Zenthal's Freedom Quest

"You think I'm insane, don't you?"

"I... Well, it's not that," Ikio mumbled. She'd been going over his plan for the past hour and her head was swimming with questions. It was all too perfect. Too idealistic. Too full of hope. "I've just never met anyone quite like you before."

"Well, there isn't anyone quite like me," he said, matter-of-factly. "But thank you for your honesty." He smiled. "It's nice to know that I have an ally."

She looked up at him, her eyes shielded behind thick eyelashes. His smile seemed genuine, but then again, it always did. "What makes you so sure that they'll rise up when they see you? It'll be a massacre." She shuddered at the thought of it. How many would die if his plan worked? The Queen's guards wouldn't hesitate to kill them all if they were even slightly threatened by the people's wrath.

"I've woken them up from their sleep many times before," he said, as if that explained everything in itself. "They've always been willing to fight for what they believe in."

"Yes, but..." Her voice trailed off as she sighed loudly and looked away from him at the empty canvas of sand in front of them. They had taken refuge in a large cave nestled between two boulders along the side of a low hill that overlooked Zenthal's capital city, which was now just a cluster of orange dots in the distance. If she strained her eyes hard enough, she could make out the distant square where King Lesto's statue had once stood proudly in the center of town square before he'd been overthrown two years ago by the Queen and her henchmen. Lesto had been a good king, Ikio thought bitterly, who treated his subjects with respect and dignity until he'd been killed by an assassin hired by the Queen herself - something that Ikio believed wholeheartedly because she'd seen it happen with her own eyes.

"Many will die," he agreed quietly as he sat down next to her on the rock ledge they were sitting on, looking out into the vast expanse of sand surrounding them on all sides. "But not nearly as many as would be killed when the Queen finds out that we're trying to overthrow her." He turned towards her and looked into her eyes, hoping to see some glimmer of understanding or support within them - anything other than fear or frustration or utter doubt in his abilities to lead this revolution all by himself - but instead found nothing but confusion staring back at him when their eyes met. He sighed and looked out at the sandy horizon again when she didn't answer him right away. "The people need someone to show them how to live freely again," he continued after a few moments of silence passed between them both. "They need someone who can give them hope amidst all this sorrow and hopelessness."

He heard Ikio sigh again but she said nothing as she turned back towards him with a peculiar look on her face - one that he couldn't quite place but clearly wasn't about to offer any praise for his cause or support for his actions either way. She looked down at the ground instead and picked at a small hole in the knee of her pants while she mulled over everything he'd told her earlier today; everything he'd asked her to do for his plan to work; everything she was supposed to sacrifice in order to help him achieve his goals; everything they were supposed to sacrifice together so that they could both finally put an end to their suffering within Zenthal once and for all...