A Mint-Flavored Rebellion [Part 1]

A Mint-Flavored Rebellion [Part 1]

Alyssa slammed the heavy basket down, pushing her sleeves back up to her elbows and brushing the loose strands of auburn hair out of her face. “Ugh! I absolutely hate this! What did we ever do to be put under the rule of those filthy savages. And what have they been doing? This laundry smells like rancid dung and rotting meat.”
Mint sighed gently and set her basket down on the grass next to Alyssa’s. She didn’t need to roll up her sleeves because they were short, but she did let her long blond hair out of it’s ponytail. It was cut in a simple fashion; straight and long. It reached the middle of her back when it was down, and the edge was jagged; probably cut with a sharp rock or a kitchen knife.
The band she used to tie it back was a simple leather strip that had had the edges sewn tightly together. It was just beg enough to fit around the largest part of her hand, and wrapped around her hair about three times tightly. She pulled the band onto her wrist and gathered all of her hair back into the ponytail shape, then slipped the band onto it and pulled the hair through it until the band wrapped around three times.
Alyssa’s hair was much shorter and a dark auburn color, but it was also back in a loose ponytail. The bottom brushed the area in-between her shoulder blades, though a lot of it was falling out of the loose binding. She didn’t bother trying to fix it, it would just fall out again. She was growing her bangs out so she wouldn’t have to cut them as often, but now was the phase where all they did was get in the way.
“I mean, seriously! Are they just trying to make life disgusting and hard for us? I mean, we have to touch this stuff!” Alyssa held her nose and made a show of waving the stench away from her, towards Mint.
Mint broke out laughing, her light green eyes much more carefree and relaxed than her friend’s. “I know what it smells like!” She shouted playfully in return, waving her hands with slightly more force. The two began to circle the baskets, trying to catch the other off guard. After about five minutes, they collapsed in a heap of the muddy ground. Mint was the first to sit up, trying to shove the mud off of the back of her dress, which was much too impractical and colonial for her carefree attitude and the heavy basket she was carrying.
As the giggles faded, Alyssa let out a deep sigh. There was something deeply troubling her that Mint didn’t seem to find important enough to worry over. “But seriously, what is up with the screwed legal system? We are forced to work and work until some stupid boy picks us and then we have children and do the chores of a housewife. And that won’t even happen for most of us!” She let loose a cry of rage and banged her fists into the ground, splashing mud everywhere. “We’re fourteen year-old pack mules!”
Mint sighed, used to her friend’s long-winded rants by now. “What then, do you want Mitsue to rise from the grave and fee the rest of the lands? We don’t have enough of anything to run away to Terrasola, and it’s on the brink of being recaptured anyways.”
“No, we don’t need Mitsue!” Alyssa screamed, clenching her fists. “Or Erika or Melissa or even Sheila! We need a hero that won’t look at death like it’s nothing and leave us all with a half-free land and an unstable government. We need one that’ll finish the job.”
Mint had already risen to her feet and had the basket in hand. Alyssa joined her and they began walking. Neither one said anything for a while.
“Who, then?” Mint asked just as the stream ahead came into view.
“What?”
“Who, then? Who is this legendary hero that’s better than Mitsue, Erica, Melissa, and even Sheila? This great, valiant warrior who…”
“No, not a warrior.” Alyssa cut in, a wild smile on her face. She stopped walking and set down her basket. Mint stopped, also and eyed her quizzically. Alyssa pulled out one of the dirty black rags and swung it over her head so it hid her face like a cloak. “A rouge.”