Chapter 139 Chapter 139: What Now?

Chapter 139 Chapter 139: What Now?
Senna’s POV

The fighting lasted through the rest of the day. By sundown, there wasn’t anyone left to fight. All the nobles were either locked up in their houses, dead, or escaped. The sun was setting when a loud horn blew, startling us all.

Perplexed, I looked at Kalev.

“That’s the capital’s official surrender,” he said. “It’s over now. We won.”

His words landed on me. For a moment, I didn’t even have a reaction. It had all happened so fast. It was like my mind hadn’t caught up yet with the reality.

It was over? We’d won? The capital had fallen? The sectors were free?

“I don’t know what to say,” I told the group.

“Then don’t say anything,” Isolde said, taking my arm and leading me to the window. “Just watch.”

Out on the streets, the sector borns cheered. They hugged one another, celebrating the victory. The streets were stained with noble blood. But it was over. The sectors had taken over the capital.

Eeryone started celebrating. On the streets below, people cried and hugged one another. The sectors were finally free from the capital. The atmosphere was filled with so much joy and hope.

The celebration lasted until sunrise the next morning.

The nobles that had been hiding in their homes set white sheets outside their windows. This was their way of saying, ‘we surrender, please don’t hurt us.’

Everyone respected the surrenders. No one else was killed. Enough blood had already been spilled. If nobles were willing to surrender, then the sector borns were willing to accept that. Slowly, nobles that had run away came back into the capital. They held up their hands, showing that they were surrendering too.

Our group stayed in Kalev’s estate all night. We ate food and drank wine. We allowed ourselves a night of celebration too.

The next morning, everyone gathered in the street by Kalev’s estate. They all knew that I was in the estate. They began chanting my name.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said.

“They want you to lead them,” Korrigan smiled.

“I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know what comes next,” I said honestly.

“We have to come up with something,” Kalev said. So we all sat around a table and discussed the possibilities. Now that there was no more capital, we had to decide what to do. There were seven sectors in total. Or, at least there had been.

“We could create a new city that combines all the sectors?” Isolde suggested.

“That would be one hell of a big city,” Korrigan chuckled.

“We could declare the capital some sort of governing body? A fair and just one?” Kalev suggested.

I shook my head. “The capital is associated with being unfair and unjust. I don’t think we can set up anything here.”

“Having fun?” Petra appeared.

“Not now, Mother,” Kalev snapped at her. She looked at him dismissively. “It’s not that easy, is it? Figuring out how to govern all those people.”

“I said not now,” Kalev repeated, raising his voice. He glared at her.

“You have a lot to think about,” she said, ignoring him. “What will you do with the nobles? And what will you do with the children whose parents have died. You have a lot of orphans on your hands. Each sector has its own resources. How will you divide that? Who will be in charge? Who…”

Kalev slammed his fist down on the table and shot up out of his chair. “This is not your conversation,” he seethed at his mother. “Get out. You don’t get a say in this.”

We were all agitated. We’d been talking all morning and getting nowhere. Petra’s little speech and questions weren’t helping. We were all painfully aware of all the people standing outside, waiting for us to tell them what to do.

It felt like too much pressure. I felt like we shouldn’t be making these choices. I’d started the rebellion, but that didn’t mean I was qualified to set up a new government. It felt like too much power and I didn’t want it.

What if we fucked up? What if we made the wrong choices? What if we decided something that made it worse than it was before?

None of us wanted to admit it, but Petra was right. Again. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing.

“I said GET. OUT,” Kalev repeated.

Petra didn’t flinch. Instead, she laughed. Then she nodded her head. “I’ll leave you to it then,” she said. She gave a dramatic bow before leaving.

“I know you’re angry with her,” I said, “but she has a point. All her questions are valid. I think we’re in over our heads here. We don’t know what to do. And everyone’s looking to us to tell them.”

“Then we let them decide,” Korrigan said. We all turned our heads towards him.

“What do you mean?” Isolde asked.

“I mean,” he said, the wheels in his turning, “why do we need a governing body? Petra is right. Each sector has its own resources. Its own infrastructure. Why not let each sector decide what it wants?”

“Like, let them run themselves?” Isolde asked.

“Exactly. Give them the choice. They can form their own cities if they want to. Their own governments. Whatever they want. The sectors can be independent of one another. They don’t have to be combined under one ruling entity.”

We all thought about that for a moment. It actually sounded like a pretty good idea. Before the rebellion, each sector had to answer to the capital. The capital took their resources. It all filtered into Wolfspire City. But now?

We could change everything. Each sector could decide for itself what it wanted to do. It could sell its resources. Or exchange them with other sectors. It could build and shape itself however it wanted.

“I think you might be on to something,” I told Korrigan. He raised an eyebrow.

“Looks like I’m good for something after all,” he said, his tone teasing.