question, Prince Charming, yes, the Fate Defiance does have spies in all of the Six Kingdoms. Used to, the Fate Defiance had several spies in each of the kingdoms, but now Frindale has begun to send out their own spies. It is getting harder and harder to go undercover now."

Frindale...the largest kingdom amongst the others. It is also the most ruthless kingdom.

"And speaking of undercover, I want to make sure that both of you know that you cannot, under any circumstance, tell anyone about this. Especially about Asena. While she isn’t officially part of the Fate Defiance, people will still see her and label her as a spy. So, it is in utmost importance that you keep it yourself," Kace says, though his gaze is obviously more focused on Aaron.

"Wait, you think that I am going to go and tell on you all?" Aaron asks, quickly growing defensive.

"Well, we all have our reasons about why we are doing this. Asena is doing it because her brother was sacrificed a few years ago. I am doing this because she is my friend. Rohanna is doing this because Emilio was killed," Kace points out, "So why exactly are you doing it?"

A silence fills the space between us. I hadn't given it much thought before, but Kace did have a point. What did Aaron get from all of this? He had never been done wrong by the royals. He had probably lived the most beneficial life out of all of us.

"I am doing it because Rohanna is my friend. Just like Asena is yours," Aaron quickly responds to him.

Kace grows quiet at that and glances over at Asena. There is a pause before she nods, as if giving him her approval.

"Fair enough, but you are essentially throwing away any chance you have of living peacefully by doing this. Not that it matters now since we have already told the two of you basically everything," she says.

So, this was it? Kace, Asena, Aaron, and I joining the Fate Defiance and going up against the Six Kingdoms. I had always wanted to be something bigger that what my mom was, but I had never thought that I would be a part of something so rebellious. Not to mention how quickly all of this was happening. The thought alone of everything that I am hearing causes my mind to spin.

"Are we really doing this?" Kace asks as he looks between all of us.

"I suppose that we are. That real question is; where do we start?" Asena mentions before she continues, "Rohanna is the reason why we are all here. Perhaps she should be the one to lead us. So where do we start?"

Kace seems to look surprised at Asena allowing me to take lead, but I don't mind. After all, she has a point. Kace has only brought me to her because of what I had told him and Aaron has only come out here to check on me. If anything were to go downhill, it would be deemed as my fault. That thought is daunting, but I embrace it because finally I have control over something in my life.

"I stand by what I have said before. I think that we should start by finding the Room of Names and getting into it," I say.

I can tell by everyone's expressions that they still are nervous about that idea.

"That is really risky," Asena admits.

"But wouldn't it be worth the risk? Especially if we find out how exactly Sir Ambrose determines our names and our meanings?" I question her.

She seems to let my words settle in. After a few seconds, she finally lets out a breath.

"Okay, fine. First, we find the Room of Names. Then what do we do? It's not like we can just waltz up to the room and walk in. I am sure that there are guards all around it," Asena says.

"Oh, there are. I hear Nicaise giving assignments for guarding it to the higher up soldiers," Kace quickly agrees with the huntress.

I bite my lip as I try to think of a solution. In my opinion, the Room of Names is the key to all of it. That is where we will find the true answers. But there is something else that is bothering me.

"Who is the one person who is allowed to go into the Room of Names unsupervised?" I ask.

The others share a confused look before Aaron speaks.

"The Counsel, right?" He says before he continues. "I am pretty sure that Sir Ambrose is the only one."

I nod my head to what Aaron says.

"Exactly what I thought," I begin, "So perhaps we should just pay Sir Ambrose a visit."

"Okay, but whenever he is out in the public, he has guards around him. It's not like we can just ask him questions about the Room of Names without people getting suspicious," Asena adds, but by the way she looks at me I can tell that she is thinking exactly what I am.

"But his house is on the palace grounds. And I highly doubt that he will be guarded in his own house," I explain.

It is like a lightbulb goes off in Aaron and Kace's head. Ah...So now they understand what I mean. Good because I really don’t know of any other way to explain it.

"I can always go with you all. If anyone asks, I can just say that I am escorting you and ensuring that you don't cause Sir Ambrose any harm," Kace says as he slowly nods his head.

Now we are getting somewhere as a plan slowly begins to form. It is risky, but any plan that we try to make will be and we have to start somewhere.

"Okay, so we have a plan. We are going to go to Sir Ambrose's house and ask him questions about what exactly is going on ourselves," Asena goes over the plan again, "Then we are going to somehow sneak into the Room of Names. But I do have one question for you two...Does anyone else know about anything going on?"

Both Aaron and I share a look.

"Well, Lilura sort of announced Emilio's death to nearly all of the princesses and princes. And then I had told Aaron and Jessie about how I wanted to find the Room of Names, but that is it," I answer her.

"Who is Jessie?" She asks, her voice growing sharp again.

The more that I talk to Asena, the more I can tell that she doesn't trust easily. But do I really blame her? Not really. This isn't like having a clique in school. This is a matter of life and death. If just one wrong person finds out about anything we have talked about, everything would implode.

"You don't have to worry about Jessie, she is our friend," I swiftly reply, not wanting to give her any reason to worry any more than she already has to.

"I agree. I mean, I grew up with Jessie," Aaron agrees, "She may not agree with what we are doing, but there is no way that she will turn us in."

The look on Asena's face causes dread to sink deep into me. She looks doubtful and I don't want to do anything that will cause her to back out of the plan. She knows more about the Fate Defiance than anyone.

"Look, I will talk to Jessie and ensure that she won't tell anyone. And even if she does, all she knows is that I want to go into the Room of Names. She doesn't know about any of you all or your involvement in the whole ordeal. So, if she does tell, you won't have to worry," I try my best to assure her, but my words just seem to cause her to frown. In fact, my words seem to make all three of them frown.

"Absolutely not. We are in this together, regardless of what Jessie knows," Asena says stubbornly.

"I do agree with Asena. You are a part of this group now, Rohanna. And so are you, Aaron. We have your back as long as you have ours," Kace says, though his light blue eyes linger on me.

We have definitely grown closer in the past couple of weeks. After all, we see each other every day, multiple times a day. He is the closest thing to a best friend that I have now that Emilio is dead.

"Well then in that case, I better make sure that she keeps her mouth shut," I say, my voice growing hard.

There is no way that I will let Jessie get Asena, Kace, or Aaron hurt. After we finish up in the gardens, Aaron and I walk back inside together.

"You didn't have to do that for me. You know that, right? Just a plain old regular apology would have been efficient," I say quietly.

"Yeah, well there was no way that I was going to let you go and try to overthrow the royals without me," Aaron replies as he looks down at me with a small smile, "I mean, what kind of friend would that have made me?"

I chuckle slightly at his words as we walk into the grand hall.

"So where do you think Jessie is?" He asks me.

"Probably in her room or in Odette's. Those two are always together it seems."

He nods in agreement at what I say. We walk up the stairs together, but instead of going into the princes' wing, Aaron follows me towards the princesses'. A maid sees us, I instantly recognize her to be Eloise's maid, and she giggles as she quickly scurries away. Oh, great because that is just what I needed. Gossip to be thrown on my already towering plate of troubles and responsibilities.

When we come to a stop in front of Jessie's door Aaron goes to knock, but I stop him.

"Just let me do the talking..." I say to which he gives me a simple nod of his head.

I let out a breath before I reach up and gently knock my knuckles against the door. I don't want to knock too hard since I don't want her thinking that I am mad. That isn't the case at all.

I can hear whispers coming from the other side of the door and then a few seconds of silence follows. I honestly think that Jessie is going to blow the both of us off, but just as I am about to give up, the door swings open revealing her and Odette.

"Oh...Rohanna, it's you. And Aaron," Jessie says. Her voice sounds a tinge bit nervous and it also sounds as if she is surprised to see Aaron with me.

What? Did she think that he was just going to ditch me because I had a 'crazy' idea? Wait...Did this mean that she is going to ditch me? Because if she did, then what ensures that she won’t go tell the authorities on me.

"Yes, it's us," I say as I plant a smile on my lips. After having to act like I was okay throughout the whole ordeal about Emilio, it ia getting to be quite easy to fake a smile. "We just wanted to come by and talk...If that is okay, of course."

Jessie seems to hesitate, but instantly Odette nods with a bright grin on her plump lips.

"Of course, you guys can come in!" She exclaims before she seems to realize that she isn't actually in her own room, "They can, right Jessie?"

Jessie's eyes seem to stare into mine with an unreadable expression before she nods and steps back.

"Of course," she says simply.

Both Aaron and I walk in and I take in my surroundings. Jessie's room is exactly how I figured it would be like. There are bright floral colors everywhere, catching the eyes of anyone who enters. The desk in the room is a bit cluttered with papers and pens and the bedspread is wrinkled from where I guess Jessie and Odette were previously sitting. When Odette goes and plops down on the bed, my suspicions are deemed to be accurate.

"So, what did you two want to talk about?" Jessie asks as she sits down on the edge of her bed next to Odette.

I hesitate as my eyes shift between the blonde and the brunette. I couldn't just blurt it out in front of Odette! That would just add one more person to the list of people who I have to worry about, despite how much I have grown fond of the two girls sitting in front of me. Jessie seems to notice my glance because she quickly speaks up again.

"Oh, I already told Odette about your crazy mission to break into the Room of Names. She is our friend, after all, I just thought that she had the right to know."

I stand there shocked as I stare at Jessie. She apparently thought that the idea was crazy, but she didn't seem to understand how dangerous it was to even just be talking about it in the rooms, much less telling others about it.

"Jessie...Why would you go tell more people without asking Rohanna if it was okay?" Aaron asks from beside me.

"As I just said, Odette is one of our friends and she is always hanging out with us, as well as Edric and Darius," Jessie says as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, "Who is to say that Rohanna's actions won't get Odette or anyone else hurt? It seems to happen to everyone else who she gets close with."

I sharply inhale at Jessie's words. Is she seriously quoting Lilura to me right now? By the look on Odette's face, she seems to want to just runaway.

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble by her telling me," she says quietly, "I mean, I understand why you are doing all of this. You lost one of your friends. I couldn't imagine losing Jessie."

I am mildly surprised by what Odette says, and a part of me even relaxes a bit at her words. But I still have to secure things with Jessie that she won't tell anyone else.

"No, it is fine, Odette. I promise that I am not mad at you. I just wished that Jessie would have consulted me first," I reply to her before I glance over at Jessie, "Please promise me that you won't tell anyone else about what I said. After all, I was just talking in the heat of the moment. I would never do something like that."

The lie rolls so easily off my tongue that even I almost believe it, but much to my demise, Jessie doesn't look all that convinced. She lets out a breath as she stands up and walks to the door, opening it and signaling for us to leave.

"It is about time for Odette and me to have tea," she says in an almost monotone voice, "I will see, but this is a dangerous game that you are playing. Don't let your friends be your pawns."